Chapter 1 Zheng Fan

Zheng Fan put the dagger away and sat down by the bed.

The Fifth Prince, lying on the ground, reached out with some difficulty.

Zheng Fan didn't mind, silently took out his Zhonghua brand iron box, pulled out a cigarette, and tapped it on the back of his hand.

The Fifth Prince shook his head, smiled wryly, then struggled to get up, biting his teeth in pain.

Seeing this, Zheng Fan put down the box, reached out, helped the Fifth Prince over, and let him lean against the bed.

"Is the injury real?"

Zheng Fan asked.

The Fifth Prince nodded and pointed to his left chest.

"Did you stab yourself?" Zheng Fan asked.

The Fifth Prince frowned and said,

"Shouldn't you first ask if there's poison on the knife?"

The implication was that he was skipping steps.

You didn't like me skipping steps before, and now you're doing it yourself!

Zheng Fan shook his head, reached out his finger and tapped the Fifth Prince's left chest, not hard, and the Fifth Prince's wound was not touched.

"I'm someone who's been through countless battles on the battlefield. In this position, unless the other party is a complete newbie, one knife down, even without poison, will be fatal. Since you're not dead, it proves that you stabbed yourself."

That kind of thing where you get shot or arrowed in the chest and it's no big deal, and you're up and kicking again after a little rest, is pure nonsense.

In addition, the assassin must know martial arts. As long as the knife is stabbed in here, and a little qi and blood are infused, the tearing and vibration will not allow you to have the possibility of treating the injury.

The Fifth Prince nodded somewhat dejectedly,

"Yes, I stabbed myself."

"Are you sick?"

The Fifth Prince didn't rush to speak, but pointed to the coffee table not far away,

"I'm thirsty."

Marquis Zheng looked at him.

He also looked at Marquis Zheng.

Finally,

Marquis Zheng reluctantly got up, walked over, poured a cup of tea, and handed it over.

The Fifth Prince took the teacup, the tea was warm, and he took several sips before recovering.

"I say, you're a marquis now, and the military merit marquis of our Great Yan is indeed admirable, but I'm still a prince, can you give me some face?

I'm not saying you should be trembling with fear, because I know you won't, but at least be a little respectful?"

Marquis Zheng dusted the dust off his shoulder armor,

and said lightly,

"Get to the point."

"Tsk."

The Fifth Prince held the teacup, seemingly organizing his words.

Marquis Zheng asked directly;

"Did you administer the poison?"

"Dong..."

The teacup slipped and fell on the bed.

"Zheng Fan, you can't just say things like that. This matter has nothing to do with me. I'm also wronged. So many people died at a good banquet.

Am I taking the wrong medicine to do such a thing?

After this, who would dare to come to my banquet?"

Zheng Fan turned his head to look at the Fifth Prince,

"Then what are you doing here pretending to be poisoned? Missing me?"

If it weren't for the Fifth Prince being poisoned, Marquis Zheng wouldn't have come to Yingdu.

The Fifth Prince immediately shook his head, his face showing obvious discomfort. These words, coupled with the ground under his feet, gave people an association of bad customs.

"Tell me what you know, quickly."

"Are you busy?"

"I'm sleepy."

"The banquet was organized by me, and many people came because of my status as a prince. Then, poison was added to the wine, and a large number of people died."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Tell me about yourself, why did you stab yourself."

The Fifth Prince was silent.

Zheng Fan stood up,

and said:

"It's okay if you don't want to say it. My guards will rush in later. You will be tied up and sent back to Yanjing, to the Great Prison Temple, to the Clan Court, to the back garden where His Majesty is, to talk slowly.

There's no reason, at this time, there's no reason to keep it a secret anymore."

After speaking, Zheng Fan walked out.

He didn't like the mumbling way of talking, it was too tiring and too cumbersome.

The main thing was that after establishing his marquisate, Zheng Fan's mentality had changed. He began to admire the idea that as long as he had troops in his hands, everything else didn't matter.

