vstars Chapter 912: The Unlearned Young Master 13
Chapter 912: The Unlearned Young Master 13
"uncle?"
Yun Yi's explanation cleared up some of her doubts, but more confusions arose.
In the evening, Yun Yi brought two people to her and said that her uncle stayed behind to protect them. From then on, she couldn't understand why her uncle was just a businessman, so how could there be someone with such superb martial arts skills around him?
But at that time she explained to herself that the caravan might encounter various dangers while traveling, and having people who knew martial arts stay in the caravan could reduce a lot of trouble.
But now, Yun Zhi can no longer use such a reason to explain.
He was able to enter the city after curfew and was not at all panicked after capturing Yuchi Hong. He was even able to calmly state that Yuchi Hong would never return to Yue State again.
The composure he showed after imprisoning a prince from another country was obviously not something an ordinary businessman should have.
"Sister, my maternal grandfather, like my grandfather, was the Imperial Tutor when Your Majesty was still the Crown Prince. My uncle even served as Your Majesty's study companion. Do you think my uncle is really just a merchant?"
Unlike Yun Wen, who had limited talent, Mei Peng stood out among all the students in the Imperial College and was chosen by the late emperor to be the companion of the then Crown Prince.
After the death of the previous emperor and the crown prince ascended the throne, Mei Peng, his companion, did not rise to prominence as others had expected. Instead, he resigned from all his positions in the palace and started doing business.
In the second year of his business, His Majesty began to let him take over the procurement of the imperial palace, which is what people in the market called the "imperial merchant".
However, in the past two years, Mei Peng began to form a caravan to travel around the world, and the duties of the imperial merchant were assigned to other merchants.
Everyone, including Yun Zhi, knew that Mei Peng was most likely appointed by His Majesty to do business so that he would not make money through the Ministry of Revenue of the imperial court, and the money earned would not go into the national treasury.
This kind of thing is harmless. Emperors of every dynasty would try their best to make some small treasury for themselves.
After all, Mei Peng is just His Majesty's white glove.
However, no one knew that His Majesty asked Mei Peng to do business, not only to make money, but also for another purpose, which was to travel around, investigate public sentiment and supervise officials.
Over the past decade, Mei Peng has built a complete monitoring system and collected a lot of intelligence.
Especially in the past two years, he has traveled to various countries to do business and has established informants in those countries. This is why Yuchi Hong was discovered as soon as he arrived in Langguo.
But in the final analysis, Mei Peng is just an agent of this system. The only person that everyone in the system is loyal to is the emperor.
How can I allow others to sleep soundly next to my bed?
His Majesty gave Mei Peng more trust than any other courtier, but at the same time he also remembered deeply the words "people's hearts are fickle" and was always on guard against Mei Peng.
When everything is calm, the relationship between the ruler and his subjects can maintain this kind of relationship, but if something unexpected happens, the relationship between the ruler and his subjects will also change.
Mei Peng watched Yuchi Hong gradually regain consciousness. He knew that the emperor would know the news that he had captured Yuchi Hong tomorrow morning, and would also know that it was Yun Yi who actually led Yuchi Hong to be captured.
"You two, uncle and nephew, are both quite capable."
As soon as Yuchi Hong opened his eyes, he saw Mei Peng sitting at the top, and he knew that he had no chance of escape.
"Thank you for the compliment." Mei Peng waved his hand. The person behind him came forward with a written paper. "Sign this, and I can spare your life."
Yuchi Hong looked at the piece of paper covered with densely written small characters in the dim candlelight.
After reading it quickly, he sneered, "You guys really are... you always find excuses to accuse someone of something."
He was forced to admit that he was ordered by the Emperor of Yue to sneak into Lang State in an attempt to steal the royal treasure of Lang State, the Winter-Biding Rhinoceros. When he failed to steal the treasure, he forcibly abducted Master Jingci and tried to threaten the Emperor of Lang State to use the Winter-Biding Rhinoceros in exchange.
Yuchi Hong admitted all of the above, but when did he want to take the opportunity to assassinate the Emperor of Lang?
Stealing the cold-fighting rhinoceros and kidnapping Master Jingci as a hostage were not enough to take his life. As long as the Yue royal family did not admit it, they could just pretend that nothing had happened.
But the assassination of the Emperor of Lang, whether true or false, was enough to cause a conflict between the two countries.
"Master Mei, what good is it for you to stay in Lang Kingdom? Why don't you surrender to our Yue Kingdom?"
"With your abilities, you'll be a second-rank official after arriving in Yue. Why do you have to stay in Lang and do these shady things?"
Mei Peng laughed and waved his hand to have Yuchi Hong taken away.
After dawn, he was secretly escorted back to Beijing. By then, regardless of whether Yuchi Hong signed the confession, the fact that he assassinated the Emperor of Lang would be a fact.
The Emperor of Lang was nearly fifty years old. There was no emperor who did not want to leave a good reputation after his death, and the reasons for leaving a good reputation were nothing more than civil and military achievements.
Under the emperor's governance in recent years, there have been no termites in the court, and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. Even when major natural disasters occurred, they were dealt with in a timely manner, and there were no large-scale displacement of people.
The next step is to expand the territory, and if you want to start a war, you need a reasonable reason.
The timing of Yuchi Hong's appearance was simply perfect.
"Master, do you want to go to Yun's house?" the servant asked after taking Yuchi Hong away.
"Let's go tomorrow." It was already late at night. Even if we went there now, Yun Zhi and Yun Yi would have already gone to bed. "Tell the prefect to take the officials back. I won't see any of them. Tell them to forget everything that happened tonight and pretend we never showed up."
After entering the city after curfew, the gatekeepers notified the local officials. At this moment, a group of people were waiting to see Mei Peng.
It has been rumored that His Majesty has spies all over the country, secretly monitoring local officials.
But that is just a rumor, and only a few people can see its true appearance.
They had not expected that tonight the gatekeepers would see His Majesty's unique token with two dragons circling the pillar.
Double dragons circling a pillar was a pattern that His Majesty ordered painters to draw in the year he ascended the throne. It was made into tokens and given as rewards to meritorious officials, but the names of those who were rewarded were not made public.
At that time, His Majesty issued an order that in the future, seeing the token with two dragons circling the pillar would be like seeing His Majesty in person.
Few people have seen the token in recent years, but this matter is known to everyone in Lang State.
After everyone left, Mei Peng rubbed his swollen forehead and turned back to his bedroom to rest.
It took him several horses to reach Lingzhou, and after arriving he worked for most of the night. He was very tired now.
However, after lying down, Mei Peng did not sleep well that night. In a daze, he seemed to have a dream.
In the dream, Yun Yi was kidnapped by Yuchi Hong, along with Princess Luo Xuan, but this time Master Jingci was not there.
Yuchi Hong did not take them abducted to a villa in the capital, but to the State of Yue.