Chapter 255 Sun Cheng is a talented person
The Imperial Guards' main camp rushed to the rescue, which was a given.
However, the enemy was not entirely stupid. They had already sent some people away in batches beforehand, and by the time the Imperial Guards arrived, they had been fighting and retreating, leaving only those who were truly unable to leave.
Zhao Youchen has been closely following Xiao Qing's side all these years, and his security work has been done well. He has rarely encountered such a large-scale loss of security.
The opposing force outnumbered them by more than three times, and all of them were skilled fighters, clearly well-prepared.
Zhao Youchen initially wanted to protect Zheng Fangxiu and the others, but he was already at a disadvantage because he didn't have enough people. Now that he had called for reinforcements, he naturally wanted to leave more people alive.
So the situation changed from the other side not letting them leave to the other side not wanting them to leave.
Those people weren't fools; even though Zhao Youchen dislocated their jaws, those who couldn't leave still collapsed.
Some families keep assassins; these people know the rules, and they must have taken the poison long ago.
Zhao Youchen was so angry that he kicked one of them away, feeling simmering with rage.
"Drag them all away!"
They also needed to hurry to retrieve the things Sun Cheng had left behind.
They soon arrived at one of Sun Cheng's houses.
The house wasn't big, but it was nice; it had clearly been visited before.
The damage was... not bad.
Almost every room was ransacked from top to bottom, and even a lot of the courtyard walls were knocked down.
Zhao Youchen had a very shocking day.
He never expected these people to be so bold, they were simply... incredibly audacious!
Don't they even consider how they're going to clean up the mess after doing this?!
Or have they become so arrogant that their eyes have eaten their brains?
Have the Nanhua family become this arrogant?
Even a fool could tell that these people were definitely assassins from the Sun and Li families.
Even if it's not true, it's still inextricably linked to them!
As for whether other powerful families are involved...
His gaze returned to the devastation before him.
It seems that Sun Cheng only has so many private residences, and the Sun family members know their own situation.
Their approach in this direction already exposed their objective, so it's not surprising that the objective has been destroyed.
Zheng Fangxiu carefully walked among the broken tiles and ruins, carrying her robe, and compared her clothes with the map in her hand as she walked.
Fortunately, the map wasn't stolen.
call……
Zhao Youchen directed the imperial guards behind him: "Take a thorough look around and clear the area completely."
At this moment, he thought of Number Twenty-Two's abilities.
That guy was strange and didn't talk much, but he wrote incredibly fast...
His thoughts drifted unconsciously to Tianyin Temple.
The last time he saw Number Twenty-Two, he could clearly sense that he was more impatient than before.
Zheng Fangxiu's delighted voice rang out: "Sun Cheng, that kid, actually has some brains!"
Zhao Youchen looked up and saw Zheng Fangxiu kicking and pushing against a broken wall, sweating profusely.
He quickly went over and asked, "What are you doing?"
Zheng Fangxiu pointed to the small trace of bamboo peeking out inside, then turned her face mysteriously: "The map points right here, there's definitely something in there!"
Who embedded bamboo inside the wall? Did they think the stone wasn't hard enough?
Sun Cheng is truly a talent!
Zhao Youchen gestured for several Imperial Guards soldiers to come and knock on the wall.
Soon, the entire bamboo raft was revealed.
Zheng Fangxiu dug away the bamboo raft, and the smile on her face slowly froze.
Zheng Fangxiu and Zhao Youchen rode at full speed back to Mengshan Villa, but it was already late.
The Mengshan Villa has lodgings prepared for the ministers.
Xiao Qing had already asked Wang Xiang to make proper arrangements, so only Xiao Yan and Ma Hong were by her side at the moment.
Xiao Yan had actually wanted to leave for a while; he wanted to visit the Grand Tutor.
However, Xiao Qing wouldn't let him go, saying that as the eldest brother, he wanted to see how his younger brother's studies were going, so he had Xiao Yan practice calligraphy on the side.
Xiao Yan sat quietly to the side and began to write, each stroke carefully and neatly.
Xiao Qing stood behind him with his hands behind his back, nodding as he looked at the calligraphy, saying, "Brother Yan's handwriting has the style of the Grand Tutor. He is indeed worthy of being the Grand Tutor's student. His learning has not been in vain."
Xiao Yan calmly replied, "My elder brother is also a student of the Grand Tutor."
Xiao Qing laughed heartily, not daring to say that she wasn't very interested in writing, as long as her writing was legible, she was fine with it. She certainly couldn't learn the Grand Tutor's handwriting.
Just then, Zhao Youchen and Zheng Fangxiu returned to report.
Xiao Yan put down his pen and was about to leave.
Xiao Qing stopped him, "Brother Yan, listen along. You'll have to deal with court affairs sooner or later, so it's good to be by your brother's side and listen, observe, and think more."
Zheng Fangxiu suddenly looked up at the young emperor and saw his gentle and pale profile.
He subconsciously glanced at Prince Yan beside him and saw the surprise on his face that he hadn't had time to hide.
Zhao Youchen looked at it from both sides, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Xiao Yan's expression changed for a moment, then he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, etiquette must not be disregarded. I am not yet old enough to be involved in court affairs."
Several thoughts flashed through his mind, and he lowered his head.
Xiao Qing pulled him to sit down on the chair next to her, her tone casual: "Don't think too much. You've learned everything the Grand Tutor has taught you, but you can't just talk the talk. Besides, age is a thing. Your brother was forced to get involved in politics by the Grand Tutor when he was ten. You're at the perfect age now."
She pressed down on Xiao Yan's shoulder, preventing him from leaving.
Zheng Fangxiu composed herself and stopped looking in the direction of Prince Yan.
"Your Majesty, following the map provided by Lady Sun, we discovered an entire wall covered in gold bars, each engraved with the national treasury's mark, totaling fifty thousand taels! Moreover..."
He gestured for Xiao Qing to look at the boxes they had brought back.
"These are the ledgers of the national treasury silver handled by Sun Cheng over the past three years. I have looked through several of them. Although I cannot understand them completely, they record the treasury silver used for various construction projects by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works over the past three years, as well as the tax silver remitted to the national treasury from the nine provinces..."
Zheng Fangxiu knew in his heart that if it was just the two boys from the Hu family suing Sun Cheng, he could handle the matter.
Now Sun Cheng has unearthed so many private accounts, involving the Six Ministries and aristocratic families...
This isn't something Zheng Fangxiu can just decide to investigate.
Although this matter is related to the previous lawsuits between Zhao Ziyuan and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, given the current situation, how to investigate, what to investigate, and to what extent all depend on the emperor's decision.
The emperor has not yet assumed personal rule.
In the past, the young emperor would have summoned the Grand Tutor to make a decision together.
However, Wang Xiang is currently enjoying great influence, and the young emperor has recently become very close to the prime minister, even entrusting Wang Xiang with the arrangement of the Mengshan Villa.
The Wang, Sun, and Li families were originally in the same boat.
It's impossible for them not to be involved in matters concerning official silver and account books.
If the young emperor doesn't want to investigate, Zheng Fangxiu can't even touch him.
Zheng Fangxiu felt a little confused.
He thought to himself: Why don't we ask the Grand Tutor to come over?
But he dared not say it.
Zhao Youchen, however, did not have as many concerns as him.
"Your Majesty, this matter has far-reaching implications. Should we summon the Grand Tutor?"
Xiao Qing knew perfectly well what this meant.
But she looked at Xiao Yan and asked, "What does Imperial Brother Yan think?"
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