The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 38 Report to the Old Supervisor

Just as Zhao Duan drove to Baima Prison.

In the imperial palace, in the imperial study, Xu Zhenguan was listening to the report from the female official.

"So, the verdict given by the imperial court is that he fled without permission?"

The empress, dressed in a white dress, with long black hair like a waterfall, a cold and majestic temperament, and a flawless face, sat in a chair with a soft brocade cushion back, staring at the other person with her slender eyes.

There was a hint of anger in his voice.

The "female prime minister" Mo Zhaorong, dressed as a female official, wearing a wingless black gauze on her head and a plum blossom makeup on her forehead, bowed her head and responded:

"……Yes."

"Humph." Xu Zhenguan threw the memorial submitted from the imperial court on the table:

"Ma Yan is getting more and more confused. First, Zhuang Xiaocheng sneaked in, and then the firearms craftsman got lost. This huge capital city is like a sieve. No one can stop anyone who wants to leave."

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

Mo Chou advised:
"Mr. Ma has always been diligent in his work, but he only realized the problem too late."

Xu Zhenguan frowned, knowing that what Mo Chou said made sense.

Not long ago, news of the disappearance of a firearms craftsman in the Beijing camp was reported, which attracted the attention of Xu Zhenguan, who ordered Ma Yan to investigate.

After checking, I found out that it happened two months ago.

The reason for the delay in the news was that the missing craftsman was supposed to be on vacation.

Secondly, lower-level officials are afraid of taking responsibility, so they spend a lot of time conducting private investigations and want to solve the problems on their own in order to cover up their dereliction of duty.

When the case was handed over to Ma Yan, most of the clues had been broken, and the final answer was:

Several craftsmen were ostracized and bullied by bullies. Unable to bear the harassment, they secretly fled the capital with their families and their whereabouts are unknown.

It seemed reasonable and explained, but Xu Zhenguan was not satisfied with the result.

"The escape of one or two people can be explained in this way, but the few who escaped happened to be spread across various links of firearms manufacturing. How can I believe that there is no trick?" Xu Zhenguan said.

Mo Chou was silent and unable to answer.

After a long while, Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, pinched his brows tiredly, and said bitterly:
"Forget it. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. It was my fault for not supervising the Beijing Camp enough and being negligent."

Mo Chou looked ashamed and said hurriedly:

"Your Majesty is very busy, especially since the abolition of the cabinet. There are too many tasks to handle and too few people to share them. Even a man of steel cannot handle it. It is my incompetence..."

Xu Zhenguan shook his head to stop her from criticizing herself, and sighed:

"The power of the court officials is intertwined and the original cabinet has long been corrupt. If it is not abolished when I ascend the throne, it will be even more difficult in the future."

Mochou said:

"Grandmaster Dong is still preparing for the recruitment of scholars. Once everything is settled, Your Majesty can be more relaxed."

The cabinet would share the emperor's power.

However, holding all the power in one's hands also has its disadvantages. Not only will the empress be exhausted, but she will also be prone to negligence and failure to take care of things, leading to mistakes.

Therefore, the empress planned early on to form a "new cabinet" that would be completely obedient to her and consist of her direct descendants.

"Come to think of it, I haven't visited the Grand Tutor for quite some time," Xu Zhenguan said with emotion, and couldn't help laughing:
"The last time I went there, I happened to see the Grand Master admonishing his grandson. It was quite interesting."

Mochou also laughed.

The grandson of the Grand Tutor is said to be a "nerd", but he is not stupid. His personality is very different from those of the children of the powerful. He does not like to go out and have fun and is very low-key.

As the empress took the initiative to chat, the dull and stressful atmosphere in the imperial study suddenly eased.

As the two girls chatted, they tacitly stopped talking about the previous topic.

"By the way, how is Zhao Duan these days? Has he caused trouble again?" Xu Zhenguan suddenly asked.

When Zhao Duan was mentioned, Mo Chou's expression turned cold:

"I heard that after he received the reward that day, he went home and had a conflict with the nephew of Zhang Langzhong of the Ministry of War. They fought each other. He is really arrogant and has not changed his evil behavior."

"Oh? Did he win?" Xu Zhenguan's focus was a little strange.

"...I won," Mo Chou said reluctantly, feeling depressed.
"It is said that the victory was easy, and the Zhang family suppressed the matter, so it did not become known to everyone."

