Chapter 82: I'll listen to you
He Jing said coldly, "What was the agreement back then? My men were to take you away from the battlefield, and you were to quietly return to Liang Kingdom to find a way out of this predicament. What are you doing? You're staying in Sui County and refusing to leave, preferring to be a beggar rather than return to Liang Kingdom."
"And what about you? We agreed that neither of us would return to the battlefield first. How about you? Did you go back?" Xue Xiujun asked.
He Jing said, "You know perfectly well what I'm going back for."
Xue Xiujun said, “Yes, I know you went back to help cover up the fake corpse that was supposed to be mine. At the time, the Liang people didn’t believe I really died at your hands, so they sent someone to secretly investigate your side. That’s why you went back to handle it. Because you were well-prepared, they finally believed you. But you didn’t tell me. Were you worried that I wouldn’t trust you and wouldn’t let you go back? Or were you afraid that if I knew you went back to the military camp, I would go back too? But you know my situation. Even if I went back, it wouldn’t matter. Maybe if they saw I wasn’t dead, they would kill me with their own hands.”
Yu Wan was a little confused. "Why? You are their crown prince. Shouldn't they be cheering if they know you're not dead?"
“Boss lady,” Xue Xiujun sighed, “I am the most disliked prince in Liang Kingdom, and my uncle controls the court, completely disregarding me as the crown prince. Over the years, he has tried to kill me in an accident several times, but I am clever and have escaped each time. In the end, he came up with this plan, saying it was to help me achieve merit and gain the throne in the future, so that those who look down on me would be convinced. I wanted to refuse, but I thought that staying in the palace would only mean worrying about being killed by him every day, so I might as well go to the battlefield and fight the enemy, maybe I could really make a name for myself. Who knew that the enemy I would face was him?”
He pointed at He Jing and said resentfully, "This guy is too strong. I'm no match for him at all."
He Jing snorted, "Your Highness is too modest. Your schemes and tricks are a hundred times better than mine."
Xue Xiujun said happily, "That's for sure. I grew up in the palace, not because I'm good-looking, but because I learned tricks from those who harmed me."
Yu Wan felt a little tired seeing the two bickering endlessly.
"General He, Your Highness, I have a question that I would like to ask you both to answer."
Her address made them both feel awkward.
Neither of them is now a prince nor a general; neither of them can show their true faces to the world anymore.
"Go on, go on," Xue Xiujun said with a grin.
Yu Wan asked, "So what should we do now?"
The two of them looked at her simultaneously and said in unison, "We'll do as you say."
Yu Wan rubbed her forehead; she had a headache.
She thought for a moment and said, "Liang has a new commander-in-chief in place, and Jin's commander-in-chief must also go. Otherwise, Jin will be leaderless, and it will be terrible if a war breaks out."
Xue Xiujun said, "You want him to take charge of the overall situation?"
He pointed at He Jing, thought for a moment, and said, "He can indeed stand up to my uncle, but..."
“I can’t show my face yet.” He Jing looked at Yu Wan. “Do you remember when we first met, there were several assassins chasing me?”
Yu Wan nodded, "Of course I remember."
The scene of that meeting would occasionally pop into her mind, though she didn't know why.
He Jing explained, "At the time, Xue Xiujun and I agreed to leave the battlefield at the same time and find a way to break the deadlock. I pretended to be seriously injured and left, but I didn't expect that several groups of people would come after me one after another. There were even imperial guards and martial arts heroes. They were all top-notch, and every move they made was deadly. I fought with them for several days and nights without eating a single grain of rice, but they kept wearing me down wave after wave. At first, I thought that Xue Xiujun had sent people to kill me, so I was always suspicious of him. After my investigation, I found that the mastermind was someone else."
With the truth finally out, Xue Xiujun could finally breathe a sigh of relief. "I told you long ago it wasn't me, but you still kept doubting me. I don't even know what to say to you."
"So who is it?" Yu Wan asked. "There are top-notch imperial guards among the assassins. Is it because the emperor is afraid that your achievements will overshadow his own? But this great war is not over yet. Even if he wants to get rid of you, he should wait until the war is over."
He Jingdao said, "It is the Prime Minister and the Imperial Concubine."
Xue Xiujun curled his lip, "These two are deliberately trying to make things difficult for Jin Kingdom. The entire Jin Kingdom only has one War God, and they want to kill him."
He Jing said, "Do you really think Jin Kingdom has no good generals? They've all been killed or imprisoned because of them."
Xue Xiujun squinted. "Still trying to fool me? I've heard there's a Deputy General Liu who's both intelligent and brave, hiding his true identity in the military camp. You even instructed him that if anything happened to you, or if the court sent an incompetent person to replace you, he should step forward. You even gave him the tiger tally; he's your confidant. Otherwise, how could things have been so peaceful after all this time without a leader?"
He Jing remained silent, tacitly acknowledging the truth he had stated.
Yu Wan smiled, her eyes crinkling, a sly smile playing on her lips, and said, "We need to send Yi Hongchang to the battlefield."
Xue Xiujun chuckled, "Him? Let my uncle kill him once he's on the battlefield, so we don't get our hands dirty."
He Jing glared at him. "In this way, your Liang Kingdom's morale will soar, and you can take the opportunity to continue your conquest of us?"
