After reporting Alan's news to Feng Liao, Su Mingjian went to torture the assassin he caught last night, hoping to get some valuable clues before leaving.
Feng Liao sat on the chair with her back leaning against the back of the chair. While letting the little eunuch wash her feet, she looked at the window of the main room, thinking about what happened last night.
He thought: This will be a night he will never forget.
Last night, after Yong Ruo confided all her doubts to Feng Liao, Su Mingjian, Xu Taiyi and others, she made a plan to hide the truth and turn against the client.
Su Mingjian hid in the main room with his elite guards and waited for the rabbit. Feng Liao and Yong Ruo went to the East Wing and lay down in their clothes, waiting for news.
In the middle of the night, the entrance to the cellar under the big carved bed in the main room was opened, and a short man crawled out silently.
The man touched an incense burner by the bed, sprinkled something into the incense burner, and then quietly stuffed the incense burner into the tent.
Su Mingjian, who had been waiting for a long time, took the opportunity to knock him unconscious with a hand knife.
The assassin was bound and gagged.
Su Mingjian searched the assassin and found that he was wearing a pair of gloves for catching snakes, and a small bamboo cage was tied around his waist. There was a very poisonous snake in the cage.
He checked the cellar again and found another exit to the cellar, in a ruined area behind the courtyard.
Doctor Xu discovered that the censer was sprayed with a lot of sleeping incense by the assassin...
By this time, the assassination plans of the assassins had been completely laid out in front of Feng Liao and the others.
The murder weapon was the poisonous snake.
After the assassin got out of the cellar, he planned to use sleeping incense to put the person on the bed to sleep, and then bit Feng Liao with a poisonous snake.
According to Dr. Xu, this is a silver ring snake, which is a very poisonous snake.
But after a person is bitten by this poisonous snake, the pain will not be too obvious, and the effect of sleeping incense can ensure that Feng Liao will not be awakened by the snake bite.
If she won't be woken up, she will lose the chance to call for help. Feng Liao will die of poison silently in her sleep.
And when Feng Liao's body was found, the assassin had already retreated from the tunnel.
If Su Mingjian and others still didn't discover the tunnel afterwards, then Feng Liao's death was a hell of an "accident". At that time, no matter how angry the emperor and the British palace were, there was nothing they could do.
If Su Mingjian and others discovered the tunnel afterwards, it would be too late, and they could only bear the charge of "negligence of duty".
Alan's role in this plan is to first lead Feng Liao to the village, second to deliver news to the people in the cellar, and third to determine Feng Liao's life and death—this point is very important.
Only after confirming Feng Liao's life and death, will the mastermind behind the scenes know what to do next.
If it is unsuccessful, Alan will continue to lurk, and the next plan will continue to advance.
If the assassination has been successful, they have to stop the next step immediately and start finishing work and aftermath.
Su Mingjian couldn't figure it out at the time: "Why didn't the assassin in the cellar confirm the success of the operation before retreating from the tunnel?"
Imperial Physician Xu laughed a little: "Because people who are bitten by this kind of snake will not die immediately! It usually takes one or two hours."
Su Mingjian suddenly realized: "If the assassin stays in the house for so long, the risk is too high."
Yong Ruo said with a smile: "There is another risk: What if the prince temporarily changes his residence before falling asleep? This possibility is very small, but it is not impossible. Therefore, it can only be confirmed by Alan Do it. If the messenger behind the scenes is cautious enough, he will ask Alan to at least take a look at the prince's 'remains'."
Although the assassination plan and Alan's identity have been seen through, it is meaningless to arrest Alan for interrogation at this time.
Because Yongruo didn't have conclusive evidence of Alan's involvement, Alan had ample excuses to evade, claiming that he didn't know about it.
Feng Liao's coming to Majia Village was proposed by him himself, and it cannot be completely regarded as Alan leading him here.
As for passing the news, it is even more groundless.
Even if the captured assassin confessed to Alan that Alan was his accomplice, Alan could deny it.
She just played two pieces of music on the flute. What kind of news is this? It's clearly the assassin who made a false accusation, so you must not be fooled and tortured into a trick.
Even if Alan couldn't bear the torture in the end, he confessed.
