He Huaiyuan was so angry that he screamed out.
The guard behind him didn't reply, which was considered as his tacit agreement with what he said.
"All the gold, silver, and jewelry that we have accumulated! Such a large salt mine! And the people that Prince Yongping cultivated, are all... gone?!"
Although he knew Sheng Yichen's ability, He Huaiyuan still asked again out of prudence.
"Yes. All... all gone."
The secret guard took a step back in fear.
"A bunch of rubbish! Did you remind us to guard the Dark Manor? Are you going to provoke the eldest branch of the Sheng family?! Also, why are you the one who reported the news? Where is the Dark Lord?!"
He Huaiyuan was so angry that he slapped the table in front of him.
"The Dark Lord, Yao Lao, Manager Liu, and a number of wealthy merchants from Linyang County were killed. Even... even the Second Prince of Beichen was killed."
"The commander of the Yongping Army sent a team to help the Beichen people find evidence of the murderer. Unfortunately, nothing was found. The second prince's guards believed that it was the murderer and have taken them back to Beichen."
"How can this be possible! It simply doesn't make sense! You and Queen Mother Beichen have many ties, why would you kill your most beloved Second Prince?!"
"That Sheng San... That Sheng San is simply too much of a bully, actually killing so many people!!!"
He Huaiyuan's elegant face suddenly turned dark as ink, and he stood up immediately. But thinking of the possible troubles later, he hurriedly ordered:
"Hurry up and send someone to chase those Beichen people back. When we get to Beichen, we'll make our case clearly!"
"Master, it is OK."
The man in the bamboo hat beside him interrupted him hastily.
"The tricky thing about this matter is that the Second Prince of Beichen died on our territory, but we have no solid evidence to prove that it was someone else who did it."
"If you still try to stop the Beichen people from going back now, wouldn't that completely prove that they are weak and want them to go back and complain?"
The voice of the man in the bamboo hat was extremely calm, like a basin of cold water that instantly extinguished most of He Huaiyuan's anger.
놛 finally came to his senses and asked humbly, "In your opinion, how should we deal with this?"
"The death of the Second Prince of Beichen is of no benefit to us. It can be said that whoever benefits most from this matter is the most likely murderer. Although the Queen Mother Beichen is a woman, she is a person with a general understanding and will surely be able to figure out the secrets."
"But the Second Prince got into trouble on your territory, and you are also suspected of protecting Zhou. I'm afraid we have to give some benefits to Queen Mother Beichen when it comes to the distribution of the precious land on the border that is under the control of the three."
The Sanguan area mentioned by 놛 is located in the northern part of Nanqi, at the border with Beichen State.
In the past, because of the huge swamp blocking the way, that area was completely inaccessible and no one cared about it.
Now the temperature in both countries has dropped sharply, and the swamp has also been frozen. So some people ventured through the swamp to find out what was going on.
It turned out that there was a huge valley behind the swamp!
The land in that valley is extremely fertile, and many rare medicinal herbs grow there. It is said that the underground mineral resources are also extremely rich!
This matter must have been kept secret from the Queen Mother of Southern Qi.
It's just that Prime Minister He is still discussing with the Queen Mother Beichen how to divide the land, and there is no time to develop the place in depth.
Now that Mr. Qi brought up this matter, he wanted to ask him to give some land to Queen Mother Beichen when dividing the land with the Prime Minister, so as to calm the situation.
Prime Minister He frowned. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a better solution, so he just bowed to the cloaked man and said:
"Now the national treasury is empty, and our private property has been emptied one after another. It seems that the only way is to come up with something satisfactory to compensate Queen Mother Beichen."
"But this matter is of great importance. I'm afraid you will need to go there in person to explain this matter to Queen Mother Beichen."
"If you let me go, I will definitely fulfill your trust."
Mr. Qi also returned the greeting respectfully and said comfortingly:
"Your Excellency is not responsible for the affairs of Linyang County. Our deployment in Liuyun County is impeccable, and we can take back the lost items when the time comes."
"Yes, you are right."
