Soldiers
Almost all the military officers in the capital rushed into Chen Zaiyan"s study. These were the military men who had once reigned over the battlefield without a word; they only used their eyes to express their anger.
During the imperial a.s.sembly, Chen Zaiyan had partic.i.p.ated in the banquet in front of all the ministers in the main hall. No one in the Board of War could understand or accept this.
In their eyes, Chen was a complete villain.
The Four Seasons Tower was a secret, so even the generals of the Military Department did not know everything about it.
Among these people, only w.a.n.g KaiTai and Fang Daozhang knew of their background.
""Go back.""
w.a.n.g Kaitai sighed, ""You do not know the inside story, and His Excellency has no other choice.""
If it wasn"t for the fact that more people were going to die, how could the lord think of such a solution … ""
He wanted to say something else, but he was pulled along by the road.
No one in the room could be sure whether there were any of the empress dowager"s people, so it was a little over the top.
The incident at the Four Seasons Hall happened last night, and it was clear that the Prime Minister of the Left, Su Mao, had already heard about it before daybreak.
If Chen Zaiyan hadn"t changed his strategy, the military would have been extremely pa.s.sive.
None of the generals were willing to leave, and they were all waiting for Chen Zaiyan to give an explanation.
Chen made a wry smile, but he could not say anything.
In the end, the generals were persuaded by w.a.n.g Kai-tai and Fang Dao to leave, but when everyone left, their eyes were filled with hatred when they looked at Chen Zaiyan.
No one could replace Hao Ping"s position in their hearts. What Hao Ping had done for the Infantry Division throughout his life, everyone respected and worshipped him.
After everyone had left, Chen Zaiyan"s expression did not soften at all, ""This matter is a little strange. There are only a few people who know about this. How did this news get out?""
w.a.n.g KaiTai said, ""I was careless. If I didn"t bring everyone into the camp, the news might not have leaked so quickly.""
Fang Dao pursed his lips. ""I"m afraid it has nothing to do with you. Even if you bring people into the barracks and are seen by the empress dowager"s men, they want to find out what happened within two hours?""
Therefore, it is impossible for this matter to be leaked by someone with insufficient status. ""
w.a.n.g Kai-tai looked at Chen. ""What do we do now?""
""Although the king intended to drag things out, the empress dowager will quickly start investigating the Infantry Division as soon as she puts pressure on.""
""I"ve thought of almost everything I could think of, which is why I asked the King to postpone the morning court for two hours,"" Chen said.
After the gates of Fang Gu City opened, the first thing I did was to send someone to send off the family members of the old Shang family. There were six teams, but none of them were real, so it wouldn"t matter even if they were overtaken by the empress dowager"s men.
""The family members of the old book seller are actually still in the city.""
He didn"t say anything, so w.a.n.g KaiTai and Fang Dao didn"t ask. This was a secret. The fewer people who knew about it, the better.
Once the family of the old Minister fell into the empress dowager"s hands, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Chen Zaiyan said, ""Fortunately, last night all the people from the Four Seasons Tower died, so even if the empress dowager wanted to investigate, she wouldn"t be able to find anything.""
Zhuang Fei Fei has already arranged for people she believes in to enter the Four Corridors Hall overnight. She pretended to be a member of the original Four Corridors Hall, and these people have already given their statements, saying that the old Shang book made them mercenaries earn money, but she didn"t know anything else. ""
He only had a little more than two hours, yet he had already arranged everything he could think of.
w.a.n.g Kai-Tai said, ""If this matter wasn"t leaked out by someone with a low status, then who else could it be?""
Chen Zaiyan shook his head, ""At that time, none of the people present could be so easily suspicious, because if they did, it would be a disaster for the military.""
""The mistrust between our own people is even more terrifying than the methods of our enemies.""
Fang Dao straightened up. ""I can"t pretend that nothing happened. Actually, there"s a person …""
Chen Zaiyan waved his hand, ""Don"t say it!""
Fang Dao was stunned, then he sighed. ""Forget it, since Sir has thought of it too, I won"t say anything about it.""
