The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

In the Zhenghe Hall, Shen Tianjiao sat behind the curtain next to the dragon throne, listening to the eunuch report about the assassination of Marquis Zhenbei in the street today.

Upon hearing that Marquis Zhenbei was assassinated in the street today, all the civil and military officials in the court were immediately shocked.

No matter what these civil and military ministers think in their hearts, or how dissatisfied they are with the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion.

But they all knew and believed in one thing in their hearts, that is, the Marquis of Zhenbei, the pillar of the country, was the guarantee of the stability of Yunli Country. This was an indisputable fact.

As long as the Marquis of Zhenbei is there, there will be no chaos in Yunli Kingdom and foreign races will not dare to invade easily.

Once something happens to the Marquis of Zhenbei, the Yunli Kingdom will immediately fall into chaos, and those foreign races who have been coveting Yunli and looking for opportunities to invade the Yunli Kingdom will definitely launch an attack.

By then, Yunli will be in danger and there is even a possibility of the country being destroyed.

Among all the civil and military officials in the court, Wang Yunzhi had the ugliest expression.

Wang Yunzhi has already determined in his heart that Li Chaohui was the one who did it.

There was no other reason, just because Li Chaohui had discussed with him whether they should take advantage of the opportunity when the Marquis of Zhenbei was in Shangjing City to get rid of him and eliminate the trouble forever.

But Wang Yunzhi directly rejected it, and the reason for Wang Yunzhi's refusal was very simple and clear.

Just like what those court officials thought, Yun Li couldn't leave the Marquis of Zhenbei for now. Once something happened to the Marquis of Zhenbei, those aristocratic families would lose the people who suppressed them, and Yun Li would immediately fall into chaos.

If this happens, the person most affected will be Li Chaohui.

Because if those aristocratic families were to fall into chaos, it would definitely affect Li Chaohui's century-long cause.

At that time, Li Chaohui listened to Wang Yunzhi's advice and promised her that he would never touch the Marquis of Zhenbei until she succeeded and sat on the throne of the emperor.

But no one expected Li Chaohui to be so untrustworthy. He had just said not to take action, but in the blink of an eye he changed his face and attacked the Marquis of Zhenbei.

Wang Yunzhi's disappointment with Li Chaohui increased a bit, but fortunately, the Marquis of Zhenbei was a martial arts expert, which prevented Li Chaohui's conspiracy from succeeding.

Otherwise, Wang Yunzhi would definitely turn against Li Chaohui this time.

Wang Zongyuan does not oppose the succession of imperial power, but the premise is that Yun Li's national foundation cannot be touched. This is his bottom line, and no one can touch it, not even Li Chaohui.

What Prime Minister Wang didn't know was that the assassination of Marquis Zhenbei in the street today had nothing to do with Li Chaohui.

That’s not to say that Li Chaohui really listened to Wang Yunzhi’s words of persuasion, but Li Chaohui didn’t know that the poison in Zhenbei Hou’s body had been cured.

Li Chaohui, who thought that Marquis Zhenbei would die soon, felt that there was no need to spend such a huge price to let Marquis Zhenbei die now after hearing what Wang Yunzhi said.

After all, she had just come out and had not yet established herself, so she could not afford to offend Shen Tianjiao.

If the Marquis of Zhenbei died at this time, Shen Tianjiao would be the first person to suspect her.

The current Shen Tianjiao is nothing like the Shen Tianjiao that Li Chaohui knows.

These claims of being quiet and weak, or unable to shoulder the heavy responsibility, are all lies.

Shen Tianjiao is obviously a ruthless person who is decisive and ruthless. There is nothing that others hesitate to do, but for her, there is nothing that she dares not do.

He sent troops to repel Li Bin's rebellion, killed Li Hong who had ulterior motives, attacked Empress Dowager Liu, and personally put an end to the arrogant Feng Yuanyuan.

Oh, and because her son was assassinated in the street, she led people to break into the Ling family and kill Ling Hai.

Not to mention the dismissal of officials and the rectification of the government.

Such a woman is said to be quiet, weak and unable to handle important tasks?

The person who said this didn’t have his head kicked by a donkey, but he has no brain at all!

In fact, Li Chaohui was also wary and afraid of Shen Tianjiao.

So, thinking that the Marquis of Zhenbei would die of poisoning soon anyway, Li Chaohui gave up his plan to kill him.

In addition, there is now a crisis of trust in the relationship between Li Chaohui and Wang Yunzhi.

Li Chaohui still needs Wang Yunzhi to do things for her, so she doesn't dare to take Wang Yunzhi's words too lightly.

