Chapter 64: The Prisoner (Part 1)

  "What did you say? Are you certain?" Zhu Houzhao's face turned red and white, then suddenly became furious.

  Liu Jin nodded and said, "It's certain. Less than an hour ago, I personally saw him rob the prisoner cart. Although he failed, I heard him call Li Dongyang 'Master'."

  "Bang!" Zhu Houzhao was visibly enraged. Jiang Xia was Li Dongyang's disciple, what did that represent?

  This means that Jiang Xia may have known the emperor's identity all along, and has been pretending not to know in order to humor him. This also means that Jiang Xia might be a pawn deliberately cultivated by Li Dongyang, with the purpose of getting close to him and becoming his confidant for future use.

  Rage. Endless rage. Zhu Houzhao felt the sensation of being deceived for the first time, which he could not accept on his face or in his heart. Zhu Houzhao immediately said: "Prepare my horse carriage, I will personally find him and ask him clearly. If he dares to deceive me, I will definitely chop him into minced meat and feed it to dogs, exterminate his nine clans, dig up the graves of his ancestors eighteen generations ago and scatter their ashes!"

  "Your Majesty, would it be dangerous to see him at this moment? He... he is skilled in martial arts and his skills are not low. If you go now, I'm afraid he might do you harm."

  "How dare he!" After saying this, Zhu Houzhao stormed out of the leopard house.

  He mounted the horse-drawn carriage and ordered the driver to hurry to Xiangyao Mountain Villa at top speed. The carriage stopped in front of the gate of Xiangyao Mountain Villa, and Zhu Houzhao didn't wait for Liu Jin, but rushed into Xiangyao Mountain Villa alone.

  If it were in the past, Zhu Houzhao would never have taken such a risk alone. He would have waited until his guards gathered and the Brocade Guards had scouted ahead to ensure there was no danger inside the Xiangyang Manor before entering. But now, Zhu Houzhao's mind is clouded with anger.

  Zhu Houzhao rushed into the Xiangyang Mountain Villa and grabbed a guard, shouting: "Where is Jiang Xia? Where is he? Speak!"

  "In the backyard, in the backyard garden." The guard was startled by Zhu Houzhao, and the majesty of the Son of Heaven is not to be trifled with. Qi moves, body moves, as the only one who holds the power of life and death, his unbridled outburst of energy is enough to intimidate anyone.

  Knowing the location of Jiang Xia, Zhu Houzhao pushed away his guards and walked directly towards the backyard.

  Jiang Xia stood beside the pavilion in the backyard, looking at the stone table on it. It was here that Li Dongyang taught him "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "Analects" and "Mencius". During his teaching, Li Dongyang would tell Jiang Xia many principles. Those principles were not just empty and dull, but the life experience summed up by Li Dongyang after drifting in officialdom for decades, the essence of Li Dongyang's decades of life experience, and also Li Dongyang's most precious wealth.

  For example, Li Dongyang once said to Jiang Xia that corrupt officials are cunning and will stop at nothing. But honest officials must also be cunning and cannot be bound by worldly morality. As long as you understand what you're doing and can do it with a clear conscience, then go ahead and do some things boldly, don't be timid.

  The teachings of old still echoed in his ears, Jiang Xia took a deep breath and made a certain decision in his heart.

  "Jiang Xia!" At this moment, Zhu Houzhao happened to find him, and when he saw Jiang Xia, he shouted loudly.

  Jiang Xia turned around to see that it was Zhu Houzhao, and his face immediately lit up with extreme joy. Without saying another word, he ran over to grab Zhu Houzhao's hand, saying: "Old Second, you've finally arrived. I have something that I can only tell you, because you're the person I trust most. You mustn't spread it outside."

  "You speak!" Zhu Houzhao said with a cold face, gritting his teeth.

  Jiang Xia didn't notice Zhu Houzhao's tone had turned extremely cold, and he hastily said: "Do you still remember what I told you? Two months ago, I met a master who was an old man. At first, he pretended to be a fortune teller and came to read my fortune, then he came here to apply for the position of bookkeeper, and afterwards he deceived me into becoming his apprentice."

  However, he carefully taught me the Four Books and Five Classics and the principles of being a person. I followed him and benefited greatly. But today when I went out for a walk, I just found out that originally he was...

  Jiang Xia lowered his voice and looked around before mysteriously telling Zhu Houzhao: "It's the current Grand Preceptor, Li Dongyang."

  "My goodness, I was so scared when I saw him that time. At the moment, I didn't think of anything and directly jumped out from the crowd to save him. Unfortunately, my martial arts skills were not good enough, and I ended up failing. I heard people say that my master committed a serious crime, with a charge that seemed to be treason. Is this crime very severe? Should he be beheaded?"

  Zhu Houzhao shook his head, and Jiang Xia's words had explained all the doubts in his mind. It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Zhu Houzhao thought carefully now and felt that Jiang Xia was unlikely to have colluded with Li Dongyang beforehand. After all, Li Dongyang had once sent someone to kill Jiang Xia. Moreover, Jiang Xia's behavior in front of him had always been very casual, and he could feel it too. Jiang Xia's casualness was not pretended, but rather he really didn't take his own identity seriously. So Zhu Houzhao also began to believe Jiang Xia.

