Li Yao nodded as if it were not a big deal. "Oh, it's her!"
Dongfang Wang's eyes bulged out again, bloodshot. He said desperately, "Why are you not shocked at all? You knew it a long time ago? You are Li Linghai's accomplice! "
"No, no. Please don't misunderstand me, Prime Minister Dongfang. I definitely didn't know anything about it, nor was I the queen's accomplice. However, based on my personal experience, I've seen too many similar things to be surprised by them."
Li Yao hurried to explain, "Please think about it carefully. You have committed too many crimes, and you are about to die a miserable death. There's no need for me to lie to you, right?
"Speaking of which, if you are so certain that the queen is behind everything, what evidence do you have?"
Staring at Li Yao hard, Dongfang Wang thought for a long time, only to find no reason why Li Yao was still trying to lie to him at this moment. He said angrily, "I don't have any direct evidence, but isn't the whole thing obvious? If the 'incident of the Blood Oath Alliance' hadn't escalated the contradictions between the four Kurfürst families and the young officers in the frontline and the peripheral warlords of the Imperium, how could the young officers and the peripheral warlords have all joined the reformists so quickly?
"Also, if General Lei Chenghu hadn't been imprisoned and told that his military power would be reduced, how could he have made up his mind to betray the Council of Elders and join hands with Li Linghai?
"From the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance to Lei Chenghu's imprisonment, a lot of allies have been offered to the reformists for no reason and helped the reformists unite all the forces against the four families in the Imperium. Who has benefited the most in the end? Li Linghai!
"Then, who else could it have been if she was not the mastermind from the beginning to the end?"
Holding his chin, Li Yao pondered for a long time and shook his head slowly. "Such a serious accusation is not convincing at all!"
"Then, how much evidence do you have to accuse me of plotting the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance? How convincing is it?"
His eyes burning, Dongfang Wang roared hysterically, "Both the young officers in the frontline and the warlords at the periphery of the Imperium want nothing more than some interests. They will not shake the foundation of the four families or my position as the 'prime minister of iron and blood' easily. We can always negotiate slowly. After all, we can always reach a distribution plan of interests that satisfies all parties.
"Right now, the war is not over yet, and the distribution of interests of the post-war reconstruction is it necessary for me to be so hasty to escalate all the contradictions?
"Let's say that if I were crazy enough to finish you off with violence, I would've made all the arrangements. Once the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance was initiated, the reformists, the young officers, and the peripheral warlords of the Imperium would've been annihilated incessantly. You wouldn't have any chance at all!
"But what about right now? Right now, I'm caught in a dilemma. I'm taking hits passively and running for my life. Do I look like a meticulous schemer at all? Do you believe that the grand scheme of the prime minister of the Imperium is full of loopholes without any backup plans?
"You want evidence? The biggest evidence is my current extremely miserable appearance. Is this not enough to prove that I really did not know anything about the whole thing, that I was unprepared, and that I was caught off guard?"
Dongfang Wang's voice was truly a vivid interpretation of the word "grievance", which went straight to the heart.
Even Li Yao couldn't help but believe him.
He continued roaring in fury, "After the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance, the reformists seemed to be caught unprepared, and a lot of people were captured. But you regrouped very soon and even attracted Lei Chenghu, the Thunder Fleet, a lot of young officers, peripheral warlords, and even the ambitious, unstable factors in the four families. You were more than ten times stronger than before!
"Then, you launched an overwhelming, interlocking, and incessant counterattack and flattened all my forces. Let me ask you, is such a sharp and violent counterattack really possible in a hurry?
"Vulture Li Yao, I don't know if you are Li Linghai's accomplice or if you know all the details of the whole thing.
"If you are her accomplice, I will admire your patience, planning, and acting skills. It was truly an almost perfect scheme that did not give me any chance to counterattack. I would've been killed no matter what I did!
"If you don't know the truth, it will be truly pathetic. You have been manipulated by Li Linghai as her chess piece, her loyal dog, and her dagger, too!
"Trust me, Queen Li Linghai knew that an elder of the Imperium would be assassinated before the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance. She also calculated all the chain reactions later and planned every step of the counterattack. It was not a hasty counterattack at all but a premeditated attack!
