Under the gaze of everyone, Li Sanmu escorted Lu Cheng, the new governor of Langzhou, directly into the state government office.
When they saw Lu Cheng and a group of men in black tied up and brought into the lobby, all the officials were stunned.
Seeing Gu Lei who had entered together with him, his face was full of anger, but fortunately he was safe and sound, so Chu Nanzhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She strolled forward and looked at Lu Cheng with light eyes. Then she walked to Gu Lei and greeted him politely: "Mr. Gu, please take a seat."
Gu Lei froze and shook his head in shame: "The common people have sinned so much that they dare not ask the queen to give her a seat."
After saying that, his eyes were full of hatred. He glanced at Lu Cheng with a deep look, and immediately knelt down in front of Chu Nanzhi and replied loudly: "I was saved by the queen today. The common people have nothing to repay. I just hope that I can use this broken body."
I am at the Queen's disposal to help the Queen and Your Majesty complete the creation of the reform of the official system."
Chu Nanzhi was overjoyed when he heard this and hurriedly helped him up: "I am deeply grateful to Mr. Gu for putting aside his past grudges and putting the justice of the world first."
Then he was forcefully invited to take a seat at the front of the hall, and then his eyes fell firmly on Li Sanmu, who looked leisurely: "Can all the perpetrators be arrested and brought to justice?"
Li Sanmu clasped his fists: "Reporting to the Queen, except for the nine swordsmen who were killed due to resistance, the rest, including the mainland governor, a total of 25 people were captured by the lower officials."
Recalling the scene when he captured the assassin, Li Sanmu also sighed with lingering fear: "Fortunately, the Queen is very good at predicting things and asked me to arrive in time, otherwise Mr. Gu might have encountered something unexpected."
When they heard that Lu Cheng was about to assassinate Gu Lei, the whole hall immediately exploded.
Tan Qing walked up to Lu Cheng angrily and accused loudly: "Captain Lu, you are so brave, you dare to do such an unjust thing. If Mr. Gu hadn't supported you in front of the eldest princess and the consort, how could you have done it?
You have the status you have today, you ungrateful thing."
Chu Nanzhi's focus at this time was no longer on Gu Lei's assassination.
She took the murder weapon confiscated by Li Sanmu and examined it carefully. It was very consistent with the knives used in several serial murder cases. Then she looked at Lu Cheng and asked sternly: "Tell me, Governor Lu, why did you disobey the late emperor's order?"
Going against the grain, assassinating Chang Lao, with Princess Qian in front, massacring six members of the Qian family, and secretly ordering county officials to persecute pregnant women?"
Lu Cheng was filled with doubts at this moment, and he asked unwillingly: "How did the queen determine that it was the general who assassinated Chang Lao and Princess Qian, and how was she so sure that the general would kill Mr. Gu today?"
"It's not hard to guess."
Chu Nanzhi replied calmly: "Although Mr. Gu was not willing to see Langzhou as a pilot project for reforming the official system before, he just wanted to maintain his own interests like all the powerful noble families, but I can see that Mr. Gu is a man with great righteousness.
People, after witnessing the evil deeds you did to the people by deceiving the superiors and hiding from the inferiors last time in Jichun County, I have long been tired of the gentry culture of Langzhou shielding and protecting each other.
Mr. Gu is well aware of my determination to reform the official system. He has made a decision when he chooses to enter the city to see me. If you want to stop Mr. Gu and me, you can only choose to take action before he sees me.
Because once I meet Mr. Gu, I will never tolerate Chang Lao’s tragedy to happen again.”
Staring at the knife in his hand, Chu Nanzhi blinked deeply: "As for why I suspect that you murdered Chang Lao, I don't need to explain the reasons."
After all, not everyone would dare to assassinate people like Mr. Gu and Mr. Chang, unless it involves endangering their own interests and they would only resort to such a move as a last resort.
