Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 217: Undercurrents surge, Chu Shizhao defeats the enemy with a plan

"Now that the court is in this situation, I must take action."

Chu Shizhao pondered for a moment and came up with an idea.

Chu Shizhao decided to return to Beijing. Before that, he arranged border defense and formulated a detailed response plan.

Chu Shizhao called Zhang Gan to the camp.

"Zhang Gan, I have to go back to Beijing now. I will leave all the exchanges with the grassland tribes to you."

Zhang Gan bowed and accepted the order: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will do my best."

Chu Shizhao continued, "You need to keep in close contact with leaders such as Dawa and learn about their needs and ideas in a timely manner."

"We must also keep a close eye on the affairs of the trading company and not allow any more mistakes to occur."

Zhang Gan nodded: "Your Highness, I will remember this. I will follow your instructions and maintain good relations with the grassland tribes."

Immediately afterwards, Chu Shizhao called Wang Xu again.

"General Wang, after I leave, the defense of the border will depend on you."

"You must strengthen patrols and deploy secret sentries. You must not allow the enemy to take advantage of the situation."

Wang Xu clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I will do my duty conscientiously."

"I will increase the frequency of patrols and deploy secret guards at key locations to ensure border security."

"Pay special attention to suspicious persons and arrest them immediately if found."

"Also, especially those who are related to the capital, we must pay special attention to them."

Wang Xu responded, "Yes, Your Highness."

"I have stepped up the screening of suspicious persons and will never let them cause trouble at the border."

Afterwards, he gave Li Feng some instructions.

"While I'm away, you must follow our previous plan and quickly establish a rapid intelligence transmission network."

"From now on, we must ensure that news between the border and the capital can be transmitted in a timely manner."

Li Feng thought for a moment, then spoke with a serious expression.

"Your Highness, I plan to set up multiple post stations along the way and assign people to deliver letters to ensure that the message can be delivered quickly and accurately."

Chu Shizhao nodded: "Very good, this matter must be implemented as soon as possible. With the rapid transmission of intelligence, we can better deal with various situations."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will establish an intelligence network in the shortest possible time."

……

However, just when Chu Shizhao had arranged everything and was about to set off back to Beijing.

The accident happened again.

"Your Highness, I just received news that a caravan sent by the Great Zhou to the border for trade was attacked!"

"It is said that the owner of this caravan has a close relationship with the Second Prince."

The men came hurriedly to report.

Chu Shizhao's heart tightened: "Tell me in detail, what is the situation of the caravan?"

The subordinate said: "The caravan's goods were robbed and there were heavy casualties."

"The survivors have been rescued by nearby villagers and are being resettled."

After learning the news, Chu Shizhao couldn't help but frown.

For some reason, he always felt that there must be something else going on.

"This caravan was not attacked earlier or later, but it happened just when I was about to return to Beijing. Is there really some conspiracy?"

Thinking of this, Chu Shizhao suddenly became alert.

"It seems that I will not be able to return to Beijing for the time being."

Since this matter involves the royal family, it can be a big deal or a small one.

If no one pursues the matter, it can be treated as an ordinary case.

But if someone above insists on pursuing the matter, then we will be in trouble!

After some weighing in my mind.

Chu Shizhao immediately arranged for people to go to the place where the caravan was attacked to investigate the situation.

"We must investigate carefully to see if we can find any clues to identify the attacker."

Chu Shizhao ordered his men.

At the same time, he sent someone to secretly send a message to Hengyi in the capital.

"This letter must be delivered to Lord Liu personally, and no one else can know the contents of the letter."

Chu Shizhao gave serious instructions to the person who delivered the letter.

The messenger nodded: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely complete the task."

As investigators conducted more in-depth investigations, some discoveries were gradually made at the scene of the caravan attack.

"Your Highness, we found some strange footprints at the scene. They don't look like they were left by ordinary robbers."

Investigators came back to report.

Chu Shizhao asked: "What's strange?"

Investigators said: "The footprints were of different sizes and the spacing between steps was strange, as if they were deliberately camouflaged."

Chu Shizhao pondered for a moment: "It seems that the attackers came prepared. They deliberately created such traces just to prevent us from easily finding out their identities."

A few days later, news came from another investigation team.

"Your Highness, we learned from the nearby village that when the attack happened, a group of horsemen passed by at a very fast speed, and they seemed to be carrying some kind of symbol."