This was a typical warlord mentality.

He was getting carried away.

He was getting swollen.

"Zheng Fan." The Fifth Prince stopped Marquis Zheng, "I know the person who assassinated me."

Zheng Fan stopped, not so patiently waiting for what he was going to say.

"His name is Wen Yin, and he's from the Crown Prince's people, specializing in recruiting Jianghu people for the Crown Prince."

Wen Yin?

Zheng Fan turned around, looked at the Fifth Prince sitting on the bed, and asked:

"You also know Wen Yin?"

The Fifth Prince was a little dumbfounded,

and said:

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? How does a commanding marquis like you even know Wen Yin?"

Zheng Fan pointed to his face and replied, "You should know why I know."

"That's right, I know, it must be Sixth Brother who told you. After all, you are the biggest general of the Sixth Brother party. Damn it, what kind of luck does Sixth Brother have, supporting a person, and actually able to support him from a captain to a military merit marquis."

"You're digressing."

"I know, but do you know that when you ask me like that, I'm very hurt, even more uncomfortable than the wound on my chest.

I'm still a prince, I'm still a prince, a broken ship still has three thousand nails, can't I know that Wen Yin is a Jianghu hunting dog under the Crown Prince?

I like doing carpentry, I like looking at construction sites, that's true, but I'm at least also Father's son, even if I can't compare with Sixth Brother, who stirred up so many hidden hands during a big wedding;

But I shouldn't be so unbearable in your heart, right?"

He felt wronged,

very wronged,

extremely wronged.

Zheng Fan smiled and said, "Wen Yin personally assassinated you?"

"Yes, I saw it clearly, it was him. I saw him once in the Crown Prince's mansion in Yanjing City when the Crown Prince had a birthday.

Later, I had someone verify his identity."

Whether this statement about the first meeting was true or not, Zheng Fan didn't think about it for the time being. It wasn't easy to say whether it was a coincidence or not, but what people said was that a prince was still a prince. He usually didn't show off, but secretly raising a group of people to find out some information for himself wasn't a big problem.

"Wen Yin's knife stabbed me."

"Then, you didn't die?" Zheng Fan asked.

"My guards desperately protected me. His knife didn't stab deep, and I was wearing scale armor inside at the time, so at first it only broke a little skin."

"Then, you stabbed yourself?"

"Yes, I was scared, I was scared."

The Fifth Prince almost roared.

"My Second Brother, my Crown Prince, he actually wants to kill me!"

Zheng Fan walked back to the bed and looked at the Fifth Prince.

"Zheng Fan, yes, we are princes, but we are also brothers. I have always felt that our family's brothers are different from those in other countries and those in history.

The eldest brother has always looked like an eldest brother, and the eldest brother doesn't care about the throne anymore, he has no chance;

The second brother is calm, and the sixth brother is even more of a monster;

I just do carpentry,

I didn't want to fight,

I didn't want to fight at all,

Why did he want to kill me?"

The Fifth Prince tore open his clothes, revealing the bandaged wound, pointing to it,

and continued:

"Third Brother is gone, in fact, the brothers are all feeling bad, not just because they are afraid of what happened to the hare might happen to them, but because we are all have feelings, we really have feelings.

Zheng Fan,

do you believe it,

we brothers really have brotherly affection."

Zheng Fan didn't speak.

"Since the Crown Prince thinks I'm in the way and wants to get rid of me, what can I do? I can only cooperate. Wen Yin didn't stab me to death..."

"Wait a minute, didn't all the assassins who assassinated you commit suicide by taking poison?"

"Including Wen Yin, several escaped. The remaining ones, when surrounded by the subsequent guards and the patrol department, bit the poison sac in their teeth and committed suicide."

"It's not written in the files."

What Zheng Fan saw in the files was that all the assassins who participated in the assassination were either killed or committed suicide.

