C228

"Did royal brother really say that?" The King of Letters stood up when he heard this and was very surprised.

King Huan asked curiously, "Yes, does Ninth Brother not know about this?"

Duke Xin seemed to be thinking about what Duke Huai had said before, so he asked casually after hearing his words, "What is it?"

Duke Huan hesitated for a while, "It's that … That wandering prince. "

"If even you know about it, how could I not know?" The King of Letters suddenly walked around the room and returned. His tone was somewhat agitated as he said, "I was wondering how Royal Brother could suddenly add Ran Shisui to the amnesty list!"

Prince Huan asked, "Does that prince really exist?"

The King of Letters glanced at him and nodded. "It exists, and it has existed for many years. When we found out who he was, a lot of people already knew who he was. "

As Duke Huai recalled everything that had happened today, he pressed his palm to his forehead and felt a headache.

However, the usually calm Xingran was walking faster and faster, his frown deepening, and his footsteps becoming more and more disorderly. Just as Duke Huan wanted to speak up, he suddenly stomped his feet, "How can royal brother be so stupid! This is too muddleheaded! "

Duke Huan was shocked by his words, "Ninth Brother, what did you say?"

The Xin Wang said, "If I say it's brother, he's confused! The slaughter had already begun. Wasn't letting go now an utter failure? And if he lets go, will Merle forgive him? "

Without waiting for King Huai to speak, he seemed to have thought of something and shook his head, "No, this is not something that can be concealed anymore. "If he goes on killing, Mo'er won't forgive him."

"But …" "How can you give up so easily at a time like this?" It has already begun, how can it stop! "

Duke Huan did not quite understand, and only said, "It's been more than ten years. Those who know about this, how can we kill them all? "

"Yes, we can't kill them all!" Duke Xin gritted his teeth. They shouldn't have killed him back then! To kill back and forth again and again, and then finally to punish your own son, isn't this a sin?! "

Duke Huan was stunned. "Ninth Brother, what did you say?"

The king was startled, self-aware of his slip of tongue. He waved his hand and turned his head, "It's nothing."

"Nine!" "Ninth Brother, please make it clear. Was it imperial brother or fourth brother who started to kill at that time?"

The king was a bit impatient. "Is this important? It's a foregone conclusion. What's the point in worrying about who was the one who did the wrong thing? "

Duke Huan's voice grew louder, "Of course it's meaningful! The Emperor was the Son of Heaven, and Mo'er was only his nephew. But Fourth Brother is Mo'er's biological father, how can he, how can he … " As he thought of this, his voice became softer, and there was no follow-up.

The king coldly asked him, "How can I do what?"

Prince Huan frowned, "Hao grew up in the Qi King Manor. The Qi King Manor raised him for twelve years. Fourth brother killed his master, then raised Hao Wen. What's the point of that? "

"Meaning?" The messenger king sneered, "The meaning is, if Ran Hao is handed over to Mo'er, Mo'er will protect him as an extremely important person. No matter how ruthless Fourth Brother was, it was impossible for him to kill a child. Furthermore, that child was someone his son protected with all his might. As long as Ran Hao is alive, Fourth Brother would never be able to hurt the Light Wind Palace. "

Prince Huan was slightly angered, "Palace Lord Ran is a gentleman. Ninth Brother, why do you slander him like that?"

Xin Wang said: "If he doesn't have any selfish thoughts, he should return to his Light Wind Palace and never take a step into the mountains! He should leave this place forever with his wife and children just like Bai Yan Tang, avoiding this land of conflict! "Ran Hao, he was brought up by Ran Tong Xuan himself. Don't tell me that the Light Wind Palace does not have his share of food?"

Duke Huan froze, then retreated step by step. "What? You can do this …"

Xin Wang's expression softened a bit and he slowly said, "Thirteenth Brother, he is a gentleman at the Ran Tong Pavilion. There is no doubt about this. He just wanted to protect Ran Hao, the child Ran Zu Tong cared about the most in this world. If his royal brother wasn't willing to be merciful at this moment, then the prison would be robbed and the Light Wind Palace would be buried along with him. The only person who will survive will not be his son from the Ran Tong Pavilion, but the disciple of Ran Shuang Tong — this is probably the only bit of selfishness he has. "

It couldn't be said to be a use, it could only be said to be a act of selfishness.

Duke Huai understood his brother's meaning.

Prince Huan was silent for a while before he slowly sat down on a chair. "I heard from the imperial guards that the fire at the Mansion of the Marquis of the Trojan Horse took an entire night to burn down. Several hundred people, it took fourteen hours to extinguish the fire."

