bookrebus Chapter 697: Collusion with treason?
Chapter 697: Collusion with treason?
"What's the problem?" Xiao Yue asked immediately.
"That man looked like a food deliveryman, but after leaving the posthouse, he found a secluded place to change his disguise. I followed him all the way and found that he entered the residence of the Minister of War!"
"The Minister of War's Mansion?" Xiao Yue was startled and asked hurriedly, "Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
"Princess, I am sure." The guard said immediately, "Although I usually work in the palace, I will not make a mistake in admitting the location of the Minister of War's residence."
Xiao Yue frowned, thinking quickly in his mind.
"He disguised himself as a food delivery man, traveling between the posthouse and the residence of the Minister of War. Could it be that Murong Yu was colluding with the Minister of War..."
As soon as these words were spoken, the guard in front of Xiao Yue immediately changed his expression.
"Princess, this is a serious matter. I'm afraid we can't..."
"This is indeed a big deal. Without evidence, you must not speak nonsense. Once it gets out, it will easily cause unrest in the court." Xiao Yue quickly interrupted the guard and looked at him seriously. "Without my order, this matter must not be leaked. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, don't blame me for being rude!"
The guard quickly bowed and replied, "Yes."
Xiao Yue did not delay any longer. She got on the carriage and quickly returned to the palace. After returning, she immediately went to the imperial study to ask for an audience with Emperor Xiao and reported everything she had discovered today.
"Yuer, this matter is of great importance. Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is precisely because I know this matter is so serious that I dare not say anything nonsense or conceal anything. I saw the person delivering the food leave the posthouse with my own eyes, and later the guards who followed secretly saw her enter the Minister of War's residence with their own eyes. Everything I said is true, please Your Majesty, please understand!"
The Xilin envoy suddenly came to visit and proposed a marriage alliance. Now that I think about it, there is indeed something wrong. After all, according to what the palace people said, the relationship between the two countries was not very good, so why did they suddenly want to make peace through a marriage alliance?
If the marriage was just a cover for the purpose of coming to the imperial city, meeting court officials, and preparing for future war between the two countries, then everything makes sense!
More importantly, if Xilin has already decided to go to war, then as a princess married into the war, wouldn't it be a dead end for her?
"Father, the Xilin Kingdom has evil ambitions and has been secretly in contact with the Ministry of War. I'm afraid they have long intended to start a war. This marriage is just to paralyze our Beiyang. Father, we must not be fooled!" Xiao Yue spoke excitedly.
Fortunately, I discovered something was wrong before leaving the Imperial City. Otherwise, if I really followed Murong Yu and the others back to Xilin, then...
Xiao Yue took a deep breath and felt extremely grateful.
However, she did not see anger or relief on Emperor Xiao's face. He only frowned with deep wrinkles between his brows, revealing a strong sense of thought.
Xiao Yue suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart, thought about it, and tried to speak actively.
"Father, since there is something fishy going on in Xilin, my daughter cannot marry there. I hope you can issue an edict to cancel the marriage."
Emperor Xiao's eyes moved from the table in front of him to Xiao Yue, "Yuer, whether this matter is true or not still needs to be investigated, and we can't jump to a conclusion so quickly. As for the marriage, it has been decided now, and the wedding party is ready. If it is canceled rashly without solid evidence, it will only give Xilin a handle."
"Father, do you mean to let your daughter continue to marry in Xilin?" Xiao Yue looked at Emperor Xiao in disbelief.
Even though her relationship with Emperor Xiao was not close on a daily basis, she was still Emperor Xiao's biological daughter after all. It would have been fine to send her to marry without knowing Xilin's conspiracy, but now that she knew, she still wanted to send her to Xilin. Wouldn't that be pushing her into the fire pit and watching her die?
The shock in Xiao Yue's eyes was so obvious that Emperor Xiao couldn't help but look away.
"Yuer, father doesn't want you to marry Xilin, nor does he disbelieve you. It's just that before this matter is confirmed, any suspicious actions will only alert the enemy."
If the Ministry of War really colluded with Xilin, it would be a major event that would shock the whole government and the public, and he must also find out whether Xilin had obtained anything from the Ministry of War, or to what extent the two sides had colluded!
"Father, can you..."
"As long as you can cooperate and find out everything, you will have made a great contribution. From now on, whether it is a title, a fiefdom, or anything else, as long as I can do it, I will definitely not treat you unfairly."
Emperor Xiao's deep gaze fell on Xiao Yue once again. With this promise, he used both kindness and force to suppress all the unfinished words of Xiao Yue.
Xiao Yue suddenly shuddered and understood in her heart that since Emperor Xiao had said so, she had to do it whether she wanted to or not.
If you continue to disobey, you will get nothing in return, but you still have to do what you have to do.
Although this thought made people feel cold in their hearts, it also calmed Xiao Yuetong down.
"My daughter understands. I will definitely cooperate with you, father."
"Okay, this is the Princess of Beiyang, my good daughter!" Emperor Xiao nodded with satisfaction.
Soon, Shen Yanxi and several other important court officials who were trusted by Emperor Xiao were summoned into the palace in private.
Everyone was very surprised by the news that the Ministry of War was very likely in collusion with Xilin. Two court officials could not help but curse angrily in the absence of any evidence.
Shen Yanxi was the calmest among them and understood that the most important thing now was to find out whether Murong Yu had obtained anything from the Ministry of War.
The next day, everything seemed to be normal inside and outside the court, but secretly, additional personnel were sent to the Ministry of War and the post station to keep a close eye on the situation.
At the same time, according to Xiao Yue's description of the face, the man disguised as a vegetable delivery man was successfully caught in the evening.
At first, the other party denied it and claimed that he had never been to the post station and had never been a food delivery man.
Pei Zhaozhi personally interrogated him for a whole night, and after trying almost every possible method, he finally pried him open.
In the imperial study, Pei Zhaozhi reported all the information he obtained from the interrogation to Emperor Xiao.
"Your Majesty, according to the account of the captured person, when the Xilin envoy entered the imperial city, he began to secretly contact and win over Minister Hu. However, at the beginning, Minister Hu was firm in his position and ignored Xilin completely. But a few days ago, after receiving a letter secretly sent by Xilin, he suddenly changed his mind for some reason and agreed to discuss it. He also sent his trusted subordinates to disguise themselves as food delivery people to sneak into the posthouse, hoping to meet Murong Yu privately."