After leaving Taiji Palace, Li Qinzai rushed back to the Duke's Mansion without stopping.
The purpose of entering the palace today is firstly to inquire about Li Zhi's attitude towards Shangguan and his son, and secondly to protect the safety of Shangguan and his son.
Of course, if Li Zhi's attitude toward Shangguan and his son was disgusting, or he had murderous intentions, then Li Qinzai would not say anything, and it would be enough to save the lives of Shangguan's two children.
After all, he is not stubborn enough to confront Li Zhi.
Now that Li Qinzai had gotten the answer he wanted, Li Zhi really wanted to save the lives of Shangguan and his son.
So Li Qinzai suddenly felt confident and hurried back to his home after leaving the palace.
After returning to the mansion, Li Qinzai immediately called Feng Su and sent an order to mobilize 200 people from the Li family, wearing armor and carrying halberds, to escort Shangguan and his son out of the city to the south tomorrow.
Li Qinzai's expression was very serious when he gave the order. He told Feng Su that there would almost certainly be assassins on the road to assassinate Shangguan and his son. No matter who came to do the assassination, it would be over.
Feng Su responded with clasped fists, turned around and strode out.
Li Qinzai felt a little more relaxed. The lives of Shangguan and his son should be saved, unless the other party dared to mobilize troops to intercept Shangguan and his son on the road.
If the army was mobilized, the nature of the matter would be different. As long as Li Zhi did not express his position on the annexation of land by the eight prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River, no one would do such a stupid thing.
In the eyes of the eight prominent families, Shangguan and his son deserved to die, especially Shangguan Tingzhi, who dared to name their names in the Golden Palace to impeach them. This was an unending feud.
But the attitude of the emperor is very important. After the impeachment of Shangguan Tingzhi Shangshu, the emperor not only failed to adopt his memorial, but instead exiled the father and son to Qiongzhou, indicating that the emperor did not want to touch the interests of the eight prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River, and the matter should be suppressed.
Already.
The affairs of the court shall be the affairs of the court, and the affairs of the rivers and lakes shall be the affairs of the rivers and lakes.
I have to admit that although Shangguan Tingzhi's memorial was suppressed by the emperor, it caused a stir in the court. Many of the eight prominent families also had many disciples serving as officials in the court.
After this incident, the members of the noble family must keep a low profile in the court. It is best not to show their faces in front of the emperor, otherwise they are afraid of arousing unpleasant memories of the emperor.
What about Jianghu affairs?
Those who deserve to be killed must be killed.
Shangguan and his son are still alive. After they arrive safely in Qiongzhou, I don't know how many memorials they will submit to the court and how many evidences they will cite to completely overturn the Jiangnan wealthy family's land annexation. These two people cannot let them live.
The interests of a powerful group have been touched, and the consequences will be very terrible. The Shangguan family has undoubtedly been caught in the storm. As soon as the father and son leave Chang'an for Qiongzhou tomorrow, there will be endless murderous opportunities waiting for them on the road.
…………
Early the next morning, the door of the prison of the Ministry of Punishments opened.
Shangguan Yi and Shangguan Tingzhi, father and son, wore dirty prison clothes and walked out of the prison step by step.
Fortunately, because the matter was too involved, the officials from the Ministry of Punishment did not dare to torture the father and son. Apart from changing into prison clothes and being poorly fed in prison, Shangguan and his son received basically no other torture.
There were many people standing outside the prison of the Ministry of Punishments. When they saw the father and son coming out, there was a burst of crying. Many people shouted "Master of the House" and "Mr. Husband". They wanted to rush forward but were stopped by the officials.
These people are all the women, children, old and weak members of the Shangguan family. Shangguan Tingzhi was dismissed from office, and his father and son were exiled. The sky has fallen in the Shangguan family. Today the father and son are leaving Chang'an for Qiongzhou. The women, children, old and weak members of the family are waiting outside the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to see them off.
.
There was no sadness on the faces of Shangguan and his son. Instead, they nodded and smiled at their relatives not far away.
Four officials followed behind the father and son with expressionless faces. They were ordered to escort Shangguan and his son. For them, this was certainly not a good job. They had been unlucky for eight lifetimes before they encountered such an errand.
From Chang'an to Qiongzhou, the official servants had to make the return journey after being delivered to them. More than half a year had passed since then. There was no chance of getting promoted or making a fortune, and they had to endure the hardships of the journey. How could the official servants be in a good mood?
Li Qinzai led Shangguan Kun'er and Shangguan Wan'er, and the three of them were also among the people seeing him off.
The two children looked at their grandfather and father in prison clothes in the distance and couldn't help crying.
Shangguan and his son also saw Li Qinzai and the two children. The father and son's eyes suddenly turned red. Their originally calm mood was now disturbed.
"Grandpa, dad—" Shangguan Kun'er shouted sadly.
They wanted to rush in front of Shangguan Yi, but Li Qinzai held the two children tightly on their shoulders.
"Don't go there, just say goodbye like this. Don't worry, everything is arranged." Li Qinzai soothed in a low voice.
The two babies stopped struggling and continued to cry.
In the crowd, Shangguan Yi and Li Qinzai's eyes met. Li Qinzai smiled at Shangguan Yi and nodded slowly.
The two of them didn't say a word, but someone as smart as Shangguan Yi immediately understood what Li Qinzai meant, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded at him with a smile.
From the prison of the Ministry of Justice to the Chang'an city gate, four officers escorted them all the way, and the crowd followed silently. It was not until they left the city gate and traveled ten miles that the women, children, old and weak of the Shangguan family stopped under Shangguan Yi's scolding.
, watching the father and son drifting away, the cries of the family members shook the sky.
After the official start of the exile journey, the expressions of the father and son were not relaxed, but became more solemn.
When Shangguan Tingzhi looked back uneasily for the unknown number of times, Shangguan Yi suddenly smiled and whispered: "Don't worry, my son, Duke Li has made arrangements."
Shangguan Tingzhi was stunned, as if he understood something, and sighed with a wry smile: "My Shangguan family and the Li family have always had a close relationship, but I didn't expect that Duke Li would actually lend a helping hand..."
Shangguan Yi whispered: "Everything in the world has its own destiny. You still have to thank me for sending Kun'er to study under Duke Li on a whim."
"This teacher-student relationship is the important reason why Duke Li is willing to lend a helping hand. Of course, I also have to thank you for giving birth to such a lovely and smart daughter, Wan'er, for making Duke Li fall in love with her and have the two families worry about getting married. Otherwise,
... Such a catastrophic disaster, and Duke Li is not stupid, so how could he act so rashly?"
Shangguan Tingzhi sighed: "Anyway, I can lend a helping hand at this time. The Shangguan family owes a lot to Duke Li. It was the child who was too impulsive and caused a big disaster for the family..."
Shangguan Yi shook his head: "That's all, everything has been done. Why should I criticize you again? You are middle-aged, but you are still too immature to be an official. If you can survive this disaster safely, you should learn more."
The father and son chatted quietly while walking, but little did they know that on the road behind them, a thick murderous intent was gradually filling the air.
After parting ways with their family members, a team of more than ten people quietly followed Shangguan and his son.
This team was disguised as a caravan, but the people in the team all looked ferocious and murderous. They didn't look like merchants doing serious business.
When Shangguan and his son left the city gate, the caravan turned from a branch road outside the city into the main road and followed Shangguan and his son at a distance. The distance between them was only three to five miles.