There were many guards escorting Princess Qian, and it would be extremely difficult for an idle person to get rid of the entire guard.
Lu Cheng knew that it would be difficult to quibble, but at this moment he shut his mouth tightly and chose not to speak again.
Seeing that he had acquiesced in these serious crimes, everyone was furious. They all looked at Lu Cheng and scolded him sternly: "Captain Lu, you are really heartless. Chang Lao has dedicated his life to the country and the people, and the six members of the Qian family are even more innocent.
, how can you bear to do such a cruel thing?"
Tan Qing was so angry that he gasped: "Because of your perverse actions, countless families in this state have been separated from their wives and children. As the governor of the state capital, how can you deal with those mothers who have suffered misfortune?"
"Your Majesty, your words are wrong."
Chu Nanzhi sat down slowly, looked around at the officials in the hall, and explained:
"Although Lu Cheng is the new governor of the state capital, he was just promoted from Donzhuo County after all. Even though he has some prestige in the military, according to my thinking, he can make the officials of various counties tacitly maintain the old system.
I'm afraid that it's not what he, a military commander, can do. If he resists the imperial court and disobeys the late emperor's decree, there must be someone else behind it."
After saying that, he looked at Lu Cheng again: "Tell me, Governor Lu, who ordered you to act so boldly?"
"Now that things have come to this, I have no other words to say and am willing to submit to the law."
Lu Cheng closed his eyes tightly and put on an air of looking forward to death.
Just at this time, Zhan He returned from the dusty life outside, but when he saw the situation in the hall, his expression tightened, and he frowned for no apparent reason, and immediately suppressed the words he was about to blurt out.
"Master Zhan, what do you have to tell me?"
Chu Nanzhi asked bluntly.
He hurriedly returned to the state capital at this time, presumably to find out some important case.
Zhan He carefully looked around, hesitated for a long time, and then answered truthfully: "Reporting to the queen, when I was conducting a thorough investigation on Qi Mao, the governor of Donzhuo County, I found a sum of seventy yuan given to Qi Mao by the five wealthy families in Douzhuo County.
There is an account book containing ten thousand taels of silver, but this money was not found when the property was searched."
After a pause, he looked at Lu Cheng meaningfully, and then continued: "What is even more incredible is that when the official was checking Qi Mao's family, he met a woman in Qi Mansion. This woman was Lu Da.
The beloved concubine of the Governor's Mansion wants to sue Lord Chang Shi, saying that Lord Chang Shi has harmed her child. The matter is very involved and the subordinates dare not take charge of it, so they rushed back to ask the queen for instructions."
"This is interesting. How come the governor's concubine is in the house of the governor of Donzhuo County?"
Chu Nanzhi looked at Lu Cheng with great interest: "Bring the governor's daughter up quickly."
Zhan He clapped his hands gently, and then saw two government servants walking in with a delicate woman.
The woman ran to Lu Cheng crying and began to complain plaintively: "Master, the slave's child was killed by Master Chang Shi. His eldest wife gave birth to the fetus safely in Xikou Village, but she was alone.
Let the slave’s children lose their lives.”
As soon as he heard that his child was gone, Lu Cheng immediately glared at Zhang Xuan in anger and cursed: "Sir Chang Shi, you said you would make sure that my wife and children are fine, you perfidious hypocrite."
Zhang Xuan suddenly became flustered. He waved his sleeves angrily and said loudly: "Captain Lu, please stop talking nonsense. What does it matter to me if your child is gone?"
"Don't think that you can get away with all the culpability by arranging everything perfectly. I have already learned that the 700,000 taels of silver collected by Qi Mao was sent to your house."
At this time, Lu Cheng was determined not to protect him anymore, and took the initiative to admit: "The Queen's previous guess was true. All the recent events in Langzhou City were led by Chang Shi. If the Queen doesn't believe it, she can immediately send someone to Chang Shi."
The government will definitely be able to find evidence of the crime."