Chapter 635 Finding Evidence
Chapter 635 Finding Evidence
That morning, a small passenger boat docked at the back door of a mansion in Zhongli County. A petite young woman walked out of the boat. She was Zhao Juaner, the female guard of the Prince Jin's Mansion.
Internal Guard General Shi Xiaozhen was already waiting in front of the dock. He hurried forward and stretched out his arm. Zhao Juaner smiled, put her hand on Shi Xiaozhen's arm, and gently went ashore.
This was their second collaboration. The last time was in Xuancheng County, where the two worked together to find out the secret of Wei Liangcai, the chief historian of Xuancheng County.
It was also during that collaboration that a secret affection developed between the two. Both of them were from Changle Township, Feng County, Jingzhao, and their fathers knew each other when they were children. Although the two had not known each other before, their friendship as fellow townsmen made their relationship closer.
Shi Xiaozhen is 1.9 meters tall and very tall and strong, while Zhao Juaner is only a little over 1.5 meters tall and looks very thin. When the two of them are together, they have a kind of little bird-like feeling. Despite the huge height difference, it does not affect the secret feelings between them.
The female guards of Prince Jin's Mansion have been replaced by three batches so far. They are all female soldiers selected by the Internal Guard Bureau and sent to Prince Jin's Mansion and other high-ranking officials' residences to perform security tasks.
The term of office was generally five years, and ended in their early twenties. It was not easy to find a commoner husband at this age, so in the end it was the princess who made the decision and betrothed them to the personal soldiers of the King of Jin.
Zhao Juan'er was already twenty years old, and the princess began to arrange blind dates for her. She met several suitable soldiers, but Zhao Juan'er secretly fell in love with Shi Xiaozhen.
Shi Xiaozhen's tall and mighty figure gave her enough sense of security.
Zhao Juaner's father, Zhao Xiaonian, currently works in the Internal Security Bureau. He found Shi Xiaozhen's father, and the two old friends from the same hometown had a drink, and the marriage of their children was settled.
After working together again after a year, the two have become an engaged couple.
Shi Xiaozhen invited Zhao Juaner to the inner hall. The two had no time to talk about personal matters for the time being, so they talked about official business first.
Shi Xiaozhen smiled at Zhao Juaner and said, "This time I used the same trick again. I bribed the housekeeper of the governor's mansion and took the opportunity when the governor Zhang Tai went to inspect the county to search his mansion twice, but found nothing. I had no choice but to ask Juaner to help again."
Zhao Juan'er drank a sip of hot tea and asked with a smile, "What are you looking for, General?"
"Find evidence, evidence that Zhang Tai is colluding with Du Fuwei, such as letters or something like that."
Zhao Juaner glanced at him and said, "General, are you sure that a traitor like Du Fuwei can read and write letters?"
"Du Fuwei may not be able to write a letter, but he has military advisors and staff. He only needs to stamp it."
Zhao Juaner nodded gently, "That's possible. I wonder when there will be a chance?"
"Zhang Tai is away these days. I don't know where he went. His housekeeper doesn't know either. We only know that he will be back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We will have a chance tonight."
Zhao Juaner smiled slightly, "Then let's do it tonight! After we finish our business, you can accompany me to take a walk to the beautiful scenery nearby!"
Shi Xiaozhen's blood boiled in his heart, and he nodded heavily, "Definitely!"
That night, Shi Xiaozhen and Wang Juaner sneaked into the governor's mansion. She sneaked into the study and bedroom, looked around and shook her head, there was no sign of hidden traps.
"Go look outside!"
The two went outside, and Shi Xiaozhen lay on a rockery to look for her. When he turned around, he saw Wang Juaner staring at the study in a daze.
He quickly stepped forward and asked, "Any questions?"
"This is the wrong study!"
"What's wrong?"
Wang Juaner pointed at the back window and said, "I walked through the room and found that there were three and a half steps from the edge of the back window to the wall. But now you see, there are six steps from the edge of the window to the outer wall. There can't be a wall that is two and a half steps thick!"
