I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

"Liu An," Zhao Bozong sat down and drew two circles on the table with his finger, "go to the Ministry of Justice first thing tomorrow morning to inquire about something."

"Your Highness, please give your orders."

"Go and find out the specific cause of death of this body. The key point is how the Criminal Investigation Department announced the cause of death."

Whether he accidentally fell into the river while drunk, was robbed and killed by bandits, or was assassinated by an enemy, it all depends on what Qin Hui says to the outside world; that's crucial.

Liu An acknowledged and withdrew.

As dawn broke, Qin Keqing was already asleep in the armchair in the study, still holding the copy of the roster in her hand.

Zhao Bozong took a thin blanket from the inner room and covered her with it very gently, but she still woke up.

"Your Highness," Qin Keqing sat up straight, stretched slightly, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Have I been a bother to you?"

"The thing you've been neglecting is not knowing when it's time to sleep, isn't it?"

Zhao Bozong smiled and pushed the thin blanket closer to her, brightened the candlelight, and reopened the relationship network diagram, adding a new mark: Gray-clad man, dead, removed from the list.

At 3:45 AM, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

A person Zhao Bozong never expected was standing in his residence.

Zhao Shiyi tied his white hair with a wooden hairpin, stood in front of the desk, and placed a roll of paper in front of Zhao Bocong.

The paper tube was sealed with oiled paper and completely sealed with wax, with the words "sealing wax" written on it.

This sealing wax is for military use; it is only used by the Privy Council and frontline troops.

Zhao Shiyi had been in charge of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs since the previous dynasty and had many dealings with the Privy Council, so it's not surprising that he kept a tube of military sealing wax. What's surprising is that he used it here.

"The contact person in Beiwa Goulan was murdered in the back alley of the Goulan at midnight today."

Zhao Shi sat down, his voice steady, revealing little emotion. "It was Qin Hui who gave the order."

He ordered the Privy Council's Secret Service to conduct a night-long crackdown on all contact points left behind by Yue Fei in Lin'an.

Shunhe Tea Shop was on the list, as was Beiwa Goulan, along with the dock porters and the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard—two of the four nails were pulled out overnight.

Zhao Bozong clenched his fist.

Qin Hui was tightening the encirclement. He was aware of the existence of the intelligence network, but he didn't know how big it was or how many nodes it had. So he chose the simplest method: a clean sweep, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free.

This is isolating him from the intelligence network. Without the outer nodes of the intelligence network, he is just a blind rat in Lin'an City, only able to be trapped and beaten in his own nest.

"The dock porters and the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard have been withdrawn."

Zhao Shi looked at him and said, "Last night at midnight, someone delivered two secret letters from the back gate of the Prince of Puan's mansion. One was sent to the dock, and the other to the Imperial Guard's garrison. They were signed by you."

Zhao Bocong paused for a moment, then suddenly looked at the luggage beside the desk.

He never gave this order from beginning to end. He didn't even know last night that the man in gray was dead, let alone that Qin Hui was going to clean up the streets.

Who is it? Who could use his name to commit such a capital offense in this mansion?

He thought of someone.

"Qin Keqing." Zhao Bozong stood up.

Zhao Shi pressed down on his shoulder and pushed him back into the chair.

"Don't worry about who handed it over yet. This saved two lives on your hands, that's one thing."

Secondly, Qin Hui doesn't know which of these two groups withdrew in advance, let alone that you dared to break camp before he could make a move.

He suspects you have other informants, but he's not sure. Judging from his refusal to publicly investigate the Prince of Puan's residence, he's currently determined not to trust you, but he's also unwilling to tarnish the image of the imperial clan that Zhao Gou has worked so hard to establish because of his suspicions.

You bought yourself a little time with this suspicion, but not much.

"With the docks and the Imperial Guards cut off, how did news of Feng Yi get in?"

"It can't be broken." Zhao Shi pointed to the piece of paper with intersecting circles and crosses on Zhao Bozong's table.

"The dock porters' line wasn't originally for relaying messages; it was for picking up Li Bao's boat."

