Chapter 170: The Directorate of Ceremonial

In the serene garden path, Mr. Feng stood on the stone path, observing Chen Ji with interest. "How did you figure that out?"

Chen Ji pondered for a moment. "Earlier, Mr. Feng came to Cuiyun Lane. The first thing you asked was who was in command of the Huzijia Tieqi. This shows that this personal guard unit is not under your control, and you are very concerned about who their new commander is."

Mr. Feng chuckled. "Then why would I want to kill General Qian?"

Chen Ji looked directly at Mr. Feng. "Because a person as smart as you doesn't like to have things beyond your control!"

Without waiting for Mr. Feng to speak, he continued his serious analysis. "The commander of the Huzijia Tieqi was originally General Zhou, and now it has changed to General Qian. I guess this is also your doing. General Zhou was sent away through your machinations. You originally thought that by removing General Zhou, you could control this personal guard unit, but unexpectedly, Liu Ge Lao didn't choose you, but gave it to General Qian."

Mr. Feng gradually restrained his smile and said casually, "Then do you know that being too smart is also not a good thing?"

Chen Ji said sincerely, "As long as it is useful to Mr. Feng, that is fine."

Mr. Feng patted his shoulder. "Young man, remember, the promise I made to you earlier in Longwang Cun is forever effective. Yao Taiyi and the others are staying in this prince's mansion. If you can help me kill General Qian within one day, they can live. If you don't, then wait to collect their corpses."

Sacrificing several lives for a gamble was something Chen Ji was unwilling to accept.

But he had to accept it.

This Mr. Feng acted without scruples. He incited civil unrest, killed his own people to seize power; there was nothing he couldn't do.

If he didn't accept, Zhang Zhuo and his master and the others would really die.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and said resolutely, "Alright, I'll go kill General Qian!"

Mr. Feng smiled and said, "This General Qian is an expert official at the Innate realm. He is also always accompanied by a hundred riders. It's not an easy matter to kill him."

Chen Ji frowned and asked, "What is his official path?"

Mr. Feng shook his head. "I don't know either. This is a dead soldier my family's old master has raised for many years, always treasured and hidden."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Seizing power must be very important to Mr. Feng. How about letting Jiang Yan change into a set of armor and act with me? This way there is more assurance!"

Mr. Feng laughed heartily. "Jiang Yan has his own matters to attend to, no time to assist you. If you want Yao Taiyi and your senior brothers to live, figure out a way yourself!"

Saying that, he turned around and walked towards Jing'an Hall with his hands behind his back. "Come on, you've delayed me for too long here, making me miss the Jing Wang's chess game!"

Jing'an Hall was brightly lit, with armored soldiers standing in rows in front of the door.

Mr. Feng came to the front of the hall, stepped over the high threshold, and entered.

Chen Ji and Zhang Zhuo could only wait silently outside the door.

In the great hall.

Liu Ge Lao and Jing Wang sat opposite each other in front of the Qianlong Wall.

The chess game was already nearing its end.

Liu Ge Lao, wearing a set of plain gray cloth clothes, sat at the chess table and said slowly, "Your Highness, you lost your mother young. If my younger sister hadn't adopted you into Kunning Palace and patiently raised you, you would probably have been harmed to death. Those years, she kept you by her side and raised you with His Majesty, treating you as her own. Did she ever mistreat you in the slightest?"

Jing Wang's eyes were fixed on the chess game, his head not lifted. "No. In winter, she would specifically instruct the palace maids and female servants to prepare charcoal fires for me. In summer, she would also send me ice blocks from the cellar to relieve the summer heat. Whatever His Majesty had, I had. Whatever His Majesty didn't have, I also had. Even my elementary learning teacher was personally selected by her."

Liu Ge Lao rolled up his sleeves and placed down another piece. "After His Majesty ascended the throne, you two became distant from her. Now she is in Cining Palace, dim and disheartened, already a haggard appearance. Having worked hard to raise two sons, they both treat her like strangers."

