Li Ke cut his hands behind his back and walked directly to the main hall of the Governor's Mansion without saying a word.
The tables and couches in the hall were neatly arranged, obviously ready to welcome Li Ke. Nowadays, all the officials and generals, big and small, can only stand cautiously in the hall with their hands lowered, not daring to show their anger.
Li Ke sat in the hall, his face almost expressionless, his eyes coldly swept over everyone in the hall, and he was silent for a long time, but did not speak.
The atmosphere in the hall was almost suffocating. Although it was a cold day in early spring, Zhao Chong's forehead was dripping with cold sweat, while Wu Facao's legs were slightly trembling.
Seeing that the atmosphere was so awkward and stagnant, Quan Wanji took a few steps forward to Li Ke's side, bent down and whispered: "Your Highness, please calm down... I have already heard about what happened before. After all, it was a misunderstanding." "
"Quan Changshi, in fact, you are overly worried. I am not angry." Li Ke suddenly smiled and waved his hand relaxedly, "I am new here, and I can be considered acquainted with you today. In this way, I shouldn't think of you again. Is this king here to catch the water ghost?"
"Haha..." The officers and generals present burst into laughter, and the atmosphere was at least a little more lively. Wu Facao and Zhao Chong became more and more nervous, and their wry smiles looked uglier than crying.
Li Ke became more relaxed and casual. He touched his belly and said: "Sit down, everyone. I am really hungry. The food in prison is not what people eat. What are you waiting for? Come to the table!"
"Thank you, Your Highness, for giving me a seat!" All the officials breathed a sigh of relief and took their seats one after another.
Quan Wanji stood aside and looked at Li Ke blankly. He was confused for a moment and didn't know what Li Ke meant. He thought to himself: According to His Highness's past character, after being so wronged and humiliated today, he should have become furious and even whipped someone. What's going on now? Why do you feel like he's a little mysterious
"Quan Changshi, you can sit down and enjoy the banquet!" Li Ke said with a smile, and pointed to the seat next to him.
Quan Wanji could only return the salute with a wry smile, and said: "Thank you, Your Highness, for the seat. But shouldn't this seat be reserved for General Qin?"
"No need. He will definitely not come to the banquet today. You sit down." Li Ke waved his hand and said with a mysterious smile.
Quan Wanji smiled helplessly and shook his head. He knew that Li Ke and Qin Mubai, the best friends, were both very smart characters. How could he figure out what they were plotting between them? Can you guess something? That's all, let them go and see how Li Ke behaves today.
After a while, the banquet was brought out, and everyone sat in separate groups to eat and drink. Li Ke was really hungry, so he ate half full by himself without any care, and then he had some thoughts to deal with the officials and generals who were waiting for him to take care of him.
"Everyone, I have traveled thousands of miles from the capital to Xiangzhou for the first time. I am not familiar with the place. From now on, I will have to rely on all my colleagues for help." Li Ke got up, left the table with a glass of wine, and walked into the hall. Everyone else put down their chopsticks and cups and sat in front of them, listening attentively.
"Among the colleagues here, except for Chang Shi Quan Wanji who came with me, and Wu Facao and Zhao Wei who had a quick meeting, I don't know any of the others." Li Ke said with a smile, "How about that? , Can you please take the initiative to introduce me? Let’s start with the governor. Where is Sima in Xiangzhou?”
"Here is my humble post!" An official in a red robe standing up hurriedly, walked to the hall, bowed down to Li Kezheng, and said respectfully: "Your humble post, Wei Xiaochen, pays homage to His Highness! This humble post is thirty-eight years old, and he is an official in Jingzhao. In the second year of Zhenguan, he took up the post of Sima of Xiangzhou for more than three years."
"Wei Sima, um, nice to meet you." Li Ke nodded with a smile, thought for a moment, and asked, "I wonder what the relationship is between Sima and Dr. Wei's family in Chang'an?"
"Reply to Your Highness. My humble ancestor was born in the Wei family of Guanlong, and is related to the Wei family in Chang'an." Wei Xiaochen replied.