Then these people like myself just caught one more female assassin, and they didn't help the current situation in any positive direction.
It's better to take the opportunity to release Alan and let her find the master behind the scenes.
In this way, the scourge of the rogues may also be solved, because Alan and the leader of the rogues are likely to be in the same group.
Yong Ruo felt that the reason why the leader of the rogue bandits coerced the people of Majia Village to rebel was to cover Alan's identity and the poisonous snake's assassination plan, and to pave the way for the next step.
If Majiacun's assassination plan fails, the leader of the bandits may use the refugees he coerced to arrange the next assassination plan.
Even if the assassination plan never succeeds, he can still use a massive civil unrest to end Feng Liao's political life, making it impossible for Feng Liao to be adopted as the emperor's heir again.
If her guess is correct, the leader of the bandits will likely readjust his future plans after receiving the news that "Feng Liao is dead and Su Mingjian will destroy the bandits at all costs".
As long as the bandit leaders don't resolutely "rebel", the refugees who are coerced by them will be vulnerable.
Therefore, Yong Ruo acted as a guest writer and director temporarily, writing and directing the play this morning.
Fortunately, the main actors who participated in the performance have good acting skills, at least there are no jokes.
The most important part of the scene should have been Yong Ruo's - there must be a woman who used heart-piercing cries to set off the sad atmosphere of "the prince passed away".
But for long-term planning, Yongruo didn't want to give people the impression that he was good at acting. He excused himself because he couldn't cry, so he resolutely declined the role of the heroine, and only acted in a trick where he fainted as soon as the scene opened.
The task of the heroine fell on Huarou.
Huarou couldn't refuse, so she had to bite the bullet and go. Feng Liao also threatened everyone, if anyone messes up with the performance, let him pretend to be dead for nothing, and let whoever pours Yexiang after returning to Beijing.
Now, the drama is over.
Yong Ruo felt: Su Mingjian, Xu Taiyi, Hua Rou and others should be awarded the best actor, best supporting actor, and best actress performance awards; Feng Liao, a guy who pretends to be dead, can get one of the best Best Actor Award - He held his breath for quite a long time.
And what about myself? If the plan really works, she could pocket both the Best Screenplay and Best Director awards.
After Feng Liao washed her feet and had a hasty breakfast with Yong Ruo, Su Mingjian came to report: the captured assassin confessed.
That assassin was Wu Er, and like that Alan, he was a bandit from Wuhu Peak.
Feng Liao, a bandit from Wuhu Peak, knew about it.
Before leaving the capital, Su Mingjian went to the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Households to collect a lot of information about Lunan, and the information about Wuhufeng was among them.
The bandits on Wuhu Peak are small in scale, and there are only more than 100 old and weak, but they have already occupied that area for decades.
The main business of this group of bandits is to collect "protection fees" and "tolls". Coupled with the complex terrain of Wuhu Peak, the risk of sending troops to encircle and suppress is high, and the benefits are small, so the court has not paid much attention to this group of bandits, and only pays attention to collecting information.
More than ten years ago, the bandits on Wuhu Peak were replaced by the current leader.
This leader is called Yuan Cheng (whether his real name is unknown), and he is a man with a bit of ink, a bit of martial arts, and a bit of scheming. That anti-poem was inscribed by Yuan Cheng himself.
After Yuan Cheng became the leader, the Wuhu Peak bandit behaved even more low-key. They don't even collect "tolls", but there is no shortage of daily supplies.
It is said that before Yuan Cheng entered the stockade to become a bandit, he was a son of a rich family; after he became the bandit leader, he still had some property outside, and a fixed amount of income was used in the stockade every year.
Wu Er didn't know where and what Yuan Cheng's property was.
It is said that because Yuan Cheng was afraid of the news leaking out, those properties were seized by the government, and he even hid it from his confidantes. The elders in the village once jointly extorted a confession, but he also refused to say anything.
This time there was a severe drought in southern Shandong, Yuan Cheng said that his property suffered heavy losses due to the double blow of drought and government exploitation, and encouraged people in the village to rebel in order to "gain a fortune".
In the stockade, more than twenty young and middle-aged men followed Yuan Cheng out to venture out.
