vstars Chapter 402 The case takes another unexpected turn.
Chapter 402 The case takes another unexpected turn.
Yes, he was talking about Zhao Xiaoman. He still thinks Zhao Xiaoman's ideas are naive, so naive that when she said those things, she never expected that she would become his mortal enemy who ruined his revenge plan!
"Your master advocates peace! I advocate war! The conflict between us is irreconcilable. As long as she exists, His Majesty will be hampered by her. Therefore, I have decided to ambush and kill Zhao Xiaoman in the most treacherous section of the mission's route, the Tiankeng Canyon..."
Yang Liuming spoke very softly and slowly.
But Zhao Xuan felt as if she had been struck by a heavy hammer, the pain so intense that she couldn't speak. She bent over, panting heavily, cold sweat mingling with tears in her eyes, dripping onto the ground.
Gu Zhanghua was also in unbearable pain. He turned to hug Zhao Xuan, but then turned to glare at Yang Liuming.
"You! How are you any different from the current Emperor of Yue?! Just because of differing political views, you ruthlessly killed him. You have such a cruel heart!"
"Don't misunderstand him! The master did indeed devise a plan to kill Zhao Xiaoman, but he didn't carry it out. Then the old man Xuanji found out about it and threatened to kill himself. The master had no choice but to send people to the sinkhole and order the Flame Army to stop their operation immediately!"
Jian Qiu's words once again shocked Zhao Xuan and Gu Zhanghua!
Zhao Xuan recalled that dusk, the battlefield strewn with corpses, her master wounded by a poisoned arrow, who led her in a desperate fight to escape the encirclement, only to die with resentment in his heart...
This completely contradicts what Jian Qiu just said!
Zhao Xuan looked directly into Jian Qiu's eyes, and her first instinct was that Jian Qiu was lying!
"If that's what you're saying, then the operation should be terminated! But why... why is my master dead, why is His Highness the Crown Prince dead? Everyone is dead, only Xiao Wu and I escaped?"
"that is because……"
Just as Jian Qiu was about to explain, Yang Liuming grabbed her hand.
"Let me tell you!"
Yang Liuming looked at Zhao Xuan and gave a bitter smile.
"After the incident, I learned that His Highness the Crown Prince had died on the spot, and that Zhao Xiaoman and her apprentice were missing. I was utterly shocked! I had clearly given the order to halt the operation, so why did it still end in such a tragic way?! So I immediately led my guards to the scene..."
Yang Liuming didn't continue speaking, but instead picked up the list of orphans on the table.
"You found that a total of 92 people were selected from various branches of the Fuze Relief Home to be sent to the Liyang branch, but only 83 people were ultimately placed there, right?"
"Yes!"
Gu Zhanghua nodded immediately; he was already very familiar with these numbers.
They had been puzzled by this for a long time, but now it seems that the nine missing people must be related to Yang Liuming.
Yang Liuming indeed brought up this matter.
"Because the nine best among them had already been selected by me to join the Dark Guard! That's why the Dark Guards who accompanied me that day obeyed my orders, cleaned up the scene in time, and erased all evidence of the Flame Army's involvement!"
Eleven members of the Flame Army died on the spot. Their bodies were not taken away in time and were secretly buried on the spot that same day. That's why you can only find forty-two people now... Moreover, I found evidence of Vietnamese army involvement on the spot, as well as roadblocks set up by bandits from Jigong Mountain..."
(For those who can't remember, please refer to Chapters 325 and 326, The Mysterious Disappearance of the Orphan, Parts 1 and 2.)
So that's how it is. Back then, Gu Zhanghua specifically sought out Yang Liuming to inquire in detail about the situation at the scene of the incident after the attack on the mission.
Gu Zhanghua remembered it clearly!
Yang Liuming mentioned the poisoned arrowhead, the identity tag, and the bandits of Jigong Mountain. All of these have witnesses and physical evidence, but the Flame Army also appeared at the crime scene, yet there is no evidence of that.
This is because all of this evidence was destroyed by Yang Liuming and the secret guards he controlled!
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuan was so angry that she laughed instead!
Her laughter contained an immense sense of desolation and sorrow!
"Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! The Emperor entrusted you with his most trusted secret guards, yet you used them to cover up your crimes! You shifted all the blame onto the Yue army and the bandits! You deceived the world, you deceived the Emperor, you deserve to die!"
"Heh, does he deserve to die? Perhaps! It happened so suddenly, I didn't even think before I did it... Later, I was ordered by His Majesty to question the Fifth Prince after he woke up from his coma, and I learned that if His Highness the Crown Prince and Zhao Xiaoman hadn't switched carriages, Zhao Xiaoman would have been the one to die, and His Highness the Crown Prince might have escaped..."
At this point, Yang Liuming looked up to the sky and sighed deeply!
"How could I be so audacious as to kill His Highness the Crown Prince?! I am the one who least wants the Xia Kingdom to fall into chaos! But I never expected that I would orchestrate His Highness's death!"
Suddenly, Yang Liuming covered his face with both hands, and a sobbing sound came from his fingertips.
"Do you know? My master, the Venerable Xuanji... after learning of the tragedy, actually... starved himself to death!"
Yang Liuming released his grip, his eyes bloodshot and brimming with tears. He looked at Zhao Xuan and Gu Zhanghua, seemingly trying to excuse himself, or perhaps repenting, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Before his death, he earnestly admonished me to have a kind heart... Only then did I realize my mistake, disband the Flame Army, gradually incorporate them into the civilian population, and hand over the command of the Dark Guards to His Majesty. From then on, I wholeheartedly served His Majesty..."
Zhao Xuan and Gu Zhanghua remained silent, still reeling from the shock of the old man Xuanji's death.
Zhao Xuan recalled that when she was a child, she had heard her master mention more than once that he had never been able to contact the old man Xuanji, which was very strange.
It turns out that the mysterious old man was first secretly imprisoned by Yang Liuming, and after learning of the tragedy, he starved himself to death!
He must have thought it was his fault at the time, that he had taken on a disciple but failed to teach him properly.
A teacher for a day is a father for life; if a son is not taught, it is the father's fault.
How heartbroken the old man must have been before his death? Did he want to atone for Yang Liuming's sins with his own death?
Zhao Xuan still remembers that when she and Huang Shuo were in Mingshan Village, they first learned that Fuze Relief Home was founded by the old man Xuanji. The village chief and his wife were grateful to the old man and always cherished their best wishes for him.
They believe that since the old man Xuanji has disappeared for many years and has never appeared in front of the world again, he must be living a peaceful life on some sacred mountain. They also hope that he is doing well...
Master, and my grandmaster whom I have never met, will you meet in heaven?
At this moment, Gu Zhanghua was thinking about something else strange. He frowned and looked at Yang Liuming.
"There is still one thing I don't understand. Since the Flame Army obeys your orders, why did they act recklessly when you ordered them to stop?"
Seeing that Yang Liuming was deeply mired in grief, Jian Qiu picked up the conversation and replied:
“We also found it strange at the time, and the trusted confidant we sent to deliver the order never returned to report. So we sent people to search along the way, and surprisingly, we found the body of the confidant by the side of a road that was the only way to the sinkhole canyon. The horse he was riding was just a skeleton…”
When Jian Qiu spoke of this matter, only helplessness and bewilderment remained in her eyes.
"After extensive investigation, it was discovered that the trusted confidant had been swarmed and killed by a group of starving refugees who then devoured the horse meat, which led to the abrupt halt of the order to stop the operation."