124. Confession

"princess."

In the study, Ye Li put down the chess piece in her hand and looked up at Qin Feng at the door. "What's wrong?" Qin Feng said, "The assassin confessed." Mo Hua, who was sitting opposite Ye Li, brightened his eyes and put down his chess piece and stared at Qin Feng. Qin Feng smiled and said, "The princess's method is really effective. Yesterday at noon, some of the assassins couldn't stand it and confessed, but the assassin leader held on until now." Ye Li nodded with satisfaction, put away the chess pieces and chessboard, and said, "Bring him here, and bring the confessions of these people together." Qin Feng nodded and left.

Not long after, a man with a tired and haggard face was escorted in by two guards. Just by looking at the bloodshot in the man's eyes and the vigilant look he gave Ye Li, one could tell that he had reached his limit. He had not eaten, drunk, or slept for several days and nights, and he was now extremely weak both physically and mentally. Even if she let him out, he would immediately fall asleep outside the gate of Prince Dingguo's Palace.

Looking at the man who was forced to kneel on the ground, Ye Li smiled and said, "I haven't seen you for a few days. Are you all right?" The man's scarlet eyes seemed to be spitting fire, staring at the woman in green in front of him. Ye Li didn't care at all, playing with the jade bracelet on her wrist and sighing softly, "You don't have to look at me like that. I have no choice but to use this method to deal with you. My prince is not here, so it's not fair for so many of you to bully a weak woman like me, right?"

The man was already in low spirits, and the fact that he could still muster up the energy to stare at Ye Li at this moment was enough to show that he was strong enough. Unfortunately, it had no effect on Ye Li at all, and he quickly stopped and asked in a hoarse voice: "What do you want?" Ye Li slowly put away her smile and said seriously: "Tell me who is the mastermind behind this."

"I already said so."

Ye Li sneered, threw the confession in her hand onto the table and said with a smile: "When it comes to making false confessions, I'm afraid you can't be called an expert. Zhuo Jing..."

An San nodded and said, "I understand. The number of interrogation and intelligence analysis courses will be doubled."

Ye Li nodded with satisfaction and glanced at the man on the ground, "You still don't want to talk? Then go back and rest. Don't worry, I won't kill you. Let him rest for an hour and then re-interrogate him." After hearing Ye Li's words, the man's expression finally changed. Qin Feng frowned and said, "Will it affect the effect if we let him rest enough and then start over again?" Ye Li smiled and said, "One hour, don't worry. I believe that after a short rest, this person should be able to better appreciate the wonders of this interrogation."

"No, I said..." the man said with a pale face.

Ye Li said, "Very good, who sent you here? Don't tell me it was the one in the palace. Although you just confessed, your subordinates are not really ignorant. The leader of the third-ranked assassin organization, Night Kill? Huh?" The man's face changed, and he looked at Ye Li helplessly and said in a hissing voice, "The princess is really powerful." Ye Li smiled and took it as his flattering answer, raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Answer?"

The man said, "I don't know who he is, but judging from his appearance and accent, he seems to be from Xiling."

Ye Li pondered for a moment and asked, "Where else did he contact you?"

The man said, "Night Killing is in the south, near Yongzhou. When the other party came to us, Prince Ding had not left the capital yet, so we did not intend to take this business. But the other party vowed that Prince Ding would definitely leave the capital within a month at most. So he paid a large sum of money to ask us to sneak into the capital first. If Prince Ding did not leave the capital, we could not take action. A dozen days ago, Prince Ding did leave the capital. We observed for another ten days and found that the assassin who entered the palace did not know that we were night killing, so we decided to take action."

Ye Li smiled and said, "Very good, where is your leader?"

The man was startled and looked at Ye Li in astonishment. Ye Li said calmly, "You are not the kind of people who would act rashly if you can observe for ten days before taking action. I don't believe that the assassins from various places in the past few days have not returned and you have not been able to properly assess the strength of the Dingguo Palace. Doing it knowing that it is impossible? That can only mean that you... are not the real leader of the Night Killing, right?" Seeing that the man lowered his head and said nothing, Ye Li didn't care and pulled a piece of paper on the table and wrote for a while, then raised her head and handed it to Qin Feng and said, "Take him down and ask according to the instructions above. If you still can't find out, there is no need to bring him back. I don't have that much patience." Qin Feng glanced at the paper in his hand, waved to the guards, and walked out with him.

Mo Hua looked at Ye Li steadily and said, "Princess, you already knew that he is not the real leader? If that is the case, why are you still wasting time on him?"

