CH 116.2

Chapter 116.2 – Sowing Discord

The next day, Xie Yuan entered the palace and reported the news of the Third Princess’s assassination to the Rong Emperor. When he passed by the place where the Third Princess died yesterday, he didn’t even lift his eyelids and stepped over it without changing his expression.

Of course, at this moment, there was no blood on the ground nor the body of the Third Princess who died without peace. The ground was covered by heavy snow overnight, and the snow were swept away by the servants in the early morning. The surface of the road was clean, without any trace of yesterday…

After Xie Yuan entered the palace and saw the Rong Emperor, he calmly reported the news of the Third Princess’s assassination and pleaded his guilt.

The Rong Emperor was indeed furious when he found out, but he never doubted that it could be Xie Yuan who had done it. After all, everyone knew how sensitive the time was, and with Xie Yuan’s intelligence, he would naturally know when it was the time to endure.

Having known each other for twenty years, the Rong Emperor also knew Xie Yuan, and Xie Yuan also knew the Rong Emperor. So under Xie Yuan’s guidance, the Rong Emperor quickly turned his suspicions to Liang State in the south, and even overlooked the death of the Third Princess itself.

Sowing discord. The Third Princess’s death was to make the Emperor and his officials grow estranged – that was how Xie Yuan explained it to the Rong Emperor.

Although it wasn’t far from the truth, there were still other secrets and points of doubt in it. But thanks to his understanding of the Emperor, Xie Yuan successfully deceived the Rong Emperor with those words.

Later, Xie Yuan calmly left the palace without receiving even half of a punishment. In fact, because he was concerned about Liang’s plan to sow discord, the Rong Emperor’s attitude towards Xie Yuan even improved a little… This was probably a case of doing too much that it backfired.

Sitting on the carriage returning to the mansion, Xie Yuan leisurely drank tea, his eyes filled with disdain.

One night was enough for him to understand a lot. This incident, although it didn’t leave any trace, was different from the methods that the Liang Emperor used before. It could be seen that after the latter fell ill, others did not want to give up halfway and took over to cause this incident.

It’s just that it was a different person who continued the plan, and the two capital cities were so far apart. The news was delayed and the arrangement was poor, which led to the current situation.

Xie Yuan thought for a moment, and first pinned his suspicion on the Crown Prince. He had planned to eliminate the Crown Prince as soon as the Liang Emperor died. But right now, the hole in the Crown Prince’s planning gave him an opportunity to take advantage of. If the sickly Crown Prince learnt about it, would he vomit blood in anger?

Thinking about that scene, Xie Yuan’s mood improved a lot.

However, this kind of good mood did not last for too long. As soon as Xie Yuan returned to the mansion, Meng Fei reported, “This subordinate has sent people to investigate. There’s no hole in the mansion, an no outsiders met the Princess. But yesterday morning, when the Princess left the mansion, she met the wife of the Left General. The two of them exchanged a few words, and the Princess sent someone to summon Milord not long after she returned to the mansion.”

The Rong State was newly established, and it was the country that the barbarians established in the grasslands. There was a lot of difference in its official system compared to the Central Plains. There were two Great Generals in the court; the Right General and the Left General, who shared control of the majority of Rong’s military power. And then there were also the private soldiers of the tribes controlled by the tribal leaders.

After the country was founded, most of the latter’s power were continuously being swallowed up by the former. After a few more years, there won’t be much left of the private soldiers controlled by the tribal leaders.

From this, it could be seen that these two generals had very high authority. Of course, the Rong Emperor would not allow such official positions to be controlled by outsiders, so both generals were those who were loyal. Only the Right General had a slight friendship with Xie Yuan, while the Left General was completely in the Emperor’s camp!

And now, the Left General was involved in the Third Princess’s matter. What did it mean?

The matter seemed to have suddenly become more complicated. Even Xie Yuan knew that this might just be a strategy set by his opponents to lure him into hostility towards the Left General. But even if it’s just a possibility, he couldn’t afford to take risks.

The mind that had just relaxed became tense again. Xie Yuan raised his hand and rubbed his brows, instructing Meng Fei, “Check again, make sure to thoroughly investigate the conversation between the two of them that day.” After thinking for a moment, he said, “Let people observe the general’s mansion and see if there are anything unusual with the Left General.”

Meng Fei acknowledged his orders and went to work again. In the afternoon, he investigated all the conversations between the Third Princess and the wife of the Left General the day before.

The two’s conversation was written on a paper and presented to Xie Yuan. Xie Yuan carefully examined it three times but did not notice any abnormalities. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the people sent to monitor the general’s mansion sent news that the Left General had personally left the city and went to the public burial mound!

Author notes:

Lu Qipei (whispering): Attention, there is a trap ahead!!!