  Jiang Xia saw Zhu Houzhao shaking his head, and thought to himself that he still didn't think Li Dongyang would be killed. He let out a sigh of relief, patted his chest and said: "As long as you don't kill him, it's fine. Brother, I have one request for you, can you go talk to your older brother who is an official and see if he can help find someone to rescue him? No matter how much silver it takes, I'm willing to pay it. If the silver isn't enough, I'll think of a way."

  Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said, "My shaking my head doesn't mean that we won't behead him, but rather that it's not just a matter of beheading. The outcome of this crime is the extermination of his entire family, and no one who has an intimate relationship with him will be spared."

  "What the...? How did that happen?" Jiang Xia said in a hurry, but seeing Zhu Houzhao's confused face, he quickly reacted and repeated it in Chinese: "How could this be?"

  "Plotting rebellion is considered one of the most serious crimes under our dynasty's law, equivalent to treason, and naturally it would result in the entire family being executed."

  "How can that be? He's a good man, who the hell gave him such a heavy sentence? Damn it, don't let me find out, if I do, I'll definitely rape and kill him first, then rape and kill him again." Jiang Xia said angrily.

  Zhu Houzhao's face turned awkward and he coughed twice before weakly asking, "Is the one who framed him a man? You won't let him off either?"

  "Hmph! If it's a man, that would be even better. I'll make sure he gets a good taste of being beaten to a pulp. I won't let him off until his butt is bruised and battered. If not, my surname Jiang will be written in reverse." Jiang Xia said viciously, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

  Although Zhu Houzhao didn't understand what "explosive chrysanthemum" meant, he somehow grasped the meaning of "full butt hurt", isn't butt just buttocks? Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao's heart was racing with fear, and he subconsciously took two steps to the side, his forehead constantly sweating.

  Zhu Houzhao asked tentatively: "Now it's useless to find the person who made the judgment, what's important is what to do next, what are you going to... plan to do?"

  Zhu Houzhao asked this question and Jiang Xia immediately fell silent. After a few seconds, Jiang Xia said firmly: "Save him."

  "Hmm?" Zhu Houzhao didn't expect that after he clearly explained the severity of Li Dongyang's crimes, Jiang Xia would still make such a choice. However, in his heart, Zhu Houzhao was slightly pleased that Jiang Xia made this choice, as it showed that Jiang Xia was a person who valued relationships and righteousness.

  "I've been an orphan since I was a child, and there aren't many people who have truly been good to me. Apart from you, he's one of them. I can sense who is genuinely kind to me and who is not, so I won't just sit back and do nothing - I must go rescue him."

  "What do you plan to save?" Zhu Houzhao asked with interest.

  Jiang Xia shook his head: "I don't know, I'm not very clear about the defense of Tianlao. If we can get detailed information and a map of Tianlao, it would be great to know which cell he's being held in."

  "Now that you know all this, what are you going to do?" Zhu Houzhao's heart rose with an idea, and he couldn't help but get excited.

  Jiang Xia replied without hesitation: "Knowing all this, of course I'll think of a way to rescue him from prison. What else can be done?"

  "Kidnapping?" Zhu Houzhao exclaimed in his heart "Indeed", he excitedly clenched his fist and said: "This stimulation, the data packets you want are on me, but I have a request."

  "What's going on?" Jiang Xia frowned and asked, having a bad premonition.

  "Take me with you when you escape from prison."

  As expected, this guy is not a thrifty lamp.

  "This won't do, this is a prison break, not some game, if things go wrong it could cost us our heads, I won't put you in harm's way."

  "If you don't take me with you, I won't help you get those materials you want."

  "You..." Jiang Xia saw Zhu Houzhao's determined expression, and he shook his head helplessly: "Alright, alright, I'll take you there, but let me make one thing clear first - once we're there, you have to listen to everything I say. If anything goes wrong, don't expect me to bail you out."

  "Don't worry, I'll listen to you in everything." Zhu Houzhao nodded and said.

  Because he was afraid that Zhu Houzhao would get hurt, Liu Jin had been waiting in the garden. Seeing Zhu Houzhao rush to find Jiang Xia, Jiang Xia didn't know what he said to him, and soon Zhu Houzhao's expression changed.

  First it was relief, then curiosity, then delight, and finally... excitement.

  Liu Jin was completely bewildered. What kind of enchanted soup had Jiang Xia fed to the Emperor, that he was actually made to spin around in circles?

  When leaving Jiang Xia, Zhu Houzhao said to Jiang Xia: "Don't worry, I'll get what you want tonight and bring it to you. Wait for me, I will definitely come to find you tonight."

  "Alright." Jiang Xia waved his hand at Zhu Houzhao.

  Zhu Houzhao also waved his hand at Jiang Xia, then turned around and left with Liu Jin. After leaving the Xianyao Mountain Villa, Zhu Houzhao immediately said to Liu Jin: "Liu Jin, pass on my order, have the Ministry of Justice send all the documents from Tianyao to the palace for me immediately, including the map of Tianyao's terrain and the location of the cell where Taifu is being held. Also, pass down the order to treat Taifu with good wine and meat, and don't let him suffer any grievances."

  "Yes, your humble servant obeys." Liu Jin led the edict in a daze.