Ye Li smiled helplessly, "Although we know that he is just a scout, we really don't know where the remaining people of Ye Sha are, right? This concubine thinks... if we can't find these people quickly, we will be in big trouble." Mo Hua gritted his teeth and said, "Even if that person in the palace didn't participate, he definitely knew their plan. The secret guards have been blocked everywhere in the capital these days. It must be that person's hand." Ye Li said calmly, "Have the secret guards reached the point where they can be easily blocked by the palace guards?" Mo Hua's face turned pale and he couldn't speak for a long time. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, "I wonder what tricks the princess has!"

Ye Li shrugged and said with a smile: "I don't have any clever tricks, just stay the same in the face of ever-changing situations."

Half an hour later, Qin Feng sent the assassin's confession again. The expression on his face was more murderous than before. Ye Li was not in a hurry to read the confession, and asked, "Is the person dead?" Qin Feng shook his head and said, "Not dead, but fainted." Ye Li nodded, looked down at the confession in his hand, and a cold smile gradually appeared on his lips, "Very good..." He raised his hand to hand the confession to Mo Hua and Zhuo Jing. The two looked serious. Mo Hua stood up and said, "I will immediately mobilize all the secret guards near the capital to return to the mansion!"

"Stop!" Ye Li said calmly.

Mo Hua turned around and glared at Ye Li angrily, "Princess, the various groups have obviously united to attack the palace. If we let them..."

"Once they come in, I will make sure they never come back!" Ye Li sneered. Mo Hua was stunned, as if he was afraid of the murderous aura that Ye Li was releasing without reservation at this time, and frowned and said: "Although the palace is said to be heavily guarded, it is impossible to defend against so many masters at the same time. Not only the safety of the princess, but also many important places in the palace..."

Ye Li's smile was gentle, but it made the listeners feel a chill in their bones. "Don't worry. Send someone to tell General Sun to lead the Black Cloud Cavalry to guard all the intersections in and out of the capital. Once the assassin is found escaping, he will be killed without mercy. The secret guards are stationed in various places in the capital. Once the escapee is found, he will be killed! In addition, the secret guards near Prince Ding's Mansion will immediately surround Prince Ding's Mansion after seeing the fortunate situation in the mansion. No one is allowed to enter but not leave."

"We obey your orders." Qin Feng and Zhuo Jing said respectfully.

Mo Hua looked at the two and responded respectfully. Ye Li nodded and said to Qin Feng, "Release all your people to practice. Their first mission is codenamed "Extermination."

Qin Feng nodded excitedly and said, "I understand, and I will not let the princess down."

Ye Li waved her hand to let the three people leave. She looked up at the bright sunshine outside the window and couldn't help but sigh. In just a dozen days, the Dingguo Palace had turned into a sea of ​​blood. However... no matter what, she had to protect this mansion. This was not just a magnificent palace, it was also her home.

Since Prince Ding left the capital, the dignitaries in the capital clearly felt a gloomy atmosphere of impending storm. Not everyone was kept in the dark about the repeated attacks on Prince Ding's mansion, after all, there was a lot of fighting and killing. However, there was no sign of it in the palace, so people understood the thoughts of the person in the palace. But sometimes they would feel a little uneasy. It was good that Prince Ding's mansion had no problems. If there were any, it would be a very troublesome thing for Prince Ding to come back.

A few days later, the news spread that Princess Ding was ill in bed due to a shock, and even the palace summons were all postponed. The Dingguo Palace closed the door and refused to welcome visitors, so that no one, whether worried or wanting to find out the news, could know the true news about Princess Dingguo. Many people also secretly believed the rumor that Princess Ding was seriously ill. After all, she was a girl in her teens. No matter how powerful she was, without the Dingwang by her side, she was assassinated for more than ten days in a row. Not to mention a woman, even an ordinary man would not be able to bear it.

"Princess, Lord Xu from the Yushi Mansion requests to see you." Chief Steward Mo reported respectfully.

Ye Li paused with the writing in her hand and said calmly, "No, please go back, Master Xu. I will go to the Yu Shi Mansion to pay my respects to my uncle and aunt another day when I am well again."

Chief Steward Mo hesitated for a moment and said, "Lord Xu is very persistent, and he also said that if the princess refuses to see him, he will immediately go to the palace to meet the emperor and tell him about the assassination of Prince Dingguo's mansion." In fact, it's not that no one reported this matter to the emperor, but all the reports were kept by the emperor and he treated it as if nothing had happened. Some of these people were in the emperor's way, and some were secretly appeased by people sent by Prince Ding's mansion. So although the assassination of Prince Ding's mansion is now an open secret, on the surface everyone still pretends to be ignorant of it.

