Chapter 93: Portrait of the Crown

Prince Prince Wang described Li Chengqian's appearance in detail to the painter. After several revisions, the portrait of Li Chengqian was basically the same as the real person.

It was just that his eyes were dull and lacked some color. These were not important to Prince Wang. The

purpose of painting portraits was to be able to catch criminals. Posting them would allow more people to identify the criminals' appearance and help the government to catch them.

It was not for art, to be viewed or collected. Whether the portrait had expression or not was not important at all.

The purpose of the painting was different, so the meaning was naturally different.

Prince Wang took the portrait from the painter, looked at the lifelike portrait of Li Chengqian, and said with a smile: "Not bad! It was this fellow who ordered his companions to kill me."

Governor Wang took a step forward and looked at the portrait in Prince Wang's hand. He wanted to see what the audacious villain looked like, and how dare he not take his son, Governor Wang, seriously.

Governor Wang's eyes fell on the portrait, and he was stunned for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his face changed drastically.

The portrait in Prince Wang's hand made Governor Wang feel a chill in his spine, and fear came over him.

His mind was blank, and a sentence echoed in his heart, how could it be him?

He had recognized that the portrait was of the current Crown Prince Li Chengqian.

During the New Year's Day court meeting, he also met the prince with leg problems.

At that time, Li Chengqian was ordered by the emperor to make friendly condolences to all the provincial governors who went to the capital to pay tribute, and to express the emperor's care to the provincial governors on behalf of the emperor.

"Aye! You must arrest all these bastards for me. I will slowly torture them and make them live a life worse than death." Prince Wang said angrily.

He did not see the change of the governor Wang's face and the panic in his eyes.

"Yes, my lord, you must make a decision for Gou'er, and never let outsiders bully him in vain." Mrs. Wang, who had been silent on the side, also came to help.

At this time, Governor Wang felt bitter! The person in the portrait was the prince! How could they touch the future heir of the empire? They dared to lay hands on the crown prince. They were simply tired of living and didn't want to live anymore.

The mother and son had no idea that Governor Wang was in such a difficult situation. They just kept urging him to arrest the murderer who beat their son as soon as possible.

Governor Wang thought about it and decided to go back to discuss it with his assistant. This matter was too serious and he couldn't decide it alone. Governor

Wang grabbed the portrait and rushed out with the painter without saying a word.

"Aye! Catch that bastard and don't forget to hand him over to me. I will torture him and make him suffer." Prince Wang shouted to Governor Wang from behind.

Upon hearing this, Governor Wang staggered and almost fell. Fortunately, the painter was quick-witted and supported Governor Wang, thus preventing Governor Wang from making a fool of himself in front of the public.

The painter was confused and didn't know what happened to Governor Wang. When he just supported Governor Wang, he clearly felt that he was trembling, which was caused by fear.

The painter couldn't figure it out, but he didn't ask Governor Wang why.

"Come here!" Governor Wang returned to the yamen and immediately called for someone.

"What do you want, Governor Wang?" The yamen runner saluted.

"Go and call Zhao Bieji, Ma Changshi, and Zhou Sima to me. I have something important to discuss with them."

Governor Wang said. "Yes!" The yamen runner took the order and left.

The above three positions are the assistants of a provincial governor. The Tang Dynasty system stipulates that when a provincial governor is vacant or is concurrently held by a prince, the assistant can act on behalf of the governor.

Generally speaking, the assistant has no actual position. Because of his high rank and high salary, and because he is not involved in practical affairs, most of them are used by the court to favor royal family members or place idle officials.

To put it bluntly, they are officials who only receive salaries but do not have to work. Later, Bai Juyi called this kind of official position "sending old officials."

Bai Juyi's words are quite appropriate.

In most cases, the assistant acts as the governor's consultant and think tank, responsible for answering the questions asked by the governor.

After a stick of incense.

Three assistants appeared in front of Governor Wang.

"Hello, Governor Wang!" The three saluted Governor Wang.

"Don't be so polite! Please take a seat!" Governor Wang made a gesture of invitation.

"I don't know why you are so anxious to ask the three of us to come here. Is there something important to discuss?"

The three sat down. The first to speak was Ma Changshi, who was in his sixties. He had some white hair mixed in his black hair and his temples were gray.

"There is indeed a difficult matter at the moment. I don't know how to deal with it. That's why I asked the three of you to come here to discuss it." Governor Wang said.

The three were stunned. With their assistance, all the major and minor affairs in Fangzhou have been arranged properly. There shouldn't be any difficult matters.

But he still knew Governor Wang's character. From his expression, he didn't seem to be lying. Even if something big happened, Governor Wang would usually only ask one of them.

Now that the three of them were called together for questioning, there were very few answers. It seemed that Governor Wang really encountered a difficult problem, but what could it be? The three of them were full of doubts.

"I don't know what difficult problem Governor Wang has. Please tell us the truth so that the three of us can prescribe the right medicine." Sima Zhou said. He is the youngest of the three and is only fifty years old this year.

"Have you three ever met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?" Governor Wang asked.

"I used to be an official in Chang'an, and I have met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! But I have been away from Chang'an for five or six years." Ma Changshi said. "

Zhao Bieji and I have also been to Chang'an for court meetings, but we have never met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Why did Governor Wang ask about the Crown Prince? Could this matter be related to the Crown Prince?" Sima Zhou was a little surprised.

Governor Wang nodded and said, "This matter is not only related to the crown prince, but also to my son. I am now at a loss, so I have to ask you three to come here."

Zhao Bieji and the other two were all shocked when they heard this! They were puzzled, but they also felt that this matter might be more serious than they thought.

"Governor Wang, please speak frankly. Since this matter is related to the crown prince, how can it be related to your son?" Ma Changshi said. He really couldn't understand why two people who had nothing in common were connected together.

They didn't know that Li Chengqian had already left Chang'an incognito and came to Fangzhou for inspection.

"This is what happened..." Governor Wang told the three about how his son Wang Gou met the crown prince Li Chengqian on the street and how they had a conflict.

He heard all this from Wang Gou and his servants. He did not dare to hide anything and told them the truth in detail.

The three of them were stunned. No matter how hard they thought, they could not imagine that this was the case.

What was the prince doing? He did not stay in Chang'an, but had to come out to visit incognito.