Chapter 368 Breaking the Stalemate with One Move
"..."
Being publicly reprimanded by his deputy and subordinates—this official's behavior was truly pathetic.
However, not long ago they were hiding outside, engaging in entrapment and law enforcement, but now they've come running here in a sorry state, turning into bodyguards. Anyone, no matter how thick-skinned, would feel a little guilty and nervous.
Wang Lengran was naturally not exempt either.
Even when being taught a lesson, that shameless person still couldn't resist boasting.
He wiped his face with his hand, his eyes flickering slightly:
"Prefect Ouyang has misunderstood..."
Then, with a holy light in his eyes, he said:
“I have been worried about the city’s defenses lately. Tonight, I was patrolling with the soldiers of the Zhechong Prefecture. When we passed Xiushuifang, we heard a commotion at the Prince’s residence and rushed over immediately. How can you say I neglected my duties? I was clearly doing my duty diligently…”
"Wait a minute, speaking of which, why would Chief Secretary Ouyang be at the Xunyang Prince's Mansion so late at night? The mansion has the princess, the princess, and other noble ladies and their families. It's probably not appropriate for Chief Secretary Ouyang to come here in the middle of the night with such a flimsy excuse that he's worried about his safety."
Ouyang Rong spoke with righteous indignation, his voice brimming with righteousness:
"Of course, there is a solid reason. My junior sister recently spent the night at the Prince's mansion at the invitation of the little princess. She sensed signs of trouble tonight, but couldn't contact the busy Lord Wang for the time being, so she resorted to calling me over."
"Sure enough, this happened in the middle of the night. Fortunately, my fellow disciples and I were there, otherwise the villains would have succeeded."
Ouyang Rong emphasized the word "traitor" with a serious expression as he looked at Wang Lengran and Miaozhen.
"Oh, you just happened to be patrolling? It's so late, and Lord Wang is leading hundreds of elite soldiers from the Zhechong Prefecture on patrol all night. He's really dedicated. If you didn't know better, you'd think the rebels in Hongzhou were attacking the city tonight."
Ouyang Rong nodded, then suddenly his smile vanished, and he said with utmost calmness:
"When I saw Lord Wang and Lady Historian leading the soldiers in, I was so timid that I had a bad feeling. I thought they were coming to confiscate our property and destroy our family. I almost thought that I had become a traitor with the Prince."
"Heh, isn't it strange? When people have nothing to do, they just start having all sorts of random thoughts. I'm just like that. Please forgive me, everyone."
The open space was completely silent.
All that remained were the ruins of the burning houses, where the century-old redwood beams and pillars crackled and popped as they burned in the intense flames.
Wang Lengran felt a little uncomfortable under the calm gaze of someone, so she turned her head and took a small step back.
Miaozhen glanced at Ouyang Rong, whose words were loaded with meaning, pursed her lips, and continued to carefully examine and treat the injuries of Li Xian and his son with the palace servants and imperial physicians.
Wang Lengran coughed lightly, his eyes darting around before he immediately began to nitpick:
"You noticed signs of trouble? How did you notice those signs, Miss Xie? I've been here the whole time. Why couldn't you contact me and had to go to Chief Secretary Ouyang? Is there something hidden?"
Ouyang Rong asked curiously:
"Does Lord Wang not have any idea what these signs are?"
"Did Lord Wang not know that the suspected traitor Wang Junzhi swaggered into the Xunyang Prince's Mansion? Did the Lady Historian not know either? Such dereliction of duty!"
Wang Lengran quickly retorted, "Of course I know!"
"If you knew, why did you turn a blind eye and leave the crisis to the prince?"
"I...I thought that Your Highness had a deep friendship with Wang Junzhi and wanted to protect this person. After all, this rebel was once a retainer of the Xunyang Prince's Mansion and a member of the Princess's poetry club...What could I do? I could only endure it for now and wait for instructions from above..."
"You think? What a coincidence! The Prince also thought that Lord Wang, who was always talking about catching rebels, had let Wang Junzhi go and tacitly approved of his safety. That's why he allowed this shameless guy to stay for a few days. Anyone who didn't know better would think that Lord Wang and Wang Junzhi were in cahoots."
