Chapter 269 Series
The Honglu Temple is the most overlooked government office among the nine temples.
The entire Honglu Temple was lifeless and had no sense of presence in the court. Even if the officials in the temple were often late and left early, the Ministry of Rites and the Censors pretended not to see them.
Until a few days ago, when a new temple secretary came, the Honglu Temple became more lively.
However, this Li Sicheng was not an ordinary person. He often practiced martial arts in the Honglu Temple when he was in the yamen. Today, he even brought a woman to the Honglu Temple. The two of them sneaked into the warehouse and no one knew what they were doing.
These young people are really passionate and passionate. They don't even pay attention to any influence even in broad daylight.
However, he is the temple secretary and can do whatever he wants. No one else dares to say anything.
At this time, inside the storehouse of Honglu Temple.
Li Nuo and An Ning were working hard.
They searched through the mountains of files, one by one, for the information they needed.
The warehouse of the Honglu Temple was not as tidy as that of the Ministry of Personnel. The documents were piled up in a mess, especially some expired documents, which were piled up in a corner in a mess, giving off a musty smell of books that had been stored for a long time.
Fortunately, hard work pays off. Although it took a little longer, Li Nuo finally found what he wanted.
"List of officials in the Eastern Palace and the Crown Prince's Inner Palace in the 22nd year of the Holy Emperor."
The Crown Prince is the future heir to the throne. The Crown Prince's Mansion also has an institution similar to the harem, called the Crown Prince's Inner Palace, which is set up to serve the Crown Prince's concubines.
The information in the Honglu Temple was more complete than Li Nuo had imagined, even including a list of female officials in the inner palace.
He couldn't help but sigh again, God had indeed had a purpose in arranging him to come to the Honglu Temple.
Perhaps it was destined that he came to the Honglu Temple to investigate the case of the Eastern Palace that year.
Li Nuo put the booklet away and left with An Ning.
After the two men left, heads popped out from various offices of the Honglu Temple.
It's been nearly an hour, right? This temple minister is a young man after all, but he's really durable...
No wonder he practices martial arts every day. It seems that practicing martial arts can really enhance physical fitness.
…
After returning to Li's house, Li Nuo and An Ning came into the room.
The two sat at the table and opened the list they found from the Honglu Temple.
The highest-ranking official in the Eastern Palace is the Prince's Third Teacher, who is usually a senior official in the court. He is mainly responsible for educating the prince. He holds a very high official position, with a rank of the first grade, which is higher than the prime minister.
However, this kind of official position is usually in name only and does not carry much power. It can only be said to be a retirement position.
The same applies to the Crown Prince, the Third Son, and the Crown Prince's guests.
The real power in the Eastern Palace lies in the Prince's Chamberlain, which is in charge of all affairs inside and outside the Eastern Palace, corrects and criticizes violations, and makes overall judgments on palace affairs.
The Prince's Secretary can be said to be the chief steward of the Eastern Palace.
The Prince's Secretary was named Xu Wei.
Li An Ning looked at the name of the Crown Prince's Secretary and said, "Old Xu is a veteran minister of three dynasties. He was already old and seriously ill at the time. My father appointed him as the Secretary, but it was just a noble and empty position. The one who really held power in the Secretary's Office was the Junior Secretary..."
Li Nuo lowered his eyes and looked at another name.
He was not unfamiliar with the Junior Secretary of the Prince's Palace at that time, who was the current Jingzhao Yin Lin Fuzhi.
Comparing the Eastern Palace to the imperial court, his position in the Prince's Mansion at that time should be like that of a prime minister, in charge of all affairs of the Eastern Palace.
There are two prime ministers in the court, but there is only one Junior Secretary of the Eastern Palace.
Li Nuo's eyes moved.
It's Jingzhao Yin again.
He had frequently seen the name of Jingzhao Yin Lin Fuzhi in the past few days.
As the Junior Secretary of the Crown Prince's Mansion, he should be the Crown Prince's absolute confidant. If the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he may truly sit in a position second only to the Emperor.
Although the prince died of illness, his development was not too bad.
Although Jingzhao Yin was not as high as the prime minister, he was also in a high position and had great power. What's more, after the crown prince, he was also associated with the King of Han, the eldest prince. If the King of Han ascended the throne, he would still be second only to the emperor.
No matter how the situation changes, he always stands on the side of the eldest prince.
Li Nuo's eyes continued to move downwards. He did not recognize the officials who came after him. Soon, he saw the names of Gu Wenhan, Wu Zongguang, Zheng Tianxing, as well as Ho Tung and Xu Zhi in this booklet.
The files of the Ministry of Personnel cannot be wrong, they all indeed worked in the Eastern Palace.
Apart from the fact that they all worked in the Eastern Palace and died due to various accidents, looking at the long run, the development of these people after leaving the Eastern Palace was quite good.
In about five years, they were promoted from the ninth rank to the seventh rank at least. Gu Wenhan became a seventh-rank county magistrate, and Wu Zongguang was promoted to the fifth-rank Guanglu Temple Secretary.
This is incredible for these officials who ranked last in the imperial examination and have no backing.
