"What?" Shen Yu grabbed the blanket and asked, "When was he rescued?"
"Today." Shang Junlin's expression softened as he sat on the bed.
"Today …" Shen Yu muttered, "Could today's assassination be related to King Yue's rescue?"
Shen Yu's suspicion wasn't without reason. There were many forces with motives, but there weren't many who would rescue King Yue at the same time.
"Perhaps. I wonder if Fang Jun has found anything." Shang Junlin adjusted the blanket for Shen Yu.
"King Yue hasn't been imprisoned for a day or two. Aside from the He Family, is there anyone else who tried to rescue him?" Shen Yu was very concerned about King Yue's matter. Although the development of this life was different from his previous life due to his intervention, no one knew how the story would turn out until the last moment.
Shang Junlin shook his head, "No. After the prison break failed, I thought that they had given up on it."
The Imperial Exam Fraud Case came to an end, and the officials involved received their due punishment. Due to King Yue's special identity, Shang Junlin only locked him up and didn't send him to the execution ground like the other officials.
The next morning, Shang Junlin summoned the Prime Minister and other officials for a meeting.
They all knew a little about King Yue's matter, and their hearts sank when they learned that he was rescued.
"Did Lord Fang get any results?" The Prime Minister asked.
First, it was an assassination, and then a prison break. The timing couldn't be more coincidental, and no one felt that it was an accident.
"It's hard to pry open their mouths. I found out that their target was Your Majesty, but they refused to say anything else." Lord Fang sighed.
Those who were arranged to carry out this kind of assassination were mostly men of sacrifice, and it was difficult to get anything out of them.
"What about the person we caught in the mountains yesterday? Did he say anything? "Shang Junlin asked.
"That person couldn't withstand the torture and revealed a lot of information. He came with Lord Xu, and he's Madam Xu's servant. He received Madam Xu's orders to pass information to Hanzhou City. A few days ago, Madam Xu instructed him to deliver a letter to someone from Hanzhou City, and he went to receive the letter yesterday. "Fang Jun explained the results of the interrogation.
"From the results of this subject's interrogation, there is no definite connection between him and the assassin."
"An official's wife that just came to the capital from another place shouldn't be related to an assassin. But …" The Prime Minister paused briefly before he voiced out his doubts, "His Majesty sent an official to Hanzhou City because of the Xu Family's daughter. So why would she be communicating with Hanzhou City at this time?"
"What's written in the letter?" Shang Junlin tapped his knuckles on the table.
"That person didn't know the contents of the letter. He couldn't find the person who was supposed to receive the letter, so he wandered around there and was arrested as a suspicious person. I've already sent people to find the person who received the letter according to his description," Fang Jun replied.
"We trust Minister Fang very much."
When Shen Yu woke up, Shang Junlin was not around. Mu Xi heard the noise and came in to serve him. After she went out, Shen Yu found that the palace maids were packing up.
"His Majesty ordered us to return to the palace in advance," Mu Xi explained.
Shen Yu could understand that two major incidents had happened one after the other.
The ministers also received the news and began to pack up.
"We didn't encounter such incidents in the past Autumn Hunt. I wonder if there are still assassins hiding in the dark?"
"His Majesty has already sent people to search. Last night was peaceful, so it should be fine."
"I hope it can be confirmed quickly so that we can return as soon as possible."
No one wanted to stay in a place where assassins might appear.
Shang Junlin gave three days. If they still found nothing, the official in charge of this matter could be executed.
Compared to the past, this was already lenient. Lord An, who was in charge of checking the safety of Qiyue Mountain in advance, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and personally led people into the mountain to investigate.
The atmosphere in the camp was very tense.
The people who were called back on the first day didn't know what was going on. After they learned what had happened, they were all shocked and broke out in cold sweat. Assassination was a common occurrence for Shang Junlin, but for many of the young masters of aristocratic families, it was a first.
After such an incident, the hunt could no longer continue. Everyone gathered together. Besides being nervous, they could only find something to relieve their emotions.
The madams and misses who were close to each other gathered together to chat. The young masters had nothing to do, so they had their eyes on the game.
A few days ago, they had hunted a lot of game back, enough for them to eat for more than ten days. The elders in the family were busy with official business, so they couldn't help. They could only gather in twos and threes, make a fire, and roast the food themselves.
Shang Junlin was very busy these days. Shen Yu occasionally went with him to discuss official business.
Fang Jun was very resourceful. Two days later, he managed to get some information from those people.
"According to those people, the purpose of their trip was only to assassinate. The higher-ups gave them an order. Even if they couldn't succeed, they had to create chaos. The more chaos, the better."
"They also said that they were divided into two groups. One group went up the mountain, and the other group stayed in the capital. They didn't know what exactly they were going to do. They waited for several days and finally found a good opportunity to act."
When was it? Even without Fang Jun saying it, everyone knew.
"They didn't have a spy?" The Prime Minister hit the nail on the head.
"Yes," Fang Jun's expression was serious. "The spy disguised himself as a servant of a minister and went up the mountain with them. He would report to them every day about the movements on the mountain, mainly the movements of His Majesty and His Highness."
