Chapter 51: Luzhou gradually recovers, the prison in the mansion
After the person who came to report left, Xiao Tong took a deep breath, calmed down, and slowly sorted out everything that had happened since Zhang Jiuquan handed over the account book.
Zhang Jiuquan cannot be moved now, and the position of General Zhenxi cannot be changed frequently within two years, otherwise those civil servants will definitely start nagging and making people uneasy.
Especially the old fellow named Bailipu was even more difficult to deal with. He was over sixty years old and had been the Censorate for most of his life. He always insisted on his own opinions. When the Shang family was exterminated, he was so audacious as to impeach Xiao Ling.
Fortunately, Xiao Ling was not an impulsive person and admired Baili Pu's talent, so he did not order the execution of Baili Pu's family. He only temporarily dismissed Baili Pu from his official position and let him go home to recuperate for three years before coming back.
Xiao Tong threw away the second puppet that was broken, picked up the third one and started carving.
Prime Minister Zhao Zhouxing secretly contacted Xiao Qingji, but Xiao Tong never participated in any of this, leaving everything to Xiao Qingji. She knew that this man was greedy, so Zhao Zhouxing and Xiao Qingji secretly made a lot of deals with the people of Langjiang, but they didn't make much money. Later, he discovered the secret of Xiao Qinggu's escape from the palace and threatened Xiao Qinggu to silence him with silver. This child was extremely important to Xiao Tong, so how could she bear this?
At that time in Yanmen City, Xiao Tong ordered Xiao Qingji to clean up all traces and use Baijialou to get rid of the Prime Minister, who was a scourge. He also had to kill all the people in Baijialou at the same time to avoid getting into trouble.
The people from Baijialou followed the clues and chased them to Dancheng. Xiao Qingji was arrogant and insisted on playing "cat and mouse". She couldn't reason with this stupid kid who underestimated the enemy. She secretly asked Aunt Mei Han to wait for the right opportunity to take action. The only targets to be killed were the owner of Baijialou and the counselors who suddenly appeared around him. Unexpectedly, they were also capable and failed. In addition, they lost some of the girls of the camellias that they had trained with great difficulty.
Now, it was the matter of Luzhou City. When she succeeded, Xiao Qingji would certainly not survive because of his title as the crown prince. In order to protect the child, she wanted him to save the lives of the people of Luzhou City so that she could leave him a way out in front of the civil and military officials in the future.
Xiao Tong secretly found out the name of the counselor of Baijialou, and also found out that they had been sending people to secretly follow and even protect the fifth princess Xiao Qinggu. He immediately ordered Xiao Qingji to use Xiao Qinggu as bait to lure the people of Baijialou to Luzhou City.
Baijialou's move was not small, and Emperor Chengming must have noticed it. While sending Xiao Qingji with a secret order to help Luzhou City overcome the difficulties, he also sent the Longwu Army to follow him secretly, just to find the right time to bring back Shang Yuwan and Xiao Qinggu.
As Xiao Tong thought about it, he became more and more angry.
Xiao Qingji wanted to use the name of Baijialou to kill Gu'er. He was really becoming more and more disobedient - that's not right.
No, that's not right.
Xiao Tong paused and realized something was going on.
She had heard that her good brother the emperor fell in love with the same woman as Shang Junhu when they were young. That woman was Shang Yuwan's biological mother, Lu Xu. Someone was using the name of Lu Xu's daughter to reverse the verdict and avenge the Shang family. Did he just want to catch her back?
Why didn't you have the intention to kill?
Xiao Tong rolled his eyes and said, "Someone come here."
"Your Highness."
"Send someone to find out who the emperor has been meeting recently. Be careful and don't let anyone find out. The more detailed the information, the better."
"yes."
In Luzhou City, Xiao Qing received a lot of help from the imperial edicts and letters sent by Emperor Chengming and Prince Zeng at full speed, but she was still too busy and eventually fell ill with a fever as expected.
Shang Yuwan forced the frail Xiao Qingxu and Twelve, whose shoulder injury had not yet healed, to stay in the City Lord's Mansion to recuperate, and asked Ji Suxian to stay in the mansion to take good care of Bai Xiaoye. She took Lu Heying and the others out to help Song Pingsheng deal with many tedious matters.
