Chapter 38 Report to the Old Supervisor
Just as Zhao Duan drove to Baima Prison.
In the imperial palace, in the imperial study, Xu Zhenguan was listening to the report from the female official.
"So, the verdict given by the imperial court is that he fled without permission?"
The empress, dressed in a white dress, with long black hair like a waterfall, a cool and majestic temperament and a flawless face, sat on a chair with a soft brocade cushion back, staring at the other person with her slender eyes.
There was a hint of anger in his voice.
The "female prime minister," Mo Zhaorong, dressed as a female official, wearing a wingless black gauze on her head and a plum blossom makeup on her brow, bowed her head and responded:
"……yes."
"Hmph." Xu Zhenguan threw the memorial submitted to the imperial court on the table:
"Ma Yan is getting more and more confused. First, Zhuang Xiaocheng sneaked in, and then the firearms craftsman went missing. This huge capital city is like a sieve. No one can stop anyone who wants to leave."
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
Mo Chou advised:
"Master Ma has always been diligent in his work, but he ultimately realized things too late."
Xu Zhenguan frowned, knowing that what Mo Chou said made sense.
Not long ago, news of the disappearance of a firearms craftsman in the Beijing camp was reported, which attracted the attention of Xu Zhenguan, who ordered Ma Yan to investigate.
After checking, I found out that it happened two months ago.
The reason for the delay in the news was that the missing craftsman was supposed to be on vacation.
Furthermore, lower-level officials are afraid of taking responsibility and spend a lot of time conducting private investigations, trying to solve the problem on their own to cover up their dereliction of duty.
When the case was handed over to Ma Yan, most of the clues had been broken, and the final answer was:
Several craftsmen were ostracized and bullied by bullies. Unable to bear the harassment, they secretly fled the capital with their families and their whereabouts are unknown.
It seemed reasonable and had an explanation, but Xu Zhenguan was not satisfied with the result.
"The escape of one or two people can be explained in this way, but the few who escaped happened to be spread across various links of firearms manufacturing. How can I believe that there is no trick?" Xu Zhenguan said.
Mo Chou was silent and unable to answer.
After a long while, Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, pinched his brows wearily, and said bitterly:
"Never mind. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. It was ultimately my fault for not supervising the Beijing Camp enough and being negligent."
Mo Chou looked ashamed and said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty is overwhelmed with affairs of state, especially since the abolition of the cabinet. With so much work to do and so few people to share it, even a man of steel would be unable to cope. It's my incompetence..."
Xu Zhenguan shook his head to stop her from criticizing herself, and sighed:
"The power of the court officials is deeply entrenched, and the original cabinet has long been corrupt. If this is not abolished upon ascending the throne, it will be even more difficult in the future."
Mo Chou said:
"Grand Tutor Dong is still preparing for the recruitment of scholars. Once everything is settled, Your Majesty can move forward with more ease."
The cabinet would share the emperor's power.
However, holding all the power in one's hands also has its drawbacks. Not only will the empress be exhausted, but she will also be prone to negligence, inability to take care of things, and mistakes.
Therefore, the empress planned early on to form a "new cabinet" that would be completely obedient to her and consist of her direct descendants.
"Come to think of it, I haven't visited the Grand Tutor for quite some time," Xu Zhenguan sighed, and couldn't help laughing.
"The last time I went there, I happened to see the Grand Tutor admonishing his grandson. It was quite interesting."
Mo Chou also laughed.
The grandson of the Grand Tutor is said to be a "nerd", but he is not stupid. It's just that his personality is very different from those of the children of the powerful. He doesn't like to go out and have fun and is very low-key.
As the empress took the initiative to chat, the dull and stressful atmosphere in the imperial study suddenly eased.
As the two girls chatted, they tacitly stopped talking about the previous topic.
"By the way, how has Zhao Duan been these days? Has he caused trouble again?" Xu Zhenguan suddenly asked.
When Zhao Duan was mentioned, Mo Chou's expression turned cold:
"I heard that after he received the reward that day, he immediately got into a fight with the nephew of Zhang Langzhong, the Minister of War, and they came to blows. He is truly a domineering and evil person who hasn't changed."
"Oh? Did he win?" Xu Zhenguan's focus was a little strange.
"...I won," Mo Chou said reluctantly, feeling depressed.
"It's said that the victory was easy, and the Zhang family suppressed the matter, so it didn't become public knowledge."
