"Make amends? Then tell me how you are going to make amends?" Zhong Mingzheng said in a cold voice as he sat down on the couch.
"Your Majesty, the article 'True Dragon Son of Heaven' has been popular in the capital since the day of the coronation ceremony, so I speculate that someone has been lying in ambush in the capital in advance, waiting to publish this article on the day of the coronation ceremony, trying to confuse the public. I am sure that Chen Qingxuan is either still hiding in the capital, or has fled to a place not far from the capital," Ling Shian said hurriedly, "In recent days, I have sent people to focus on investigating the capital and the suburbs, but have not found the whereabouts of Chen Qingxuan, so I am sure that Chen Qingxuan has either fled to Zhili or fled to the northwest with Prince An."
"So what? What are you going to do next?" Zhong Mingzheng asked coldly, "Zhili is so big. If you continue to search inch by inch, I'm afraid you won't be able to finish searching Zhili until next year, let alone searching in the northwest direction."
"Your Majesty, I think that an important figure like Chen Qingxuan has probably fled to the northwest with Prince An. I'm afraid he won't stay in one place and wait for us to hunt him down," Ling Shi'an said in a deep voice. "Your Majesty has sent people to the northwest to track Prince An's whereabouts some time ago, but nothing has been found so far. I dare to ask Your Majesty to order the Longshan army to set up checkpoints along the way to intercept them. We will definitely be able to capture Prince An and his entourage!"
"You make sense," Zhong Mingzheng nodded slowly, frowning and saying, "Prince An should have set out to flee to the northwest after the coronation ceremony, but they are so numerous and have such a large target, and they dare not take the main road. I'm afraid they can't run fast. I'm afraid they haven't left Shanxi yet," Zhong Mingzheng pondered, looking at Ling Shian, "Immediately send someone to rush to the Longshan camp 600 miles away, and tell the army to intercept Prince An and his entourage!"
"Yes! I obey your command!" Ling Shi'an kowtowed hurriedly, and then he breathed a sigh of relief silently, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"When you mentioned Zhili just now, I just remembered that Fu Zhongtian's son, the cabinet official named Fu Jiayou, has he returned to Beijing now?" Zhong Mingzheng took a sip of tea and said slowly.
Normally, the news of a seventh-rank official asking for leave would never reach Zhong Mingzheng, but Fu Jiayou's identity was different. He was the eldest son of the Zhili governor, so Zhong Mingzheng naturally could not treat him as an ordinary official. Last month, Ling Shi'an reported to him that Fu Jiayou wanted to take leave to go home for tomb-sweeping and short stay. Zhong Mingzheng had ascended the throne as the new emperor, and in order to win over Fu Zhongtian, he naturally did not disagree and agreed immediately. But at this moment, he suddenly heard Ling Shi'an mention Zhili, so he asked casually.
Ling Shian was startled. He really didn't expect Zhong Mingzheng to ask about this matter. He gritted his teeth and said, "I don't know. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"
Zhong Mingzheng's face suddenly darkened, and he said in a cold voice: "Didn't I ask you to send someone to follow Fu Jiayou back to Zhili?"
"Your Majesty, last month I received a report from the guards saying that everything was normal, but this month..." Ling Shi'an's face became paler and paler as he spoke. He didn't dare to look at Zhong Mingzheng's face. He was so busy that he bowed his head again. When he spoke again, he was full of guilt, "I was busy with other things and forgot about it..."
"Forgot?" Zhong Mingzheng squinted his eyes and glared at Ling Shian. Suddenly, he laughed sarcastically and kicked Ling Shian hard on the head. "If you want this head to be useless, then I will have someone take it off!"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Ling Shi'an was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe. Even though he had a severe headache, he didn't even dare to groan.
Seeing Zhong Mingzheng's face twisted with anger, the new chief eunuch Tao Xiangbei, who had been standing in the corner with his head down, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, Master Fu has not returned to the capital."
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