As the Emperor, Shang Junlin's every move was widely watched. During the hunt, he wouldn't deliberately hide his whereabouts. It wasn't difficult to find out where he went.
"Find that person. I want to know if his master knows what he is doing." Shang Junlin said coldly.
Regardless of whether the officials who brought him in knew or not, they couldn't completely stay out of it.
Two hours later, Shang Junlin finished dealing with official business and saw Shen Yu outside.
"What are you doing?" Shang Junlin walked over and asked.
"I'm thinking about who saved Prince Yue." Shen Yu looked back.
There was still a trace of confusion in his eyes that hadn't disappeared yet.
Shen Yu only told Shang Junlin part of the truth. What he was really thinking about was what happened in his previous life. At this time in his previous life, he followed Prince Yue to his fief, but Prince Yue didn't stay there. In addition, during that time, he was constantly sick and muddle-headed. He didn't know much about the outside world. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't find any useful information.
There was even less description about this period of time in the book. It only mentioned Shen Qingran's suffering in the Imperial Palace. Other than that, there were only a few unimportant words.
"Fang Jun got some information." Shang Junlin told Shen Yu the information he got.
"There were two groups of people. The group that stayed in the capital was to take the opportunity to kidnap Prince Yue, right?" Shen Yu pulled himself back from his thoughts.
"I think so too. This assassination was actually very well planned. At least before the incident, no one noticed it. The only thing they underestimated was that I was already familiar with all kinds of assassination methods. Even if the Hidden Dragon Guards were to stay somewhere else, I would still have a way to inform them immediately."
On the third day, Lord An finally found a way for the assassins to enter the mountain without alerting the guards. He barely managed to save his own life.
Under Fang Jun's investigation, the person who secretly passed the information to the assassins was also found. Coincidentally, it was Lord Xu's servant.
When Lord Xu was brought to the Emperor, he was completely stunned. He didn't know how he became an accomplice of the assassins.
"Your Majesty, I am innocent! I really don't know what is going on! "Lord Xu's forehead was on the ground as tears and snot flowed down his face.
"Then tell me, did this servant follow you up the mountain?" Fang Jun stood at the side and asked.
Lord Xu turned his head and looked at the servant kneeling beside him. "It is true that I brought him here, but I really don't know what he did! Your Majesty, please investigate! "
Shang Junlin listened to the commotion below and frowned.
On the other side.
Madam Xu had been feeling uneasy ever since Lord Xu was called away. She kept pacing back and forth in the tent. The bad premonition in her heart was getting stronger and stronger.
The person she sent to collect the information didn't come back. With such a big thing happening, she didn't dare to ask outside. She could only wait for news. A few days had passed and she no longer held on to any hope. That person was most likely dead. She only hoped that the communication with her family hadn't been discovered.
After Prince Yue was rescued, he fell into a state of disbelief. He thought that he would stay in prison for the rest of his life. He didn't expect to see the light of day again.
He stood in the courtyard in a daze and felt the sunlight on his body. He was still in a daze.
Did he really come out?
Wasn't it just his imagination?
He had once had such a dream. In his dream, he had returned to his fief, raised his arms and shouted loudly. With a single call, he had brought the soldiers who believed in him back to the capital and returned all the pain to Shang Junlin.
Then, he woke up from the dream.
He was still in the dark and damp prison. He had nothing.
Under the huge difference between reality and the dream, he only wanted to drown in the dream and didn't want to wake up.
Being rescued this time, was it just a dream he had?
"Your Highness, quickly pack up. We have to set off." A middle-aged man walked over.
"Oh, okay." Prince Yue seemed to have recovered from his shock. "Where are we going?"
"We have to hide from the imperial court's troops. My men have caused some trouble for the Emperor, so we have to make the best use of our time. We will be safe after we pass through Hanzhou City."
"Why Hanzhou City?"
"There's someone there to receive us."
If it wasn't for Prince Yue's bloodline and the orders left behind by that person, they wouldn't have to go through so much trouble to rescue him and even lose so many men.
Thinking about the men of sacrifice that were sent to assassinate the Emperor, the man felt a pain in his heart. It wasn't easy for him to nurture those men, but more than half of them were lost in this operation.
Prince Yue, who was in a daze, didn't notice that these people who rescued him were only respectful to him on the surface.
They rushed towards Hanzhou City.
After confirming that there were no other assassins on Qiyue Mountain, Shang Junlin ordered them to return to the palace.
Shen Yu and Shang Junlin were still in the same carriage. This time, no one said anything. They didn't have the mood to care about these things. The number of guards accompanying them had increased by half.
Shen Yu leaned over and rubbed Shang Junlin's furrowed brows. "Your Majesty, are you still thinking about Prince Yue?"
"I immediately sent the Hidden Dragon Guards to investigate, but they didn't find any trace of them. I have no clue where they came from." This group of people was hidden in the dark, and the one that Feng Pingqi fished out was only one of the forces.
"After being locked up in the prison for so long, Prince Yue can't do anything even if he leaves. Those people didn't do anything before, so I thought they had given up." Shen Yu said slowly.
"Prince Yue is just a title. What they care about is never the person, but the identity he represents." Shang Junlin knew this better than anyone else.
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