Sima Lie stood there, suppressing his raging anger, but he couldn't lash out at all.
Otherwise, wouldn't this be tantamount to admitting in front of everyone that he and the assassin are in cahoots?
Since there was no response, Xuejian deliberately repeated the report.
"Prime Minister? The assassins have all been captured..."
Sima Lie was so angry that he glared and his face turned ashen. Finally, he managed to utter a single word through gritted teeth.
"good!"
"Who is in charge of this security escort? I want to kill him! I want to kill this son of a bitch!"
The emperor appeared at just the right moment, cursing and swearing, accompanied by a group of women. Judging from their half-soaked clothes, they had also just escaped death.
Sima Lie was both surprised and frightened, and quickly bowed forward to inquire.
"Your Majesty, I'm so glad you're alright! Why did things turn out this way tonight?"
"I rushed here immediately after hearing the news of the treasure ship's wreck."
Looking at this old fox, Qin Yu couldn't help but curse inwardly.
You have to be a good actress!
Tonight's events were all orchestrated by this old man, yet he's now pretending to be a loyal subject protecting his master.
"If it weren't for the Empress discovering the secret mechanism of the letter ship in time, I would have been assassinated! Now my beloved Consort Jing is also missing, her fate unknown!"
Zhao Yan, who was following behind, said coldly, "The mechanism of the mother-and-child ship is mysterious. If I hadn't happened to run into it, I'm afraid everyone on board would not have survived!"
"Prime Minister Sima, you must thoroughly investigate today's events! Everyone involved must be investigated!"
The target in the plan is still alive and kicking, but he is soaked to the bone, while his own men are either dead or wounded. Sima Lie is so angry that he is trembling all over!
Without much thought, after giving a resentful reply, Sima Lie turned and left!
"Let's go and investigate this matter thoroughly!"
Watching the old man leave with his entourage of Imperial Guards, Qin Yu turned and exchanged a smile with Zhao Yan.
But seeing that Miaoyu's eyes were somewhat blank, he immediately asked a question.
"Where are the people from the Naval Dockyard? Where are they?!"
The remaining Imperial Guards hurriedly reported this.
"Your Majesty, they are all dead, right at your feet."
"Those bastards!"
Qin Yu then launched into a tirade, “What kind of ship did the Naval Dockyard build! It was so easily scuttled by assassins! Damn it, every single one of them deserved to die!”
"This Liu De is the Director-General of the Naval Dockyard, isn't he? Immediately confiscate his property and exterminate his entire family!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately!"
Seeing the emperor constantly issuing orders, Miaoyu knew that he was avenging her.
Thinking back, if it weren't for the emperor orchestrating this plan, I would have had no hope of revenge in this lifetime.
What was truly remarkable was that, despite being merely the daughter of a disgraced official with no practical value, the emperor still devoted himself wholeheartedly to her, which deeply moved her.
Unable to hold back her tears, Miaoyu immediately knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for avenging Miaoyu's blood feud."
"What's going on? Get up quickly!"
The emperor's gentle actions moved Miaoyu even more, and she burst into tears, venting all the grievances she had held for the past few years.
The women beside him rushed forward to comfort him, while Qin Yu pondered his next move.
A moment later, he immediately announced: "The sinking of the treasure ship today has filled me with dread. I will have to suspend court for the next few days to recuperate!"
Anfu, who had rushed over, immediately took the order to carry it out.
On the way back to the palace, Zhao Yan felt both relieved to have survived a disaster and genuinely happy for the emperor.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations! Tonight, Sima Jing has been completely eliminated. From now on, we will no longer have to suffer the torment of this vixen's scheming against us!"
Indeed.
By all accounts, Qin Yu's countermeasures were remarkably successful: he managed to escape the Prime Minister's insidious plan and even take away one of his key figures.
But he couldn't be happy at all right now; his expression was even somewhat dazed.
Sima Jing's passionate moments from before flashed through his mind.
With her alluring figure and stunningly beautiful face, Qin Yu knew that this woman was not inherently bad; compared to ordinary women, she was more compassionate towards the suffering of the common people.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have despised himself, this incompetent ruler, to such an extreme.
pity.
What a pity!
Qin Yu didn't show much emotion; she simply gave a response devoid of feeling.
"Indeed, it's something to be happy about!"
Zhu Fei and his group of Imperial Guards were highly skilled in martial arts and had excellent physical fitness. After watching the emperor safely return to the shore, he immediately went to the Prime Minister's residence.
Seeing that Zhu Fei was unharmed, Sima Lie angrily questioned him.
"What exactly happened tonight? You were the one who proposed the plan, and you supervised the entire process, Zhu Fei. You must give me an answer!"
The latter appeared apprehensive, but was actually quite at ease.
That damned thing is dead. Zhang Shirong and Sima Jing's faction are all corpses. How things turned out is up to me to describe.
"It was General Zhang Shirong! He completely disobeyed his subordinates' orders, was extremely eager to make a name for himself, and mistook Consort Jing for the Empress. That's why he missed the best opportunity to kill the Empress!"
"Without him, this plan would have been a complete success!"
"I was also terribly harmed by him. I spent too much time trying to dissuade Zhang Shirong and almost died in Jinshui Lake!"
Sima Lie believed Zhu Fei's description without a doubt.
After all, Zhang Shirong was in the position where accidents were least likely to happen, so the fact that he still managed to kill himself must have been extremely reckless.
"Idiot! Idiot!"
Sima Lie's face turned green with anger, and he opened his mouth and began to curse loudly.
"Prime Minister, Zhang Shirong is certainly hateful, but now we must consider the situation where the Empress is still alive, but Sima Jing is dead!"
Qiu Beiming suddenly spoke up, offering repeated advice.
"Absolutely!" Sima Lie frowned deeply. "Sima Jing's fate is currently unknown, and her body has not been found."
“It’s not easy to support someone else in the harem. The most urgent thing is to find Sima Jing as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Empress will have absolute power in the harem, and our situation will be even more precarious!”
The following day, the court and the public were shaken. News of the emperor's assassination and Sima Jing's disappearance quickly spread throughout the capital.
Although this matter was handled entirely by Sima Lie.
However, in order to make it seem more convincing, he still strictly ordered the entire capital to be on high alert and dispatched a large number of people to search for those who were supposedly involved in the assassination of the emperor.
Of course, the main purpose was to find Sima Jing.
For a time, the capital was in a state of panic. The emperor suspended court to recuperate, and the officials in the court were equally uneasy.
But at this moment, the emperor was extremely leisurely in the harem.
"Haha! Great! You jumped really well!"
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