usatvline Chapter 483 Found
Chapter 483 Found
"You don't have to be so anxious. Just go and take a look and you'll know whether you believe it or not. It's just sending someone to make a trip. It will prove your innocence and clear her of the charges she has wrongly accused you." After Gu Jianchu finished speaking, he glanced at several people.
"Zhongfeng, take the Dali Temple official with you and check if it's true as Hongqiao said. Also, make sure to search the places Hongqiao mentioned carefully and don't miss anything."
She was worried about letting only the Dali Temple Minister take people there.
Since Cao Li did all these things, she must be cunning and difficult to deal with. She doesn't want to let any of those criminals go.
After Gu Jianchu finished his instructions, he looked at Hong Qiao again and asked, "Do you know how many people have done business with Cao Li?"
"I don't know the exact number, but from what I've seen, there are at least seven or eight people. They mostly come here on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of every month. There are people who come at other times, but only a few here and there." Hong Qiao didn't dare to hide anything and told everything she knew.
Gu Jianchu nodded and looked at Zhongfeng, "After arresting the person, leave a group of people in that yard and make sure to arrest all those who abducted women. Don't let any one go."
After Gu Jianchu finished speaking, he paused and his eyes fell on Xie Qingzhi who was standing beside him.
Xie Qingzhi felt a chill on her back when she was looked at by Gu Jianchu. She didn't seem to have done anything to offend the Queen, but when the Queen looked at her like that, she always had a bad premonition, as if something bad was going to happen.
If the offense is nothing more than asking Gu Jianchu to witness it together, then this should not be considered an offense.
"Most of those imprisoned are frightened women. If we let Chongfeng and the Dali Temple Minister go there, it will definitely scare them and make them even more afraid. As a woman, I will definitely be able to comfort them. Why don't you take the trouble to accompany Chongfeng and the others to the east of the city, bring those people back, and seek justice for them." Gu Jianchu spoke gently and was mostly discussing things, rather than issuing forceful orders.
The Dali Temple Minister and the Ministry of Justice Minister looked at the Queen in shock. The Queen was instructing the ***.
They all knew that *** was the most beloved daughter of the late emperor, and was used to being spoiled and domineering. Before, she even disobeyed the emperor's words, and now the queen actually ordered her to do something. It was really true that there were many strange things in the world. They just didn't know whether *** would get angry directly. After all, the emperor was there, and it would not be good to get angry directly.
The Dali Temple Minister looked at *** for a long time, just waiting for ***'s reaction.
Hearing what the queen said, Xie Qingzhi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She thought the queen asked her to do something embarrassing, but it was just a trip to the east of the city to rescue the women who were bullied by Cao Li. Xie Qingzhi was angry as early as when she knew what Cao Li had done, and even sympathized with those bullied women. Now that she could follow the Dali Temple to rescue those people, it was a good thing to accumulate virtue and do good deeds.
"What's the big deal? I'll just go with them." Xie Qingzhi stood up immediately and took the two palace maids beside her, followed Chongfeng and Dou Wen out of the Shangshu Mansion and headed for the City God Temple in the east of the city.
Although Hong Qiao told them a rough location, she didn't have a specific one. If they wanted to look for it, it would be a waste of time. After all, the area within five miles of the City God Temple was neither big nor small.
There were not many villagers living near the City God Temple, so it was not difficult to find the bodies. They split into three groups to search. Chongfeng led people to look for the house that Hong Qiao mentioned, while Dou Wen, the Minister of Dali Temple, took the yamen runners and the coroner and went directly to the back mountain that Hong Qiao mentioned to look for the bodies buried by Cao Li.
As for Xie Qingzhi, he stayed in the City God Temple and waited.
Xie Qingzhi was lucky enough to meet an old man who went up the mountain to hunt on a snowy day. After some questioning, Xia Zhi learned that there was a large house to the south of the City God Temple, far away from the residential area but very close to the mountain road. After questioning, they learned that the house used to be used by a family in the village to raise pigs, but one year there was a plague and all the pigs died. Since then, the man never raised pigs again, and the house became idle.
It was rented by a scholar half a year ago. The scholar said that this place was secluded and perfect for studying. He would be idle there anyway and could make a few cents by renting it out. Moreover, since it was rented to a scholar, he didn't have to worry about the house being damaged.
After hearing the old man's explanation, Xie Qingzhi was completely certain that the house was the scholar's hiding place.
Xie Qingzhi quickly ordered the attendants around him to inform Chongfeng. Although they would definitely find it today, knowing the specific location would save a lot of time.
Dou Wen had already made some gains. After some searching, they soon found the place where the women's bodies were buried in the back mountain.
Originally thought to be just a few bodies, Dou Wen was shocked to find that there were more than a dozen bodies after they were dug out. These bodies were missing, and no one had ever reported the case.
Now Dou Wen understood the meaning of Hong Qiao's words that the brothel women had no one to rely on, and no one would report the case, and no one would find out. Indeed, no one would report the case, otherwise there would not be so many bodies buried there, and even Cao Li's actions would have been discovered long ago.
Just imagine, if the Queen had not come to deal with Mu Yao's case today and had not found out about Hong Qiao, I'm afraid these things would not have been discovered. I don't know how many more women would have been harmed. Although they are brothel girls, they are also human lives.
Dou Wen felt a chill on his back when he thought about it.
Dou Wen immediately ordered the people around him to carefully dig out the bodies and organize them, and then hand them over to the coroner for autopsy. However, looking at the number of bodies at the scene, one coroner was not enough. He could only report to the Ministry of Justice and ask them to send a coroner to help, otherwise there was no telling when the autopsy would be completed.
As for him, he didn't wait to find out what was happening on Chongfeng's side, but hurried back to report.
At the same time, Shuangjiang, who had gone out to investigate the whereabouts of the golden hairpin, also came back, accompanied by Lord Wu, a co-signer of the Privy Council, and his wife Nalan, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Palace Front and his wife Zhou.
When they entered the Shangshu Mansion and saw the Emperor and the Empress, Lord Wu and the Commander of the Palace Front Division's faces instantly turned ugly. At that time, Shuangjiang just came over to say that the stolen goods lost in their family were found and asked them to come over to cooperate with the investigation.
When they arrived at the residence of Minister Kong, they were already surprised, but when they saw the emperor and empress, their hearts were beating fast, especially Lord Wu and Lord Bai, whose faces were pale. Their wives were better, after all, they were not as guilty as they were.
The four of them paid their respects to the Emperor and Empress one after another. After Xie Ci'an said that everything was settled, they stood up in panic. However, the Emperor and Empress did not say anything, so they did not dare to speak either.