Chapter 36 Suspect

"This Captain Sun!"

In the Fu'an Marquis Mansion, Zhu Chengwu sneered and cursed with a smile.

Zhu Chengwu also said that because this incident was serious and of a serious nature, Captain Sun, who usually took several days to solve a simple case, brought out his hidden true skills that Zhu Chengwu was unaware of, and was able to find two suspicious persons in just a few hours.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Chengwu and Fu'an Marquis Mansion were waiting for me here!

Xia Yu carefully observed Zhu Chengwu's expression, fearing that something was wrong.

The matter involved Zhu Chengwu, Li Jiaqilinzi, and the garrison commander Huang. No matter what happened, it would be a major event that would shake the entire Xuzhou city.

Don't take it lightly!

"Captain Sun is not wrong!

They are both suspects!
So has he found any solid evidence?"

Zhu Chengwu asked with amusement.

Zhu Chengwu didn't believe that the person who assassinated him would be the one from the Li family or the one from the garrison.

One of them was Zhu Chengwu's rival and the other was Zhu Chengwu's ally based in Xuzhou City.

"No!
Captain Sun said that there is no evidence at the moment, he just mentioned these two suspects?
We in the Hou Mansion need to investigate the details ourselves!

There is no more news coming from the government office or the county office yet!"

Xia Yu answered honestly and carefully.

"Since Captain Sun has no evidence, the government and county offices have made no progress!
Then let’s help them!

Write a letter in my name to urge the prefectural and county governments to follow Captain Sun’s instructions and find the suspect as soon as possible!

At the same time, send a message to the Li family and the garrison!

Just say that I was assassinated by a top-notch archer. To prove my innocence, let them go to the head of the government office, Constable Sun, to explain the situation!"

Zhu Chengwu thought for a moment and gave the order.

"what?"

Xia Yu was stunned.

She couldn't understand what Zhu Chengwu meant.

Isn't this exacerbating the conflict and putting Captain Sun on the spot?

If this gets out, who will dare to work for the Marquis' Mansion or give them advice?
Those in a higher position need to rely on those below them to demonstrate their authority.

Once there are no subordinates working for the superiors, the superiors are no longer the superiors.

"Twenty years ago, Commander Huang of the garrison was not yet a commander, nor had he achieved first-class status. Being young and hot-tempered, he once became jealous of Captain Sun's eldest brother, and then they had a duel in the ring, and he accidentally beat Captain Sun's eldest brother to death!"

Seeing Xia Yu's surprised expression, Zhu Chengwu said one more sentence.

"what?

There is such a grudge between Captain Sun and Commander Huang!
and many more!

Lord, do you mean to say that Captain Sun is helping with personal revenge?"

Xia Yu was surprised at first when he suddenly learned about the old events of 20 years ago, and then he thought of the possibility that Captain Sun was seeking private revenge.

"I don't care if it's personal revenge or not!
But now, just a few hours have passed, and Captain Sun has handed the suspect to you...

At the very least, he wants to use you and the Marquis of Fu'an Mansion...

We must let them know that the Fu'an Marquis Mansion is not something they can use at will!
They are not qualified to use the Fu'an Marquis' Mansion!"

Zhu Chengwu explained the reasons why he made the previous decision.

"So that's it!"

Xia Yu looked at Zhu Chengwu and realized that what she saw and considered was still too shallow compared to Zhu Chengwu.

This was also due to Xia Yu's lack of intelligence information.

"However, Captain Sun was right about one thing!

There are only those two top-notch archers in Xuzhou city.

The Qilinzi of the Li family and Commander Huang are indeed suspects.

Let Captain Sun and the prefectural and county governments try them out for us first!

If it's not them...then in order to clear their suspicion, they will definitely do their best to help us find the real murderer!"

Zhu Chengwu has his own plans.

Moreover, even if Zhu Chengwu believed in the Li family's commander He Huang, he still had to go through the necessary procedures and investigations.

After all, sometimes feelings can be deceiving.

"But what if that Qilinzi from the Li family and Commander Huang don't go to the government office to prove their innocence? They may not be so honest..." Xia Yu still had doubts.

