Chapter 80
Li Yu felt that this mission was the most to his liking. After putting everything in order, he began to secretly plan.
The room had to be clean and tidy. He also ceremoniously changed the bed with a red bedding and placed a pair of jade pillows. Behind one of the pillows were several small boxes filled with ointment. These were provided by Eunuch Wang out of friendship. Li Yu couldn’t tell which one was useful, so he could only prepare a little of each type.
The next step was to use the silver funnel flexibly. After determining the time to transform, he wrapped himself in the quilt and waited excitedly. He felt that his actions were obvious enough. If his boyfriend still didn’t understand, then he would be a stupid piece of wood.
Li Yu asked Wang Xi to pass on a message for King Jing to come back as soon as possible.
Although he was now at the western border, he felt that it was no different from being at King Jing’s residence. This was probably because King Jing was there that he truly felt safe and secure.
Li Yu waited and waited, and unexpectedly fell asleep again. When he woke up, only a small part of the silver funnel had leaked out, but King Jing still hadn’t returned.
Li Yu rubbed his eyes and got up. Why hadn’t King Jing returned yet? Was he held back by something?
He remembered that King Jing was dealing with the assassins and couldn’t bring him along. Li Yu also consciously avoided these situations. After all, King Jing was an ancient prince and had his own methods. Moreover, he still had to fight for the position of crown prince, so he couldn’t force King Jing. From a modern point of view, as long as he didn’t arbitrarily hurt the innocent, he should still be able to understand.
Li Yu sat and waited for a while. His worry for King Jing defeated all the useless thoughts in his mind. Li Yu decided to personally find King Jing.
He was just about to put on his clothes when he caught a glimpse of a faint light from the window next door. Li Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He finally knew where King Jing was.
Li Yu wrapped himself in the quilt and pushed open the door of the room next door. A tall young man was facing a table full of secret reports, frowning and deep in thought.
For a moment, Li Yu really wanted to drive away all the worries for him.
“Your Highness, are you still busy?” Li Yu called out in a low voice.
King Jing looked up and caught a glimpse of Li Yu standing at the door, wrapped in a big red blanket. She was shaking her head adorably. King Jing couldn’t help but smile and waved at Li Yu.
Li Yu hurried over and sat down beside King Jing.
There were many drawings on the table. Li Yu had accompanied King Jing to work at the Ministry of Works before, so he could easily recognize that these were topographic maps. King Jing was obviously studying the terrain.
As soon as he came over, King Jing hugged him together with the quilt. When he touched his hand that was exposed outside the quilt, his palm was slightly cold. King Jing glanced at him with slight reproach and put his hand into his arms to warm it up.
Li Yu felt warm and comfortable. He pointed at one of the topographic maps and asked in a low voice, “Why is Your Highness looking at these?”
They had just arrived in Town of Fallen Maple not long ago. Li Yu thought that King Jing was going to start building houses again.
King Jing took a pen, circled a position on the map, and wrote: One man can hold the pass against ten thousand.
“Is Your Highness preparing to go to war?” Li Yu asked curiously.
Town of Fallen Maple was located at the border, and it was chaotic. Li Yu had thought about the possibility of war on the way here. But wouldn’t it be too reckless to use weapons so soon after arriving? Why would he want to fight?
King Jing saw through his concerns and handed him a secret report.
Li Yu asked uncertainly, “Can I?”
King Jing nodded.
Li Yu opened the secret report and read it. It turned out that it was the confessions of several captured assassins. The assassins confessed that they were originally following the orders of a local squire surnamed Wu. Squire Wu had bribed them with a large sum of money and sent them to assassinate King Jing.
The truth of the assassination was somewhat unexpected. Li Yu had always thought that these assassins were sent by the Sixth Prince. Who would have thought that it was not the Sixth Prince, but a squire.
Li Yu was puzzled. This squire and King Jing should have never met before. Moreover, this squire should be considered a rich man. Why would he want to assassinate King Jing?
King Jing received Li Yu’s questioning gaze and handed the other secret reports to Li Yu one after another.
It turned out that King Jing himself also felt that a mere squire might not dare to hire assassins, so he ordered the imperial bodyguards to investigate Squire Wu’s background. In just one day, the imperial bodyguards had thoroughly investigated Squire Wu’s background. This was no secret in Town of Fallen Maple. Squire Wu was able to be rich and powerful in the remote and desolate Town of Fallen Maple because he was secretly colluding with the bandits in the western border.
Before King Jing came to the western border, he had done some research on the western border.
At present, there were two major hidden dangers in the western border. One of them was the bandits, which made the Emperor very uneasy all year round. Because it was located at the border, the western border was in turmoil all year round. The bandits took advantage of the situation to appear and disturb the common people, repeatedly opposing the Imperial Court. The Emperor had sent troops to suppress the bandits, but the results were minimal. The bandits colluded with the neighboring countries and occupied the advantageous terrain. The soldiers and soldiers were unable to eliminate the bandits, which had become a sore point for the Emperor.
Among the bandits, Town of Fallen Maple was the throat of the entire western border. The Emperor had tried to appoint several officials, but all of them had only been in office for half a year before they either resigned or died an unnatural death. The current Town Mayor could not be found, so a local Town Mayor was chosen to temporarily replace him. The Emperor sent King Jing here for two reasons. On one hand, it was to give King Jing a trial, and on the other hand, it was to harden his heart and make a move on the western border.
Before King Jing left the Imperial Palace, the Emperor had given him a secret edict. King Jing was only allowed to see it after he arrived at the western border. Since King Jing had already arrived, he had taken out the secret edict and read it. The Emperor had ordered him to govern the western border and act according to the circumstances. With this edict, King Jing could do whatever he wanted.
