Jinyiwei Yamen.

Jiang Li sat at the top with a serious face, looking at the officials of all ranks below.

In the past, at this time, he should be in the palace with His Majesty, but now, this is not the case.

To be honest, it was all caused by the assassination attempt.

Although His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not say anything, Jiang Lin felt tremendous pressure. Half a month had passed, but he had not found even a clue about the mastermind behind the incident.

The biggest responsibility of the Jinyiwei now is to monitor all officials. It is obvious that the murderer behind the scenes must be under the supervision of the Jinyiwei.

This means that this person carried out elaborate assassinations and murders under the supervision of the Imperial Guard.

From a certain perspective, this is equivalent to the Jinyiwei failing in their duties.

"There's news from His Majesty the Crown Prince that the direction we're investigating may be wrong. The murderer behind this may not necessarily be a warrior, but may be a scholar who followed His Majesty in the early years."

"Even if he is a warrior, he must be extremely talented in writing, so we need to readjust the scope of supervision now."

Listening to the words of Commander Jiang, the Jinyiwei officials below also had serious expressions on their faces.

During this period, they worked overtime every day. All officials who were acquainted with Hu Weiyong, Jiangxia Hou and Zhou Dexing were investigated, reviewed, and even questioned.

It seems that there is not much fluctuation in the capital, but in fact it is loose on the outside but tight on the inside.

…

"Thank you, father-in-law, for conveying this."

In the county government office in the capital, Di Yusen bowed and thanked the eunuch from Kunning Palace who came to deliver the message.

This eunuch of yours was the one who had previously delivered the Crown Prince's edict to Di Yusen.

Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Di County Magistrate, even though there seems to be no big disturbance in the capital regarding the assassination of His Majesty, in fact, even I am paying close attention to it."

"This was something that the Concubine thought of this morning. After I found out, I only told the news to the two of them."

"One of them is Jiang Li, the commander of the Imperial Guards, and the other is Di County Magistrate."

"It can be seen that I have high hopes for County Magistrate Di."

Hearing the official's words, Di Yusen quickly raised his hands and bowed: "I will definitely live up to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's expectations."

"Okay, okay." The eunuch nodded and left.

Qin Lixue waited for the eunuchs to leave before coming out and asking, "My husband, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince attaches so much importance to this, what if you can't find out the truth?"

Di Yusen said unhappily, "What else can I do?"

"Oh no! Your Highness, the Crown Prince's analysis has given me a heads-up. Even with the strict screening by the Imperial Guards, they still haven't found anything. The murderer must have slipped through the cracks."

"In that case, we need to change our thinking."

At this time, Di Yusen already felt that he had vaguely grasped the direction.

…

A house somewhere in the inner city of the capital.

The gate opened and Liu Renxiang walked in.

He was the head of the Ministry of Personnel, a sixth-rank official. Although it sounded respectable, he actually had little money.

Even just being able to purchase such a small villa in the inner city had already used up all his savings.

However, with the crazy increase in land prices in the capital, the prices of houses in the inner city are changing every day and have never stopped.

He had originally spent more than 500 strings of precious coins, but now the value of this house has risen to more than 4,000 strings of precious coins, and the value is still rising.

There are more merchants in the capital, and more businesses are being done. Relying on the dividends of this era, there are more and more rich people.

Nowadays, what people care about most are land and houses. Living in the capital, it is difficult to care about land. However, the price of land is not that valuable now, and housing prices have risen most rapidly.

Liu Renxiang did not hire any servants. He was the only one in the courtyard. With his salary, it was more than enough to support himself. If he had one or two more people, it would be a little tight.

After making himself a pot of tea in the yard, Liu Renxiang planned to get something to eat.

After a busy day, it's time to take a break.

Just at this moment, there was a knock on the door. A gleam of light flashed in Liu Renxiang's eyes, and then he opened the door slowly.

"It's County Magistrate Di. I wonder what brings County Magistrate Di to my humble abode."

When Liu Renxiang saw the person outside the door, he recognized him immediately and said with a smile.

Di Yusen bowed and said, "Nothing, just came to chat."

"Please don't be angry if you tell me this, Chief Liu. The higher-ups are taking the assassination of His Majesty and the murder of the Commander-in-Chief very seriously. This will be very hard on us. All officials in the capital must be questioned."