Feng Yi's information was relayed through the vegetable vendors, who then passed it on to Manager Wang via the tofu shop's mill.

Shopkeeper Wang has left the city, but the mill and the vegetable vendors are still there.

Once you find a new receiving point, you can reconnect the wires.

Looking at him, Zhao Bozong suddenly realized that this old member of the imperial clan knew far more than he had shown.

"Prince Zhao came today not just to tell me that these two threads have broken, did he?"

Zhao Shi placed a wooden box on the table. It contained a copy of a document from the archives of the Dali Temple, which had been sealed for many years by the Grand Court of Imperial Clan Affairs.

When Zhou Sanwei was organizing the case files of Yue Fei at Dali Temple, he left a copy, which was locked in the archives of Da Zongzheng Temple. It was sealed with the cover of a scroll used for weddings and funerals of ordinary members of the imperial clan, and the seal of Da Zongzheng Temple was added on the outside.

No one but Qin Hui could find this location, and Qin Hui disdained to look through a bunch of dead people's wedding invitations.

"There will be a small banquet in the Forbidden City tonight. Zhao Gou is arranging a rehearsal for the birthday banquet of the Prince of Anding in the Huining Palace."

Your name is on the list, as is Zhao Bojiu's.

After the banquet, Qin Hui would meet with Zhao Gou alone to discuss the handling of Yue Fei's former subordinates, but in reality, he was preparing to present Zhao Gou with a secret memorial.

The secret memorial impeached members of the imperial family for colluding with Yue Fei's old faction and plotting rebellion, and the trigger for this memorial was the corpse of the gray-clad man on the moat.

Qin Hui wanted to use this corpse to frame Yue Fei's former subordinates, claiming they had infiltrated Lin'an to kill and cover up the crime, and then implicate you along the way, uprooting you completely.

After listening, Zhao Bozong remained silent for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Was my name mentioned in the secret report?"

Zhao Shi did not answer directly, but only said four words: "Whether to point it out or not, the decision is already made."

"Prince Puan, this is all I can do to help you. You'll have to figure out the rest yourself."

"Go to Zhenjiang, or stay in Lin'an and confront Qin Hui head-on. The decision is yours."

Zhao Bocong took the wooden box. The box wasn't heavy, but inside were the files that Zhou Sanwei had risked his life to obtain.

This is not just a matter of a few pages; it is irrefutable evidence that proves Qin Hui gave false testimony and framed loyal officials.

It can be detonated at any time, but not tonight; now is not the time.

"Prince Zhao, do you still have the sealing wax?"

Zhao Shi took out a bronze seal from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

The bronze seal is engraved with six seal characters: “Da Zong Zheng Si Feng Yan”, and next to it is a line of smaller characters: “Made in the first year of Shaoxing”.

"What are you going to do?"

Zhao Bozong did not answer. He spread out a blank sheet of paper, picked up a pen, and wrote.

"Your subject Zhao Bocong bows respectfully and presents the confidential files of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, including seven copies of case files from the Court of Judicial Review. These are the original files from the trial of Yue Fei in the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era, which prove that the original case was fabricated. I hereby present them to Your Majesty for review, so as to set the record straight."

He placed the letter into a blank envelope, sealed it with the sealing wax of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, and then signed his name on the envelope cover—Prince of Puan, Zhao Bocong.

"It's empty." Zhao Shi looked at the envelope.

"I know."

Zhao Bozong put the wooden box into a hidden compartment under his desk, leaving only the cover neatly placed on the table.

"Qin Hui is going to reveal his secret report to the Emperor tonight, and I'll let him know that my report is more accurate and more deadly than his."

He wanted to frame the man in gray for his death, so I used the man in gray's death to force him back.

He wouldn't dare gamble on whether it was real or fake, but once he saw the sealing wax on the envelope and my signature, he would know he wouldn't dare open it.

Because if they dismantle it and find it's empty, I'll die.

But if he doesn't dismantle it, he won't dare touch me in the slightest.