"I didn't say it." The Fifth Prince replied as a matter of course, "I even felt that Wen Yin's knife wasn't good enough, so I gave myself another knife. Fortunately, my craftsmanship is exquisite, and this knife didn't hurt the root, but I was afraid of being seen through, so I swallowed some pills to make myself look poisoned and weak. Even the best doctor would think that I was comatose because the poison in my body hadn't been cleared."

"You still haven't said why you stabbed yourself."

"I can't afford to offend, I can afford to hide, I'll just cripple myself, okay? I'm just thinking about recuperating here slowly, for a year and a half, until..."

Speaking of this, the Fifth Prince got stuck.

Zheng Fan understood what he was going to say, until the emperor passed away.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, he would be free. As long as he continued to be obedient, even if the new emperor was that person, he wouldn't kill himself at that time, but would treat himself kindly, setting an example of brotherly harmony and maintaining a harmonious relationship between the imperial family.

"Marquis Zheng, is this explanation enough?"

The struggle for the throne had entered the final stage.

King Jingnan had agreed with himself that he would go to Yanjing after autumn.

The Fifth Prince obviously wanted to use this assassination to remove himself, lie low, and avoid the limelight.

The reason was plausible and in line with the Fifth Prince's personality.

In fact, none of Emperor Yan's seven sons, the six who were adults, were stupid;

The Fifth Prince's aptitude was also considered good, plus the blessing of the "carpenter" prince, a gag that others didn't know, but Zheng Fan and the devils knew.

But compared to the other two, he really had no chance, so admitting defeat was forced by the situation.

"Please also, Marquis Zheng, keep it a secret for me. I will wake up after lying down for another half a month, and then always lie in bed weakly."

"Okay."

Zheng Fan nodded and agreed, "Then I'll go back to sleep."

"Don't you want to talk to me more? Lying in bed pretending to be in a coma all the time, and not being able to hold a hammer and nails, is also very boring."

"You rest well, I'm also tired."

After speaking,

Marquis Zheng turned around again and walked out again.

However,

this time,

when he reached the door,

the Fifth Prince clearly didn't stop him, but he stopped on his own.

Zheng Fan turned around and faced the Fifth Prince again,

just staring at him like that,

making the Fifth Prince feel a little uneasy.

"Wen Yin is actually not from the Crown Prince's people." Zheng Fan said.

"Ah? What?" The Fifth Prince was very shocked, "Marquis Zheng, what... what do you mean? Then who exactly is Wen Yin's person?"

"Wen Yin is a secret stake that Sixth Brother arranged by the Crown Prince's side."

"What, Sixth Brother's people, how, how could it be, why would Sixth Brother want to kill me, why him, no, impossible..."

Zheng Fan tilted his head slightly,

looked at the Fifth Prince,

reached out,

pointed at him,

with a bit of playful smile on his face,

and said:

"You actually knew long ago that Wen Yin was Sixth Brother's person, right?"

"I..."

"Oh, haha." Marquis Zheng laughed, "So, just now when I came in, the lines I recited standing by your bed, anyone who dares to stand in Sixth Highness's way must die;

actually,

at that time,

you were very flustered in your heart,

did you really think that this Marquis was here to give you a final stab for Sixth Brother?"

The Fifth Prince sat there blankly, his body beginning to tremble slightly.

Zheng Fan took two steps forward,

and continued;

"Also, the questions I asked you just now, the answers you gave me, did you think I was testing you, testing whether you knew that Wen Yin was Sixth Brother's person?"

Cold sweat began to appear on the Fifth Prince's face.

"So, from the moment I entered the room, Your Highness, you have actually been acting all the time, wow, this is a true star, admire, admire."

"Marquis Zheng, how did you see through it?"

"Oh, I didn't see through it, I just bluffed before leaving. Anyway, you don't care whether Wen Yin is from the Crown Prince's people, naturally you don't care whether you know that Wen Yin is actually from Sixth Brother's people. Since you were going to admit defeat anyway whether I told you the truth, why not try?"

"..." The Fifth Prince.