Chu Shizhao immediately asked: "What sign?"

"The villagers said they saw a pattern similar to an eagle's claw on the clothes of the men," the investigators said.

Chu Shizhao's mind moved: "Eagle claw pattern? I have never heard of such an organization."

"Continue investigating to see if you can find more clues about this symbol."

At the same time, Chu Shizhao was also thinking about the relationship between this attack and Chu Shiren.

“Why would Chu Shiren arrange for such a caravan associated with him to be attacked?”

“What is the purpose behind this?”

Chu Shizhao muttered to himself.

He felt that this was most likely a conspiracy by Chu Shiren, who wanted to take this opportunity to disrupt his plan to return to Beijing, or to create public opinion in the court that was unfavorable to him.

"No matter what, we must first find out the truth and never let them lead us by the nose."

……

Early the next morning, Chu Shizhao was checking the latest investigation report when someone suddenly rushed in.

"Your Highness, there is an important discovery!"

Chu Shizhao immediately put down the document in his hand: "Speak."

"We found some suspicious traces in an abandoned cave about ten miles northwest of where the caravan was attacked."

"What traces?"

"There was horse droppings, some food and campfires, it looked like someone had been stationed there."

"The most important thing is that we found this near the entrance of the cave."

The man took out a piece of cloth from his bosom, on which was embroidered a black eagle claw pattern.

Chu Shizhao took the cloth and looked at it carefully. The eagle claw embroidery was exquisite and obviously not something that an ordinary person could make.

"Continue to search the cave and see if we can find any clues. Also, send someone to check around the capital to see if there is an embroidery workshop that specializes in embroidering this kind of pattern."

"Yes!"

At this moment, another subordinate came hurriedly: "Your Highness, a businessman just came from the capital, saying that he wants to see you for something important."

"merchant?"

Chu Shizhao frowned slightly, "At this critical moment, what businessman dares to come to see me?"

"He said he knew something about the caravan being attacked."

Chu Shizhao's eyes were stern: "Bring him to see me."

After a while, a middle-aged man in brown cloth was brought in.

This man has an ordinary appearance, but his eyes are quite sharp.

"I have met His Highness."

The businessman bowed respectfully.

"You said you knew something about the caravan being attacked?"

"Yes."

The merchant looked around and said in a low voice, "In fact, I am one of the survivors of that caravan." Chu Shizhao immediately signaled his men to retreat, leaving only a few trusted men behind.

"Tell me more about it."

The merchant took a deep breath and said, "Our caravan had just passed Qingshiling when a group of masked men suddenly appeared. They were riding horses and were very skilled. They were obviously not ordinary bandits."

"What specifically did they steal?"

"That's weird."

The merchant frowned and said, "They didn't seem to be interested in the goods. They just rummaged around and then set fire to most of the goods."

Chu Shizhao thought thoughtfully: "Can you see clearly what they are wearing?"

"They were wearing the same black uniform with eagle claws embroidered on their clothes. But what I was most concerned about was..."

The businessman hesitated.

"But it doesn't matter."

"Although they were masked, their accents sounded like they were from Beijing."

Chu Shizhao's eyes sharpened: "Are you sure?"

"I have been doing business in Beijing for many years and am very familiar with the Beijing accent. Besides..."

The businessman lowered his voice again, "One of them mentioned a name."

"what name?"

"That sounds like Shi Ren."

Chu Shizhao was shocked.

It’s indeed related to Chu Shiren!

"Why did you come to tell me this?"

The merchant smiled bitterly and said, "I have been doing business in the capital for many years and have accumulated some savings. This time, most of my belongings were in the caravan and were burned like this. I am unwilling to accept this."

Chu Shizhao hesitated for a moment: "What's your name?"

"My surname is Wang, and my name is Wang De."

"Okay, Wang De. I will compensate you for your loss. But from now on, you have to work for me."

"I am willing to serve!"

After making arrangements for Wang De, Chu Shizhao immediately summoned his confidants to discuss countermeasures.

“It seems that Allen Chu wants to use this incident to prevent me from returning to Beijing.”

Chu Shizhao sneered, "But he underestimated me."

At this time, the person who was sent to the capital to deliver the letter also returned.

