Chapter 181 Boating on the Lake
"Your son greets you, father." Zhao Xing bowed.
The official waved his hand and said, "Are you here to inquire about Prince Yong's assassination of you?"
"Your Majesty is wise." Zhao Xing said with a smile, "This is why I came here."
The emperor asked someone to let Zhao Xing sit down and said, "Eunuch Liu, please talk to the prince about the situation."
"Yes!"
Eunuch Liu responded, bowed to Zhao Xing and said, "Your Highness, according to investigation, these assassins were hiding in the manors of Prince Yong's mansion. After the evidence was conclusive, His Majesty ordered them to be arrested. According to Prince Yong, these assassins were hired by a man named Ma Lianpeng at a high price. They had been hiding in various manors for several months. The last time Your Highness went out of the city, Ma Lianpeng told Prince Yong that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so Prince Yong ordered the assassination."
"Where is Ma Lianpeng?" Zhao Xing asked.
He knew that this Ma Lianpeng should be the one who escaped as Yin Hanzhang mentioned.
"Ma Lianpeng escaped two days ago." said Eunuch Liu.
"Your Majesty, I think something is wrong with this matter. The tongues of those assassins were cut off that day. Judging from the wounds, they had been cut off since childhood. These people should have been trained as death warriors for a long time." Zhao Xing said.
"You are right. This is also the reason why I did not rush to take action at the beginning. However, after investigating for a long time, I was unable to find the origins of those assassins, so I ordered their arrest. The people I sent did not find this Ma Lianpeng, so he escaped." The emperor said with a gloomy face.
Zhao Xing was his only son. Assassinating Zhao Xing would be like cutting off his bloodline. How could he not be angry?
Zhao Xing wanted to tell Yin Hanzhang what he had found out, but he felt it was difficult to conceal it. After thinking about it, he decided not to say it and changed the subject, "I wonder how the emperor plans to deal with Prince Yong?"
The emperor was silent for a while, then said, "Prince Yong dared to murder you, no matter if there was someone behind it or not, he should be killed. As for the others, they should be exiled."
The emperor was kind-hearted by nature, and Prince Yong was the son of his younger brother.
In the end, he still couldn't bear to exterminate Prince Yong's entire lineage.
Zhao Xing was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. He hesitated for a moment and finally said nothing.
"Your Majesty, I want to meet Prince Yong." Zhao Xing said.
"If you want to go and see him, just go." The emperor did not stop him and wrote a handwritten note to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took his father's imperial edict and left.
…………
The Ministry of Justice was not far from the imperial city, and with the emperor's order, naturally no one would stop it.
"Uncle Wang, it's only been a short time since we last met the night before, and you've become like this." Zhao Xing smiled as he looked at Prince Yong who was brought here.
At this time, Prince Yong was only wearing his inner garments, with disheveled hair and a few strands of grass hanging in his hair.
"Your Highness is quite elegant, and even came to see a dying man like me."
Prince Yong came over and sat down opposite Zhao Xing. He brushed away his hair that was blocking his view, and picked up the teapot on the table to pour tea.
"How outrageous!" Gu Tingye shouted.
Zhao Xing waved his hand to stop Gu Tingye and said with a smile: "I thought Uncle Wang would beg for mercy from me."
Prince Yong took a sip of the teacup and said calmly, "Is begging for mercy useful? Even if you are willing to let me go, the emperor will not agree. Neither will the civil and military officials."
"Uncle Wang is really smart." Zhao Xing praised.
What he said was indeed correct. Even if the emperor was willing to spare Prince Yong's life, the civil and military officials would not agree.
"The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. There is nothing much to say." Prince Yong said self-deprecatingly.
He was naturally afraid of death, but after he was arrested yesterday, he had figured it out in prison.
What you have done is likely to lead to death, and begging for mercy is useless. In this case, why not retain some dignity?
"I like to talk to smart people." Zhao Xing said with a smile, "I want to know about Ma Lianpeng. Uncle Wang will tell me, right?"
"I want to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin, how can I not say it?"
Prince Yong said with hatred in his eyes: "Ma Lianpeng was a teacher recruited into the palace ten years ago. He is very talented, and I gradually regarded him as my confidant. He hinted to me many times that as long as I kill His Highness, I can become the crown prince. When several princes of the official family died young, there were calls in the court for the official family to adopt a royal family member. At that time, I had the highest voice, but it was because of your appearance that I completely lost hope.
So under his constant persuasion, I was moved.
Ma Lianpeng told me that when he was studying abroad in his early years, he met many outlaws. These people were desperate criminals who were willing to do anything as long as they were paid enough. So I gave him some money and asked him to contact them.
Only after I was arrested did I realize that those people were all assassins! "
At the end, Prince Yong gritted his teeth.
No matter how stupid he was, he knew he was being tricked when he heard the news.
"Since Uncle Wang knows this, have you ever thought about who plotted against you?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Prince Yan!" Prince Yong said without thinking, "It must be him! When all the officials in the court asked the emperor to adopt their children, besides me, the one who had the highest voice was Prince Yan. If the assassination is successful, he only needs to produce evidence, and I will be dead without a doubt, and the throne will naturally be his."
"Where is the evidence?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Ha ha!"
