After leaving the palace, Young Master Lin went straight to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The assassin he had captured before was a big shot. No matter how severely he was tortured, he refused to say a word, and refused to confess who had provided him with the information or tell where he came from.
However, no matter how tough a person is, he has weaknesses, and this man’s weakness is his young son.
He was a filial son and a qualified father. He treated both his father and son very well. Before coming to assassinate Zhuang Rong, he arranged his son's place in advance and sent him to live with his sister.
Young Master Lin had spent some effort to check his identity before, and later he had someone bring his son from Baoding, which also took some time. Before, when he was in the palace, his subordinates had already reported in that the child had been brought there.
He saw that the child in Lou Bing's arms was indeed skinny, with cheekbones that looked prominent and eyes full of panic and fear. He sighed in his heart, nodded directly to Lou Bing, and took the child to the place where Zhao Er was imprisoned.
Zhao Er was not afraid of torture because he had suffered enough as a soldier and he was also stubborn and could endure pain.
The Jinyiwei beat him so hard that three sticks were broken and his skin was torn and flesh was exposed, but he did not give in at all.
It was because of this that Young Master Lin confirmed that he really came to avenge his father and was used by someone with ulterior motives, and was not a real assassin. He then followed the clues and found out his true identity.
Chu Jingxing wanted to use the incident of this man assassinating Zhuang Rong to create a bigger public opinion so that the case of Prince Zhennan could be tried more quickly.
So Zhao Er was completely used.
But it would be useless if they couldn't get evidence. They still had to get evidence.
Fortunately, although Zhao Er is fearless and can handle it, he is a man with a conscience. When he saw his son, he widened his eyes and begged Master Lin and others not to hurt him.
Lou held the child further away and said to him calmly, "We won't harm him. Don't you know who harmed him? You sent the child to your sister's house. He has six children crying for food. Your son is sick. When we went there, he hadn't eaten for three meals and was dying of hunger..."
He looked at Zhao Er's incredulous and painful expression, and then asked the child: "Is your aunt treating you well?"
The child looked at him in confusion, then looked at Zhao Er cautiously, and shook his head with certainty: "Aunt likes me, but uncle doesn't..."
This is inevitable. It is human nature to be like this. People tend to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and seek profit and avoid harm.
There are so many children at home who are eager to eat, so who would be happy if a burden comes along
Zhao Er was so heartbroken that he could not help but call out his son's name, "Gou'er, I am sorry for you..."
Young Master Lin glanced at Lou Bing, who understood and let the dog go, gave him a push, and pushed him towards Zhao Er.
The dog stumbled towards Zhao Er, quickly hugged Zhao Er's legs and called him "Dad".
The child also knows the pros and cons of closeness and distance. He knows very well who treats him better and who is closer to him, his father or his aunt.
Zhao Er showed pain on his face. With a glance from Lou Bing, someone below undid his shackles for him. He bent down with difficulty and held the child in his arms. He looked at Lin Sanshao and the others warily: "What do you want?"
Lou Bing smiled, walked to his side and stood still, stretched out his hand to hook the dog's chin and teased him, then said slowly: "Don't you want anything to happen? We ran so far to bring the child here, and we didn't do anything to him. Do you think we would hurt you?"
Zhao Er was confused: "Then you are not in the same group with those corrupt officials?!"
Young Master Lin raised his eyebrows, sat down on the chair prepared by his subordinates, and asked him calmly, "What dog official? Do you mean the King of Zhennan?"
The indignation on Zhao Er's face became more and more serious. He bit his lip and seemed to hesitate for a while before sneering, "Who else could it be if not him?! He forced my father to death!"
As he spoke, he became excited: "We agreed that we would farm the land we had taken back and we would pay him rent..."
Young Master Lin knocked on the table and looked at him: "Do you want to take the land back?"
Seeing Zhao Er nod, he asked, "Why do you want to take it back? The court has special garrison fields for you military households to cultivate. The harvest from this land is yours, and you don't have to pay taxes."
Zhao Er spat bitterly: "Don't you have to pay taxes? They want to eat our flesh and drink our blood! First, they paid 10% of the rent, then 30%, 40%, and later they couldn't afford it anymore, they couldn't even eat, but they still forced us to pay! Don't pay?" He sneered: "Go ask how many families have sold their children!"
Young Master Lin nodded and asked, "Who came to collect it?" He asked, "Was it the Prince of Zhennan himself?"
Zhao Er calmed down a little and shook his head: "That's not the case. Why would he come in person? They are all his men. We just need to pay the rent."
Young Master Lin also shook his head: "This is not right."
He said, "The Prince of Zhennan doesn't care about the affairs of your Baoding Prefecture. The Qianhu Suo of your Baoding Prefecture is under the jurisdiction of Hebei Guard. Isn't the affairs of Hebei Guard managed by Cao Zheng?"
Zhao Er didn't understand all this. He scratched his head and said, "We don't understand this. We just know that it was a servant from the Zhennan Palace who came to collect the rent. He also raped our daughter. She was a good virgin, but he took her home to be his concubine. Later, his first wife couldn't tolerate her, so he sent her back. Later, the child died!"
Young Master Lin did not interrupt him. He waited until he finished speaking before asking calmly, "If that's the case, then you are concluding that it was the King of Zhennan who collected your rent just based on this servant, and that they were all instructed by the King of Zhennan?"
Lou Bing understood and followed up with, "Isn't this too hasty? Is there no other evidence? Just based on what you said, you can't convict the Prince of Zhennan. At most, he is accused of not being strict with his subordinates. How can it be that he collected your rent, falsely reported the number of people, and withheld military pay and rations?"
Zhao Er's eyes were red with anger. When he heard that the King of Zhennan could not be convicted, he became anxious: "Why can't it be him? It must be him! Dong Siyuan, that dog official, said that he was just listening to the King of Zhennan and made things difficult for us. He himself could not get anything. What he collected was handed over to the prince. If it's not the King of Zhennan, who else could it be?!"
Dong Siyuan
Lou Bing smiled and asked, "He said all that. What else did he say?"