Tibet

Li Ye was shocked. Cheng Qianli was dead. He asked urgently: "Where was he assassinated?"

Pei Jia said next to him: "I heard that on the way to report on my work, when I was crossing the Yellow River in Puzhou, the assassination took place about half a month ago."

"Does the murderer have any explanation?"

"There are many rumors in the court, and the biggest rumor is that An Lushan did it, because he is the biggest beneficiary. The emperor has appointed him to serve as the governor of Hedong. Alas! Everyone knows that An Lushan is going to rebel, even us who are far away People all over Hexi have heard about it, but the emperor actually still made him the governor of Hedong. It's really stupid." Pei Fang sighed and shook his head.

Only in front of his grandson did Pei Fang dare to directly rebuke the emperor for being fatuous.

Li Ye was silent. He knew that when An Lushan became the governor of Hedong, he must have followed the route of Mrs. Guo. Now Mrs. Guo is the real leader behind the scenes. To be honest, the emperor was firmly held by her for short-term happiness. Hold it in your hand.

Cheng Qianli belonged to the Crown Prince. Cheng Qianli's murder was most likely related to the Crown Prince. The struggle for the right to inherit the throne was gaining momentum. This assassination case most likely involved the capture of the direct descendant.

At this time, Pei Jia said again: "Aye is resting in Zhangye for two days. Anyway, I won't report on my duties until the end of January!"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "I just want to see my daughter, everything else is fine!"

"Then take two days off!"

Pei Jia smiled again and said: "I happen to be investigating a case, which may be related to the palace. My nephew should be interested."

Early the next morning, Pei Jia took Li Ye to a medicine shop owned by a Sogdian.

"This is an old shop that makes Hu medicine. It has been opened by people from the Sogdian Kang state for more than fifty years. It is very famous in Chang'an. Many rich and powerful people in Chang'an will buy their Hu medicine, but they are afraid that the formula will be leaked. They are not produced in Chang'an, but are produced in Zhangye and then taken to Chang'an for sale.

Normally we don't interfere with the normal pharmaceutical business, but this time we paid attention to them because someone came to report the case. Someone died after eating their Hu medicine. Because the person who died was also the leader of a large clan in Ganzhou, the government paid more attention to this matter. , we asked the drug store to hand over the formula of the Hu medicine involved, but the drug store refused.

We checked its warehouse again and found that the medicinal materials were all normal. But yesterday we got news that they also had a secret warehouse. Today we will make a surprise inspection of this warehouse. "

"My uncle told me yesterday that this pharmacy has something to do with the palace?"

"yes!"

Pei Jia nodded and said: "Their shopkeeper said that the palace is also purchasing medicine from them, and he is a very powerful eunuch in the palace. His tone is a bit threatening to us."

The group of people came to a medicine shop. There was a line of big characters on the top, Kang's Hu Medicine Shop, and a line of Sogdian characters below. The architectural style was the traditional Sogdian people.

Hu Yao was popular among dignitaries in the Tang Dynasty, but ordinary people generally would not touch it. Moreover, Hu Yao's treatment directions were also relatively unpopular, such as life extension, aphrodisiac, fat gain, etc.

Pei Jia was the governor of the Ganzhou Governor's Office and was in charge of Ganzhou's government affairs. He had great power. He brought more than a hundred soldiers and followers. The medicine shop did not dare to offend him. The Sogdian shopkeeper of the medicine shop respectfully invited Pei Jia in. In the store.

Li Ye followed Pei Jia, but Pei Jia did not introduce him deliberately. The shopkeeper thought he was the nephew of the Pei family, so he paid no attention to him.

Pei Jia sat down and took a sip of tea and said, "The formula we want is really not available?"

The shopkeeper bowed and said: "The formula is our top secret, which is related to the survival of the store. Even Eunuch Yuan asked us for the secret of the formula before, but we didn't give it to him."

Li Ye's heart skipped a beat. Does this Eunuch Yuan refer to Yuan Siyi?

"But there is a suffering master who accuses your Hu Yao of killing his father. I'm afraid you can't escape the blame!"