King Xin pursed his lips, then said, "But you know, royal brother can't be so ruthless as to let Bai Li's innocent life be buried with him. And Fourth Brother will not let Mo'er die with us because of this fire. "

"Annihilate, exterminate, exterminate …" Prince Huan repeated the words several times, speechless as he looked at the messenger.

The King walked over and sat down beside him, "Whether it's royal brother or fourth brother, both of you, consider me, who has been listening to your orders since the very beginning, as well as as as as someone who has my hands folded. All we did from the beginning was kill those who knew us. "But the martial arts world helped us complete our extermination."

Duke Huan clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, trying his best to suppress his anger and change the tone of his voice, "But you clearly know that if you kill those people, you will destroy the entire sect and implicate the lives of hundreds of innocent people. You're still …"

"No, we don't know."

"Impossible." Duke Huan looked at him coldly, as if he was a stranger or an executioner, "We were ordered to punish the Puppet Palace, but not a single soldier was killed. As for those divisions, we don't even know where they are. However, in less than half a month, hundreds of people had died in the Dark Palace, forming a small hill in front of the Palace's entrance. Just based on the information I received, all thirteen branches of the Puppet Palace have been massacred, leaving no one alive. "

"But you know that this has nothing to do with us."

Duke Huan laughed, "The two hundred and twenty-seven heads that were piled in front of the Ming Palace are already on our heads. "But the order I got was, 'Return to court as a division, no handling' — I think Nine's Seventh Annihilation Army received the same order?"

The messenger was speechless.

Duke Huan symbolically paused for a moment, but seeing that he did not reply, he continued on, "When I get to the Mansion of the Marquis, it's hard to count how many people have died, but only one has survived. The Mansion of the Trojan Horse has a marquis and a wife that King Mo has yet to pass … Wasn't this a provocation to the imperial government? However, the Privy Council received an order: 'Don't move, wait for orders'.

He sneered, "Ninth Brother, don't forget, I entered the inner palace at the age of sixteen, became a secret envoy at the age of nineteen, and took over the inner palace at the age of twenty-four. From the day I entered the Privy Council, I did not miss a single thing that fell within the purview of my office. Since thirteen years ago, my royal brother has specifically allowed me to enter and leave the Qilin Pavilion to look through all the records. "From what I remember, the previous time the Puppet Palace was close to annihilation, the Imperial Court interfered."

"Ten years ago's Puppet Palace, Bewitching Butterfly Town, Crippled Feather Sect, Wine Hall, Yu Yin Pavilion, now Puppet Palace, and the Marquis Mansion." Duke Huan took a deep breath, "Ten years ago, if the Tang Sect hadn't been so powerful that no one would have dared to offend it, the Tang Sect would have been massacred. If not for royal brother's kindness today, the Light Wind Palace would have been exterminated as well. "

The king's expression changed, but it quickly returned to normal.

When Duke Huan saw his expression change, he thought that he had said too much and that the words in his stomach were too much. He could only endure it and didn't dare to say anything more.

"I know you feel sorry for Mo'er." After a long time, the King of Letters spoke slowly with a sigh. "I also knew that you would feel indignant when you saw the corpses that littered the ground and were powerless to save them. But we really can't change anything. "

Duke Huan looked at his own palm and muttered, "I just felt that I could have saved some people. At least, those children and women are innocent. "

The king looked at Thirteenth Brother who was trembling a little. He suddenly asked, "Do you know that in the face of benefits, everyone is selfish and cruel?"

Duke Huan was startled for a moment before he replied in a low voice, "Yes."

"The reason why we are attacking the Puppet Palace is because someone hurt Mo'er and even told the world what we are afraid of. But we don't intend to slaughter the entire Puppet Palace. The reason why we are sending troops to the Mansion of the Marquis of the Trojan Horse is because Mu Qinghan will be the princess of Mo'er in the future, and the Marquis of the Trojan Horse's position is ten times more important than before. "But we've never thought of harming the Marquis Mansion in the slightest."

King Huan sighed lightly and did not speak.

King Xin knew that he had calmed down and his voice contained a few more sighs. "Regardless of whether it is the two hundred heads you saw or the Bloody Butcher Manor you heard of, they are both a provocation to the imperial government. We were unmoved, only provoked by their insults. But if we really send out our troops, what we get in return is not the Nine Springs of the dead who died in vain, but another bloodbath in the martial arts world. The corpses of millions of men and women scattered, and the hearts of the people were in a state of panic. The citizens were unable to live in peace. "

King Huan was puzzled. "But why would they do that?"

