bookrandom Chapter 174 Questioning
Chapter 174 Questioning
Yun Zhi is not a good person, especially since she stole things from me.
It is naturally impossible to let her pretend that nothing happened.
It has been almost two months since the rice seeds were stolen, and the thief has finally been identified.
The people of Yu State were quite good at framing others. Lord Luo, who was sent to investigate the case of stolen rice, initially suspected Yue State.
In fact, all the evidence found points to the Kingdom of Yue. People often believe in what they find, and Lord Luo is no exception.
Later, Lord Luo would suspect that it was the State of Yu because of the confession of a farmer during a review.
After being assigned this task by His Majesty, Lord Luo immediately questioned all relevant personnel, including the soldiers on night watch and patrolling guards. He also visited several villages to ask the people if they had found anyone with suspicious whereabouts.
The investigation actually revealed some information. Several farmers recalled seeing a caravan with suspicious movements. One farmer even said that people from the caravan came to his house to ask for water.
Previously, it was because of the descriptions of these farmers that they suspected that they were from the State of Yue. According to those farmers, the people in this caravan were dressed in a style similar to that of the State of Yue, and their accents also had the accent of the State of Yue.
On this day, Lord Luo once again reviewed the farmers' confessions.
"Lord Luo, the truth has already been revealed. Why are you still looking at this? It would be better to report it to His Majesty as soon as possible."
Lord Luo looked up at his subordinates below and said, "I feel a little uneasy. I have a feeling something is amiss. I will investigate further. If there is no other clue, I will report it truthfully."
Be careful, it's not a mistake, but it would be bad if you made a mistake.
Lord Luo read the confession that he had memorized word by word, and when his eyes caught sight of one part, he instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
In the confession, the farmer who said that the caravan came to his house to ask for water mentioned that one of the caravan took out a bread to eat.
Because the farmer had never seen the shape and pattern of the cake, he specifically mentioned it at the time.
This description is so similar to the dry food that merchants from Yu State often carry, that is, naan.
It is round, thin in the middle, thick at the edges, and has patterns on the surface. It is very popular among merchants because of its long shelf life.
He raised his head and asked, "Is naan bread the most common dry food that merchants from Yu State carry?"
Hearing his superior's urgent voice, the subordinate quickly responded, "That's right, sir. Naan bread contains mutton, and Yue State has the most sheep. Other merchants usually bring sesame cakes, pancakes, and steamed buns."
Lord Luo looked solemn as he paced back and forth in the room. "It seems that our previous investigation direction may have been completely wrong."
"wrong?"
The subordinates turned pale with fright after hearing this. The whole month's investigation had been in vain, and now there was not much time left before the two months given by His Majesty.
"Sir, what should we do next?" the subordinate asked cautiously.
Lord Luo stopped, his eyes determined. "Re-examine all the clues and focus on investigating everything related to the Yu Kingdom. We must not let go of any details that we overlooked before."
"Yes, sir!" The subordinate took the order and left.
In the blink of an eye, another half month passed, and the truth was finally discovered within the time limit set by His Majesty.
In the Imperial Palace, Lord Luo hurried into the main hall and knelt down to pay his respects. "Your Majesty, I have investigated the case of the theft of rice seeds. I have found out the truth."
Yun Zhi looked at Lord Luo below, "Who is it?"
"Your Majesty, it is the Yu Kingdom."
Then, Lord Luo presented the evidence he had found to Yun Zhi's desk.
Yun Zhi picked up the evidence presented by Lord Luo and examined it one by one. "Lord Luo has made great contributions to the investigation this time and deserves a generous reward."
Lord Luo quickly knelt down to express his gratitude: "Thank you very much, Your Majesty, for your grace. This is my duty."
"Lord Luo, please withdraw first."
Lord Luo bowed again and left the palace.
"Pass on my order and summon Lord Liu, Lord Xu, Lord Hu... to discuss how to deal with the thieves." After Lord Luo left, Yun Zhi said to the female official beside him.
Soon, the ministers who were called came to the hall one after another.
After learning about what happened, Liu Anruo was the first to stand up.
"Yu State's actions are truly despicable. They are framing Yue State at this time. If we suspect Yue State of this, the alliance between our two countries will be greatly affected. This is a brilliant move, killing two birds with one stone."
The ministers on the side nodded in agreement.
Who says it isn't? Now they are joining forces with the State of Yue to attack the State of Wu and are fighting fiercely.
If they really believed that it was Yue who did this and questioned Yue, Yue would think that they were fabricating evidence to slander them and wanted to end the alliance.
And they will think that Yue State will never recognize it. In this case, can the alliance between the two countries last long?
"Your Majesty, taking something without asking is stealing. If we do nothing, the Yu Kingdom will think we are easy to bully. We might as well put the evidence before them and make it clear that we already know it was them who did it. Let's see what they say."
After Liu Anruo finished speaking, Lord Xu bowed to Yun Zhi and said, "I second the proposal. If Yu State doesn't want his theft to be known to everyone, they will definitely give us an answer. The possibility of returning the seeds and apologizing is very small. I suspect they will choose to purchase these seeds."
After all, how could we possibly return the seeds we had obtained with such great difficulty?
If they don't return it, it will be difficult for An Guo to get it back. In addition, now that it is attacking Wu State, it has no time to take action to deal with them, so it can only keep them in mind for the time being.
The ministers finally came up with a complete countermeasure after discussing it with each other.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to go to Yu State to negotiate with them." Hu Zhiyi, who had been standing aside without saying a word, said.
If we want to discuss the purchase, Hu Zhiyi is indeed a good candidate.
"Okay, in that case, let's leave this matter to Lord Hu." Yun Zhi looked at His Highness's ministers, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.
Ten days later, Hu Zhiyi led the envoys into the territory of Yu State with the documents and evidence written by Yun Zhi.