Gu Moran stared at him.
"Who are they?"
Lalong opened his mouth slightly.
As if in resistance, the veins in his neck tensed, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
Shen Ling'er raised her hand and moved the medicine bowl forward half an inch.
"Take another sip; it'll make your stomach feel better."
Lalong finally lowered his head.
"One of Prince An's men."
The tip of Uncle Fu's pen tore through the paper.
They sent a letter.
Lalong closed his eyes, his words growing faster and faster. "If they say Prince Yi is dead, there will be a gap in the Anyang City."
"Let us, the Tubo, enter the Central Plains so we can discuss important matters together."
Upon hearing this,
The only sound in the room was the faint crackling of the light bulb wick exploding.
Xie Wanqing held the pen, the line of text on the paper half-written, the pen tip hovering in the air.
Yun Shuyue's face was very tense.
She didn't understand the intricacies of court politics, but she did understand one sentence.
Someone wants to borrow a Tubo's knife to kill Gu Moran.
Gu Moran lowered his head, looking at the tea leaves floating in the tea.
Second brother.
To kill me, they used the Central Plains to deceive Tubo?
They even want to use someone else to do their dirty work.
Could this Tubo leader really believe it?
"What else?"
Lalong's head tilted to one side, the effects of the medicine completely subsided.
He then uttered a few more words in Tubo, which Xie Wanqing couldn't understand, so she memorized them verbatim.
Gu Moran waited for a while, and seeing that he couldn't say anything new, she raised her hand.
That's enough.
Shen Ling'er picked up a basin of cold water from the table.
As soon as Lalong raised his head, cold water was poured over his forehead.
He shuddered, his eyes snapped open, and his chest heaved violently.
Gu Moran sat there, gazing at him.
"I've written down everything you just said. If you say you didn't say it when you wake up, that's fine too."
I will have Tubo merchants identify your accent and someone who understands Tubo translate for you. Your life is more useful than your death.
Lalong's lips trembled.
"Don't even think about running away, you can't escape. There's something good in your medicine."
Shen Ling'er tilted her head and continued.
"The more you resist, the faster you'll die."
Lin Qingdai pushed open the door.
"Take him to the cellar."
Two guards stepped forward and removed the rack.
Lalong struggled for a moment, but the pain in his abdomen returned, and his legs went weak. He was dragged out of the side room by the guards.
As he passed by Yun Shuyue, he looked up and stared at her snowman hat.
Yun Shuyue raised her short blade, the scabbard tapping against his shoulder.
"What are you looking at? Erzhuzi said he'll reserve the stall where you threw up last night for you to use as a guest room."
Lalong's face looked even worse.
Gu Moran watched as the person was taken away, then reached up and pressed his temples.
Uncle Fu carefully put away the confession and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, should we report this matter to the Prefect Si and Commandant Zhen immediately?"
"Summon them to the Prince's residence."
Gu Moran up, his cloak sliding off the back of the chair.
" The Tubo want to capture me, and my second brother wants to join in the fun!"
"Do you really think I'm a pushover?!"
When Si Renyou entered the study, the soles of his shoes were covered in morning dew.
He arrived in such a hurry that the hem of his official robe was not straightened, and he didn't even hear Fang Bi calling him to slow down from behind.
Zhen Daijin half a step behind him; his old armor was fastened crookedly, but the old, worn-out knife at his waist was hanging firmly.
A map of Shu Region was laid out in the study.
Gu Moran sat behind the desk, where the confession, the Tubo transcript, and the short knife on Lalong's body were all laid out.
Xie Wanqing stood to the side, her fingertips pressing on the corner of the paper, her expression also not good.
Si Renyou picked up the confession and looked fairly steadily at the first line.
Upon seeing the headline "After the snow melted, the Tubo army of 200,000 attacked the city," his fingers began to tremble.
Upon seeing the words "An opening has appeared in the air defenses of Anyang City," he flipped the paper back and read it again from the beginning.
Before he had even finished reading it for the third time, Si Renyou sat down in a chair.
The chair made a soft creak.
He raised his hand and scratched his hair, causing a few strands of his already sparse hair to stand up.
Fang Bi stood to the side, wanting to help him, but not daring to reach out.
"Absurd."
Si Renyou's lips moved slightly.
"No matter how much Prince An fights, he cannot sacrifice the city's defenses to feed the Tubo. Those are the people, the city, the land of Great Yan... How dare he?"
Zhen Daijin slammed his hand on the edge of the table.
The teacup on the table jumped.