While thinking about the chess game, Jing Wang said calmly, "Father-in-law is also a reasonable person. After His Majesty ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager should have let go early and not indulged the Liu family in acting high and mighty. People don't have a thousand good days, and flowers don't stay red for a hundred days."

Liu Ge Lao smiled. "Your Highness, you were enfeoffed as a king at twenty-one, and the first thing you did was go south to collect grain tax for His Majesty. I remember when you first arrived in Jiangnan, those big households killed their own wives and lifted them to the yamen front, whistling and gathering a thousand people, saying you forced people to death by collecting tax."

Jing Wang sighed. "At that time, I had just left home and didn't know the gravity of the situation. Fortunately, I had father-in-law's help!"

Liu Ge Lao continued, "In the winter of the eleventh year of Jianing, the Nan Guang bandits caused chaos. During the period you led soldiers to suppress the chaos, you contracted lung disease and fainted, not waking up. You were surrounded by the bandit army in Liuzhou. It was also my Liu family who went to Laojun Mountain Taoist temple to seek immortal medicine and then sent soldiers to support, only then did we relieve your siege."

Jing Wang's action of placing a piece paused, then he sighed. "The Liu family has assisted me greatly!"

Liu Ge Lao raised his head and stared straight at Jing Wang. "These years, Your Highness has been busy for His Majesty, running east and west, but how has His Majesty treated Your Highness? The old subordinates of the Qiannian Army have been either demoted or killed. Moreover, say that General Zhang four years ago, he left his post without authorization because his mother died. Although it was a serious crime, it was not a crime punishable by death."

Liu Ge Lao continued, "Again, say that General Li under Your Highness, clearly had merit in suppressing the chaos yet did not receive a reward. Finally, he was found by the eunuch party for the crime of arbitrarily discussing court affairs after drinking and thrown into the inner prison, tortured to death alive. Again, think about how my Liu family is also not like this?"

Jing Wang sighed. "Father-in-law overthinks. How will His Majesty exterminate?"

Liu Ge Lao said slowly, "Your Highness should be most clear about who that person in Renshou Palace is! Your Highness, if the Liu family doesn't die, he will not sleep peacefully!"

Speaking of this, he swept away the messy chessboard in front of him. "Your Highness, if the Liu family were not for you, why would they bother to endure for so many years? The timing was not ripe that year, so we could only give up. Now my Liu family has strong soldiers and abundant horses, and abundant grain and grass. In the north, we also have the Jing Chao Shenwu Army responding. There is no need to hesitate anymore."

Outside the hall, Chen Ji was suddenly startled. Could it be that Jing Wang and the Liu family had long discussed the matter of rebellion?

Earlier, he was just wondering: Where exactly did the Liu family get the confidence to dare to plan a rebellion? Yun Fei was only a side concubine. And where did they get the courage to dare to contact the Jing Chao Military Intelligence Department?

This puzzle piece always seemed incomplete, with many things unexplained.

But if Jing Wang was placed at the center of this puzzle, many things made sense.

Yet the next moment, Jing Wang said lightly, "Father-in-law, if the matter is raised, I fear the lives of the people in several states will be devastated. I cannot promise you on this matter!"

This instead confused Chen Ji.

Looking at Jing Wang like this, it didn't look like he wanted to rebel at all.

Where exactly did things go wrong?

In Jing'an Hall, Liu Ge Lao slowly stood up. "Your Highness, the arrow is now on the string and must be shot. You are not allowed to hesitate. Whether you sit on this throne or not, you must sit on it. If you are to blame, then blame me alone. There is no need to blame the Liu family."

Just at this moment, a burly general strode into the hall from outside, his footsteps on the green stone bricks making a thudding sound.

He came to the hall and cupped his fist to salute Liu Ge Lao. "Old master, someone in the East Market has discovered Jin Zhu's movements. This person is now deeply hidden, hiding in a clean woman's small garden."