"Haha. Impressive, Li Linghai. I've truly underestimated you again and again. I didn't know that you were so terrifying. Everybody, from the four Kurfürst families to the reformists, from the soldiers in the frontline to the warlords in the rear, from the prime minister of the Imperium to the tough generals such as Lei Chenghu, have been manipulated by you!"
Dongfang Wang laughed so miserably that he truly looked like a devil with his dangling skin and hideous smile.
"Wait. I have the most critical question."
Frowning hard, Li Yao pondered for a long time before he asked, "Prime Minister Dongfang said that the queen benefited the most from the whole incident, so she planned a series of schemes. But I don't understand. What's the 'benefit' that she benefited from?
"In terms of military power, she did not have a single soldier. The Deep Sea Fleet was commanded by General Dongfang Sheng, and the Thunder Fleet was commanded by General Lei Chenghu. It was needless to say that the elites of the four Kurfürst families were not under her command at all.
"In terms of prestige, although she is the leader of the reformists, she is only a rallying point. Other than showing up briefly in the 'crying incident' in the capital and winning the favor of the surplus generals and the disabled veterans, she has been living in seclusion and keeping a low profile. She has never shown up in public. Honestly speaking, she shows up in the battlefield less often than I do. Right now, a lot of people know about Vulture Li Yao and the Gold Vulture, but not all of them are aware of the queen's role in the great cause of 'renewing the Imperium'!
"In terms of the situation, after Prime Minister Dongfang's fall, the Dongfang family is bound to be significantly weakened. However, if the three families and the reformists join hands, it is very likely that everything will be settled peacefully and peacefully. Emperor Shenwu is about to return and the Council of Elders will be reestablished. The queen's position and appeal will only be further reduced.
"From the perspective of 'the interests of the Imperium', the so-called 'scheme' does not seem to have much harm. It does not bring any benefits to the queen herself, either! If you insist that the queen's accomplices have been working hard for decades for the revival and rise of the Imperium without the slightest selfishness, then … I have nothing to say. "
"Without the slightest selfishness? Hehehehe! Emperor Shenwu is about to return? Hahahaha! "
Dongfang Wang laughed so hard that he almost died. Suddenly, he bulged his eyes and shrieked, "Then, let's welcome His Majesty back!"
From the beginning to the end, he had been holding a human-shaped package the size of a cat or a dog in his arms. There was no telling what the package was made of, but it had such a high blocking ability that Li Yao could not see through it at all when he probed it with his telepathic thoughts many times.
At this moment, Dongfang Wang shook the package, and the whole package fell apart. Something that looked like black charcoal flew out of the package, mixed with a pungent stench, and fell right in front of Li Yao's face, breaking into pieces.
Li Yao was slightly dazed. Before the pieces splashed on him, he had already opened the spiritual shield and observed the objects that looked like charcoal carefully.
At first glance, it looked like a burnt monkey.
However, the hands, feet, and face were exactly the appearance of a human being, except that they were multiple times smaller in proportion.
Although it was as black as charcoal, it was not curled up like that because of the fire. Instead, it seemed that the water inside its body had been evaporated, and its blood and soul had been sucked dry by secret techniques. That was why it had withered into such a state.
"This is —"
Li Yao stared at the head of the charcoal that was the size of a fist for a long time, trying to find some clues from its grimacing, painful expression, but he found absolutely nothing. "What the hell is this?"
He could not figure out why Dongfang Wang was holding such a terrifying burnt body in his arms even when he was about to die.
"You still don't see it? Didn't I say just now? "
Dongfang Wang's smile was both bitter and hideous. "This is Emperor Shenwu, the dominator of the sea of stars, the monarch of the Imperium of True Human Beings, Li Linghai's husband, and the man that you have been trying so hard to welcome back!"
Li Yao's eyes were immediately frozen. It was not until half a minute later that he was more or less relaxed. "Wow … You … You are truly bold and unruly. You … You are crazy enough to turn His Majesty into such a state?"
Dongfang Wang smiled bitterly. "If I say that I didn't do it, will you believe me?"
"I … will."
Li Yao thought for a moment and nodded his head. "You want a living emperor, not a dead one. However, speaking of which, when you just kidnapped His Majesty, he couldn't have been so … unhappy, could he? Therefore, His Majesty died next to you, and you cannot get away with it. How did he die exactly? "
"Poisoned."
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