I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

Seeing this group of black-clad men closing in step by step, Shen Ye had no way to escape and could only rely closely on the little servant boy, hoping that this group of people in front of him would only come for money.

"If you want money, I still have a few pieces of silver in my pocket. Take them. Don't harm our lives."

Shen Ye began to beg for mercy.

After all, he was just a scholar and had never encountered such a dangerous situation.

But the group of men in black ignored Shen Ye's words.

"Brother, is this the person?"

One of them said in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, kill him!"

The leading man in black gave the order.

"Young master, run!"

The book boy shouted.

At this moment, Shen Ye was so frightened that his legs became weak and he didn't have the strength to escape for a while.

He was just a scholar, how could he resist these burly men in black.

Seeing that the big knife was about to chop down at him, Shen Ye was so scared that he started shaking all over.

But at this moment, a clanging sound was suddenly heard.

All the blades in the hands of the villains fell to the ground.

Shen Ye was still in shock. He looked up and saw a group of men in linen green clothes flying down from the roof and knocking down the men in black one by one.

Of the ten men in black present, seven had already fallen to the ground, screaming in pain.

This group of blue-clothed men that suddenly appeared in front of them, even though there were only three of them, each of them had extraordinary skills.

The group of men in black were no match for them. Seeing this, the leader immediately ordered, "Go!"

"Chase! Leave him alive!"

The plainclothes man in the lead said.

As soon as the order was given, the two people behind him flashed away and disappeared. A moment later, a few more screams were heard.

Shen Ye, who was slumped on the ground, was completely stunned at this moment, and his body was still shaking.

If these heroes had acted a little slower, Shen Ye would probably have lost his life by now.

The footsteps slowly approached.

The plainclothes man came up to Shen Ye and said in a low voice, "Sir, are you okay?"

Shen Ye was still in shock, and after taking a moment to calm down, he nodded and said, "Thank you all for your help, I am extremely grateful."

"You're welcome. I heard that you are a candidate for this palace examination?"

the man inquired.

Shen Ye was stunned for a moment and said, "That's right."

At this moment, he no longer had the mind to think about why the person in front of him knew his identity.

At this time, the man was heard saying, "Now is a special period, why do you have to move around?"

"I, I..." Shen Ye was still in shock. With the help of the little servant boy, he slowly stood up.

The man continued, "Young Master, you'd better stay in the mansion these days and don't go out. What happened today is likely to happen again. I will order someone to escort you back later."

Shen Ye's face turned pale, and he paused before saying, "Thank you, hero. Thank you very much!"

Now, even if Shen Ye had the courage again, he would not dare to come to such a place again. He already regretted not listening to the advice of the servant.

But he could never imagine why those men in black wanted to kill him.

……

In the Prime Minister's residence, Jiang Zuo sat under the tea pavilion, looking a little worried.

The closer the palace examination got, the more uneasy he felt.

After all, this was the first imperial examination held by the State of Yan, and there were still many shortcomings. It could have ended perfectly, but it was something that Jiangzuo needed to worry about.

Not long after, Master Guo came forward and said, "Sir, Situ Hua wants to see you."

Jiang Zuo put down the teacup and said, "Please ask him to come in."

When Jiang Zuo left Jiangzhou City, Situ Hua stayed there. However, after Jiang Zuo took office as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the empress transferred Situ Hua back to the capital to be responsible for secretly protecting Jiang Zuo.

After a moment, Situ Hua came to Jiang Zuo and said, "Greetings, Master Jiang."

"Did something happen to Shen Ye?"

Jiang Zuo already knew Situ Hua's purpose, because it was he who secretly sent Situ Hua to protect Shen Ye.

Situ Hua nodded and said, "Someone wants to assassinate Shen Ye."

"So big?"

Jiang Zuo couldn't help but frown.

Before this, he had made all preparations to prevent any accidents, including protecting the personal safety of the candidates.

"Was it that group of assassins who sneaked into the mansion to kill people?" Jiang Zuo asked.

Situ Hua said: "Shen Ye left the mansion and was assassinated in the south of the city."

Jiang Zuo said helplessly: "What a trouble, is he okay?"

Situ Hua added: "Sir, don't worry, Shen Ye is unharmed, he was just frightened. He has returned to the mansion now, and the Qianqi Division is protecting him in secret."

"Can you find out where those assassins came from?"

Jiang Zuo asked.

Situ Hua shook his head and said, "These people have obviously received professional training. Even though the Qianqi Division tortured them severely, they didn't say a word. Some of them even committed suicide."

Jiang Zuo said solemnly: "It is obvious that they came prepared."

"Who do you suspect, sir?" Situ Hua suddenly asked.

Jiang Zuo thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "I dare not say I doubt him. After all, this imperial examination involves many forces, and anyone could be involved."

Situ Hua was silent for a while, then said, "Sir, I have a guess."

Jiang Zuo said: "You tell me."

"Perhaps the old officials in the court do not want this imperial examination to succeed. If the court selects new capable officials, it means that some incompetent old officials will have to give up their positions. Therefore, they want to take the initiative and get rid of these candidates..."

Situ Hua lowered his voice and almost wanted to directly say the name of the person who was behind the scenes.

"K."

Jiang Zuo knew very well that behind the scenes, a group of old officials of the imperial court were constantly making things difficult for him, the chief minister of the cabinet.

When Jiang Zuo first proposed to hold the imperial examination in the court, he encountered a lot of opposition.

Because now in the court, most of the officials are from noble families. If disciples from poor families enter the court, it will definitely change the structure of the court.

The emergence of Jiang Zuo is the best example.

Now, all the meetings of the empress are talks with the new forces headed by Jiang Zuo, and the left and right prime ministers' parties have been marginalized.

Naturally, those ministers with ulterior motives would not just stand by and watch this situation.

Situ Hua said again: "Master Jiang, do you want to report this man to His Majesty and find out who is behind this?"

"Your Majesty, please do not bother me for now. However, those people will definitely not give up. Before the palace examination begins, all candidates must be protected and no one can have an accident."

Jiang Zuo reminded again.

After all, these candidates are the talents that Yan State can find now. If any accidents happen, the Yan State court will suffer the losses.

Situ Hua said: "I understand."

Jiang Zuo lowered his head, looked at the teacup on the table, and shook his head helplessly.

Such a big thing happened before the palace examination even started. If it happened later, would it be even more serious...