"So, the emperor simply removed the people who received the reward more than ten years ago from the court one by one?" Qi Surong muttered to himself.

"Obvious." A cold light flashed in Yuan Xi's eyes.

The scope of this investigation is very wide, and there are many children of the official family who have fallen outside. If they can be found out one by one and given corresponding subsidies and support, perhaps they can become a help for the Qi family in the future.

But this matter must be handled with caution, and a slight error will lead to death.

However, she first had to subdue the rebellious young man in front of her.

Qi Surong's eyes gradually changed from doubt to clarity...

☆、Chapter 20 Digital Group

When he got home, Qi Surong took out a pen and paper, and listed the names of the officials who were checked this time on the paper one by one according to the level of the official position. There were 40 or 50 people in the list, or there were omissions, which will be made up in the future.

After watching it for a while, Qi Surong found that many of them would return to the court in the future to show their official prestige again. That is to say, they have successfully cleared the charges of this investigation, although they may not be completely innocent, but at least the new emperor has made merits and made up for his faults, so he has this honor.

Qi Surong knew that the future new emperor was not the crown prince, but King Jing, the ninth brother of the current sage. Yuan Xi said that the secret letter is related to the throne, so she can assume that King Jing may be able to ascend to the throne with the help of the secret letter. Although she doesn't know the content of the secret letter, nor how many secret letters there are, she can infer that as long as she assists King Jing in ascending the throne in the future and appears on the inventory list at the same time, it is possible to hold the secret letter.

Qi Surong seriously recalled the names of all the officials of the court in the next thirty years. Of course, even if she has a good memory, it is impossible to remember everything, but officials above the fifth rank have more or less impressions.

After a while, she deleted the fifty people on the list and selected twenty people.

Twenty people, the scope is still too broad, but she still has one condition that is useless, that is, those who received the reward of the late emperor twelve years ago.

Qi Surong was not clear about this matter, so he had to ask his father.

That night, Qi Surong knocked on the door of the study.

"father."

"Rong'er, come in." Father Qi's voice came from the door.

Qi Surong pushed open the door and entered, took the door behind him, and came to the desk, handing Qi's father a bowl of ginseng soup.

"Father, it's cold at night, so drink a bowl of ginseng soup to warm your stomach."

Father Qi smiled and said, "My daughter has a heart."

He put down the book in his hand, picked up the ginseng soup and drank it.

Qi Surong saw that what he was reading just now was a military book, and his father still couldn't let go of the battlefield. He is a general who fights in the killing field, and the intrigue of the court is not suitable for him.

It is a pity that the border is now stable, and my father has no place for his ambitions. If not, the emperor would not dare to attack the Qi family.

"Father, my daughter remembers that the battle of Tongcheng twelve years ago was your last battle." Qi Surong sat down slowly and said.

"Yeah, in that battle, the frontier bandits were directly expelled for three hundred miles, and they would not dare to attack for half a point." Qi's father raised his head, his eyes were distant, as if he was thinking of the glory of the past.

"After the Battle of Tongcheng, Dad was recalled to the capital by the late emperor?" Qi Surong asked.

Qi's father nodded: "This battle is a great victory, the first emperor rewarded me for meritorious deeds, promoted me to be the general of protecting the country, and also held a celebration banquet in the palace, rewarding the meritorious ministers one by one."

"Dad, do you remember who got the reward?"

"What are you asking this for?"

"Just curious, let me tell my daughter about it."

Father Qi frowned and said, "I don't remember very well, but Liu Guozheng, Fan Gu, Wang Jun, Song Jie, Meng Ke, Lu Pei and others all received awards."

"What did the late emperor reward?"

"I don't remember the others, but the first emperor rewarded me with a century-old painting, a pair of jade cups, and a jade Buddha."

Qi Surong carefully observed his father's expression, and there was no difference. It seems that there are two possibilities. First, the father did not know about the secret letter; second, the late emperor did not give the secret letter to the Qi family.

"Are these things in the Qi's warehouse?" Qi Surong asked again.

"No." Qi's father replied, "I put all the things that the late emperor rewarded me in the dark pavilion, and ordinary people can't find it."

A hint of joy flashed in Qi Surong's eyes, Dad, you've finally been shrewd, Da Shan!

Afterwards, she stubbornly picked up more people who received the award, about a dozen, and these were probably all the people her father could remember.

Back in his room, Qi Surong immediately listed these people on the paper one by one, and then put the three pieces of paper together.

There are 20 companies that meet the two conditions, that is, those who were inspected this time and will be reinstated in the future;

There are only seven companies that meet the three conditions at the same time, that is, they are on the inventory list, and they are those who were rewarded in the past and will be honored in the future.

There are two other people who were not investigated this time, but they were rewarded by the previous emperor, and they will be highly regarded by King Jing in the future. One of them was Liu Guozheng, the imperial captain of the dynasty, and the other was Zuo Mingtang, the minister of personnel, who was also the future prime minister who would be the head of the three princes.

Putting aside the latter two for the time being, the Qi family is not qualified to befriend now. Qi Surong's focus was on the seven people who met the three conditions. They are at the moment of desperation, weak and helpless. But it is not a fluke that they were able to overcome many difficulties and finally regain their prestige, and there must be something special about them.

The Qi family may be just a small boat in the sea, but as long as the east wind is borrowed, it may not be able to ride the wind and waves.

Qi Surong set his eyes on the seven names again, Fan Ziyu, Meng Ke, Song Jie, Lu Pei, Jiang Qi, Buyan, and Wen Zhihui. Among the seven families, the only one who can definitely own the secret letter is Fan Gu, but since Fan Gu is dead, the secret letter should fall into the hands of his son Fan Ziyu. But Qi Surong estimated that Fan Ziyu hadn't read the contents of the secret letter yet, otherwise he would definitely try his best to enter King Jing's mansion instead of going to King Jing's side after going through all the hardships and tossing and turning.

Of course, all these inferences are based on the assumption that the secret letter is related to King Jing. If the secret letter has any other meaning, then it will lose its due value. Compared with a few secret letters, Qi Surong believed in everything that was set in the future. It is easy to change a small thing, but if you want to turn things around, you may end up with a dead end. Moreover, King Jing is indeed a generation of Ming Jun, and Qi Surong is willing to put his life on him.