Chapter 129

"Ye Tao, His Majesty is looking for you at the Intelligence Bureau. Nie Rui has something to report," Liu Yong said to Ye Tao, who was sprawled on the table drawing blueprints. Having followed Ye Tao and Tan Weixing for so many years, although he was still the chief guard of the Ye residence, he rarely needed to be seriously vigilant. Most of the time, he was more like a butler. Even Liu Yong's wife, Cao Mo, now managed many affairs within the Ye household. This time, when Ye Tao's family came to Danyang, Cao Mo temporarily took over all the affairs of the entire Ye Family Fortress.

However, although Liu Yong no longer had to interfere with trivial matters such as security arrangements and instead followed Ye Tao and Tan Weixing on their travels, taking care of various chores, security was more secure. After all, who would have thought that a cheerful, chore-managing butler was actually one of the top experts in the world? Liu Yong himself didn't think this was anything shameful. Hadn't he experienced enough of the ups and downs of the martial world? Having reached the end of middle age, being able to enjoy life so plainly was not easy. And his meticulous observation in handling various small matters, and even his years of honing his culinary skills, had further broken through his martial arts.

No matter how he behaved, he was a top figure in the Ye Family Fortress and had a great influence on Ye Tao's family. Like this time, when Nie Rui came to call for someone, only he would be sent. After all, the recent series of events involved the imperial family. Only someone like him, who was completely trusted, dared to handle such sensitive matters.

"Nie Rui wants us to listen to interrogations again? Has he lost his mind from being the director of the Intelligence Bureau? This is too perverted," Ye Tao muttered. Although Nie Rui was also a trusted minister, he obviously had no experience in handling such matters, and he was more cautious than others. Several times, when investigating and interrogating sensitive figures, he arranged it in a special room in the Intelligence Bureau, and then had Tan Xiaopei, Ye Tao, Tan Weiming, and others run to the room next door, peering through several spyglasses and listening tubes to make their own judgments, and then conduct further investigations based on their reactions.

Nie Rui's caution was understandable. The internal power struggles within Dongping were not strong, and Nie Rui was originally from military intelligence, always pointing the finger outwards, preferring to leave internal matters to Cao Pojun, the former chief of internal affairs guards, and not interfering at all. But after all, in this position, he learned a lot about various situations, at least enough to know how much trouble the two princes in Chunnan had caused in their fight for the throne, and how many people had died meaningfully or meaninglessly, or worse. His military style, coupled with some worries in this regard, made such a gesture not surprising.

"You can reply for me, I don't want to go," Ye Tao said, shaking his head. "This has nothing to do with me."

"Yes," Liu Yong said indifferently, turning to reply. He didn't really think this had nothing to do with Ye Tao, but he knew that, no matter what, Tan Xiaopei's trust in Ye Tao and his two sons would not change. And Tan Xiaopei's trust was completely correct. More importantly, although the rumors outside were like this, the trust between Tan Weiming and Tan Weiran had not changed. As soon as he returned to Danyang, Tan Weiran's first thing was to find Tan Weiming, sharing his various experiences and insights from campaigning and handling affairs with his elder brother. And Tan Weiming would also raise the problems he encountered when governing and assisting his father in handling various affairs, allowing Tan Weiran to seek some answers from his experiences in the Northern Frontier Commandery… This exchange had been going on for many days, and the attendants around them recorded and transcribed their discussions, forming valuable documents. These days, Tan Weixing and Tan Weishi, and even Dai Yun, had joined this discussion, making this secret little forum more and more high-end and professional. Many sensitive issues were involved, and many assumptions were made that were extremely sensitive. Especially the topic of "enlightened ruler" and "democracy" initiated by Tan Weiming himself, even Tan Weiran didn't want to talk about it casually. Naturally, this was Tan Weiming's own accumulated complaints when dealing with affairs, but in any case, he was the Crown Prince, and he needed to solve this knot himself. And Tan Weiran, saying anything would be inappropriate.

Tan Weiming's attention to the recent rumors was far greater than Tan Weiran's. Tan Weiran was aimlessly hanging around in the Blood Kirin Army and the Crown Prince's residence all day, instead advising Tan Weiming not to care. But Tan Weiming had been paying attention to Nie Rui's investigation progress on this matter. Not only that, but he also mobilized his own forces to investigate. But so far, there seems to be no major progress.

"Nie Rui said that the investigations from several parties have been summarized, and there are some results. It's a real report," Liu Yong returned not long after, sighing and reporting.

"Alas, okay... but, this really has nothing to do with me," Ye Tao sighed. "If I run out at this hour, will I still get to eat?"

"No need to go out... His Majesty and Nie Rui have come over themselves," Liu Yong smiled and said, "After all, only we can eat authentic roast duck here for the time being."

