The main criminals involved were directly detained in cells within Song Xingmu’s other courtyard. Qin Yu and He Lan were responsible for guarding it, and they would be escorted by special personnel from the capital.

With a creak, the cell door opened. Zhao Haicheng looked up, but still didn’t see the person he wanted to see.

“Where is he?” Zhao Haicheng asked.

Song Xingmu raised an eyebrow and said: “He couldn’t be bothered to see you. And why do you need to see him, ah? Did you really fall in love with him, and you want a glimpse of him before you die?”

Qin Yu and He Lan were originally guarding the single entrance outside, and Song Xingmu called them to join him. Hearing this gossip, Qin Yu was uninterested, but He Lan winked at him. “Xiao Liu is quite charming. He deserves to be the person Zhanyuan likes.”

Qin Yu looked at He Lan speechlessly. Recently, it felt like He Lan was always looking for opportunities to emphasize in front of him that Huo Fenglie and Liu Zhenqing were a couple. He wasn’t blind. He could see it.

Zhao Haicheng said coldly: “If I don’t see him, no matter what you ask, I will not cooperate with you.”

Song Xingmu smiled. “I’m not in charge of interrogating you. Whether you say anything or not has nothing to do with me.”

Zhao Haicheng’s face went white. He clearly understood that his threat was useless against Song Xingmu.

“Who…..who is he, and what role does he play in this matter?!” He knew everything about this business very clearly, and Liu Zhenqing was the only one he couldn’t understand or see through. He didn’t want to die without knowing what kind of person had moved his heart.

Song Xingmu thought for a time, and then said: “His surname is Liu.”

Zhao Haicheng’s pupils quivered. He jumped up suddenly, and the chains restricting his movements were yanked loudly.

“He is…..”

“Strictly speaking, he is Liu Zhenqing’s distant cousin,” Song Xingmu said deliberately.

Zhao Haicheng’s entire person froze: “No wonder…..no wonder he looks so similar…..”

Song Xingmu’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and he finally confirmed one thing. “You’re the boy who sent flowers to Liu Zhenqing on the island, right?”

Zhao Haicheng instantly became agitated: “Shut up!”

“Sent flowers?” He Lan began to gossip upon hearing this. “This guy gave flowers to Prime Minister Liu? Could it be that he loved him?”

After all, Prime Minister Liu was good-looking and resourceful back then, and had countless admirers. It was normal for him to be liked by others.

When He Lan finished speaking, the sound of footsteps could be heard. As he turned his head to look, he was dumbfounded. Huo Fenglie and Yi Chuan could be seen walking down the corridor in the distance.

“Why are you here?” He Lan asked.

Huo Fenglie came to a stop without opening his mouth. Song Xingmu asked with a smile: “Looking for him?”

Huo Fenglie nodded. After the treatment, he went out to look for Liu Zhenqing, but he wasn’t there. Yi Chuan said he had gone out with Song Xingmu, so they came together.

“He has some personal matters to deal with and will return soon.” Song Xingmu raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you go back and wait? Otherwise, you can help interrogate this child who once had a crush on Liu Zhenqing.”

“I didn’t! How could I admire that sort of evil person! He and I only had a blood feud!” Zhao Haicheng spoke fiercely, as if stimulated.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I say, you yourself have been a navy officer for so long. Even if the pirates we killed back then came back for revenge, you can’t blame Liu Zhenqing. He did his best for hundreds of islanders like you back then. He also arranged for relocation and created communications devices. If you don’t feel grateful, then forget it, but…..”

“Nonsense! He clearly did it for his own selfish desires and to gain military power, I heard it all. In order to achieve his goals, he even planned to assassinate the emperor during his tour to the south! We civilians were nothing in his eyes, only victims of his power-seeking!”

Everyone was taken aback when these words came out, aside from Song Xingmu, whose expression remained unchanged.

“What, you don’t dare to speak? Song Xingmu, you can be regarded as someone who heard this but didn’t report it, and you can’t escape the relationship between you two. There are several people from the Imperial Court present. I wonder which one will file a complaint against you!” Zhao Haicheng said with a ferocious smile.

