Chapter 287 Wholesale "Minister"

Wen Kai was prepared. With a wave of his hand, several soldiers escorted the people dressed in civilian clothes and walked quickly into the door.

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Kneel down!"

Most of these people were not young anymore. Under the threat of the soldiers, they trembled and knelt on the ground one by one.

Zhao Ji stepped forward and said, deliberately raising his voice in a fast and stern tone: "Lift your heads up!"

This loud shout was like thunder.

The person at the head of the queue looked up hurriedly. It was Zhang Jianzhi's familiar face, but it looked unusually pale and frightened.

As soon as Zhao Ji saw this person, he immediately shook his head, then looked at the people around Zhang Jianzhi, and a familiar face came into view: Liang Wang Wu Sansi, followed by Li Changhe, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, Yao Chong, and Li Duozuo, who had worked with him in Pingzhou...

It's just that these people only have the form but not the spirit. Under Zhao's intimidation, everyone is trembling all over.

When Di Renjie saw the virtues of these "ministers", he was inevitably disappointed.

Li Yuanfang, on the other hand, was stunned, with his mouth wide open, unable to recover for a while.

This episode brought up the topic before, and Zhao Ji was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. He then smiled and shook his head, amusing himself: "Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji, you should know your shame! Look, Xiao Qingfang found someone to pretend to be a senior official in the court, but you were not one of them!"

But then again, Xiao Qingfang didn't pretend to be Di Renjie, so it probably wouldn't be easy to find someone with a similar body shape to Di Pangpang.

Di Renjie glanced at the "ministers" and coughed softly, saying, "Everyone, stand up and talk."

The "ministers" were stunned and quickly stood up.

Di Renjie pointed at the fake Zhang Jianzhi and asked, "Do you know whose face you are wearing now?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi nodded his head like pounding garlic, his voice was very soft: "Yes...it's Zhang Gelao in the court."

Di Renjie turned to another familiar face: "What about you?"

The fake Wu Sansi replied tremblingly: "Liang...Wu Sansi, the King of Liang."

Di Renjie nodded slowly, and stopped asking questions one by one. Instead, he asked in a deep voice: "Tell me, why did you pretend to be these important officials in the court?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi's throat rolled, he swallowed hard, lowered his head, and was speechless.

When Zhao Ji saw this, he suddenly drew his sword out of its sheath with a "clang" sound, and the cold light pointed directly at the fake Zhang Jianzhi's throat.

The fake Zhang Jianzhi was so frightened that he let out a sharp cry, and his body fell backwards involuntarily. His face was full of fear as if he was about to collapse, and it seemed as if tears were about to burst out.

Zhao Ji sneered repeatedly, taking this opportunity to vent out the pent-up anger in his heart: "Let me tell you, I'm in a bad mood today! If anyone doesn't open his eyes again, I'll send him to death immediately! Speak!"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi was frightened by this fierce momentum and trembled all over. He raised his head and said in horror: "I, I..."

At this time, Di Renjie patted Zhao Ji's shoulder gently and signaled him with his eyes to stay calm.

Although Zhao Ji was unwilling, he finally snorted heavily and sheathed his sword.

Di Renjie slowly walked towards the fake Zhang Jianzhi and said, "I know what you are afraid of. Don't worry, Snake Spirit's eldest sister Xiao Qingfang is dead. No one will threaten your lives. Now, you can tell me!"

The fake Zhang Jian was startled and looked up: "Really?"

Di Renjie smiled and nodded to confirm: "Absolutely true."

The fake Zhang Jianzhi finally breathed a sigh of relief, his tone full of helplessness: "Sir, I, we don't want to dress like this. This is all because of my elder sister Xiao Qingfang!"

"Oh? Don't be anxious, talk slowly." Di Renjie continued to calm him down.

So, the fake Zhang Jianzhi continued, "We are all subordinates of the various halls of the Snake Spirit, scattered all over the country. A few months ago, the hall master ordered us to get up and rush to the main hall immediately. We did not dare to delay and rushed there overnight."

"Eldest sister Xiao Qingfang called us together and said that after many observations and strict screening, she thought that we all looked and behaved like ministers in the court, so she wanted us to disguise ourselves and look like them."

Di Renjie frowned and asked, "Didn't you ask the reason?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi showed a bitter look on his face: "Among the snake spirits, the eldest sister's orders are like imperial decrees. How dare we have any doubts? We can only obey."

