Chapter 128

General Guo prostrated himself on the ground, his words earnest.

Emperor Yong remained calm, pondering for a moment, without detecting any flaws in General Guo Xiuyun’s words.

He then asked, “Does General Guo know who the mastermind behind this scheme is?”

General Guo shook his head, “Your Majesty, the incident happened suddenly, and I didn’t have time to investigate. Now that I think about it, the person may have bribed the singing girls and yamen runners. There might be clues to follow.”

Emperor Yong lightly tapped his fingers on the table, then ordered coldly, “Huang Pei, have people go and capture all those yamen runners from Wannian County!”

Huang Gonggong acknowledged and quickly made arrangements.

At this moment, General Guo seemed to remember something and added, “Oh, Your Majesty, that singing girl also recited an exquisite poem.”

“Oh? An exquisite poem?” Emperor Yong raised an eyebrow.

General Guo hurriedly nudged his son beside him.

Guo Gaoyi was obsessed with poetry. He had listened to it once and remembered it firmly in his mind. Now he recounted it nervously,

“If our love is true and enduring, then every day and every moment…”

Emperor Yong repeated the line in astonishment.

“Indeed exquisite. I haven’t heard it before, but I wonder whose handiwork it is.”

“From what I see, the other party came prepared and very thoroughly. No wonder General Guo is so fearful,” Emperor Yong remarked, nodding.

General Guo nodded repeatedly.

At this moment, Emperor Yong suddenly turned to look at Tan Hanchi.

“Lord Tan, what is your opinion?”

Tan Hanchi was singled out and stepped forward, respectfully answering, “Your Majesty, this poem is indeed extremely exquisite. The person who wrote it is not only meticulous but also emotionally rich. From what I see… the person who wrote it may be a woman.”

If Qiao Jiaojiao heard this guess, she would surely praise Tan Hanchi.

Wow, smart people are indeed different!

Although the original author is Qin Guan, a great literati of the Qin Dynasty, the person who plagiarized it was indeed a woman!

As soon as a female writer was mentioned, the name “Meng Guxue” naturally appeared in Emperor Yong’s mind.

After all, she had just made a splash at the Dragon Boat Festival Palace banquet and also outshone all the scholars at the poetry meeting in the Eastern Suburbs.

Tan Hanchi continued, “Your Majesty, the person plotting against General Guo must want to use this to control General Guo. From this perspective, this person should also have confidence that General Guo can take over the military power in the southern border.”

“And ‘he’ even dares to imagine controlling General Guo, indicating a great ambition…”

Tan Hanchi’s brilliance lay in never saying the whole truth, leaving the rest to Emperor Yong’s own deduction.

Because Emperor Yong was suspicious and wouldn’t easily believe others’ words.

But if he deduced the conclusion himself, he would definitely believe it.

To grasp military power, the only goal would be his position.

Is it the Crown Prince, or the Second Prince…

Emperor Yong’s eyes flickered with deep thoughts.

Tan Hanchi remained calm, with everything under control.

The Crown Prince was upright and in the position of the heir apparent, so he had no need to take such risks. If the Emperor investigated, he would eventually find out about the Second Prince.

If you don’t want others to know, you shouldn’t do it yourself…

Upon hearing this, General Guo couldn’t help but feel secretly shocked.

He didn’t know that a new courtier so favored by the Emperor had appeared by his side, and his every word was indeed very profound!

At this point, things had become very clear.

“General Guo, take your son outside to wait for a while. I need to consider this carefully,” Emperor Yong said calmly, not revealing any emotions.

Upon hearing this, General Guo respectfully kowtowed and led his son, who was trembling all over, out of the study.

“Lord Tan, what do you think?”

Emperor Yong stood up, looking down at Tan Hanchi.

Tan Hanchi knew that Emperor Yong was testing him.

As a sovereign, Emperor Yong already had an idea in his mind.

Tan Hanchi could guess Emperor Yong’s thoughts, but he dared not appear too clever.

So he pretended to ponder solemnly for a moment before respectfully saying, “Your Majesty, I believe, both leniency and severity should be employed.”