Yi Chuan instantly pulled out a blade and pressed it to Zhao Haicheng’s throat: “You’re courting death!”

Song Xingmu curled his hair and opened his mouth to say: “Don’t make trouble, there are a few lords watching here.”

As Song Xingmu spoke, he looked at the people around him. Huo Fenglie was expressionless, while He Lan and Qin Yu were full of doubts. After all, they had already changed their views on Liu Zhenqing and really felt that something was fishy, so they could only look to Song Xingmu for the truth.

Song Xingmu faced Zhao Haicheng with purpose and said: “I shouldn’t tell this to you, an outsider, but now that it has come to this, I have a few words to say for my brother. General Huo, do you still remember the first time your group went south?”

Huo Fenglie was slightly surprised. Of course he remembered.

Yi Chuan put away his blade and asked: “Was that the time you caught me?”

Song Xingmu nodded with a smile and slowly spoke of what happened that year.

On the first trip south, Liu Zhenqing, Huo Feihan, and Song Xingmu teamed up to capture Yi Chuan’s pirate ship. 

At that time, Liu Zhenqing and Huo Feihan learned from Song Xingmu how difficult it was for the fishermen and islanders along the coast.

As a member of the Song family, Song Xingmu had been inspired to be a navy officer since childhood, and his life-long goal was to fight against pirates. However, the Zhou Dynasty invested too little into the navy. They had the will, but not the strength.

At that time, Huo Feihan vowed to Song Xingmu that he would persuade the emperor to allocate troops to him after he inherited the family duties and took charge of the military. After all, Liu Zhenqing had not thought about actually embarking on a career as an official at that time, nor did he know that he would become the powerful Prime Minister Liu. So he just watched the two officials as they excitedly discussed how many troops would be needed to intimidate the seas of Great Zhou.

“The original purpose for mobilizing troops was indeed not for clearing out pirates.” As Song Xingmu spoke, he looked into Zhao Haicheng’s increasingly confident eyes and smiled. “On the pretext of clearing out pirates and protecting the islanders, he would then use the emperor’s assassination to blame thieves and pirates so that he could justifiably silence the courtiers and seize the 30,000 soldiers. That assassination was indeed arranged by Liu Zhenqing.”

When he heard this, Zhao Haicheng began to laugh wildly. “Just as I said…..he’s an evil person, an evil person!”

“No way, really?” He Lan couldn’t accept it.

Qin Yu frowned slightly and glanced at Huo Fenglie.

But Huo Fenglie’s expression didn’t change at all, as though he was just listening to a past event he was unaware of.

Song Xingmu slowly walked up to Zhai Haicheng, giving him a contemptuous smile as he said: “That year, you were still on the island and didn’t know about the situation outside at all, but then you joined the navy and likely heard some things. For example, at that time, the wife of King Huai, whose family had the strongest military force of thirty thousand, was in the capital of a neighboring prefecture.”

Zhao Haicheng was slightly shocked. “You…..what are you talking about?”

Suddenly, Huo Fenglie said from the side: “King Huai secretly hid his private soldiers with his maternal family in case he was trapped in the capital and needed to mobilize troops to rescue him. And there were no other troops in the area at that time.”

“So those thirty thousand naval troops were actually set up to prevent King Huai’s private soldiers from rebelling?” He Lan asked in astonishment.

“At that time, the three kings were still fighting amongst themselves. Once something happened to King Huai, it would inevitably lead to chaos in the military and the people here would suffer accordingly,” Qin Yu analyzed.

“As the prime minister, he supported the emperor and had to find a way to deal with King Huai’s private soldiers.” Song Xingmu said slowly, “Every step had to be taken carefully back then, with legitimate reasons and military power, so combating pirates was the best excuse. There was fear that the ministers would object. After all, nobody was really worried about the pirate problem at that time and just wanted to maintain the status quo, swaying from side to side. Liu Zhenqing had no choice but to arrange for a muddled assassination, while secretly pointing the finger at King Huai and openly blaming the pirates, killing two birds with one stone. The thirty-thousand troops were implemented, but his name was allowed to ferment in public opinion, and it was said that he wanted to seize military power from the Huo family and intimidate and control the young emperor.”

