As the honor guard entered the city, they had not gone far when a woman in her thirties suddenly ran to the middle of the road, knelt on the ground, and blocked the way.
Seeing this, a burly Tiger Captain walked forward quickly and asked sternly: "What are you doing here? Do you know who is blocking you?"
"Yes... it's your Majesty..." the woman said tremblingly.
"Knowing that it is His Majesty's guard of honor, but dare to block it, the crime will be increased!" As he spoke, the Tiger Guards waved their hands forward and shouted: "Take it!"
"A civilian woman has a grievance to report to the emperor! A civilian woman has a grievance..." Two tiger soldiers grabbed the woman's arms and forcibly lifted her up from the ground. The woman's mouth was not idle, and she kept shouting grievances.
The guard of honor suddenly stopped. Liu Xiu in the car didn't know what was going on. Hearing the commotion in front of him, he slightly lifted the curtain of the car window and said: "Zhang Kun!"
"My slave is here!" Zhang Kun, who was in front of the carriage, trotted up to him and bowed to salute.
"What's going on ahead?"
"Your Majesty, there seems to be a woman in front... blocking the road to complain." Zhang Kun was also far away, so he couldn't see clearly what was going on.
"Woman? Crying about injustice?" Liu Xiu frowned and said, "Bring her here and I will question her myself!"
Before the woman was brought over by Huben, Jingzhao Yin and Zhang Chang came first. He came to the carriage, raised his hands and saluted, and said: "I pay my respects to Your Majesty!"
Liu Xiu raised the curtain, got out of the carriage, gave Zhang Chang a meaningful look, and said, "In Chang'an, there are people who are crying out for injustice in front of my guard of honor!"
If you dare to stop the emperor's guard of honor, you must have a serious grievance. The people of Chang'an have grievances. As Jing Zhaoyin, you naturally have an unshirkable responsibility.
Zhang Chang looked ugly, bowed and did not answer.
After a short time, two tiger soldiers carried the woman over.
The woman's clothes were very shabby, her hair was messy, and her face was dirty. It was hard to see what she looked like. At this time, she was crying with snot and tears, and she kept complaining.
Even though she didn't know Liu Xiu, she still knew Mianfu. When she saw Liu Xiu standing next to the carriage, the woman cried and knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, the civilian women have been wronged. Your Majesty must make the decision for the civilian women... "
Zhang Chang frowned, bowed his hands to Liu Xiu again, and said, "Your Majesty, please leave this matter to the ministers to investigate and deal with it!"
Liu Xiu looked at Zhang Chang and then at the woman. He felt that this matter was not simple. He pondered for a moment and said, "Go to Jingzhao Mansion!"
After the people complained about their injustice, Liu Xiu did not go back to the palace, but got back into the carriage and went to Jingzhao Mansion.
When they arrived at Jingzhao Mansion, Liu Xiu sat in the middle, Hua Feiyan sat beside him, and Jingzhao Yin and Zhang Chang could only sit below.
Soon, the woman was escorted by two tiger guards and walked into the lobby. After entering, she knelt down on the ground with a thud, kowtowed forward, and cried: "Your Majesty, a civilian woman has a grievance!"
Liu Xiu said in a calm tone: "What grievances you have, tell me in detail."
The woman sobbed for a while and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, please let me go!"
"Ah?" Her words made Liu Xiu confused. He looked confused and turned to look at Hua Feiyan, who was also a monk two feet tall and was confused.
Zhang Chang on the side said in a deep voice: "You are a bold and cunning woman. How can I allow you to talk nonsense in front of the Emperor? Come on, expel this bold woman from Jingzhao Mansion immediately!"
"Wait a minute!" Liu Xiu raised his hand to stop the soldiers who were about to enter the lobby. He looked at the woman and asked, "You said, I captured your daughter?"
"yes……"
"When did I capture your daughter?" Liu Xiu was almost angry.
The woman choked and said: "Three days ago, my little girl disappeared at home!"