Ye Li was silent for a moment, and finally said, "Please come in, uncle."

Xu Hongyan followed Butler Mo in, and Butler Mo excused himself at the door and asked him to go into the study alone. Ye Li put down her pen and stood up to greet him, "Uncle, why are you here?"

Xu Hongyan glared at her angrily and said, "If I hadn't come, would you have been left to wonder whether you were dead or alive in Prince Ding's mansion?"

Ye Li smiled, pulled Xu Hongyan into the study and sat down, saying with a smile: "What do you mean by life or death? Li'er is fine. I'm sorry that you worried your uncle and aunt these days."

Xu Hongyan glanced at her indifferently, "You know we are worried, but you still keep your second brother outside. If I come here in person today, will you not send the news to the family?" Ye Li looked at Xu Hongyan with some embarrassment and said, "Uncle, these few days in my house..." Xu Hongyan frowned and said, "These days, the capital is in chaos. Did you send those people in our house?" Ye Li nodded and said, "I'm afraid there will be chaos in the capital these days. Uncle and aunt should be careful." Xu Hongyan frowned and said, "What does the emperor mean!"

Ye Li smiled helplessly and said, "What's the point? Taking advantage of the prince's absence, we used others to destroy the Ding Palace. Even if the prince comes back, we can't blame the emperor, right? At that time, the prince will either bow his head and swallow this humiliation, or if the prince can't help but make trouble for the emperor, it means that the Ding Palace is ungrateful, and Li'er will probably become a beauty disaster."

How could Xu Hongyan not know all this? He was increasingly disappointed with the emperor's actions. He looked at Ye Li and asked softly, "You can't keep claiming to be sick, but what are your plans?"

Ye Li lowered her eyes and smiled faintly, "Catch them all in one fell swoop, so that no one in this world will dare to set their sights on the Prince's Palace again."

Xu Hongyan looked at Ye Li with some surprise. His niece seemed to be as gentle as ever, but the coldness that flashed across her brows made people know that she was not as harmless as she looked. Xu Hongyan sighed and said, "Is it okay for you to let your uncle stay in your house for a few days?" Ye Li frowned and said disapprovingly, "Uncle, how can this be possible?"

Xu Hongyan raised his eyebrows, "They say that an uncle is like a mother, so does that mean that an uncle can't enjoy the blessing of his niece?"

Ye Li smiled bitterly. In the past, when everything was going smoothly, she couldn't even invite her uncle and aunt to come, for fear that they would bring trouble to herself and Prince Ding's mansion and attract the emperor's jealousy. Now the mansion is in a mess, and if her uncle comes, she can only be frightened and afraid. How can she enjoy any happiness? "Uncle, can't Li'er take you and aunt to the mansion in a few days to enjoy a good life?"

Xu Hongyan looked at her calmly, neither objecting nor agreeing. Ye Li touched her nose helplessly and lowered her head. She was familiar with her uncle's expression, which meant that it was useless to say anything, he had already made up his mind. Ye Li had no choice but to retreat and said, "In that case, Li'er will have someone clean up the yard for uncle. Qin Feng, Mo Hua..."

Qin Feng and Mo Hua came in from outside, took a look at Xu Hongyan's respectful salute and said, "Meet the princess, meet Lord Xu."

Ye Li waved her hand and said, "No need for the formalities. My second uncle will stay in the mansion for a few days. Mo Hua, you can make the arrangements." Mo Hua nodded, understanding that the princess meant to arrange for secret guards to secretly protect Xu Hongyan. Qin Feng asked, "Princess, should the Xu and Ye families send more people over?" Ye Li said, "Mo Hua, please dispatch a few more secret guards to protect Madam Xu and the second son of Xu. There is no need for the Ye Mansion. Everyone in the capital knows that the relationship between this princess and her natal family is cold. If too many people are sent, it will put them in danger."

"I understand. I will do it right away." Mo Hua nodded and turned away.

Qin Feng looked at Xu Hongyan and said, "Princess, Lord Xu's courtyard is arranged in..."

Ye Li said, "Just arrange it in the courtyard closest to the main courtyard. Also, send someone to tell Feng San to act faster. The sooner these things are resolved, the better."

Qin Feng was refreshed and said with a smile: "I understand. Send someone to inform the Third Master Feng immediately." These days, they have been annoyed by the endless waves of assassins. Being able to solve them all at once naturally makes him happy. Turning around and leaving, Qin Feng was in high spirits. The princess said the code name "Extermination", so no assassin who dares to step into the palace can leave upright!