Chapter 118 The Empress Dowager is a fake [VIP text version]
In the darkness, flames soared into the sky, crackling and burning half the heavens red. Inside the inn, panicked cries rang out intermittently: "Fire! Fire!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress."
The inn was instantly filled with shouts.
Thick smoke filled the air, and many guards rushed to the second floor to look for Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling. However, the Emperor and Empress were not in the room. In fact, as soon as the inn caught fire, Ye Lingfeng carried Hai Ling away from the second floor, jumped out of the window, and then found a secluded place to put Hai Ling down.
Behind him followed Shi Mei, Shi Lan, and several subordinates, all of them watching the fire burning inside the post station.
Who dared to set fire to the post station? Under the cover of night, Ye Lingfeng, exuding a murderous aura, squinted as he watched the soldiers extinguishing the fire in the distance. Soon, someone spotted Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling's location and rushed over. None of the officials and their guards were injured. As the fire started, thick smoke filled the second floor, and everyone rushed down. Ye Lingfeng looked around and found that all the people on the southern tour were there, including Prince Zhaoyang, who was also unharmed.
Several ministers and guards in the court all knelt down to apologize.
"We deserve to die for our crimes. Please punish us, Your Majesty."
"Get up," Ye Lingfeng raised an eyebrow and ordered everyone to get up. The fire at the post station had nothing to do with them. So who started the fire? Did they want to burn him and Ling'er to death? The assassins failed to kill them, and now they set fire to the post station. The person behind this was truly hateful.
As Ye Lingfeng was thinking, Hai Ling suddenly remembered something, her expression changed abruptly, and she ordered the guards behind her: "Immediately go and find out where Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, and the witness Shui Linglong are now?"
"Yes, I will investigate immediately."
By this time, the fire had subsided, and the inn was a blackened mess, its appearance horribly ruined. What had once been an exquisite residence was now burned beyond recognition.
The crowd gathered here. The acting prefect of Songzhou had received a report from his soldiers and led local officials to the scene. Upon seeing that the Emperor and Empress were unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and knelt down with a thud.
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die. Please punish me."
Unexpectedly, so many things happened during the Emperor's southern tour. First, he was assassinated, and the assassin was kidnapped. Then, Shui Linglong cried out for justice, the prefect was arrested, and now, who is burning down the post station?
The Emperor's southern tour was clearly for the benefit of the people of Songzhou, so why did so many things happen? The officials of Songzhou were all ashen-faced and sweating profusely, truly afraid that their heads would be chopped off the next moment. However, Ye Lingfeng did not blame them. He knew that all of this was aimed at him and Hailing, so it had nothing to do with them.
"Get up, all of you. Investigate for me. Find out who set the fire."
Ye Lingfeng's bloodthirsty order was met with immediate obsequiousness from the acting prefect of Songzhou, who kowtowed repeatedly to acknowledge the command. He then waved his hand, ordering his men to investigate and see if they could find any clues within the post station.
Hai Ling, who had been sitting next to Ye Lingfeng, suddenly exclaimed, "Ye, the account books have been burned! The account books are gone!"
As she spoke, she even rummaged through her clothes several times, then became so anxious she almost cried. Ye Lingfeng's eyes darkened. In fact, he knew that the account book was in Ling'er's Seven Star Glazed Bracelet and could not possibly be missing. Could it be that she suspected that the arsonist and the previous assassins were not from the same group, but that Zhong Li was behind it? If so, his purpose was clearly to burn the account book and then eliminate Zhao Baiyang, Shui Linglong, and the others.
Because when people are in a great fire, who would care about the account books in the chaos? They thought the fire would burn the account books.
"How hateful," Ye Lingfeng thought to himself, but his expression gradually softened from its previous composure. He said gently, "Alright, if you don't want to see me, then don't. Just burn the account books."
"Night, I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
Hai Ling softly apologized. The officials standing beside the Emperor and Empress, as well as several officials from Songzhou, were filled with mixed feelings of helplessness and relief. In any case, it was good that the Emperor and Empress were alright at the moment.
A guard came running from a short distance away and knelt down with a thud.
"Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Empress, Lord Zhao and Shui Linglong were burned to death."
Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling's faces were cold. It seemed that, just as they had expected, the person behind the fire had set the fire to burn Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong to death, and also to burn the account books. Unfortunately, they didn't know that the account books could never be burned. However, Hai Ling still felt that something was unusual. Zhao Baiyang was imprisoned by them, so it was possible that he would be burned to death. Shui Linglong knew martial arts and no one was imprisoning her. Why would such a big fire burn her to death?
Upon thinking this, Hai Ling's eyes darkened, and she looked at Shi Mei to the side and gave an order.
"Mei'er, go check if Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong have any cigarette ash in their throats?"
Shi Mei responded and left to carry out the order.
However, as soon as the Empress spoke, the officials around her all changed their expressions. Why? Because the Empress's meaning was very clear: she suspected that someone had killed Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong beforehand. If these two were indeed killed first and then the fire was set, then the post station was heavily guarded, and outsiders could not get close at all. So it was obvious that someone inside had done something, meaning that one of them was a spy.
How could this be? With this thought, everyone looked at each other, wondering who was most likely to be the spy.
All around was quiet, with only the sound of rapid breathing rising and falling. Ye Lingfeng reached out and held Hai Ling's hand, but Hai Ling's eyes looked past everyone and towards Prince Zhaoyang, who was yawning in the corner, looking lazy and without any energy. So many people suspected each other, but none of them suspected Prince Zhaoyang.
Hai Ling glanced at Prince Zhaoyang, then wondered why he would do such a thing if he really started the fire, and why he killed Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong. Gradually, things became clearer. Prince Zhaoyang's actions were clearly to help Prime Minister Zhongli. By killing Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong, he had obviously won over Prime Minister Zhongli. With Zhongli's support, it would be easier for him to do whatever he wanted. Thinking this, a cold smile appeared on her lips. Prince Zhaoyang, if it really was you who did it, your secret will be revealed sooner or later.
Footsteps sounded in the distance, and soon Shi Mei led her people over, her face grim.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, there was indeed no soot in Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong's throats. They were killed first and then set on fire."
These words caused an uproar, and many people began to discuss them. Then, everyone knelt down and spoke in fear.
"Your Majesty, we have done nothing!"
Ye Lingfeng narrowed his eyes. Why would the person behind this kill Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong, and then go to such lengths to set fire to the inn? Actually, he had two purposes: first, to burn away any traces to prevent leaving any clues about killing Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong; second, to take the opportunity to burn the account book. In fact, the person behind this knew very well that this fire would not kill him and Hailing. His purpose was to target Zhao Baiyang and Shui Linglong. Therefore, this matter was not as they had initially thought, that they wanted to kill them.
"Get up. I have ordered the Songzhou government to investigate this matter. If they find out who did it, they will not be let off lightly."
The person behind this scheme must be quite intelligent; how could they possibly let someone easily uncover it?
However, since the post station had been burned down, they could no longer stay there. The acting prefect of Songzhou immediately ordered soldiers to escort the emperor and empress to their residence for rest and temporary lodging.
The large group set off for the Songzhou residence.
The next two days were much quieter, with no more assassination attempts or arson incidents like before. However, the acting prefect of Songzhou did not find out who set the fire. The fire destroyed many things without leaving any trace, and there was no evidence. Even if Ye Lingfeng and Hailing had suspicions, they could not bring them up.
The matter was put on hold here, and it was time for them to return to the capital. The construction of the canal in Songzhou was on track, and there was no need for Ye Lingfeng to stay any longer. He had already discussed many detailed plans with several water conservancy officials, and now that they had the blueprints, they only needed to implement them accordingly.
On this day, the group set off back to the capital.
Besides the local prefect of Songzhou, many common people also came, kneeling in a dense crowd on both sides of the official road to respectfully see off the emperor, empress and others back to the capital.
After the carriage had been traveling for four or five days, Ye Lingfeng received a letter from Shi Zhu, and his face turned extremely dark and grim.
Because Shi Zhu and others tracked Sima Yuan all the way, they eventually found out that Sima Yuan had actually entered the palace of Bei Lu and met with the Empress Dowager of Bei Lu.