Liu Xiu asked in confusion: "What does this have to do with me?"
"In the past two months, more than ten women who have not left the government have disappeared in Chang'an City."
Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes and asked word for word: "Do you think these missing women are related to me and were all kidnapped by me?"
The woman raised her head, wiped the tears on her face, and whispered: "Yes...it was raised by His Majesty until a tiger and a leopard took it away!"
Liu Xiu was stunned when she heard this, and Hua Feiyan was also stunned, but soon she loudly rebuked: "That's nonsense!"
Your Majesty brought three beasts back to the palace, and later a lion was added to make them four beasts. However, these four beasts were all imprisoned in Weiyang Palace. It was impossible for them to sneak out, let alone take away those women.
"You speak freely and slander His Majesty. Do you know what crime you deserve?"
Zhang Chang was so anxious that he couldn't help but stand up, pointed his finger at the woman, and said: "Ms. Li, I think you are really anxious and confused. You actually slandered His Majesty. Someone, please put Mrs. Li in jail quickly!"
Two soldiers from Jingzhao Mansion came in, pulled Li up, and dragged her out. Liu Xiu did not stop him this time, but looked at Zhang Chang. It seemed that Zhang Chang had known about this for a long time.
.
After the woman was dragged away, Liu Xiu said quietly: "Zhang Jingzhao, tell me, what is going on?"
This is indeed a serial disappearance case, and the missing girls are all young girls. It has been more than two months since the first case occurred. There are as many as sixteen missing girls in total.
In order to solve this serial disappearance case, Zhang Chang was extremely busy, but he could not find any clues at all, and the clues found at the scene where the crime was found could not be investigated at all, because it did involve Liu Xiu.
In each of these dozens of disappearance cases, there are wild animal hairs left at the scene, some are black hair, some are yellow hair, which is exactly the same as the black hair, big flower, and two hair that Liu Xiu raised in Weiyang Palace.
.
If we follow this clue, we will inevitably find the Emperor.
Recently, there have been rumors in Chang'an City that the tigers and leopards raised by Your Majesty sneaked out of the palace and carried away people.
After all, Zhang Chang is Jing Zhaoyin, not a fool. He knows very well that this is impossible. His Majesty wants to feed a leopard and two tigers. It is too easy. As for starving the leopards and tigers to eat people?
It would be even more nonsense to say that Your Majesty is using leopards and tigers to come out of the palace to capture young girls. The emperor, if you don’t have any kind of woman, do you still need to use these beasts to come out of the palace to capture people?
However, this rumor became more and more intense, and in the end, the missing girl's family even truly believed that their daughter's disappearance might be related to the Emperor. This led to today's Li family's bold attempt to stop the Emperor from complaining.
Now that things have reached this point, Zhang Chang can no longer hide it, so he can only tell Liu Xiu the whole story in detail.
After listening to Zhang Chang's story, Liu Xiu became furious and slammed the table. Zhang Chang was shocked and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed forward.
Liu Xiu asked: "What happened in Chang'an? Why didn't you report it earlier?"
Zhang Chang said in a trembling voice: "Reporting to Your Majesty, these rumors are all lies to deceive the public and are nonsense. And...how can they taint Your Majesty's holy hearing?!"
Liu Xiu took a deep breath, turned to look at Hua Feiyan, and asked, "Does Feiyan know about this?"
Hua Feiyan slowly shook his head, saying that he didn't know either.
First of all, this rumor was not spread widely, and it was far from causing a storm in the city. Secondly, this rumor was so ridiculous that the people in Yunxi Pavilion did not take it seriously and did not report it to Hua Feiyan.
Liu Xiu said quietly: "I have always regarded Yunxi Pavilion as my eyes and ears among the people. Now that such a big thing is happening in Chang'an, Yunxi Pavilion knows nothing about it. It is so disappointing to me."
