Chapter 161: Swordsmanship

Before dawn, the rain had finally stopped for almost a night. The gray mist covered the sky above the capital. An unusual sound suddenly occurred in the Qin Palace. Countless guards ran towards the yard on the east side. The yard was already crowded with people. On the ground beside the door, a bloody person was lying on the ground beside the door. The head was gone. However, judging from the burned limbs, this person should be Zhou Ming. The two maids who served him knelt on the side, trembling with fear. Not only the maids, but all the guards were terrified. Zhou Ming actually died in the hinterland of the Qin Palace. This is very likely to be done by the insiders in the palace. Can the Qin King, who has always been kind and merciless, let them go?

"You are down!"

The guards dodged to both sides and flashed a way out. King Zhu Chuang of Qin rushed over with more than a dozen personal guards. Zhu Chuang's face was extremely gloomy. He stopped when he was five or six steps away from the corpse. He looked at the ugly body with bare body, and his anger began to burn in his eyes, and his body couldn't help but tremble slowly.

"What the hell is going on?"

Zhu Chuang suddenly roared, and he grabbed the guard officer responsible for protecting Zhou Ming, and shouted viciously: "Tell me, who did it?"

Zhou Ming had always been a weapon he sent to deal with Li Weizheng, but now he was suddenly killed. His wishful thinking was lost, lost, angry, shame, and all kinds of feelings poured into his heart. He began to lose his composure. Amid the roar of the King of Qin, the guard officer replied tremblingly: "We don't know, it's always calm. We heard the maid's screams coming. He was dead. The assassin escaped from the back window."

"Maid?" Zhu Ren turned around and stared at the two maids, and asked gloomyly: "Who did you think he killed them?"

"I don't... know." The two maids were almost fainted by scaring.

"Come here!" Zhu Zhi shouted sternly: "Drag these two maids to death and beat them to death with sticks. All the guards on duty will beat them to eighty sticks."

After saying that, he waved his hand and left angrily. There were only two maids in the yard begging for mercy and the screams of the guards being beaten up.

In the study, Zhu Ren sat at the table in a daze in a depressed mood. Zhou Ming's sudden killing made him a little confused. Although he was a vassal king, he did not have many resources available. Especially when the prince was seriously ill and there were new opportunities to the East Palace, he did not dare to do too much in Li Weizheng's affairs. Otherwise, he would have sent someone to kill Li Weizheng's family. Zhou Ming was the last breakthrough he had decided these days. This accompanied Li Weizheng to go to sea, Goryeo and Japan.

The translation can easily compile various stories about Li Weizheng's affair with Japan. Zhu Chuang knew that affair with Japan was one of the most hated crimes of his father. Wasn't Hu Weiyong the crime of affair with Japan the time of the year the murder of Zhou Ming? Now that Zhou Ming was killed, his carefully planned plan failed. Moreover, the Goryeo envoy had arrived in the capital yesterday. According to convention, the father would meet him in the next two days, which means that he had no time to find a new breakthrough...

"Li Weizheng!" Zhu Ren slapped the table hard and gritted his teeth, "You have a good method and even used assassination. Aren't you afraid that I will follow you?"

"Your Highness, my subordinates think that Zhou Ming was not killed by Li Weizheng." At some point, Shao Wenda appeared at the door. Zhu Ren was startled and said with a calm face: "When did you come in, why don't you report?"

Shao Wenda hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down and said, "I am not in a hurry to report it because of the matter. Please forgive me."

"Get up!" Zhu Ren glanced at him in confusion and asked again: "What do you say, Zhou Ming was not killed by Li Weizheng?"

"It's very simple. Li Weizheng didn't know that Zhou Ming was still alive. We went to Beijing secretly. How could he know that Zhou Ming was in the palace?"

Shao Wenda's words calmed down Zhu Chuang. It was true. Li Weizheng had no reason to know Zhou Ming's secret and did not have the ability to assassinate him. So who did this? Zhu Chuang glanced at Shao Wenda, and saw that he wanted to say but stopped, and said unhappy: "Speak straight and don't hesitate if you have anything to say."

"I have been thinking that besides us, there is actually someone else who knows about Zhou Ming."

Zhu Chuang pondered for a moment, and he suddenly realized, "You mean King Qi, but Zhou Ming was sent by him. He didn't kill him at the beginning, so what's the point of killing him now?"

"Your Highness think about it, what kind of impact will the killing of Zhou Ming have caused? Unless your Highness gives up the removal of Li Weizheng, your Highness will not provide evidence, but will affect himself and leave a bad impression on the emperor. If your Highness's journey to the East Palace is blocked, your Highness will think about it, who is the happiest person?"

