It has been a month since the promulgation of the multi-partition system, but the court has never calmed down. The multi-partition system has changed the entire power structure, and the officials of the Northern Sui Dynasty will be affected more or less. Many system details have been implemented step by step with time, and almost every official feels its impact on himself. √

Everyone is paying attention and looking forward to it every day, so that the once-provoking Lu Chu case has been completely forgotten.

But some people have not forgotten this case.

There is a small street in the east of Zhongdu City called Donggong Lane. The small street is about one mile long and there are not many residents. There are more than a dozen gambling halls on both sides. There were not many gambling techniques in the Sui Dynasty, mainly throwing pipas. The gameplay is very similar to the dice rolling in later generations, but the gameplay is much more complicated. Each gambling hall is crowded with all kinds of gamblers, and almost everyone is red-eyed and shouts loudly.

At this time, a strong black man lost all his last copper coins and walked out of the gambling hall cursed. His surname was Du, a local. He had no name since he was a child. Everyone called him Du Hei. Because he had a thick black hair on his belly, he was nicknamed Black Belly. He was a famous rogue in Anyang County in his early years. Later, he defected to Wei Daoer and became a lieutenant. After Wei Daoer died, he took more than a dozen subordinates back to his hometown to have a meal. He gradually became the leader of a beggar in Anyang County, controlled hundreds of beggars, and became a local domineering.

Now Anyang County has become Zhongdu, with a population of more than 500,000, and there are thousands of beggars coming from all over Hebei. As a local snake, he used brutal means to kill several other beggar leaders, and he became the largest beggar leader in Zhongdu, and half of the beggars in Anyang City were controlled by him.

Du Hei lost all his money today, and he was really unwilling to accept it. "When is the night to close?" he turned around and asked.

The shopkeeper of the gambling house smiled yinly, "As long as Mr. Du has money, you can come at any time!"

"Just wait for your words, wait for me."

Du Hei quickly walked out of the gambling hall and walked towards the end of the street. He needed to go back and get some money, but the servant and his horse at the intersection were gone. It was already past the hour of Hai, and the night was deep, and most of the people began to fall asleep. The streets were deserted and there was no pedestrian.

At this time, a carriage was coming from the darkness, and "Ga!" stopped in front of him, and two men in black jumped out of the carriage. Du Hei was shocked and turned around and ran away. He found that there was already a person standing behind him. Before he could react, there was a severe pain on his forehead, and he knew nothing and fell softly to the ground.

Three men in black stuffed him into the carriage, and the carriage drove away and soon disappeared into the darkness.

Du Hei slowly woke up, but found himself in a cold and dark stone chamber. The bean-sized lantern seedlings flickered and dark, and the walls were covered with various torture instruments. Four naked men stood around with their hands crossed, looking at him coldly.

At this time, Du Hei showed that he was naked and locked in iron chains. He began to feel frightened. When he turned around, he saw a young man sitting not far away from him. There was a table in front of him, and paper and pen on the table were covered with paper and pen.

"Who are you, where are you?" Du Hei began to struggle in horror.

The young man seemed a little impatient and gave a wink to the man beside him. The man walked up and slapped Du Hei more than a dozen times, slapped him with a star's eyes and a single tooth fell off.

"I'll ask you one question, and you'll answer it. If there's a half-informed sentence, I'll chop you up a finger. Do you understand?"

Du Hei nodded in fear, and the young man said coldly: "We found out that you are the source of spreading the rumors about Shangshu Du, that is, the rumors start from you. We want to know who made you spread the rumors?"

Du Hei's mind buzzed! He was in big trouble. He was about to speak when he suddenly thought of the threat the man had threatened him. He hesitated and said, "It's a man in his forties. He asked me to spread something and gave me ten taels of gold."

The young man snorted coldly, and the big man next to him chopped off with a knife. Du Hei let out a heart-wrenching scream. His right thumb had been chopped off, and blood was immediately flowing.

"I'll give you another last chance, and I'll cut off your head without saying it!"

"I said!"

Du Hei cried and shouted, "It's the butler of Zheng's Mansion! It's him who asked me to do it."

"Which Zheng Mansion?" the young man walked up and stared at his eyes and asked.

"Mr. Zheng Shanguo, the Minister of Justice, I know his housekeeper."

"What's the name of the butler?"

"The surname is Qin, and he is called the Grand Butler Qin. Don't kill me. I know where his family lives?"

The young man nodded and ordered his left and right, "Take him down, bandage him, and turn around and let him testify."

At dusk, Pei Ju sat in the dining hall as usual to eat. He paid great attention to maintenance. He only drank a bowl of white rice porridge and ate a little fruit for dinner. Two maids stood next to him, serving him carefully.

