Chapter 105 Five Years in a Hurry
In the East Palace training ground, two figures holding spears were fighting each other.
One of them looked to be in his early twenties and had a strong build.
The other person was a boy of about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was handsome and gentle. Although he was competing with others, he still had a gentle smile on his face, as if he was at ease.
In fact, the situation on the field was exactly like this. The young man was suppressing the young man and had the upper hand.
After fighting for more than ten rounds, the young man blocked the young man's spear and did not fight back.
The young man also put away his gun and stepped back, clasping his fists and bowing, saying: "Your Highness's martial arts have improved rapidly. I am no match for him."
The young man laughed and scolded, "Zhong Huai, you have also learned to flatter me now. Don't think that I can't see that you have been giving in to me all the time."
The two people who just fought were Zhao Xing and Gu Tingye. It is now the spring of the fourteenth year of Tianyou, and Zhao Xing has become a fourteen-year-old boy.
Because of good nutrition and having practiced martial arts since childhood, Zhao Xing looked like a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old.
Zhao Xing has never stopped practicing martial arts over the years, but he knows his own limitations. Although his martial arts skills are acceptable, they are still far behind Gu Tingye.
But he didn't care. For him, practicing martial arts was a way to keep fit.
Even if he has the opportunity to lead the army in person in the future, he will only stay in the rear and it is impossible for him to go to the battlefield in person.
Competing with Gu Tingye is just a way to vent my excess energy.
In response to Zhao Xing's words, Gu Tingye smiled and said nothing.
He did hold back when fighting with Zhao Xing. After all, Zhao Xing was the crown prince. If Zhao Xing was injured, not only he but the entire Gu family would suffer.
Sanshui, who was standing by, saw that the competition was over and quickly handed over a handkerchief. Zhao Xing took it, wiped his sweat, threw the handkerchief to Sanshui, and said, "I'll leave first!"
"Farewell, Your Highness!" Gu Tingye bowed.
Two years ago, Gu Tingye stopped studying and joined the Eastern Palace Imperial Guards.
Now he is the commander of a battalion.
Zhao Xing left the military camp and returned to his study to work on the paper.
At the beginning of last year, my father began to let him handle government affairs.
The documents processed by the Secretariat would first be sent to the Eastern Palace for his approval, and then sent to the emperor for review.
Zhao Xing reviewed more than a dozen papers, put down his pen, and stretched.
The palace maid behind him brought tea. Zhao Xing took it and took a sip, then put down the teacup. Just as he was about to continue reviewing the papers, Sanshui walked in with a man.
The man was in his thirties, very thin, pale and looked a little sick. He was Yin Hanzhang, the inspector of the Imperial City Department.
Zhao Xing looked and looked but couldn't find a suitable person to be in charge of intelligence.
Later, he learned that many of Feng Deguang's crimes were found by Yin Hanzhang, so he asked his father to bring him over.
Yin Hanzhang originally thought that if he performed well in investigating Feng Deguang, he would be able to make the government pay attention to the Imperial City Administration.
However, the emperor didn't care at all, and his attitude towards the Imperial City Administration remained the same as before.
Therefore, when he was transferred to Zhao Xing, Zhao Xing asked him to resign from his official position and be responsible for setting up an intelligence system for him. Yin Hanzhang agreed without thinking.
Although he lost his official position, Zhao Xing was the crown prince. As long as he was valued by Zhao Xing, it didn't matter whether he had an official position or not.
"Greetings, Your Highness!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.
"No gift."
Zhao Xing waved his hand and sent away the maids and eunuchs serving in the palace, then he asked, "Why did you come to see me?"
Yin Hanzhang is in charge of the intelligence system. Generally speaking, no one would come to see him unless it was something important.
"Your Highness asked me to investigate the cause of Bai's death, and we have already made some progress. The secret agents have found several servants who were sold by the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion. They are on their way to the capital. This is the confession, please take a look, Your Highness!"
Yin Hanzhang took out a few sheets of paper from his sleeve and handed them to Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing took them and started reading. After reading them, he said calmly, "It took me several years to find this. I am very dissatisfied."
Zhao Xing also knew that it was not easy to build an intelligence system from scratch without the support of the court.
However, Zhao Xing had high expectations for this intelligence system. Now, four years have passed, and the whereabouts of several slaves sold by the Gu family have only been found now. Zhao Xing is still a little dissatisfied.
"I will definitely speed up!" Yin Hanzhang did not make any excuses, nor did he talk about the difficulties.
"I asked you to investigate the situation of farmland and hidden fields in Kaifeng Prefecture. How is the investigation going?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Highness, it will take at most half a month to complete the investigation." Yin Hanzhang replied.
"Go ahead." Zhao Xing nodded slightly and said.
"I'll take my leave." Yin Hanzhang bowed and walked out.
Zhao Xing looked at the confession on the table, tapped his fingers on the table, and fell into deep thought.
There were three confessions in total, saying that before Bai's accident, Xiao Qin had visited Gu's house several times in the name of visiting Gu Tingyu, and secretly told Gu Tingyu that it was Bai who killed his mother.
However, these confessions could not prove that Xiao Qin deliberately wanted to kill Bai in this way.
Zhao Xing pondered for a long time and asked someone to call Gu Tingye over.
"Your Highness!" Gu Tingye walked into the study and bowed.
"Take a look at these." Zhao Xing handed over the confession.
Gu Tingye walked forward, took it and started reading. When he saw the contents, he clenched his hand holding the paper tightly and his body trembled.
Although these cannot be used as evidence to directly identify Xiao Qinshi, for him, they are enough to prove that his mother's death was caused by Xiao Qinshi.
That year, when his mother was taking a walk with Nanny Chang, they heard someone telling Gu Tingyu that it was his mother who killed Gu Tingyu's mother. When they rushed over, the person had run away and they did not see his face.
Therefore, even Nanny Chang didn't know who the other person was.
"Zhong Huai, don't be anxious. These cannot be used as evidence. Wait until those people arrive in Bian Jing and ask them in detail. Maybe we can find out something useful." Zhao Xing said.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Gu Tingye bowed deeply and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I won't do anything rash."
Five or six years ago, he was roughly certain that Xiao Qin was the murderer of his mother.
Having endured for so many years, I naturally won't be impulsive.
"You go back first. I will notify you when we arrive in Bian Jing." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!" Gu Tingye bowed and stepped back.
……
"Why did the emperor come back so early today?" Empress Cao asked while helping the emperor change his clothes.
It was only almost evening at this time. The emperor was very diligent in his work. Except when Zhao Xing was young, she would put aside her official duties and come to visit him when she missed her son. Usually, she would come to visit him after dark.
"Haha, now that I have Fu'er helping me handle government affairs, I can feel more relaxed." The official said with a smile.
Although Zhao Xing had processed the document, he still had to review it again and make the final approval.
But for generally unimportant matters, he would just take a quick look, and if there was nothing wrong with Zhao Xing's handling, he would not make any changes, which saved him a lot of trouble.
"Your Majesty, I heard that Fu'er reviews notes until late at night every day, and he still has to study during the day. Aren't you afraid of tiring Fu'er out?" Queen Cao complained.
"He will inherit the empire in the future, so naturally he will have to work harder. But he has learned enough. I plan to let him be the chief examiner of the imperial examination this time. After the examination, I will not let him take over as the prefect of Kaifeng. He won't need to continue studying. I just need to have someone explain the classics to him from time to time." said the emperor.
(End of this chapter)