After waiting for three days, the imperial envoy still had not arrived. This was somewhat beyond Qin Mubai and Li Ke's expectations.
During these three days, the two of them continued to carry out the work at hand as usual. Li Ke took charge of the overall situation of disaster relief and people's relief, while Qin Mubai led people to inspect various dams. The flood situation in Jishan has been fully controlled. The water level is also declining in late autumn, and the victims of all walks of life have almost settled down.
But there was still no movement from the emperor's side.
In the past few days, Qin Mubai has been sending people to secretly monitor Zhang Tianci, Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun. They were obviously a little nervous, and they often got together from time to time to plot and discuss things. He also kept sending people to Jinzhou to find Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, but he always received a rejection.
In this situation, they are like fish caught in a net, making their last desperate struggle, hoping or holding on to a bit of luck, thinking that Li Ke, Qin Mubai and others have not discovered any flaws.
Early in the morning on the fourth day, Li Ke explained the day's work in the king's tent as usual. Qin Mubai and officials from all over Jiangzhou arrived, but Ma Kun and Cheng Songqian were not seen yet.
This is obviously extremely abnormal. Cheng Songnian was the governor of Jiangzhou, and Ma Kun was the captain of Jiangzhou Prefecture. One of them was in charge of literature and the other was in charge of military affairs. Li Ke directly handed over all matters, big and small, to them. In the past, they never dared to be even half a minute late.
"Wait a minute, maybe they were delayed for a while." Li Ke patiently said to everyone.
After waiting for a while, before Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun came, a minor official from Jiangzhou Prefecture came to see them. When Li Kexuan came in, the clerk fell down and said in panic: "I would like to report to His Highness the King of Wu that the Governor Cheng suddenly committed suicide by taking poison last night!"
"What?!" As soon as these words came out, Li Ke, Qin Mubai and everyone else were shocked.
"How could this happen?" Li Ke looked at Qin Mubai in shock and confusion, and Qin Mubai could only shake his head in confusion.
While everyone was wondering and exclaiming, a small school hurriedly came to report that Captain Ma Kun had drawn his sword and committed suicide in his military tent!
"Huh? -" This time, there was an even louder exclamation.
"Where is Zhang Tianci?" Li Ke and Qin Mubai looked at each other and asked each other in a low voice almost at the same time.
"I'll come as soon as I go." Qin Mubai walked back to his military tent. Several groups of Baiqi soldiers who were sent to the Shengnan Hou Mansion to take turns to give orders had returned and reported to Qin Mubai together. Early in the morning, a funeral was held at the Shengnan Hou Mansion, saying that Zhang Tianci suddenly committed suicide by hanging from a beam last night!
Qin Mubai took a deep breath: This matter is so mysterious!
how so? The three chief culprits suddenly committed suicide overnight! —Did he commit suicide out of fear of crime or was he murdered by someone else
Good this time. Jiangzhou is going to explode!
The governor is the biggest official here, the captain is the most senior general, and Zhang Tianci is a powerful man who can hold the sky with his hands. The three of them died at the same time!
Qin Mubai did not rush to report the matter to Li Ke, but sat down and thought quietly by himself.
After a while, he asked the attendant: "Where is Chen Yan?"
"I'm here." Before he finished speaking, Chen Yan walked in from outside the tent.
"I've heard everything. But I promise, I didn't do it." Chen Yan said proactively before Qin Mubai could ask. She looked at Qin Mubai calmly, staring directly into his eyes with a pair of beautiful eyes, obviously not guilty at all.
"If it wasn't you, who else could it be?" Qin Mubai shook his head in confusion.
"There will be many people who want them dead." Chen Yan said, "Don't you? Don't you want Li Ke? Don't you want the King of Jiangxia? There are also the prince, the emperor, and even the officials who have dealings with Zhang Tianci and others. Don’t you want to?”
Qin Mubai's heart trembled slightly, and he nodded: "It makes sense... It seems that only if they all die together, this matter will be easy to calm down. Otherwise, if it gets too big, the emperor may depose the prince, or he may have an affair with him." The King of Jiangxia turned against him. It is also possible that most of the officials in Jiangzhou were implicated and either killed or demoted. In short, many people would suffer. In this way, the court would be in chaos, and Jiangzhou would suffer. There will be more chaos. With so many officials dismissed, everyone will be in danger, and the normal order of the entire state will be broken and it will be in trouble. "
"So these three people deserved to die. What's more, they deserved to die." Chen Yan said coldly.
Qin Mubai took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, nodded, and said no more words. He was wondering, who killed these three people and what method was used, or made these three people commit suicide together
Li Ke? Li Daozong? Prince? emperor? …it seems possible!
"I don't care about this matter." Qin Mubai said, "Three people who deserve to die will die when they die. Whether it is a homicide or a suicide, this is not the scope of my business."