“He wasn’t afraid that the Huo family would do the same to him…..” He Lan was alarmed to hear this, and was quick to ask curiously.

Song Xingmu glanced at Huo Fenglie and said: “Only with extreme trust would he dare to act like this. I also believe that the Huo family didn’t misunderstand him. Is that correct?”

“My older brother and I have always believed in him,” Huo Fenglie said directly. Even though they didn’t understand, they still believed in him, but…..no one in the world understood, and he didn’t defend himself.

Huo Fenglie lowered his eyes, clenching his fists slightly. At that time, he was only a minor military official, so weak that he could only hold one territory and share a little bit of the pressure.

Suddenly, Song Xingmu said distantly: “Did the emperor believe in him? Did the emperor believe…..that it was a deliberate arrangement?”

“He said that whether the emperor believed or not was a different matter. After all, for it to be legitimate, the emperor had to be injured, right?” Song Xingmu’s voice was soft. He looked at Zhao Haicheng and said: “What you heard at the beginning was probably the quarrel between me and Liu Zhenqing. Because I didn’t think he should do this. Accompanying a ruler is like accompanying a tiger. Even if he did all he could, arranging something like this would always leave a thorn in the emperor’s heart.”

Song Xingmu spoke very bluntly. But He Lan and Qin Yu had no intention to refute, because they felt the same way. Using the emperor as bait was not a good method, no matter how effective it was.

“I scolded him for being brainless and acting regardless of the consequences, but he said this was the only way. He had to do it, and since his reputation was so bad, how much of the emperor’s trust in him remained? Back when he was the dignified prime minister, he was just so…..” Song Xingmu became increasingly agitated the more he spoke, and he stopped abruptly at this point when Yi Chuan pulled him back.

Yes, ah, the rest should not be said.

Qin Yu and He Lan looked back at Huo Fenglie with worry, but they could only see his face concealed in the shadows cast by the light in the cell, making it difficult to see clearly. They knew very well what Song Xingmu was alluding to. They were loyal to their families and to the emperor, but Huo Fenglie was even more so.

Because Huo Fenglie was not only the emperor’s top general, but also Yuan Jue’s good brother who treated him with sincerity. They also knew that Huo Fenglie had admired Prime Minister Liu and never held a grudge, missing him all the time.

How would Huo Fenglie feel now?

Song Xingmu calmed himself and looked at the already lifeless Zhao Haicheng, saying: “Back then, the two main reasons the pirates returned were because of Liu Zhenqing’s death and my departure.”

When Liu Zhenqing, who had all the power in the world, passed away, there were so many people ready to make trouble. Everyone wanted to come and take a bite of Great Zhou.

Thieves like the pirates were akin to rats, burrowing into holes whenever someone spotted them. Knowing that Song Xingmu wasn’t there and the leader of the navy had been replaced, they immediately began to look for opportunities to retaliate.

“But isn’t it your own fault that you were attacked? Why didn’t you leave back then?” Song Xingmu asked coldly.

Zhao Haicheng was frozen for a long moment. With an ashen face, he said: “That was our home. We couldn’t leave just because we were told to. Why should we just do whatever you arranged? Even if he…..he wasn’t a traitor, he also implicated us in his fight for power.”

Song Xingmu sneered. “If someone else were standing in his place as prime minister and obtained those thirty thousand troops, who would actually lead those troops to clear out pirates? Who would actually care about the lives and deaths of you islanders and think of a way out for you?”

Although this was cruel to say, it was a fact. For those in powerful positions, their struggle for power used the world as a chess board. Who cared about a few small islands and the lives of hundreds of people? They probably wouldn’t spare them a thought, but in terms of major world events, could it be said that these people were wicked?

He Lan and Qin Yu to the side could only nod. As a senior official of the Imperial Court, Liu Zhenqing had done many things that were impossible for others to do, but still suffered resentment. It was ridiculous. Nobody could protect the people of the islands at all times. Shouldn’t they change their own fortunes?

But Zhao Haicheng stared angrily, seemingly unwilling to admit it. “No, it wasn’t like that. Do you know what it feels like to have all of your relatives, friends, and kinsmen die tragically in front of you?!”

