Chapter 15
"Most of the imperial horses come from the Western Yi, and they are all carefully selected from thousands of miles away. They are tall, with round backs, slender limbs, and smooth fur."
"I have heard a little about this."
"Raising a good horse is not easy. Besides time and energy, it also requires a large amount of food and fodder. The requirements for a high-quality warhorse are even higher. What do you think of this, Your Highness?"
"You mean the food and fodder for Minzhou?"
"That's right." These seemed unrelated, but his intuition told him that things were not simple.
"But what does Minzhou's grain have to do with this?"
"It doesn't seem to be related at first. If the virtuous king just wants to destroy the grain this time, he's probably doing it to accuse you of failing to supervise the area."
"Indeed, I am currently in the Imperial Gardens and in charge of agricultural work. If a fire breaks out in the Gardens and destroys the granary, I will undoubtedly bear unshirkable responsibility."
"The Imperial Garden Farm has a lot of land. Even in a bad year, we can still harvest two dan of grain per acre, which means a thousand dan per season. If we burn it all, your Majesty will punish us severely. If someone with ulterior motives exploits it again, I'm afraid your position as head of agricultural affairs will be in jeopardy."
"Then the impeachment of Zhang Yuantai, the agricultural officer of Minzhou, will come to nothing." Unexpectedly, this was the idea of the wise king.
"It's just that he might have done something unnecessary this time." However, this actually allowed him to connect "him" with Minzhou Nong Cao.
"How do you say that?"
"Gong Yu Xian."
"Gong Yuxian?"
"Why did he wait until the public jade was presented before taking action?"
“But I’ve heard the details.”
"If I'm not mistaken, it's horses. The reason the Western Yi have such sturdy warhorses is because they strictly select their stallions, so the foals they produce are naturally excellent. However, the trade in horses, especially the trade in high-quality stallions, is controlled by the Western Yi court. Even the high-quality warhorses needed by the Yi capital are limited in number each year, and are generally distributed to the guards directly under His Majesty the Emperor.
"You're right. Even in my palace and the Xianwang Palace, we only have palace soldiers. Apart from the horses used for transportation and the ones given to us by my father, there are no more than thirty horses in the palace."
"Besides, you two don't have any military power, so why would the wise king need so much food and fodder? The annual salaries required by the sergeants are calculated by the court, so there's no need for additional rations."
"If it were you, King Cheng, what would you do with all this food?"
"The king? If it were the king, there would be only a few places where such things of unknown origin would go. One is to enrich oneself. The other is to raise private soldiers." Yi Luohui was stunned.
"You mean he's planning a rebellion?"
"This is just one possibility. After all, His Majesty has long been reluctant to appoint a crown prince, and as the eldest prince, he naturally has a greater sense of crisis than you. If His Majesty truly abandons him, and he isn't the chosen crown prince, how can he accept it?" As for whether he will force the emperor to abdicate or rebel, it will depend on how the situation develops. However, it's foreseeable that a bloody storm will soon erupt in the court."
"Brother Gongyu is right." After thinking about it carefully, he realized that his royal brother was indeed that kind of person.
"Then what exactly did he ask Gong Yuxian to do?"
"Just now we all suspected that the virtuous king was secretly hoarding food and fodder. This food and fodder can not only supply soldiers, but also feed war horses."
"I just took a look in the stables. There are thirteen stallions and six mares."
"Is there anything wrong with that?"
"The imperial horses in the imperial garden are all taken care of by someone, right?"
"That's right."
"Then please ask King Cheng to call the person in charge."
"Come here, go get the stable manager."
"Yes, Your Highness." Yi Luohui's guards took the order and went to find someone.
"What? Is there something wrong with this stable?"
"Just now I said that most of the royal horses came from the Western Barbarians, but after taking a closer look at the physiques of these horses, they shouldn't all be from the Western Barbarians."
"no?"
"Among these thirteen stallions, only three are from the Western Yi, and among the six mares, only one is from the Western Yi, and all of them are old, weak, and sick."
"What did you say? Who is so bold as to replace the imperial horse?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask the stewards here. They take care of these horses every day, so it's impossible for them not to know what they look like."
"Your Highness, the person has been brought here."
"I, Zhou Fu, greet His Royal Highness King Cheng."
"Are you responsible for taking care of the horses in this stable?"
"Your Highness, yes."
"How dare you! When did the Western Yi imperial horses in the imperial garden become old, weak, and sick?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I was unaware that these horses were like this when they were delivered. How could I dare to replace them?"
"You still dare to quibble with the facts before you! Come, drag him away and torture him."
"Your Highness, please spare me! I really didn't know! These imperial horses are sent out by people from the palace every year. When they are sent, they say they are replacement horses from the palace. As for whether they are horses from the Western Barbarians, I really don't know!"
The stable manager kept kowtowing and making excuses.
Gong Yuchen saw that the manager didn't seem to be lying, so he asked him.
"You said it was sent from the palace?"