"I told you long ago, that guy in Anyang doesn't have a brain."
"If those Tubo dogs dare to sneak in, I'll take my men and chop them up!"
Si Renyou was jolted back to his senses by the blow and stood up to walk outside.
"First, impose a curfew. Seal the city gates and investigate all foreign merchants and fur traders. Also, send an urgent message to the capital to inform the Emperor of today's events."
Commandant Zhen Zhechong Command, immediately send men to the city walls, and also to the villages outside the city—"
" Prefect Si."
Gu Moran bent her fingers and tapped them twice on the table.
Si Renyou stopped talking.
Turning back to Gu Moran, her face flushed with anxiety, she said, "Your Highness, this matter cannot be delayed."
The spies have already entered the city; who knows how many more Tubo are hiding there?
"If we wait until the snow melts and their army is at the city gates before writing a memorial, it will be too late."
"A curfew can be imposed, and the city gates should also be inspected."
Gu Moran placed a black chess piece on the map, "But how do you write '800-li urgent'? We need to find a different way to write it."
Si Renyou walked back to the table. "What other way is there to write this? Tell the truth."
"If I'm not mistaken, my second brother was just throwing bait at the Tubo. If the Tubo really killed me, would Father Emperor let it go?"
The second brother simply wanted to reap the benefits.
If I were to rashly submit the entire document, my suspicious father would ask two questions.
Gu Moran looked up. "First of all, you Gu Moran, have just arrived in your fiefdom and you're already asking such a question from a Tubo spy. How much of his testimony can you really trust?"
Secondly, this matter involves the second son; why should I believe you completely? Is the second son really a pig-brain?
Who knows if this is a tactic used to seize the throne?
Si Renyou opened his mouth.
That's right, how could Prince An possibly allow 200,000 Tubo troops to enter the Central Plains?
Prince Yi is right. The Emperor is suspicious; otherwise, he wouldn't have sent the prince to his fiefdom.
Gu Moran picked up Lalong's short blade from the table; a strange pattern was engraved on the hilt.
"If we only ask for help, the capital will at most send someone to verify it first."
"Once the inspection is completed, and the officials in the imperial court have finished writing the official documents and cleared the checkpoints, the Tubo will be able to set up tents at the mountain pass."
Zhen Daijin frowned. "Then what should we do? Should I just take some men to the side and ambush them?"
"You're taking ten thousand soldiers out with you, what about your official status?"
Gu Moran looked at him, "The soldiers of Zhechong Command have a right to defend Yi Prefecture, but who gave you the document to set up defenses across Jiannan Circuit?"
If my second brother accuses me of arbitrarily deploying troops, we'll have to explain ourselves to the court before we even fight Tubo."
Zhen Daijin's face darkened.
He wasn't afraid of fighting, but he hated these kinds of paperwork and rules.
Gu Moran was right; once a soldier crosses the line, someone can seize on him.
Si Renyou stared at the map, his fingers repeatedly stroking inside his sleeve.
"What does Your Highness mean?"
"Please."
Gu Moran pushed the black piece one square towards Jiannan Circuit.
"I beg my father to grant me the authority to command the troops of Jiannan Circuit at any time."
Tubo spies entered the country with the intention of kidnapping a prince;
There is also suspicion of internal collusion within the Central Plains.
Your subject dares not act rashly, but only requests to coordinate local defenses, supply lines, post roads, and passes until the enemy's situation is clear.
Si Renyou stared at the black piece.
Will His Majesty delegate power to you?
He may not believe I can defend Yi Prefecture.
Gu Moran picked up his teacup and took a sip.
"I would guess that he would rather see one son captured by the Tubo and another suspected of treason."
Father Emperor is afraid of losing face, but even more afraid of the situation spiraling out of control. Let's lay our cards on the table; he needs someone who can keep things under control.
Si Renyou understood.
Gu Moran did not directly bite Prince An.
He simply wrote the words "internal collaborator" in his memorial and presented the evidence to the emperor.
If the emperor wants to investigate Anyang, he cannot allow Yi Prefecture to be completely constrained.
This gave them a reason to reach out and take that military power.
Sweating broke out on Si Renyou's back.
This move was too risky.
One wrong step, and the emperor will think that Prince Yi is using enemy intelligence to seize power;
Prince An would also notice, and might even preemptively strike.
But if they don't fight, Yi Prefecture will only be able to hold onto 10,000 Zhechong Command troops and wait for the Tubo to rush down from the mountain pass.
"Your Highness."
Si Renyou's throat was a little dry. "This is walking on a knife's edge."