Li Ke looked at Wei Xiaochen carefully and couldn't help but be a little surprised: "It turns out that Wei Sima comes from such a famous family. It's really disrespectful!"
"Don't dare, don't dare!" A smile appeared on Wei Xiaochen's face, with a vague sense of pride that was difficult to discern, and he hurriedly raised his hands and said, "His Royal Highness has the blood of the royal family from two dynasties, so he is truly noble!"
Li Ke nodded and motioned for Wei Xiaochen to sit back. They had met each other.
The Tang Dynasty paid great attention to family background, and the Chang'an Wei family was a typical famous family.
Next, a person took the initiative to come out and introduce himself to Li Ke. Under the current circumstances, it doesn't take a guess to know that he should be the highest-ranking officer among the officers and generals present. Unsurprisingly, this man with a powerful face but a touch of elegance was none other than Du Chengyuan, one of Qin Mubai's deputies and the captain of Guoyi in Xiangzhou Prefecture.
Coincidentally, this man was actually an official from Jingzhao. He was born into the Du family of the Guanlong clan at the same time as Wei Xiaochen, and was related to the founding prime minister Du Ruhui!
There is a saying in later generations, "Wei Du in the south of the city is five feet away from the sky." This is a perfect way to describe the kindness and honor of the Wei and Du families in Chang'an.
The Wei family and the Du family are both old and famous families in the Tang Dynasty. Their families are prosperous and wealthy, and there are many talents in the family. Since the Northern Wei Dynasty, there have been many prime ministers and generals. They have many marriages with the royal family and have frequent contacts with other famous families. Densely intertwined. Nowadays, the Wei and Du families are extremely prosperous in Chang'an, because Li Shimin adopted Wei's daughter as his concubine, and the Du family has a pillar like Du Ruhui.
Li Ke never expected that in the small Xiangzhou, the nephew of the Weidu family would serve as an official here! If it were not for him, the prince, to come in person, Wei Xiaochen and Du Chengyuan would not necessarily take him seriously if he were an ordinary official!
…
At this moment, in prison.
Qin Mubai asked the jailer to invite Chen Yan to the innermost cell, which was the secret room of the iron prison where the jailers threatened to imprison him and Li Ke.
Face to face, Qin Mubai could hardly recognize Chen Yan for a moment.
The heroic heroine in the past was now disheveled and smelly, her face was as pale as paper, and the sound of her shackles and footcuffs gnawing was so harsh.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chen Yan's lips twitched slightly, and she said with a faint smile, "This is not the expression you should have when an old friend reunites."
"You sit down first." Qin Mubai said to the door again, "Heizi, let the prisoner loosen the shackles."
"No need." Chen Yan said calmly, "The prisoner was ready to release me just now, but I refused."
"Why?" Qin Mubai asked in surprise.
"Because I killed someone and am on death row." Chen Yan still said calmly, "Those who kill should die. Since you are an official, you must not abuse your official power and undermine the King's strict laws."
Qin Mubai was speechless for a moment and frowned.
"I'm very happy to see you again." Chen Yan smiled slightly, raised her hands to make the shackles make a biting sound, and said, "It's a pity that I am already a prisoner, and I can't toast to you. drink."
"Tell me, what exactly is going on?" Qin Mubai asked.
Chen Yan smiled slightly to herself and said: "Is it necessary? It is indeed an indisputable fact that I killed seventeen people in one breath, and I deserve to be punished. Even the emperor cannot pardon me. I know you want to save me. , but can you keep your mouth shut and not end up getting burned? I deserve death and I don’t want to implicate you.”
"Then just treat it as a chat between friends. You should be able to tell me why you killed those seventeen people?" Qin Mubai asked.
Chen Yan was silent for a moment and nodded: "Since you want to hear it so much, okay..."
It turned out that after Chen Yan stayed in Jiangzhou for a while, she was planning to take a boat back to her hometown in Jiangnan to take care of some things. That night, I was passing by the area near Baguidu in Xiangzhou. Suddenly there were screams and sounds of fighting on the river, and a fire broke out on a boat not far ahead.
