NOVEL NEXT chapter 13
Chapter 13: Inference of the Mastermind
Qin Siyue pulled Ling Yan away to change clothes.
And Qin Ji fell into deep thought.
Although he was unwilling to believe it, Ling Yan’s words this time indeed pointed out a problem: as the Duke An, he might really be facing a life-threatening situation now.
Yes, he held the reins of the government and had military power in his hands, but he couldn’t possibly station thousands of soldiers around him every day to protect himself. If he passively waited for the enemy to strike, he would eventually die. After all, even if he could evade hundreds of assassination attempts, it would only take one successful attempt by the enemy to end his life.
The most urgent task was to identify who had hired these assassins.
Clearly, this was a group of death warriors. At least in this regard, it was enough to prove the immense power behind those who orchestrated this attack. In Daxia, death warriors had been used since ancient times. However, the cost of training a group of death warriors was extremely high.
Although the people of Daxia were not like those Westerners, who had so-called “freedom” ingrained in their character and didn’t believe they could do whatever they wanted after seeking forgiveness from God, the people of Daxia were not fools either. Without sufficient benefits or personal charisma, who would risk their lives for you? Especially in this era, where the Emperor’s power had been greatly strengthened, raising death warriors had become even more difficult—many times, if the Emperor wanted you dead, having thousands of death warriors wouldn’t help.
Only someone like him, with command over 300,000 troops, had the confidence to do so.
The most common method of training death warriors was to find newborn children. This method was relatively easier, as it involved finding children who were either orphans or had never really seen their parents, taking them under one’s wing, and educating and training them while they were still ignorant, ultimately twisting their worldview and character.
In other words, instilling a deeply rooted ideology from a young age and maintaining strict control over them, forbidding them from going out on their own to avoid exposure to things that might influence their thoughts.
After ten or twenty years, a completely loyal death warrior who would do whatever they were told would be formed.
The cost of such training was exceptionally high, but the advantage was that it was very safe. Death warriors trained from a young age were rarely disloyal, unlike those who were recruited as adults or when they were already aware. No matter how much money you spent to win them over, they would ultimately betray you if someone else offered more.
This time, according to Lingyan, there were quite a few of these death warriors.
This basically ruled out the possibility that they were hired by someone like a county governor—most county governors didn’t have the financial resources to raise death warriors, and many county governors were selected through examinations, with most serving for just over ten years, making it difficult to train a large group of death warriors.
It was even less likely to be central government officials. These officials were almost all under the Emperor’s control, and some were even tacitly allowed by the Emperor to have a small number of private soldiers—not fully armed, of course. But private soldiers and death warriors were completely different. Almost every central government official was constantly monitored by the Emperor. Who would dare to raise death warriors under the Emperor’s nose? If discovered, they would lose their heads.
Therefore, Qin Ji could only conclude that these death warriors were likely raised by the nobles.
Most of them were from powerful families, some even had royal blood, with long and deep-rooted family histories, fully capable of raising death warriors and having enough time to train them.
Moreover, Qin Ji roughly analyzed that the most likely people to target him were indeed the nobles. Although Qin Ji was considered a “treacherous minister” and “powerful minister,” both the previous Duke of Anguo and the current Duke of Anguo had been implementing policies that were beneficial to the state of Xia, which had genuinely affected the interests of the old nobles.
Additionally, many of them had grievances against the current Emperor but didn’t dare to openly oppose Xia Yuxiao, leaving them with only one option—to eliminate the Duke of Anguo first.
After all, in their eyes, if the Duke of Anguo died, Xia Yuxiao wouldn’t be able to control the court officials.
As for who exactly was behind it, he might need to discuss it with the Emperor.
Yes, Qin Ji didn’t intend to keep this matter to himself.
He planned to tell the Emperor about it directly tomorrow. After all, this was a rare opportunity to show his loyalty—look, I risked my life to assist you, Your Majesty, surely you will trust me this time?
At that moment, Lingyan walked in after changing her clothes.
This time, she was wearing very ordinary home clothes, loose yet clean, with a slightly exposed collarbone that made one’s mouth dry. However, Lingyan didn’t seem to mind this; she simply sat in front of Qin Ji.
“What do you plan to do next?”
“I think sometimes, you should take on some dirty work.”
Qin Ji said helplessly.
If possible, he hoped Lingyan could just be his bodyguard and not have to do those bloody tasks all the time. But the problem was, at this point, the only person he could trust and who was capable was Lingyan.
“Who do you want me to kill?” Lingyan asked seriously.
“Not decided yet, but there will be an answer soon.” Qin Ji poured Lingyan a steaming cup of tea. “Here, try this. It’s tea I got from the Emperor, a tribute.”
“……”
Lingyan thought for a moment. Although she and Qin Ji were indeed very close, and Qin Ji often shared many valuable things with her, but…
Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to give away the tea bestowed by His Majesty to others?
After all, in her impression, many of the things personally bestowed by His Majesty were meant to be kept at home and properly revered.
“Have a taste, no one else will see,” Qin Ji said, “At worst, I’ll just ask His Majesty for more later.”
Oh no.
Ling Yan easily caught the fragrance of the tea, then looked down at the tea leaves in the pot and immediately dared not drink it.
To avoid Qin Ji being poisoned, Ling Yan had tasted various teas from all over the country during the summer (so that if there was any unusual taste in the tea, she could immediately identify it). Among them, Liangchun Mountain Tea was one of the best. This tea had a small production, and the truly high-quality ones were directly sent to the palace, which she had never tasted before.
According to the tea farmers, only about a dozen boxes were sent to the palace each year.
Considering that Qin Ji said this was imperial tribute… she better not drink it. Her young master obviously didn’t know how precious this stuff was. If she drank it all, and he foolishly went to ask His Majesty for more…
That would be a big offense.