"You are finally smart for once." Chen Yan held the sword on her chest and smiled lightly, "Do you really think you can take care of these matters of the princes and nobles? We are used to being common people, so we always do things that are small. The duty and consciousness of the people. The world of the Tang Dynasty is, to put it bluntly, the world of the emperor and the royal family named Li. No matter how great you are as a minister, you cannot control everything, especially the royal family themselves. Contradictions between people.”
"Well said!" Qin Mubai let out a long breath, "A small Jishan can actually affect the whole body and alarm the royal family and the country. It is really unexpected. I am a small person, why bother? To care about the fight between the emperor and his relatives? I don’t care! Whether these three people committed suicide or committed suicide, I don’t want to find out. "
"This is just like when we are walking around the world. No matter how famous you are and how powerful your martial arts skills are, don't bother with the internal affairs of other people's sects." Chen Yan turned around and walked out, saying as she walked, "This will make you die very badly." It’s going to be very miserable!”
"I know, Miss Chen." Qin Mubai shook his head and smiled, thinking to himself: This woman is as thoughtful as her hair and very smart, and she is cold on the outside and hot on the inside. She is obviously caring and helping people, but she has to put on a stiff and cold face. face…
After a while, Qin Mubai returned to the king's tent and said to Li Ke in public: "I just received the news that Zhang Tianci, the Marquis of Shengnan, committed suicide by hanging himself from a beam at home."
This time, not many people screamed in surprise, and many people showed a look of "as expected". Among the people present, many officials and generals looked frightened and a little uneasy.
"Strange, how come all three of these people suddenly committed suicide?" Li Ke frowned with an expression of incredible surprise, and shook his head in embarrassment, "At this juncture, what are they doing? All the officials will Listen, the news of their deaths is a bit shocking, but the overall goal now is to provide relief to the people. As for the cause of their deaths, I will report to the court and send someone to investigate. For this reason, don't mess with us because of this matter. This king ordered that Sima Jiangzhou temporarily take over the post of governor of Songnian, and Captain Guoyi of Jiangzhou Prefecture temporarily takes over the post of Captain Ma Kun, so that he can take over their work and continue to provide relief to the people and build embankments. Keep building the dam!"
"Yes!" All the officers and generals accepted the promise together, finally feeling relieved for the time being. They were afraid that Li Ke would follow the clues and catch them all. I don’t know how many of them were under their sect before. If this is pursued, everyone will suffer.
Li Ke's attitude also made many people feel happy: from his tone, it seemed as if he was not prepared to investigate further... Everyone is understanding. There must be a hidden secret among these three people who died mysteriously and violently. But Li Ke didn't seem to care very much, and his attitude was ambiguous - could he be taking the initiative to calm things down
For a time, everyone was speculating endlessly. Although the scene was silent and no one spoke, the atmosphere became a little strange, as if everyone was secretly thinking about something.
"This is the arrangement for the time being. You all should step aside and go about your business. If you have any questions, please come and ask me." Li Ke waved his hand and signaled everyone to leave.
After a while, only Li Ke and Qin Mubai were left in the king's tent.
The two of them stared blankly for a long time, and then they both laughed at the same time.
"This is so unexpected!" They almost said in unison.
"Your Highness, what are you going to do now?" Qin Mubai asked.
Li Ke frowned, thoughtfully, and shook his head: "I can't understand this situation, but I don't want to pursue it at all. Investigating murder cases is not what I am good at, nor is it what I am good at. It’s within the scope of my responsibilities. I just report it to the court truthfully. I don’t decide what to do.”
"Your Highness, this is appropriate." Qin Mubai said with a smile.
"There are so many things happening in this small place in Jiangzhou. Mu Bai, this is a troubled place. We'd better leave as soon as possible!" Li Ke raised his eyebrows half-jokingly and half-seriously, pretending He said with horror and exaggeration, "I will draw up a memorial immediately and report today's events to His Majesty truthfully and ask him to make a decision."
"Okay." Qin Mubai nodded in approval. I thought to myself that Li Ke was indeed a smart man with a clear mind and a clear mind. He probably also thought that the deaths of these three people were either related to the emperor, the prince, the King of Jiangxia, or Li Ke himself.
All in all, it's not worth it to keep going through trouble for three people who are bound to die. Although it is unreasonable to say that human life is greater than heaven's law and not obey it, people who are dead to the law are alive. It was worth sacrificing three villains to bring peace to the court and Jiangzhou.
In this way, as expected, the deaths of these three people will definitely go unsolved. The imperial court may send people down to investigate, but there will never be any clear results. ]
In this way, the Jiangzhou case is like a live fish that has been thrown into a hot pot. It keeps jumping around and causing a splash of boiling oil. Now, it was suddenly covered by someone covering it with a big pot, and everything became peaceful in an instant.
Although the fish in the pot was still jumping around and did not really quiet down for an instant, the boiling oil could not splash out and burn anyone.
They won't be burned by oil, which is a great thing. Who would ask clearly who put the lid on the pot