Chapter 335: The Disaster Water Diverted to the East

In the capital, inside Prince Xuan’s palace.

Ling Xiao walked in with a man, "Master, he wants to see you."

He stepped aside, revealing the figure behind him.

The figure took two steps forward and saluted, "I am Murong Yan, nice to meet His Royal Highness Prince Xuan."

Xiao Jinxuan raised his head from the pile of secret reports. His eyes were bloodshot, but the fierceness in his eyes was even stronger than before. "What are you doing here?"

Upon seeing Prince Xuan in this state, Murong Yan's heart skipped a beat and his guess became more certain.

His Adam's apple moved up and down, and he pinched his palm with his fingertips to speak as calmly as possible, "I just want to ask Your Highness, is the eldest lady missing?"

Before entering the palace, Xie Zhuoning anticipated that this trip would be extremely dangerous, so he arranged all their escape routes.

As expected, as soon as she entered the palace, the news was blocked inside the palace. The only thing told outside was that Concubine Xiang and Princess Yunheng couldn't bear to let her go, so they kept her in the palace for a while longer.

He used various means and sent several waves of people to investigate the palace, and finally found out the mysterious fire that had occurred in the palace.

Since then, there has been no news about their eldest daughter.

Everything seemed to indicate that Xie Zhuoning might be dead.

It's just that for some reason, the palace suppressed the news.

When he learned everything at that time, he felt like the world was falling apart. It was as if the support had been taken away from him. He became depressed in an instant and didn't even know what to do.

She arranged everything for all of them except herself...

How come this person, who is obviously the most shrewd and calculating, doesn't take his own fallback into account?

He was living a life worse than death, drinking all day and not wanting to care about anything.

But at this moment, news came from the subordinates that Feiyunwei seemed to be looking for someone.

They were well-trained and acted quickly. Even though they were all over the capital, they made very little noise, as if they were deliberately hiding their tracks so that no one would know about them.

If he didn't have all kinds of people under his command, he might not be able to detect the clues.

It was at that moment that he suddenly came to his senses - if there was anyone in this world who cared about the eldest lady as much as he did, it must be Prince Xuan!

If even he himself could find out about the unusual fire in the palace, then with his Royal Highness Prince Xuan's ability, he would not be unaware of it.

But what is His Royal Highness Prince Xuan doing now?

Looking for someone!

Mobilize all available forces and look for people everywhere!

He wondered at first whether he was tracking down the arsonist and avenging the eldest lady.

But then he thought, if their eldest daughter was really dead, Prince Xuan would not sit idly by and watch the palace cover up the news of her death and not let her rest in peace.

Therefore, it is very likely that their eldest lady is not dead!

If he's not dead, why did all the clues suddenly disappear?

Of course, it’s because she is missing!

That's why His Royal Highness Prince Xuan sent out all the Feiyun Guards just to find the whereabouts of their eldest lady! When he deduced this, his heart was in turmoil, but because he was uncertain, he couldn't wait to come to Prince Xuan's mansion just to get a definite answer.

He trembled and repeated hopefully, "Miss, she is not dead, she just disappeared, right?"

Xiao Jinxuan raised his head and couldn't help but look at Murong Yan again.

He has always been aware of the ability of this strategist beside Xie Zhuoning.

But he never expected that Murong Yan could peel off the silk layer by layer and detect this.

Now even Emperor Zhaowen and others thought that Xie Zhuoning was dead.

But he could infer that Xie Zhuoning was simply missing.

At this point, Xiao Jinxuan did not hide the truth from him and told him roughly what had happened in the palace.

"According to our original plan, after she faked her death, she and Ling Xiao withdrew from the tunnel, and I went to pick them up."

But at that time he was delayed by the case of the poisoning of the emperor's grandson. Although the delay was not long, it was too late to leave.

Ling Xiao was knocked unconscious, and she was also taken away.

Murong Yan frowned, "How many people know about the eldest lady's plan?"

Could it be that there is a traitor among those who know the truth?

"I know what you mean, but I can tell you clearly that it is impossible."

