"Your Majesty, why do you care who I wear my clothes for?"
"Because this kind of cloth is most suitable to be made into close-fitting clothes. Naturally, it can only be shown to me," Shang Junlin answered seriously.
Shen Yu pinched his arm, "Your Majesty, why don't you ask the Clothing Bureau to make it for you?"
"A Yu reminded me. When the time comes, I will ask the Clothing Bureau to make a set for me and A Yu to wear it together."
"Your Majesty also wears red?" Shen Yu raised his head and looked at Shang Junlin.
He rarely saw Shang Junlin wearing any color other than black. In fact, Shang Junlin was very suitable for black. The man was tall and had a cold face. When he wore a black imperial robe, he had an oppressive aura. Shen Yu liked Shang Junlin very much.
However, this didn't prevent him from wanting to see Shang Junlin wearing other colors.
Different colors gave people different feelings. Shen Yu imagined Shang Junlin wearing a red robe. It would definitely bring a different sensory stimulation.
"A Yu wants to see me wearing red?"
Shen Yu nodded.
"I allow it."
Shen Yu was stunned for a moment. Then he realized that Shang Junlin was talking about wearing a red robe.
"Commoners all wear red when they get married. It's normal for A Yu to like it."
"Your Majesty, why did you suddenly mention this? I just thought that Your Majesty would definitely look good in red. What does it have to do with commoners getting married?"
Shang Junlin smiled but didn't say anything.
Shen Yu raised his hand, "Speaking of which, on the day I entered the palace, Your Majesty also wore a black robe."
Shang Junlin grabbed his hand and kissed it, "Yes, most of the imperial robes are black. The details are slightly different. On that day, the robes were embroidered with red and gold threads."
At that time, Shen Yu had just entered the palace, so he didn't pay attention to these things. Later, because he fainted, he didn't pay attention to these things. Thinking of this, he opened his mouth and asked, "When I entered the palace, I suddenly fainted. Was it related to the person who arranged this assassination?"
It had been a year since the incident. Shang Junlin didn't talk about it, and Shen Yu didn't ask about it either. It wasn't until later that he encountered a similar incident in the Cangqi Mountain.
"I originally thought that they were targeting A Yu because of me. Now, it seems like that's not the case. No, I should say that it's not completely the case. I've already investigated the person who did it that day. According to the confession, the person who's more suspicious is the person standing behind King Yue. However, I can't rule out the possibility that what A Yu said is true."
Shang Junlin's memory of that night was especially vivid. After changing more than half of the palace staff in Yuzhang Palace, the same thing never happened again.
"Maybe I'm thinking too much. Unless they can predict the future and predict that I'll enter the palace and set up an ambush early in the palace. The palace is not like other places. If they set up an ambush at the last minute, it will definitely attract the attention of others." Shen Yu denied this conjecture.
"The person behind King Yue has been caught. I've handed the person over to Fang Jun. In a few days, there should be a result."
"This year's New Year is really …" Chaos.
Not only did the ministers not enjoy the New Year's holiday that they should have, but they were also busy every day because of various things. Among them, the three cabinet ministers were the most mentally and physically exhausted.
Needless to say, the Prime Minister and Fang Jun, Shang Junlin would hand over everything to them. The other cabinet minister, who was born in an aristocratic family, also needed to be busy with various things. Almost everything that happened in the imperial court had to go through the cabinet ministers, including King Yue's rebellion and the palace banquet assassination.
Although Shang Junlin had handed the matter over to the Prime Minister and Fang Jun, it did not mean that Duan Daren could completely stay out of it. What should be understood and what should be followed up, nothing could be left behind.
Because these two matters involved too much, the aristocratic family officials and the humble family officials had to put down their grudges and deal with this matter together first. Political fights were fine, but after these troubles were solved, they would stop fighting.
Without the upper level officials who were in cahoots with the Northern Desert people, the atmosphere in the officialdom changed. Although there were some small conflicts, the overall atmosphere was still very harmonious.
He Chengyu, Fang Jiayi, and the others quickly gained a foothold in the Northern Desert. Jiang Huaiqing should have been like them, shining in the Northern Desert. However, the Emperor gave a secret order, so he had to change his appearance, hide his identity, and go to the Northern Desert.
Other than He Chengyu, no one else knew about this for the time being.
The assassination had not yet spread to the Northern Desert, but the news of the King of Yue's rebellion had already spread throughout the Great Huan. The movements of the Imperial Court were too big, so it was hard not to know.
Especially after the King of Yue and the people behind him were arrested, the Imperial Court had no more misgivings. They issued orders everywhere to encircle and annihilate the remnants of the rebels. If they encountered them, they could be executed on the spot.
There were also remnants of these people in the Subei Army. He Chengyu had borrowed a small group of soldiers from the Subei Army to begin a search in the territory of the Subei Army. Under his and Jiang Huaiqing's cooperation, they had successfully dealt with quite a few of the forces that the Imperial Court had ordered to exterminate.
Sometimes, He Chengyu and Jiang Huaiqing would work together with the Northern Desert Army. The Northern Desert officials were used to the two of them disappearing together and reappearing together a few days later.
They thought that the two of them were trying to accumulate more merits, so the officials who were on good terms with the two of them often teased them.
But no one knew that their true goal was to make Jiang Huaiqing disappear from the public eye for a while.
Jiang Huaiqing hadn't been in the Northern Desert for long and hadn't done anything particularly eye-catching. Others might not have paid much attention to his sudden disappearance, but the officials who had come with him were different, especially those who had a certain degree of friendship with him.
Jiang Huaiqing's departure this time wasn't just a day or two. It was easy to cover up for a short period of time, but it was easy to raise suspicions if it took too long.
