Chapter 160 A Good Card

After having enough wine and food.

Zhao Guanxiang was not in a hurry to leave Zhang Juzheng’s house. Instead, he sat in the courtyard with two servants to drink tea to sober up and enjoy the cool air.

“Once the Gao family’s affairs are settled, I will go to Jingzhou.”

Zhao Guanxiang held a cup of hot tea and spoke to the two people beside him.

His words stunned Gao He and Zhang Juzheng.

Gao He seemed to feel a little cold, shrank his neck, and asked: “General Qi chased you away a while ago, but you refused to go. Now you go? The situation in Jingzhou is not good now, I am glad that I didn’t go.”

Zhao Guanxiang smiled bitterly and said, “What if I don’t go? The only place where I can make a lot of merit nowadays is Jingzhou.”

Although the Daqian Dynasty is engaged in constant wars on the border, that is the military’s business, not the Astronomical Observatory’s territory.

The Xuntianjian was not involved in border military affairs. Even if there was a “military supervisor”, it was the eunuchs from the East Factory who were in charge.

The duties of the Astronomical Observatory are to guard the capital, monitor all officials… and kill evil spirits!

In recent years, there have been more and more demons and evil spirits in the Daqian Dynasty, and most of them are related to the Salvation Church.

The Salvation Church is like a thorn in the flesh to the Daqian Dynasty. Although it is not fatal, it is disgusting.

Calculating the time, the Salvation Sect became active again in Daqian after “Tianwu Destroyed Buddhism”.

The imperial court wanted to wipe out the root of the problem but failed to do so. After several rounds of encirclement and suppression operations, they only brought a short period of silence, but the problem would eventually flare up again.

After a few times, the court simply covered its ears and closed its eyes. As long as no major mistakes were made, it would pretend that the Savior Church did not exist.

But this time, the Jingzhou bloodbath can no longer be ignored.

The imperial court sent people over, and they discovered that the Jingzhou incident was more than just a “bloody case”. The entire Jingzhou had fallen, and everyone from officials to ordinary people were under the control of the Salvation Church.

Although Jingzhou is the smallest of the nine states of Daqian, it is located in the hinterland, adjacent to the capital city, and is also an important grain producing area. The consequences of its fall are too serious and the court cannot afford it at all.

Now General Ling has mobilized the troops from several surrounding states to “cleanse” Jingzhou. One can imagine what a bloody battlefield this place will become in the near future.

For this reason, Zhao Guanxiang’s statement that he wanted to go to Jingzhou at this critical juncture was really beyond the expectations of the two servants.

Before, everyone thought that going to Jingzhou was a good opportunity to win military merit, but you didn’t go. Now everyone realizes that Jingzhou is a hot potato, but you are rushing to go?

Cheap or not!

Gao He couldn’t help but advised: “Think it over carefully, don’t rush to seek medical help. Jingzhou is not a peaceful place. I heard that the imperial envoys were attacked by the Salvation Church. General Bai was injured and the Minister of Rites died. You…”

“If you want to go, I’ll go with you!”

At this time, Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhao Guanxiang and expressed his attitude in a firm tone.

Zhao Guanxiang said: “This is not a joke. It’s okay for Lao Gao, but you have women in your family…”

Zhang Juzheng didn’t waste any words. He stood up and walked from the yard to the house.

After a while, he came out of the house and said, “My wife agreed.”

Zhao Guanxiang scratched his head: “Have you thought it through?”

“I’ve thought it through. The worst that can happen is that I die in Jingzhou. The prison will take good care of my wife. I also have a younger brother at home.”

Seeing Zhang Juzheng’s firm attitude, Gao He shouted: “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you have a younger brother, but I don’t have a younger brother… I am the only child in my family, and I haven’t even married yet!”

Zhao Guanxiang said, “Then you don’t have to go. Zhang Lushuai and I will go.”

Gao He got angry and yelled, “I knew you two were ostracizing me! Go ahead, go ahead. Anyway, I’m the only one left in my family now. A barefoot person is not afraid of those wearing shoes. I’ll die if I die!”

“Wrong.” Zhao Guanxiang shook his head and said with a smile, “The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!”

