Protect Our Chief

In the Cannon Fodder Camp, he replayed the entire incident over and over, scrutinizing and pondering it repeatedly, and in the end could only reach one conclusion: this matter was extremely likely related to the upper echelons of the army, otherwise it would have been impossible to execute it so flawlessly.

There was even a certain possibility that this matter was connected to the Grand Marshal and the Struggle of the Imperial Sons.

After all, the fake orders and fake intelligence were all stamped with the Grand Marshal’s Seal, and the seal marks were all genuine; otherwise, he would never have been so easily deceived.

Later, after the incident erupted, the very first thing he did was try to find those written fake reports and fake orders, only to discover that all of the documents that should have been stored in the army camp had vanished.

As if the Marshal had never issued those orders at all.

With no evidence whatsoever, he could only die with injustice unredressed.

To clear her father’s name, she leveraged some connections to change her identity and enter the Celestial Palace, and through hard work became part of its upper ranks, using the Celestial Palace’s channels to begin investigating what had happened back then.

And the first target of her suspicion was the lineage of Prince Kang, as the immediate beneficiaries.

Previously, she had thrown herself so zealously into recruiting talent and gathering intelligence for Emperor’s Son An, on the one hand because she did not want Prince Kang to ascend, and on the other because she was actually pinning her hopes on Emperor’s Son An: that after he succeeded as the Emperor’s Son, he would reopen the case and clear her father’s name. If her father and Prince Hao knew in the netherworld, they could also rest in peace.

Over the years, although through all sorts of signs and some scattered indirect evidence, she could basically determine that the Grand Marshal and Prince Dexin had joined hands to kill Prince Hao.

Yet the other party was, on one side, the Grand Marshal, the Military God, and on the other, a prince of the Imperial Family.

The matter was of enormous gravity.

Without ironclad, decisive evidence, without a complete and unshakable chain of proof, there was simply no way to bring them to account. Even Emperor’s Son An felt that among that evidence, part of the chain was too subjective and speculative; once presented, it was very likely the other side would find loopholes and overturn it.

Tianyan Fairy had no choice but to seek help from Wang Shouzhe, hoping he could assist.

After she finished speaking, Wang Shouzhe finally picked up the thread and said, "Your Majesty, although the chain of evidence is not sufficiently complete, Dexin indeed has a clear motive for the crime, and some corroborating evidence also points toward him; his suspicion of committing the crime is extremely high. It’s just that I could never figure out why the Grand Marshal would involve himself so deeply in the Struggle of the Imperial Sons. Furthermore, so much time has passed that it is almost impossible to obtain ironclad proof. The only ones who know the entire Truth are likely only those who actually participated back then."

"Therefore, I could only set up the current situation to lure the snake out of its hole, and make use of Prince Dexin’s psychological state to entice him into speaking the Truth himself."

"It can’t be that simple!" Prince Dexin roared in unwilling fury. "You laid this trap—how could you be so sure I would definitely bite? All operational plans were decided by this Prince himself. Could it be you possess some Demon Technique that can control my thoughts and actions?"

"Indeed." Emperor Longchang also frowned and said, "On what basis do you believe Dexin would definitely act at this time, and moreover take precisely this course of action?"

"Your Majesty, this matter is a bit complicated to explain." Wang Shouzhe was helpless.

The Great Emperor’s presence really was troublesome, constantly getting in the way.

"Complicated or not, you’re going to explain." Emperor Longchang glared. "With something this serious, and you still want to gloss it over?"

Very well.

After pondering briefly, Wang Shouzhe said, "This has to start from back when Cao Youqing stirred up storms in my Longzuo County, and Long Wuji forced me to submit to Prince Kang."

"Isn’t that dragging things a bit too far back?" Emperor Longchang glared. "Who are you trying to fool?"

"Your Majesty, at that time, I felt the Struggle of the Imperial Sons was far too risky and did not wish to be dragged into it, but the pressure exerted by Long Wuji and the others was too great. Therefore, I had no choice but to consider the gains and dangers once I was inevitably drawn into the Struggle of the Imperial Sons."

"On that basis, conducting a thorough investigation into the experiences and temperament of my ’future lord’ Prince Kang, as well as the experiences and temperaments of the key figures around him who exert significant influence over him, and comprehensive intelligence on Prince Kang’s rivals, and so on—surely that’s reasonable, isn’t it?" Wang Shouzhe said with an innocent expression.

Emperor Longchang glared.

Reasonable, my ass!

It was just a minor Noble Family choosing a patron~ Back then, so many Noble Families had already picked sides in advance; why were you the only one who made such a huge production out of it?

However, what he said aloud was instead in agreement: "Cautious and meticulous, with thoroughly considered judgment."

"Your humble servant knows that the formation of a person’s character is often related to a series of internal and external factors such as their original family, life experiences, psychological traumas, and so on," Wang Shouzhe explained. "At that time, I discovered that Prince Dexin was unusually obsessed with the Struggle of the Imperial Sons; when Prince Kang was still a child, he constantly instilled in him ideas like, ’Your birth timing is excellent—you must become the Emperor’s Son,’ ’You are the future Great Emperor,’ and so forth. In short, he pinned all the regrets of his own life onto Prince Kang."

"Back when Prince Kang was in his heyday, Prince Dexin was bragging all over the place about how outstandingly he had educated Prince Kang. He even cited an example from Prince Kang’s childhood: because his teaching was too harsh, when Prince Kang once said he ’didn’t want to be the Emperor’s Son,’ he was severely punished by Prince Dexin. He held this up as proof that, thanks to him, Prince Dexin, Prince Kang could achieve what he has today."

Prince Dexin’s pupils contracted as he was escorted by the Personal Guard.

He had never imagined that Wang Shouzhe’s investigation would be so detailed that even such trivial minutiae, which he himself had nearly forgotten, had been thoroughly uncovered.

"From this, it can be seen that Prince Dexin’s obsession with inheriting the position of Great Emperor far surpasses that of Prince Kang. Even if Prince Kang might have been willing to give up, as long as Prince Dexin had even the slightest chance of turning the tables, it was highly likely he would never let go. If left unchecked, he was bound to become a hidden danger sooner or later."