Actually, Mr. Qi is not a member of Prime Minister He's faction, but a lobbyist who travels between countries and has close ties with the royal families of various countries.
It's just that he has been staying by Prime Minister He's side in recent years, making plans for him on many major issues. Only then did he slowly enter Prime Minister He's small circle.
Prime Minister He is quite generous in handing this matter over to 놛.
After these two major issues were resolved, He Huaiyuan finally relaxed. He relaxed his brows and picked up the bowl of soup to drink.
But I heard the secret guard stammering:
"Prince...Prime Minister, I have one more thing."
"What is it that you can tell me all at once?!" He Huaiyuan put down the soup bowl impatiently and took the small booklet handed to him by the secret guard.
The secret guard wiped the sweat off his head and said in a trembling voice:
"Three days ago, a strange phenomenon occurred in Linyang County. All the private letters between you and the other adults in the court were scattered and lost."
"The Yongping Army tried to stop them but failed. The next day... the next day, Mobaozhai actually compiled these letters into a book, and the first thousand booklets were sold out on the same day."
He Huaiyuan took the booklet and flipped through it one by one, becoming more and more angry.
After reading the whole article, it turns out that no official from the Prime Minister's faction was spared!
From the erotic poems written to the Empress Dowager more than 20 years ago, to the flirtatious words written to the Third Aunt every day, to the certificate of hiring someone to write for the imperial examination several decades ago, to the certificate of his father's filial piety and visiting brothels...
From buying and selling people's clothes, forming cliques for personal gain, to private correspondence with the royal families of several countries...
It’s all printed in black and white on that tattered booklet!!!
Sure enough, the most worrying thing happened!
"Ahhh! Sheng Yichen, this shameless brat! He is going to tear your muscles apart and skin you! Cut you into pieces!"
All these people did all those impressive things just to climb to the most honorable position? !
Now that he's been stripped so thoroughly, what's the difference between that and being naked in public? !
He Huaiyuan felt as if he had suddenly fallen from the clouds, his head was buzzing, and after a while he roared:
"These are all slanders by evil people! Send out orders, and have all county and prefecture officials immediately confiscate and collect these documents that randomly fabricate the names of important officials in the court!"
"Anyone who fabricates rumors about important officials in the court will be put to death immediately! Anyone who reports the incident will be punished! Anyone who shields the incident will also be punished."
"Search Mobaozhai immediately..."
As soon as he said this, He Huaiyuan remembered that 눒 was the largest book club in the world, and Mobaozhai was actually the property of the Qinghe Bai family.
Now is a time of trouble, so it is better to be on the lookout for enemies on all sides.
I had to soften my tone and said, "Send someone to discuss with you and don't print this book. If you keep teaching us to make changes, we can think of other ways."
After all, this was an ancient time when human life was worthless.
As long as the power is still in He Huaiyuan's hands, he can use iron-blooded means to prohibit the people from discussing the case while forcibly collecting all the evidence from the people.
Then some benevolent policies such as tax cuts and exemptions were issued. After a while, the people forgot about these dark histories.
Thinking of this, He Huaiyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He took the teacup handed to him by the third aunt and drank it slowly.
Suddenly, I heard a flurry of footsteps outside the door. Then, a familiar shrill voice:
"The Queen Mother has summoned you, and the Prime Minister has come to the palace to see you immediately. I'm sure there is no mistake."
As soon as these words came out, the anger of everyone present rose to their throats.
Although the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister had a close relationship, the Queen Mother had never summoned the Prime Minister to the palace at night to avoid suspicion.
There is nothing important happening in Southern Qi right now that is worthy of the Queen summoning the Prime Minister in such a hurry.
There is only one possibility...
The Queen has also seen these secret letters!
Everyone in the room suddenly looked serious, and for a moment they didn't know how to deal with this situation.
He Huaiyuan thought for a moment, and said to Yang Fei, the newly-arrived commander of the Imperial Guards, with a desperate move:
"Commander Yang, please mobilize 10,000 imperial guards to accompany me into the palace."
"What we need is just a puppet. If the puppet is obedient, we have ways to make her obedient!"