Not taking action was also a way for Li Chaohui to show weakness and curry favor with Wang Yunzhi, and to express compromise with Wang Yunzhi.

But once the seeds of doubt are planted in your heart and sprout, it is difficult to pull them out.

At this time, Wang Yunzhi had already determined in his heart that Li Chaohui was the one who did it.

Wang Yunzhi has confirmed it, which means that it doesn’t really matter what the truth is.

"Your Majesty, this matter must be thoroughly investigated. We must not tolerate those who act so recklessly. They are so bold and disregard the law. They should assassinate the Marquis of Zhenbei in broad daylight."

"Zhenbei Hou is the pillar of my Yunli country and the god of war who protects my Yunli's safety."

"He was assassinated in the street today, which fully exposed the evil intentions of those people."

"We must find these people. If not kill all nine clans, at least kill three clans to serve as a warning to others."

The one who spoke was Prince Ping. Despite his age, the old man spoke with great vigor.

As soon as Prince Ping said this, some people in the hall felt a chill on their necks, as if a knife was already on their necks.

I didn't think about the consequences before doing anything, but now that it has happened, I'm scared.

"Empress, as Prince Ping said, the assassination attempt on the Marquis of Zhenbei today must be thoroughly investigated and must not be tolerated."

"If we don't make them pay a heavy price this time, they will definitely come back again."

"My Lord is safe this time, but no one can guarantee that he will be safe next time."

"For the long-term peace and stability of Yunli, please give the order, Her Majesty the Queen."

This time it was Wang Yunzhi who spoke, which was a bit unexpected for Shen Tianjiao.

Wang Yunzhi is a loyal follower of Li Chaohui. How much does he believe in Li Chaohui's character to dare to say such words?

Shen Tianjiao raised her head and looked at Wang Yunzhi through the curtain. She really couldn't see through this Prime Minister Wang now.

"Yesterday, I received a secret report that the Xirong people gathered in Shapingba and were ready to make a move."

"So today, we summoned the Marquis of Zhenbei to the palace to discuss with him how to repel the enemy."

"Who would have thought that the Marquis of Zhenbei would encounter such a thing on his way to the palace."

"This matter must indeed be thoroughly investigated. Now I just hope those people don't get involved with the Xirong people."

Shen Tianjiao's words made the whole matter more serious. She directly escalated the incident of the assassination of Zhenbei Hou today into the murderer secretly communicating with the enemy country and jointly plotting to murder Zhenbei Hou.

If the charge of colluding with the enemy country is proven, it will be much more serious than the charge of assassinating the Marquis of Zhenbei.

Killing three generations of a clan is a light punishment, and killing nine generations of a clan is not excessive.

He Ping, the Minister of Works, suddenly felt weak and broke out in a cold sweat.

According to the plan, they assassinated the Marquis of Zhenbei just to protect themselves.

After all, ever since the Ling family got into trouble and Ling Hai was killed, the He family, which is also a prominent family, has been subjected to various kinds of suppression.

Although He Ping is still the Minister of Works, there have not been any major transfers among the officials of the He family in the court.

But in reality, their movements are always monitored, and they are like prisoners.

Under this daily pressure of fear and trepidation, life is difficult for everyone in the He family.

Originally, they wanted to rely on He Wanying and let her gain favor from Li Rui to change their predicament.

But who would have thought that He Wanying could hardly protect herself, so how could she care about them?

Under such circumstances, He Ping agreed to Ling Xifeng's risky plan to assassinate the Marquis of Zhenbei without telling anyone, including his father.

Their original plan was to assassinate the Marquis of Zhenbei and then seek refuge with Li Chaohui, and then with Li Chaohui's help, pull Shen Tianjiao down from the throne of queen.

This way, they could avenge Ling Hai's murder, get out of their current predicament, and make a comeback, hopefully becoming the largest family in Shangjing City.

But now, not only did the assassination attempt on Marquis Zhenbei fail, but there was also an unexpected incident where someone suddenly colluded with foreign tribes and attempted to shake the foundation of the Yunli Kingdom.

God knows, what exactly happened?

The assassin sent out was selected by Ling Xifeng himself, who said he was a top-notch master in the martial arts world.

This time, it's not just one person, but two people will go, and there will be absolutely no problem dealing with the Marquis of Zhenbei.

In order to ensure the success of the operation, they even risked using siege crossbows.

But unexpectedly, even so, they still failed in the end.

In the end, they still underestimated the strength of Zhenbei Hou. He was more terrifying and powerful than they imagined.

He Ping was disheartened at this moment. He knew better than anyone that their He family was doomed this time.