"Because those people from ten years ago, not everyone wanted their wife and children to be safe. There are still some people who want to avenge their parents' death and their annihilation. " The messenger's eyes narrowed. His voice was very soft, but each word pierced the depths of his heart. "These people who lost their homes, why would they care about the lives of others?"

The color of Duke Huan's face drained bit by bit. After an unknown amount of time had passed, until the surroundings became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, he barely spoke. "Truly, a sin has been committed."

The king looked at him deeply and nodded silently.

— —

"Young Marquis, you're still up at such a late hour. Are you organizing the amnesty list?" Han Yan walked into the study with a bowl of ginseng soup. When she saw that Ran Hao was about to pick it up, she handed it to him, "Jin'er, come over to bring the soup. I'll bring it in later."

Zhao Qingyan smiled, "I finished checking the list of amnesty yesterday and handed it over to you. It's already returned to Qilin Hall."

Han Yan asked, "Then what are these now?"

"Wild grass." Zhao Qingyan waved a stack of papers at him with eyes filled with resentment.

Han Yan made a gesture of helplessness and quickly retreated a step. "It's already very late. Young Prince, you can continue to organize tomorrow. You should rest for today …" He really wanted to walk out while he was talking.

Zhao Qingyan laughed, "Stop right there!"

Naturally, Han Yan didn't really want to leave. He stopped when he heard what was said and smiled. "The young prince didn't call me over. Could it be that he wanted me to copy these 'Violent Grass'?"

Zhao Qingyan gestured for Ran Hao to withdraw the brush and paper, then turned to Han Yan and shook his head: "I saw it difficult, why would I make things difficult for you?"

Ran Hao placed the soup beside the Young Master's hand, tidied up the paper, and then used the lampshade to cover the candle. After doing all this, he walked to the side and stood in a slightly darker corner.

Han Yan was stunned as he looked at the table that had instantly become clean. After adjusting his expression, he probed, "Why is the young prince looking for me?"

Zhao Qingyan looked at him, then looked at Ran Hao and asked: "How are the results of your sparring these past few days?"

Han Yan thought for a bit and answered honestly, "The martial arts of me and that of Guard Ran are not on the same level. When we spar, we should always take into account my martial arts and show mercy. "Rather than calling it a spar, it's better to say that it's helping me with my attacks …"

Zhao Qingyan's gaze fell on Ran Hao. With a smile that was not a smile, he said, "There aren't many who can spar with him. I just don't know if he has learnt how to feed others."

Han Yan was slightly startled. "Young Prince, you mean …?"

When Zhao Qingyan saw Ran Hao avoiding his eyes, he shrugged and said, "When I was learning martial arts with my master and asked him to help me do that, he almost pierced a few holes in my body."

The corner of Han Yan's mouth twitched, and he forcefully held back his laughter: "It's probably because I risked my life too much, and mastered the art of dodging. The imperial bodyguards were sparing no matter what, but I did not sustain any injuries. After taking a few punches, his dodging skills have increased quite a bit. "

Zhao Qingyan chuckled and said, "That's good." She picked up a token from the side. "An amnesty in three days. A portion of the people released from the prison will need to be escorted outside the city before they can be released. Can you do that?"

Han Yan was really startled. "This kind of job, you're going to give it to me?"

Although this was his first amnesty since assuming office, he also knew that such duties had always been overseen by the Board of Justice and the Privy Council. Even if the Privy Council were to send someone to accompany them, it should not be his turn.

Zhao Qingyan knew what he was thinking and answered, "You are indeed not responsible for escorting criminals, but I can still arrange for matters concerning the Privy Council. "So, I want you to go with Hao."

Han Yan turned his head back to look at the silent guard in the darkness. "I would like to say, how will he go?"

"Follow him." Zhao Qingyan narrowed her eyes and the smile on the corner of her eyes was a little cold, "With Hao's skill, you won't be discovered even if you follow me all the way." With him here, if there is any accident, we can have a plan to deal with it. "

Han Yan's expression changed slightly. He already understood what he meant and said in an unambiguous manner, "What do you need me to do? Young Prince, please instruct me."

Zhao Qingyan pointed to the chair opposite them. "Take a seat first." He sat up straighter.

Ran Hao walked to the door, pushed it open a little and looked through the tiny crack.

Han Yan saw the actions of the two of them and knew the importance of this matter. He bowed and sat down.

"Do you know of the Dark Valley?" Zhao Qingyan wrapped the soup around her palm and warmed her hand. Her voice did not change much. In her gentle and calm voice, there was a trace of absent-mindedness.