Ouyang Rong used the same tactics against him, readily employing Wang Lengran's excuse, fabricating it without batting an eye:
"Your Highness and the Heir Apparent complained to me about Lord Wang's indifference, and Wang Junzhi also said that Lord Wang and he are very close friends, and that the so-called arrest was just a misunderstanding and wouldn't be serious. He even asked him to enter the Prince's residence discreetly..."
"You're spouting nonsense! I've never met this person before, I've barely even seen him a few times!" Wang Lengran hurriedly denied, somewhat flustered, as he explained to Miaozhen and the others who were watching him.
"I never told him about this instruction; it's utterly absurd and ridiculous."
Ouyang Rong suddenly nodded: "Is that so? Now it seems that we can't completely believe what these rebels say, but Lord Wang, why are you in such a hurry? Don't rush."
He sighed helplessly:
"Hey, looking at it this way, it really was a misunderstanding. This traitor actually managed to sneak into the Prince's mansion and get close to the Prince and the Crown Prince."
"This official has only been in office for a few days, yet he has already begun to subtly instigate and urge the Prince and the Heir Apparent to change their minds. The Prince and the Heir Apparent are deeply worried and have reported this matter to me."
"I have no choice but to suggest that since Lord Wang is indulging in this, why not wait for the Luoyang delegation to arrive and then hand this official over to the Emperor for punishment?"
Ouyang Rong looked at Wang Lengran, pointed to the corpse in the darkness not far away, and said angrily:
"Who would have thought that this official, having received a tip from someone, seemed to have sensed the arrival of the delegation and gathered his accomplices outside the city tonight to sneak into the Prince's residence and together bewitch and coerce the Prince and the Crown Prince."
"Fortunately, my junior sister noticed the signs in time and notified me to come, which saved the situation."
"It's just that the Prince and the Heir Apparent are too kind-hearted and generous. They tried to persuade these rebels with kind words, hoping to win them over and persuade them to understand the Emperor's heart, stop causing trouble, and return to the right path. They also told them not to be cunning and rebel under the banner of the Xunyang Prince's Mansion."
"Who knew that this traitor and his accomplices, enraged and cornered, would attempt to assassinate the prince in public. My junior sister and I tried our best to stop them..."
"Fortunately, the Crown Prince sacrificed himself to take a knife for the Prince, thus saving the Prince's life in the first instance. Afterwards, in the chaos, the Prince fainted again."
"However, these rebels are quite skilled in martial arts. My brother and I could only barely hold our own and had a slight advantage. Unfortunately, reinforcements were slow to arrive, and we were on the verge of losing ground. The rebels tried to escape and set the house on fire..."
"My junior sister and I went to great lengths to behead the two thieves! The Xunyang Prince's family is now largely safe."
Ouyang Rong spoke fluently and smoothly, then let out a long breath.
Miaozhen, Wang Lengran, Qin Heng and the others couldn't help but glance at him again.
This explanation was full of ups and downs, with dramatic twists and turns, and varied intonation. If you didn't know better, you might think you were listening to a storyteller in a teahouse.
However, Princess Wei Mei, Princess Li Guo'er, and the injured Crown Prince Li Fusu, all the eyewitnesses, nodded seriously and testified for it.
Unable to refute or disprove the claim, Miaozhen and the others could only remain silent and nod.
Wang Lengran asked suspiciously, "Two traitors? There's only the corpse of the rebel Wang Junzhi on the ground. Where are his comrades?"
Ouyang Rong raised his chin, gesturing towards the houses ahead, engulfed in flames and crackling loudly:
"Look, it's being roasted in the fire. Lord Wang seems quite interested in these trivial matters. Such a big fire, why doesn't he try to put it out? The body will be burnt to a crisp soon."
Seeing that he couldn't find fault with the fire for the time being, Wang Lengran gritted his teeth and had no choice but to lead his soldiers to fetch water to put out the fire.
Miaozhen examined the sword wound on Li Fusu's arm, then got up and walked to Wang Junzhi's corpse. She picked up the three-foot-long sword beside the corpse and squinted at it in the firelight.
Xie Lingjiang glanced at the woman in palace attire out of the corner of her eye.
