Mortal Mage

"Could it be that Your Majesty is intentionally sending Lu Ming to pretend to surrender to the Crown Prince?"

Zhang Mingxuan had a thoughtful look on his face. He thought that if this was the case, it was hard to say whether the person who assassinated him was the crown prince or His Majesty, or whether it was just a show.

If it was the prince, it would be too obvious and the prince would not be so stupid. If it was Li Si, it would be even more unnecessary, because if Li Si, as the emperor, wanted to kill himself, he could just find a reason and chop himself off openly.

But Xun'er and Yubin's murderous intentions were real. If he didn't need fire-resistant materials for studying the fire array, he wouldn't have experimented on the kitchen knife.

"It's impossible. After Lu Ming surrendered to the Crown Prince, he almost obeyed his every word. If he pretended to surrender secretly and didn't do what the Crown Prince asked, wouldn't it be exposed in no time?"

"In fact, this Lu Ming helped the prince do a lot of dirty work."

"Do you know the former Minister of War, Qi Yuanqinghe?"

Guo Zhuoran gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, his eyes full of vigilance. Wang Han stood by and was stunned.

These things were too much for a small flag like him to hear. Although Guo Zhuoran was his superior, he would never say these things to innocent people. But he suddenly said these things today, which made him feel ominous.

Zhang Mingxuan nodded slightly. Qi Yuanqinghe was Qi Yuan's father, who was wrongly imprisoned by the prince. He agreed to Qi Yuan's help with the Qingyuan Qinghe plan.

Zhang Mingxuan's eyes narrowed; "Qi Yuanqinghe was wrongly accused."

"Master Zhang, everyone knows about this, but do you know that Qi Yuanqinghe is dead?"

"what!"

Zhang Mingxuan sat up suddenly. "Didn't they say Qi Yuanqinghe was alive and well in the imperial prison?"

"Master Zhang, do you know why the prince was beaten yesterday?"

"Your Majesty dismissed the Minister of War Li Xucheng and sent him to the Ministry of Works to do odd jobs, just to reinstate Qi Yuanqinghe. However, after investigation, it was found that Qi Yuanqinghe died in the imperial prison yesterday afternoon."

"So now the position of Minister of War is vacant. The war is imminent and without a Minister of War, how can we fight? You can't let Your Majesty take care of everything personally."

"So, sir, you know why Lu Ming can't be pretending to be attached to the prince, right?"

Zhang Mingxuan nodded slightly. He was thinking about how to explain to Qi Yuan.

"But why would Lu Ming, who could have a stable future, take the risk of relying on the Crown Prince?"

Zhang Mingxuan asked through gritted teeth, feeling a dull pain all over his body.

"I don't know about that, Master Zhang."

Guo Zhuoran shook his head gently.

--

Zhenghe Hall is located on the left of Taihe Hall. It is one of the six main halls and is also the office location of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Zhenghe Hall is simple, elegant, grand and spacious, with more than a hundred desks placed there, and an official from the Ministry of Revenue sitting in front of each desk.

There are two side halls in the Zhenghe Hall. One is the office area exclusively for the Minister of Revenue, and the other is the office area for the left and right vice-ministers of the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhang Mingxuan limped into the hall.

Inside the spacious and bright Zhenghe Hall, there were more than a hundred tables and desks, but only twenty or thirty people were sitting scattered around. These people seemed to have extremely heavy work to do, and no one paid any attention to Zhang Mingxuan, the new Right Vice Minister who came to court with injuries all over his body.

This is not normal.

If it is based on official interests, new officials need to at least be introduced and flattered and polite.

Zhang Mingxuan opened the door of the side hall and gently rubbed the wound on his shoulder. A musty smell rushed into his nose. The piles of documents in the side hall were rotten and yellow. He then picked up a document and looked through it.

"This county petitioned for the flood in the seventh year of Taicang, requesting the allocation of 500 taels of silver. Now it's the 180th year of Taicang, and no one has read this document?"