Chapter 89: Using son to check father
"The person in charge of the Ordnance Inspectorate? What's his name?" Feng Shenyu asked.
"My last name is Wei, and my name is Wei Sanlang."
Seeing that Yu Jinzhi's lips were all chapped, Li Yueyao gestured to Cuiwei to serve tea to the Duke of Zhenguo, and then asked:
"Have you found anything by following his connections?"
The Duke of Zhenguo picked up the teacup and took two sips, saying:
"We found out that a large amount of unidentified gold and silver appeared in his home. One hundred taels of gold and three thousand taels of silver.
His family had no idea where the gold and silver came from.
Following this gold and silver, we traced back to a business called Sihaitong. The owner of the business was surnamed Chen, and he was the most powerful merchant in Jiangnan.
Cuiwei refilled the tea for the Duke of Zhenguo, who drank it in one gulp.
Feng Shenyu saw this and said, "Give him the kettle."
Cuiwei put the kettle in her hand on the table. Sure enough, the Duke of Zhenguo picked up the kettle, tilted his neck back and drank it down in big gulps.
After putting the kettle down, he wiped his mouth and continued:
"I sent someone to investigate this Sihai Trading Company early this morning.
It was discovered that they had arrived in Beijing half a month ago, and on the third day after arriving in Beijing they found that old man Gao Hongchen.
I had people dig deeper into this line, and guess what?"
The Duke of Zhenguo kept the topic in suspense as he spoke.
Li Yueyao looked at the burly man in front of her. He was over fifty years old, but still handsome and resolute. A smug smile appeared on his tired face, so she asked:
"What's going on?"
"Hehe... the day after he left Gao's residence, he sent Prime Minister Gao 100,000 taels of silver.
One hundred thousand taels, that's a lot of big boxes."
The Duke of Zhenguo's words were very exaggerated. Li Yueyao laughed when she heard them. Finally, there was some good news.
"That means the arrow that assassinated His Majesty was made by the head of the Armoury, who then sold it to the Chen family, a Jiangnan-based imperial merchant.
The Chen family came to the capital from Jiangnan half a month ago and got close to a high-ranking official?"
The Duke of Zhenguo nodded.
"So now, you're focusing on sending people to investigate the Chen family? Using this to determine the relationship between Prime Minister Gao and the assassination?"
"That's right."
Feng Shenyu smiled and said, "It just so happens that I have someone here who can lend you a hand."
The Duke of Zhenguo looked sideways and asked, "Who?"
"Gao Tongrui."
"Gao Tongrui? Isn't that Gao Hongchen's son?" The Duke of Zhenguo asked in surprise.
"Exactly. Gao Hongchen broke up with his wife and placed her and their son under house arrest. I sent someone to rescue Gao Tongrui.
He is willing to cooperate with us on the condition that we defeat Gao Hongchen and rescue his mother Zhuang.
I agree.”
When the Duke of Zhenguo heard this, he became delighted and said with a grin:
"That's great. It saves me a lot of trouble."
After the Duke of Zhenguo left, Li Yueyao was so sleepy that she went to sleep for a while.
Feng Shenyu was originally quite energetic, sitting nearby and reading the news being handed down from below.
But seeing that Li Yueyao was sleeping soundly, he gradually closed his eyes.
When Cuiwei came in, she saw Feng Shenyu lying on the recliner with her eyes closed.
Seeing this, Cuiwei quickly took a blanket from the side and covered Feng Shenyu with it.
The two of them slept until noon. Even though lunch time had long passed, they still showed no sign of waking up.
Finally, Nanny Qin couldn't bear it anymore and went forward to wake Li Yueyao up.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, please wake up and have something to eat before going back to sleep."
Li Yueyao covered her head with the quilt and muttered, "Cuiwei, let me sleep a little longer."
Nanny Qin found it very funny and reached out to pull the quilt off: "Your Highness, wake up, Your Highness."
When Nanny Qin came in and called Li Yueyao, Feng Shenyu woke up.
At this moment, he was leisurely watching Li Yueyao lying in bed.
No matter how Nanny Qin called out to her, Li Yueyao didn't move.
Feng Shenyu stood up, walked forward and said, "Madam, let me do it."
Seeing this, Nanny Qin stood up and stood aside.