Zheng Fan shook his finger at the Fifth Prince,

and said:

"Fortunately, ever since I was enfeoffed as a marquis, I have been handling some letters."

It was blind man who was worried that the master was too idle and it wouldn't look good on the master's face, so he gave Zheng Fan the task of handling some letters, so that the master could have time to write letters and treat it as corresponding with pen pals to pass the time.

"So, there's one thing that Fifth Highness will definitely be even more surprised to know."

"What is it... please, Marquis Pingxi, tell me."

"That is, Wen Yin died three months ago."

...

Excerpt from the letter:

Little Fanzi, that old dog Wen Yin is dead, died of illness.

Years ago, I sent that old dog to the Crown Prince's side as a secret stake. At that time, the Crown Prince was short of people, and he quickly got up there.

A few years ago, he began to show a sign that he wanted to retire. I knew he was tired. He felt that he was old and wanted to live a few peaceful days.

But he also knew that I wouldn't agree. He also knew that the only ending for his retirement would be to be silenced by the Crown Prince's people or to be silenced by my people.

But even so, he still showed this meaning, because he was really tired in his heart, so even though he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to say it and sigh in front of me.

So I just listened;

Then, he died, died in an inn. People, when they get old, really just suddenly disappear.

According to the people at the inn, the night before he died, he ordered several pots of wine and a plate of peanuts. He ate and drank by himself for most of the night, and after going back, he fell asleep.

It wasn't murder, it wasn't poisoning, he really just died by himself. He should have known that his time was up.

He also left me a letter, in which he directly said: Sixth Master, I can rest.

The people from the East Palace buried him and erected a tomb in the west of the city.

I took the time to take a look, took a look from a distance, the old dog was lying there, and should be resting now.

Little Fanzi,

tell me, what's the difference between me and the old dog?

He was tired, but he knew he couldn't rest; I'm actually the same. I didn't want to fight in my early years, but those brothers didn't let me, my father didn't let me, and they had to pull me back.

The old dog is tired, he's lying under the grave, and he's resting;

What about me?

What about my wife and son?

Besides, the two women are pregnant again!

Little Fanzi,

after getting married, I realized how good it was to be alone before, one person resting, there's no need to find a second bamboo mat.

...

"I didn't lie!"

The Fifth Prince said very excitedly,

"What I saw was Wen Yin!"

Marquis Zheng nodded,

and said:

"What Your Highness saw, maybe, wasn't real."

...

"Creak..."

The courtyard door was pushed open, and a servant in Tsing Yi walked into the courtyard. He didn't push the door of the house, but leaned to the window,

and whispered:

"That Marquis has entered the city."

Inside the house,

a response came:

"Have all the men been withdrawn from the city?"

"Returning to your words, they were withdrawn early according to your instructions. Now, only this little one is left in the city to await your orders."

"Good, very good."

"Buzz!"

Suddenly,

a chopstick flew out of the window slit, directly piercing the neck of the Tsing Yi servant.

The servant clutched his neck and fell to the ground with an unbelievable expression.

Then,

the door of the house was pushed open from the inside,

and an elderly old man walked out from the inside,

wearing a wide-brimmed top hat, a dark cyan robe with green snakes hidden in it, gold silk patterns on the cuffs, red-faced black-soled boots, a ruddy complexion, and delicate skin, very well maintained;

This person,

was clearly the old eunuch who used to be the chief eunuch of the Situ Lei’s Dacheng Inner Prison and later assisted Situ Yu.

The old eunuch reached out,

picked up the chopstick,

stuck out his tongue,

and licked the blood stains on the chopstick smoothly,

then,

shook his head to himself,

and muttered to himself:

"Things are not good,

as soon as that Marquis came, he humiliated the Empress Dowager by borrowing the land of the Shishan First Emperor's mausoleum, and imprisoned the young master, and sent the entire royal palace;

Hiss,

could it be that

that Marquis already knows the truth of the matter?"