Chapter 400: The Private Seal of the Former Crown Prince
The leader of the secret guards had his muscles tensed, his hands clenched into fists, ready to strike.
At this moment, he heard the man holding him behind him shout, "Your Highness, I have captured the remnants of the previous dynasty!"
The leader looked stunned. He had never expected that he would be captured as a remnant of the previous dynasty.
Suddenly, he remembered another thing.
Prince Guangling was ordered by the emperor to eliminate the remnants of the previous dynasty, so the people behind him were Prince Guangling's subordinates.
Could it be that Prince Guangling sent people to steal Princess Yizhen’s remains?
First, Prince Guangling had this motive. He wanted to escort Princess Yizhen's remains back to the Great Zhou.
Secondly, two groups of people, one open and one secret, had just joined forces to steal Princess Yizhen's remains. He crawled out through the secret passage and came to this back mountain, where he was captured by Prince Guangling's men as a remnant of the previous dynasty.
It's such a coincidence.
He had to suspect that the Prince of Guangling had deliberately used the pretext of hunting down the remnants of the previous dynasty to come to the back of the National Temple to pick them up. When they tracked him down, he would accuse them of being remnants of the previous dynasty and capture them, allowing the thieves who stole the remains to escape.
Thinking of this, the leader looked stern and was about to speak when he heard footsteps.
Immediately afterwards, a tall figure walked out from the shade of trees. It was Prince Guangling.
When the leader saw Zhao Yi, he said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, I am a member of the Imperial Guard, guarding the resting place of the Imperial Concubine. I am not a remnant of the previous dynasty."
Zhao Yi's eyes swept across his face calmly, and he spoke slowly, "His Majesty himself said that the Imperial Concubine's remains were buried in the Lingfei Mausoleum. Yet you say that His Majesty sent you to the National Temple to guard the Imperial Concubine's resting place?"
The leader's expression changed.
"What exactly are you? Go and explain yourself before His Majesty." Zhao Yi waved his sleeves and said, "Take him away."
The leader was about to attack subconsciously, but he calmed down the moment he touched the hilt of the sword at his waist.
After all, the person in front of him is Prince Guangling, His Majesty's own son. If anything happens to him, he will definitely be held accountable.
Besides, he was outnumbered and there was no telling what complications might arise.
It's not in his favor either way, so there's no need to resist.
The leader slowly put down his hand, intending to tell His Majesty everything that happened in the National Temple after seeing him, and then ask His Majesty to interrogate King Guangling.
Jiang Mu signaled two soldiers to come forward, handcuffed the leader's hands behind his back, and tied them up with a hemp rope. Then he took away the long sword that was on the leader's neck and personally escorted the leader down the mountain.
The leader turned around and saw the two secret guards who had followed him out of the secret passage. Almost as soon as they came out, the soldiers put knives to their necks. They had no ability to resist at all and surrendered obediently.
There was even a soldier who knelt at the entrance of the secret passage, stretching his neck to look inside to see if anyone would crawl out.
Seeing their attitude of waiting for an opportunity, the leader's face darkened.
"Hurry up." Jiang Mu urged.
The veins on the leader's forehead twitched, but in the end he said nothing and walked down the mountain.
The generals had doubts about the identity of the secret guards, but since it involved the remnants of the previous dynasty, they did not dare to take it lightly.
If these people were the royal secret guards, the Emperor of Northern Qi would naturally not punish them.
If they were remnants of the previous dynasty, then the soldiers of their garrison would have made great contributions.
Thinking of this, the general signaled the soldiers to escort the other two secret guards back to the capital.
Zhao Yi ordered the soldiers to seal the secret passage before preparing to go down the mountain.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked forward with clear eyes, only to see the abbot leading the monks rushing over.
"Amitabha." The abbot bowed. "I wonder why you came to the back mountain of the National Temple?"
Zhao Yi returned the greeting and said, "The soldiers of the garrison have tracked down the remnants of the previous dynasty and have traced them all the way to the cliffs behind the National Temple. I will lead my troops to capture the remnants of the previous dynasty."
On the way here, the abbot met Jiang Mu and others, who were escorting the secret guards down the mountain.
He asked, "Is the person you are arresting a remnant of the previous dynasty, or some other suspicious person?"
"Of course they are the remnants of the previous dynasty." Zhao Yi asked in return, "Could it be that besides the remnants of the previous dynasty, there are other suspicious people in the back mountain?" After a pause, he asked again, "The abbot is a Buddhist disciple, far away from the worldly world, with pure six senses, yet he still interferes in worldly affairs?"
The abbot looked at Zhao Yi calmly and peacefully, chanted a Buddhist name again, and led the monks away.
Zhao Yi looked at the abbot's back and frowned slightly, feeling that the abbot left too easily.
It seems like he didn't intend to delve into it.
He suppressed his doubts and led the remaining soldiers down the mountain. He saw seven or eight soldiers carrying four or five boxes out from the cliff at the back of the mountain and placing them on a horse-drawn cart.
Zhao Yi exchanged glances briefly with one of the soldiers and glanced at one of the boxes inconspicuously.
The royal guards and monks were guarding the perimeter of the Zen temple and were not patrolling nearby.
He arranged for Lieutenant General Sun to use a compass to determine the direction and dig a secret passage leading to the meditation room where the remains were stored.
Afterwards, he ordered Jiang Chao to place some things related to the previous dynasty, as well as some daily necessities, in the cave under the cliff of the back mountain, and leave some clues disguised as the whereabouts of the remnants of the previous dynasty. On the day of his mother's birthday, he led the soldiers to the foot of the cliff of the back mountain.
At the same time, he also arranged two groups of people, one group broke into the Zen temple openly to steal the remains, and the other group brought the remains out through a secret passage.
If the secret guards did not find the secret passage and were chasing after them, his men would take the box, disguise it as something left behind by the remnants of the previous dynasty, sneak into the team and carry it out openly.
If the secret guards discovered and tracked him down, he would accuse the secret guards of being remnants of the previous dynasty, escort them back to the capital, and prevent the secret guards from continuing their investigation.
Even if the secret guards suspected him, they would not dare to confront him because of his identity.
I will definitely report him to the emperor.
These items will come in handy to prove that he indeed came to Guo Temple to hunt down the remnants of the previous dynasty.
Whether the Northern Qi emperor believed him or not was not important. What was important was that the Northern Qi emperor had no evidence and could not do anything to him.
At this time, a soldier stepped forward and handed him an object: "Your Highness, this is a personal item I found in the cave. It looks like it belonged to the previous prince. Could it be that the previous prince had lived in the cave before?"
When Zhao Yi heard the soldier's words, he was slightly startled. His eyes fell on the seal in the soldier's hand. Seeing the four words "Changyuan Private Seal" engraved on the bottom, his face suddenly changed.
This was not what he asked Jiang Chao to put into the cave.
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