He first ordered the imperial bodyguards to arrest Squire Wu, who had been betrayed by the assassins. When Squire Wu was brought before King Jing, he denied his crimes in every possible way and refused to admit his crimes. In front of King Jing, he was arrogant. King Jing did not hold back and immediately tortured Squire Wu, beating him half to death.
When the imperial bodyguards searched Squire Wu’s house, they found that in addition to the gold and silver in the house, there were also countless rare treasures hidden in the cellar, as well as many swords and knives. It turned out that Squire Wu’s identity was also fake. He was a bandit in disguise and had been lurking in Town of Fallen Maple for several years. He acted as a spy for the bandits outside and secretly transported things.
When King Jing came to Town of Fallen Maple, the bandits did not take this mute prince from the Imperial City seriously. They only thought that he was an official they had bullied or begged in the past. The bandit leader decided to show his power to King Jing, so he borrowed Squire Wu’s hand to send an assassin.
Since King Jing had found out Squire Wu’s identity, he naturally wanted to immediately bring him to justice and suppress the arrogance of the bandits. However, this move would definitely anger the bandits. The bandits in the western border had run amok for a long time. King Jing had previously considered dealing with them. However, the men he brought with him this time were all elites, so there were not many of them. If he had the imperial bodyguards to help him, he would have a greater chance of winning.
Although King Jing had read a lot of military books, because it was his first time going into battle, he still had to think of a comprehensive strategy after choosing an excellent position to face the bandits.
However, the bandits had strong soldiers and strong horses, so it was not easy to think of a strategy.
Li Yu was dazzled by the secret report and admired her boyfriend very much.
The fish’s brain was full of dirty thoughts. Look at her boyfriend, who only focused on his career and did not care about her. This was what it meant to consider the overall situation.
It seemed that if the bandits were not dealt with, the fish would not be able to do anything.
*Your Highness, are you worried about the strategy? How about I give you an idea?”
Li Yu scratched his chin and pretended to smile deeply.
He looked at the emperor and old Duke Chengen and scratched their chins. He also wanted to scratch himself. However, other people had majestic beards on their chins. Li Yu was still a young man with a smooth chin. It would be inappropriate to scratch his chin.
King Jing held back his laughter. His eyes seemed to be asking, “What’s the idea?”
King Jing’s eyes were dark and bright. They were undoubtedly the most beautiful among his facial features. When he looked at others, they were cold as ice, but when he looked at him, they were full of affection.
Being stared at by this pair of shining eyes, Li Yu’s heart thumped. He felt that since he admitted that he was a carp spirit, King Jing’s trust in him had become stronger and stronger …
Li Yu calmed down and tried not to let his thoughts wander. He pointed at the topographic map and said, “Your Highness, look. Several families in Luofeng Town have built cellars. These cellars can be expanded. When a fight breaks out, we can prepare some food and water. We can put the people in these cellars first. This can ensure their safety and prevent the bandits from noticing when we move the people out of town. “
Li Yu did not want the people to be hurt. He thought of the cellars as air raid shelters.
King Jing nodded approvingly. “After the people are well hidden, there will be no more worries. We can lure the bandits into the town. At that time, they will be in the light while we are in the dark.”
“Your Highness, if you can dig some tunnels, they can also be used for attack.”
Li Yu blinked his eyes mysteriously and drew some traps that he knew about on the paper.
This fish did not read military books, but this fish knew about mine warfare and tunnel warfare!
King Jing carefully pondered Li Yu’s words and had a lot of ideas.
When he was about to ask more questions, he suddenly found that Young Master Li had changed back to his fish form and was wagging his tail at him. Clap, clap, clap.
King Jing skillfully picked up the quilt and held the fish. He put the fish into the fish tank and put the quilt on the bed.
After doing all this, King Jing suddenly found a pair of jade pillows on the bed. “…
This must be Xiaoyu’s masterpiece.
King Jing smiled and put away the red quilt. There was a small box next to the jade pillows. He reached out and dug around. There were a few other boxes. King Jing opened one of them and saw the white and smooth cream inside. King Jing suddenly realized what he had missed just now.
When Wu Chengshen was caught, he was not worried at first. He thought that King Jing would use him as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the bandits. However, after King Jing found out that he was a bandit, he did not let him live. Instead, he hanged him under a big tree at the town entrance and confiscated all his ill-gotten gains.
Since the bandits could show King Jing his power, King Jing could also slap the bandits in the face.
The Town Mayor was very worried about this. King Jing was a prince who had come all the way from the imperial city. The Town Mayor did not expect King Jing to make any great achievements, but at least in Fallen Maple Town, he could not afford to make any mistakes. After learning that King Jing was assassinated, the mayor almost fainted from fear. However, King Jing ordered the bandits to be hanged. The mayor smiled bitterly. It would be difficult for him to not make any mistakes.
Executing Wu Chengshen was tantamount to declaring war on the bandits. The soldiers had fought several times but failed. King Jing had only brought a few people. How could he defeat the bandits as soon as he arrived in Luofeng Town? It was okay that His Highness caused trouble. He could just leave. But what about the people of Luofeng Town?
For a time, the town was in a panic. The mayor asked for an audience several times, but King Jing refused.
One night, the infuriated bandits launched an attack on the town.
When they broke into the town, they found that all the people were gone. Their opponents, who always appeared out of nowhere, made them dizzy. When they felt that something was wrong and wanted to escape, they fell into several traps at the end of the village.
