Chapter 55 Henan Yin
Captain Lu Zheng stood in front of the red-robed official with a flattering look on his face, pointing at Su Ze and saying, "Li Zuoling, this is the best sergeant in our team. Last time at Yongning Temple, Su Ze served as the guard of Princess Chenliu and was commended by the princess."
The middle-aged man pointed at Su Ze with his finger, and then led his men towards another palace gate.
Lu Zheng looked at Su Ze and said in a sarcastic tone, "Su Lang, you are lucky. The court has just reinstated Li Gong as the Left Minister of Henan Prefecture. Li Zuoling wants to investigate several murders that occurred in Luoyang recently, and he came to my Yulin Army to select people. I recommended you to Li Zuoling."
"You don't need to go to the palace today. Go directly to the Henan government office to report."
Upon hearing that Su Ze was going to be transferred to Henan Prefecture, Yang Zongjia, Fan Dalang and other Han Yulin immediately started making a fuss:
"Su Lang is also going to participate in the selection of the Qinghe Palace's entry!"
"It was you who did this! You deliberately sent Su Lang to Henan Prefecture at this time!"
The Han Yu Lin stepped forward and surrounded Lu Zheng. Lu Zheng was so scared that he shrank his head and stepped back. Seeing that a conflict was about to break out, Su Ze said:
"stop!"
Lu Zheng had already hidden behind three Xianbei soldiers. He had thought that if he brought up the order of Li Daoyuan, the Left Prime Minister of Henan Prefecture, the Han soldiers who usually gathered around Su Ze would not dare to take action. However, he did not expect that they did not care about the Left Prime Minister of Henan Prefecture at all, but only obeyed Su Ze's orders.
Li Gong? The middle-aged official in red clothes just now is Li Daoyuan?
He was the author of the famous "Annotations to the Classic of Waterways" and also one of the Han officials who assisted Emperor Xiaowen in his reforms. But why was he the Left Prime Minister of Henan Prefecture?
Henan Prefecture was the capital prefecture, with a prefect who was a third-rank official, and two left and right ministers who assisted the prefect in handling affairs and were third-rank officials.
Didn't Liu Gui say that Li Daoyuan was recommended by Li Chong to be the governor of Henan? How did he become the left governor?
Su Ze looked at Lu Zheng. He knew that although these nations might not have high status, it had been less than twenty years since Emperor Xiaowen's sinicization reform. These Xianbei Yulin might have some relatives and friends with the top leaders, and were well-informed.
Su Ze asked, "You said that Lord Li was appointed as the Left Minister of Henan Prefecture. Who is the Minister of Henan Prefecture now?"
Lu Zheng was shocked by Su Ze's momentum and revealed all his information:
"The court debated endlessly over who would be the governor of Henan. Finally, Cui Gong, the chief priest of the Imperial College, proposed that Li Gong and General Zang Shuhou be appointed as the left and right governors of Henan Prefecture respectively. They were asked to investigate a recent murder case in Luoyang. Whoever could solve the case first would be the governor of Henan Prefecture."
I see. It is probably because the court has been unable to decide on the candidate for the Yin of Henan, that is why Cui Guang made such a suggestion.
Su Ze secretly clenched his fists. Hou Gang was the murderer of his father. This instinctive hatred was almost uncontrollable, which made the atmosphere around him even colder.
Lu Zheng thought that his answer did not satisfy Su Ze, and his whole body could not help but tremble.
Many of the Han Yulin who followed Su Ze also knew about Su Ze's father. Yang Zongjia and Fan Dalang looked at Su Ze worriedly.
Just when Lu Zheng was about to be unable to bear it, Su Ze said coldly: "From now on, the guards of the national and Han ethnic groups will take turns to come to the palace gate, and the same applies to the night duty."
When Lu Zheng heard Su Ze's conditions, he agreed without hesitation. Su Ze simply ignored Lu Zheng, bypassed the three Xianbei Yu Lin, and followed the direction Li Daoyuan left.
Before taking office as the Left Prime Minister of Henan, Li Daoyuan requested a military order from the court to select elite soldiers from the Yulin Huben guarding the palace gate to assist him in handling the murder case in Luoyang.