Liu Xiu had always praised Yunxi Pavilion, but this time he said such harsh words to Yunxi Pavilion, which made Hua Feiyan blush and feel ashamed. She stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Feiyan will definitely investigate this matter.
clear."
Liu Xiu also stood up and said: "Within three days, I want to know where the missing women are and who kidnapped them? What is the real purpose of the thief?" As he spoke, he
Take a step outside.
When passing by Zhang Chang, he stopped and said, "Don't imprison that Li, let her go!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Zhang Chang really didn't want to imprison her. The reason why he was anxious to have Li taken away was actually to protect her. We are both parents, and we know very well that our children are missing. As a parent,
He could completely empathize with Li's mood, but the target of Li's attack was the emperor. Was that something Li could afford? If he said the wrong thing in front of the emperor, they might be like this.
The whole family is facing disaster.
It is impossible for Black Hair, Dahua, Ermao and even the lion sent by Kushan to sneak out of Weiyang Palace. Liu Xiu is 100% sure about this, and Hua Feiyan is also 100% sure.
.
After Liu Xiu left, Hua Feiyan continued to stay in Jingzhao Mansion and talked with Zhang Chang in detail. She needed to know the ins and outs of the entire case.
Zhang Chang did not hide anything in front of Hua Feiyan. He took out the files one by one, laid them out, and explained them to Hua Feiyan in detail.
The thief was very cunning, and no useful clues were found at the scene. The only clue was the remaining animal hair.
This even made Zhang Chang wonder for a time whether there were really wild beasts sneaking into Chang'an City, but after investigation, nothing was found.
After listening to his story, Hua Feiyan frowned, feeling that this case was unusual.
She murmured: "Sixteen women cannot disappear out of thin air, and the place where they are hidden must not be a small place. Zhang Jingzhao, have you searched the entire Chang'an City?"
Zhang Chang smiled bitterly and said: "Flower Beauty, I'll tell you the truth, I've searched even the brothel, and every place in Chang'an City except the palace, but... I still found nothing!"
This is amazing! Hua Feiyan said to herself: "Where can the thieves hide those women?" As she spoke, her eyes flashed and asked: "Zhang Jingzhao, the palace hasn't checked yet.
?"
Zhang Chang trembled, the palace? Is that a place he can check? Even if he is not afraid of death and dares to risk his life, he still can't enter the palace!
Seemingly reading what he was thinking, Hua Feiyan said: "I will search Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Jianzhang Palace. If there is no whereabouts of them in these palaces..."
Zhang Chang answered: "I can be sure that the missing woman is definitely no longer in Chang'an City."
Hua Feiyan asked: "During this period, Zhang Jingzhao did not check anyone who left the city?"
Zhang Chang smiled bitterly and said: "How could we not check the ministers? But everyone who leaves the city will be checked one by one by the ministers."
Hua Feiyan asked curiously: "Is there anyone who has not been checked?"
Zhang Changzheng was about to pat his chest and confirm, but a flash occurred in his mind and he hurriedly changed the subject and said: "Of course, there are also people who have not been investigated, such as the King of Taiyuan, Da Sima, General Jianwei, General Huya and other ministers in the court.
Wei Chen, Wei Chen really dare not investigate."
Hua Feiyan nodded. As for these relatives of the emperor and the ministers of the court, not to mention the mere Jingzhao Yin who dared not investigate them. I am afraid that no one in the world except His Majesty would dare to investigate them.
She said seriously: "Zhang Jingzhao, please make me a list of people who have not been investigated. I want it now."
"Yes, yes, yes! Wei Chen will write now!"
As the parent officer of Chang'an, Zhang Chang was also eager to solve the case. Now that Hua Meiren was involved in the case, of course he cooperated fully. He asked people to get pens, ink, and bamboo slips, and scribbled down a long list.
Hua Feiyan waited patiently. After half an hour, Zhang Chang finally finished writing the list. He read it from beginning to end, thought about it carefully, made sure there was nothing missing, and then respectfully handed it to Hua Feiyan.