Ouyang Rong remained calm and cooperated with the imperial physician to take care of Li Xian and Li Dalang.
Miaozhen returned, and the imperial physician rose and whispered a few words in her ear. Upon hearing this, Miaozhen glanced at the unconscious prince surrounded by Li Guo'er and Wei Mei on the ground, and suddenly said:
"This illness is so similar to the one I had when I fainted while praying for blessings in Dragon City. It's almost exactly the same."
Ouyang Rong shrugged:
"His Highness has a history of seizures, this is a relapse of his old illness... By the way, is Lady Historian saving people or interrogating prisoners? Why is she doing the same thing as His Highness?"
Miaozhen pursed her lips and remained silent.
Before long, with the help of the soldiers of Zhechong Prefecture, the fire in the flower hall was mostly extinguished. The fire was too big, so the other houses were left unattended for the time being.
The buildings that caught fire were the flower hall and reception room in Juxian Garden. Tonight, a westerly wind blew, and the study rooms in the adjacent western building were also affected, engulfed by the raging fire and reduced to ashes.
It was burned to ashes.
Wang Lengran and others rescued four severed limbs from the ruins of the flower hall and pieced them together to form the body of a large man.
The body was charred beyond recognition, even worse than Wang Junzhi's tattered and partially charred state.
It could only be roughly distinguished as a human-shaped shell, charred black.
As for the clothes and other keepsakes, they were all burned to ashes, and no one knows what the man looked like.
After a series of attempts to salvage the evidence, Wang Lengran was panting and drenched in sweat. The more he examined the evidence, the more disheartened he became. After a fire, not a single piece of evidence remained at the scene.
That's ruthless.
It was all dealt with so quickly.
Wang Lengran's hands trembled as he covered Wang Junzhi's pale corpse with a white cloth, and he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Ouyang Rong's calm face.
The face became increasingly terrifying in his eyes.
"The investigation is complete? Judging from Lord Wang's expression, does he know an accomplice of this traitor Wang Junzhi?"
"I...I don't know him," Wang coldly denied, then loudly proclaimed:
"This man's body was cut in half at the waist. Even though the wound was charred, the bones were broken very neatly. Chief Clerk Ouyang's sword is truly formidable."
Ouyang Rong glanced at Xie Lingjiang:
"Junior sister, be gentler next time."
Wang Lengran and Miaozhen turned to look. Not far away, the noble lady of the Xie family stood with her sword in her arms, gazing slightly at the moon. Her exquisite oval face was cold and aloof as she let out a cold snort.
"It's the experts' business, so I advise you to mind your own business."
The cold-blooded junior sister is devoid of emotions.
Having inadvertently revealed his senior brother's family position, Ouyang Rong shrugged helplessly and sighed to everyone.
There was nothing more to ask, and the atmosphere fell silent.
At this moment, Ouyang Rong turned his head leisurely and asked a question:
"Actually, there was another traitorous accomplice. He escaped halfway through, and I wonder if Lady Historian and Lord Wang saw him?"
Wang Lengran stiffened slightly.
Miaozhen silently turned her head and looked at Wang Lengran.
Wang Lengran had no choice but to bite the bullet and nod in agreement:
"My men patrolling the streets have indeed apprehended a suspect. Your Excellency, Chief Secretary Ouyang, I will return now to interrogate him..."
"Huh, they actually caught one?"
Ouyang Rong sounded quite surprised and unusually praised Governor Wang:
"It seems Lord Wang is still somewhat useful... well, I mean, patrolling at night."
Everyone turned to look, their expressions varied.
Wang Lengran was furious. He forced a smile at the crowd, then turned away with a sour face and led his soldiers away to "interrogate" a certain suspected rebel.
Actually, he was saying all that to Miaozhen, who knew the truth. No matter what happened to the suspect, once the Luoyang delegation arrived, they would definitely not let him go and would investigate.
"Lord Wang, please be careful on your journey at night. Good luck and don't let us see you off."
Ouyang Rong, respecting the elderly and caring for the young, thoughtfully called out to Wang Lengran's retreating figure as he hurriedly ran away:
"The delegation from Luoyang will arrive tomorrow. Lord Wang, don't forget to go and pick them up."
