The prince is more stable

Chapter 342 Late Night Assassination
Zhao Ji could never have imagined that he, who had hidden himself so perfectly, would inadvertently reveal his true identity due to a very accidental coincidence.

Who could have thought that a call from an unknown eunuch in Yeonbok Palace last night would completely shatter his disguise of all these years.

A network that had been painstakingly built for many years was broken without any warning.

Overnight, Zhao Ji was pulled out of the pitch-black darkness and stood naked in the light.

Zhao Ji was completely unaware of all this.

The next morning, Zhao Ji followed his schedule and first went to the palace to pay his respects to Empress Dowager Xiang. His just-right flattery and a gift that the Empress Dowager liked made her smile from ear to ear, and Zhao Ji also gained a lot.

The Queen Mother likes +1, +1, +1...

After returning to the Prince's Mansion for lunch at noon, Zhao Ji took a nap. In the afternoon, he got on a carriage and went to Yujing Garden outside the city.

Yujing Garden is a royal garden, but it is also open to ordinary people, literati and merchants. As a result, a small market naturally formed outside Yujing Garden, where merchants sold antiques, calligraphy and paintings, as well as rare stones shipped from all over the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Ji was a frequent visitor here. Almost everyone knew him, and he was considered a VIP customer. Because Zhao Ji spent a lot of money on purchasing calligraphy, paintings and rare stones, he was regarded by merchants as a living Bodhisattva who saved people from suffering and poverty.

Today, Zhao Ji, as usual, was accompanied by a few royal followers, dressed like a wealthy young man, and strolled leisurely in the market outside Yujing Garden.

But for some reason, Zhao Ji felt uneasy today.

He always felt an inexplicable pressure on his back. He turned around suddenly several times, but saw people coming and going in the market and didn't find anything.

Zhao Ji stood in the crowd at the market, his expression dazed for a moment, then he shook his head vigorously.

It was all an illusion. He might have been too nervous recently. Concubine Liu in the harem was pregnant with the emperor's seed. He had to re-plan many things, and it was inevitable that he would have consumed his mental and electrical energy in the past two days.

If Concubine Liu gave birth to a princess, then everything would be easy. But if Concubine Liu gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, the situation would be complicated. There were already many spies planted in the palace, but it was not enough.

It is impossible for this eldest son to live to adulthood.

As Zhao Ji walked in the market, he was thinking in his mind that the merchants in the market today were a little disappointed. Zhao Ji, a big customer, seemed to be in poor condition. He just glanced at the calligraphy and paintings, antiques and rare stones on the stalls and rarely stopped to look.

After strolling around for an entire afternoon, Zhao Ji left empty-handed without spending a penny.

In the evening, Zhao Ji invited several students from the Imperial College to have a drink in a brothel.

The status of the students in the Imperial College was not ordinary, most of them were elites among the children of the powerful.

The children of the powerful and wealthy in the Song Dynasty were not necessarily all playboys. Some of them came from honest and rigorous families and were particularly strict in educating their children. Children from such families were usually able to continue the family's wealth.

Those who are gathering with Zhao Ji today are such elites.

Zhao Ji skillfully put on his disguise again, acting like a scholar who only cared about love and romance, poetry and prose, never mentioned political affairs, and had a pleasant conversation with a group of students from the Imperial College.

Zhao Ji's identity and his approachable personality made people feel good about him, and tonight Zhao Ji naturally made several good friends.

These good friends are just students of the Imperial College now, but maybe next year or later, they will be members of the imperial court. In time, who says they can't become prime ministers, hold great power, or serve as provincial governors?
Smart people don't just focus on the present. A truly smart person will even lay a solid foundation of personal connections many years in advance, especially when others are still penniless. This is a precious friendship that comes in handy in times of need and is hard to come by in a lifetime.

Both the host and the guests had a great time at the banquet, and the women in the brothel were extremely coquettish, using all means to please Zhao Ji and a group of young Tai students.

The banquet lasted until late at night and finally ended. Zhao Ji stood at the door of the brothel, said goodbye to the drunken students with a smile, and watched them leave.

The moment the carriage disappeared at the end of the street, the smile on Zhao Ji's face suddenly stopped and his expression became indifferent and cold.

The carriage of the Prince's Mansion was parked quietly outside the brothel, with more than twenty imperial guards standing around the carriage.

A breeze blew in the middle of the night, and Zhao Ji, who had drunk a lot of wine, felt dazed again. He stood there with his eyes closed and did not move.

After a long time, Zhao Ji opened his eyes and ordered, "Return to the Prince's Mansion."

