frightfiction Chapter 530 The evidence is conclusive
Chapter 530 The evidence is conclusive
On the second day, the Dugu family army who went back to report the news changed into the clothes of rich people, showed the pass and successfully left Jinling City, and returned to the suburbs 30 miles away to meet with the Dugu family army stationed outside.
When Dugu Xin heard that the people who had entered the city had returned, he immediately let them into the tent.
Dugu Xin asked, "What's the situation in the city? Have you contacted the King of Chu's men?"
The Dugu Army soldier replied, "Your Highness, someone from the King of Chu's entourage found us last night and informed us of their plan of action."
Dugu Xin nodded and said, "Well, tell me the plan quickly."
The soldier from the Dugu family army then told them the plan that Feng Shengyi had told them yesterday.
Dugu Xin thought to himself, "As expected of my favorite son-in-law, he has made a very thorough plan." However, he remained calm on the surface and said, "Well, okay, go back and rest first!"
After the soldier left, Dugu Xin summoned several generals to discuss the attack method, how to minimize casualties and successfully rescue Li Chu and others.
After discussing the tactics, Dugu Xin decided that the entire army should advance another 10 miles. This position would make it easier to support Li Chu and others.
But there are also some downsides. Their numbers are large and they may be discovered by the garrison. If they report to the city, they may give up and let the garrison enter the city directly, or use other methods to get rid of Li Chu and others.
So they decided to disperse their troops and station them in the four directions of east, south, west and north. In this way, Li Chu and others could be picked up no matter which direction they left the city. Then, the others could quickly surround them based on the location of the signal flares, which was a safer method.
In the city, during the lunch break during the day, Feng Shengyi climbed out of the window and left the Du Mansion, then he disguised himself and left the city to meet up with the Dugu family army who were guarding the remaining supplies. He told them about tomorrow's plan, and they said they would go into the city to deliver the supplies as promised tomorrow.
After a nap, Li Chu found Prefect Du and said to him, "Master Du, I have received news that the last batch of supplies will arrive tomorrow. Once the supplies are distributed, we will prepare to set off back to Chang'an."
Prefect Du hadn't expected Li Chu to leave right after delivering the disaster relief, so he asked, "Your Highness, now that you've finished your official duties, aren't you planning to stay in Jinling for a few more days to have some fun?"
Li Chu shook his head and said, "No, after all, we've been out eating and drinking a lot these past few days, and we've also stayed in Jinling for a long time. It's time to go back."
After hearing this, Magistrate Du thought for a moment and said, "How about we wait until the relief supplies are distributed, and then I'll host a banquet for you all?"
Although Li Chu didn't know whether he was simply inviting them to dinner or to hold a Hongmen Banquet, he still agreed. If he didn't agree, how could he know what their purpose was?
At night, when it was late and quiet, Feng Shengyi sneaked out of the Du Mansion to meet Xunfeng again. He told him the route that the Dugu family army would take to enter the city to escort the goods tomorrow, and asked them to find an opportunity to sneak into the team.
On the second day, at about three quarters past noon, dozens of Dugu family soldiers escorted the remaining supplies into the city. Xunfeng and another Dugu family soldier who came to inquire successfully mixed into the escort team.
In order to prevent Du Zhifu and others from noticing their intentions, the Dugu family army, which originally had more than a hundred people, had twenty of them waiting around the government office, ready to provide support at any time.
At the government office gate, Li Chu, Li Guangbi, Guo Ziyi, and Du Zhifu had been waiting for a long time. Seeing the escort team stopped at the government office gate, Li Chu said to Du Zhifu: "Master Du, please ask someone to help unload the supplies."
Magistrate Du agreed and called people from the government office to help unload the car.
As expected, there is strength in numbers, and all the unloading was done in less than half an hour.
I thought the escorts would leave after unloading the wagons. However, this time, Li Chu said to Prefect Du, "Master Du, I see that the escorts are all strong and healthy. Why don't we have them stay with us, distribute the supplies, and then return to Chang'an with us to report?"
How could Magistrate Du say no? He could only agree and said he would arrange accommodation for them at the inn.
Li Chu added, "Hey, what a hassle! And it's a waste of money. I see there are still many empty rooms in the Du Mansion. They're just sitting there anyway, so why not give them a place to stay? If there's not enough room, we can put some of them in the servants' quarters at the government office."
Prefect Du wanted to refuse, but he had previously told Li Chu that he had borrowed money to stay. Wouldn't it be a rip-off if he arranged for so many people to stay at the inn? Ultimately, he was forced to accept and sent someone back to inform Madam Du.
Mrs. Du almost fainted from anger when she heard this, but she also knew that if Magistrate Du did not agree, he would be like trying to cover up his crime and confess his crime without being asked.
Mrs. Du held back her anger and arranged for the servants to prepare the room. She also asked the kitchen to buy more vegetables. After all, it was impossible to just provide accommodation without eating.
