As Shang Luoze spoke, he tilted his head slightly to the side, with a faint, half - smiling arc on his lips. Against his barely - twenty - year - old face, it made him look rather childish. However, his eyes were extremely deep.
In his black - and - white pupils, Shang Mozheng saw the sharp killing intent of the young man. In that instant, he suddenly realized that the young emperor had grown up!
This moment of distraction made him forget to reply. But Shang Luoze didn't care. Instead, he shifted his gaze to the cavalrymen brought back by Zheng Dai.
Just now, Prime Minister Lu's voice had been quite loud. They should have all heard it. Otherwise, none of them would have quietly moved their hands to their knife hilts. Were they planning to rescue Zheng Dai at any moment?
Suddenly, a commotion came from behind the imperial carriage, mixed with the sound of orderly footsteps. The next moment, everyone saw the figures of the Imperial Guards appear in sight. Then they surrounded the cavalrymen tightly.
The cavalrymen gripped their knife hilts even tighter!
The air around them almost stagnated. It seemed as if someone had tightened a string here. When the string broke, it would be the day of death.
Almost no one dared to speak, except Shang Luoze.
He still looked like an innocent young boy. Slowly, he said, "I'm sure all of you have heard. General Zheng is now a suspect in the Guangling embezzlement case.
But don't worry. I won't convict him based on one - sided words. I'll hand this case over to the Court of Judicial Review and let them find out the truth. If General Zheng is truly innocent, I will surely release him."
After a pause, he continued,
"But if you act now, it will be unclear what charges will be placed on General Zheng's head!"
The most noble person in the entire Great Qi was right here. If anyone dared to act, it would be an attempt on the emperor's life. Such a great crime of punishing nine generations of relatives, who would dare to take it on themselves?
Immediately, many people backed down. They silently took off their waist knives and threw them on the ground.
Where there was a first, there would be a second. In a short while, knives were thrown all over the ground. The sound of the scabbards colliding sounded like celestial music to Shang Luoze, extremely pleasant.
There were still a few people who wanted to resist stubbornly, but Shang Luoze didn't care. The Imperial Guards would handle them.
"De Cheng, return to the palace!"
The grand imperial carriage slowly moved towards the palace city amidst the eunuch's chanting, leaving behind a group of subjects looking at each other in dismay.
Wait, wasn't today supposed to be the day to welcome General Zheng's triumphant return?
How come, in the process of welcoming, they ended up sending him to prison?
The ministers couldn't understand, and the common people were even more confused.
As for those who knew the inside story, they had already left the crowd when no one was paying attention.
"Yang Li, immediately send a message to Yan Wuxin and Zhu Jie. Tell them to lead their troops back to Yangxian at once!"
"Your... Your Highness, if they return now, the one - hundred - thousand - strong army will really become..." rebels.
The last few words were immediately silenced under Shang Mozheng's terrifying gaze. Yang Li didn't dare to say more and immediately sent the message. Even so, the Regent's uneasiness didn't disappear. Instead, it intensified.
That old fox Lu Wenhan wouldn't have taken action today without considering the one - hundred - thousand - strong army left in the middle of the journey. Even if this message was sent out, it might be too late.
As he had expected.
After Prime Minister Lu returned to court, Chen Guang handed the task of contacting his master to his deputy Bai Du. Then he led his men out of the city. In order not to attract Shang Mozheng's attention, it took him a full ten days to smuggle his men out of the capital one by one.
Then his task was to find the one - hundred - thousand - strong army, hide his tracks from Shang Mozheng's people, and... wait.
Wait for Zheng Dai to receive the nine imperial edicts. Wait for him to have no choice but to rush to the capital on horseback. Wait for the troops escorting Zheng Dai along the way to gradually leave. Then wait for Yan Wuxin's reply to the capital...
It had to be said that after these days, even Chen Guang himself found that his patience had improved a lot! Then, on the night when Yan Wuxin sent the message, they took action.
The next day, Zhu Jie found that Yan Wuxin had died in his own tent!
The cause of death was choking!
However, this was just the beginning. One day later, the soldiers found that General Zhu was also gone!
Then on the third day, the fourth day... More and more people died. No matter how much they strengthened their defenses, someone would die every night, but they never even saw the shadow of the killer.
One night, Chen Guang led his men back to their temporary shelter.
"Calculating the days, His Majesty's imperial edict should arrive in these few days. We've almost eliminated all the ranked officers in the army. Brothers, pack up. Later, we'll set off to Longxi to meet Lord Lin."
The young emperor never thought of subduing these more than one - hundred - thousand troops of Shang Mozheng. But it was also impossible to eliminate them all at once. So he came up with this method.
All the ranked officers in the army were to be executed!
He didn't care if there were any innocent people among them. Because when they entered this army, Shang Luoze had already sentenced them to death.
Without a leader in the army, the remaining soldiers would be like a heap of loose sand. If they then learned that Zheng Dai had been imprisoned by the emperor for embezzlement, they would disperse on their own.
In the capital
Shang Luoze did hand the Guangling embezzlement case to the Court of Judicial Review, but he kept a close eye on it the whole time. It only took almost a day and a night for the verdict of the case to come out, leaving no time for Shang Mozheng to react.
On the third day after Zheng Dai's triumphant return, he, along with the main officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, were all pushed to the Meridian Gate for beheading. As for the cavalrymen he brought back, without weapons, weren't they at the mercy of the Imperial Guards?
It was a pity that this incident didn't involve the Regent after all. It only damaged his reputation a little.
Shang Luoze thought so.
From the very beginning of the plan, when Prime Minister Lu advised him not to care too much about the remarks of the common people, Shang Luoze increasingly realized that losing some reputation didn't matter.
Because those stupid common people had no judgment at all. They were like wall - grass, only echoing others. Their hearts were the easiest to manipulate. There were hardly any who could see the big picture from small clues.
"Your Majesty, don't be too hasty in everything. We were a bit lucky to cut off one of his arms this time."
Noticing the emperor's thoughts, Prime Minister Lu advised him kindly.
He wasn't lying. This matter really had a bit of divine help.
In the Guangling embezzlement case, Shang Mozheng had wiped out all the traces very cleanly. If it weren't for the extreme greed of those few officials in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, and Prime Minister Lu having arranged people to watch them early on, they would never have obtained these evidences.
Moreover, in the great victory at Yangxian this time, Shang Luoshu was forced to stay in Longxi and couldn't return, which made the Regent a bit over - confident. Otherwise, he might have discovered the emperor and Prime Minister Lu's small moves early on.
In Longxi
Lin Zihan had packed his things, and Zhou Kou and his subordinates were waiting. All that needed to be said and what shouldn't be said had already been said. At this moment, the only thing that could be said was "Have a safe journey."
Watching the group leave, Shang Luoshu and Lu Yinxi got on the carriage back to the Su Mansion.
"Do you miss home?"
Seeing his fiancée looking gloomy as soon as she got in the carriage, Shang Luoshu moved to her side and deliberately leaned over to look at her.
Lu Yinxi pursed her lips and smiled, not denying it.
"I promise you, after my injury is fully healed, I'll take my princess back home." The man let her lean on his shoulder. His voice was gentle but also carried a bit of guilt.
Once they returned to the capital, it would mean facing his uncle head - on. Shang Luoshu didn't want to be dragged down by his body, so he wanted to fully recover before setting off.
Lu Yinxi didn't reply, but the hand around his waist was the best answer.