Unpredictable and Strange, Using Foreigners to Exaggerate One's Importance

No!

Something must be wrong!

Silently standing before Ba Song's corpse, Sun Shaozong's brow furrowed even tighter.

Ba Song's death was abrupt and resolute. At first glance, it seemed to align with his mentality of seeking fame even at the cost of his life, but upon closer inspection, it revealed many suspicious points.

Jing Ke and others went to their deaths with great courage, mostly out of loyalty and righteousness, not wanting to implicate those behind them.

Ba Song seemed to be the same on the surface, but don't forget, he was after eternal fame, not loyalty or righteousness—since he wasn't afraid of death for the sake of fame, shouldn't he first display his heroic spirit and then take all the blame upon himself?

Moreover, the identities of Ba Song and his accomplices were clearly exposed. If he suddenly committed suicide, it would only make people suspect the Zhen Country officials.

What kind of sacrifice for the country was that, and what kind of divisive scheme was it?

Could it be…

A chill suddenly ran through Sun Shaozong's heart. Could it be that Ba Song's assassination of Niu Yongxin was originally intended to frame Zhen Country?!

Thinking this way, many doubts could be explained.

For example, the assassins' initial infiltration of Qinglin Prefecture, their lurking, their attempts to assassinate, and the planting of someone to poison him, the guard captain… These many steps were all planned quite meticulously, but after succeeding, they clearly had enough time to leave, yet they returned to their original hiding place, as if they had been blessed with an idiot halo!

After a strike, whether successful or not, immediately fleeing far away should be common sense for an assassin, right? Especially since they were assassinating an envoy from the Celestial Empire!

According to the existing information, even if these guys didn't fall into their hands, they would inevitably be hunted down in the future. At that time, their divisive scheme would not only have no effect, but would definitely bring disaster to Zhen Country.

In addition, Ba Song was just a roving knight of Zhen Country, yet he easily opened a branch base in Qinglin Prefecture, and even planted an insider in the embassy kitchen… These suspicious points cannot be explained by the mere phrase 'bankrupting the family'!

On the contrary, if all of this was a 'counter-espionage scheme' set up by Qian Xiang Country in order to annex Zhen Country, all the suspicious points would have answers!

No~

I can't think about it anymore!

Sun Shaozong shuddered and quickly suppressed all his suspicions deep in his heart—the strategic interests between countries were far too deep, and his small shoulders couldn't bear it. It was better to pretend he didn't know anything.

At least in front of the Qian Xiang people, he must not reveal any trace of knowledge, otherwise he would truly be doomed!

"Captain!"

Just then, a loud shout suddenly came from behind, startling Sun Shaozong. He turned around and saw that it was Feng Xin who had hurriedly run back. While approaching him, he shouted, "A few patrol officers have come outside. After I stopped them, they seem to have sent someone to find reinforcements—Captain, if the Ministry of Justice's main force comes, we can't stop them with just a few of us!"

"Why can't you stop them?"

Sun Shaozong scolded unhappily, "The three of you stand at the door with your knives, and insist on not letting them in. Would the Qian Xiang people go to war with our Da Zhou for a few suspects who assassinated Ambassador Niu?"

"That… that what…"

Feng Xin shrank his neck from his scolding, and muttered sullenly, "What if they climb over the wall? Besides, there's also a side door, what if…"

As he spoke, seeing Sun Shaozong's face getting worse and worse, he quickly changed the subject and asked with a flattering concern, "Captain, I saw that you seemed a little unhappy just now. Could it be that something went wrong?"

The speculation about the counter-espionage scheme was of great importance, so how could Sun Shaozong tell him the truth?

So he perfunctorily said, "The leading assassin committed suicide just now. I'm worried that without this most important living witness, we won't be able to make up for our mistakes."

He just said it casually, but who knew that Feng Xin would take it seriously, rubbing his hands and muttering with a worried look, "What can we do?! That Master Niu is the direct grandson of Duke Zhen Guo, his elder brother Niu Jizong is a hereditary First Class Earl, his sister is the favorite concubine of the Supreme Emperor, and the Four Princes and Eight Dukes have always been of one mind. If anyone twists their mouth in front of the Emperor, we're all done for!"

These Four Princes and Eight Dukes seem to be an alliance among the top aristocratic families of Da Zhou. They once even occupied half of the imperial court, but in recent years, with the passing of the founding heroes, their influence has greatly diminished.

However, a centipede dies but never falls down, even if the power of the Four Princes and Eight Dukes is not as great as before, it is more than enough to deal with small figures like myself—thinking like this, this method of redeeming oneself seems to be not stable enough.

It seems I have to think of some off-the-table tricks!

Sun Shaozong pondered slightly, and an idea immediately came to his mind. He immediately ordered, "Forget it, since we can't stop them, let the people from the Ministry of Justice come in and take these remaining assassins back for interrogation."

As he spoke, he suddenly caught sight of Ruan Rong beside him and quickly added, "It's also good to let Prefect Ruan get out of trouble and go home as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Ruan Rong felt sweetness from her ears all the way to her heart, and she gracefully bowed to Sun Shaozong, "Thank you, Brother Sun."

Feng Xin was very unhappy when he heard this. Although he didn't dare to object openly, he came up and muttered, "Sir, we spent a lot of effort to catch these assassins. Are we just going to let these Qian Xiang people off so easily?"

"What else can we do?"

Sun Shaozong glared at him and said righteously, "We are now in a state of being punished for our crimes and must stay in the embassy to await orders. These assassins can only be escorted to Da Zhou by the Qian Xiang Country government."

"This... this..."

Feng Xin was still unwilling to give up, but he didn't know how to persuade Sun Shaozong. While he was hesitating, Sun Shaozong pulled him to his side again and whispered, "We can give them the people, but we have to take the credit! You choose a few brothers who are eloquent and escort the prisoners to the Ministry of Justice with them. As long as there are enough onlookers on the road, leave one person to publicize what happened today—remember not to exaggerate too much, just embellish it a little!"

After hesitating for a moment, he added, "It's best to think of a few slogans in advance, the kind that are easy to understand, such as 'Captain Sun Solves a Strange Case in Half a Day', and be sure to emphasize that we are doing this to avenge Ambassador Niu, and don't say anything about 'redeeming ourselves'."

After hearing these words, Feng Xin was overjoyed and patted his chest straight, "Don't worry, sir, this subordinate guarantees that everyone in Qinglin Prefecture will know how wise and mighty you are!"

With that, he went to choose people excitedly.

The method Sun Shaozong thought of was the four words 'using foreigners to gain self-importance'!

Although this Qian Xiang Country is not comparable to the Western powers, it is also the strongest country in Southern Xinjiang. If the news that the Qian Xiang people praised the guards spreads to Shuntian Prefecture along with the team escorting the assassins, would the imperial court still be embarrassed to punish them severely?

Of course, relying solely on public opinion may not be very reliable, after all, ordinary people are not as good as dogs these days, let alone the ordinary people of a vassal state?

Therefore, Sun Shaozong is preparing to find a high-ranking official from Qian Xiang Country to wave the flag and make a tiger skin.

If the pressure of 'friendly nations being shocked' still cannot make the imperial court change its mind, he may only be able to take Feng Xin and others to become bandits!

And this is exactly why Sun Shaozong wants to stay in Qian Xiang Country on the grounds of being punished for his crimes—escorting the assassins back and forth will take at least two or three months of buffer time, which is enough for Sun Shaozong to arrange a plan to escape.