Thus, they arranged a play.
A play where one person was seriously injured and one person substituted for the other.
As usual, He Chengyu and Jiang Huaiqing led the Northern Desert Army together. Less than two days later, He Chengyu appeared at the entrance of the yamen, carrying the bloodied Jiang Huaiqing.
"What's going on?!" The young official who had just been demoted didn't have time to think. He hurriedly called for people to come forward and help Jiang Huaiqing out of He Chengyu's arms. Several people helped He Chengyu into the yamen.
"Quickly call a doctor!"
After a busy period, the two were settled down. The officials also learned the whole story from He Chengyu, who was still conscious.
They had misjudged and were injured by the traitors.
He Chengyu's injury was relatively light, so it didn't affect his work after being bandaged. Jiang Huaiqing's injury was more serious. After the doctor examined him, he was still unconscious.
"Huaiqing was injured so badly because he took a hit for me …"
This was the first time the usually steady person had shown a side of panic. The officials who were familiar with them were very uncomfortable.
"Jiang daren is blessed by the heavens. Nothing will happen to him."
"Yes, we'll invite the best doctor in the Northern Desert. If it really doesn't work, we'll submit a memorial and ask His Majesty to send an imperial physician."
"Don't worry too much. Nothing will happen. You're also injured. Take care of yourself."
"I know," He Chengyu wiped his face. The man who had always cared about his image couldn't hide his disappointment, "Since Huaiqing was injured because of me, I should take good care of him before he recovers. I'll bring him to my fu and take care of him until he recovers."
Everyone knew that he had a good relationship with Jiang Huaiqing. After something like this happened, he must be upset. Seeing that he wanted to bring Jiang Huaiqing back to his fu, they didn't dissuade him.
What's more, he was willing. What was the use of dissuading him? It would be annoying for no reason.
Like this, He Chengyu brought Jiang Huaiqing back to his fu. Along with him was the doctor who treated Jiang Huaiqing.
No one noticed that a few days later, an inconspicuous carriage drove out of the side door of He Fu. Inside the carriage was the heavily injured and unconscious Jiang Huaiqing.
The carriage drove all the way to an inconspicuous residence outside the city and stopped.
Jiang Huaiqing dismounted. Inside was the person who had been waiting for him for a long time.
"Sir, the travel permit and the relevant documents have been prepared."
Jiang Huaiqing changed his clothes and fixed his appearance. After half an hour, he looked at himself in the bronze mirror. It was both familiar and unfamiliar.
"Your Excellency, when you reach the Northern Desert, you can take the token and go to this place. There will be people waiting for you there. If you need anything, you can send the people there. This is a map of the Northern Desert. We have marked the places with our people."
Jiang Huaiqing memorized the places marked on the map. When he set off, he didn't bring it with him. Some things were safer to keep in mind than to bring it with you.
The news of the Northern Desert was sent back to the capital through the Hidden Dragon Guards.
Shen Yu also received news of the Northern Desert from "Ying Huo".
"Who came up with this idea? First impressions are the strongest. Let others see that he was seriously injured. Then, in the name of recuperating, he lived in seclusion. This greatly reduced the possibility of suspicion. "
"It was He Chengyu. He submitted a memorial to ask for forgiveness." Shang Junlin took out a memorial from a stack of memorials and handed it to Shen Yu.
"Jiang Huaiqing told him about the plan?" Shen Yu flipped open the memorial and skimmed through it. "He didn't say it clearly, but He Chengyu guessed it."
"That's right. I asked the Hidden Dragon Guards to keep an eye on him. If he does anything …" Shang Junlin's voice turned cold.
Shen Yu didn't doubt that if He Chengyu did something that he shouldn't do, Shang Junlin would directly order the Hidden Dragon Guards to punish him.
Shen Yu placed the memorial back on the table. He thought of something else and said, "Since Your Majesty sent Jiang Huaiqing to do this, you must have confirmed that there is no problem with Jiang Huaiqing's identity. Your Majesty, can you tell me what you found out?"
"His background is very simple. It's no different from what we found out previously. If you insist on it, his teacher seems to have been an official in the imperial court. During the time of the previous Emperor, the imperial court was very chaotic. There were many officials who resigned or were dismissed. For now, we can't confirm which kind of teacher his teacher was."
"Oh …" Shen Yu lowered his eyes and pondered. Although Jiang Huaiqing was his right-hand man in his previous life, Shen Yu didn't know much about his past. Shen Yu would never force others to talk about things that they didn't want to talk about. He wasn't that curious. He asked today because he wanted to take advantage of Shang Junlin's investigation.
"Speaking of this, we have found out the identity of the person behind King Yue. A Yu, why don't you make a guess?" Shang Junlin held Shen Yu's wrist and pulled him to sit beside him.
"It must be related to the previous Emperor. I'm not familiar with the officials during the previous Emperor's reign. Your Majesty, if you ask me to guess, I really can't guess anything."
"It's Grand Tutor Zeng who was demoted by the previous Emperor because of a small matter. I have suspected so many people, but I have never suspected him."
"Wasn't Grand Tutor Zeng killed during his demotion?" Shen Yu was surprised.
He had heard about this matter before. After Grand Tutor Zeng was killed, the previous Emperor was very angry. It was rare for him to wake up from his absurdity. He reorganized the imperial court and imprisoned the officials who killed Grand Tutor Zeng because of personal grudges. This brought about a short period of peace in the imperial court.
"Now, I am very suspicious. Was the previous Emperor really muddle-headed or was he pretending to be muddle-headed?" If he was really muddle-headed, why would he arrange such a meticulous backup plan? If he was faking it, what was his motive?
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