It's too late to say anything now. He shouldn't have agreed to Ling Xifeng's crazy plan in a fit of anger.

Now the entire He family will have to pay the price for this and become burial objects.

And he, He Ping, will really become the eternal sinner of their He family. Even after his death, he will not be able to face his ancestors in the underworld.

Shen Tianjiao was in no mood to care what He Ping was thinking at the moment. Today, not only in the front court, but also in the harem, a good show was about to begin.

This time, Shen Tianjiao doesn't just want those people in the He family who made mistakes to be severely punished. What she wants is for the He family to be completely destroyed.

The He family completely disappeared from the list of Yunli aristocratic families, leaving no trace of them.

"Announce the Marquis of Zhenbei to come to the audience."

When the Marquis of Zhenbei came in from outside the hall, everyone's eyes were focused on him.

At this moment, no matter who had always relied on the Marquis of Zhenbei or who hated him for selfish reasons, when they saw the Marquis of Zhenbei appear, they all felt at ease.

"Your Majesty, Shen Lin pays homage to the Empress."

Although Shen Tianjiao and Zhenbei Hou are father and daughter, in Zhenghe Hall, there is only the etiquette of monarch and subject, but no father-son affection.

The Marquis of Zhenbei still had to kneel down and worship his daughter in front of everyone.

"Please stand up, Marquis Zhenbei. I'm sorry to have frightened you today."

Shen Tianjiao signaled the eunuch serving beside her to go over and help the Marquis of Zhenbei up.

In the Zhenghe Palace, the father and daughter were the monarch and his subject at this time, and Shen Tianjiao couldn't show excessive favoritism to the Marquis of Zhenbei in front of everyone.

The eunuch walked over and helped the Marquis of Zhenbei up. After he stood still, Shen Tianjiao said, "My Lord, are you okay?"

"In reply to the Queen, thanks to her grace, I am doing well."

The Marquis of Zhenbei lowered his head and spoke in a normal voice, making it impossible to tell that there was anything wrong with him.

"After the court meeting is over, please stay and let the chief physician of the Imperial Hospital examine you personally."

Now that the poison in Marquis Zhenbei has been cured, Shen Tianjiao is no longer afraid that someone will notice the clues and threaten the Marquis Zhenbei's mansion.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your grace."

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

All the formalities have been done, now it’s time to get down to business and start the big show.

"Speak, my Lord."

Shen Tianjiao was a little uncomfortable with calling herself "dad" like this.

"Your Majesty, I was ordered to enter the palace today and was assassinated on the way here."

"Those assassins first shot them with siege crossbows, and then another expert assassinated them."

When the court heard Marquis Zhenbei say that those who tried to assassinate him actually used siege crossbows, the whole place was in an uproar again.

Everyone was talking about it. This siege crossbow was a highly lethal weapon that was strictly controlled.

Not to mention private use, even in the military where it is allowed to be used, it cannot be used casually.

What were the origins of those people who assassinated the Marquis of Zhenbei today? How could they actually use siege crossbows?

It seems that it is really as the Queen said just now. Someone colluded with the Western Rong people and attempted to murder the Marquis of Zhenbei in order to achieve the goal of swallowing up Yunli.

This kind of person is really hateful and abhorrent. If Yun Li doesn't find him out, he will be in danger.

Shen Tianjiao looked coldly at the group of court officials below who were talking about something. Most of these people have now become accustomed to this kind of peaceful and careless life.

If they are not reminded that danger is everywhere, they will never know fear, nor will they ever be prepared for danger and change their mindset.

"quiet!"

As soon as the eunuch opened his mouth, the court, which had been in an uproar just now, immediately became quiet.

"A siege crossbow? How bold!" Shen Tianjiao sneered. "Did the Marquis send anyone to investigate the origins of this siege crossbow?"

"I naturally sent someone to investigate. This siege crossbow came from the patrol camp in the north of the city."

The words of the Marquis of Zhenbei immediately made the court, which had just quieted down, noisy again.

There are four gates in Shangjing City, namely the east, west, south and north, and each gate is guarded by four patrol battalions.

The patrol chief of the North City Patrol Battalion was none other than He Lei, the son of the second branch of the He family.

He Ping's eyes widened upon hearing what the Marquis of Zhenbei said. How could the Marquis of Zhenbei lie so brazenly in front of so many people?

How could this siege crossbow possibly have come from the City North Patrol Battalion? It was clearly his Equipment Department that secretly withheld this crossbow when submitting it to the Ministry of Works for filing. How could it have become something from the City North Patrol Battalion?