Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

Chapter 119: The Collection of Fragrance

The moment Su Wen saw the silk, he remembered the giant Buddha statue he had seen on the sandbar. It seemed that the group of people had come to Chang'an!

Almost instantly, Su Wen thought of the dwarf he had seen yesterday when he went to watch the illusion troupe's performance with Cui Lingyu. The dwarf had the Ningyue Pavilion's logo on his hand.

After the great victory in Dunhuang County, the people from Ningyue Pavilion said they were going to Chang'an. However, Su Wenke did not see any people from Ningyue Pavilion among them yesterday.

You know, they left much earlier than Su Wen and the others. Could it be that they were acting as they went? That would be in line with their habits.

However, Su Wen still had some suspicions, so after he came down from the roof, he looked at Xu Ge and said, "Xu Ge, go do something for me!"

Xu Ge responded, "What is it?"

"Have a few men travel from Chang'an along the road to Shazhou and inquire if there is any news about Ningyue Pavilion!"

Xu Ge responded, "Yes!"

Su Wenze looked at a constable and said, "Go and summon the prison warden, Cheng Nianci!" (Cheng Nianci still dared not use her real name, Zhao Wanfeng!)

The constable acknowledged the order and turned to leave.

Su Wen now needed to go to the Chang'an County government office. After all, according to the old night watchman, there had been an incident involving a dark figure in Chang'an County a few days ago. Su Wen took a step forward, then stopped and turned back to the maid, saying, "Go and bring me your young lady's Ningxiang Collection!"

The maid responded and went into the room, then took out a book and handed it to Su Wen.

Su Wen touched the book; the texture was excellent. He asked, "How much is such a good book?"

The maid said, "This book was a gift from Miss's friend; it should cost several tens of coins!"

"A few dozen coins!" Su Wen mused, then picked up the book and walked towards the door, saying, "I'll take this book back and read it. Also, bring her young lady's body back to the Wannian County government office. It can be retrieved for the funeral after the case is solved!"

"Yes!" the constables replied.

Before long, Su Wen ran into Cheng Nianci, who had just arrived. Cheng Nianci glanced at Su Wen, who said, "Could you help me check if anyone has been selling silkworms in Chang'an recently?"

As he spoke, Su Wen handed the silk thread to Cheng Nianci. Cheng Nianci took the thread, puzzled, and said, "There are at least eighty or a hundred silk shops in the entire city of Chang'an. How are we supposed to find this one?"

Su Wen said, "This silk must have undergone special treatment; it's extremely flexible and can easily support a certain weight. I think there shouldn't be much of it in Chang'an. Check it out!"

Cheng Nianci responded and turned to leave.

Su Wen went straight to the Chang'an County government office. When the official saw Su Wen arrive, he bowed and said, "Zheng Xian, the magistrate of Chang'an County, greets Minister Su. May I ask what brings you to my Chang'an County government office today?"

Su Wen bowed to Zheng Xian and said, "Su Wen greets Magistrate Zheng. I have come today to inquire whether there have been any murders in recent days."

Zheng Xian shook his head and said, "In the past month, only one murder case has occurred, the one where Fang Hao beat Qian to death. There haven't been any other cases. However, an extremely strange thing has recently happened in Chang'an County!"

Su Wen asked, "What is it?"

Zheng Xian said, "A few nights ago, when the Imperial Guards were passing through the streets of Yanfu, they saw a dark shadow in the sky. It was neither human nor non-human, and it was walking on air. The Imperial Guards fired an arrow, which actually passed through the shadow and fell to the ground. Then the shadow flew north. The Imperial Guards chased after it, but it suddenly disappeared!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen immediately looked at Zheng Xian and asked, "Yanfu Ward? Is Pei Yinnu, the youngest daughter of the Pei family of Hedong, residing there?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhenxian nodded and said, "Yes!"

Su Wen asked疑惑地问道, "Why didn't the young lady of the Pei family of Hedong live in Wannian County, but chose to come to Chang'an County? Isn't Chang'an County... Oh, I'm just curious, nothing more!"