Chen Zaiyan said, ""Now help me think about what else you missed. I"m afraid it won"t be long before the people in the palace come in and start investigating.""
Now, there was another piece of good news. The King had not given this matter to the other yamen, but had sent people from the palace instead.
""The ones in charge of this matter are Li Changlu and An Chengli by the empress dowager"s side and the emperor"s side. An Chengli can be trusted, so if there"s anything he needs to say, he can remind us.""
Fang Tang asked straightforwardly, ""Wasn"t An Chengli one of the people the empress dowager had arranged for him to stay by the emperor"s side?""
Chen Zaiyan said, ""This might be the empress dowager"s biggest mistake. She never would have thought that An Chengli would stand on the king"s side.""
At the same time.
The Heavenly Enlightenment Sect.
The spiritual sheds had already been set up, with hundreds of men in plain white clothing lining up on both sides.
""He doesn"t have a family, but we"re all his family.""
An Zou looked at Jin San who was lying quietly in the spiritual hut and said, ""When I brought him out of Fringe City, we agreed to do something big together.""
""I promise that from today onwards, no one will leave the sect.""
He spoke incoherently, with an indescribable sadness.
""Logically speaking, it would take three days before the funeral.""
An Xuan said, ""We accept the condolences of our family and friends, but the relatives and friends of Jin San are all here now, so we should let him rest in peace.""
The eight big men carried the coffin over and then carried Jin San"s corpse into the coffin.
They carried the coffin onto the carriage, and the group of people silently followed behind the carriage and left the Heavenly Ascension Sect.
""Brother Jin, you are gone. May your spirit protect more of the living in heaven, and make the people who should not have suffered from disaster safe and sound forever.""
The people around him heard him muttering to himself, but no one understood the deeper meaning behind those words.
The funeral procession marched out of the sect, heading out of the city.
The people on the street stopped and began to whisper amongst themselves. This was a white matter for which family.
Some people recognized the members of the Heavenly Awakening Sect. Although they didn"t know who had died, those who had received help from the Heavenly Awakening Sect began to join their entourage.
By the time they reached the city gate, the group had already reached over a thousand people.
When the people from the Heavenly Awakening Sect arrived at Fang Gu City, the people around them had received their help.
Sometimes grat.i.tude is silent, like the people who walk behind the line in silence.
They didn"t know who had left the sect, but they were willing to join in.
The investigation at the city gates was intense. Of course, the empress dowager"s men were keeping an eye on each and every one of the gates.
The sudden disappearance of Hao Ping"s family infuriated the empress dowager greatly. She had ordered that these people must be found as soon as possible, so all the forces in the capital that belonged to the empress dowager had been unleashed.
At the city gate, the soldiers guarding the city were separated from the empress dowager"s by a clear line.
King Mu Changyan didn"t order the Board of Justice to be involved in this matter, but the Ministry of Justice had received orders from the empress dowager to call out all their manpower.
The official officer of the Board of Justice in his official uniform was inspecting every person who left the city, while the soldiers guarding the city were observing from the sidelines.
""Stop!""
An official of the Ministry of Justice walked over to stop the funeral procession. He frowned as he looked at An Ying and the others. ""Where are they from?""
""What for?""
Skinny Dean, who was walking at the front, said in an angry tone: ""Don"t you see it yourself?""
The official said, ""If I ask you, you will answer.""
The skinny Du looked into his eyes and replied word by word, ""Reporting to grandpa, family members have died and been sent out of the city for burial.""
The officer said, ""Everyone must be examined, and the mourners must not be an exception.""
With a wave of his hand, more than a dozen officials gathered around the door and started to look at the people one by one.
There were not many of Hao Ping"s family members, including the old madame and his wife.
Hao Ping"s only son held a position in the city, so there were only these two women in the family.
Because of the long journey, Hao Ping"s son had yet to return from the outside world. According to the distance, even if he had to travel very fast, it would still take him nearly a month to get there.
It was less than twenty days since Hao Ping had pa.s.sed away.
Naturally, there were no suspects in the team, so no matter how much they searched, they couldn"t find anything.