There have been frequent murders in the capital in recent days. First, the Jin Ping assassination case was hastily concluded, but there are also undercurrents.
There was another murder at Longhua Temple, where 11 wandering monks were killed in their quarters. Later investigations revealed that the monks were related to Mahayana Buddhism. Li Daoyuan was from Zhuo County, Fanyang, Hebei, and knew that Mahayana Buddhism was spreading rapidly in Hebei, and there were already signs of the Yellow Turban Sect.
Officials from Jizhou also wrote to the court, requesting that the Mahayana sect be banned and its leader Faqing be arrested.
However, because Empress Dowager Hu was a devout Buddhist, these petitions were ignored. Instead, the court demanded that Jizhou officials not criticize monks harshly.
Now the Mahayana Buddhism has developed to Luoyang and is also hiding in the Longhua Temple, which makes Li Daoyuan feel extremely uneasy.
He also discussed the Jin Ping assassination case in Yongning Temple with Cui Guang, and it was vaguely related to the evil spirits of the Mahayana sect.
However, this group of lawless monsters were all wiped out in Longhua Temple, and judging from their wounds, these monsters were all killed by military weapons.
In addition to this case, the Rouran King Anagui, who lived in the Siyi Pavilion, reported that his followers were attacked and the falcon that the Rouran King was going to use in the hunting ceremony for the Qinghe King to enter the court was stolen.
Although this case was not as serious as the previous two, Li Daoyuan thought of the day when Li Chong talked about his views on the northern grasslands at Li Chong's house and requested Li Daoyuan to write a letter to the court, asking them not to send troops to escort the Rouran King back to the north.
Now there is an endless debate in the court about how to deal with the Rouran King. One faction is Li Chong and others' opinion, which is to detain the Rouran King in the Siyi Pavilion in Luoyang, but to recognize the Rouran King's position as Khan and maintain the divided state of the northern grasslands.
One faction was headed by Jiangyang King Yuan Yi. They believed that Rouran King Anagui was the Khan appointed by the court and was extremely submissive to the Wei Dynasty.
The Rouran were in civil strife and the Rouran king fled. As the suzerain state, the Wei Dynasty should help Anagui regain the throne of Khan. When Anagui regains control of the grassland, he will surely remember the Wei Dynasty's kindness and pay tribute to the Wei Dynasty.
The court had not yet reached a conclusion on how to deal with the Rouran King. Now his entourage had been attacked and his beloved falcon had been stolen. This case had taken place in Luoyang City, so it was naturally also the affairs of the Henan Prefecture.
Li Daoyuan did not trust the clerks and patrol officers of Henan Prefecture, so he proposed to transfer the imperial guards to assist him in the investigation.
The same was true for Hou Gang, the Right Prime Minister of Henan. He drew out his old subordinates from the Yulin Army and left the Henan Prefecture and the City Patrol Captain aside to investigate these cases.
Li Daoyuan did not have his own team in Luoyang, so he could only select the imperial guards himself.
After he finished selecting, he looked at Su Ze in the team and suddenly felt that he looked familiar. After asking Su Ze's name, he asked, "Is your family a family of Yu Lin for generations?"
Su Ze crossed his arms and said, "My father once served as a Yulin Lang."
Only then did Li Daoyuan confirm that the young man today was the son of the Yulin Lang back then.
At that time, Li Daoyuan served as Palace Attendant and followed Emperor Xiaowen in planning the Sinicization reforms in the Forbidden City. Su Ze's father was also selected by Emperor Xiaowen to serve as a Yulin Lang to guard the Forbidden City.
Although the two had no friendship, looking at Su Ze's face that was similar to his father's, Li Daoyuan also recalled the past.
He put away his thoughts and asked Su Ze: "Can you read?"
Su Ze said: "Reply to Commander Zuo, I can read."
Li Daoyuan said with satisfaction: "From now on, you are the team leader. All these people behind you are under your control. Now follow me to Henan Prefecture to investigate the case!"
Today is also 6k, thank you for your support
(End of this chapter)