After getting on the carriage, Zhao Ji sat cross-legged in the compartment. The carriage swayed slowly towards the Prince's Mansion. In the quiet streets of Bianjing late at night, only the sound of horse hooves echoed.

In the silence, Zhao Ji in the carriage suddenly opened his eyes.

That uneasy feeling came back.

Lifting the curtain, Zhao Ji asked the commander of the imperial guards guarding the carriage, "Where are we?" The commander hurriedly replied, "We've left East Street and are heading towards Daxiangguo Temple. We still need to walk a few miles along Imperial Street to reach the Prince's Mansion."

Zhao Ji looked at the dark and deserted street outside the carriage and asked uneasily, "Did you find anything unusual?"

The commander was stunned, and subconsciously looked around. He said, "Nothing unusual. Your Highness means..."

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "Nothing, you guys keep going."

East Street is a street along the Bian River. Turning the corner is the Daxiangguo Temple next to the Imperial Street.

Just as the carriage and more than twenty imperial guards were about to turn, something strange happened.

At the corner of Imperial Street and East Street, a hand-pulled cart loaded with straw and hay was quietly parked in the middle of the road. As soon as Zhao Ji's carriage turned the corner, the hay hay on the cart was suddenly lifted up, and then the attic window upstairs of the corner shop was also opened.

More than ten sharp arrows were shot out in an instant, all targeting the carriage Zhao Ji was riding in.

Zhao Ji was already feeling uneasy, and his heart was torn apart when he heard the noise outside the carriage. At the same time as more than ten sharp arrows were shot out, Zhao Ji also climbed out from the small window at the rear of the carriage.

The moment he crawled out, the place where he had been sitting cross-legged was already filled with arrows.

In just a moment, Zhao Ji escaped.

At this time, the guards of the Prince's Mansion also reacted, and the commander shouted: "There is an assassin! Protect His Highness!"

At this time, Zhao Ji's face was pale, and he was lying on the ground behind the carriage, trying hard to shrink his body into the dark shadow.

In front of the carriage, the commander of the Prince's Mansion had led the imperial guards and charged forward with swords drawn.

Just as they met the trailer loaded with hay, another round of arrows came towards them.

The imperial guards retreated in a hurry. In the chaos, Zhao Ji, who was lying on the ground, suddenly groaned and cold sweat poured down his forehead.

Zhao Ji was hit by an arrow in the thigh, but he didn't even dare to make a sound for fear of exposing himself.

At this time, Zhao Ji was shocked and angry. It was obvious that the assassination tonight was aimed at him, and it was obvious that it had been planned in advance. They had waited here specifically and had prepared cold arrows, just to kill him with one blow.

He was lucky enough to have pulled one foot back from the brink of death.

Otherwise, if it were someone else, he would not have been able to dodge the first round of arrow rain, and the carriage he was riding in would have been shot like a hedgehog.

At this moment, a familiar scene inexplicably came to Zhao Ji's mind.

It was his arrangement that Zhao Xiaoqian was stabbed in the dark alley. He was also shot with a bow and arrow. Zhao Xiaoqian was lucky enough to escape at that time.

Tonight, at this moment, is just like that moment.

So, was it Zhao Xiaoqian? He discovered himself? He wanted to return the favor in kind?
Compared to the fear of death, Zhao Ji was more concerned about this question.

Because he thought he had hidden it perfectly. Several things happened before and after, but no trace was left.

How could Zhao Xiaoqian discover himself?
At this time, in front of the carriage, nearly half of the more than 20 imperial guards of the Prince's Mansion had been hit by arrows. The commander raised his sword, turned his head, stared and shouted.

"Hurry up and take His Highness out! Quick!"

The remaining imperial guards found Zhao Ji behind the carriage, and without saying a word, they carried him up and rushed towards East Street.

Behind the imperial guards, rounds of arrows continued to shoot out, and several imperial guards were shot in the back and fell to the ground while fleeing.

Zhao Ji was carried on the shoulders of the imperial guards. His internal organs were shaken so hard that he almost vomited them, and the arrow in his thigh was causing him more and more pain.

Seeing that they were about to break out of the encirclement, Zhao Ji gritted his teeth and said, "This is a dead end. We can't go through East Street. Change the road and go into the alley!"

The commander nodded in agreement, and Zhao Ji continued, "Send one man through the alley to the Imperial Street and shout for help to attract the patrolling imperial guards."

Zhao Ji's face turned even paler as he finished speaking. He gritted his teeth and said, "After we get into the alley, find a clean piece of cloth to stop the bleeding and bandage it. I'm almost dead!"

(End of this chapter)