Chapter 110: Tying Up Loose Ends

  Yu Yunwen hid the letter in a secret compartment under the bed in Tian Shi's bedroom after finishing writing it, which seemed to be a hidden place but was not difficult to find for an experienced investigator.

  That night, Xiangyang Prefect Liu Xi hosted a banquet to welcome Yue Yun and wash the dust off his feet. Tongpan Cheng Yuan and Xiangyang Defense Envoy Shi De also came to accompany him. However, only Yu Rongguang and Guan Ling accompanied Yue Yun to the banquet, while Niu Tong had to stay in front of Tang Huai's memorial hall to observe mourning rituals and was unable to attend the banquet.

  At the banquet, after three rounds of wine, Yue Yun stood up with a sway and said calmly: "Today, I am grateful for the hospitality of Lord Liu, Lord Cheng, and General Shi. This trip to Xiangyang has been full of twists and turns, but in the end, we managed to behead the traitor Tian Shizhong and the grain transport will soon proceed smoothly. I have many feelings about this..."

  Yue Yun said, unable to hold back a few sobs, raised his hand to wipe away non-existent tears from his eyes, then with red eyes and a sorrowful face, he continued: "Honorable gentlemen, General Tang Huai enlisted in the army together with my father in Jianyan 4th year. They went through life and death together, like brothers! He also showed great care for me, treating me as if I were his own son. I regarded General Tang as an uncle. Now that Tian Shiming has been punished, but General Tang's soul is gone, separated from me by the living and the dead... it brings me unbearable sorrow, and I am unable to control myself."

  He choked back a sob, then swept his gaze over the crowd in the hall and said: "This cup of wine, I think it should be offered to General Tang!" After speaking, he raised his wine cup, facing the direction of the mourning hall, and solemnly poured the wine onto the ground.

  Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan had no choice but to stand up, fill their wine cups, and drink them dry. Shi De, however, was originally a member of the vanguard, and he had fought side by side with Tang Huai before. Upon hearing this, he too felt extremely sad, and his tiger-like eyes also dropped a few tears as he sighed: "I never thought that my brother Tang would not die on the battlefield, but instead die at the hands of his own family's traitors. I think he really did die with his eyes open! Young Master, this matter must be thoroughly investigated by General Yu to see how many more traitors and spies are hiding in our Great Song. We can't let my brother Tang's tragedy happen again!"

  Yue Yun and Yu Yunwen exchanged a glance, but in their hearts they were secretly thinking that it seemed there was no need to use the trick of throwing bricks to attract jade, as Shi De had already helped them speak out.

  Yue Yun heard this and immediately made a very angry expression, saying loudly: "General Shi's words are indeed! I will definitely report this to my father and let the Imperial Secretariat and the Supreme Court investigate it thoroughly! However, at present, my father is busy arranging for the army and civilians to retreat on the front line and cannot leave. By the time he returns to Xiangyang, I'm afraid a lot of evidence will have been destroyed. Cloud thinks that we can first conduct an investigation, report the initial results, let my father and the Imperial Secretariat have a rough idea, and then follow up to catch all his accomplices, which will surely be twice the result with half the effort..."

  He paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan Dao: "I wonder what the intentions of Lord Liu and Lord Cheng are?"

  Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan both showed a face of embarrassment after hearing this, and the two men fell silent. They were all old hands in officialdom, and naturally saw that this grain transportation matter involved an open struggle between Qin Hui and Yue Fei. These two people, one was in charge of the military power of Jingzhou, and even had some local scheduling power as the Huibei and Jingxi Road Proclamation Envoy, while the other was the current prime minister, with official positions much higher than their own. Their own official positions were not high or low, but compared to these two big officials, they were far too inferior. This mistake would have the consequence of never being able to turn over again. Therefore, Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan had all made up their minds that it was better to get involved in this matter as little as possible.

  But at the moment, Yue Yun asked them directly and they couldn't avoid answering. After a while, Liu Xi said: "This humble official is just a county magistrate, for internal affairs and taxation matters, he still knows a thing or two. But this case investigation, this humble official doesn't understand. Young Master might as well ask Lord Cheng, he's the vice president, in charge of lawsuits and civil disputes, and has rich experience in handling cases."

  Cheng Yuan listened and glared at Liu Xi with a hateful gaze, thinking to himself: "Aren't you putting me on the fire to roast?"

  This case is so thorny. If the problem can't be found, it will offend Yue Yun, and if it is found, it will offend Qin Hui. Neither of them can be pleased. So, he also doesn't want to get involved. But seeing Liu Xi pulling him out, he also can't help but express his attitude.

  He had no choice but to stand up and say: "Your Highness, although I have also investigated cases in the past, they were all minor civil cases such as disputes between wives, inheritance disputes, and neighborhood quarrels. However, regarding Tian Shizhong's case which involves disobeying military orders and suspected treason, I have never investigated such a major case before. But if Your Highness wants to investigate, I will follow your instructions!"

