Hongli snorted coldly and said: "Why else? Of course it's for money. I have already made him a general and put him in charge of Fengtian. He is still not satisfied. He colludes with Wang Wei and others to protect this place." Wanhualou behaves recklessly in the Hangzhou mansion and deserves to die!"
"Your Majesty, I just went to Wanhua Tower. I just went there as usual, but I got an unexpected result. The women there, especially some of the oirans, in addition to receiving guests in Wanhua Tower, often He will go in and out of officials' residences everywhere, not just in Hangzhou."
Hongli said coldly: "Those people didn't dare to go to the brothel blatantly, so they called some fireworks girls to come to the house to have fun. This plan was really good."
"But does your Majesty know what Nanny Lin will give you every time before they go?"
His words made Hongli startled and asked suspiciously: "What do you know?"
"Tell them to inquire about local or court affairs. In addition, my brother has checked Wanhualou's accounts. Yes, Wanhualou's business has been very good in the past few years. It has indeed made a lot of money. After one year, it can even make a few dollars in surplus. One hundred thousand taels of silver, but Wanhualou would bribe officials from all over Hangzhou Prefecture every once in a while, and every time he bribed officials, the amount ranged from a few thousand taels to tens of thousands taels. The total number of officials amounted to dozens. Ten thousand taels. In other words, Wanhualou didn’t have much money to give Hongsheng at all. Chen’s brother calculated that it was only tens of thousands of taels at most. In other words, Hongsheng’s income was worse than Fang Guancheng. If this was the case, why did he Do you still have to expend so much effort to protect Wanhua Tower? If it were my younger brother, if he knew that his income was not as good as a governor, he would not be able to swallow this breath."
Hongli calmed down from his anger and frowned: "You mean...this matter is not as simple as it seems on the surface?"
Hong Zhou said with absolute certainty: "Unless Hong Zhang doesn't know that his income is less than Fang Guancheng and others, there must be something inside."
Hongli nodded slightly and looked at Dehai who was standing aside, "Apart from Hongsheng's name, what else did they say?"
"Back to the emperor, as soon as the servant heard that they had confessed to Hong Long, they immediately came to report to the emperor, without asking any other questions."
"Go and ask immediately. We must ask them to interrogate everything they know." After hearing Hongli's words, Dehai hurriedly went down. After the palace door was closed, Hongli pinched the bridge of his nose and said tiredly: "What else is there? Something?"
From yesterday to now, he has not closed his eyes. In addition, he has been sleeping in the cell for the past few nights, making it difficult to sleep peacefully. Until now, even breathing feels tired.
Hong Zhou hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said, "It's nothing. Your Majesty has been working hard for several days, so please go and rest for a while to avoid damaging the dragon's body."
Hongli smiled bitterly and said: "I want to rest, but I can't sleep just when I think about the fact that there are so many corrupt officials in Jiangnan. Jiangnan is like this, and other places are probably the same."
Hong Zhou cupped his hands and said: "As long as the emperor is determined to clean up the official system, I believe that I can make the official system return to the Qingming Festival."
"I hope so." After saying this, Hong Li raised his eyelids and glanced at Hong Zhou, and said, "If you have anything to say, just tell me. It won't be long until now."
Hong Zhou lowered his head and said: "For your information, Your Majesty, I remembered what Ding Rong said before, so I went to each city gate to ask. As a result, the gate official at one place told my brother that the city gate just opened today. At that time, there was indeed a person entering the city in a hurry. This person claimed to be the guard of my younger brother. Because my younger brother had ordered that no one be allowed in or out at that time, and this person could not show his waist card, there was a conflict, and then he escaped. The officials at the city gate fled into the city without knowing their whereabouts. They were afraid of being punished, so they did not report it.
Hongli frowned and said: "So, Ding Rong is not talking nonsense. Someone did escape from their pursuit and went to Hangzhou Mansion to report the news. But for some reason, the guard did not come to the palace in the end?"
"Yes, after I asked about this matter, I asked the guards and officials below. They all said that they had never seen this person before. After he entered the city, it was as if the news came out of thin air."
Hongli thought for a moment and said uncertainly: "Could it be someone sent by Ding Rong to kill this person quietly?"
"My brother also thought about it, but the gate officials at each city gate said that from the time my brother gave the order to the time when he returned to welcome the emperor, only such an unidentified person came in and out; and Ding Rong also said at that time that he did not send anyone to chase him into the city.
In addition, until now, no body has been found in the city."
"Could it be Wang Wei and others who did it?" Faced with Hongli's inquiry, Hong Zhou shook his head and said: "Before this incident, my brother had already been keeping an eye on Wang Wei, and he was always being monitored by his people.
Now, Fang Guancheng was beaten until he only had half his life left. As for Li Shi
Lucky was imprisoned, so none of them should be able to do anything. Therefore, my brother suspected that... besides these people, there were others who did not want the emperor to return, so they secretly killed or tied up the guard.
Otherwise, there would be no news from him till now."
Hongli nodded slowly and said: "This is the only explanation that makes sense. Is there anyone who has doubts?"
"No, I have thought about everyone I know, but I still can't think of anyone who would be harmful to the emperor." Hong Zhou said in a condensed voice: "But if there is such a person, there is no guarantee when he will be harmful to the emperor.
The emperor is unfavorable and is really a hidden danger."
Hongli was silent for a long time and said: "I will leave this matter to you for investigation. Don't alert the enemy until there is definite information."
"My brother obeys the order." Shortly after Hong Zhou agreed, Dehai walked in. After bowing, he said tremblingly: "Your Majesty...Fang Guancheng...he..."
Hongli frowned and said, "What's wrong with him?"
Dehai stared at his toes nervously and whispered: "He couldn't bear the punishment...he died!" After that, he hurriedly knelt down and said in fear: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"
Hongli stared at him with a gloomy expression and said, "What did I order you to do?"
"The slave remembers that because Fang Guancheng had been tortured with a cane before, the slave had always been careful and only pricked his fingers with steel needles. Earlier, he had specially poured a bowl of ginseng soup for him. Who would have thought that he was so weak that he could actually
Unable to bear the pain, he died suddenly, and by the time the slave realized that he wanted to save him, it was already too late."
"Useless thing!" Seeing Hongli's anger, Dehai became more and more frightened and kept kowtowing in apology.
Hongli took a breath and said coldly: "Did you ask anything?"
Dehai said quickly: "Returning to the emperor, Fang Guancheng said before he died that he, Wang Wei and others were all attracted by the general to maintain Wanhua Tower, which was originally not very popular. As for why the general did this?
They really don’t know. As for Wang Wei’s confession, it’s basically the same. It doesn’t look like he’s lying.”
"You got on someone's pirate ship but didn't know where the ship was going. You are two idiots." Hongli cursed angrily and waved his hand for Dehai to step back. The latter hurriedly exited the hall as if he was being amnesty.