Shi Xiaozhen immediately reacted, "You mean there is a wall?"
Wang Juaner nodded. "At first I thought it was a partition wall for ice cubes, but now I find that there are no partition walls in other rooms, which means that the partition wall is not used to store ice cubes."
Shi Xiaozhen was overjoyed, "Let's take another look!" The two of them sneaked into the study again. This time they had a clear goal and quickly found the entrance through the wall. A bookcase was nailed to the wall. They opened the door of the bookcase and took out all the books. They saw a two-foot square iron door.
Although a key is needed to open it, for a master of mechanisms like Wang Juaner, there is no need for a key at all. She took out a thin iron bar and poked it gently, "Click!" and the lock opened.
The door was very small and Shi Xiaozhen couldn't get in, but Wang Juaner slipped in easily.
"Ah!" Wang Juaner exclaimed.
"What is it?"
"It's all silver, fifty taels per ingot. There are at least two hundred ingots, a hundred thousand taels of silver!"
"Don't worry about the silver, find the clerk!"
Soon, Wang Juaner came out and handed a flat wooden box to Shi Xiaozhen.
"There's only this. There should be documents inside!"
Shi Xiaozhen opened the box and found folded yellow silk inside. He unfolded the yellow silk and was immediately shocked because it turned out to be an imperial edict.
But this was an imperial decree issued by Emperor Yang Yong of the Western Sui Dynasty, conferring the title of Duke of Zhong on Zhang Tai.
Just then, voices suddenly came from a distance.
Shi Xiaozhen was startled and suddenly blew out the fire. The two of them quickly closed the door of the secret room and restored the bookcase to its original state. At this time, footsteps were heard outside.
"This is my study. No outsiders are allowed in. Let's talk in the study!"
Shi Xiaozhen pointed to the stairs and the two of them immediately went up to the second floor. At this time, the study door opened and two people walked in. One of them was the governor Zhang Tai, and the other was tall, whom Shi Xiaozhen had never seen before.
Shi Xiaozhen and Zhao Juaner pricked up their ears to listen to the conversation below.
"Minister Yang, what exactly does the court mean?"
One of the two was the governor Zhang Tai, and the other was Yang Jishan.
Yang Jishan said with a smile: "The emperor has just arrived in Chengdu, and everything is still being perfected. A lot of news has not been received in time. They don't know that the King of Jin has regained the six counties of Jianghuai. If the emperor knew, he would definitely not let you be in danger. I can arrange for you to be the chief of the Jianghuai General Administration Office in advance. You can take all the officials with you to strengthen the General Administration Office."
Zhang Tai sighed and said, "Why don't you let me take up the post in Bashu?"
Yang Jishan said with a little displeasure: "I have already said it just now, the emperor has just arrived in Chengdu, and he has many things to deal with, so he can't take care of you for the time being. But you are in danger here, and the King of Jin will take action against you, so I will make the decision on behalf of the emperor and temporarily transfer you to Pengcheng County. You will set up the Jianghuai General Administration Office there, and I believe the emperor will not treat you unfairly."
Zhang Tai had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, "Then can my wife and children go to Bashu first?"
"Are they also in Zhongli County?"
"No! They are in their hometown, Liang County. I am afraid they will be liquidated by the Eastern Sui court."
"That's fine. You write them a letter and ask them to go directly to Chengdu. I will also write a letter to the emperor, and the court will take care of them."
The two men exchanged a few more words, then Yang Jishan said goodbye and left, and Zhang Tai saw him out of the mansion.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shi Xiaozhen and Zhao Juaner quickly went downstairs, climbed over the wall and left the governor's mansion.
That night, Shi Xiaozhen sent people to Jiangdu County to ask for reinforcements, but they had only more than 20 people and could not stop Zhang Tai from escaping.
(End of this chapter)