Liu Ge Lao waved his hand. "General Qian will lead a unit of Huzijia Tieqi to go and capture him."

Saying that, he said to Mr. Feng, "Wen Zheng, please invite Your Highness, the World Son, and the County Princess to the Liu family's great residence. Tomorrow we will open the ancestral hall, beat the drums and gather the crowd, sacrifice the flag with the heads of the eunuch party, and the great army will set out!"

Liu Ge Lao walked towards the outside, with densely packed armored soldiers following behind him, like a black tide surging out.

The thick killing aura was like hot lava, capable of melting even born iron.

Mr. Feng smiled and looked at Jing Wang. "Your Highness, please! Don't make things difficult!"

Jing Wang stood up calmly, smoothing the wrinkles on his robe, and walked out of Jing'an Hall with Bai Li.

When Mr. Feng came out, he intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Chen Ji, a deep meaning hidden in his eyes.

The sound of urgent horse hooves broke the quiet of Anxi Street.

Chen Ji and Zhang Zhuo, wearing armor, urged their horses to follow at the end of the Huzijia Tieqi. All the men were covered in black armor, like a flood rushing towards Luocheng East Market.

Zhang Zhuo pulled tight the reins and leaned towards Chen Ji, lowering his voice. "There's something strange about this. How do I feel that these people... each one is not quite right!"

Chen Ji raised his head and glanced at the riders in front, then slightly shifted his gaze, responding in a low voice, "Does Zhang Daren also feel it?"

Zhang Zhuo bent down his body. "I feel there is a problem with Jing Wang. The Liu family has surrounded Luocheng and is unwilling to send troops north, clearly waiting for him to make a decision. These years, Jing Wang has been operating in Yuzhou, and he how could he be completely unaware of the Liu family's private casting of iron tools and raising of private armies?"

Chen Ji asked, "Does Zhang Daren mean that Jing Wang is also involved?"

Zhang Zhuo hesitated for an instant. "The problem is exactly here! As the saying goes, soldiers value speed. If he truly had the intention to rebel, he should have raised the flag and gone north early. Why is he delaying here? This is of no benefit to him at all."

Zhang Zhuo continued, "And that Mr. Feng, what time is it and he is still engaging in internal strife? And how much benefit is the power of the Huzijia Tieqi to him? I can't figure it out, I completely can't figure it out!"

Chen Ji suddenly said, "Zhang Daren, if there is a change later, you immediately pull your horse and go to Tuoluosi Temple to move rescue soldiers. Save my master first."

Zhang Zhuo was startled. "Change? What change?"

Chen Ji said, "Jin Zhu's appearance is too coincidental. This is originally a trap targeting General Qian. They want to help Mr. Feng remove an obstacle."

Just as the words fell, a sharp sound of breaking wind was suddenly heard from the front.

Chen Ji abruptly raised his head to look, only to see the second-floor windows on both sides of the long street open. Long spears whistled out one by one, piercing through the Huzijia Tieqi one by one.

For a time, war horses neighed, and the neat Tieqi team fell into chaos.

Chen Ji shouted in a low voice, "Quickly go!"

Zhang Zhuo responded by pulling his horse and turning around, drilling into a small alley.

Chen Ji sat on his horse, looking remotely at the black holes of the windows.

He suddenly thought of many things: When he encountered Mr. Feng in Longwang Cun, the other party once said that it was a pity that the experts beside Jing Wang had all been removed by the Si Li Jian over the years.

The other party said it was the Si Li Jian. Not the eunuch party.

At that moment, Chen Ji had also noticed that the wording of this sentence was not right.

But he hadn't figured out exactly where it was wrong.

Now, all the clues gathered in one place, and he finally suddenly realized.

No wonder Mr. Feng retreated completely after the slaughter at Tianma.

Only because Mr. Feng was always a person of the Si Li Jian!