General Guo knelt on the ground and kowtowed, speaking earnestly.

Emperor Yong looked calm. After thinking for a while, he did not find any flaws in Guo Xiuyun's words.

He then asked, "Does Lord Guo know who is behind this plot?"

General Guo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, the incident happened suddenly and I did not have time to investigate. Now that I think about it, the man bribed the singing girl and the yamen runners, maybe there are some clues to follow."

Emperor Yong tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and then ordered in a cold voice:

"Huang Pei, get someone to capture those bailiffs from Wannian County!"

Eunuch Huang replied yes and hurriedly made the arrangements.

At this time, General Guo seemed to have thought of something and added, "By the way, Your Majesty, the singer also recited a wonderful poem."

"Oh? A wonderful word?" Emperor Yong tilted his head.

General Guo quickly pushed Guo Gaoyi beside him.

Guo Gaoyi was obsessed with poetry. He had just listened to it once and memorized it firmly in his mind. Now he repeated it tremblingly.

"If love lasts forever, why should we be together day and night..."

Emperor Yong repeated the sentence in a daze.

"It's really wonderful. I've never heard of it before, but I don't know who created it."

"It seems that the other party is indeed well prepared, and the preparations are very thorough. No wonder Lord Guo is so frightened."

General Guo nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

At this moment, Emperor Yong suddenly turned his head and glanced at Tan Hanchi.

"Lord Tan, what do you think?"

When Tan Hanchi was called, he immediately stepped forward and answered respectfully:

"Your Majesty, this poem is truly exquisite. The person who wrote it is not only thoughtful but also emotionally rich. I think... the person who wrote it is probably a woman."

If Qiao Jiaojiao heard this speculation, she would definitely praise Tan Hanchi a lot.

My god, this smart guy is different!

Although the original author is the great writer Qin Guan, the person who plagiarized is indeed a woman!

When talking about the woman who wrote the lyrics, the three words "Meng Guxue" naturally came to Emperor Yong's mind.

After all, she had just made a splash at the Dragon Boat Festival Palace Banquet, and also surpassed all the students at the East Suburb Poetry Conference and wrote the best poem.

Tan Hanchi continued, "Your Majesty, the person who plotted against Young Master Guo must be trying to take control of General Guo. So, it seems that this person is also optimistic that General Guo can take over the military power in the southern border."

"And 'he' actually wanted to control General Guo, which shows that he has big plans..."

The most amazing thing about Tan Hanchi is that he always says half of what he wants to say, leaving the rest up to Emperor Yong to guess.

Because Emperor Yong was suspicious and would not easily believe what others said.

But if it is a conclusion he has drawn himself, he will definitely believe it without a doubt.

If he wants to control the military power, then he is only targeting this position.

Is it the prince, or the second son...

Emperor Yong's eyes flickered and he was heavy with worry.

Tan Hanchi looked calm, as if everything was under control.

The Crown Prince is a man of integrity and is in the position of heir to the throne, so there is no need for him to take the risk of doing such a thing. If the Emperor investigates, he will sooner or later find out about the Second Prince.

If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself...

When General Guo heard this, he couldn't help but feel secretly shocked.

He actually didn't know that the emperor had such a favored new minister by his side, and that every word he said was full of gems, which was indeed extraordinary!

At this point, things are clear.

"General Guo, please take your son outside and wait for a while. I need to think about it carefully."

Emperor Yong's voice was calm, revealing nothing of his emotions.

Upon hearing this, General Guo kowtowed respectfully and retreated outside the imperial study with the weak Guo Gaoyi.

"Tan Aiqing, what do you think?"

Emperor Yong stood up and looked down at Tan Hanchi.

Tan Hanchi knew that Emperor Yong was testing him.

As the king of a country, Emperor Yong actually already had an idea in his mind.

Tan Hanchi could guess what Emperor Yong was thinking, but he didn't dare to appear too smart.

So he pretended to be solemn and pondered for a while, and then he replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, I think we should use both kindness and power."

Emperor Yong raised his eyebrows with interest, "Oh? Tell me about it."