Liu Renxiang said somewhat displeasedly: "Didn't the Jinyiwei investigate the day before yesterday? Why did County Magistrate Di come again today?"

Di Yusen explained helplessly, "I have no other choice. Hey, Director Liu doesn't know. We are under pressure now. We don't have any clues. We can't just stay at home and do nothing."

"If this gets out, I will be reprimanded by my superiors. So there is no other way. Even though the Royal Guards have already run once, I can only run again."

Hearing this, Liu Renxiang smiled and said, "Please come in and talk. This situation is really stressful right now."

"County Magistrate Di doesn't know that during the early morning court sessions, everyone is trembling with fear. Everyone knows that His Majesty is holding back his anger, and no one wants to be the first to be offended."

"I'm afraid I've angered His Majesty and will be punished."

After Liu Renxiang finished speaking, he led Di Yusen into the yard, and then took the teapot to pour tea.

"My humble abode is simple, please do not despise me, County Magistrate Di."

It was tea pouring from a teapot, not brewing tea. Apparently, Liu Renxiang didn't even have the tools to brew tea, and was extremely poor.

Di Yusen looked around and replied, "Master Liu, you are too polite. Master Liu is the only one living in this house. I don't see any servants or maids."

Liu Renxiang paused after hearing this, and then said, "The salary given by the court is just this much. It's good for one person to eat alone. If there are more people, we won't be able to eat enough."

Di Yusen couldn't help but say, "Master Liu is one rank higher than me. My husband and I can both eat enough, but Master Liu is just one person, so he should have more than enough."

Liu Renxiang smiled and said, "I love delicious food, so I usually eat out. As a result, I don't have much money."

While chatting, Di Yusen was observing carefully.

The house was very clean, so clean that it was unbelievable. The items on the table were also neatly arranged. With no servants, it was obvious that Liu Renxiang was the only one who managed such a large house.

While Di Yusen was drinking tea, he touched down with his fingers and found no dust.

This made Di Yusen keenly feel the difference.

It is so clean that it is obvious that it must be cleaned almost every day. It takes so much effort for one person to be busy for at least an hour every day.

There was no fire in the kitchen, but the tea was hot, so it must have been freshly brewed.

The court didn't care about dinner. After a busy day in the government office, the first thing he did when he got home was not to light a fire and cook, but to make tea first. This made Di Yusen feel that something was wrong.

I picked up the tea and took a sip. It didn't have the bitterness of coarse tea, but was surprisingly sweet.

"This tea tastes good. Mr. Liu, can you tell me where you bought it? It's so sweet, it must be a fine tea." Di Yusen said with great praise.

Liu Renxiang paused for a moment, then replied, "The green tea bought from the market is not worth much, but I'm sorry to make County Magistrate Di laugh."

Upon hearing this, Di Yusen said, "Master Liu, this won't do. This is good tea, and it suits my taste. Master Liu, can you tell me which shop you bought it from so I can buy some too?"

After hearing this, Liu Renxiang paused for a moment and then said, "It was a long time ago. The capital is changing rapidly now. I don't know if the store is still there. I really can't remember the name of the store. I will take County Magistrate Di to take a look when I have time."

Di Yusen listened and found that there were no loopholes or flaws in these words, so he didn't dwell on it and started talking about some daily life.

Although Liu Renxiang kept chatting with Di Yusen, he kept his mouth shut. He basically just talked about many things briefly and had no intention of going into depth.

Di Yusen knew that if he didn't come up with some key issues, today's trip would be in vain.

He had come to see Liu Renxiang today for a reason, so he said, "If I remember correctly, Liu seemed to be a juren in the fourth year of Hongwu."

"It's a pity that the imperial examination was cancelled by His Majesty that year. Otherwise, with Liu Zhushi's talent and knowledge, it shouldn't be difficult for him to win the title of Gongshi."

These words undoubtedly opened up Liu Renxiang's scars.

The Yuan Dynasty set its capital in the north, which led to differences in development between the north and the south. After all this came under the rule of Zhu Yuanzhang, the differences became even more obvious.

Talented people in the north had almost no exposure to the eight-legged essays that were often tested in the imperial examinations, while ambitious people in the south had no practical experience in politics. This created an awkward situation: the officials selected through the imperial examinations had no experience in sharing Zhu Yuanzhang's worries, and they only had a wealth of knowledge and poetry.