Song Pingsheng lived in seclusion for five years, but his reputation remained undiminished. The people of Luzhou City all knew that he left Luzhou City because of the grief over his wife's death. Now that he was willing to come back to save them, they were very grateful.
In addition to the imperial edict from Emperor Chengming and the letter from Prince Zeng, Xiao Qinggu also sent more people and paid out of his own pocket to exchange all the food and fiefs he had obtained in recent years for silver and grain, and sent them to Luzhou City by express horse. The people participated in the construction of dams and digging canals, and could earn three taels of silver a day. Their speed was more than five times faster than before.
Shang Yuwan was busy outside with Song Pingsheng under the name of Xiao Qinggu's subordinate. Xiao Qingxu sent people in the mansion to spread the news of Xiao Qinggu's illness, so as to increase the people's gratitude towards the princess Xiao Qinggu. Cheng Yishui took people to investigate whether there were other people with ill intentions in Luzhou City.
Twelve's old injuries have not healed yet, and he is worried about Xiaoman and Mingshu. Even though they are not in the same cell, he cannot be careless.
She was afraid that the two would do something strange, so she personally delivered their three meals a day and the antidote to slow the spread of the poison. She watched them finish their meals before leaving with the food boxes, to prevent them from leaving any sharp objects behind to take hostages and escape while no one was paying attention.
The prison cell in the City Lord's Mansion was dark and cold. There was only a bed, a table, and a candle in the room. It was empty and deserted.
"Mingshu, you've become stupid."
Xiaoman was wearing the clothes that were stained with mud that day, and there were some scattered hairs on her temples. Her hands and feet were shackled. She sat with her legs bent against the wall shared by the two cells, with an expressionless face.
"One for three, it's amazing you can do such a loss-making deal."
Mingshu's voice came from behind her. He was also sitting against the wall with his legs bent.
"You're stupid. If I don't come with you, you'll die if you get out."
"The princess is here, they won't kill me."
"So, the prince won't kill you."
Mingshu sneered and bent his other leg. There was a sound of iron chains, and it was a long time before he spoke again.
"Did you really think that you'd be alright after that slap?"
"If you can't redeem yourself from your crimes, you'll die a more miserable death than those traitors."
When Xiao Qingji was mentioned, Xiao Man became upset: "Why on earth did he gain the favor of His Highness? He's not as smart as you."
Mingshu's tone was weak: "We all have loyalty, but we can never get that kind of status."
Xiaoman thought of what Shang Yuwan said, "The fragrance of flowers of eighteen scholars," and curled the corners of her mouth.
"What prince? He's a lunatic, right?"
Mingshu hummed, "It's quite similar."
"It's so rare for you to compliment me."
"Heh." Xiaoman rolled her eyes, "Then I really flatter you too much."
Mingshu chuckled twice, and his usually calm eyes began to ripple.
"So, live well."
"You couldn't beat me when we were little, and I don't know if you can beat me now. We haven't fought in a long time. Haven't you always wanted to beat me? Only by living well can you have a chance."
Xiaoman tilted her head and said, "Tsk."
There was a sound of light footsteps not far away, and Twelve came on time carrying two food boxes.
"You two are quite laid back."
Without opening the door of the 12th Company, he squatted down next to the thick iron fence and brought out the food, also put down the antidote to temporarily relieve the poison, and then stood up to bring the food to Xiaoman.
Mingshu was poisoned and had very little strength left. He was tortured by the poison from time to time. He could only crawl over little by little, tremblingly picked up the antidote and drank it in one gulp.
Xiaoman grabbed the iron fence with both hands and stared at the food without touching it.
Twelve looked at her calmly, "Want to starve to death? Not impossible, it's your choice anyway."
Xiaoman looked up at her and said, "Open the door and put his food in. He has no strength and can't eat much through the fence."
"Eat if you want, eat. If you don't want, get out." Twelve doesn't care how much Mingshu can eat, as long as he doesn't die.
Twelve looked down at Xiaoman from a high vantage point.
"The princess is sick because of you, and you still have the mood to care about him?"
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