Although Zheng Tianxing did not become an official, he accumulated a lot of wealth in a short period of time. His business in Chang'an was stable and he could be considered a wealthy man.
Fenghuang also does business in Chang'an, but her business is undoubtedly small compared to that of the Zheng family.
Even so, Yuyin Pavilion was coveted by countless people at the beginning and was almost forcibly bought at a low price. If there was no one behind the Zheng family, it would have been swallowed up without leaving anything behind.
Li Anning continued to flip through the booklet. When she saw the list of palace ladies, her eyes paused on a certain name for a moment. She asked in surprise, "Zeng Yan... why does this name sound so familiar?"
After a moment of silence, Li Nuo said, "Do you still remember the Huang family case?"
Li Anning glanced at him and said, "Of course I remember!"
That case was a turning point in the relationship between the two people.
It was because of investigating that case that the two of them pretended to be husband and wife for a few days, spending every day together and inseparable, that she developed a strange feeling for him.
At the beginning, when the Huang couple were murdered, they first suspected that it was done by a thief. After going to great lengths to eliminate the thief, they discovered that the murderer was someone else.
She thought for a moment, a look of sudden realization appeared on her face, and she said, "I remember now. Isn't Zeng Yan the name of the mistress of the Huang family? I remember that the Ministry of Justice seized a lot of the property of the Eastern Palace from her home..."
Before she finished speaking, she suddenly looked at Li Nuo and said in a daze: "You mean, that case is also..."
At that time, the two of them found the case strange.
Everything was just a coincidence. The thief they caught happened to be the murderer who killed the Huang couple. However, at that time, the two did not think much about it. Now, linking this case with the cases of other officials in the Eastern Palace, it seems wrong no matter how you look at it...
Just like the case of Wu Zongguan, the Minister of Guanglu Temple.
When they discovered that there might be something fishy about the death of Guanglu Temple Secretary, the murderer jumped out on his own initiative.
It was as if... someone was afraid that they would continue investigating.
Li Anning has been a lawyer for many years and has solved countless cases. Even though this case has not been fully investigated, she knows based on her intuition that this is very abnormal...
More importantly, if the one who killed the prince was really his brother, Prince You...
Although brothers killing each other was a very common thing in the royal family, she still found it hard to accept it when it really happened to her.
Li Nuo knew that this case meant different things to him and An Ning. Seeing that she was silent, he did not disturb her. He walked out of the room and found Butler Wu in the gatehouse.
Butler Wu, who was smoking and chatting with Old Huang, stood up and asked, "Master, what's the matter?"
Li Nuo handed him the booklet in his hand and said, "Ask the Mirror Office to help me check the current situation of these officials in more detail. For those who have passed away, also check the cause of their death. There is no rush for this matter. Don't make a big fuss. It's best to check it secretly and try to be as secretive as possible..."
Butler Wu took the booklet and nodded, "Okay."
Li Nuo handed him another piece of paper and said, "Check these people again, check their promotion process over the years, and find out who is behind it..."
There must be some hidden story behind the prince's death.
The reason why Gu Wenhan, Zheng Tianxing, Wu Zongguang and others were silenced was that they must have known something, but now they were dead, and Li Nuo had no way to ask them.
However, as long as we can find out who was behind their promotion over the years, we can follow the clues and catch bigger fish.
The big fish behind them must be related to what happened back then.
Butler Wu left quickly, and Li Nuo had to go back to comfort An Ning.
Not long.
Dali Temple.
A young man walked slowly into the Temple of the Ministers, bowed slightly, and said, "Sir, the young master wants the Mirror Office to help investigate the recent situation of some former officials of the Eastern Palace, as well as the promotion process of several officials..."
Li Xuanjing put down the book in his hand, opened a drawer under the table, took out a file and handed it to him.
The young man took the file and turned to leave.
Li Mansion.
Li Nuo had just finished comforting An Ning and when he walked into the yard, he found that Butler Wu walked in with a file in his hand.
He was stunned for a moment and asked, "You found it so quickly?"
He knew that the Mirror Bureau was efficient, but not this fast, right?
All this took less than an hour...
Butler Wu said: "It would take quite a while to investigate all the officials in the Eastern Palace one by one, but it would not be that troublesome to investigate the few people that the young master asked to investigate later..."
Li Nuo took the file he handed over and went back to the room to open it.
This file contains an investigation report.
Investigation reports on Gu Wenhan, Wu Zongguang, Zheng Tianxing, and Ho Tung and Xu Zhi.
Li Nuo's guess was correct. The reason these four officials were promoted so quickly was that someone was working behind the scenes.
Zheng Tianxing’s business is so big because he has the help of noble people behind him.
Although they went through several detours in order to conceal their tracks, the Mingjing Division was able to find the real person behind the scenes after following the clues and eliminating all confusing and misleading actions.
Jingzhao Yin and King of Han.
Li Nuo looked at the conclusion on the paper, feeling a little confused.
He thought it was King You, but when he searched, he found King Han...
The King of Han and the King of You are the oldest and most powerful among all the princes. They have the support of aristocratic families and the support of officials in the court. If both of them are involved in the murder of the crown prince...
Wouldn’t Prince Chun take off directly?
(End of this chapter)
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