In the study room of Liao Mansion, Liao Wei looked at the strange man in front of him solemnly.
The appearance of Twenty-Seven-Eight looked somewhat similar to that of his son-in-law. Although he had never seen this person before, Liao Wei knew just by looking at his face that, if not Cao Mian's biological son, he should at least be a nephew.
Sure enough, the young man bowed respectfully and said, "Junior Cao Mao has met Mr. Liao."
Liao Wei raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you Brother Cao's...nephew?"
The young man named Cao Mao said: "Back to uncle, it is my father and uncle who are brothers from the same mother. The younger generation is now following my uncle, helping with some chores."
Hearing this, Liao Wei frowned and said, "I see you have also read some books. Since you have such a family background, why don't you join the imperial examination and become an official?" The so-called doing chores is to work beside Cao Mian, and there is no actual position level.
Have the status of steward, clerk, staff, etc.
Compared with the auxiliary officials appointed by the imperial court, these talents are the real confidants.
Liao Wei also had people like this around him, but in his opinion, these people either lost confidence because they failed in the imperial examination, or they chose this path because they were unable to participate in the imperial examination for some reason. As Cao Mao's nephew, Cao Mao was also this person.
With age, these problems naturally do not exist.
Cao Mao lowered his head in embarrassment and said: "This junior is not very good at studying. It is already the limit for me to be a scholar. However, my two cousins are extremely talented and will definitely be on the gold medal list in the future."
Liao Wei frowned and said, "Cao Meng is already twenty-one this year, why don't you participate in the Spring Festival this year?" Cao Meng is the second son of the Cao family and Liao Wei's son-in-law.
Cao Mao said with a smile: "My uncle said that my second cousin is still young and his foundation is not solid enough. Although he can pass the exam this year, his ranking may not be too high. He wants him to study hard for another three years, and he will be more confident in the next exam.
Some."
Liao Wei thought of his own family's character and nodded.
The son-in-law was only twenty-one years old, and would only be twenty-four three years later, so he was not too old. As for the fate of Cao Jie, the eldest son of the Cao family, it had nothing to do with him, and he naturally would not ask more questions.
"Sit down and talk." Liao Wei pointed to the chair next to him.
Cao Mao thanked him respectfully and sat down. As soon as he sat down, he heard Liao Wei say: "Brother Cao just sent someone back years ago. Why did he send you to the capital again in early March? But what's the matter?"
There is no real content in the two letters. The letter from the daughter and son-in-law is naturally a greeting. Cao Mian's letter is just some gossip. Although it has something to do with the situation in the court, it is far from necessary in Liao Wei's opinion.
He made a special trip to write a letter and have it sent to Yong.
The most important thing is that Cao Mian sent a letter just after the regent asked Cao Mian, which will inevitably make Liao Weiduo pay more attention.
Cao Mao said respectfully: "Back to Mr. Liao, March 20th is Mr. Feng's birthday. My uncle and two cousins have no time to return to the capital, so my uncle sent me to the capital to wish Mr. Feng his birthday." Before Liao Wei could say anything else,
, and he quickly said: "After I came to Beijing, I heard that... the Feng family seemed to be busy with some things. I was afraid that Mr. Feng would not be interested in visiting guests these days, so I had to come to disturb Mr. Liao first."
Liao Wei lowered his eyes, the Feng family has been in a lot of trouble recently.
Because of the previous incident where the man named Zou was demoted by the regent, the old lady of the Zou family came to the Feng family every now and then to cause trouble. Compared with the troubles of the Feng family, the losses he suffered at the hands of Anlan Academy and the regent princess were nothing.
At least the Princess Regent can't do anything like yelling at your door every day. Liao Wei chooses the former between temporary embarrassment and daily embarrassment.
"Are there really nothing else?" Liao Wei raised his eyes and stared at Cao Mao and asked.
Cao Mao was startled and looked at Liao Wei as if puzzled: "What is uncle referring to?"
"Nothing." Liao Wei said calmly: "What are the eldest son of the Cao family and Cao Meng busy with? They don't even have time to wish their grandfather a birthday?"
Cao Mao smiled and said: "Returning to my uncle, my second cousin has recently won the favor of a great scholar, and it is really difficult to leave. As for the eldest cousin... my sister-in-law is pregnant again, but the situation is a bit serious. The two of them are struggling every day.
Both cousins have written letters of apology and asked me to forward them to Mr. Feng on his behalf."
Liao Wei nodded, "I see, it's a happy event. Mr. Feng will not care about it."
"That's what my lord said."
After sending Cao Mao away, Liao Wei's brows furrowed a little tighter. After a while, he summoned his confidant to whisper a few instructions and wrote another letter and handed it to him.
