Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 312

Gai Nie withdrew his hand from taking pulses and discussed the next steps for everyone: "Next, Ying Zheng will definitely launch a full-scale search in the surrounding areas, and the search may even expand to the whole country. We cannot stay in the Taishan area for long."

Gao Jianli carried Master Ban on his back and patiently asked, "Before the operation, you two said there was a safe place where we could escape the search, but you refused to reveal the name of the destination. Are you worried that there are still spies in the alliance?"

Having worked together on numerous life-or-death missions, the three had developed at least a basic level of trust in each other. Therefore, when Zongheng acted as the riddle teller in front of everyone, Gao Jianli not only didn't ask any questions but also supported their actions. Now that they were the only ones nearby, he had no more reservations.

“It’s Sanghai, we need to go back there.” Wei Zhuang, whose values ​​clashed greatly with Gao Jianli’s, suddenly laughed and gave the answer.

“This location… shouldn’t be a secret.” Gao Jianli lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then pursed his lips and continued to press for answers.

The Mo family's inn in Sanghai City has not yet been exposed and is indeed a safe location, but the answer should not be that simple.

“We have a powerful ally who will be joining our team in Sanghai City. Brother Gao is quite familiar with this ally.” Gai Nie’s eyes were as calm as a lake: “For him, this assassination attempt on Qin is actually just a pledge of allegiance to us.”

Chapter 381 Distinguished Guest

"Xiaoyaozi, the Taoist sect leader, is actually the first-class Heavenly Rank of the Luo Wang, Yan Ri. As an inside agent of the anti-Qin alliance, he chose to join the rebels, which is why the Luo Wang misjudged him."

Meng Yi questioned and recorded Zhao Gao with an iron fist, his tone devoid of any personal feelings.

"Indeed, if you have any other questions, I will certainly answer them without hesitation."

The master of the Heavenly Net lowered his eyes slightly, appearing quite obedient.

By this time, it was the second day after the assassination. Meng Yi confronted Zhao Gao again today, repeating the interrogation he had conducted the previous day. There was nothing in the written record that needed to be changed.

However, this certainly does not prove that everything Zhao Gao said is true: Meng Yi will hand over these records to His Majesty truthfully, but at the same time he will also give his own judgment on the contents.

For example, regarding the statement "Xiaoyaozi joined the rebels as an inside agent of Luowang", he wrote the word "doubtful" after it.

"last question."

Meng Yi stood at a considerable distance from Zhao Gao, calmly meeting his gaze: "The Net has always been under the Prime Minister's jurisdiction. This time, as you tracked the rebels to Mount Tai, does Prime Minister Li have any instructions?"

Upon hearing this question, Zhao Gao's heart stirred, but he naturally replied, "Your Excellency is preoccupied with the many issues surrounding the launch of the Mirage of Sanghai, and your only concern regarding the Luo Wang operation is 'loyalty to the country'."

"Hmm," Meng Yi's gaze seemed to want to reach into Zhao Gao's heart through his pupils. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze, picked up his pen, filled in a few strokes in the document, let it dry, and closed it: "The interrogation content will be presented to His Majesty the Emperor today. The Chief of the Imperial Carriage Office will need to stay here for a while longer."

"This humble official thanks the esteemed minister."

After watching Meng Yi, with a stern face, leave, and the door close behind him, Zhao Gao's pale hands clenched into fists...

Outside the temporary detention room, Meng Yi intended to continue interrogating the disarmed Six Sword Slaves, but unexpectedly encountered the Eighteenth Prince, Hu Hai, who had accompanied him on this eastern tour.

Hu Hai was second only to the eldest son Fu Su in terms of favor among the princes. However, compared to Fu Su's frequent involvement in politics, Hu Hai was more favored by the emperor for childish things.

Meng Yi was a loyal minister of the First Emperor, as were the two Meng brothers. However, inevitably, the two brothers showed more respect to the eldest son when it came to choosing sides.

"Greetings, young master." Meng Yi bowed to Hu Hai with neither servility nor arrogance. Since Hu Hai was not holding any official position during his coming-of-age ceremony, Meng Yi's etiquette was not particularly enthusiastic, but it was still proper.

"Hmm," Hu Hai was well aware that the Meng brothers favored their eldest brother. He arrogantly raised his head as a return greeting, then extended a hand to Meng Yi: "How is the investigation going on this case of the rebellious and audacious assassination attempt on Father Emperor? Let me see the records."