With a 'bang!', before Shao Wenda finished speaking, Zhu Ren had already slapped the table hard, "Bastard!" He gritted his teeth and cursed. He finally saw the vicious heart of the King of Qi. He knew that the King of Qi had hidden selfishness, and now he proved his judgment more correctly.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Chuang asked again: "Zhou Ming is dead. What should I do next?"

This is the issue that Zhu Chuang is concerned about. Time is tight, how should he catch Li Weizheng's handle? Shao Wenda couldn't help but sigh in his heart. This King of Qin is indeed a person who cannot accomplish great things. When is it now? He still misses his personal grudges, regardless of importance, and is unclear about public and private affairs. No wonder King Yan and others were able to catch his short handle and play with him in their palms again and again. This time Zhou Ming was killed, and he couldn't see such obvious things.

The emperor was about to set off the new crown prince, and he was still thinking about dealing with a mere local commander. It would be strange if such a person could ascend the throne. Shao Wenda was despised in his heart, but he still said respectfully on the surface: "Your Highness, although Zhou Ming is dead, the confession he left is still there. Your Highness might as well continue to use it. In addition, if you are not your Highness alone, your Highness might as well discuss with Lord Zhan, maybe there is a breakthrough there."

A sentence reminded Zhu Ci. Indeed, he had forgotten Zhan Hui's side. Maybe he had some good strategies. At this moment, a sudden sound of rapid footsteps came from outside the door, and a guard reported outside: "Your Highness, there is an emergency news from Fuzhou."

Zhu Chuang and Shao Wenda were both stunned at the same time. Why was there news in Fuzhou at this time? Zhu Chuang quickly ordered: "Send it in quickly."

Lu Feng, the new commander of Fujian, was transferred from Shaanxi, and he was also a member of Zhu Chuang. However, he rarely reported any information with Zhu Chuang. Although he had some doubts, the word "emergency" still moved Zhu Chuang. After a moment, the guard brought in a letter delivery man. The letter delivery man knelt down and kowtowed, and handed a quick letter of eight hundred miles and said: "This is a quick letter sent by my general, and the memorial has been sent to the Ministry of War simultaneously."

Zhu Ren opened the letter and read it carefully. He stood up in surprise and couldn't help laughing and said, "It's God who helped me!"

At this time, Zhu Chuang had completely forgotten the frustration of Zhou Ming's death. He couldn't help but feel the ecstasy in his heart and said to Shao Wenda: "Do you know what Li Wei did on Xiaoliuqiu Island? The soldiers rushed more than 10,000 fishermen who fled from my Ming Dynasty to the beach. In the end, Li Wei actually spared them all. It's a pity and he can't live. See how he explains to the emperor this time."

Shao Wenda also took the letter and read it. The letter was filled with vicious attacks and resentment from Lu Feng to Li Weizheng, as if there was a deep hatred between them. Shao Wenda immediately understood that Li Weizheng led Shandong soldiers to wipe out all the Japanese pirates thousands of miles away. Although Li Weizheng made a contribution, he offended the military faction in Fujian. His excellence contrasted with the incompetence of the Fujian military. How could the Fujian military not hate him to the core? The letter said that the Fujian navy captured several fishermen from Xiaoliuqiu Island. They confessed that Li Wei had opened a net on Xiaoliuqiu Island and released fishermen who disobeyed the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea. This made the Fujian military feel like they had a treasure and immediately submitted a memorial to impeach Li Weizheng for his crime of resisting the imperial edict.

"What should you do when your Highness is ready?"

"What should I do if I have nothing to do? I will go to Zhan Hui to discuss it immediately. Li Wei will definitely go to hell in the past two days." Zhu Xi was in a good mood. He immediately arranged for his confidant to meet Zhan Hui, but Shao Wenda was a little worried. He spent almost restless all day, until the afternoon, when Zhu Xi went out to find Zhan Hui, he also went out quietly.

This is the third time that Zhu Chuang and Zhan Hui met, both in the same place: Xihuai Restaurant. The second time was three days ago. Zhan Hui officially assisted Zhu Chuang to the East Palace. With the basis of meeting twice, today the two met were obviously much more friendly, and the atmosphere in the room became very easy-going. Zhu Chuang sat down and said straight to the point: "Mr. Zhan, let me tell you a sad news first. Zhou Ming, who I originally planned to use to impeach Li Weizheng, was killed this morning."

"Who did it?" Zhan Hui was also surprised. He actually killed someone in the Qin Palace. Who has the ability?

"I don't know who did it for the time being. I'm already sending someone to investigate this matter. However, although Zhou Ming died, he wrote a complete confession, and I'm going to use this confession to deal with him."