The confidant took the letter solemnly, nodded silently, turned around and left.
In the dungeon of the Regent's Mansion, Luo Junyao looked thoughtfully at Cao An who was tied to a pillar. A few days later, Cao An seemed to have suffered nothing, but his face was a little defeated and depressed.
"Is he still unwilling to recruit?" Luo Junyao asked.
Qu Tiange stood nearby and said indifferently: "Maybe he really doesn't know." If you don't know something, it's naturally impossible to cause anything.
Luo Junyao said: "If he didn't know anything, how could Cao Mian let him chase people? If he leaked the news, wouldn't he be asking for trouble?"
Qu Tiange handed over a confession and said: "Princess, you can take a look at this." This is a new confession that Cao An has revealed one after another in the past few days, ranging from who Cao An has killed to how many taels of private money he has hidden.
Everything has been explained.
But things related to what Chen Xun said were always a bit vague.
Qu Tiange is well aware of his methods of judging people. There are people in the world who can withstand his methods, but there is definitely no Cao An among them.
Luo Junyao took it and flipped through it carefully. He frowned as he read and raised his own question, "The eldest son...referring to Cao Mian's eldest son Cao Jie? So, was it Cao Mian's order that you came to Shangyong?
Cao Jie’s?”
Cao An, who was originally hanging his head, raised his head and looked at Luo Junyao after hearing this, with a bit of resentment in his eyes.
If it weren't for this regent princess, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Luo Junyao couldn't help but feel happy when he looked at him, and said with a sweet smile: "You can't blame me, who let you bump into my hand? I advise you to answer my question carefully, I know you have tried Mr. Qu's method
Yes, but you probably haven’t experienced my methods yet.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cao An snorted and gritted his teeth: "It's the eldest son's order. The eldest son makes the final decision on matters in the Governor's Mansion. I don't often see the governor."
"Cao Jie?" Luo Jun frowned. Next to him, Zhu Siming had already handed over the dossier about Cao Jie.
"Cao Jie is the 24-year-old eldest son of Wen Dinghou Cao Mian, the governor of Qingzhou. His wife Xun is the eldest daughter of the Xun family, a prominent local family in Qingzhou, and they have a son and a daughter. After Cao Jie passed the scholar examination at the age of sixteen, he
When I took the exam again, Cao Meng, the second son of the Cao family, passed the exam at the age of twenty."
Luo Junyao was a little curious, "Is it that Cao Jie is not good at studying and plans to wait to inherit the title of Marquis Wen Ding?"
Zhu Siming coughed lightly and reminded: "Princess, if you pass the scholar examination at the age of sixteen, you can be considered a young talent. Moreover, Cao Jie won the exam in one go. It is said that he was among the best at the time. And he was only twenty-four years old. Even if he is really
If it doesn’t work, I won’t give up now.”
Luo Jun shook the file in his hand, "Why is that?"
It was impossible for a civil servant in the Great Sheng Dynasty to become an official without passing the examination, and even if the court gave you favors, you would not be given a real shortage.
If Cao Jie did not participate in the imperial examination, the official connections of his father, the Governor of Qingzhou, would be semi-waste or given to Cao Meng. In the future, he would inherit at most one count.
Just look at how much thought Chun'an Bo Mansion put into Xu Zhaolin, and you will know that the Lord may have a good-looking appearance, but what is really useful is his real power.
Zhu Siming shook his head, he didn't know either.
Luo Junyao asked: "So, was it Cao Mian or Cao Jie who sold and abducted a good girl?"
Cao An gritted his teeth and said: "That slanderer named Chen! How many taels of silver can one person be sold for? Does the Cao family lack that little money?"
Luo Jun shrugged and said, "Okay."
The door of the dungeon was pushed open, and Duiying walked in from the outside. He was startled when he saw Luo Junyao inside.
Luo Junyao waved to him with a smile and asked, "What's the matter?"
Duoying cupped his hands and said, "Back to Princess, I just received news that Cao Mian's nephew Cao Mao has come to Shangyong."
Luo Jun rolled his eyes, looked at Cao An with a half-smile, and asked, "Do you think Cao Mao knows that you have fallen into the hands of the Prince Regent?"
Cao An suddenly opened his eyes wide, filled with vigilance.
Luo Junyao said: "I can also see that you really don't know much about Chen Xun, so I have to try someone else."
Luo Junyao raised his hand and pointed at Duoying and said: "Think of a way to let Cao Mao know that their people have fallen into our hands."
Duoying was startled, "Princess, now we are in the dark and the enemy is bright, wouldn't you be exposed like this?"