"Your Highness, after receiving the letter, Lord Liu asked me to bring back a message, saying that he will help you in the capital, so please don't worry."

"Any other news?"

"Yes. Lord Liu said that a new force has recently emerged in the capital, calling itself the 'Cang Ying Hall', and its actions are very mysterious. It is said that it has some relationship with several important officials."

"Goshawk Hall?"

Chu Shizhao's eyes narrowed, "Could it be that they attacked the caravan?"

Just then, another urgent report came from outside.

"Your Highness! We found a body in that cave!"

"what?"

"It was a young man with sword wounds on his body. He must have escaped there after being injured in a fight. Most importantly, there was an eagle claw pattern on his clothes!"

Chu Shizhao immediately led his men to the cave.

The body has begun to rot, but the deceased's appearance when alive can still be seen.

Chu Shizhao carefully examined the wounds on the body.

"This is the 'Heart-Destroying Sword Technique' in the martial arts world. Not many people can use this sword technique."

Chu Shizhao seemed to be thinking, "It seems that there are martial arts masters among these people."

"Your Highness, we also found this on the deceased."

The subordinate handed over a jade pendant.

Chu Shizhao took it and looked at it, and his pupils suddenly shrank.

He recognized this jade pendant; it was a token of the Gu family in the capital.

The Gu family is Chu Shiren’s in-laws’ family!
"I see……"

Chu Shizhao sneered in his heart.

“Chu Shiren, do you want to use the power of the Gu family to deal with me?”

After returning to the base, Chu Shizhao immediately summoned his confidants and began to deploy the plan.

"Pass the order down. We will set off for Beijing early tomorrow morning."

"Your Highness, it's not safe to return to the capital now, right?"

"It is precisely because it is unsafe that we have to go back."

There was a gleam in Chu Shizhao's eyes, "Since Chu Shiren wants to play, then I will play with him."

"Wang De!"

"The villain is here."

"Use your connections in the capital immediately to help me find out the news about the Cang Ying Hall. Especially their relationship with the Gu family."

"Yes!"

"Commander Liu."

"My subordinate is here."

"You take a team and escort me back to Beijing tomorrow. But be careful, there may be ambushes along the way."

"understand!"

After arranging all this, Chu Shizhao stood alone in front of the window, looking towards the capital city in the distance.

"Chu Shiren, do you think this can stop me from returning to Beijing?"

He sneered, "You are wrong. This has only strengthened my determination to go back as soon as possible."

"Since you want to use this incident to hit me, then I will let this incident become your death warrant!"

As the night deepened, Chu Shizhao began to write a letter.

These letters were to be sent to the residences of different important officials in the capital.

"Since things have come to this point, let's just make a bigger fuss."

Chu Shizhao sneered, "Let's see who is playing with fire and getting burned!"

The next morning, Chu Shizhao's team was ready to go.

To be on the safe side, he specially arranged several secret sentries to scout the way ahead.

At the same time, he also asked Wang De to take some merchants to pretend to be an ordinary caravan and go ahead of them.

"If someone is going to set an ambush, they will definitely go after the team that looks most like the target first."

Chu Shizhao said to Wang De, "When the time comes, you must fully cooperate and make them believe that you are the team that will escort me back to Beijing."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I understand."

Not long after the team set out, news came from the front.

"We found suspicious people and horses, about thirty or so, all carrying weapons."

Chu Shizhao sneered: "You really can't wait?"

"Do you want to take a detour?"

"No need, just proceed as planned."

A cold light flashed in Chu Shizhao's eyes, "Let's see who these people are coming for."

Sure enough, when the caravan led by Wang De passed through a valley, they were suddenly attacked.

Dozens of men in black rushed down the hillsides on both sides and headed straight for the center of the caravan.

However, by the time they discovered that Chu Shizhao was not in the caravan, it was already too late.

Chu Shizhao had already led his men around behind them and cut off their retreat.

"Since it's delivered to your door, don't leave."

Chu Shizhao stood with his sword in hand, "Let me see what you people from the Cang Ying Hall are capable of!"

Chapter Two: The mantis stalks the cicada. In the valley, swords flashed and shouts of killing rose and fell.

Those men in black were obviously well-trained fighters. Even when they found out they had been tricked, they quickly adjusted their formation, formed a circle with their backs against each other, and prepared to fight to the death.

(End of this chapter)