The official from before walked in front of the hea.r.s.e and took a closer look. Other than a coffin, there was nothing else on the hea.r.s.e.
""Open the coffin!""
He waved his hand. ""I have to look at the dead first before I can leave the city.""
""Do you want to die?""
Let me tell you, the skin on your body is nothing in my eyes. I have ten thousand ways to kill you.
""If you dare to disturb my brother"s corpse, I will let you die a horrible death.""
The official was obviously shocked by Du"s thinness. He wanted to struggle out, but was unable to break free. ""You … what are you trying to do!?"" ""You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You … You …""
Attacking an official in broad daylight, do you not want to live anymore!?
Skinny Du angrily said, ""Are you still f * cking human?""
If your family dies and someone tries to pry open the coffin, won"t you let them?
""Are you going to make way?!""
The officer was frightened to the point that his face turned pale. ""This is … the imperial court"s rule. No one can resist it.""
""I"m warning you, if you continue like this, I"ll pull out my blade.""
""I guarantee that if you can"t pull out the knife then you will die.""
The rest of the soldiers rushed forward, wanting to take action. In the end, the soldiers who were guarding the city knew about the war and knew that the war was fought by the soldiers, so the soldiers who were guarding the city also rushed forward and surrounded the officers.
The officials had no confidence at all. The hundreds of men from the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect were all holding back their anger. They were already afraid.
Now that the city guards had arrived, they knew that this matter was beyond their capabilities.
""Show them.""
An Zeng walked over and stared coldly at the official, ""Remember every word I said to you today … the moment you opened the coffin, everyone present was almost put into the coffin.""
The official trembled in fright before waving his hand. ""Let"s go, let"s go. It"s not like I intentionally made things difficult for you. It was the imperial court"s order … People die big, so I won"t bother with you.""
An Zeng cast a glance at him before walking forward.
The funeral procession set off again, but more and more people were watching.
Not long after the team left the city, a team of the Board of Justice"s cavalry caught up with them. There were no less than a hundred of them.
The Board of Justice"s cavalry was extremely elite, and only the Board of Justice of a major case would use it.
The so-called Tee Cavalry was because these cavalrymen wore red official robes and large red cloaks. As they galloped forward, it was as if flames were engulfing everything in their path.
""Board of Justice"s cavalry, investigate the case. Stop the front line!""
Someone from the Ty Cavalrymen shouted, and a hundred cavalrymen whistled through the fields on the side of the main road, blocking the path in front of the funeral procession.
""All of you, stop and take a look!""
The leader of the cavalry looked at them and clasped his hands. ""I"m really sorry. I should not have disturbed the dead, but the Board of Justice ordered me to do so. Please forgive me for offending you.""
This man looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He had handsome features and was one of the tougher types of handsomeness.
In addition, he also had the bearing of a mighty Thistle lieutenant.
""Are you a compet.i.tor from the Martial Arts Academy?""
The lieutenant jumped down from his horse and said, ""I am the lieutenant of the Board of Justice, Tantacha. I have been ordered to investigate a case. I have offended you.""
Seeing that this person spoke politely, An Zaihai also cupped his fist in return. ""Greetings, lieutenant.""
Tantai asked, ""May I ask who the deceased is?""
An Zaiyue replied, ""An elder brother of my sect died accidentally when he was competing with someone.""
In a compet.i.tion between cultivators, it was unavoidable for a dead person to die. Thus, the Board of Justice basically did not ask about matters between cultivators.
There was a special yamen in Yan Country that oversaw the cases of cultivators. They were called Zong Guan. They directly belonged to Empyrean Terminus Palace and were not under the control of any yamen.
Thus, the Board of Justice could not be bothered to interfere when encountering cultivators competing to injure dead people.
However, the strict orders from the empress dowager were irresistible, although he didn"t have a good impression of the empress dowager either, even though he knew that he shouldn"t disturb a dead person.
""Excuse me, can I see the dead?""
""I know it"s too much, but I have no choice,"" he said apologetically.
An Zhan shook his head and replied, ""No.""