In addition, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he wanted to stabilize the country immediately. Facing the powerful landlord class in the country, the first thing Zhu Yuanzhang had to do was to establish good relations with them.

The rigorous imperial examination was quite difficult for the aristocratic class who wanted to serve as officials for generations, while it was relatively easier to enter the officialdom through recommendation. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang suspended the imperial examination and wanted to make plans after gradually resuming production and life.

This also led to Liu Renxiang's lack of recognition for his talent.

It was clear that he had won consecutive victories and was about to pass the joint examination and become an official after taking the palace examination, but it was cancelled at this moment.

The honors of a juren could not support him in getting an official position, as the career path was monopolized by the dignitaries.

Liu Renxiang was born into a poor family and his family was in poverty, so he had no way out.

Hearing Di Yusen's question, Liu Renxiang seemed to have returned to the time when he was down and out.

"The past is too hard to recall. I'm sorry to have embarrassed County Magistrate Di." Liu Renxiang said in a low voice.

Di Yusen had been watching Liu Renxiang's expression closely. Seeing this, he asked casually, "I heard that later, Liu went to see Hu Weiyong, and only then was he given an official position as a juren."

"I don't know whether this matter is true or just a rumor."

Hearing this, Liu Renxiang immediately turned around and stared at Di Yusen fiercely for a long while.

Di Yusen did not show any weakness and stared at him firmly.

Finally, Liu Renxiang sighed deeply and said, "I thought that Magistrate Di would definitely hear the result today. I didn't expect that someone would still bring up something that happened 20 years ago."

"But County Magistrate Di was wrong about one thing. I didn't go to Hu...Hu Weiyong to ask for an official position."

"At that time, Hu Weiyong was not the prime minister, but the vice-chancellor of the Secretariat. I went to him to become his disciple."

Di Yusen couldn't help but ask, "Did he accept you as his disciple?"

Liu Renxiang shook his head and smiled bitterly: "If you accept me as your disciple, do you think I can still stand here and talk to you today?"

Di Yusen was a little embarrassed.

Although there was no mention of executing Hu Weiyong's ten clans, almost all of his cronies and students were implicated.

The fact that Liu Renxiang is now the head of the Ministry of Personnel naturally has nothing to do with him.

After the atmosphere became awkward for a while, Liu Renxiang took the initiative to say, "At that time, Hu Weiyong directly drove me out of the mansion and humiliated me on the spot."

“So I was unwilling to give up, so I continued to study hard.”

"Finally, in the first month of the thirteenth year of Hongwu, he was sentenced to death by His Majesty for the crime of treason. It was also that year, after Hu Weiyong's death, that I finally entered the official career."

After listening to Liu Renxiang's explanation, Di Yusen nodded heavily, stood up, bowed and said, "I'm sorry for offending you just now, please don't blame me, Mr. Liu."

Liu Renxiang's voice was a little low, as if he was still immersed in his memories. After hearing what Di Yusen said, he said, "Nothing happened. It's just that after so many years, I didn't expect that someone would still remember me."

"I guess County Magistrate Di hasn't had his meal yet, why don't we have some?"

Di Yusen knew that this was an order to leave, so he certainly would not make things awkward for himself, so he said, "Thank you, Master Liu, for your kindness, but my wife should have cooked the meal by now and is waiting for me in the house, so I won't bother you any more."

Liu Renxiang nodded, bowed and saw the guest off.

Di Yusen then left.

After leaving the courtyard, Di Yusen turned around and saw Liu Renxiang standing at the door looking at him, as if he was seeing him off, so he bowed to him from a distance.

Liu Renxiang also bowed in return.

'I always feel that something is wrong.'

Di Yusen didn't look back, but walked towards his home.

Looking back, when Liu Renxiang first addressed Hu Weiyong, he obviously wanted to call him "Hu Xiang".

This is a respectful title for Prime Minister Hu Weiyong.

Of course, this is just Di Yusen's guess. There are people called Hu Xiang and there are also people called Hu Ni. Guesses are not sufficient to serve as evidence.

He came to find Liu Renxiang because when he was looking through Hu Weiyong's files, a witness's testimony happened to mention Liu Renxiang.

The original words only mentioned that Liu Renxiang went to Hu Weiyong's mansion, and the rest of the things were not mentioned. Now there is naturally no evidence, so Liu Renxiang can speak for himself.

But it doesn’t matter, this is true, otherwise he would have been executed long ago.