The empress smiled, seeming to be quite satisfied with the performance of her new lackey.
If you have learned the royal heritage but cannot even beat a playboy from the capital, wouldn't that be a disgrace to the royal family?
The one who lost her?
Zhao Duan won easily and decisively, which pleased her very much.
"..." Seeing the empress's appearance, Mo Chou became more dissatisfied with Zhao Duan and felt that His Majesty had been deceived by a scumbag.
Just as he was about to say something bad, the empress waved her hand and put away her smile:
"Okay, enough joking. I still have government affairs to attend to. Go tell Ma Yan that I'm not satisfied with this result and ask him to continue investigating. I gave the Zhao Yamen the power to supervise all officials. I didn't want them to mess around."
Mo Chou's heart trembled, and he said hurriedly:
"yes!"
He immediately left the imperial study. When he left, he saw Xu Zhenguan, who had been tired all day, continuing to review memorials at his desk under the night light, and he sighed softly in his heart.
Over the past two years, Your Majesty has worked hard, and she has seen it all. Her diligence far exceeds that of the late emperor.
But even for such a female emperor, there are so many people in the world who want to rebel against her.
…
…
White Horse Prison.
When Zhao Duan stepped into the back court again after several days and knocked on the door of the old eunuch, the old eunuch named Sun Lianying showed surprise in his eyes.
"What are you doing here again?"
The tone was still not good, but it was obviously much milder than last time.
Zhao Duan put on a smile and walked in familiarly without saying a word, his eyes drifting to an empty chair in the room.
"..." Sun Lianying was speechless. In the end, she shook her head and said:
"If you want to sit, move the chair yourself."
"Thank you, sir, for the seat!" Zhao Duan said with a smile and bowed.
The old supervisor, wearing a single garment, with gray hair and deep eye sockets, uttered a "huh" and sat in his chair without moving.
He slowly picked up the cup and wiped the steam from the hot water with the cup lid.
It feels like an old cadre in a government agency tasting a thermos cup.
"Tell me, what are you doing here?"
Zhao Duan sat down on the chair, and then he said sincerely:
"Thanks to your help last time, sir. I'm here to express my gratitude."
The empress never mentioned to him what the old eunuch thought of him.
But Zhao Duan, who had worked as a secretary for many years, was very smart and had guessed some of the story from his last conversation with the empress.
For example, the empress asked him whether he had the guidance of the old supervisor behind the idea of threatening Feng Ju and making meritorious deeds to atone for his crime.
This reveals that he may have communicated with the old supervisor about Zhao Duan.
Moreover, the message the empress received should not be bad.
Otherwise, it would not be believed that Zhao Duan could receive his care and guidance.
These are all speculations and may not be true, but that doesn't stop him from testing the waters in the name of thanking her.
"Humph," Sun Lianying took a sip of water before speaking slowly and mockingly:
"This is the first time we've seen someone come to thank you empty-handed."
Is this an admission? So, he did help me behind the scenes?
At least he didn't cheat me and remained objective and fair... Zhao Duan made a judgment silently.
As for the other party's unfriendly tone, he automatically ignored it.
Many times, the focus of observing people’s words and expressions is not on their words, but on their actions.
The fact that he was not kicked out directly speaks volumes.
"How did you know, sir, that I didn't bring any gifts?" Zhao Duan asked with a smile.
Nonsense, you have nothing in your hands... Sun Lianying was about to make a sarcastic remark.
Suddenly, he remembered the last time he came to his house at night. He sat up straighter with a thought in his mind.
"You can't be..."
"That's right," Zhao Duan said with a smile:
"I happened to get a clue to a major case and I am going to report it to you, my Lord."
"Big case?"
Sun Lianying was a little skeptical, with distrust in her eyes:
"Young people shouldn't brag carelessly and make a big deal out of trivial matters. Be careful not to let your tongue slip away."
Zhao Duan's smile remained unchanged:
"This case may seem insignificant, but if it gets dragged down to a larger scale, it could become quite significant."
"Involved? Who are you going to blame? Still Li Yanfu?" Sun Lianying looked at him with contempt.
Obviously, he already knew about the little trick Zhao Duan used last time.
Zhao Duan shook his head and said calmly:
"This time it's not the Prime Minister, it's Jiancheng Dao and Prince Jing's Mansion."
"Puff!" The tea in the old supervisor's mouth sprayed out.
(End of this chapter)
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