Prince Yong seemed to have heard a huge joke and said, "Your Highness, do you think this is a government case? Do you need evidence? If Your Highness does not take action, Prince Yan will definitely take action against Your Highness. In order to trick me into taking action, he started planning ten years in advance. With my experience as a lesson, he will definitely be more careful. Your Highness may not be able to defend himself by then!"
Zhao Xing frowned slightly, in fact he also suspected it was King Yan.
There is a purpose for everything you do.
How old was he ten years ago? It's impossible for him to have any enemies.
His father, the emperor, had always been kind and benevolent. Apart from killing Feng Deguang some time ago, he had never killed a single civil servant.
It is even more impossible that anyone would want to kill him to avenge his father.
The only possibility is that they wanted the throne. Although the Western Xia and Liao dynasties are also possible, they wanted to cause chaos in the Song Dynasty through this method.
But if we think carefully about what has happened in the two countries over the past decade, this possibility is unlikely.
However, there is no evidence at all now, and Ma Lianpeng has already fled to Western Xia.
What Prince Yong just said seems to make some sense, but in fact it is nonsense.
He just thought that it was King Yan who plotted against him, and he said this just to take revenge on King Yan.
Zhao Xing asked some more questions about Ma Lianpeng, and Prince Yong did not hide anything and told him everything he knew.
However, Zhao Xing did not find anything useful.
Knowing that he would not get anything out of asking, Zhao Xing said, "Let someone take him down."
"Yes!" Sanshui responded and went out to call people.
"Your Highness, could you please tell me how the emperor plans to deal with my family?" asked Prince Yong.
"Those who plot to murder the crown prince will be executed along with their entire family!" Zhao Xing said calmly.
Prince Yong staggered and almost fell, his face turned pale.
When Sanshui called in the imperial guards who had escorted him here, he was escorted out in a daze.
"Do you regret it?" Zhao Xing asked.
Prince Yong paused and said in a hoarse voice: "If I succeed, they will be the princes and princesses. If I fail, they should die with me, which is also what they should do."
After saying that, he walked forward.
"Let's go!" Zhao Xing stood up and said.
He did not tell Prince Yong that his father only intended to kill him.
King Yong sent people to assassinate him, but killing him directly would have been too easy for him.
…………
After returning to the East Palace, Zhao Xing learned from Liu Sanshi that Rulan and Minglan had already arrived, and were boating in the garden lake with Yu Yanran and others.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xing went straight to the garden.
When he arrived near the lake, Zhao Xing heard a burst of silvery laughter.
In the lake, a cruise ship was floating in the center of the lake, with all the windows on both sides of the cruise ship open and the gauze curtains lowered, swaying gently in the breeze.
Seven or eight figures could be vaguely seen, and the laughter came from the boat.
Zhao Xing came to sit in the pavilion, enjoying the warm sunshine and listening to the laughter coming from the direction of the cruise ship from time to time. His heart, which had been a little irritated because of Prince Yong's affairs, slowly calmed down.
Perhaps Yu Yanran and the others who were talking in the cabin discovered Zhao Xing, and the boat moved towards the pavilion.
"Your Highness!"
When they were still more than ten meters away from the pavilion, the gauze curtain on the side of the boat was pulled open by the palace maids, and Yu Yanran and Sanlan bowed to Zhao Xingfu.
"I hope I didn't disturb you?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Yu Yanran shook her head and smiled, "Your Highness, would you like to come aboard and sit for a while?"
"Okay." Zhao Xing nodded and said, "It just so happens that I haven't been boating on the lake for a long time."
Upon hearing this, Yu Yanran quickly ordered the eunuch at the helm to steer the boat towards the pavilion.
The lake in the East Palace Garden has a dedicated dock, but the height of the pavilion can also be used as a dock.
When the boat stopped beside the pavilion, Zhao Xing stepped on a stool, crossed the fence, and took Sanshui on the boat.
"I have met His Highness the Crown Prince."
Zhao Xing walked into the cabin, and Yu Yanran, San and the palace maids who were serving them all bowed and saluted.
"No need to be polite." Zhao Xing waved his hand, sat down at the low table in the middle of the cabin, and said, "Sit down and talk."
Yu Yanran and Sheng Shulan sat on Zhao Xing's left and right, while Rulan and Minglan sat opposite him.
There were fruit snacks and tea-making utensils on the table.
After Yu Yanran sat down, she started to get busy making tea for Zhao Xing.
"I just heard you guys laughing happily. What interesting things were you talking about?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
"Just now, Sister Rulan said that the scenery of this garden is beautiful. I joked with her that she should be entering the East Palace at this time next year, and then she will be able to enjoy it every day. Sister Rulan is shy and is embarrassed." Yu Yanran said with a smile.
Hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Ruolan and Minglan. It had been almost five months since they last met.
It is said that girls change a lot when they grow up, but it does not mean that girls will change a lot only when they reach the age of eighteen.
Rather, it means that women will undergo many changes as they grow up.
Although only five months have passed, a lot has changed.
Rulan was wearing a light pink double-breasted dress embroidered with plum blossoms. Her hair was high and fixed with a gold hairpin with pearls hanging on it. There were also a few pearl flowers on both sides of her hair.
Minglan was wearing a light blue dress that was only embroidered with a few orchids. She didn't have many jewelries on her, making her look rather plain.
(End of this chapter)