inspire-indiana Chapter 142 Peace Should Have Been Bound
Chapter 142 Peace Should Have Been Bound
Li Longji's eyes still held suspicion.
But no matter how suspicious he was of Li Mao, he could only remain silent if he couldn't find any concrete evidence.
Everyone stayed up all night, guarding Li Heng's door until dawn.
Just as dawn broke, good news finally arrived: Li Heng had woken up!
"Your Highness, how are you?" The imperial physician, who had been busy all night, spoke in a hoarse voice with dark circles under his eyes, but his eyes were full of Li Heng: "If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, just tell me."
"It's...nothing..." Li Heng shook his head weakly.
The moment the hidden weapon struck him, he knew that his father would frame Li Mao for the assassination attempt. Having just spoken with Li Mao that night, Li Heng knew that his seemingly unreliable younger brother was actually a shrewd and calculating man; he wouldn't do something as foolish as assassinating him.
However, the Emperor was unaware that he might have already grown distant from Li Mao.
Thinking this, Li Heng immediately said in a weak voice to the imperial physician, "Go and tell them... that I have something to say to my father and my eighteenth brother."
The imperial physician hesitated, after all, Li Heng was currently weak and it was not advisable for him to speak.
But Li Heng's expression turned cold, and he said weakly, "Go quickly."
The Crown Prince's order could not be disobeyed, so the imperial physician had no choice but to comply.
Upon hearing the message, Li Mao and Li Longji exchanged a glance.
In fact, it was against the rules for the Crown Prince to summon the Emperor, but Li Longji did not make a fuss because Li Heng was bedridden.
Li Mao would not defy the Crown Prince's wishes, and the father and son went into the house together. Although Li Heng was weak, his eyes were clear, and he went straight to the point: "Father, Eighteenth Brother... I saw the assassin. The assassin was masked, so I couldn't see his face. But when he released the hidden weapon, he left a sentence. He said... he said that the world should be at peace, but the Kaiyuan era brought disaster to the people, shook the foundation of the country, and planted the seeds of disaster."
After saying that, Li Heng stared intently at Li Longji.
These words immediately made the atmosphere in the room even more tense.
Li Mao also looked at Li Longji, and for a moment no one spoke.
A moment later, Li Longji suddenly flew into a rage, sweeping the tea set off the table: "Spreading heresy and nonsense!"
Everyone knows that Li Longji outwardly reconciled with his aunt, Princess Taiping, but in reality, he was secretly plotting to seize power and kill Princess Taiping when his power was fully grown. Before that, he had committed many seemingly noble but wicked acts.
This included killing Shangguan Wan'er, an inside agent, on the day he moved into the capital. He claimed it was an accidental killing, but in reality, it was intentional on Li Longji's part. He wanted his empire to be free from the control of remnants of the previous dynasty, especially since these remnants were women he despised the most.
The "Ying Taiping" mentioned by the assassin of the crown prince refers to Princess Taiping. He was implying that Princess Taiping should have been the master of the Tang Dynasty, accusing Li Longji of shaking the foundation of the country, sowing the seeds of disaster, and bringing calamity to the people.
How could Li Longji tolerate such slander?
What he valued most was holding the imperial power, and he believed that taking back the Tang Dynasty to the Li family was the most correct and proud thing he had ever done.
Now, someone is using this as a pretext to assassinate his crown prince and fabricate his achievements. How can he tolerate this?
He was even angrier than when he first heard about the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince. His eyes blazing with fury, he yelled at the door, "Where are the men we sent to track down the assassin? Why haven't we heard anything yet? Useless! Utterly useless!"
Even though Li Longji was furious, he still couldn't catch the assassin.
Li Longji's expression darkened further; his distrust of Princess Taiping now surpassed his distrust of Li Mao. After a moment of silence, he turned to Li Mao and asked, "Prince Shou, what are your thoughts on the assassin's identity?"
Just moments ago, they suspected him of plotting against the Crown Prince, but now they've turned around and are asking him what he thinks.
This cheap father of mine changes his mind faster than flipping through a book!
Li Mao feigned composure, thought for a moment, and then said in a deep voice, "Although the assassin mentioned treasonous words like 'peace under heaven,' some things are common knowledge, so it's not surprising that the assassin could fabricate them. What the assassin said may have come from the bottom of his heart, but it could also have been an attempt to cover up the truth. We cannot draw conclusions about this matter so easily."
Because he was an outsider, Li Mao had considered things from a deeper perspective than Li Longji and Li Heng. He realized that the assassin and the forces behind him knew what Li Longji feared most, and therefore deliberately stepped into that minefield. As a result, Li Longji was only focused on his anger and didn't think things through carefully, allowing everything to naturally veer off course.
Li Mao's words pointed out another possibility.
The thought that someone would dare to exploit his weakness to stir up trouble made Li Longji's face even more gloomy.
He stared at Li Mao and slowly said, "Since that's the case, this matter will be personally overseen by you, Prince Shou. I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer. As for the Crown Prince, you only need to focus on recovering from your injuries; you don't need to worry about anything else."
Li Longji's decision to entrust the task to Li Mao may seem like a delegation of power, but it was actually a threat.
He already suspected Li Mao, and after giving him the authority to investigate the whole matter, if Li Mao couldn't give a reasonable and satisfactory answer, he would be in deep trouble.
After saying these words, Li Longji felt dizzy.
Knowing he was getting old, he couldn't stay up all night, but he didn't want to show his old age in front of his two sons, so he left with his hands behind his back and didn't say anything more to them.
Li Heng looked at Li Mao with a look of guilt in his eyes: "I'm afraid my assassination attempt will seriously implicate you."
“It’s all between brothers, so it doesn’t count as implicating anyone,” Li Mao said. Then he said to Li Heng, “Your Highness, please rest well for half a day. Once you’ve recovered a bit, I’ll come back and talk to you in detail about the assassin.”
The next day, Li Mao learned from Li Heng that the assassin was a short man with a southern accent, who looked menacing and was clearly not a good person. Li Heng knew nothing more; after all, the incident happened so suddenly, he was lucky to even remember what the assassin had said.
Since things had come to this, everyone remained in Xianyang.
Li Longji has already declared that he will not return to the palace until the assassin is found.
That's how capricious an emperor can be!
When Guo Ziyi took the initiative to find Li Mao, it was already late.
He had been bored these days and had been surveying the terrain near Xianyang City, thinking about how he could take advantage of the terrain and win a brilliant battle if a war broke out here one day.
He was shocked to hear last night that the Crown Prince had been assassinated, and he had planned to come and visit him.
But upon closer reflection, he realized that he had absolutely no connection with the Crown Prince. On the other hand, he had a very close relationship with Prince Shou. If he were to go there eagerly, it might not be of any use and might even bring a negative impact on Prince Shou.
After thinking it over, he didn't go to see the crown prince and went to continue surveying the terrain.
"Your Highness, why didn't you ask me to help you deal with this matter sooner?" Guo Ziyi stood in front of Li Mao, his tone full of dissatisfaction.