Ye Tao laughed heartily upon hearing this. In the north, wild game was not uncommon. Ye Tao's family had more opportunities to eat wild game than poultry and livestock. This family's mouths were spoiled. When they arrived in Danyang, they immediately felt that nothing tasted right. Since the ingredients were not good, they could only rely on the cooking methods. Ye Tao and Tan Weixing racked their brains to recall various methods, from relatively simple foods such as spicy crabs and roasted spring chicken to the recent large-scale creation of hanging oven roast duck. The heavy and thick hanging oven ensured that the roast duck could be heated evenly, and the carefully selected fruit wood made the duck meat more delicious and brought a faint fruity aroma. At a Ye family banquet, Ye Tao presented the roast duck like a treasure to entertain new and old friends in Danyang and those who couldn't save face and had to be invited, making everyone enthusiastic about the way of eating sliced duck. Although the method was not difficult, the things made by other families seemed to be somewhat wrong. Everyone really recognized the products of the Ye residence. Now, regardless of whether Ye Tao was at home or not, people always tried to find ways to freeload meals, and the trend of freeloading was intensifying. Anyway, with Ye Tao's current wealth, it was completely impossible to eat him poor. Fortunately, those who came back to freeload were all relatively close to the Ye family, Tan family, Dai family, etc., so it didn't make people too annoyed.

"Okay, let's go to the dining room together then, we can talk while eating," Ye Tao thought for a while and said, it seemed that this could slightly reduce the seriousness of the matter.

Ye Tao and Tan Xiaopei were very consistent on this matter. In this small dining room where only three people were present, Tan Xiaopei did not deliberately mention anything related to the matter. Instead, he enthusiastically discussed with Ye Tao when to get a hanging oven for the palace as well. Nie Rui was quite sensible, and ate heartily in silence. Ye Tao thought Nie Rui realized that he was not interested in these things and was going to let him go. What he didn't expect was that after Nie Rui ate his fill without saying a word, he wiped his mouth and said seriously, "Your Majesty, Governor Ye, please allow this subordinate to report on the investigation." Tan Xiaopei nodded slightly. And Ye Tao could only show a helpless expression.

"The matter started at Jiangyue Tower. That day, a group of young people were feasting at Jiangyue Tower. In the evening, after everyone had had a few drinks, they began to discuss national affairs. Danyang has always not interfered with this kind of discussion between scholars and officials, and who started the topic cannot be verified now. But there were twenty-two people present that day, each with different backgrounds and from different regions. There were low-level officials, scholars in school, apprentices in workshops and shops, visiting scholars from Chunnan... there were all kinds of people. However, the initiator of this banquet was Tu Wentao, a student of the Imperial Academy, who has always been a simple student with no background. Because his family is relatively wealthy in business, he likes to organize various gatherings. This type of banquet is not fixed in time and place and has been held many times. Currently, everyone thinks that this matter should have nothing to do with Tu Wentao."

After a pause, Nie Rui said, "The first person to suggest that the Prince has a high reputation in the army, which is not a good thing for the political situation, was a visiting scholar named Luo Buping. He has been in Danyang for more than half a year and has been hanging around in the Imperial Academy, receiving a basic scholarship, with nothing special about him. He met several people in the gathering on different occasions. When I found this out, I was a little surprised. Although this guy is not conspicuous, he really knows a lot of people. In the past six months, he has met thousands of people on various occasions. Although he can pass the exam and get a scholarship, his usual expenses are also normal. However, knowing so many people is obviously not a role model who is wholeheartedly studying. I sent someone to investigate, and found that this guy's whereabouts were a bit strange. The Intelligence Bureau pursued this clue and found... this guy has been traveling around after passing the local exam, but his family is in a mountain village, which obviously cannot afford this expense. Before that, he worked as a tutor in the Li Yang Wang family for two years, and since then, the Wang family has been funding him. Originally, this guy was preparing to participate in next year's official examination. According to those few who were classmates with him in the Imperial Academy, although this guy was obsessed with currying favor with people, his foundation was really good, and there should be no problem participating in the official examination. It is very likely that he is an official spokesperson cultivated by a certain faction. After checking here, I transferred the background of the Wang family, and the situation... is a bit complicated."

The Li Yang Wang family? Tan Xiaopei frowned. "Are you sure?" Tan Xiaopei naturally knew the background of the Li Yang Wang family, this family between the second and third rate. The Li Yang Wang family and Tan Weiming's wife's family were quite close. If it was really the Crown Prince's wife's family causing trouble, it would really be a family misfortune. Tan Xiaopei knew that Tan Weiming definitely didn't know about this, and Nie Rui didn't look for Tan Weiming today, naturally because he didn't want to make this matter clear from the beginning. Instead, he hoped that the Tan family could solve this matter themselves.

Nie Rui said seriously, "Very sure." Nie Rui didn't say much. This clue of Luo Buping could not have been found out in a day or two, and it took a lot of effort. If it weren't for the hard work of the intelligence officers and a little bit of good luck, there would be no way to connect Luo Buping with the Li Yang Wang family. This relationship was already obscure enough that he couldn't help but think more about it.