Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 38 Rumors in the Capital

Early in the morning, the army of Beijun sealed off Yancheng.

On the streets, soldiers were coming and going on almost every street.

Seeing this, the people were so frightened that they ran back into their homes.

At the same time, a group of soldiers surrounded the entrance to the prefectural governor's mansion.

Before Li Rui even got out of bed, he heard his wife rush into the room in a panic, shouting, "Master, something terrible has happened!"

Upon hearing his wife's voice, Li Rui got out of bed and asked groggily, "Madam, what happened?"

Madam Li quickly said, "A group of soldiers have arrived at the gate, saying they want to search the prefect's residence."

Upon hearing this, Li Rui's eyes widened suddenly, and he instantly snapped back to reality.

He immediately jumped out of bed. "What's going on? Why are soldiers searching the prefectural governor's mansion?"

Madam Li said, "I don't know what's happening either, sir! Please go and see! They're trying to break in!"

Li Rui hurried toward the gate of the prefectural governor's mansion, without even having time to put on his clothes.

At this moment, Li Rui was extremely uneasy, wondering if the Northern King was going to take action against him, the prefect.

But then he thought again, he had already handed over his military power and was working diligently for the Northern King, so the Northern King wouldn't dare to lay a hand on him, would he?

He's now considered one of the Northern King's men; what kind of vassal king would lay a hand on his own people?

If he were to lose his position as prefect, it would likely be even more difficult for the Northern King to control the various factions in the Northern Prefecture.

Soon, Li Rui appeared at the entrance of the prefectural governor's mansion.

Seeing that the squad leader who brought the soldiers was someone he knew, Li Rui breathed a slight sigh of relief and asked, "Lieutenant Wu, what are you doing?"

Wu Hong said with a smile, "Lord Li, please forgive me. Last night, the Prince was assassinated by assassins from the Blood Moon Tower. It is said that several assassins escaped. The Prince ordered us to search the entire city and not let anyone's residence go unchecked."

Upon hearing this, Li Rui's expression changed, and he quickly asked, "Is Your Highness alright?"

Wu Hong said, "Don't worry, Lord Li. Thanks to that mysterious master from the Prince's mansion, the Prince was only frightened and is fine."

Hearing this, Li Rui breathed a slight sigh of relief. If the Northern King were killed, he, as the prefect, might also be implicated.

Li Rui then said, "Alright, you can search then."

Wu Hong cupped his hands and said, "Then I'll take my leave."

Wu Hong then led his soldiers into the prefectural governor's mansion, conducted a brief search, and then led them to the next mansion.

Soon, news of the assassination of the Northern King spread throughout Yancheng.

Almost everyone in Yancheng knew about the Blood Moon Tower's attempt to assassinate the Northern King, which was thwarted by the mysterious master of the Northern King's mansion.

Although the Northern King was a useless prince, he was still a prince, and the assassination of a prince was a major event.

The news quickly reached the capital.

……

The Eighth Prince's Residence.

Upon seeing Wang Qingci's message sent by carrier pigeon, Lu Shuyun flew into a rage. He raised his arm and swept everything on the cutting board to the ground, then overturned the table in front of him.

Immediately afterwards, a clanging and banging sound rang out from the study, as Lu Shuyun smashed everything he could in the study.

"Useless! Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

"Six Rank 9 cultivators and one half-step Grandmaster, and they couldn't even kill a piece of trash!"

"What use are you all!"

Upon hearing Lu Shuyun's voice, the maids in the room stood trembling to the side, not daring to utter a sound.

Lu Shuyun simply couldn't believe that this operation had failed.

Even if that mysterious grandmaster is still in the Northern King's Mansion, with the half-step grandmaster from the Blood Moon Pavilion there, they can at least hold him off for a while, thus creating an opportunity for other ninth-rank martial artists to unleash their killing intent.

Blood Moon Tower actually failed!

Not only did the Blood Moon Tower fail, but almost all the people sent by the Misty Rain Pavilion also died. Only Wang Qingci escaped, and he was said to be seriously injured and could only hide in Yancheng to eke out a living.

Lu Shuyun felt like her lungs were about to explode with anger.

He had always thought that getting rid of Lu Chen, this good-for-nothing, would be an easy task, but he failed twice in a row.

With these two failures, it will probably not be so easy for them to take action against the Northern Prince's Mansion again in the future.

Other factions aren't stupid. Even Blood Moon Tower, which specializes in assassinations, failed. Other assassin organizations are unlikely to take on his missions.

Just as Lu Shuyun was smashing things to vent her dissatisfaction, a servant rushed in.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! A truly terrible thing has occurred!"

Lu Shuyun was already furious. Hearing the servant's loud commotion, he became even angrier and kicked the servant against the wall.

Fortunately, he wasn't very strong and didn't kick the servant to death. The servant coughed up blood and quickly got up, saying, "Your Highness, the whole capital is saying that you sent assassins from the Blood Moon Pavilion to assassinate the Northern Prince, so that the Jiangnan aristocratic families would only be able to support you in the struggle for the throne."

Upon hearing this, Lu Shuyun was stunned and stood frozen in place.

He quickly realized what was happening, his face instantly darkening. "My good brothers really don't miss any opportunity!"

In political matters, you can do it but not talk about it, and you can talk about it but not do it.

Although fratricide was relatively common in royal families, it was a taboo subject in any dynasty.

People certainly knew that the Eighth Prince was the one who most wanted to get rid of the Ninth Prince. Their maternal families both came from prominent families in Jiangnan, and such families would only support one prince in the struggle for the throne.

However, this kind of thing is something that should only be known to the public and should never be spread around. If it were to spread, it would be a scandal of royal brothers killing each other.

Since such matters are taboo for the royal family, why are there rumors in the capital that he sent someone to assassinate the Ninth Prince?

Clearly, it was someone else, another prince, who was pushing him behind the scenes with the aim of disqualifying him from competing for the position of crown prince.

Lu Shuyun had just been thinking about how to get rid of Lu Chen, but after hearing the rumors in the capital, he couldn't bring himself to do anything to Lu Chen.

This is a political situation where one can say one thing but not do another. Since there are already rumors, if he still sends someone to assassinate Lu Chen, and Lu Chen dies, it would basically confirm that he did it.

Even if he didn't kill Lu Chen, the ministers in the court who support the other princes will say that he did it, and the people will also think that he killed the Ninth Prince.

When that time comes, he will completely lose his qualification to compete for the position of crown prince.

Lu Shuyun clenched her fists, feeling extremely unwilling. Was she really going to let that good-for-nothing go like this?

He was primarily motivated by his own political goals in the first and second assassination attempts, but by this time Lu Shuyun was so enraged that he no longer considered the political implications; he now only wanted to eliminate Lu Chen.

Of course, this was just a momentary personal emotion, and Lu Shuyun quickly calmed down.

In any case, Lu Chen cannot be touched for the next period of time.

At this moment, Lu Shuyun turned to look at the bookshelves in the study and said, "Immediately send a message to Wang Qingci, telling her to continue to lie low in Beijun after she recovers from her injuries, and not to take any action for the time being."

As soon as Lu Shuyun finished speaking, a dark figure climbed out of the window and left the study.

(End of this chapter)