The empress smiled, seeming to be quite satisfied with the performance of her new lackey.

After learning the royal heritage, if you can't even beat a playboy from the capital, wouldn't that be a disgrace to the royal family?
The one who lost her?

Zhao Duan won easily and decisively, which was exactly what she wanted.

"..."Mo Chou became more dissatisfied with Zhao Duan when she saw the empress's appearance, and felt that His Majesty had been deceived by a scumbag.

Just as he was about to say something bad, the empress waved her hand and put away her smile:
"Okay, no more joking. I still have government affairs to deal with. Go tell Ma Yan that I am not satisfied with the result and ask him to continue investigating. I gave the Zhao Yamen the power to supervise all officials. I don't want them to mess around."

Mo Chou's heart trembled, and he said quickly, "Yes!"

He immediately left the imperial study. When he left, he saw Xu Zhenguan, who had been tired all day, continuing to review memorials at his desk under the night light, and he sighed softly in his heart.

She has seen how hard His Majesty has worked over the past two years, and his diligence far exceeds that of the late emperor.

But even for such an empress, there are so many people in the world who want to rebel against her.

……

……

White Horse Prison.

When Zhao Duan stepped into the back court again after several days and knocked on the door of the old eunuch, the old eunuch named Sun Lianying showed surprise in his eyes.

"What are you doing here again?"

The tone was still not good, but it was obviously much milder than last time.

Zhao Duan put on a smile and walked in familiarly without saying a word, his eyes drifting to an empty chair in the room.

"..." Sun Lianying was speechless. In the end, she shook her head and said:

"If you want to sit, bring your own chair."

"Thank you, sir, for the seat!" Zhao Duan bowed and said with a smile.

The old supervisor, wearing only a single garment, with gray hair and deep eye sockets, uttered a "huh" and sat in his chair without moving.

He slowly picked up the cup and wiped the mist of hot water with the cup lid.

It feels like an old cadre in a government agency tasting a thermos cup.

"Tell me, what are you going to do here?"

Zhao Duan sat on the chair, and then he said sincerely:
"Thanks to your help last time, I'm here to thank you."

The empress never mentioned to him what the old eunuch thought of him.

But Zhao Duan, who had worked as a secretary for many years, was very smart and had guessed some of the story from his last conversation with the empress.

For example, the empress asked him whether he had the advice of the old supervisor behind the idea of ​​threatening Feng Ju and making meritorious deeds to atone for his crime.

This reveals that he may have communicated with the old supervisor about Zhao Duan.

Moreover, the message the empress received should not be bad.

Otherwise, it would not be believed that Zhao Duan could receive his care and guidance.

These are all speculations and may not be true, but that does not stop him from testing the waters in the name of thanking her.

"Humph," Sun Lianying drank a sip of water before speaking slowly and mockingly:

"This is the first time we've seen someone come to thank you empty-handed."

Is this an admission? So, he did help me behind the scenes?

At least he didn't cheat me and remained objective and fair... Zhao Duan made his judgment silently.

As for the other party's unfriendly tone, he automatically ignored it.

Many times, the focus of observing people’s words and expressions is not on words, but on actions.

The fact that he was not kicked out directly speaks volumes.

"How did you know, sir, that I did not bring any gifts?" Zhao Duan asked with a smile.

Nonsense, you have nothing in your hands...Sun Lianying was about to make a sarcastic remark.

Suddenly, I remembered the last time the other party came to my house at night. I sat up straighter with a stir in my heart:
"You can't be..."

"That's right," Zhao Duan said with a smile:

"I happened to get the clue of a big case and I am going to report it to you, my Lord."

"A big case?"

Sun Lianying was a little skeptical, with distrust in her eyes:
"Young people should not brag casually and make a big deal out of trivial matters. Be careful not to get caught off guard."

Zhao Duan's smile remained unchanged:
"This case may seem insignificant, but if it is dragged down, it may become quite serious."

"Involved? Who are you going to blame? Still Li Yanfu?" Sun Lianying looked at him with contempt.

Obviously, he already knew about the little trick Zhao Duan used last time.

Zhao Duan shook his head and said calmly:
"This time it's not the Prime Minister, it's Jiancheng Dao and Prince Jing's Mansion."

"Puff!" The tea in the old supervisor's mouth sprayed out.

(End of this chapter)