The best ring

"How is it, is there any news about Hou Zhong?" Yuan Ji asked Hou Yi who came hurriedly at the residence of the Minister of Personnel with some concern.

Yuan Ji is in a bad mood now. They guessed the beginning of yesterday's coronation ceremony, but failed to guess the end. The final result did not satisfy them. The coronation of the third prince was only delayed. He was not able to completely defeat the third prince, let alone put him in prison.

In addition, there was no news from Hou Zhong for a long time, which made Yuan Ji a little worried.

After all, what Hou Zhong did was of great importance. If they were not careful, they might all be imprisoned.

"Yes." Hou Yi's face was quite serious.

Seeing Hou Yi's expression, Yuan Ji's heart sank, knowing that Hou Zhong's side was probably not good news.

As expected, Hou Yi said with a gloomy face: "News came from Nanlin City that after the eldest prince left the imperial capital, he went to Nanlin City to seek refuge with his father-in-law, the mayor of Nanlin City, Duan Wanming. And just last night, a group of assassins sneaked into the mayor's mansion of Nanlin City, intending to assassinate the eldest prince. However, the assassination attempt ultimately failed. Among all the assassins, only the leader of the bandits escaped, and the rest died on the spot. Although the leader of the bandits escaped, he was also injured. Now, the mayor of the city, Duan Wanmin, is searching the whole city for the assassin."

"The person who escaped is Hou Zhong?" Yuanji's face was as gloomy as Hou Yi's.

"It should be." Hou Yi said, "Duan Wanmin has seen Hou Zhong's appearance. It should be Hou Zhong and his men who assassinated the eldest prince yesterday. If Hou Zhong was killed, Duan Wanmin might have announced it to the public."

"How could this happen?" Yuan Ji said impatiently, "Isn't Hou Zhong very good at doing this kind of thing? How could he fail? He was injured and there was no news?"

It's not Yuan Ji's fault that he is so impatient. They have been in trouble recently. They thought they had controlled the situation and the court. Everything was under their control. The throne must belong to the second prince Zhao Ke whom they supported.

However, when everything really happened, Yuan Ji realized that things were not as good as he thought. His control over the court was not as great as he thought. The recent unpleasant things happened one after another, which made him, who was always very cunning, become impatient.

Now, Hou Zhong's matter made him even more anxious. After all, if the murder of the prince was exposed, they would all have to go to jail or even be beheaded. The mayor of Nanlin City was Zhao Xuan's father-in-law, and he would definitely do his best to search for Hou Zhong. It was unclear whether Hou Zhong could escape from Nanlin City safely.

Once Hou Zhong was caught, he and Hou Yi would also be implicated.

Hou Yi shook his head solemnly. He also knew the seriousness of the matter.

"I have sent people to Nanlin City to find a way to contact Hou Zhong, but so far, there has been no news." Hou Yi said.

Hou Yi was also very annoyed and disappointed with Hou Zhong's failure in this operation.

But now is obviously not the time to be disappointed and annoyed. If Hou Zhong was caught, how serious the matter would be, Hou Yi also knew it very well. Therefore, after knowing that Hou Zhong's operation failed, he immediately sent people to Nanlin City to find Hou Zhong and rescue Hou Zhong, but there was no progress for the time being.

"No matter what, Hou Zhong must be found, and Duan Wanming must not catch him!" Yuan Ji said in a deep voice.

Hou Yi nodded. This was inevitable.

"By the way, there is one more thing." Hou Yi suddenly thought of something, and his face seemed to be a little more ugly.

"What else?" Yuan Ji asked.

"I heard that after leaving the palace yesterday, Qi Kai and Li Yang went to Zhou Yanfeng's house." Hou Yi said with an ugly face: "The two stayed in Zhou's house for a long time before leaving. Later, several officials went to Zhou's house one after another. This morning, it seemed that some rumors were heard, and more officials went to Zhou's house. At present, there are a lot of cars and people in front of Zhou's house, which is more lively than the street market."

Bang!

Hearing Hou Yi's words, Yuan Ji slapped the table with an extremely ugly face.

"What do they want to do? What kind of thing is Zhou Yanfeng that so many people flock to him?!" Yuan Ji said with a ferocious face.

In fact, Yuanji and Hou Yi could guess why those people went to Zhou Mansion. It was precisely because they could guess the reason why those people went to Zhou Mansion that Yuanji was so angry and so furious.

You know, when the old emperor just passed away, the alliance formed by him, Hou Yi and Hou Chong was very powerful, and they were determined to gain power in the court.

However, in just a few days, the court had changed suddenly. Hou Chong was arrested and his strength was damaged, while Zhou Yanfeng, who remained neutral, unexpectedly came from behind and became a hot commodity in the court. Many officials flocked to him.

This was obviously not a good thing.

You know, Zhou Yanfeng was only the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, while Yuanji was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. In the past, all officials in the civil service group followed Yuanji's lead, but now Zhou Yanfeng actually had a tendency to replace him, which Yuanji could not accept.

More importantly, after the coronation ceremony yesterday, it was decided that the seven of them would form a group to jointly decide on all matters of the court.

At present, Zhou Yanfeng, Qi Kai and Li Yang formed an alliance. In this way, the three of them have a lot of say in this group. On the other hand, Yuanji only has him and Hou Yi, so their strength and decision-making power are naturally weakened.

A person who he had never taken seriously before suddenly showed a tendency to surpass and replace him. Yuanji's anger can be imagined.

"The current situation is not favorable to us." Hou Yi's face was also very ugly: "As for the second prince, Guan Zhuo refused to give in, so he could only be imprisoned. Now Zhou Yanfeng and others have formed an alliance, which may put pressure on Guan Zhuo. In this way, Guan Zhuo will not easily release the second prince."

This is what Hou Yi is most worried about.

He and Yuanji support the second prince, Guan Zhuo remains neutral, and Zhou Yanfeng and others do not have a clear support target. In this way, they will definitely hope that the chaotic situation in the court will last as long as possible. As long as there is no new person on the throne, then the pattern of the seven-member group will not change, and Zhou Yanfeng and others can grasp the power in their hands. After a long time, at that time, even Hou Yi and Yuanji will have to act according to the mood of Zhou Yanfeng and the other three.

Yuanji was very upset and asked, "Is there still no progress on the matter of the Second Prince?"