In the afternoon, Magistrate Du arranged the people in the government office, and Li Chu ordered part of the Dugu family army that was escorting supplies to help distribute cotton clothes, quilts, and silver. At the same time, four porridge stalls were set up in Jinling City.
Each porridge stall was followed by two people from the Dugu family army, so the porridge was very thick and contained some vegetables, which made the victims in Jinling City very happy.
Of course, this is very bad for Magistrate Du and those merchants who want to sell grain by raising the price.
Some businessmen also privately approached Magistrate Du about this matter. Magistrate Du could only say that he could not even protect himself now and was unable to help.
Finally, those merchants, because of Prince Li Chu's status, wanted to wait until Li Chu left before continuing to make money from the national crisis.
In one afternoon, the last batch of supplies had been distributed.
In the evening, Magistrate Du prepared a farewell banquet as scheduled. However, since the Dugu family army had a large number of people, only the leaders of the army were invited to the banquet. The rest of the people were given a table in their own courtyard, so that there would be no favoritism.
Magistrate Du naturally started with polite words. He first paid tribute to Li Chu, Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi, saying that they had worked hard in disaster relief.
Then he saluted the leader of the Dugu family army, saying that it was not easy for them to travel all the way.
Of course, Li Chu and others responded hastily to Du Zhifu's flattery, but they quietly poured out the wine.
Because Li Chu was afraid that they had drugged the food, he sent Xun Feng to get the poison test drug prepared by Dugu Jingyao to test it in advance, and the food was found to be non-toxic.
However, because the wine was in the jar and difficult to taste, they did not dare to drink it, but they ate the food as usual.
Naturally, Xunfeng also informed the rest of the Dugu family army of this news, so they all pretended to drink, but actually did not drink.
As expected, during the meal, Xunfeng and Feng Shengyi both tried the wine in the jug and found that it had been drugged, but they didn't know what it was.
But it doesn’t matter. When the time is right, they pretend to be faint, which is always the right thing to do.
When Du Zhifu saw Li Chu and the others lying on the table, he left. But halfway through, he heard someone shouting that the fire had broken out.
He looked again and saw the direction of the water, which turned out to be his study. His treasures were all in the dark room of the study, so why would he care? He quickly ran towards the study.
Although there was thick smoke, it was actually just smoke and there was no fire. This was Li Chu's trick to make him nervous so that he would rush to the study to move the gold and silver treasures he had hidden so that they could be caught in one fell swoop.
When he arrived at the study, he found that Mrs. Du was already there.
Madam Du said, "Don't worry, Master. I checked and it's just smoke, but it hasn't caught fire yet."
Governor Du finally felt relieved and said, "That's good. Have you sent someone to check? How are those soldiers?"
Madam Du nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, Master. I went to see him myself, and he was unconscious."
Magistrate Du said, "Well, okay, let's take this opportunity to move the things quickly!"
Magistrate Du went into the study first and opened the secret room. Then Madam Du ordered a dozen young men to go into the study together. Although they were shocked by the scene before them, they had all signed death contracts and dared not say a word, and could only obey orders.
They entered the dark room and began to move things out. Magistrate Du was watching from the study, fearing that someone might hide something. But unexpectedly, when they walked out of the study, they were startled and stood there in a daze.
Magistrate Du and Madam Du were still complaining about their slowness and urging them to hurry, but they were startled when they arrived at the door.
Because Li Chu, Li Guangbi, Guo Ziyi and dozens of Dugu's soldiers were standing outside the door, so they were caught red-handed in the act of transferring the stolen money.
Magistrate Du was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground. It was only when Madam Du helped him up that Magistrate Du asked tremblingly, "Your Highness, weren't you drunk? Why are you all here?"
Li Chu snorted coldly and said, "Do you think I don't know the medicine you gave me?"
Du Zhifu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Highness, you are joking. How dare this humble official?"
Li Chu said, "Don't you dare? Feng Shengyi, go get a pot of wine for Magistrate Du, so he can drink some to calm down."
Feng Shengyi brought a pot of wine and walked towards Magistrate Du and asked, "Would you like to drink it yourself, or should I help you?"
Magistrate Du was a little panicked. He knelt hurriedly and said, "Your Highness, this... Your humble servant... Your humble servant did not mean to do this. It's just that I worked so hard to earn this money and saved it up. I really can't bear to tell you that my family has no money. I was also afraid that you would find out and blame me, so I had no choice but to do this... Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Li Chu raised his eyebrows upon hearing this and asked, "Oh? Really? Did you earn it yourself? Or did you get it greedily?"
Du Zhifu kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, what are you talking about? This humble official has earned it."
Li Chu asked, "If that's the case, what are you afraid of? Take out the account book and show it to me. And then use the money for disaster relief. How about I let you make amends for your mistakes?"
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Du hurriedly said, "Madam, go and get our account book."
Mrs. Du quickly asked someone to ask the accountant to get the account book. Within a quarter of an hour, the accountant arrived, but he was also shocked by the situation.
Magistrate Du said, "Hurry up and show the account book to His Majesty."