Emperor Yong raised an eyebrow with interest, “Oh? Tell me about it.”

Tan Hanchi bowed respectfully, “Your Majesty, even the unscrupulous person knows that scheming against General Guo means that General Guo taking over the military power in the southern border is the wish of the people.”

“Now that General Guo’s son has committed a serious mistake, and General Guo chose to confess to Your Majesty in a timely manner, it shows his righteous and candid heart.”

“In this way, Your Majesty might spare General Guo’s son’s life as an act of grace.”

“But his son’s wrongdoing cannot be overlooked just because of his father’s merits. Your Majesty can punish him impartially, which is a demonstration of authority.”

“With grace and authority, while General Guo will be grateful and submissive, he will also remember Your Majesty’s mercy and loyalty.”

After Tan Hanchi finished speaking, he remained in a bowing position for a long time.

He had said enough, and he didn’t dare to say anything more profound.

Emperor Yong remained silent for a while, then suddenly walked up to Tan Hanchi and patted his shoulder.

“Lord Tan… you have won my heart. Rise.”

Emperor Yong said, then he personally pulled Tan Hanchi’s arm to help him stand up.

Tan Hanchi’s eyes flashed slightly, and then his face was filled with a pleasantly surprised expression.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

Emperor Yong smiled faintly and then raised his voice, “Huang Pei, summon General Guo!”

---

The Zongren Mansion.

Li Xusheng hurried back, evading the guards in the mansion, and knocked on the Second Prince’s door.

The Second Prince was sitting at his desk, carefully reading the poems written by Meng Guxue.

With a pen in his hand, he marked any doubts on the side with cinnabar ink.

Looking around, dozens of circles were drawn on the opened pieces of paper.

The Second Prince frowned, showing a look of surprise and suspicion.

Many of these poems used unfamiliar allusions, and he had never heard of them.

Moreover, they were stylistically different, some bold and some gentle. He found it hard to imagine that all these poems were from the same person.

What kind of state of mind would prompt Meng Guxue, a ten-year-old girl, to write such poignant lines as “With a bamboo cane and straw shoes, I outpace the horse; Who fears? In a bamboo hat, I welcome the rain and fog throughout my life”?

The Second Prince vaguely felt that there might be some interesting secrets hidden in Meng Guxue.

At this moment, the door was suddenly knocked, bringing the Second Prince’s thoughts back.

“Your Highness, it’s me.”

The Second Prince stood up abruptly, “Asheng, come in.”

Li Xusheng hurriedly pushed the door open and entered. The Second Prince observed his expression and couldn’t help but change his expression slightly.

“Failed?”

Li Xusheng knelt on the ground with a look of frustration and quickly reported everything that happened tonight, striving not to miss any details.

The Second Prince’s face changed several times upon hearing this, then he slowly clenched his fist.

Failed again…

Those two guards from the Guo family appeared very suspiciously!

What nonsense about General Guo always having two guards protecting Guo Gaoyi? He would never believe such nonsense.

The most likely possibility was that someone had figured out his plan or had the same idea and targeted Guo Gaoyi like he did!

“Your Highness, since one blow didn’t work, we’ve alarmed the target. What should we do next?”

The Second Prince’s face looked grim. He had felt more than once that someone always seemed to be one step ahead of him, cunningly cutting off his retreat.

“Have you cleaned up all the loose ends?” The Second Prince asked coldly.

Li Xusheng was startled, realizing that he might be in trouble!

According to the original plan, after confirming Guo Gaoyi’s guilt tonight, he would have sent someone to kill those yamen runners to avoid being caught by General Guo.

But tonight’s plan failed, and the yamen runners were in the same room with the Guo family guards, so he didn’t have the chance to act…

“Quickly go! Eliminate them all!”

The Second Prince’s voice was low, and his handsome face twisted slightly. This was the first time he had lost his composure in front of Li Xusheng.

Li Xusheng’s body trembled suddenly, acknowledging with a “yes,” then turned and ran into the night.