Chapter 291 King Xiang's Ambition
"You mean Ninth Brother's men ran away with the goods?"
When King Xiang's men arrived at the courtyard, they found only corpses scattered on the ground. They searched high and low but could not find the very important thing that their nail had sent back.
The Prince of Xiang, who found nothing, clicked his tongue twice: "I have a feeling that there are undercurrents in the Emperor and the capital. The Marquis's Mansion and several other forces are looking for this group of people. There's definitely something fishy going on. It's just a pity that our people couldn't figure out what it was after they bumped into it."
The Queen Consort of Xiang rolled her eyes at the King of Xiang: "Since you know that it was the Ninth Prince who took it, why go against him?"
The Prince of Xiang tapped the table and said, "We've finally come to my territory. The Ninth Prince contacted me a while ago, asking me to do him a favor. But I'm curious, what could be so nerve-wracking that the Ninth Prince and the capital are so nervous? The Ninth Prince is no pushover. Besides, what? Just because he contacted me, does that mean I have to do him a favor? This is my fiefdom, what business is it of his?"
The princess was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "I know there are disagreements between you, but Your Highness, the Prince of Chu is no ordinary man. His Majesty has been on the throne for three years now, and during the reigns of the previous emperors, neither of the two emperors found a single fault in him."
The various factions below are now intertwined and complicated. We should offend as few people as possible. In my opinion, Third Brother, Prince Sheng, has already rebelled, and the situation is now unclear. Perhaps we should wait and see?
King Xiang gave a soft hum and patted his queen's hand: "Lord Ling, I understand what you mean. Don't worry, the bodies are being gathered in the courtyard, and there are two more groups following behind."
At worst, we can pretend it was them who did the killings. We can even curry favor and let my good brother know. The only problem is we didn't get the goods; by the time we got there, one of our little followers had already run off.
"What a pity. I'd like to know what exactly is it that has prompted such a large-scale mobilization from above and these forces."
The princess lowered her head and gently massaged the Prince of Xiang's wrist. She couldn't persuade her husband, and she was helpless. She understood everything clearly now.
The imperial court was not very friendly to these vassal kings. The third prince was just the first example, and the ninth prince was the second. They were chickens, and the rest were monkeys.
It's just a pity that my own petty-minded son has been at odds with Lao Jiu since he was young, and now that he's older, he's become even more unruly. He can easily overturn any ladder that Lao Jiu offers. Even if he can frame someone else, Lao Jiu has to believe him first.
The princes have absolute control over the land reclamation, but I'm afraid that the Ninth Prince won't believe it when the time comes.
When Su Qingyan arrived at the courtyard, the corpses were already scattered haphazardly in the yard and had been gathered up.
Su Qingyan's eyes widened as she and her men searched the people's belongings under the cover of night.
After searching carefully three or five times, Su Qingyan still couldn't find the imperial edict. She gritted her teeth and said that the King of Chu was cunning. In order to send the imperial edict out, he was willing to kill his own people.
After carefully examining the causes of death of these people, Su Qingyan rubbed her temples and realized that they had died from poisoning, and it seemed that they died without any warning.
The man who brought the water tested the water in the room with a silver needle, and sure enough, it had turned black. The subordinate looked at Su Qingyan and said, "Young Master, apart from the one in the middle who was slashed twice, the rest of them all died from poisoning."
Su Qingyan nodded, her expression not good. After having the bodies collected, she sat in the courtyard and waited.
The body had been dead for about two days. It must have been during this time that the King of Chu ordered the others to be killed, and that one of them escaped with the imperial edict.
Su Qingyan sighed, realizing how truly ruthless and heartless the king was. He had thought that things might be better after the King of Chu took office.
If the King of Chu could be so ruthless even to his closest confidants, let alone others, his father and grandfather had participated in the palace coup and later kept the imperial edict hidden for themselves.
If he were the King of Chu, he would certainly not have spared the Marquis of Zhongyong's family.
The trail went cold here; his men had already followed the tracks on the ground and gone outwards.
Others, who were not good at tracking, stayed in the courtyard with him.
Su Qingyan rubbed her temples, looked around the room, and suddenly realized something after noticing the items left behind by these people.
Something's not right!
All the money and valuables left behind by these people were gone, and although they clearly died of poisoning, there were obvious signs of a struggle in the room.
His men just said that the fight took place outside, and the only person who died from a stab wound also died outside, so there shouldn't be any signs of a struggle inside the room.
The person must have been outside before the poison took effect, so there shouldn't have been any signs of a struggle inside the house.
It's more likely that these people were poisoned and then deliberately framed by later members as having a traitor within the group. After fighting inside, they discovered they were poisoned and then all died outside.
Su Qingyan's mind raced. No wonder he felt something was off. If the King of Chu were to harm his own people, there was no way he would poison the water here, and it would be discovered and a fight would break out. How could a newly formed team be discovered to have poisoned each other? They must have died silently.
Therefore, there must be a traitor in the team. To confirm her idea, Su Qingyan carefully examined the room and then went out to examine the bodies of these people.
Upon investigation, his face darkened, and he immediately ordered everyone to evacuate the courtyard: "Get out!!! Someone's trying to frame us!!!"
Presumably, they had just left the capital and had already caught the attention of those with ulterior motives. He had initially thought it was a trap set by the King of Chu, but now it seemed unlikely; they were the ones who were trapped.
After examining the bodies of these people and the signs of a struggle inside the house, Su Qingyan finally understood that this person was trying to frame him. The people were already dead when they came over, but these bodies would definitely be disposed of in the future. Without any evidence, how could they confirm whether the people died from poisoning or were murdered?
The person behind the scenes is malicious; after killing people, they even want to make them scapegoats.
Su Qingyan led her men out of the courtyard quickly, and the men monitoring them turned around and returned to the Prince of Xiang's residence to report to the Prince of Xiang.
When the King of Xiang, who was fast asleep at night, got up and heard the news, he chuckled softly.
"Let him run. I've already sent the message out. We'll deal with the body in the next couple of days. Anyway, there's no way to prove anything now. He was in the yard, so the Su guy has to take the blame whether he wants to or not. Send people to follow him. If necessary, kill him. I'll then curry favor with Old Nine, hahaha..."
Su Qingyan led her men to quickly prepare to leave the city, but almost as soon as they stepped out of the city gate, they realized that someone was following them.
Su Qingyan's heart sank to the bottom. This time, she had actually fallen into someone else's trap!
It's like losing both your wife and your army.
Su Qingyan gritted her teeth: "Don't stop, run! They won't leave any survivors!!!"
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