It is said that Yuan Cheng was instigated by a certain dignitary in the capital to arrange this killing in Majia Village.
The dignitary promised that as long as the people from Wuhufeng could kill the prince of Hengjun who was patrolling southern Lunan, he would push the court to recruit them, let them wash their identities, get promoted and make a fortune.
As for which dignitary it is, only Yuan Cheng himself knows, Wu Er does not know.
Of the two pieces that Alan played on the bamboo flute, the first one was a pre-agreed signal, meaning "action"; the second one was played by Alan at will, without any special meaning.
Among the agreed ciphers, there was another piece of music that represented "cancel action", but Alan didn't play it.
After knowing the exact news about the rogue bandits, Feng Liao wrote a report, and sent guards to send the horse back to the capital to report to the emperor.
At the same time, he wrote to Xue Zhouwei to let them pay close attention to the bandits on Wuhu Peak.
When the sun was high up, Yong Ruo followed Feng Liao on the horse, and under the guidance of the scouts, chased in the direction where the bandits and Alan left.
It's easy to track down a mob. There are quite a few of them, and they lack organizational discipline. Eating, drinking and lazing will always leave many traces. Even if there were no scouts, they probably wouldn't chase it down.
It was a bit more difficult to track Alan and the others. There were only two of them, and their vigilance was relatively high. Fortunately, the scouts who followed them were excellent and were not thrown off by them.
After walking for two days, Feng Liao and the others discovered that Alan and those rogues were heading in exactly the same direction.
This also proved Yong Ruo's previous guess from the side. Feng Liao thought: Perhaps it is much easier to deal with this group of rogues than expected.
On the evening of the fifth day, the scouts came to report: They had caught up with the bandits, and Alan and the people who responded to her had joined Yuan Cheng and others. Now, this group of people has just looted a new village, and they are making a blood alliance there, and they are going to gather for an uprising!
Feng Liao tapped her palm with the whip, telling the scouts and the guards to proceed as planned.
People in the village are having bonfire parties and carnivals.
Outside the village, Feng Liao and others lay in ambush at various intersections to eat dry food. Fortunately, the mosquito repellent prescribed by Dr. Xu is very effective, so they don't have to endure the attack of mosquitoes.
After late at night, the hustle and bustle in the village gradually quieted down. It seemed that everyone was drunk, tired, and asleep.
Yong Ruo sat in the woods by the roadside, waiting for the news with Feng Liao.
When the moon gradually set in the west, they heard the faint sound of metal clashing and shouting and scolding in the distance.
The scout came to report: Yuan Cheng took the more than 20 bandits from Wuhu Peak, quietly left the bandit team in the second half of the night, and moved in the direction of Wuhu Peak. Su Mingjian and others have already surrounded them and handed them over.
After about a cup of tea, all kinds of noises gradually quieted down.
Su Mingjian came to report with a happy face: Thirteen of the more than twenty Wuhufeng bandits died, and the rest were captured, including Yuan Cheng and Alan. Those refugees are also under control.
"My lord, this time the bandit rebellion has been wiped out at the end of Qingping!" Su Mingjian said beamingly, "Thanks to Madam's effective planning! Thanks to my lord's decisive decision!"
"You guys did a good job too!" Feng Liao let out a long sigh of relief, then turned her head and said to Yong Ruo, "Ruo Ruo, it's all thanks to you! This time I'm going back to Beijing, I will definitely ask for a reward for you!"
Yong Ruoxiao: "Thank you, my lord!"
In any case, it is always a good thing to be rewarded for meritorious service.
I don't know if she will be able to meet the emperor after returning to Beijing this time
She has always been curious about the mystery of the emperor's extinction!
Feng Liao got on the horse and took Yong Ruo to see the bandits caught by Su Mingjian.
The bandits, including Yuan Cheng and Alan, were all tied up and gagged by Wuhuada.
Riding on the horse, Feng Liao approached Alan step by step, looked into her flaming eyes, smiled lightly, and said condescendingly: "You really have made great achievements! Don't worry! I will definitely give you the dowry I promised you. I won't break my promise."
Yuan Cheng and the others glared at Alan angrily.
Alan babbled muffledly, as if he had a lot to say. But her mouth was blocked, and she couldn't speak a word.