His decision to go to Jingzhou was not a sudden one.

Zhao Guanxiang knew that Zhao Qi’an also wanted him to go to Jingzhou, and that his adoptive father had something that could help him get promoted.

It was just that he had been planning to take over the Gao family while General Bai was away, so he refused.

Right now the Gao family has been imprisoned in the prison of the Astronomical Observatory. It seems there is still time for them to go to Jingzhou after things here are settled!

While the three were talking, Hong Zhao came out of the house and looked at the back of Zhao Guanxiang sitting on the bamboo chair. He hesitated for a long time before walking towards him. Zhao Guanxiang noticed someone approaching from behind, turned around and found it was the little girl, and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Hong Zhao nodded with a red face and whispered: “I, I have something to tell you…”

……

“The daughter of the Qin family?”

In the princess’s mansion, Zhao Qi’an sat in the study, looking at a newly delivered secret letter and frowned slightly.

This secret letter records the identity of the girl who was imprisoned in Yifenghuangzhuang Prison, as found out by Xiaowei.

There were only two people imprisoned in Yifenghuangzhuang Prison.

One of them has been confirmed to be the ex-wife of the Second Prince Ji Haoyu, the former Second Prince’s Consort Wang Yanzhi.

The identity of the other younger girl was not found out at first.

But how could someone who was imprisoned together with the former second prince’s wife and heavily guarded be of ordinary status?
Zhao Qi’an felt something was wrong, so he sent people to dig deeper and more carefully.

But with Xiaowei’s in-depth investigation these days, he finally got some clues.

However, this result was somewhat beyond Zhao Qian’s expectations.

He didn’t expect that the girl was actually the youngest daughter of Tianguan, the Minister of Personnel.

Although the Daqian Dynasty has established two prime ministers, the left and right prime ministers, the position has remained vacant since the previous right prime minister left office.

Therefore, in this court, the left prime minister Wu Yong is almost the only one in power.

Over the years, the only person who had the opportunity to threaten Prime Minister Wu’s position was Qin Desheng, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Personnel who came from a prominent family in Yangzhou.

Qin Desheng just turned fifty this year. He has many children in his family, including five sons and three daughters.

The youngest daughter among them was the girl Qin Hongzhao who was rescued by Zhao Guanxiang from Yifeng Imperial Farm.

What is strange is that Qin Desheng lost his daughter but did not report to the police to look for her, nor did he make it public. He actually kept it secret.

This move was indeed somewhat unexpected.

If Qin Hongzhao didn’t have a birthmark on her face, we would have had a clue to look for. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find out the identity of a young lady from a wealthy family like this.

Zhao Qian’an pondered for a while, then sent someone to the Treasure House to get a document.

This document records the changes in the political situation over the years.

After he read it, his eyes seemed to have some understanding: “If my guess is correct, this Qin Hongzhao disappeared four years ago?”

Four years ago, Zuo Xiang was suppressing Qin Tianguan comprehensively.

Qin Desheng…did he think that Qin Hongzhao’s disappearance was a warning from Wu Xiang to him?
If this is true, it would be a joke.

“A person who can become a Heavenly Official in the Ministry of Personnel would not be so stupid…”

Zhao Qi’an seemed to be thinking about something. It seemed that the Third Prince had put in a lot of effort behind this matter.

If his guess is correct, Ji Yunrui ordered the Gao family to kidnap Qin Hongzhao in order to stir up conflict between Qin Tianguan and Zuo Xiang and cause infighting among the civil servants.

Ji Yunrui’s base is among the military generals, the border troops, and the Western Desert…but he does not have an advantage in the court.

But if Qin Tianguan is willing to serve the third prince, the situation will become completely different.

As for how the third prince deceived Qin Tianguan, Zhao Qi’an had no idea.

He didn’t need to know, because Qin Hongzhao was now in his hands!

“Tuk Tuk Tuk!”

The knock on the door also brought Zhao Qian’an back to his senses.

Outside the study door, Luan Nu’s voice rang out:

“Master, the fourth young master wants to see you. He said he has something important to report.”

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(End of this chapter)