Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 378 Let the spies be spies

Xia Lin is now the appointed spy chief, and he was handed over to him after the previous two spy agencies were merged.

How to put it, if letting him lead troops to fight is a trust in his ability, and giving him access to all information is an unconditional trust in him as a person.

You have to know that before Xia Lin, the country's highest-level intelligence agency was controlled by successive emperors themselves. But now the old emperor does not trust his son, but trusts Xia Lin instead. It is probably because of his continuous observation over the years.

Xia Lin certainly knew that there would be many pairs of eyes around him staring at him, and anything he did would be infinitely magnified, so he knew what he should do.

Don't underestimate this. It is extremely difficult for a young person to do this. Let alone asking a young man in his twenties to make a fist, even if you give him a few thousand dollars, he will find it difficult to control himself.

After several years of observation, Emperor Hongbao had finally established his trust in him, so now, at his deathbed, Xia Lin officially entered the entire ****.

"Da Wei needs someone to support it. If my own sons and nephews are not capable, then I will use sons and nephews from other families. I have paved the way for them, and they can only take care of themselves. We are all old, Xiaojiu."

Beside the dragon bed, Emperor Hongbao was lying there patting the prince's hand: "I had a dream yesterday. I dreamed of my mother. She was punishing you. My elder brother and I knelt in front of her to block the whip for you. Suddenly..."

Emperor Hongbao reached out and stroked the prince's face: "The little ninth son who followed his brothers with a runny nose is now gray-haired."

The prince sat there with red eyes. He asked in a low voice: "Fourth brother, are you not going to take a look anymore?"

"We are running out of fuel, so we have to use up as much energy as possible and try to make it through this year. Then we can have a good family reunion."

The current Emperor Hongbao has not left the palace for a long time. He is now weak and thin, and looks like he is about to die. However, he is still very calm in his mentality and is not filled with fear and anxiety about death like most emperors.

"Old Nine, when I'm gone, you should go back to Jiangnan. I'm afraid there will be a rift between you and your nephew. I've done what I should do, and the rest is up to fate."

The prince lowered his eyelids and said, "Brother, you should have a good rest and stop talking so much."

"If..." Emperor Hongbao paused here and said, "If Jing'er is really not capable, you can destroy him and let the third brother come up."

He coughed when he said this, his eyes filled with helplessness: "Although the third brother is uneducated, he is intelligent. Although the second brother is quick-witted and studious, and has outstanding abilities, he has evil intentions. If he gains the country, it will be destroyed..."

"Fourth brother, take a rest." The prince sighed, "We'll talk about it later."

Emperor Hongbao didn't say anything else. The prince stepped aside and let Tian En go forward to feed his brother the medicine. After taking the medicine, Emperor Hongbao fell into a deep sleep, but the prince still stayed by his side.

"Your Majesty, you should go back and rest as soon as possible. If your body collapses, His Majesty will be distressed." Tian En sobbed and said to the prince, "Your Majesty will be taken care of by this old servant. Your Majesty can rest assured."

The prince could only sigh softly, then stood up and walked out of the palace.

At this moment, the sky was dark and the rain was still dripping. The humidity in Jinling was indeed irritating at times. The prince was in a low mood all the way. Although he had made full preparations, when this day was really about to come, he could not hide the loss in his heart.

When his fourth brother passed away, all his relatives, who were born of the same mother, were gone, and he was left all alone in the world, with no way back and no place to come from.

When I got back to where I was staying, I saw Lao Guo and Xia Lin sitting in the pavilion as soon as I entered the door. In front of them was a copper pot, with meat slices, tendons, etc. placed next to them. The two of them were sipping wine and eating meat, looking very comfortable.

"You two are so relaxed." The prince walked up and sat down. "I'm so busy that I can't even touch the ground at the same time, but you guys are eating out of the pot here."

"How can yours be missing?" Lao Guo pushed the bowl and chopsticks in front of him. "It was brought by your good son-in-law. He said it was a lamb sent to him by the grassland. There are five lambs in total. Two will be sent to the palace for His Majesty to supplement his health. The remaining three will be one for each of us three."

"The little lamb sent by the grassland?"

The prince raised his eyebrows and looked at Xia Lin: "Why? Have you met the envoy from the grassland?"

"Me?" Xia Lin curled his lips: "If I saw them, I would tell them to leave quickly."

At this moment, Lao Guo took over the conversation: "If he didn't go, you would be so anxious now."

"You two should explain things to me more clearly. You are just playing dumb with me."

Xia Lin first helped his father-in-law scald a bowl of meat, then poured wine: "I met with the envoys from the grassland and sent them away today. The reason I met them was that the second prince met with the envoys from the grassland the night before."