"I dare not lie. It was indeed sent from the palace. I had my doubts at first, but the official who sent the horse said it was a replacement from the palace. I am just a small stable manager, so how could I have the guts to question it?"
"Then let me ask you, when did the palace start sending these horses?"
"My Lord, it has been about three years."
Three years...
"Is there a specific number of horses delivered in the past three years?"
"Yes, yes, there are about fifty or sixty of them. The small ones are all recorded."
"Go get it."
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away."
"Don't try to deceive me. If what you said is true, I can show some mercy and let you go. Otherwise, your whole family will be buried with you."
"Yes, yes, I dare not deceive His Majesty."
The frightened stable manager nodded his head rapidly in response.
"Follow him." The guard who had just followed him went to get the account book.
Half a cup of tea later, the panicked guard stumbled back.
He reported to them both with a guilty look on his face.
"Your Highnesses, please forgive me. The steward has been killed."
"Dead? Tell me! What happened?" Yi Luohui looked down at him.
"Just now, we arrived at the steward's room and found it in a mess. Just as my subordinates were checking, an arrow shot in from outside and killed him."
"They must have discovered something was wrong, so they killed people to silence them." Gong Yuchen and Yi Luohui looked at each other.
"The steward is dead and there's no evidence. What should we do next?"
"I'm afraid there are spies of the wise king in this garden. Now that they already know that we have discovered their plan, they probably won't take action again this time." Gong Yuchen frowned and thought for a while.
"Tomorrow, you and I will return to Yidu as normal. As for the matters here, we will defend what needs to be defended and hold those responsible accountable. However, without witnesses or physical evidence, it is difficult for us to say that these things are related to the wise king."
"I know that, too. I already know the virtuous king's intention to burn the granary, but I still don't know what he has to do with these imperial horses."
"The steward who just died said that about fifty or sixty horses were sent over the past three years. If the wise king used his connections to replace good horses with inferior ones, and with the Western barbarians' horse breeding skills, he would have probably bred at least a hundred sturdy war horses in the past three years to expand his private army."
"And these war horses and soldiers require a large amount of food and fodder! This explains why he secretly stored food and fodder with the Minzhou agricultural officer 'Zhang Yuantai'." Yi Luohui's face was slightly gloomy. Once a "human" has greed, he will dare to do anything.
At this time, Yi Luohui finally understood why Yi Luoyao planned to burn down the stable in addition to the granary.
"We have no witnesses or physical evidence now. How can we still find evidence against the virtuous king?"
"Of course it's possible. As long as we try our best to track it down, there will always be a chance."
"Your Highness." Liefeng leaned close to Gong Yuchen's ear and whispered a few words.
"That's the guy?"
"yes."
"Your Highness, Prince Cheng, please take care of the matters in the Imperial Garden first. I'll be back soon."
"Do you need my help?" Yi Luohui asked with concern.
"It's okay, I'll talk to you when I get back."
"Okay, go ahead."
In the woods not far from the imperial garden, the disguised followers saw Gong Yuchen and were about to kneel on one knee before him. Gong Yuchen waved his hand, exempting them from the formalities, and looked at one of the guards and asked.
"But what did you find out?"
"Your Highness, I haven't found out yet." The guard replied with a guilty look on his face.
"Oh? The one who can stand up to your torture is obviously not an ordinary person."
Hearing his voice, the man in black who had been drooping his head slowly raised his head, opened his bloodshot eyes, and stared at Gong Yuchen.
"Tell me, who sent you?"
"No one sent me here. Gong Yuchen, you deserve to die!" the man roared, his voice was terrifying.
Gong Yuchen smiled coldly, slowly stepped forward until he was only one step away from the other party, stretched out his hand and grabbed his neck fiercely.
"You made two mistakes. First, you recognized me the moment you saw me, which proves you're no ordinary person. How could an ordinary person recognize me? (Xiao Yue'er is a special case.) Second, my men arrested you because you shot and killed the stable manager. Obviously, I wasn't the one you were trying to kill."
"Tell me, who sent you?"
"Your Highness, this was found on him." The guard handed the token found on the man in black to Gong Yuchen.
Humph! The token of the Western Yi Qilin Guard, do they think he's been away from Western Yi for too long, and they can scare him with this thing?
The man in black watched him take the token and laughed wildly.
"Hehe, do you think I will tell you? Don't dream." He tilted his head, a trickle of black blood seeped out of his mouth, and he died.
Gong Yuxian threw his body away. Even if he didn't say it, he could roughly guess it.
The Qilin Guard wouldn't be so foolish as to carry their token even after arriving in Yidu, so this was a deliberate act. To kill someone in the Imperial Garden, they must have known the situation. How could a Western Yi person who had just arrived in Yidu know this? Therefore, it could only be someone under the virtuous king, Yi Luoyao.
"Send this person to Liu Wen. Also, send the manager of the stable in the imperial garden as well." It is basically impossible to track him down at the moment, but some things have to be laid out in the open first.
"Liefeng, let's go back to the Imperial Garden first."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