Feng Shenyu came forward and sat on the couch, smiling gently and said:
"Your Highness, please get up quickly. The Dali Temple has found the murderer, and the mastermind behind this is Gao Hongchen.
This is the confession, please stand up and read it."
Li Yueyao opened her eyes abruptly after hearing this, then sat up with a start: "Give me the confession."
Feng Shenyu and Nanny Qin laughed when they heard this.
"The Right Prime Minister still has a solution." Nanny Qin said with a smile.
Feng Shenyu smiled and said, "Your Highness, get up and have some food before going to sleep. If you keep sleeping like this, you'll have to go to sleep at night."
When Li Yueyao heard this, she lazily threw herself into Feng Shenyu's arms.
Feng Shenyu was accidentally caught in the embrace. After being surprised, he was filled with joy.
So he put his arm around Li Yueyao, patted her on the back and said, "Alright, alright, Your Highness, get up quickly."
Nanny Qin stood aside, watching the two of them, and said with a smile:
"Your Highness wakes up like this every day. You must be treating me like Cuiwei, the Right Prime Minister."
After hearing this, Feng Shenyu's secret joy gradually diminished. He thought he was unique. Feelings were like this every day, no matter who was next to him.
This won’t do. If we get married in the future, I’d better do the wake-up service myself.
Li Yueyao was called out of bed in a daze by Feng Shenyu, and then the two had dinner together.
Li Yueyao finally woke up completely when she was halfway through her meal.
At this time, Qian Lou came in from outside and said, "Your Highness, Minister Fan has gone to the palace to apologize for his crime. His Majesty has ordered him to be lashed with fifty sticks and ordered him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence."
Li Yueyao listened and simply said, "I understand."
"The entire Ministry of War is now conducting self-inspection and self-correction. The Treasury Department, the Ordnance Supervisory Office, and the Firearms Depot are the key targets of inspection.
Yang Jin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, is now in charge of this task."
"Well, Yang Jin is a good man. He stands out for his strict military discipline." Feng Shenyu said.
"I believe that after this reorganization, the Ministry of War will be much quieter." Li Yueyao said.
Qian Lou continued, "Your Highness is right. It's only been a little after noon, and quite a few people have been arrested in the Ministry of War since the morning court session.
The sound of the cane in the government office never stopped.
Several officers from the Treasury Department and the Military Equipment Supervisor were beaten to death."
Li Yueyao heard this and said coldly, "This Ministry of War needs to be rectified. It's almost become a spy den, with leaks everywhere.
Go and tell them that since they can't investigate it themselves this time, let Gan Qing take the people from the Baiqi Division to investigate, and then they will find out what they have found.
All the officials in the Ministry of War should quit their jobs."
Qian Lou lowered his head and replied, "Yes."
In the afternoon, the Duke of Zhenguo came to the mansion to report that he had caught the Chen family in Jiangnan with something to hold against them.
"The Chen family has been entrenched in Jiangnan Road for generations, and they became imperial merchants during the time of the previous emperor.
In recent years, our business development has been mainly in the south, and we also have business at sea, with regular shipping every year.
Because they suspected that he was a spy, they sent people to investigate further.
I discovered that their maritime business includes the Suda Kingdom, the East Island Kingdom, the Mengwan Kingdom, etc.
Of course, this also includes Nanli and Yuchao."
Feng Shenyu heard this and asked, "Do they have business dealings with Nanli?"
"Well, they didn't have it when the old patriarch was in power, but as soon as their new patriarch took office, he opened up trade with Nanli."
“I know the old patriarch of the Chen family. Back then, the Empress Dowager took a fancy to his family’s Hu silk and liked to use it to make clothes, so she made his family the imperial merchant.
The old patriarch of the Chen family was very knowledgeable and knew when to advance and retreat, so he was very successful.
They were entrenched in the Jiangnan area and never extended their reach to the capital.
Otherwise, Jin Mantang’s title of the richest man in Beijing would probably have to be given to the Chen family.”
The Duke of Zhenguo, drinking tea and eating snacks, replied, "Well, not bad."
Li Yueyao knew nothing about the Jiangnan Chen family, so she asked, "Who is the current head of the Chen family?"
“Speaking of this, it’s strange. The current head of the family, Chen Fang, is not Old Master Cheng’s legitimate son, but a illegitimate son.
Because he showed extraordinary talent for business since childhood, he was fostered under the name of Old Lady Chen and raised as her legitimate son.
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