Chen Yan was originally a chivalrous person who traveled around the world. She jumped off the boat and swam over without hesitation, preparing to save people. It turned out that there was a fight going on on that boat, and it was coming to an end. Seventeen assassins in black have killed everyone on the ship and searched all the treasures and cargo on the ship, and are preparing to escape. Chen Yan's appearance surprised the other party, and he immediately started to kill and silence him.
At that time, she was in a hurry to save people and never thought of escaping, so she fought hard with the opponent. After a fierce battle, all seventeen people on the other side were killed by her sword. At this time, the fire on the ship was getting bigger and bigger. Chen Yan searched hard in the ship, but found no one alive. Only then did she realize that this was originally a salt owl's ship that was used to transport salt - that is to say, she had inadvertently intervened in the battle between the salt owl!
At this moment, several official boats came over and blocked Chen Yan tightly.
The boat Chen Yan was on had already escaped ten miles away on the waterway. The scene was in raging fire and there were dozens of corpses. No one witnessed it to defend her. She didn't have much fondness for the people in the government, and now she knew it was hard to defend herself, so she jumped into the water decisively and prepared to escape. It turned out that the officers and soldiers were well prepared. They used deep-water crossbow spears to hook her out of the water, and a large net was used to catch her.
Later, she was thrown into solitary confinement in a death row prison without trial. From the beginning to the end, no one dared to approach her, and no one dared to talk to her. Therefore, Chen Yan still has no idea what kind of people she killed.
…
When Chen Yan was talking, Qin Mubai was looking at her and saw the scars left by iron hooks, claws, spears and swords on her body, such as her shoulders, pipa bones, etc. They are stuck together and cannot be separated.
…
After Chen Yan finished speaking, she smiled slightly and said: "That's the story. I know I didn't kill a good person, but no matter whether it's a good person or a bad person, I will kill him after all, so I deserve to die, right?"
"You weren't like this before." Qin Mubai frowned and said, "You have been traveling in the world for so many years. This is definitely not the first time you have killed someone."
"Not bad." Chen Yan stood up, walked slowly for two steps, turned her back and murmured, "After the Jiangzhou case, I vowed not to test the law again, and I also planned to retire from the world and return to my hometown to be a common woman. . Because from that time on, I understood that there are still emotions, principles, and laws in this world, and it is true that you and the prince made me understand that not all people in the government are stupid. Greedy and mediocre people…”
"Then there's no need for you to be a scapegoat." Qin Mubai said.
Chen Yan was startled for a moment, then turned around and asked in confusion: "What do you mean by that?"
"You just killed a group of people who deserved to be killed. What's your crime?" Qin Mubai raised the corner of his mouth and said softly, "If my prediction is correct, you should have killed the water ghosts in Xihe Cao. . This group of people has no law to plunder the river, and they dare to take official food and salt. They are the real felons on death row!"
"So what?" Chen Yan smiled a little disappointedly, "I'm just a civilian, I don't have the power to execute them, do I?"
"I said you have it, then you have it." Qin Mubai smiled mysteriously, "Can't I say that you are the secret envoy sent by Mr. Qin in advance, specifically to investigate the case of the water ghost in Xihetou? "
"This..." Chen Yan's eyes lit up, but she still shook her head, "Isn't this inappropriate? You haven't even taken office in Xiangzhou Prefecture, so why would you send a secret envoy to inquire about the Xihe Water Ghost? Isn't this just deceiving yourself and others?"
"Ha! Logically speaking, it is indeed unreasonable." Qin Mubai said with a smile, "However, many things in this officialdom are often unreasonable and reasonable. Because my official is bigger than them, what do I say? That's it. Furthermore, the Xihetao water ghost is so evil that everyone will punish it. Even if others understand that I am deliberately making an excuse to excuse you, they have nothing to say, regardless of friendship. , are all tenable theoretically.”
"..." Chen Yan was silent for a long time.
"Chen Yan, I must rescue you." Qin Mubai said firmly.
"I hope I won't cause you any trouble..." Chen Yan frowned slightly, stared into Qin Mubai's eyes, and said solemnly.
"Don't worry." Qin Mubai smiled relaxedly and confidently, "If I can't handle this little thing, then it's all in vain - come with me, now!"