Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

After hearing Xiao Ce's words, Okamoto Juzo asked in confusion, "Oh? What is it? Just say it?"

"My lord, does the Okamoto family listen to you, or to your younger brother, Okamoto Juro?"

Okamoto Juzo saw that Xiao Ce asked this question out of the blue and did not answer directly.

Instead, he asked with some confusion, "Oh? What's wrong?"

Xiao Ce said, "I gave you this suggestion before, but I'm thinking that if it's up to your brother, I should consider another approach."

Okamoto Juzo said to Xiao Ce, "Although I've made him the head of the family, I still have the final say in this family."

“The method you suggested is excellent, and I’ve chosen to adopt it. After I go to the Kingdom of Sulu this time, I will follow his advice. He will definitely support me.”

Seeing this, Xiao Ce nodded and said nothing more.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, we finished breakfast.

They went back and packed a few things, without taking much with them.

In the afternoon, I set off with Okamoto Juzo.

Like them, Okamoto Juzo traveled light, without even bringing many guards...

This made Night Cat ask somewhat strangely, "My lord, you only have these few guards with you?"

Okamoto Juzo looked at Da Lei and said, "I have a thunderbolt. I've figured it out. What's the use of having more people?"

Night Owl said awkwardly, "My lord, are you mistaken? My second brother is good at fighting, but now we all have firearms. It's still useful to have more people."

Okamoto Juzo said, "It's alright. After we get to the Sulu Kingdom, someone will come to meet us."

"If I take one more person with me, won't our defenses be a little weaker?"

Hearing Okamoto Juzo's words, everyone realized that he was actually more worried about this side.

After boarding the ship, Okamoto Juzo gave Xiao Ce a pill.

The night owl secretly sniffed it to indicate that it was fine, and only then did Xiao Ce eat it.

Once the ship set sail, Xiao Ce realized that his seasickness was a side effect of his time travel.

Even after taking the seasickness remedy that Okamoto Juzo had so confidently claimed to be a miracle cure, it had absolutely no effect on him.

Okamoto Juzo visited once during that time, and he seemed somewhat helpless.

...

On the other side, the Emperor and Tojo Seisuke had assumed they were going to this side.

Unexpectedly, the Illuminati members actually let them go out to sea.

After a long and winding journey, it wasn't until after dark that they finally boarded the ship.

The Emperor, somewhat nervously speaking to Tojo Seisuke, said, "Tojo Seisuke, I owe you a debt of gratitude this time. I've heard that they only come here when they have a meeting, and it's an important one at that."

Tojo Seisuke gave a somewhat awkward smile: "Your Majesty, do you think we might die here?"

The Emperor shook his head and said, "I probably won't. But it's hard to say about you..."

Seeing Tojo Seisuke's sudden tense expression, the Emperor laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "Hahaha, Tojo Seisuke, I never thought there was anything you were afraid of! I always thought you were fearless..."

With a pained expression, Tojo Seisuke said, "There are many things I'm afraid of... but the thing I fear most is death..."

Seeing this, the Emperor smiled and comforted them, "Don't worry. If they wanted to kill us, they wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to bring us here. It must be just as you said, there are two groups among them, one group wants Xiao Ce dead, and the other group... well, they just want to hear what you have to say."

Tojo Seisuke asked with a surprised look, "What should I say later?"

The Emperor said, "We'll just tell you what we know; it's none of our business if the gods are fighting!"

Tojo Seisuke nodded, and said somewhat awkwardly, "Your Majesty, are you sure you won't die?"

The Emperor said awkwardly, "You said it yourself, in the eyes of the Illuminati, we are just tools... I can't say for sure!"

The two of them went down into the cabin together, and then they came to a doorway.

The Westerner who was leading them said, "Gentlemen, please wait here for a while. We'll call you when it's your turn!"

The two nodded and watched the Westerners leave. At this moment, Tojo Seisuke, like a child, huddled by the cabin door to eavesdrop.

Unfortunately, after listening for a while, I couldn't hear anything; the iron gate seems to have very good sound insulation.

A meeting was still going on in the cabin. They weren't mainly talking about this matter today, but it just so happened that this incident occurred.

Let them come over.

At this moment, the people in the cabin were all wearing their own letter masks and holding a meeting.

Just then, a Westerner walked out from a small door on one side.

"Distinguished delegates, the Emperor of Fusang and Tojo Seisuke of the Tojo family have arrived."

To make sure they recognized Tojo Seisuke, he added, "Tojo Seisuke is the one who captured Xiao Ce and then lost the head of the family."

These people all nodded in agreement.

A masked man spoke first, saying, "Actually, calling them here is useless... This wouldn't be something their Fusang people would do... Since they've already brought the person here, they wouldn't have the guts to just take them away..."

The others nodded in agreement: "That's right, I think it must have come from within our ranks."

"Mr. H, what do you mean by that? Is there a problem within our ranks? Are you saying that one of our people kidnapped him?"

"That's right, that's what I think too. Actually, we want to execute him; after all, keeping someone like him alive is a huge problem... his death would be the end of it all. But many people on our side don't want him to die..."

"So, you mean whoever doesn't want him to die is the most likely person to do it? Then I'm the one who doesn't support his execution... What's wrong, did I do it?" said the man wearing a B mask.

The masked man said calmly, "That's right, you are indeed a suspect..."

"Hmph, if that's the case, why did you bring them here? You could have just interrogated me directly," said the masked man.