The accountant should take out all the account books of the Du Mansion, including the business account books. Li Chu asked Feng Shengyi, Li Guangbi and the other people from the Ministry of Revenue to check the amounts according to the account books.
It took about an hour to finish the inventory.
Li Guangbi shook his head and said, "Your Highness, it is consistent with the accounts."
Li Chu thought to himself, "I've really made all the preparations. What a pity..." Li Chu said to Feng Shengyi, "Bring the things here."
Feng Shengyi handed Li Chu a notebook, opened it, and wrote down the amount and purpose of the bribes on every page, and showed it to Magistrate Du.
Magistrate Du was completely panicked. He knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Your Highness, this is a false accusation! This is a false accusation!"
Li Chu said to Feng Shengyi again, "Go and bring the witness up."
Not long after, a woman and a man were brought up.
Li Chu asked Magistrate Du, "Do you recognize them?"
Magistrate Du raised his head slightly and saw that they were indeed old acquaintances. One was the president of the local Chamber of Commerce, and the other was the top courtesan in the brothel where Mrs. Du used to work.
However, Magistrate Du answered truthfully: "I know this person as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, but I'm not familiar with him. I don't know the other person either!"
Li Chu then asked Madam Du, "Master Du is not familiar with this woman, so what about Madam Du?"
Madam Du seemed much calmer than Lord Du. She said, "I have seen him before, but I am not familiar with him."
Li Chu said meaningfully, "Is that so?" Then, facing the president and the courtesan who were kneeling on the ground, he said, "Then it seems you haven't been telling the truth and have deceived me. In that case, drag them away and give them a hundred strokes of the cane!"
The president nearly fainted from shock. Although he had seen a lot in the business world, he had never been so skinny since he was a child. One hundred blows would either kill him or cripple him! No, saving his life was the most important thing.
The president then broke free from the Dugu family army and rushed to Li Chu's side, saying, "Your Highness! Everything I said is true. It was really me who paid Lord Du to arrange a small official position for me! If you don't believe me, Your Highness, you can check it out!"
When Magistrate Du heard this, he wanted to tear his mouth apart, but he just knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying, "Your Highness, don't listen to his nonsense. It's not true!"
Li Chu ordered Feng Shengyi to bring up a glass of wine, but the wine did not contain a knockout drug, but something else.
Prefect Du subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Li Chu said, "Don't be afraid. This isn't a knockout drug, it's a truth poison. If you drink it, every word you say will be the truth. Sir Du, do you want to try it?"
Magistrate Du had to find a scapegoat quickly. He said, "Your Majesty, this was all my wife's idea!"
Guo Ziyi couldn't stand Du Zhifu's behavior and sneered, "Master Du, you are such a coward. You use a woman to take the blame at the critical moment!"
Madam Du was different from usual. She said, "So what if I was the one who helped my husband to arrange this matter?"
Li Chu actually admired this seemingly delicate woman and asked, "Oh? Madam Du is quite straightforward!"
Madam Du also laughed crazily, "Hahaha, so what if you know? Even if you know, you can't leave Jinling! I will make you buried with my husband and me! Hahaha..."
Magistrate Du was stunned when he heard this. What did Madam mean? Was she crazy? He quickly stood up and pulled Madam Du back, saying, "Madam, shut up!"
Madam Du pushed Magistrate Du aside and walked to Li Chu's side. Feng Shengyi naturally wanted to protect him. However, Li Chu asked him to move aside and asked, "What do you mean, Madam Du?"
Mrs. Du took another step forward and stretched out her hand to touch Li Chu's face, but Li Chu dodged her. She then said angrily, "It's nothing, it's just a pity for such a handsome face." After saying that, she took out a whistle and blew it.
Many men in black jumped out from all directions. Li Chu didn't expect that Mrs. Du was such a powerful character and even had secret guards.
Madam Du shouted, "Don't leave any one alive." The men in black swarmed forward, but how could the Dugu family soldiers be killed so easily when they were fighting on the battlefield?
But the Dugu family army discovered that these men in black also used killing moves, each move was fatal, and they looked... like people who had been on the battlefield.
However, their combat experience was not as rich as that of the Dugu family army, and they were gradually defeated. Mrs. Du made this scene just to take the opportunity to escape.
But they still failed to escape. Although some people in the Dugu family army were injured, those men in black were either dead or injured, and the injured committed suicide by taking poison.
Li Guangbi suggested: "Your Highness, we should not stay here for long. Before the garrison finds us, let's take Magistrate Du, Madam Du, and two witnesses back to Chang'an!"
Li Chu also felt that it was not advisable to stay here for long, so he quickly ordered people to put back all the gold and silver that had not been moved out, and to take some back with the account books as physical evidence.
Before the curfew, they prepared to leave the city, but were stopped by the gate guards. One of them informed the garrison, who pretended to let them go. When they were about 10 miles away from the city gate, the garrison arrived and stopped Li Chu and his companions.