"well."
Watching Wang Lengran's disheveled figure disappear into the distance, Ouyang Rong chuckled softly.
Before long, Prince Xunyang, Li Xian, and his heir, Li Fusu, were taken to the imperial physician for treatment, accompanied by Princess Wei Mei, and palace maids such as Miao Zhen.
On the open ground of Juxian Garden, only Ouyang Rong, Xie Lingjiang, and Li Guo'er remained, continuing to deal with the remaining embers.
"Guo Yu is dead."
Ouyang Rong turned around and whispered to the two women.
The cold and ruthless junior sister immediately dropped her icy demeanor and asked with curiosity and gentleness, "Senior Brother, do you mean... to kill me to cover it up?"
"It doesn't matter who this captured traitor is, except Guo Yu."
Li Guo'er nodded:
“He carries the mark of the Prince Xiang’s Mansion. If he is handed over alive to the Luoyang delegation sent by my grandmother, and the ladies-in-waiting find out anything during their interrogation, it won’t matter if the lie we just covered up is exposed, but the Wei family will be slapped in the face. They will be the ones who lose face the most.”
The flickering flames of the remaining debris illuminated Li Guo'er's fair and delicate face, making her look exquisitely beautiful.
"So from now until the Luoyang delegation arrives this morning, this man will not only die, but he will die just like our corpses being burned in a great fire, unable to recognize his own face."
Xie Lingjiang's lips curved into a smile:
“He deserves it! I don’t know how the Wei family bribed him. Now, his new backer has become his death knell. Even if we were to harbor him, it would still be troublesome. Senior Brother’s move has turned the tables on him.”
Ouyang Rong gently shook his head:
"Not counting the general, that female official Miaozhen actually knew everything. I specifically pointed it out, but she pretended to be stupid and didn't take control of the suspect immediately, letting Wang Lengran go back to clean up the mess."
"This way, we don't offend either side."
“A smart person knows this is a trap and shouldn’t be used as a weapon to investigate, since the Wei family is still very powerful.”
Li Guo'er sighed softly:
"These female officials are all shrewd and capable. They are neutral and, to some extent, represent the grandmother's attitude. The conflict between Li and Wei is a struggle that will not break down. In the end, they will side with whoever wins."
"Tonight, they're probably just lying in wait outside the mansion, waiting for us to slip through their fingers. Unless they see us escape from the city and have solid evidence, they won't fall into the Wei family's trap."
Li Guo'er suddenly smiled and muttered to herself:
"This struggle for imperial power is truly perilous. The truth and right and wrong are not important at all; what matters is who makes the first mistake and who can cover up the lie more beautifully..."
Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang glanced at her.
The fire raged until the sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn.
After overseeing the firefighting efforts, Ouyang Rong made some arrangements and left the palace.
On the street, he rubbed his tired face, preparing to return to his mansion in Huaiye Lane, when he suddenly realized something.
It seems that Yan Liulang took my aunt and the others to the west gate, where they are waiting for him to join them so they can leave the city together.
Ouyang Rong immediately turned his head.
He passed through Xingzifang and arrived near the West Gate.
They immediately spotted several familiar carriages discreetly waiting under a secluded shady spot.
Ouyang Rong glanced silently at Chen Canjun and the others who were changing shifts on the city wall. It was dawn, and it was already 5:35 a.m.
However, he and the Prince of Xunyang no longer needed to flee west.
Looking up at the fiery red sunrise on the horizon, Ouyang Rong let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking back now, the events of that night have become clearer; we were caught in the middle of the situation before, but now the clouds have parted and the sun is shining through.
I almost fell for a vicious scheme; it was extremely dangerous.
Ouyang Rong shook his head, walked to the lead carriage, easily boarded, lifted the curtain, and said with a smile:
"Auntie, Wei Lai, we've kept you waiting. Let's go..."
The conversation abruptly stopped.
Inside the carriage, besides the familiar woman in a silk skirt and the white-haired girl, a strange girl in palace attire sat upright with a stern face, looking at him with icy eyes.
Ouyang Rong's smile froze slightly.
(End of this chapter)
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