"Young Master, please have some self-respect." Meng Yi refused without hesitation: "According to His Majesty's orders, the case records must not be handled by anyone other than this humble servant during the investigation. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

"Moreover, this is an important place for investigation. It is rather inappropriate for you to visit, young master. Please return immediately."

"You!" Hu Hai had anticipated that Meng Yi wouldn't hand over the case records to him, so his main purpose in coming here wasn't for the records, but rather to see Zhao Gao after Meng Yi refused to let him leave. Unexpectedly, this path was blocked ahead of time: "Disrespectful to the young master! I will definitely tell Father Emperor!"

"There is no need for you to make any moves, Your Highness. I will personally report any details of the case investigation to His Majesty."

Meng Yi refused to accept any bribes.

"You, Meng Yi, are you good! Good, good!"

Hu Hai turned and left with a gloomy face. Meng Yi didn't care. After instructing his subordinates to strictly prohibit any outsiders from entering, he went to the place where the Six Sword Slaves were imprisoned.

Hu Hai returned to his room with an extremely unpleasant expression, but surprisingly, he did not throw anything in frustration.

"It seems the young master has failed." Yan Le, a level-less assassin from the Luo Wang organization, touched a nerve with Hu Hai.

"Meng Yi is unyielding, and I have no way to contact Zhao Gao." Hu Hai's eyes, one golden and one blue, were filled with ruthlessness: "Once I succeed, I will definitely tear Meng Yi to pieces!"

“It’s not unacceptable for you to fail in your risky attempt, but the most important thing you should do now is to report this to His Majesty as soon as possible,” Yan Le calmly suggested.

"Tell him to me? Should I go and get my father to reprimand me?" Hu Hai gritted his teeth in anger. Of course, he knew the consequences of telling him about this matter.

“But if you don’t accept this reprimand, His Majesty might think even more.” Yan Le stepped forward and raised his voice: “If you take the initiative, you can define this as just a child’s mischief out of concern for his teacher, and it may not leave a bad impression on His Majesty.”

"Fine, fine, I'll go, I'll go, okay? You're so long-winded!" Hu Hai thought Yan Le's judgment made sense, but he still wouldn't admit it verbally.

After seeing Hu Hai off, Yan Le lowered his head and pondered: If even the young master's face is not enough, should we send an assassin to secretly exchange information with the Minister of the Imperial Carriage Office?

Let it go. Less is more. Maybe the adults have already made arrangements.

Half an hour later, Hu Hai was indeed reprimanded by His Majesty the Emperor and confined to his quarters, not even allowed to participate in the Mount Tai sacrifice...

...

"The investigation results are out?"

Late at night, Ying Zheng, who was still reviewing official documents transported from Xianyang, learned that Meng Yi was requesting an audience and immediately summoned him.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Meng Yi stepped forward and respectfully placed the investigation documents on Ying Zheng's desk, then stood by his side without leaving.

His favor with the emperor is evident from this.

"Tell me the results."

Ying Zheng didn't look at it, or even look up. The document in his hand was a war report from the southern border.

After the death of their original commander Tu Sui, Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo changed their initial massacre strategy and continued their attack on the Baiyue region with much greater success.

By simultaneously fighting and resettling people, they stabilized the Qin army's rear, and through a degree of appeasement, more and more Yue people defected to them.

However, stubborn individuals among the Yue people, such as their leader Yi Yusong, remained determined to rebel against Qin, so the Baiyue war could only proceed slowly.

"The mistake by the Luo Wang was an accident, but from my observation, there were also traces of leniency within that accident," Meng Yi stated his judgment.

"Is there any evidence?" Ying Zheng seemed unsurprised.

“Yanri has betrayed us, and there’s a good chance he could be a threat to Luo Wang.” Meng Yi gave two definite directions: “Young Master Huhai wants to see Zhao Gao today, and Luo Wang is likely to be suspected because of him.”

The idea of ​​"internal strife within the empire, vying for the throne" is dangerous for Meng Yi.

"I know about this matter." Ying Zheng paused, then put down the war in the southern border and picked up Meng Yi's investigation report to read it, missing Hu Hai's topic: "Yan Ri is Xiaoyaozi. What do you think is the reason why he is hiding the secrets of the Luo Wang?"

"Based on the evidence at the scene and the confessions of the Six Sword Slaves, their mission was likely to include killing Xiaoyaozi as well, and this intention arose before Xiaoyaozi rebelled."

Meng Yi did not have a good impression of Zhao Gao. This man should have been executed long ago for violating Qin law. However, this time, he did not taint his personal agenda in his report to His Majesty the Emperor.