The shopkeeper said calmly: "It's medicine that's three-part poison. Any medicine, if you don't control the amount and take it desperately, will kill you. Not only Hu medicine, but also Chinese medicine. The owner of the Wei family bought aphrodisiac pills. He is already seventy." Years old, when we first bought it, we didn't want to sell it. He was too old and had to have sex. But he insisted on buying it, so I specifically told him that he could only eat it once every three days, and he could only eat one pill at most at a time. , or even half a pill, but he didn’t listen and took ten pills in three days. He died of overindulgence, but he put the responsibility on the drug, which our pharmacy will not accept. "

Pei Jia also said slowly: "The government is not unreasonable. If your medicine is fine if others take it, then the responsibility does not lie on you. In the past two days, I have also found prisoners to test and let them take the leftover medicine of the Wei family. , if the prisoners are safe within ten days, then I will not hold you accountable."

"Chang Pei Shi Mingjian!"

Pei Jia nodded and said: "Last time you told me that except for refusing to disclose the prescription, other medicinal materials in the warehouse are open to us for inspection, right?"

"exactly!"

"Okay! Today we are going to check out the small warehouse, located in the backyard!"

The shopkeeper's expression changed and he said anxiously: "That is our top-secret warehouse, no outsiders are allowed to enter!"

Pei Jia sneered and said, "Is there any contraband hidden?"

"That's not true. They are all medicinal materials. Very expensive medicinal materials. They are also the secret of our Hu Yao."

Pei Jia stood up and said, "Go to the backyard!"

Everyone walked to the backyard together, and soon the soldier found the secret warehouse, which was quite similar to the room in Taipingfang. There was a big house outside, and a small house without windows was built inside. The big house belonged to the clerk. Dormitories are usually not searched carefully, but the entrance to this room-within-a-room is within this dormitory.

The shopkeeper's face was ugly. He knew that a certain clerk must have betrayed him. No one except the clerk knew that there was a secret in it, but he couldn't find out which clerk was the betrayer. The secret room had been built for thirty years, and it came and went. Went to hundreds of guys.

Pei Jia ordered someone to move a wardrobe, and an iron door suddenly appeared behind it.

Pei Jia said coldly: "Shopkeeper Kang, should you open it yourself, or should we break through the wall and get in?"

The shopkeeper said anxiously: "There are only confidential medicinal materials in here, I guarantee there are no contraband!"

"Don't worry anymore, just open it!"

Shopkeeper Kang had no choice but to grit his teeth and said: "I can open it, but only two people can enter at most, and no pharmacist can enter!"

Pei Jia nodded, "Okay, my nephew and I will go in. He is not a pharmacist, but a military general!"

Shopkeeper Kang glanced at Li Ye and saw the military badge on his waist. He had to take out the key and stepped forward to open the iron door.

After a while, Pei Jia ordered his men, and he and Li Ye went in carrying lanterns.

The inside is very small, at most five or six square meters, with ten wooden boxes and many wine jars.

Pei Jia opened a wine jar, which contained a kind of grass paste soaked in oil. Pei Jia saw it and sneered: "I thought their aphrodisiacs were tiger penis, bear penis and deer antler! It turned out that they used goat's worms. The mashed mud is not an aphrodisiac, it is clearly an aphrodisiac."

Only now did Pei Jia know the reason why the shopkeeper refused to let him know the formula. It was said that it was a high-end aphrodisiac, longevity pills and other secret Hu medicines, but in fact it was just a low-grade aphrodisiac, used to deceive the powerful officials of the court.

Li Ye opened the lid of a wooden box with a stern look on his face. Inside were black dumplings the size of goose eggs, which looked very much like opium.

"Uncle, come take a look at this!"

Pei Jia stepped forward and took a look, then took a sniff and said, "It's aphrodisiac. It's a very good analgesic. For example, when a woman gives birth to a child, soldiers will take some when they are recovering from their injuries, or when the pain is unbearable." A little bit will be effective, but if you take too much of this stuff, it will become addictive.”

Sure enough, it was opium. It turned out that it existed in the Tang Dynasty and was called afurong.

“Are there any plantings in the Hexi Corridor?”

Pei Jia shook his head, "I heard that aphrodisiac is only produced in Dashi. It was brought from Dashi by Sogdian merchants. It is very expensive. The bigger soybeans cost a lot of money. It is a very precious medicinal material."

Li Ye suddenly had a clear understanding in his heart. If it was Yuan Siyi who purchased the secret Hu medicine, which contained a large amount of goat grass and opium, then it was most likely a means for Mrs. Guo Guo to control the emperor.

No matter how well-cooked the same dish is, you will get tired of it. Even if you have an affair, it can be done once or twice. If you have frequent affairs, you will get tired of it. There is only one way to make the emperor never get tired of it. Make him addicted.