  He also made up his mind that he would not get involved in this matter, and if Yue Yun insisted on investigating, he would follow him as a scribe at most. In any case, he would not take the initiative to make a suggestion, lest Qin Hui find out later and affect his own career.

  Yue Yun saw the two men's fearful appearance and couldn't help but feel angry. He thought to himself that this was still the defense zone of the Yue family army, and local officials were already so afraid of offending Qin Hui, let alone other places and the capital Lin'an, where Qin Hui's influence must be enormous. No wonder in history, when Qin Hui wanted to kill Yue Fei, few officials in the court stood up for Yue Fei.

  However, Yue Yun had long thought about how to deal with this situation. She thought to herself, no matter how the two of them tried to shirk responsibility or protect themselves, it was impossible for them to say they hadn't seen the obvious evidence in front of them.

  He smiled slightly and said, "The two adults are indeed well aware of the importance. If that's the case, after dinner, please have the city guards search Tian Shizhong's mansion together with us to see if we can find any clues! I will also report the initial investigation results to my father!"

  After this dinner party, it was already the first watch of the night. However, Yue Yun was in high spirits and said that there should be no delay, demanding an immediate search of Tian Shizhong's residence.

  Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan had no choice but to nod in agreement, and from the quilt, they called out more than a dozen extremely rich and experienced yamen runners and catchers from the city, who gathered together with Yue Yun's soldiers to conduct a thorough search of the Cishi Mansion.

  This search really brought out many unexpected things. In addition to finding the secret letters that Yue Yun and Yu Yunwen had hidden, five or six young and beautiful women were also found in a semi-enclosed courtyard of the governor's mansion, who were secretly kept at home by Tian Shizhong.

  Under the inquiry of Yue Yun, it was only then that he came to know that these women were all daughters of poor families in the vicinity, who had been bought by Tian Shizhong from their parents with a small amount of silver. Among them, two women had already been betrothed to other families, but had not yet entered into marriage. However, relying on his status and power, Tian Shizhong forced the parents of the two women to break off the engagement, and forcibly abducted the two women back to his home to serve his lust.

  In the sealed courtyard of the Censor's residence, the silver, jewels, calligraphy and paintings found were even more numerous and dazzling. Especially those famous calligraphic works filled several large boxes, not even Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan, these two civil officials had so many calligraphic works. It is unknown where he got them from, this made relatively clean Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan stare with their eyes wide open.

  Yue Yun's heart was even more at ease. This time, without mentioning the crime of secretly communicating with the enemy country and plotting rebellion, just the crimes of forcibly taking civilian women and having a huge amount of property with unknown origins were enough for the Imperial Court to investigate. Qin Hui probably wouldn't dare to stick his head out for Tian Shicong on such a major issue of right and wrong. Although he would surely harbor hatred in his heart and plot revenge, that was something for later. Anyway, Yue Yun had never thought of reconciling with Qin Hui.

  Yu Yunwen had all the property and letters registered by the case officer, and also called in the several women and their families to make a statement at the prefectural yamen. He also had Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan review and sign them.

  Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan did not want to be involved, but seeing that these were all facts in front of them, if they insisted on refusing, they might not pass the test in front of Yue Yun. Anyway, these were all written records, those things related to the case were all sealed in the warehouse, and the women who were robbed also had names and surnames, so there was no need to worry about being overturned.

  Liu Xi and Cheng Yuan, after a fierce ideological struggle, finally signed their names on the case file. After all, being an official is not as good as being in power, Qin Xiang may have had boundless authority, but he was still far away in Lin'an. But this young master Yue was right in front of them. Although he now looked cheerful and handsome, with a charming appearance, his ferocious expression when leading the troops to kill people at that moment made them unforgettable, and they could only obey him submissively.

  After all the evidence was signed and sealed, forming a case file, Yue Yun also dared not to slack off. He immediately ordered someone to copy these case files and bring them up, while keeping the originals stored in Xiangyang for normal reporting procedures.

  Three days later, Niu Tong choked back hot tears as he gazed out at the new grave outside Xiangyang City, remembering how Tang Huai had cared for him when he was young, and he couldn't help but let out a loud wail of grief.

  Yue Yun, Guan Ling and Yu Yunwen paid their respects in front of Tang Huai's tombstone, then Fang lightly patted Niu Tong's shoulder and said softly: "Niu Tong, let's go, it's time!"

  He and Yu Yunwen did not dare to tell Niu Tong and Guan Ling that Tian Shizhong was secretly instructed by Qin Hui, fearing that they would be impulsive and do something stupid again. They could only say that Tian Shizhong was a treacherous spy of the Jin people.

  Niu Tong stood up at this time, wiped away his tears, and knocked three loud heads in front of Tang Huai's tomb: "Uncle Tang! You can rest here, I will follow Yuan Shuai and Da Gongzi to kill all the golden dogs, to comfort your spirit in heaven!"

  Right next to them, a boundless convoy of grain carts was slowly moving northward...