"Him?" The prince frowned. "What did he do when he met the grassland envoy?" "I don't know. I didn't ask. I couldn't get the answer even if I did. Besides, it would be difficult to deal with him. But I guess he was discussing buying mutton."

Lao Guo laughed at the side: "Old Nine, you are asking questions without knowing the answer. Wouldn't that embarrass my son?"

"You, you, you, please stop talking." The prince said impatiently, "He met the grassland envoy, um..."

"No one in the army supports him. He has a group of civil officials under his control. Look at the civil officials in the court now, they are clamoring to reduce the military power. Aren't they just trying to build momentum for him? He is colluding with the Turks. You can figure out what he is up to." Old Guo sneered, "If it weren't for my son's cleverness, you would be jumping up and down now."

The prince smiled bitterly: "Who else did you tell this to?"

Xia Lin spread his hands and said, "I told both my fathers."

"That's good." The prince sighed, sat down and started eating meat. After a few bites, he said, "Don't let any news leak out. You were right to ask the delegation to leave."

"Well, I also buried a few people who instigated the Turkic prince to meet the second prince." Xia Lin pointed to the south: "They were buried under the willow trees by the Qinhuai River. I originally planned to let them bury themselves, but thinking about the long journey, I was a little worried, so I did it myself. Luo Shixin, are you sure they are buried?"

"Sir, the pit is two meters deep. After it was filled with soil, a stone weighing more than 800 kilograms was placed on top. Unless they are gods, they can't climb out."

After hearing what Luo Shixin said, Xia Lin spread his hands and said, "Now there is no evidence."

Old Guo gave Xia Lin a thumbs up and said, "Decisive, that's the way it should be. You are worthy of being my son!"

Royal affairs are extremely difficult to handle, especially things like this. It is not easy to handle at this critical juncture, but if not handled, big problems will arise. Unexpectedly, Xia Lin solved the problem directly from the root.

"But you're good at killing foreign envoys. Can those Turks tolerate that?"

Hearing the prince's concerns, Xia Lin shook his finger and said, "Don't forget, I have another nickname in the Turkic world: the King of One Word and One Shoulder. The Turkic prince has to call me uncle in name. I have already explained the whole story to him. I will kill these people, and the Khan of the grassland will not say anything more."

"You are very powerful. If it were someone else, there would probably be a war."

"That's not the case. If I were to do something wrong, I would definitely go to war. The main reason is that I have explained the interests to the prince. Why do we have to kill these people? Besides, the grassland can't afford a big war right now. Don't look at the Li family making a fuss now. If a foreign tribe invades at this critical moment, do you think the Li family can defeat the Turkic royal court?"

If the Li family does not move, it will be fine. But if they move, it will cause great turmoil in the whole of Asia. Once they send troops, there will be no turning back. Xia Lin does not want the Li family to move. On the one hand, he cherishes the hard-earned peace era. On the other hand, it is a big problem for the people of the world to have enough food. He really does not want to see another war.

Therefore, it is best to maintain the status quo at this stage.

After hearing Xia Lin's idea, the two fathers fell silent. The Li family was the most powerful warlord in the world, and now everyone was happy to see trouble happening within their own family. If an outside race really intervened and temporarily calmed the conflict in their family, the two fathers would probably not be able to sleep.

Soon, everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the Second Prince, and instead kept praising the lamb meat for being delicious.

"It must be delicious. This is originally intended as a national tribute to His Majesty, so how can it not be delicious?"

Lao Guo was so breathless that he almost spit out the meat in his mouth: "You...you...you withheld the national gift? You bastard, you...oh..."

"Your Majesty, just try some. Mutton is sweet and mild in nature. Eating too much will cause diarrhea. His body can't handle it, and it will benefit the eunuchs and palace maids. It's better for us to eat it."

The prince was angry and amused when he heard his words, but he was too lazy to argue with him. Anyway, this matter was not a big deal and no one would delve into it, so he changed the subject: "How are you doing with the task assigned to you by the higher-ups?"

"We will be able to close the net tomorrow." Xia Lin smacked his lips. "Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will lead people to the Da Baoen Temple, surround the temple, drive away the pilgrims, and then start the investigation. This investigation will definitely shock the world and let everyone in the world see what these little bald donkeys do on a daily basis."

"and then?"

"Then just wait for a while, and then I'll call the roll one by one. Anyway, that's how it is, it's not too difficult."

"How are you going to explain this to the officials?" the prince asked curiously. "You should know that many of them have connections with the temple."

"Why should I wait for a while? Isn't it just to give them a chance to escape? It's my duty to chop off their heads with my knife, and it's a favor for them to burn incense and pray before I do it. It depends on whether they will accept my favor. If they do, they'll remember it. If not, don't blame me for not letting them live."

(End of this chapter)