Tan Hanchi bowed and said, "Your Majesty, even that evil person knew how to plot against General Guo. This shows that it is the will of the people that General Guo take over the military power in the southern border."

"Now that Young Master Guo has committed a serious mistake, General Guo has chosen to sacrifice his own family for the greater good and confessed his crime to His Majesty in a timely manner. This shows his loyalty and honesty."

"In this case, Your Majesty might as well spare General Guo's son's life. This is a favor."

"But the son's fault cannot be forgiven simply because his father has made meritorious contributions. Your Majesty can punish him impartially. This is power."

"With such kindness and power, General Guo will be convinced and grateful for Your Majesty's grace of not killing him. He will swear to be loyal to Your Majesty until death."

After Tan Hanchi finished speaking, he remained bowed for a long time.

That was all he had to say, and he didn't dare say anything more.

Emperor Yong was silent for a while, then suddenly walked up to Tan Hanchi and patted him on the shoulder.

"Lord Tan... you are very dear to me. Please stand up."

As Emperor Yong spoke, he actually pulled Tan Hanchi's arm and helped him stand up.

Tan Hanchi's eyes flashed slightly, and then his face was full of flattery.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Yong smiled faintly, then raised his voice and said, "Huang Pei, call General Guo in!"

————

The clan house.

Li Xusheng returned quickly, avoided the guards in the clan residence, and knocked on the door of the second prince.

The second prince sat at the desk, reading through the poems written by Meng Guxue one by one.

He held a pen in his hand, and whenever he encountered any questions, he would draw a mark on the side with red ink.

Looking around, I saw dozens of circles of different sizes drawn on the spread out papers.

The second prince frowned and looked surprised.

These poems used many allusions that he had never heard of before.

Moreover, their styles are very different, some are bold and some are graceful. It is really hard for him to imagine that these poems were all written by the same person.

What kind of state of mind could prompt Meng Guxue, a ten-year-old girl, to write such a heart-wrenching lament: "A bamboo stick and straw sandals are lighter than a horse, who is afraid? A straw raincoat will protect me for the rest of my life"?

The second prince vaguely felt that Meng Guxue might be hiding some interesting secrets.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, bringing the Second Prince back to his senses.

"Your Highness, it's me."

The second prince stood up suddenly when he heard this, "A Sheng, come in."

Li Xusheng hurriedly pushed the door open and the Second Prince's face changed slightly when he saw his expression.

"Failed?"

Li Xusheng knelt on the ground with a look of annoyance on his face, and quickly told everyone everything that had happened tonight, trying not to miss any details.

The Second Prince's expression changed several times when he heard this, and then he slowly clenched his fists.

Failed again...

The appearance of those two Guo family secret guards was so strange!

He would never believe the nonsense that General Guo always sent two secret guards to protect Guo Gaoyi.

The biggest possibility is that someone has seen through his plan, or like him, has set their sights on Guo Gaoyi!

"Your Highness, if we fail to strike at first, we have already alerted the enemy. What should we do next?"

The Second Prince had an ugly look on his face. He had felt more than once that someone was always ahead of him and cunningly cutting off his retreat!

"Have you cleaned up all the tails?" the second prince asked coldly.

Li Xusheng was slightly startled. Just now the dancer had done something bad and the Guo family's secret guards had rushed into the private room where he was.

In desperation, he had no choice but to jump out of the window to escape, and then immediately came back to report to His Highness.

When the Second Prince saw Li Xusheng's expression, his face suddenly changed.

"You didn't deal with those yamen runners?"

Li Xusheng stood up suddenly, realizing that something might have happened to him!

According to the original plan, after convicting Guo Gaoyi of a crime tonight, he would send people to kill those yamen runners to prevent them from being caught by General Guo.

Unexpectedly, tonight's plan failed. The yamen runners were in a private room with the Guo family's secret guards, so he didn't have time to take action...

"Go! Kill them all!"

The second prince growled, his handsome face distorted slightly, and he lost his composure in front of Li Xusheng for the first time.

Li Xusheng was startled, answered yes, turned around and ran into the night.