Zheng Xian smiled and said, "I understand. It's said that Wannian County is where high-ranking officials and nobles live, while Chang'an County is where Western Region merchants and ordinary people live. But in fact, Chang'an County also has quite a few nobles who enjoy lively gatherings, such as the six major clans of Guanzhong!"

The six major clans in Guanzhong are: the Wei clan of Jingzhao, the Du clan of Jingzhao, the Pei clan of Hedong, the Xue clan of Hedong, the Liu clan of Hedong, and the Yang clan of Hongnong!

The eight prominent families of Guanzhong are: the Li family of Longxi, the Wang family of Langya, the Xie family of Chenjun, the Yang family of Hongnong, the Xiao family of Lanling, the Wang family of Taiyuan, the Li family of Zhaojun, and the Cui family of Qinghe.

However, Kanto and Kanchō were originally one entity, while Kansai was separate.

Therefore, during the Tang Dynasty, there were many powerful and influential families. In addition to the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Families, the Six Great Families of Guanzhong, and the Eight Great Families of Guanzhong and Longxi, there were also the Nine Great Families of Dunhuang, the Seven Great Families of Shandong, and so on.

Moreover, Datang Group is not only composed of Hebei Group and Guanlong Group, but also Shandong Group, Southwest Group, and so on.

The various forces involved are complex and difficult to understand thoroughly.

For example, what many people may not know is that Li Yuan's power base was mainly the Guanlong Group, while Li Shimin's power base was mainly the Shandong Group.

Li Longji is actually quite special now, because he doesn't have any group supporting him. After all, the Guanlong Group back then supported Princess Taiping and Li Dan.

Li Longji relied on his iron-fisted methods to form an alliance with Princess Taiping and carry out the Tanglong Coup. He also supported Li Dan as emperor. However, Li Longji's later ascension to the throne was entirely due to his own efforts. In the Xiantian Coup that killed Princess Taiping, Li Longji led three hundred men and killed her.

So much so that the Guanlong Group didn't even realize what was happening at the time. But later, in order to prevent the Guanlong Group from starting a rebellion, Li Longji chose to compromise with them. This is also why Li Longji is now giving Su Wen important positions and starting to support the Hebei Group!

Just as Cui Lingyu said, Li Longji needed the power of the Hebei Group to weaken the Guanlong Group and make the Guanlong Group and the Hebei Group evenly matched, which would be more conducive to Li Longji's rule!

It can be said that Li Longji was playing the art of imperial power balancing!

Su Wen looked at Zheng Xian and asked, "I wonder if Magistrate Zheng is from the Zheng family of Xingyang?"

Zheng Xian responded, "Indeed, is it Su Siqing who was born?"

Su Wen smiled and lowered his voice, saying, "Henan and Hebei are one family, so we're all on the same side, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xian immediately laughed and said, "So you're one of us. I'll have to rely on you a lot in the future, Minister Su!"

Su Wendao replied, "Of course, of course!"

Su Wendao said, "I wonder if Magistrate Zheng could take me to Yanfu Lane to pay a visit to this young lady from the Pei family of Hedong?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xian hesitated for a moment, then deliberately pulled Su Wen aside and lowered his voice, saying, "It's alright if the two of us go. Let's not bring any constables. I know you want to investigate the case. I just heard someone mention the case in Wannian County. You don't know who the young lady who died was, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen was genuinely taken aback for a moment. He had been so focused on thinking about the clues that he had completely forgotten to ask.

Su Wen glanced at the constable beside him, while Zheng Xian whispered in Su Wen's ear, "The one who died was Li Xinyue, the youngest daughter of the Jiangnan Circuit Military Governor, from the Li family of Longxi!"

Zhen Xian continued, "The one you want to investigate is the youngest daughter of the Pei family of Hedong, the youngest daughter of Pei Yaoqing, the current Minister of Revenue. Pei Yinnu, you, the Minister of the Prison, have already offended the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice. Do you also want to offend the Ministry of Revenue?"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen suddenly realized why the magistrate of Wannian County had stopped investigating. It turned out that in Chang'an City, there were many scoundrels and gangsters everywhere!