“They’re not that kind of people!

Moreover, at this point in time, the Li family and the garrison dare not disobey!"

As he spoke, Zhu Chengwu looked towards the courtyard of the marquis's mansion where some red silk had been hung and some "囍" characters had been pasted on it, and he spoke confidently.

Although Zhu Chengwu didn't want too many people to attend his wedding banquet.

Avoid the Earth Core Fire Lotus from being recognized and causing accidents!

However, Zhu Chengwu still invited everyone who was required to be invited according to etiquette.

Again, any abnormal behavior is likely to attract the attention and suspicion of those who are interested.

Compared with controllable risks, these uncontrollable accidents are more worrying.

Although Zhu Chengwu only followed the etiquette for the marriage of princes and marquises and invited some of Zhu's clan members and relatives and friends, which was the minimum standard.

Although Zhu Chengwu deliberately did it, the invitations and notices sent by the Marquisate were sent out very late, and many people had to travel a long way...

Hardly anyone has arrived yet!

But at the latest tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the guests should arrive one after another.

Facing the Fu'an Marquis Mansion at this time, the Li family and the garrison did not dare to play any tricks.

Moreover, Zhu Chengwu believed that the martial arts fanatic of the Li family and the ally in the garrison would understand what he meant and actively cooperate with him!
We have known each other for many years.

"Chunhua, go inform the people in the External Affairs Office to keep an eye on the situation outside the city!
I want to know the latest information about Gu Santong and my cheap brother!"

After giving instructions to Xia Yu, Zhu Chengwu said the same thing to Chunhua.

"Cheap brother?"

This is information that Chunhua doesn't know.

And from what the Marquis said, his younger brother is actually together with the challenger Gu Santong.

This…

"My brother is a bastard, not liked by our father, yet he is so arrogant!"

As if he saw Chunhua's confusion, Zhu Chengwu added another sentence.

As long as you get Zhu Chengwu's trust.

Zhu Chengwu would not deliberately hide many things.

Because Zhu Chengwu believes in trusting people when employing them and not employing people if you don't trust them.

Moreover, Zhu Chengwu’s real core secrets are only two: his identity as a reincarnated person who did not drink Meng Po soup and the jade book.

Apart from these two, Zhu Chengwu would not tell anyone else.

Zhu Chengwu felt that any other secrets could be appropriately told to some trusted people.

For example, Zhu Chengwu chose to tell Gao Yao that Cui's so-called fire lotus was most likely a high-level treasure of heaven and earth - the Earth's Core Fire Lotus.

After hearing what Zhu Chengwu said, Chunhua seemed to understand something.

To summarize, the relationship between the Marquis and the adopted brother in the Marquis's mouth is not very good, so he got entangled with Gu Santong.

"Okay, my lord!"

Chunhua took note of Zhu Chengwu's instructions.

The reason why he paid attention to Gu Santong and Zhu Wusi, in addition to seeing if it was possible to do these two future masters a favor, was of course because Zhu Chengwu also had ideas about "The Indestructible Vajra Art" and "The Art of Absorbing Power".

With the jade edict, Zhu Chengwu is indeed not short of magical skills and treasures.

Zhu Chengwu’s current configuration is enough to make him look down upon the six dynasties.

But who would complain about having too many magical books in hand!

So far, the only original magical skill book in Zhu Chengwu's hands is "Tiangang Tongzi Kung Fu".

The four magical skills Zhu Chengwu practiced, except for "Tian Gang Tong Zi Gong (Jade)" which borrowed a lot from the original "Tian Gang Tong Zi Gong", the other three were deduced by Zhu Chengwu based on many basic martial arts and superior skills in the Ming Dynasty arsenal, combined with some theories of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and magic, plus his previous life's imagination, relying on the Jade Book. The more references the Jade Book uses, the more powerful the deduced magical skills will be.

Therefore, Zhu Chengwu has been collecting martial arts from various schools over the years, accepting all of them, regardless of their level.

At the same time, he continued to collect theories from Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Regardless of whether they were mainstream at the time, as long as there were some novel ideas, Zhu Chengwu would incorporate them into his mind without hesitation to enrich his theories.