Luo Junyao sighed and said, "Let Cao Mao know that his people have fallen into our hands, but who said we must be from the Regent's Palace?"
Diying suddenly realized it, and Zhu Siming clapped his hands and said with a smile: "What the princess said makes sense, why not leave this matter to the subordinates?"
Luo Jun shook his head and said, "I can rest assured that Mr. Zhu will do this. Thank you for your hard work."
"I don't dare." Zhu Siming smiled and said, "It's all a matter of habit."
Luo Junyao suggested, "He's of no use anyway. Let's throw him out and use him as bait to see what the Cao family's attitude is."
"yes."
"Wait...wait!" Cao An suddenly panicked when he saw Luo Junyao turning around and leaving. Of course he didn't know what would happen to those who were regarded as traitors by the Cao family. Although he had not said anything about the Regent's Palace in the past few days,
What he wanted to hear, but he talked about a lot of things about the Cao family.
Most importantly, will the Cao family believe that he didn't say anything?
Even if he returns safely...
Thinking of the eldest son's methods, Cao An couldn't help but shudder.
Luo Junyao turned his head and glanced at him, saying, "What did you think of again?"
Cao An gritted his teeth and said, "I'm not lying to you. I really don't know what Chen Xun said about selling girls from good families, but about Yunhai Academy... I know a little bit."
Luo Junyao then turned around and sat back down again, saying: "Tell me about it."
Cao An swallowed his saliva and said: "The eldest son... has been dissatisfied with the mountain chief of Yunhai Academy for a long time. The night when the teachers and students of Yunhai Academy were taken to the sky prison, the mountain chief... died."
"Dead? How did you die?" Luo Junyao said in a deep voice.
Cao An said: "The eldest son... strangled him to death with his own hands."
Luo Junyao frowned slightly and asked, "What's the dispute between Cao Jie and the headmaster of Yunhai Academy?"
Cao An shook his head and said: "I don't know, but once... I accompanied the eldest son to visit the mountain leader at Yunhai Academy. When he came out, the eldest son's face was very ugly. The eldest son is not usually a person who shows anger, but that day he
He was probably so angry that he actually said, "Sooner or later, I'm going to kill that one, that old immortal."
"When did this happen?" Luo Junyao asked.
Cao An said: "It was less than a month before Yunhai Academy was burned down."
Luo Jun shook his head and looked at Zhu Siming. If that was the case... was Yunhai Academy burned down because of the grudge between Cao Jie and the academy director or because the academy students saw something they shouldn't have seen?
"Did the people of the Governor's Mansion burn the academy, or the Governor's Yamen?" Luo Junyao asked again.
Cao Andao said: "The people who captured the mountain chief and the student and burned the academy were from the Governor's Mansion, and the remaining people were the officers and soldiers of the Governor's Yamen."
"What did Cao Jie say to you when you left Qingzhou?" Luo Junyao asked.
Cao An was silent for a moment and said: "The eldest son said... we must find those students who escaped... and kill them! We must not alert the local officials. If the officials find out, they cannot say that we are from the Qingzhou Governor's Palace."
"We must not alarm the local officials..." Luo Jun repeated his words slowly, and Cao An's expression changed and he slowly lowered his head.
In fact, he had already known it for a long time. If the Cao family had any control over this matter, even if the Governor's Yamen accidentally burned down the Yunhai Academy while arresting the prisoner, they would not have kept it so secret.
Cao An was trembling in his heart, but it did not betray the panic of the Cao family. On the contrary, he felt a little relieved.
He has fallen into the hands of the Prince Regent, and even if he goes back, he will die.
What's more...who has not heard of His Highness the Regent's reputation even in Qingzhou? Can the Cao family really defeat His Highness the Regent?
The regent sent people to arrest his family, so... it's not a bad thing. Once the news about him spreads back to Qingzhou, even if the regent's palace doesn't arrest them, the Cao family will not let them go.
Coming out of the dungeon, the warm spring sun made Luo Junyao raise his hand to block the light, squinted slightly and said, "This eldest son of the Cao family is quite interesting."
Zhu Siming said: "What do you say, Princess?"
Luo Junyao smiled and said: "This Cao An is also a relative of the Cao family. Logically speaking, he should be a confidant of the Cao family, right?"
Zhu Siming said: "It's hard to say. People who can be sent to perform such tasks are certainly loyal and reliable, but they may not be valued."
This kind of thankless task of spending several months sleeping in the open air would definitely not be done by a favored person. This Cao An has confirmed this. He really doesn't know much about the inside story of the Cao family.
Luo Jun shook his head and said, "We can only see if Cao Mao knows better."
Zhu Siming cupped his hands and said: "Princess, don't worry, I will definitely handle it well."