At this moment, Yi Chuan said abruptly: “You people are very strange.”

Zhao Haicheng was taken aback, and looked at Yi Chuan.

Yi Chuan was simple and direct. “You were so willing to maintain the original situation because the people offered as sacrifices were not your young brothers and sisters.”

Zhao Haicheng paled. He opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.

Yi Chuan had revealed the simple, ugly fact. Although his fleet had never done such a thing at the time, they had seen other pirates do it by demanding young men and women to be trussed up and played with on their ships. And these people were often orphans left behind on the islands by parents who were shipwrecked at sea.

Yi Chuan said: “The ones killing people were pirates, but you didn’t want to wipe out all of the pirates and avoid future troubles forever. It’s strange that you blame others, but even colluded with pirates. I really don’t understand.”

Song Xingmu chuckled and said: “It’s actually very simple. It was easier to blame the kind of people who wouldn’t hurt them. How could they dare blame the pirates? After all, the pirates would actually kill people.”

Yi Chuan didn’t understand, but the others seemed to.

Zhao Haicheng was shamed into anger, shaking all over. “No matter how much you quibble, it doesn’t change anything. This disaster was caused by you. It was you who killed so many people.”

Likely because he was too agitated, bloody foam appeared at his mouth when he shouted.

Song Xingmu raised the fingers that were holding the tips of his hair and fiddled with his earring.

“Then let me tell you the truth that I just discovered.” Song Xingmu slowly said: “Back then, did you rescue a rebel who floated to the island shore?”

Zhao Haicheng was taken aback, and looked at Song Xingmu in confusion. “So what. If not for the so-called rebels who knew how to be grateful and came back to save us when they learned something was wrong, there wouldn’t be a single person left alive on our island.”

Song Xingmu laughed and shouted loudly: “Someone, bring the prisoner in room five.”

Nobody knew what was going on, but they soon saw soldiers bringing over a prisoner who had been tortured. 

Zhao Haicheng recognized him at a glance. “Uncle Hai!”

Uncle Hai raised his head. His eyes were averted, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Song Xingmu kicked him forward and said: “Speak! Say everything you told me before!”

Zhao Haicheng looked at the person before him blankly, with the worst premonition in his heart.

“Back then…..back then, we were hunted at sea. I was….I was…..saved by them. After living there for a while, we got in touch with our own people. We needed a place to hide our identities and avoid being hunted, so after discussing it, we decided to hide on that island.”

Zhao Haicheng looked lifeless, and said in an almost pleading tone: “So when you came back, you saw us being attacked and came to our rescue?”

“Yes…..it was when we returned that we saw pirates intending to make a sneak attack, but because of the devices left behind by Prime Minister Liu, they dared not venture forward. So we…..we thought of a good way to hide our identities.”

The blood in Zhao Haicheng’s face faded almost visibly, and his pupils shook uncontrollably.

“Tell us, what was that method?” Song Xingmu urged.

Uncle Hai shook his head and no longer dared to look in Zhao Haicheng’s direction. Turning his head aside, he said all at once: “We wanted….we wanted to completely replace the people on the island with our numbers. So…..we assassinated the guards in the tower and informed the pirates that they could attack. Once the pirates attacked, we would wait for an opportunity to wipe out the pirates so that the islanders would be grateful to us, agree to take us in, and let us exist openly as those dead islanders. This way, we could avoid being hunted by the Imperial Court. We could also have loyal subordinates who could bring us information from the outside world.”

After these words fell, the entire cell became eerily quiet.

The evil of human nature and the turn of events were jaw-dropping.

Those who heard it could only sigh in disbelief.

And as the cause of everything, Zhao Haicheng stared blankly at the man he had rescued with his own hands. His voice was almost lifeless as he asked hoarsely: “Why? I saved you…..why were you so ruthless to us?!”

Uncle Hai was originally a court official. Faced with Zhao Haicheng’s questioning, he did feel guilty at first, but still said: “Those who achieve great things are not constrained by trivial details.”

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Chapter Ninety-Five << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety-Seven