But Zhu Chengwu collected a lot of ordinary martial arts.

As for the secret manual of divine power, Zhu Chengwu still only has one, "Tiangang Tongzi Kung Fu".

This has always been Zhu Chengwu’s regret.

Now that the "Vajra Indestructible Divine Art" and the "Power Absorbing Art" are right in front of him, Zhu Chengwu naturally doesn't want to miss them easily.

Even Zhu Chengwu, who had no shortage of magical books to practice, became interested in the magical books in the hands of Gu Santong and Zhu Wusi. It was no wonder that the group of masked men outside the city who had never seen what a magical book looked like could not resist the temptation and attacked them together.

They wanted the magic book so badly that they were going crazy.

They were able to rely on their remaining rationality and let go of Zhu Chengwu, who had a strong background. This already showed how powerful the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty was!
This time, Zhu Chengwu has to bear the favor of the Zhu family again.

“Besides, these are turbulent times!
There is not only the current undercurrent!

The news of my upcoming marriage will inevitably attract many people with ulterior motives.

Let the guards of the Marquis' Mansion guard the mines, farms, and medicinal gardens under the name of the Marquis' Mansion... and make sure no one takes advantage of the situation to rob them!
At the same time, transfer another banner of troops to the Marquis’ Mansion.”

Zhu Chengwu continued to give instructions.

This is the reason why the 500-man guard team of Fu'an Marquis' Mansion was always unable to gather together after the mansion grew stronger.

This is also the reason why Zhao Xinghan only took away the troops of three flags, and the Fu'an Marquis' Mansion became empty.

For any force, there is always more that needs to be protected than just the base camp.

And the industries under his command.

Any force that wants to develop must have income and industry.

These industries need to be protected.

Fame can never scare off all those with bad intentions.

Moreover, fame is also built with blood!
There will always be people in this world who are forced into a desperate situation.

To those people, reputation and rules are of no use.

Since we are going to die anyway, why not have a good meal and live a carefree life before dying?

They don't care whose property it is.

They only care about whether they can get money or materials that can be exchanged for money from those industries.

Over the years, as the Fu'an Marquisate grew and expanded, the number of industries under its jurisdiction naturally increased.

As more industries emerge, more forces need to be protected.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, there were clear regulations on how many private soldiers each level of nobility could maintain, including dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons.

Once it exceeds the scale, it will be reported and impeached.

Although Zhu Chengwu believed that King Ming would not do anything to Zhu Chengwu just because he had a few more private soldiers.

But if there are too many such things, it will always affect the relationship.

When the favor is almost exhausted one day, King Ming might start to doubt the loyalty and intentions of his son Zhu Chengwu!

Then there will be trouble!
The human heart cannot withstand tests and temptations.

Why should Zhu Chengwu cause trouble for himself?

Therefore, Zhu Chengwu always kept the number of his soldiers under control at 500, and would only replenish them when someone was killed in battle.

But if we can’t increase the quantity, we can improve the quality!
What's more, Zhu Chengwu has the combat power of a top-notch master, and it is enough for the Marquis' Mansion to have 1-2 flags of guarding troops.

It was this mentality that almost caused Zhu Chengwu to suffer an accident due to insufficient protective power after being injured this time.

It’s true that plans can never keep up with changes!

Fortunately, most of the personnel in the three flags that Zhao Xinghan took away were drawn from the industrial protection forces under his command.

Otherwise, when outside the city of Xuzhou, even if the guards left behind in the Marquis' Mansion received the signal for help and wanted to provide support, they would not be able to send anyone to help.

"My Lord, you are seriously injured now. Is just one flag enough?"

Chunhua suggested with a little hesitation.

The industries under one's command are certainly important, but once Zhu Chengwu, the backbone of the Fu'an Marquis Mansion, encounters an accident, no matter how well the industries under one's command are protected, they are only protected for others.

However, if Chunhua understood this truth, how could Zhu Chengwu not understand it?

"Don't worry!
There is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater!
Don't forget, there are only three days left...

Almost no one would attack the Marquis' Mansion at this time!"

