Chapter 95: Tartars
This way, my Zheng family will be in dire straits!
Those thousand young and strong men and the extorted silver will be unrecoverable. If the Yandi gentry learn the truth, they will surely devour the weakened Zheng family!
That’s why I decisively hired a Jianghu assassin to assassinate Li, the Boundless King, to resolve the core problem.
This is the limited thinking of the gentry, or rather, the limited thinking of Zheng Yun, the temporary clan leader.
The powerful people in Chang’an all know that Li King and Prince Yu will be irreconcilable enemies, with no possibility of cooperation.
Jinsui figured out the key point and is just waiting to get evidence from the assassin that the Zheng family sent them.
I believe that with Cheng Yu’s experience, he will definitely get evidence from the bandits that they were instigated by the Zheng family.
When the time comes, I’ll present the evidence to the Imperial Commissioner, and then use the medicine to cure the plague as a condition. Will the Zheng family be punished or not?
If not punished, it would be harboring and condoning the Zheng family’s murder of an Imperial Prince. Then I won’t give the medicine either.
My personal safety in the borderlands cannot be guaranteed, and you all want me dead, yet you want me to cure the plague?
She is considering whether to drag Li Heng down with her. Li Heng is too lazy in his governance, only seeking self-preservation, offending no one, and adhering to the principle of “less work, fewer mistakes,” only wanting to be transferred out of Yandi as soon as possible.
She is worried that after dragging Li Heng down, will the Imperial Court send a capable Prefect of Yanzhou? That would be too unsuitable for the development of our border city.
With a turn of her eyes, she decided not to drag Li Heng down, but to use this matter to threaten him. Not to mention turning him into a puppet, at least he would have to be more lenient with border city affairs.
By the time Wei Assistant Secretary arrived with a large group of people, Jinsui had already made a decision.
First, send the injured to the infirmary, paying special attention to Hei Hu’s injuries. Then, arrest those Zheng family cattle and horses and the assassins and throw them into the dungeon. She will interrogate them later.
All the Zheng family cattle and horses are to be interrogated, and those related to this case are to be imprisoned.
While waiting for Cheng Yu, Han Xing, and the others to return, she wrote a letter to Li Heng, with only one sentence:
“The Zheng family sent people to assassinate this King. It is said that Prefect Li agreed. Is this true or not?”
She stamped it with the seal of ‘Li, the Boundless King’ and had it delivered to Li Heng as quickly as possible.
She then interrogated the assassin with Wei Assistant Secretary. Looking at the hidden weapons found by the soldiers on the table, she saw that a poison pill was hidden in a broken tooth. Wei Assistant Secretary gasped.
He knew the pain of a toothache too well. Did this assassin have no sense of pain?
Then she saw a poison needle hidden under his tongue, poison powder hidden in his toenail, a needle-like weapon hidden in his ear canal, and his clothes had dozens of small pockets, each containing a hidden weapon.
Is this still human? It’s practically a mobile poison arsenal!
Fortunately, these poisons were all toxins from poisonous insects and herbs. Hei Hu’s timely treatment ensured they were not fatal.
She had someone splash water on the assassin to wake him up. As soon as water was splashed, his eyebrows and chin on his face peeled off like mud, revealing a face like a toad.
His skin was covered in bumps and scars from poison, his lips and eyelids were purplish-black, and he was short and stout. For a moment, Jinsui felt this person looked familiar.
She suddenly remembered that this was Kagura from Inuyasha!
So, using too much poison really can lead to such a terrifying face!
He was startled when he woke up. Seeing everyone around him, he showed a look of disdain. He suddenly remembered what happened before he fainted: his fingers were all broken, and a piece of his scalp was removed.
He immediately wailed. Jinsui covered her ears and said, “If I didn’t need you to answer questions, this King would have cut off your tongue long ago!”
To Jinsui’s surprise, upon hearing ‘this King,’ he showed fear, cowered, and didn’t even dare to look at Jinsui.
Jinsui was puzzled at first. You dared to assassinate Li, the Boundless King, so why are you afraid now?
Then she realized that this person was a true Jianghu assassin, fearing royalty. He could assassinate for gold and silver, but he cowered when facing someone alive.
“What is your name? What sect or school do you belong to?”
“Qing, Qing Feng, no sect, no school.”
“Heh heh, Qing Feng, a good name. It’s a pity that a Qing Feng sword should have soared with ambition, but instead, you became a killer who operates in the shadows.”
Qing Feng remained silent.
Jinsui stepped forward and looked him in the eye: “Are you sure you want to Become Enemies with this King for a mere Zheng family?”
“If I say, can you let me live?”
“No! But this King will make your death more comfortable. Did you sleep well just now?”
Qing Feng was silent. He didn’t want to admit that the sleep he just had was the most comfortable sleep of his life.
Jinsui waved her hand, and her subordinate brought in a plate of food: tomato and eggs, radish stewed lamb ribs, braised kidney fish, and Dongpo pork. She picked up a bowl and walked to Qing Feng, eating:
“This King will also let you eat a meal fit for humans, a true delicacy, not poison.”
Qing Feng suddenly looked up: “You, how did you know I eat poison every day?”
I don’t even need to guess. You carry so much poison on you, and you’re not worried about being poisoned yourself, so you must have eaten a lot of poison and developed an immunity.
She said softly, “A master of poison like you must have caused many of your peers and fellow disciples to die?”
Qing Feng’s frog-like eyes widened even further. His master had taken in a hundred children and fed them poison until only he survived.
“Before you die, I will let you sleep soundly every day and eat food fit for humans, letting you live with dignity until the day you atone for your sins.”
Qing Feng remained silent. Jinsui put down her chopsticks, her voice turning cold: “If you don’t cooperate, this King has plenty of ways to pry open your mouth.”
Suddenly, he gritted his teeth.
Then he realized the thing in his teeth was gone and showed a look of horror.
Jinsui laughed heartily: “Are you protecting the Zheng family, or your fellow disciples?”
“Think carefully. This King’s patience is limited.”
The first interrogation should not be too long. Jinsui was waiting for him to answer himself. If he really didn’t, the drugs in the laboratory could make him tell the truth.
There was still time before the Imperial Commissioner Group arrived, and she could afford to wait.
The next day, Han Xing and the others still had no news, but Li Heng personally came to the border city.
This was the second time he had broken his oath since he swore he would never come to the border city again.
As a result, Li, the Boundless King, did not see him. Instead, she had Wei Assistant Secretary take him to interrogate the assassin.
Just as Li Heng was suppressing his humiliation, waiting for an audience with Li, the Boundless King, to discuss the Imperial Commissioner’s affairs.
Cheng Yu rode back to the city first: “Your Highness, something terrible has happened!”
“Over a thousand Tartar cavalry are heading towards the border city. They want to have an Autumn Hunt in Yanzhou!”
Our Han Chinese have an Autumn Hunt to gather meat for autumn and winter, and to hunt in the mountains.
As for the Tartars’ Autumn Hunt, it is specifically to raid the border cities of Great Xia.
The last time the Tartars broke through the border city and attacked Yanzhou directly was three years ago.
Li Heng staggered upon hearing this, his face turning pale, his hands trembling: “Quick, quick, mobilize all soldiers back to Yanzhou to defend Yanzhou City!”
Jinsui asked him, “What about my border city then?”
Li Heng slapped his thigh: “Oh, Your Highness, where can we worry about the border city at this time! The border city was originally meant to shield Yanzhou from disaster.”
Jinsui frowned: “Are you saying that the Black Feather Camp and the Tuntian Soldiers are to defend the city? What about the Yan Prefecture Army?”