At this time, he saw the next Sun Peijun hesitating in front of the steps, as if he had something to report to him, so he put down the teacup and asked, "What's the matter?"

Pei Jun gritted his teeth and bowed, "Shangshu Zheng is here, saying that he has something urgent to ask for a meeting!"

Pei Ju thought for a while, "Take him to the guesthouse and I'll come soon."

Pei Ju was drinking tea while considering Zheng Shanguo's purpose. In fact, he could guess that Zheng Shanguo came for that matter. Decades of official experience told him that this matter was not over and that Zhang Xuan could not have been left alone.

This matter was indeed a bit too much, almost causing Lu Chu to be ruined and almost destroyed the implementation of the polygon system. Zhang Xuan's unfathomable attitude made him feel really uneasy. If this matter is not handled well, it is very likely that it will be the end of his career in Pei Ju, and he must completely separate from this matter.

Thinking of this, Pei Ju stood up and left for the guest hall.

Pei Ju came to the guest hall, but saw Zheng Shanguo like an ant on a hot pan, restless. Pei Ju felt a little dissatisfied and couldn't hold her anger at all. She actually wanted to provide advice from Ziwei Pavilion!

He coughed gently and walked into the lobby. Zheng Shanguo jumped up suddenly and rushed forward and said, "Uncle Shi, something happened! Something happened!"

"What's wrong with Shangshu Zheng being so anxious?" Pei Ju asked with a smile.

The 'Shu Zheng' immediately distanced him from Zheng Shanguo. Zheng Shanguo felt like he was stabbed violently. He was stunned for a moment and slowly sat down. Pei Ju smiled and said, "That's right! If you have something to do, don't worry."

Zheng Shanguo said in a deep voice: "My housekeeper hanged himself in the afternoon."

"Oh! This is so unfortunate."

Zheng Shanguo handed a note to Pei Ju, "He left this."

Pei Ju took the note and opened it, with only one sentence on it, "Betray the master, you can only apologize if you die!'

"What does this mean?" Pei Ju asked in confusion.

"This Qin Butler was my book boy. He has been with me for thirty years and is loyal to me. I just let him do what Lu Chu does. He has seen his body and was tortured. It must be his confession."

"I don't understand, what did he confess?"

"Of course I confessed to Lu Chu. Don't Uncle Shi understand?"

Pei Ju shook her head, "I really don't understand what Zheng Shangshu is talking about? What happened to Lu Chu?"

Zheng Shanguo looked at Pei Ju in shock. After a long time, he nodded and said, "I understand, then I won't disturb Pei's rest. I will say goodbye to my subordinates!"

Zheng Shanguo had a gloomy face, got up and walked out quickly. Pei Ju picked up the teacup and said lightly: "Send me a visit!"

In the official pavilion of the Suzaku Palace, Zhang Xuan was looking at a report given to him by Fang Xuanling. Fang Xuanling apologized: "Your Highness, you can basically be sure that the rumor was done by Zheng Shanguo. He had a very good relationship with Yang Qing. The list of manors should have been obtained from Yang Qing's son."

Zhang Xuan threw the report on the table and snorted: "I'm afraid it's not just Zheng Shanguo, but someone behind him is planning for him. Can he get Ziwei Pavilion's advice with just Zheng Shanguo?"

Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and suddenly realized, "Can it be?"

Zhang Xuan walked to the window with his hands behind his back and looked at the eaves in the distance. After a long time, Zhang Xuan said coldly: "For my own benefit, he almost split the court. He disappointed me too much."

Fang Xuanling whispered: "It's just that Bei Zhi didn't expect that the butler would hang himself. In this way, there would be no witnesses, and I'm afraid they would not be able to prove them."

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "Everyone knows this kind of thing. I asked you to check this matter, but I just want to confirm it myself. What does it matter whether they admit it or not?"

"What will your Highness do?"

Zhang Xuan pondered for a long time and said, "I decided to appoint Zheng Shanguo as the prefect of Qichun County."

Fang Xuanling sighed in his heart. The demotion from the Minister of Justice to the prefect of Qichun County means that Zheng Shanguo's career has ended. However, Fang Xuanling also understood that Zhang Xuan punished Zheng Shanguo not only because of the Lu Chu incident. The Zheng family also placed bets in Chang'an, Luoyang and Zhongdu at the same time. In particular, the Zheng family secretly transferred Yang Qing's large amount of wealth to Guanzhong. Zhang Xuan had long been dissatisfied with the Zheng family.

“Is the investigation over?”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "The fewer people know about this, the better, especially those responsible for operating communication, let him shut up forever."

"I understand!" Fang Xuanling bowed and stepped down.
Chapter completed!