"How could that be? Let's hear what the proprietress has to say first," Xue Xiujun said with a smile.
Yu Wan said, "He has to go."
Xue Xiujun exclaimed in surprise, "Boss lady, I was just joking. If someone like that went to the battlefield, he'd probably cause trouble. And the fact that he's not going, spending his days indulging in pleasure in the capital, is probably his father, the prime minister, who's afraid he'll die in battle, so he's not allowed to go. If that's the case, why appoint him as commander-in-chief?"
Yu Wan already had a plan: "If he won't go, we'll go for him. Doesn't the Prime Minister approve of war? Then let his son go to the battlefield. That Vice General Liu is our trump card; let's not touch him for now."
He Jing said, "This appointment was the Third Princess's idea."
"What, is there something to do with the Third Princess?" Yu Wan asked in surprise.
He Jing said, "Yi Hongchang has always wanted to be her consort and has been pestering her for years. After I orchestrated my disappearance, all the good generals in the court wanted to go to the battlefield, but the Prime Minister caused trouble, making some disappear, some retire, and some imprison them. There was really no one left. The Third Princess was annoyed with Yi Hongchang, so she recommended him to the Emperor and praised him highly. Yi Hongchang was flattered and actually agreed, even thinking that he was a great hero who saved the Jin Kingdom. Driven by vanity, he accepted the order on a whim. But the Prime Minister disagreed. He doted on this son, how could he let him die on the battlefield?"
Xue Xiujun laughed and said, "So your Jin Kingdom is also in such chaos. I feel much better now."
Yu Wan asked curiously, "Yi Hongchang hasn't set off yet, and the emperor isn't urging him?"
He Jingdao said, "The emperor was kept in the dark the whole time, thinking that Yi Hongchang had already rushed to the battlefield on the day he received the imperial decree. He had no trusted confidants around him, and they all deceived him."
Yu Wan sighed, "To be an emperor like this, I really don't know what to say."
Xue Xiujun said, "Yes, it's really embarrassing for a crown prince to end up like this. It's shameful to talk about it, so I'd rather be a beggar than go back. Don't think I'm just slacking off, I'm still doing things."
Yu Wan hardened her heart, "To deal with evil people, we must use their methods."
The two men looked at her. "What method?"
Yu Wan's lips curled into a wicked smile, "What do you think is the most painful thing for a person?"
The two looked at her blankly, waiting for her to continue.
"The more he cares about something, the more he loses it. Isn't that painful?"
Xue Xiujun seemed to be deep in thought, "You mean..."
Yu Wan beckoned the two men closer, "Listen to me, we'll do it tonight..."
After they had discussed it, Yu Wan worried about Zhu Zhifeng and Jin Yifei, "Won't they have been kidnapped? Have you two received any information?"
He Jing reassured her that he had already taken the initiative to arrange for the person to be placed in a safe location.
On a dark and windy night, two figures silently sneaked into Yi Hongchang's villa.
Inside the room, Yi Hongchang had two women on his arms, listening to the reports from the servants kneeling before him.
"Young master, Ma Yong took the young lady up the mountain. Due to the complex terrain, it was difficult to find them, so we... lost them."
Yi Hongchang kicked one of the servants, cursing, "What use are you guys to me? So many of you and you can't even catch two living people. Useless! How can I expect you to fight alongside me? None of you are reliable!"
The servant dared not speak, trembling and sweating profusely.
Yi Hong thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you checked their residence? Are they there? They stayed at that house when they came to the capital, so they shouldn't be able to find another place to stay for a while. Check, check all the inns. I don't believe they can just fly away."
The attendant replied tremblingly, "Young master, I have already led men to investigate. There is no news of that young lady in any of the inns. They probably didn't look for the inns. As for their original residence, I have already searched it as well. Strangely, not only is that young lady missing, but the three men and one woman who came to the capital with her have also disappeared without a trace."
Yi Hongchang squinted. "Could it be that they've already escaped?"
The servants dared not speak, much less make any unfounded analyses; they could only wait for orders.
Yi Hongchang asked, "What's their background?"
The attendant replied, "I heard they were Yu Wan's men. They traveled all the way from Sui County to Jiangnan, and then from Jiangnan to the capital."
Yi Hongchang then asked, "I heard that young lady came back with the Third Princess? Did they go to the Third Princess's place for refuge?"
The attendant said, "I have also inquired, but I did not find any trace of them at the Third Princess's place."
Yi Hongchang gritted his teeth, "Useless! Get up and talk first."
The attendant breathed a sigh of relief. "Young master, what do we do now?"
Yi Hongchang sneered, "I don't believe a little woman can escape my grasp. Keep searching!"
After the servants left, Yi Hongchang embraced the two beautiful women beside him and continued to play around.
The two people outside the window exchanged a glance.
Xue Xiujun poked a hole in the window, and He Jing took a bamboo tube and blew the powder in.
Before long, the person inside the room lost consciousness.
He Jing gently opened the door, with Xue Xiujun standing guard at the entrance. Following Yu Wan's instructions, He Jing put a pill into Yi Hongchang's mouth, then hoisted him up, and the two left the villa.
No one noticed that Yi Hongchang was no longer in the capital, because he always liked to eat, drink, and have fun, and would go wherever there was fun, often staying in one place for days without coming out.
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