Your Majesty, the princess is fleeing famine with her child!

Chapter 316 House-to-house search

And how could such a great painter be easily invited by Xiao Jingyi?

What's more, those great painters have never seen Mr. Wen and his companions, so how could they draw portraits that are so similar to them out of thin air?

Moreover, Mr. Wen has been in Jinzhou for quite some time, but he has never heard of any famous painters in Jinzhou.

It had only been half a day since he escaped from the Jinyu Tower.

How could someone draw portraits of so many of them in such a short time?

Mr. Wen was unwilling to believe it.

However, seeing that his subordinate was so confident, he did not dare to be too arbitrary.

He didn't know why, but he always felt that anything related to Xiao Jingyi was weird.

Maybe there really is some talented person around Xiao Jingyi who can draw a very realistic portrait based on just a few words of description.

The people who follow him now have all appeared in Jinyu Tower.

If there really was someone talented in painting around Xiao Jingyi, I'm afraid all the people around him would have had their portraits painted.

The fact that Xiao Wu was taken away by the bailiffs as soon as he showed up was a signal.

If we follow the clues and find him...

Mr. Wen didn't dare to think about it any further, nor did he want to rely on luck for his safety.

He pondered for a moment, then ordered: "Da Wu, you take the brothers here and hide for a while."

"Look for an opportunity to leave Jinzhou and meet up in the capital."

Da Wu was the one who was caught searching by the yamen runners with the portrait.

He and Xiao Wu are brothers.

Upon hearing the order from the Imperial Master, Da Wu immediately agreed.

But when he thought about it, if these people left, there would be no one to protect the Imperial Master.

"Master National Preceptor..."

As soon as Da Wu opened his mouth, Mr. Wen seemed to guess what he was thinking.

"Send some more people over."

Mr. Wen thought for a moment and said, "Let Jin Qiu bring someone over."

Da Wu agreed.

Before leaving, he wanted to ask what to do with his younger brother Xiao Wu who was captured by the yamen runners, and whether someone could be sent to rescue him.

But then he thought about his brother falling into the hands of the government, and in order to protect them, he would never give himself the chance to betray.

It's probably more bad than good.

Da Wu felt a dull pain in his heart, but there was nothing he could do. He could only harden his heart and take his people away.

In the Jinzhou government office, Xiao Jingyi was so busy that he didn't have time to rest until dark.

Zuo Yan led his men to check all the officials in the government office.

Almost half of the officials are addicted to gold paste.

These officials can no longer be used.

Among the remaining officials, if we eliminate some who are corrupt and in office for nothing, there are only a handful of them left.

When Xiao Jingyi found out, he felt extremely disappointed.

These officials are the cornerstone of Daqi. To govern the world, it is not enough to rely on the emperor alone. Officials of all sizes are needed to do the work and issue the emperor's orders and implement them.

Just a magic ointment was enough to trick these officials and make them lose their self-control. How could we expect them to assist the emperor in governing the country?

Xiao Jingyi wrote a secret memorial about the situation in Jinzhou and asked someone to send it to Jing** as soon as possible.

He had just finished writing the secret memorial when Tianshu came to report:

"Your Highness, the bailiffs who were searching the city with the portrait have captured a man."

"The man's appearance matches that of one of the portraits."

"It's just that the person bit his tongue and committed suicide on the way, and there's no way to save him!"

Xiao Jingyi frowned when he heard this.

We finally caught one, but he was dead.

"Let those people from Jinyu Tower go and identify the body to see if it is someone who was with the Moon Clan's Imperial Master."

"Yes." Tianshu took the order and retreated.

After a while, Tianshu returned.

"Your Highness, the shopkeeper and the staff of Jinyulou have all identified the body and confirmed that it is someone close to the Moon Clan's Imperial Master."

Xiao Jingyi thought for a moment and asked, "Where was this person caught?"

"He was caught in Hulu Lane in the north of the city." Tianshu replied.

Xiao Jingyi immediately said, "Go get the map of Jinzhou."

After a while, the map of Jinzhou was hung up.

Xiao Jingyi walked to the map and found the location of Hulu Lane on it.

He stretched out his hand and tapped on the map, then circled a rough area and said:

"Give orders to have people focus on searching the areas around Hulu Lane."

It is impossible that the person who was caught appeared in Hulu Lane for no reason.

Maybe their hiding place is near Hulu Lane.

Moreover, as soon as the man was caught, he bit his tongue and committed suicide, leaving himself no hope of survival, obviously in an attempt to protect someone.

It seems that the people around the Moon Clan's National Master are very loyal.

This time when he goes to Jinzhou, he might bring along his trusted people.

If all these trusted aides were killed in Jinzhou, not only would he suffer serious injuries, but it would also be like losing an arm.

The night gradually deepens, but tonight is destined not to be peaceful.

Xiao Jingyi ordered a focused search of the area around Hulu Lane in the north of the city. Those who went to search this time included not only the runners from the yamen, but also the temporarily transferred garrison troops and the Shadow Guards of the Shadow Blade Division.

Even though it was late at night, the people did not dare to show their dissatisfaction and cooperated with the search.

If it were any other time, the soldiers would definitely take the opportunity to make some money and loot some things during the search.

But this time, with Xiao Jingyi's clear ban and the Shadow Guards on the side, neither the yamen runners nor the soldiers dared to act recklessly.

When they searched a private house, the bailiffs knocked on the door for a long time before someone came to answer.

When the door opened, a burly man in his thirties appeared.

The bailiff frowned at him, "Why are you opening the door so slowly? Why are you dawdling?"

The man seemed frightened and stammered, "I had already gone to bed. I heard the knock on the door and got dressed..."

The bailiff saw that he was wearing a loose outer shirt over his undershirt.

It seemed like it was too late and he didn't even have time to tie his belt.

Seeing that his explanation was convincing, the bailiff did not pursue the matter any further.

He unfolded the portraits in his hand and showed them to the man one by one, "Have you seen these people?"

While the man was identifying the portrait, the other people behind the bailiff entered the yard and searched everywhere.

A pretty young woman seemed frightened by the noise and screamed in the house.

The man immediately bowed to the yamen runners and explained, "The one in the room is my wife. There are only the two of us at home, no one else."

After saying that, the man shouted into the house: "Don't be afraid, Qiu Niang!"

Soon, a pretty young woman ran out of the house and snuggled up to the man, looking very timid.

After the man comforted her with a few words, he smiled and spoke nice words to the yamen runners.

After searching around, they found nothing.

After looking at the portrait, the man and his wife said they had never seen the person in the portrait.

Upon seeing this, the leading bailiff immediately rolled up the portrait and told everyone to search the next house.

However, the soldier walking at the end suddenly twitched his nose.