Then a man wearing a G-mask spoke up, saying, "I don't support killing him either... He's just a smart guy. What, since when have we Illuminati become afraid to cooperate with smart people...?"

"If we kill all the smart people, does that mean we have to cooperate with the fools? What are you all afraid of? Doesn't your fear prove that you are the fools...?"

"Mr. G, don't be in such a hurry... Your rush to jump out makes me think you're suspicious too..."

Seeing that everyone was arguing, the woman wearing a Y-mask spoke up: "Everyone, arguing like this is pointless... We should talk about something practical... The Japanese are out there now, we can listen to what they have to say, after all, what if they really did let them go?"

“Yes, let them in now that they’ve arrived.”

Everyone quickly reached a consensus: to bring the person in first.

The Emperor and Tojo Seisuke, who were waiting outside, respectfully entered after being called in.

Once they entered, they saw a large round table with a group of people sitting around it.

They were all wearing masks, and despite the masks, they still gave off a very strong sense of oppression.

At that moment, the Emperor bowed respectfully to the people at the round table.

"Good morning, fellow delegates..."

Upon seeing this, Tojo Seisuke also bowed.

This scene would surely be unbelievable to the people of Fusang.

After all, those who seemed superior to them were now bowing and scraping before others...

The representatives of the Illuminati didn't even glance at them.

The man at the head, wearing a mask, spoke up: "Your Majesty, the Xiao Ce you mentioned before, has he escaped? Is that right? What exactly happened?"

The Emperor nodded first, then said, "Since this matter is under the overall responsibility of Tojo Seisuke, could you please have him explain it?"

These representatives over here, look at each other...

Finally, the man wearing the A mask spoke up: "Alright, you tell us. But be truthful!"

After bowing to them, Tojo Seisuke began to recount what had happened the previous night.

Tojo Seisuke's words were indeed objective; after all, given the situation, he wouldn't dare to speak recklessly.

"So, you're certain that person left through that tunnel? Didn't you check before you detained him?"

Tojo Seisuke's face was grim. "We did check, but we really didn't expect this method. Of course, I'm not trying to make excuses or defend myself... We were negligent, but what I want to say is that this was prepared. Just finding identical clothes is very difficult... because those clothes were changed when disembarking from the ship..."

"That means only by seeing his clothes can we find an identical pair, and we also bribed some of our crew members... So, we've already arrested those crew members and are interrogating them..."

Tojo Seisuke recounted the events that had occurred, their own analysis, and the remedial measures they had taken, explaining everything in detail.

After listening, they felt that Tojo Seisuke's reasoning was quite sound, so they said, "Very good, you're right... Alright, you can go back now."

Tojo Seisuke was taken aback, and the Emperor bowed, saying, "Thank you all... thank you all, representatives."

He then tried to pull Tojo Seisuke away.

The masked man said to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, you should also conduct an internal investigation to see if there are any problems. Although I let you go, it doesn't mean you are without fault. This matter cannot be left unresolved; we must pursue it to the end."

The Emperor nodded: "Yes, yes, we will definitely investigate thoroughly."

Tojo Seisuke then said very firmly, "Sir, I also ask your Illuminati to conduct an internal investigation."

Tojo Seisuke's words shocked everyone present.

Even the Emperor looked at Tojo Seisuke with surprise. It seemed that Tojo Seisuke had been so timid and submissive just now, and no one expected him to be so bold now.

It's not surprising that Tojo Seisuke said that; it was mainly because a comment from the masked man earlier had put him on guard.

The man in the mask A said he wouldn't let this matter go unresolved, implying that if no one could be traced back to him, he would be the one to suffer.

He certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to take the blame, according to what his son, Tojo Senichi, said.

There are two factions within the Illuminati, and after he said that, he will at least get the support of one faction.

Actually, the masked man's words were meant to provoke Tojo Seisuke into saying those words as well.

The man wearing the H mask then said to Tojo Seisuke, "What do you mean by this, you Japanese? You made a mistake, and now you want us to take responsibility for it?"

Tojo Seisuke shook his head: "Representative, please don't be anxious... In fact, you all know very well. We are all pawns in your hands. There is very little we can do. We would never dare to do something that would disobey you... So, I have already analyzed it very clearly... This matter could not have been done by the people of Xiao, nor could it have been done by Xiao Ce's partners. It could only have been done by us, and by you!"

“You all know very well that we have no need to do this, and we dare not do it... After all, it would be better for our interests to hand over the people to you obediently... Neither the Emperor nor the various families of our Fusang Kingdom are capable of doing so.”

"After this process of elimination, the people who have the ability and the motivation to do this are you!"

"Of course, I'm not trying to defend myself. I bear some responsibility... However, you all should know very well that for us small fry, any one of the agents here could easily take me down without even lifting a finger. A single glance from them would be enough to defeat me..."

Tojo Seisuke's words startled the Emperor, who knew he wouldn't dare say such a thing.

Meanwhile, Tojo Seisuke was also taking a gamble, hoping that one of the factions would protect him.

Just as Tojo Seisuke had predicted, someone soon began to applaud...

A woman wearing a Y-mask spoke up: "Who just said that we, the Illuminati, only cooperate with fools? Look, this person is logical and has a very clear mind... Not only can they speak, but they dare to speak!"

After the woman wearing the Y mask spoke, everyone followed suit, clapping and nodding in agreement.

"Alright, we'll conduct our own investigation as well. The crew member who changed Xiao Ce's clothes on that ship, as mentioned earlier, is indeed a very good breakthrough point!!"