Speaking of this, Zhu Chuang asked, "Mr. Zhan, you are also collecting Li Weizheng's crimes. How is the progress?"

Zhan Hui smiled slightly and said, "I still use the old method to sue him for attacking Goryeo without authorization. In the past, there was insufficient evidence and it was a little pale. This time, the Goryeo envoy arrived in person and brought a detailed report that Li Wei was committing violence in Goryeo. I guess the emperor will not let him go this time."

"You are a little worse than me." Zhu Chuang took out the impeachment letter from the commander of Fujian and handed it to Zhan Hui. He smiled proudly and said, "This is what I just got the information, you didn't expect! If it weren't for the opportunity of the Fujian Navy, what if the thief would have the handle?"

Zhan Hui took the letter and read it, and was shocked. In fact, he thought that Li Wei was not able to deal with the fishermen on Xiaoliuqiu Island, but he did not mention it in his performance report. Originally, Zhan Hui was going to investigate in detail after Li Weizheng's fleet returned to Penglai. Five days ago, he had sent the supervisory censor to Penglai County, but he did not expect that the Fujian Navy had received accurate information.

This is indeed a big handle for Li Weizheng. Zhan Hui returned the letter to Zhu Cheng and smiled and said, "Your Highness, let the Ministry of War impeach this matter. They were already quite suspicious of Li Wei's contribution to pacifying Japanese on Xiaoliuqiu Island. Now the evidence is conclusive."

Zhu Ren nodded and said, "Okay! This matter will be left to the Ministry of War. I will use Zhou Ming's confession to deal with him. Lord Zhan uses the Goryeo envoy, while the Ministry of War uses the people from Xiaoliuqiu Island. Let's take three steps to see where he can escape?"

"Your Highness is right. Your Majesty will open a letter from the court to discuss the preliminary trial of King Goryeo in the afternoon. Both I and Lord Sun of the Minister of War will attend. We will start to attack Li Weizheng from then on."

Not long after the King of Qin went out to meet Zhan Hui, Shao Wenda also left. The carriage he was riding directly towards Yao Guangxiao's station on the banks of the Qinhuai River. As soon as the carriage stopped, Shao Wenda jumped out of the carriage and ran up the steps. The doorman knew him and let him in without any inquiries. Shao Wenda went straight to Yao Guangxiao's Zen room. He waited for a moment at the door. One of Yao Guangxiao's followers came out and said, "Mr. Shao, Master, please come in."

Shao Wenda entered the Zen room with some anxiety. The room was filled with blue smoke and wooden fish. Yao Guangxiao was wearing a big red cassock with golden thread and was doing a chanting scriptures on the Zen bed. A little monk next to him was tapping the wooden fish gently. Shao Wenda didn't dare to disturb him, so he stood down and waited with his hands down. After a while, Yao Guangxiao's scriptures were finished. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled and said, "Let me wait for a long time."

"I dare not! I dare not!" Shao Wenda showed great respect, and he smiled flatteringly: "I asked my confidant to complete the task assigned to me last night early this morning. I confirmed that it was Zhou Ming."

"Sir, doing a beautiful job, is very decisive and decisive, and it is something that makes people admire you." Yao Guangxiao sincerely praised.

Shao Wenda was a little flattered, and he hurriedly said, "I have another thing to report to the master."

Shao Wenda then told the story of the Fujian military's impeachment of Li Weizheng, and finally said: "The Fujian military's impeachment letter is written in detail, and there are also the confessions of fishermen. My subordinates think this matter is very serious, so please decide."

Yao Guangxiao nodded and said, "I understand this. Sir, you can't stay away for a long time. Let's go back now! I will send someone to contact you in the future."

"Yes! My subordinates took their leave."

Shao Wenda slowly retreated, but Yao Guangxiao's brows frowned. The King of Qin and others attacked like a tide. Li Weizheng was indeed a little difficult to support with his own strength. He knew that if the King of Yan wanted to tell Li Weizheng about the impeachment of the Fujian military in advance, but Yao Guangxiao did not want to tell him that not only that, Yao Guangxiao also wanted to take the blame and kill Li Weizheng.

Yao Guangxiao sneered, and he stood up and ordered: "Order to prepare the carriage, I'm going out now."

Soon, Yao Guangxiao got on the carriage, and the carriage quickly galloped into the darkness and soon disappeared into the night.

Yao Guangxiao's carriage circled nearly half of the capital, and finally stopped in front of a tall mansion. He went up the steps and looked at the sign on the door. There were only two words on it: "Fei Mansion."

"What's the point of doing this master?" asked the concierge.
Chapter completed!