When Marquis Wenxin and Xiao Yan hurried into the palace, Emperor An was furious. He had a white cloth wrapped around his wrists and the ground in front of him was littered with debris.
When the Second Prince and several other princes and princes heard that the Forbidden Palace had been robbed and an assassin had entered, they all rushed into the palace overnight. Even Cui Lin, Grand Tutor Liang, Cao Dejiang and others rushed non-stop, fearing that something might happen to the emperor.
However, the person who set the fire in Emperor An's rage was not caught, and even the assassins only captured a few "corpses". Yu Yanfeng, who was in charge of the palace security, was scolded bitterly, and even the obsequious Second Prince and others were harshly reprimanded, standing in the hall with ashen faces.
“What use are any of you? Assassins have infiltrated right under my nose, daring even to set fire to Fengxi Palace! What’s next? Will they burn down my Imperial Dragon Platform? Am I to offer my head on a platter, ready for anyone to take whenever they please?!”
Yu Yanfeng knelt on the ground, and Canglang’s operatives were also hit by the wind.
Emperor An seemed to have not scolded enough, and turned to scold the Second Prince, "And you, you unfilial thing, I treat you well on weekdays, but you came to the palace to ask Eunuch Feng if I had any trouble, and you even dared to obstruct the Black Armor Guards. What, are you waiting for me to give you a seat so that you can sit on the throne?"
"Do you want me to cut my throat right now so that your Highness the Second Prince can ascend the throne immediately?!"
The second prince turned pale and knelt on the ground: "I dare not, father, I dare not..."
There was a sudden fire in the palace and there were rumors that Emperor An was assassinated. He just wanted to find someone to get information.
Eunuch Feng is a man of the Emperor, so there was nothing wrong with him asking about his father's safety. As for stopping the Black Armor Guards, it was even more unfair. It was Canglang who greeted him and told him to be careful tonight after seeing him. He took the opportunity to ask Canglang a few more questions about the palace because of his cooperation with Xiao Yan, but he didn't expect to be caught red-handed.
Emperor An was very angry and looked at everyone with ill intentions.
The Second Prince was burdened with a huge blame, but he couldn't even explain himself. He couldn't tell Emperor An that he and Xiao Yan had been in contact for a long time, and that Canglang and the Black Armor Guards were all his people, right?
It would be strange if Emperor An didn’t chop off his head directly, as he doesn’t want to die.
The second prince kowtowed: "I only asked them a few questions because I was worried about your safety. I definitely don't dare to have any rebellious intentions. Please understand..."
Bang!!
A piece of jade flew towards him, and the words in the second prince's mouth were instantly interrupted.
"You don't dare? I don't think there's anything you don't dare to do. Don't think I don't know about your dirty deeds."
"You murdered your brother, you are mediocre, your mother is of humble origin, yet you dare to seek the support of the court officials and covet the imperial power..."
Emperor An shouted and cursed angrily with a very heavy tone. The words "your biological mother is of lowly status" made the Second Prince's face suddenly turn pale, and even Cui Lin and others beside him changed their expressions slightly.
If Emperor An continued to say this, he was afraid that the Second Prince's chances of seizing power would be completely cut off.
Cui Lin hurriedly took a step forward and was about to speak, but at this moment, eunuch Feng came in quickly from outside.
"Your Majesty, Governor Xiao and Marquis Wenxin are here."
Emperor An stopped cursing. After what happened in the palace tonight, he felt that everyone else was extremely incompetent. He suddenly missed Xiao Yan, who was thorough and decisive. He quickly raised his head and said, "Let them in."
Two people from outside walked in. Cao Dejiang felt relaxed when he saw Xiao Yan, whose face was slightly pale but as stern as usual.
Canglang looked up in surprise: The Governor has returned to the capital?
Xiao Yan and the other person arrived before the emperor and bowed.
"Your Majesty."
"stand up."
After Emperor An asked them to stand up, he looked at Xiao Yan and said, "Are you not seriously injured and unwilling to enter the palace?"
Xiao Yan said indifferently: "I just don't want to get involved in the outside troubles and don't want to embarrass Your Majesty, but tonight someone bullied me and wanted to kill me. He even dared to treat the imperial palace and the important places in the capital as his hunting grounds."
"If I continue to be tolerant, I am afraid that next year the grass on my grave will be three feet high, and Your Majesty will be deceived and fooled, or even die."
Emperor An's face darkened: "What do you mean by that?"
Xiao Yan glanced at Marquis Wenxin, who stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, when the palace was in danger tonight due to a fire, there were riots in various parts of the capital. Thieves suddenly appeared from nowhere and were running in and out, inducing me to lead the people of the Beijing Patrol Camp to search the capital for them."
"I originally thought it was a riot by scoundrels, but later I realized that someone did it on purpose to distract the people patrolling the capital at night. I realized something was wrong and sent people to patrol everywhere. We found that a large number of thieves had entered the residence of Governor Xiao in Jiyun Lane, and they were colluding with Governor Xiao's subordinates to murder Governor Xiao."
Marquis Wenxin was a smart man. He did not mention the Marquis of Luyang, nor did he say that he was deliberately led to Jiyun Lane. Instead, he said that someone deliberately led the people from the Beijing Patrol Camp away so that they could take the opportunity to cause chaos.
He was certain that even if Lord Luyang knew what he said, he would not dare to refute it. Moreover, since Xiao Yan wanted to attack the Lu family, he had also revealed some information on the way here.
Although he couldn't help openly and didn't want to take sides with anyone, he hated Lu Chongyuan, so it was a favor for him to add fuel to the fire and do good things for Xiao Yan.
Marquis Wenxin said calmly, "When I led my men there, the gate of the Xiao Mansion was breached, and there were heavy casualties inside the mansion. Princess Xiangning was nearly captured by the thieves, and even Governor Xiao was trapped in the mansion to recuperate. If someone hadn't happened to break out from outside and killed some of the thieves, Governor Xiao would have died."
Not to mention Emperor An's face was filled with shock, even Cui Lin and the others looked astonished.
Who is so bold as to send people to kill directly in Jiyun Lane?
There were many people in the capital who wanted Xiao Yan's life, and countless who wished he would die soon, but he was the first one who dared to be so reckless.
Emperor An angrily asked, "Can you catch the person who did it?"
The sick look on Xiao Yan's face faded slightly, but his eyes were gloomy. "It was a confidant of mine named Yue Fengcheng. He took advantage of my serious injury to collude with the foreign bandits. Fortunately, Marquis Wenxin arrived with his men in time and helped me capture him. He also captured a few of the surviving assassins."
When Emperor An heard the name "Yue Fengcheng", his eyebrows jumped, and his expression became extremely ugly as Xiao Yan spoke.
"When Yue Fengcheng saw that the plan had failed, he started to talk nonsense. He first blamed Your Majesty, saying that he was executing me on Your Majesty's orders, and then he said that he would kill everyone in Jiyun Lane without mercy..."
"He is so outrageous!" Emperor An cursed, "I have never seen this man before, let alone when did I issue such an order?!"
It's true that Yue Fengcheng is his man, but he only asked him to stay by Xiao Yan's side to monitor Xiao Yan's actions. When did he ask him to kill Xiao Yan without mercy?
Moreover, it was obvious from what happened tonight that Yue Fengcheng had colluded with others and wanted to kill Xiao Yan. At this time, he absolutely could not admit that he knew that guy.
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