Although an accident almost occurred due to insufficient guards in the Marquis' Mansion, Zhu Chengwu would not be so scared as to transfer most of the forces back to guard the Marquis' Mansion.

The Marquis's Mansion is important, but the industries under its jurisdiction are equally important!

The industries under his command are related to Zhu Chengwu's cultivation resources and the salaries of the staff in the Marquis' Mansion.

Once problems arise in the industries under its command, the Fu'an Marquisate will not collapse completely, but at least several years of hard work will be wasted.

Unless it is necessary, Zhu Chengwu will not touch the security forces of his industries.

Now, it is obviously not the time to withdraw most of the forces back to the Marquis' Mansion.

"Zhao Zongqi, although theoretically there won't be any problems these days, we still have to be careful and on guard!"

After Chunhua left and arranged for personnel to notify the guards of various industries and dispatched personnel to outside the city to inquire about the news of Gu Santong and Zhu Wusi, Zhu Chengwu spoke to Zhao Xingye, the only general flag bearer left behind in Fu'an Marquis' Mansion.

Guard the property and welcome the bride to Cui.

Apart from this group of personnel, the only guarding force left in Fu'an Marquis' Mansion is a flag with 50 soldiers.

Zhao Xingye has a heavy task.

"Please rest assured, my Lord. Xingye will definitely protect you and your mansion!"

Zhao Xingye, however, seemed full of energy.

From their names, we can tell that Zhao Xingye and Zhao Xinghan are from the same clan and generation.

that's the truth.

Zhao Xingye was also a member of Zhu Chengwu's maternal family, the Zhao clan, and joined Zhu Chengwu's army at the same time as Zhao Xinghan.

Unfortunately, Zhao Xingye's leadership ability and martial arts aptitude were not as good as Zhao Xinghan's, and he was suppressed by Zhao Xinghan everywhere.

Zhao Xinghan became the chief of the imperial guard, but Zhao Xingye was only one of the ten general flags of the imperial guard.

Although Zhao Xingye recognized Zhao Xinghan's abilities, it did not mean that Zhao Xingye was convinced.

Now that Zhao Xinghan is away, Zhao Xingye finally found an opportunity to show his talent.

No wonder Zhao Xingye was excited!

Zhao Xingye was very confident. He believed that even if there was only one flag of soldiers left in the Marquis' Mansion, he could still protect the mansion safely under his leadership.

Besides, won’t there be another flag of troops soon?

"Also, write a letter to my uncle and ask him to find out if any masters of the Spiritual Refining lineage have come to Xuzhou from the Prince's Mansion recently!"

Zhu Chengwu had another purpose in keeping Zhao Xingye.

That is to get in touch with the Zhao family and use their power to find out whether the mastermind behind the assassination at the city gate is the crown prince.

Zhu Chengwu's uncle is Zhao Jinyu, the current patriarch of the Zhao family, whose status is based on his sister's status.

Although it is said that a brother's status depends on his sister, Zhu Chengwu's uncle is not without ability.

Zhao Jinyu is really capable!
However, there are so many capable people in the Zhao family!
Zhao Jinyu was finally able to win out among all the competitors and take the position of the patriarch of the Zhao family. The fact that his younger sister was the Queen of Zhao gave him a lot of points.

Therefore, those who failed in the competition for the position of clan leader were not wrong to say that Brother Zhao Jinyu relied on his sister to gain status!
Because of Zhu Chengwu's mother, other branches of the Zhao family might pretend to obey Zhu Chengwu but Zhao Jinyu would definitely be on Zhu Chengwu's side.

"My Lord! You suspect..."

Zhao Xingye looked at Zhu Chengwu with horror in his eyes.

“Nothing is certain!
But my feeling should be right!
In the assassination at the city gate, in addition to a first-rate archer, there was at least one Taoist master who had reached the Yin God realm!

If it weren't for that Taoist master secretly restraining me, I wouldn't have been injured so badly! "

Zhu Chengwu revealed the details of the assassination.

"Master Hou, this..."

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Xingye felt as if a huge wave was rising in his heart.

(End of this chapter)