Yang Ning was startled, and at this moment, a man came up from behind. He was surprised when he saw Yang Ning, and said happily: "Your Majesty!" He quickly stepped forward and knelt on the ground, "Your Majesty, can you come back? Yes, everyone has been looking for you."
Yang Ning took a look and saw that he was one of the guards who had followed him down from the capital. When the officers and soldiers saw this, they glanced at each other, then they all knelt down and said in unison: "Young man, pay homage to the Crown Prince!"
Yang Ning raised her hand and said, "Everyone, get up." Then he asked, "What happened here?"
The attendant stood up and said: "Reporting to the Crown Prince, we have already taken control of the old house and arrested everyone. We are just waiting to find the Crown Prince before we take action."
Yang Ning raised his eyebrows and asked, "Have you caught those guys? By the way, can you catch the guy pretending to be Qi Cheng?"
"Don't worry, Prince, we've caught him." The attendant said excitedly: "Everyone is still anxious. Prefect Mao is also here. I will go and report it now."
Yang Ning shook his head and said: "No need, I'll go there myself." He shook the horse's reins and walked straight to the old house. When he arrived in front of the old house, he saw a soldier every few steps around, and there were at least hundreds of them. , a follower saw Yang Ning in front of the door, and was overjoyed. Yang Ning entered the house, and saw brightly lit lights in the lobby. Several people were gathering together to discuss something. When they heard footsteps, several people turned their heads, and one person said happily: " Prince, you... you are back!" It was Qi Feng who had already rushed forward.
Others heard this and came over one after another. A middle-aged man in official robes cupped his hands and said, "Mao Wenshou, the prefect of Jiangling, has met the prince!"
Although Yang Ning is the heir apparent in Jinyi, he is not an official after all, and has not yet inherited the title. The Jiangling prefect does not have to kneel down, but even so, he is still respectful.
Yang Ning raised his hand and returned the greeting: "Thank you for your hard work, Prefect Mao."
"It's good that the Crown Prince is safe and sound." Mao Wenshou took a deep breath and said with a smile: "We are discussing putting up notices and spending a lot of money to search for the Crown Prince. However, if this exposes the news that the Crown Prince is in Jiangling, I'm afraid it will be counterproductive and bring trouble to the Crown Prince. It’s troublesome, so we are discussing it.”
"Everyone, please take a seat first." Yang Ning raised his hand and said. Several other people were also general officials and saluted Yang Ning one after another. Yang Ning motioned for everyone to sit down and asked Qi Feng: "Qi Feng, Master Mao and the others are like this." yes… ?"
Qi Feng immediately explained: "Your Majesty, I went to Jingzhou City and found the old manager Qi Hong. At that time, there was only one person taking care of him." He shook his head and said: "It's not taking care of him, he's guarding him."
"guard?"
"Exactly, the old manager didn't have a stroke, but he was poisoned. He was lying on the bed unable to move, and he couldn't speak. He was drugged and his voice became mute." Qi Feng sneered: "At first we I almost got deceived, but when I looked at the manager, his eyes looked wrong."
"The eyes are wrong?"
Qi Feng smiled and said: "Jiang is very old. Although the old manager couldn't move, he reminded me with his eyes that there was a fraud. The prince also knew that I was very shrewd. He understood it as soon as he saw the old manager's eyes. He made a prompt decision and killed the guarding manager on the spot. The guy in charge caught him. He was a softie. Once he was tortured, he confessed everything. He confessed that the old manager didn’t have a stroke, but he just didn’t have an antidote.” After a pause, “Since the old manager didn’t have a stroke, then there must be something wrong with it. There is something fishy. I discussed with Governor Mao and secretly mobilized troops. When the brothers who were sent to Jiangxia came back and learned that Qi Cheng disappeared many years ago and his whereabouts are unknown, then there must be something wrong with Qi Cheng in the old house."
Yang Ning nodded and said: "If Qi Cheng from the old house is real, Jiang Xia must know that Qi Cheng is here, and there will be no talk of missing."
Qi Feng nodded and said: "So Prefect Mao made preparations. We took people to the old house. But just to be sure, I arrived at the old house first. When I learned that the prince and the third lady were missing at the same time, I knew there was a ghost among them. I contacted them. Governor Mao had sent troops to surround the old house at night three days ago and captured the fake Qi Cheng. Several of his accomplices happened to be here at the time, and they were arrested together." After a moment of hesitation, he said: "I'm worried that the people in the old house are also related, so all of them, men, women, old and young, are temporarily detained."
"Those people in the old house don't know the truth of the matter. They were deceived and controlled by Qi Cheng's group." Yang Ning said: "The third lady is also very safe, there is no need to worry."
"That's good, that's good." Mao Wenshou felt relieved, "When we learned that the prince and the third wife were missing, we sent people to search everywhere. From the fake Qi Cheng's mouth, we learned that the prince might have gone to Xiashan, so we sent people to Searching in the gorges and mountains, there are still many people in the mountains."
Yang Ning cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, everyone." He then said, "Can we extract other confessions from Qi Cheng?"
Mao Wenshou and Qi Feng looked at each other and then said: "The lower official asked people to torture him severely. He only said that everything was ordered by the judge, and he also said nonsense about immortality."
"Did he mention Jiuyou Ksitigarbha?" Yang Ning asked with a frown.
"Jiuyou Ksitigarbha?" Mao Wenshou was startled, shook his head and said: "I didn't mention this, Your Majesty, what is this Jiuyou Ksitigarbha?"
