Gu Yuzhi tapped the desktop lightly, and Xie Changshi looked over.

He gestured silently as he spoke, and Xie Changshi nodded after a moment of contemplation.

Chief Secretary Xie said, "Continue."

The prefect of Ningzhou knelt down and said firmly, "Your Highness, I humbly request that you allow me to lead five hundred city guards to help you pacify Jiangnan and restore peace to the people of Jiangnan."

Gu Yuzhi raised an eyebrow slightly, and then heard the prefect of Ningzhou say, "Your Highness, not only your subject, but also the martial arts forces within the jurisdiction of Ningzhou will be extremely loyal to Your Highness."

Upon hearing this, the prefect of Yunzhou hurriedly knelt down again and said, "What the prefect of Yunzhou said is also what I thought."

Fearing that the young prince would not see his determination, he quickly kowtowed twice more.

At this moment, the three men from Tianquan Manor, who had been silent until now, finally stood up and knelt down behind the two men, saying in unison that they were willing to go through fire and water for them.

Gu Yuzhi pursed her lips and looked at Chief Secretary Xie, her eyes full of surprise.

With the involvement of martial arts figures, wouldn't their chances of winning be even greater?

Xie Changshi was also somewhat surprised. He gave a slight wink to the guard Qi sitting on the side, and the young master Qi nodded in understanding.

He whispered a few words to Guard Zhang, who quickly went out.

The prefect of Ningzhou said that the prefects of Junzhou and Lizhou had also arrived, so he naturally had to send people to check on them.

If these two people really come, we should bring them over as soon as possible. If they don't come, we will naturally have a plan to deal with them.

Prince Qi looked at the prefect of Ningzhou: "Now that Your Highness has come to Jiangnan, you must pacify Jiangnan. However, the specific plan will depend on the prefects of Junzhou and Lizhou."

He stood up and looked at Jia Yi: "Take the guests to the backyard to rest first."

Prince Qi raised an eyebrow at Jia Yi, and Jia Yi immediately understood that this rest was not a real rest, but rather a way to find out what these people were up to.

If it is indeed true, these people can return home once news arrives from Yunzhou and Lizhou.

They then need to replan and send more men to capture Jiangzhou and Yangzhou first.

After everyone had left, Gu Yuzhi turned to Chief Secretary Xie and asked, "Chief Secretary Xie, do you think the prefects of Junzhou and Lizhou are trustworthy?"

Xie Changshi didn't speak, but continued to look through Qi Shizi's evidence book, nodding as he read, which aroused Gu Yuzhi's great curiosity.

He jumped off the chair and ran up, standing on tiptoe and craning his neck to get a better look: "What's the state of the prefects of Yunzhou and Lizhou? Have they committed any serious crimes?"

Chief Secretary Xie pulled out the evidence books for the two men separately.

Compared to Fan Qiu's thick stack of evidence, the evidence against these two men was very little, and the content was not as compelling as that of the Yunzhou prefect.

Chief Secretary Xie pondered for a moment and said, "These two haven't done anything wrong, big or small, and their tributes to Gu Yufan are within the normal range. Especially this Prefect of Yunzhou..."

He pointed to one of the lines and said, “Your Highness, look here. It says that there is some discord between the Prefect of Yunzhou and the Prince of Chu. Most importantly, one of Prefect Gu Yu’s concubines is the Prefect’s cousin…”

cousin?

What happened to my cousin?

Could it be that the prefect of Junzhou, like the prefect of Yunzhou, forcibly abducted his cousin and sent her to the Prince of Chu's residence?

Gu Yuzhi puffed out his cheeks and wondered to himself, what's wrong with these people? Why do they always send people to Gu Yufan's backyard?

Don't they know how hard these unloved women live in the backyard?

Just like his mother, his palace was almost next to the Cold Palace, and in winter they burned the worst coal, which was still skimped on.

If they didn't bribe the chefs in the imperial kitchen, they wouldn't even be able to use the most basic soups like white fungus soup.

Fortunately, Granny Xu knew how to cook, and the mother secretly grew some vegetables in the palace, which allowed them to barely make ends meet.

At that time, the nannies around the Imperial Noble Consort, who was favored by the emperor, dressed and used things that were more luxurious than those of the emperor's mother.

Gu Yuzhi closed his eyes slightly, thinking to himself that no matter what, things were finally over.

Upon hearing his silent words, Shu Xiaohan couldn't help but shake her head and say, "Young Prince, judging from Chief Secretary Xie's expression, I'm afraid that the Prefect of Junzhou and his cousin are not just cousins. They may very well be childhood sweethearts with mutual affection."

As a modern person, I know that consanguineous marriage is bad, but this was not uncommon in ancient times.

Gu Yuzhi suddenly realized and said, "Chief Secretary Xie, could this Prefect of Junzhou's cousin be his wife?"

Chief Secretary Xie nodded slightly and said, "My fiancée, the betrothal gifts have already been given, and we are just waiting for the auspicious day to get married."

But something happened along the way, and the girl was taken back to the King of Chu's residence.

The biggest problem with this prefect of Yunzhou was that, in order to rescue the girl from the Chu Prince's mansion, he secretly contacted the martial arts forces in Yunzhou City, intending to assassinate the Chu Prince.

But ever since the late emperor passed away and the new emperor quickly ascended the throne, the Prince of Chu has been rushing back to Jiangzhou and has hardly left Jiangzhou since. Even if the prefect of Junzhou wanted to take action, he couldn't find an opportunity.

Xie Changshi looked back again and suddenly exclaimed, "Your Highness, look at this! It says that after Ling Changshi died, the prefect of Junzhou sent someone to contact Gu Yufan's advisors and told them to say that Prince Qi killed Ling Changshi."

Chief Secretary Xie looked up at Prince Qi, unable to hide the shock on his face: "So, Gu Yufan's attack on Huizhou is related to the prefect of Yunzhou?"

Prince Qi nodded slightly: "According to my guess, the reason why the prefect of Junzhou did this is to intensify the conflict between me, Mobei, and the King of Chu."

The prefect of Junzhou must have discerned the Chu king's unyielding ambition from the fact that he had people mingle among the disaster victims and guide them all the way to the capital without travel permits.

After gaining a deeper understanding of the Li Family Business and other matters, the prefect of Junzhou naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity pass him by.

Because he knew that as long as he thoroughly provoked the King of Chu's rebellious heart, the King of Chu would surely be sentenced to beheading!

Gu Yuzhi couldn't quite keep up with what Xie Changshi and Qi Shizi were saying, so he could only keep thinking about it in his mind.

After a brief explanation, Xie Changshi said, "Since the prefect of Yunzhou was initially acting for his cousin, why is he now condemning Gu Yufan for treason?"

You must understand, with the death of the King of Chu, not to mention his concubines, even a dog in the King's mansion would die.

Prince Qi raised an eyebrow and pointed to the booklet: "Your Highness and Chief Secretary Xie, please read on."

Chief Secretary Xie simply bent down and placed the evidence book in front of Gu Yuzhi. The two heads, one big and one small, were close together, and they read it quickly.

It took Gu Yuzhi a while to raise his head, and he was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a moment...