Chapter 451 Accident
At noon, a group of people left Qingzhou City.
There were more than a dozen prison vans in the team, and all the people imprisoned in the vans were Qingzhou officials who were dismissed and punished by Zhu Lan on the spot.
In the cold winter, these people were wearing prison uniforms and huddled in a corner of the prison van.
No one has mercy.
Zhu Lan dismounted and said goodbye to Lu Feng.
"Lord Lu, now that Shi Yuanzhong is dead, you will be in charge of Qingzhou's affairs temporarily. Thank you for your concern."
"Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy, your words are too kind. This is my duty." Lu Feng said seriously.
Zhu Lan nodded. "The court will ship more food to us later. I believe the people of Qingzhou will be able to safely survive this winter after handing over the disaster relief food to Lord Lu."
"Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy." A powerful voice sounded, and Hu Ping'an walked up from behind Lu Feng and saluted Zhu Lan solemnly.
Zhu Lan was a little surprised. She thought Lu Feng had already sent Hu back safely to his hometown, Shabao County, but she didn't expect him to show up here.
Hu Ping'an smiled innocently and said, "I am now Miss Lu's bodyguard. I can do something for Master Lu and the people of Qingzhou. It is much better than going home and living a lazy life!"
After Hu Ping'an said this, he carefully glanced at Lu Yin'er beside him.
Feeling his gaze, Lu Yiner lowered her head, a youthful smile appearing on her pretty face.
Zhu Qingyan glanced at the two people's faces and immediately understood something.
She pulled Lu Yiner aside and asked her excitedly what was going on between her and Hu Ping'an.
"You are so curious!" Lu Yiner smiled and gently twisted her waist.
“Although Brother Hu comes from a humble background, he is full of justice and has some martial arts skills.
My father also thinks he is a trustworthy person, so he lets him start as a guard. If he is capable, he will be assigned more important tasks in the future."
"What important task? I think you want to recruit him as your son-in-law?" Zhu Qingyan said with a wicked smile.
"Hate!"
"Please remember to invite me to your next wedding!"
The two of them were chatting quietly on the side, while Zhu Lan also formally bid farewell to Lu Feng and set out on the road to leave Qingzhou.
Zhu Qingyan said goodbye to Lu Yiner, turned around and rode his horse to catch up with the convoy.
Snow was flying behind him.
…
As evening approached, the convoy approached Songtao County.
Zhu Lan did not want to disturb the people, so he had the convoy camped outside the county town.
"Qingyan, go see Magistrate Chao of Songtao County and get Lord Li out of jail." Zhu Lan said with a smile, "We still have to prepare a banquet for him to apologize."
"And apologize..." Zhu Qingyan curled his lips reluctantly.
"If all the evidence in Shi Yuanzhong's hands had not been burned, and if he had not been able to catch Li Moxu, I would have definitely caught him this time!"
She said this and stood up to take action.
Just then, a guard came to report.
"My Lords, someone from Songtao County is coming towards us. It looks like they are from the county government."
Zhu Qingyan and Lan looked at each other. They didn't expect that County Magistrate Chao would actually send the person over in person. This saved Zhu Qingyan from having to make another trip.
"I am Chao Tian, the magistrate of Songtao County, and I have come to apologize to the two imperial envoys!"
Upon hearing the sound, Zhu Lan and the other man hurried out to check, and sure enough, they saw Chao Tian kneeling in the snow in his official uniform.
Behind him were four yamen runners carrying a large coffin.
Zhu Qingyan hurriedly took two steps forward. The coffin was not closed tightly. Through the gap left, she could see clearly -
In the coffin was Li Moxu's pale face, and it was obvious that he had been dead for a long time.
Zhu Lan also saw it, and her expression changed slightly, "County Magistrate Chao, this..."
Chao Tian felt extremely guilty and remorseful, so he told the whole story.
It turned out that after Zhu Lan used a trick to trap Li Moxu in Songtao County Prison a few days ago, Li Moxu shouted in prison every day that he was an official appointed by the court and said that he would arrest everyone in Songtao County and punish them.
Although Chao Tian had made up his mind to help Zhu Lan and his good friend Lu Feng hold back Li Moxu even at the cost of his own career, the legal advisors and servants of Songtao County Government felt guilty and did not dare to make things too difficult for them, so they relaxed their vigilance while guarding them.
Li Moxu finally found an opportunity to escape on the third day. Chao Tian estimated that Zhu Lan and others should have finished their business by then, so he did not send anyone to hunt down Li Moxu, thinking that he would leave Songtao County on his own.
Who would have thought that less than half a day later, news came that Li Moxu had been assassinated and the murderer was nowhere to be found.
"I am guilty of causing the brutal murder of an official of the imperial court in Songtao County. Please punish me, my lord imperial envoy!"
"This all happened because Lord Chao wanted to help me. How can I blame you?" Zhu Lan said as he helped Chao Tian up.
"I will take full responsibility for the assassination of Lord Li.
Are there any clues about the murderer of Mr. Li?"
Chao Tian was still trapped in self-blame, and he sighed heavily:
"I've asked the coroner to check it out. The murder weapon should be a dagger. It was a clean and neat blow. It's obvious that the murderer was an expert.
Apart from the strange angle of the wound, the other party did not leave any clues, and the county government has not yet caught the murderer. "
"Let me see."
Zhu Qingyan had Li Moxu's body carried out, and sure enough, he saw a blood mark on Li Moxu's neck.
Zhu Qingyan looked at it carefully, and his eyes suddenly fixed!
"Sir Chao, I will definitely protect a good county magistrate like you." Zhu Lan looked at Chao Tian and said.
"We will take Lord Li's body back to the capital. There is nothing for you to worry about here. Lord Chao, go and get busy."
Chao Tian wanted to say something, but seeing Zhu Lan's determined expression, he swallowed the words that were on his lips, bowed deeply to Zhu Lan, and left with his men.
"How is it?" Zhu Lan walked up to Zhu Qingyan and asked.
"It's Mu'er. She's the only one I've ever seen who can use a dagger like this."
"So fast..." Zhu Lan murmured.
Zhu Qingyan knew that what she was referring to was not Mu'er's speed of drawing the knife, but King Zhenbei's reaction.
She looked extremely solemn, looking at Zhu Lan and said:
“He’s taking revenge on us… We’re afraid we’ll be in big trouble after we return to Beijing.
How are you going to deal with this?”
Zhu Lan shook his head, his voice a little low.
"This time I was half a step behind. I can only fight back when the enemy comes and block the water with earth."
Zhu Qingyan forced a smile, patted her shoulder, and said in a casual manner:
"Don't worry, I'm here, and you still have your friends in the court.
Everyone will speak up for you.”
"Absolutely not."
Zhu Lan suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Zhu Qingyan, with an unprecedented seriousness in his eyes.
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