"Be patient and unmoved like the earth, and meditate deeply and secretly like a secret treasure. Have you ever heard this sentence?"
Mao Wenshou nodded and said: "This is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. It is said that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was entrusted by Sakyamuni to stay in the world and teach in the world without Buddha after Sakyamuni's death and before the birth of Maitreya Buddha. He saves sentient beings who sink into the realms of hell, evil ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, and gods, and he swears that the hell will not be empty and that he will never become a Buddha."
"Prefect Mao is indeed full of knowledge." Yang Ning praised.
Mao Wenshou hurriedly smiled and said: "I don't dare, it's just that I occasionally read some Buddhist scriptures, so I know a little bit about it. As far as I know, there are six Ksitigarbha envoys under Ksitigarbha...!" He seemed to feel that he was showing off his knowledge too much, waving his hands and laughing. Said: "Let the prince laugh."
Yang Ning said seriously: "Prefect Mao, we don't know these things, and I really want to know more about them. What about the six Ksitigarbha envoys you mentioned?"
"Hui Shizi, the six Ksitigarbha envoys, are the envoys who assist Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in saving the six realms." Mao Wenshou explained: "One is the envoy of Yanmo, who can save hells, and the other is the treasure-holding boy, who can save evil ghosts and return evil spirits to the world. There are powerful messengers who can save animals, benevolent goddesses who can save asuras, treasure goddesses who can save humans, and finally those who capture angels and save heaven. These six messengers are the six messengers of Ksitigarbha."
Yang Ning nodded slightly and said, "I see." He added, "The fake Qi Cheng must have indeed taken orders from Zhao Yuan. This Zhao Yuan is the judge that the fake Qi Cheng mentioned."
Qi Feng asked hurriedly: "The prince has met Zhao Yuan?"
"He is already dead. I killed him with my own hands." Yang Ning said calmly: "He claimed to obey the orders of Jiuyou Ksitigarbha, but this Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is the Bodhisattva worshiped by the world. The Jiuyou Ksitigarbha he spoke of, They can only be human beings." He asked, "Qi Feng, have you ever heard of any Jianghu organizations related to this?"
Qi Feng thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "I have never heard that there is a person like Jiuyou Ksitigarbha in the world." He leaned forward and whispered: "Your Majesty, there is another important matter. I'm afraid you won't Know.”
"Big thing?" Yang Ning asked, "What big thing?"
Qi Feng looked at Mao Wenshou and said, "Master Mao, it's up to you to speak."
Mao Wenshou nodded slightly, his expression became solemn, he raised his hand and said to the other officials: "You all go down first." Everyone stood up and left Yang Ning. After everyone left, Mao Wenshou asked in a low voice: "Is the Crown Prince okay? Do you know that the Holy One has passed away?"
"Died?" Yang Ning didn't react for a while and asked: "What death? The death of the Holy Emperor?" He suddenly woke up and said in a voiceless voice: "You mean, the emperor is dead?"
Mao Wenshou and Qi Feng both changed their expressions slightly. Yang Ning also knew that he had made a mistake. Mao Wenshou had already raised his hand to signal Yang Ning to lower his voice. He even stood up and walked to the door to look outside. Then he came back and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I just received the news yesterday morning that the Holy Emperor has passed away."
Yang Ning's mind was spinning.
After the death of Marquis Jinyi, there was no action in the palace. Even on the day of Marquis Jinyi's funeral, they hurriedly sent someone to announce the decree on the way. The Marquis's Mansion had originally hoped that the palace would receive a reward as usual, so that the Marquis' Mansion could tide over. Difficulties, after all, Jin Yihou is the pillar of the empire and has devoted himself to the country and made countless contributions. The emperor will never remain indifferent.
But in fact, even today, the emperor has not given a single copper coin.
Yang Ning sometimes still thinks that if the emperor is really so stingy, it can be said to be extremely stupid. Few people can match the achievements of Jinyihou to Chu. If such a person does not even pay compensation after his death, how can he get the civil and military officials? and the hearts of the people of the world, even if there are huge difficulties, they still have to show off.
Not to mention that the emperor had no rewards and pensions, and even during the funeral, no one from the palace was sent to pay homage. This was really abnormal.
The defense in the capital was mobilized. The Royal Habayashi Battalion responsible for guarding the imperial city was transferred out of the capital, while the Black Knife Battalion entered the city to change defenses. In addition, the capital was under martial law. Everything heralded changes in the capital.
Although Yang Ning also felt that something happened in the capital, he never expected that it was because of the emperor's death.
Knowing the news at this moment, all the doubts suddenly became clear. He knew in his heart that the emperor was afraid that when the Black Knife Battalion entered the capital, he might be on the verge of death, or even die by then. The purpose of mobilizing defenses was to prevent someone in the capital. Taking advantage of the emperor's death to plot evil.
Even the emperor is dead in the palace, so there is no time to worry about the funeral of Marquis Jinyi.
Within a short period of time, Marquis Liang Jinyi, the pillar of the imperial army, passed away, and the emperor of the empire passed away almost at the same time. One emperor and one general passed away one after another. Such a blow was simply fatal to the Chu Empire. What follows? The Chu Kingdom is bound to have a storm, and Yang Ning even suspected that the capital city might have fallen into chaos.
"The wise king of the previous generation died in the prime of life...!" Mao Wenshou's eyes were red and he sighed: "Where my great Chu will go is really worrying."