Xiao Jinxuan was very sure that this matter was not leaked internally, because the truth about the palace tunnel was very secret, so he and Xie Zhuoning both decided that the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

They didn't tell anyone except Ling Feng and Ling Xiao.

Among all the Feiyun Guards, Ling Feng and Ling Xiao are the least likely to betray him.

Murong Yan was a little confused, "Who could that be?"

"I don't know either." Xiao Jinxuan shook his head slightly.

If he knew, he wouldn't have to test them one by one.

While they were talking, the guard at the door came in and reported, "Sir, Lord Yang, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, wants to see you!"

Xiao Jinxuan glanced at Ling Xiao, and Ling Xiao immediately took Murong Yan to the back.

He then spoke, "Let him in."

Not long after, Yang Fangwen hurried in, "Your subordinate, I am here to see His Highness."

Seeing this, Xiao Jinxuan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Master Yang, why are you so anxious? What's the matter?"

"Your Highness, I'm afraid there are spies from Northern Qi operating in Daye!"

"Northern Qi spy? Where did you get this information?"

Yang Fangwen hurriedly recounted the entire cause and effect.

"The incident started because there was an inn at the border of Hezhou and Yuezhou, where merchants often stayed. But not long ago, the innkeeper, waiter and merchants who passed by were all killed!"

Because there were many hilltops nearby, many bandits, and it was the border of two states, no one was willing to investigate further, so they defined the case as bandits robbing passing merchants and killing them to silence them, and the case was closed.

"As luck would have it, the merchant who died was none other than the younger brother of the owner of Pin Ming Xuan. He had some connection with my wife's family, so he found a way to come to me for help."

Logically, this matter was not within his jurisdiction and it was not his turn to intervene, but the other party kept crying out for injustice, saying that his brother's death was suspicious.

If a bandit robs and kills someone, just kill him. Why cut off their heads one by one and put them in a row?

When he heard this, he found it suspicious, so he sent the head constable to inquire about the case.

"It was just a coincidence that my captain had served in the Zhenbei Army for two years and recognized that those blades were unique to Northern Qi weapons. So I wonder if Northern Qi's move was intended to provoke Daye?"

Since it involved a dispute between two countries, he dared not hide it, so he rushed over as soon as possible to inform him of the matter.

Xiao Jinxuan was supporting his chin, as if thinking about something, when a figure suddenly rushed out from the house.

"Northern Qi... I know, it must be Northern Qi! It must be the Northern Qi people who did it!"

Yang Fangwen was startled and looked carefully, only to find that it was Murong Yan.

I was confused for a moment, "What did Northern Qi do?"

Murong Yan had already turned around and excitedly bowed to Xiao Jinxuan, "Your Highness Prince Xuan, we have been investigating the enemies of the eldest lady, but forgot about the enemies of the Marquis of Zhenyang."

If we were to ask who in this world hates Marquis Zhenyang the most, it must be the people of Northern Qi!

The Northern Qi people were unable to defeat the Zhenbei Army led by the Marquis of Zhenyang. They were furious, but there was nothing they could do, so they set their sights on the Marquis of Zhenyang's daughter!

By capturing the eldest lady, on the one hand, he could kill her to establish his authority, and on the other hand, he could use her to threaten the Marquis of Zhenyang.

No matter what, Northern Qi had a motive to capture the eldest lady!

It’s not that Xiao Jinxuan didn’t think about this, but he always felt that it was a little too obvious.

They created such a big fuss halfway through, which was tantamount to saying provocatively, come and catch me!

But they had to go through many checkpoints to get back to Northern Qi. Once they were discovered and the order was issued to blockade the country, they would be unable to escape.

Why don't they just keep a low profile and make such a big fuss?

"The disaster water is diverted to the east..."

After these four words popped up in his mind, Xiao Jinxuan's thoughts suddenly became clear.

It wasn't just Northern Qi that had the motive to take Xie Zhuoning away.

And there's that lunatic Ye Wuque!

But no matter whether it is Beiqi or Ye Wuque, he will not give up any hope.

"Come here, divide into two routes, west and north, and follow the route to Western Chu and Northern Qi, and check for me!"