"She first sent people to disguise us. Then, she sent people to teach us the various court etiquettes. Finally, she made us learn the words of imperial edicts. Until now, we still don't understand why she did this."

"The words of the imperial edict..." Di Renjie repeated in a low voice, with a thoughtful gleam in his eyes.

Zhao Ji's face was gloomy, and he continued to ask: "Besides you guys, are there any other people who disguised themselves?" Fake Zhang Jianzhi thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Oh, I remember there was another brother from the fifth hall, he was disguised as the crown prince Li Xian."

When Di Renjie heard about Li Xian, he immediately became excited and asked anxiously, "Oh? Where is this person now?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi responded with a bit of helplessness in his tone: "He only stayed with us for more than ten days and then left in a hurry."

Di Renjie's tone became heavier and he asked, "Where did you go?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi shook his head and said, "I don't know about that."

Di Renjie was greatly disappointed again. This matter concerned the foundation of the Li Tang Dynasty, so he couldn't help but worry!
Seeing that Di Renjie was lost in thought again, Zhao Ji asked, "What else did Xiao Qingfang say to you?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi shook his head: "We are of low status among the snake spirits, and we really don't know the secrets above."

The fake Wu Sansi next to him suddenly said, "Hey! I overheard Xiao Qingfang talking to a mysterious man once. She said she wanted to send us to Luoyang!"

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie frowned and asked in surprise, "Luoyang?"

The fake Wu Sansi nodded and confirmed: "That's right."

Di Renjie took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and asked, "This time, you are starting from the headquarters, where is your destination?"

The fake Zhang Jianzhi replied: "Your Excellency, we have no right to ask about such matters. Only the leaders of each team know the details."

Wen Kai reported quietly, "Lord, General Zhou and I interrogated a purple-robed leader. According to his confession, the order was to transfer to Liuzhou first and then to Luoyang."

Di Renjie nodded slightly, and then ordered: "Take them away for the time being."

Wen Kai waved his hand, and the soldiers escorted a group of "ministers" out of the door quickly.

Di Renjie looked at their departing figures and sighed, "Luoyang, Luoyang... It seems that Xiao Qingfang has great ambitions!"

Li Yuanfang frowned and said, "She asked her subordinates to pretend to be ministers. Does she want to replace Minister Zhang and the others secretly like before?"

Zhao Ji heard this and sneered: "How is this possible? Yuan Fang, look at the behavior of these people, how can they be ministers at all?"

He pointed at the "ministers" who had not walked far. Each of them was hunchbacked and shabby, without any noble airs.

Di Renjie also nodded and said, "Yes, with these rabble, let alone handling state affairs, as long as they open their mouths, their flaws will be exposed! Moreover, the ministers they pretended to be are all powerful and their residences are heavily guarded. How can they be replaced whenever they want?"

Li Yuanfang looked confused: "Why did Xiao Qingfang do this? This doesn't make sense."

Di Renjie smiled slightly: "She must have a reason for doing this. I once said that things that seem unreasonable are often the most reasonable."

Li Yuanfang still looked confused: "That being said, how can I explain what is happening right now?"

Di Renjie suddenly recalled Wu Zetian's words "the gods are flooded and the temples are overturned", and he suddenly felt enlightened.

"I think all of this can be attributed to the magic of the Luo River!"

While Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang were discussing, Zhao Ji was lost in thought.

He was thinking about the words of the fake Zhang Jianzhi and the fake Crown Prince Li Xian who disappeared early.

The last time I saw Crown Prince Li Xian, he didn’t seem like a simple character. He was completely different from this rabble. Could it be that he was just properly trained?

"Chengyuan, what do you think?" Di Renjie suddenly interrupted Zhao Ji's thoughts.

"Ah?" Zhao Ji suddenly came back to his senses, "Oh, I was thinking about the fake Crown Prince Li Xian..."

The question and answer cannot be said to be perfectly matched, but can also be said to be irrelevant.

But Di Renjie did not blame him. Instead, he was shocked. The scene of his last meeting with Li Xian suddenly emerged in his mind.

After thinking for a long time, Di Renjie's expression became more and more serious: "No, no!"

Seeing this, Li Yuanfang asked softly, "Sir, what did you think of?"

Di Renjie did not answer, but turned around suddenly: "Chengyuan, Yuanfang, tell the army to get ready and set off tomorrow! Time is running out, we must rush back to the capital immediately!"

(End of this chapter)