The Luo Wang is an assassin organization, and its nature makes it impossible for it to be clean. This investigation into the assassination plot against Qin Shi Huang has already revealed the political factors behind the Luo Wang. If a thorough investigation were conducted nationwide, even more clues would be found.

But all of this depends on how His Majesty views this matter.

The struggle for the crown prince has indeed touched His Majesty's bottom line, but it has not crossed it.

After all, no matter how fierce these struggles are, the outcome is ultimately decided by His Majesty's word.

"After Zhang Han's death, the Shadow Guard was left without a leader. Meng Yi, during your time in Sanghai, you will take charge of the Shadow Guard."

As expected, the emperor did not announce the outcome of the Luo Wang incident, but instead handed over the Shadow Guard to him.

The intention was clear: he wanted Meng Yi to find concrete evidence.

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Meng Yi kowtowed.

------

In Sanghai City, news of the assassination attempt on Mount Tai had reached this place, but few details were circulating in the martial arts world: only a few sentences about the emperor being assassinated, the assassin smashing six chariots but failing to kill the target, and the emperor's great anger leading to a nationwide manhunt.

Lu Wei knew more details, but he was someone who knew how to keep quiet.

On this day, he suddenly brought Ji Yanxiaomeng and the little maid Xiaoyu to a teahouse on a bustling street. The chivalrous master reserved a private room on the second floor.

However, once inside the private room, Lu Wei simply sipped his tea leisurely, while Xiao Yu seemed very familiar with the environment and appeared to want to say something.

Ji Yan's eyes flashed, and she immediately took the initiative to sit down next to her in a warm voice, asking in a low voice why.

Although they spoke softly, both of the other two possessed profound inner strength, making it almost equivalent to a public inquiry.

Xiao Yu glanced at Lu Wei, and seeing that he did not stop her, she went to the window and opened it a crack. Through it, she could see that diagonally opposite the teahouse was the Mo family's 'Youjian Inn'.

She had worked as a waitress at a certain inn, so she was naturally familiar with the area around the inn.

Ji Yan had a basic understanding of the city map, but because she knew so much, she was initially thinking about other things. It wasn't until Xiao Yu went to open the window that she immediately thought of the more direct geographical location.

"A distinguished guest will be visiting our inn today, and we will be here to witness it."

With the mystery revealed, Lu Wei smiled and continued to keep everyone in suspense.

"Have the people from Mount Tai returned?" Ji Yan asked curiously.

"No, we only have one distinguished guest at the inn today—a person of very high status."

Chapter 382 The Restless...

There are many people of high status in Sanghai City now, but there is only one who is the most distinguished... for now.

"Fusu?"

Xiao Yu and Ji Yan, who were standing guard by the window, watched the noble young man alight from the carriage. The latter called out his name, which caused Xiao Meng, who had been quietly meditating since entering the teahouse, to open her eyes and immediately look at Lu Wei:

Both women still remembered what he said when they returned from the mirage: "Fusu will assassinate Ying Zheng."

Youjian Inn is a hidden stronghold of the Mohist school. News of the assassination attempt on the Emperor of Mount Tai had only recently spread. At this time, Fusu arrives at Youjian Inn; could his purpose be...?

'Judging from this eldest son's behavior all along, could he really have such thoughts...' Ji Yan expressed her doubts. Although she was not familiar with Fusu, Fusu's 'benevolence' was known throughout the world.

Xiaomeng knew even less about Fusu, because she didn't care about Fusu himself, so she didn't care what the eldest son was like. The reason she became interested was because Xiaomeng thought about how Fusu's actions would affect Lu Wei's plan.

As for Xiao Yu, there was nothing she could do. Sang Haicheng was basically a mystery to her, so she could only remain silent.

When the eldest son of the empire arrived, the innkeeper, Paoding, naturally had to come out to greet him personally. It was this action that made Ji Yan even more suspicious of Fusu's purpose: it was probably not related to the assassination of Qin, but because of this, Fusu's situation would be very dangerous.

"Is someone trying to use the Mohist school to frame Fusu?" she asked, half guessing and half certain.

"No," Lu Wei shook his head: "He framed himself."

The actions of the eldest son of the empire will represent the future direction of the country. The trap that Fusu is about to face will not be hidden from Ying Zheng's eyes, but Fusu's response may disappoint Ying Zheng.

If one cannot eliminate potential threats beforehand or at least prove one's innocence afterward, even if he is the eldest son of the empire, he will not receive the public protection of the First Emperor.

"Fusu is not lacking in ability and also has a certain amount of courage. The reason why such a person could never be made crown prince is that he lacked the means to make reasonable use of his ability and courage."