Chapter 30: The Imperial Court is Shocked

  The sky was already very late, and the Ganlu Temple was still brightly lit. Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, and Wei Zheng sat in the Ganlu Temple with furrowed brows.

  "Your Excellency Zhangsun, it's so late and yet His Majesty has summoned us. Has something happened?" Du Ruhui asked seriously, stroking his beard.

  Chang Sun Wu Jin also furrowed his brow and shook his head, "Three seniors, to be honest with you, I am just like everyone else here, I don't know what happened either. But one thing is for sure, something big must have occurred, otherwise His Majesty wouldn't have summoned us four so late."

  Hou Xuanling and others nodded, now that no one knows what happened, they can only wait for the emperor to come and talk about it later. Before long, Li Shimin pushed the door open and walked in, sitting at his desk with a worried face. The four of them were very curious, but it was Hou Xuanling who stood up and asked with his hands clasped together: "Your Majesty, what is the reason for summoning us to the palace so late?"

  Li Shimin took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Fang Xuanling, saying with a bitter smile: "Take a look at this memorial, after you've finished reading it, you'll understand what's going on."

  After Fang Xuanling handed over the memorial, several people gathered together to take a look. After reading the memorial, Du Ruhui said angrily: "Your Majesty, the Military Equipment Bureau must have had an internal traitor, otherwise it would be impossible for Hou Ling to get so many arrow bundles. This matter must be investigated thoroughly, and more than 800 people were killed without even blinking their eyes. These beasts!"

  "Your Majesty, I think it's better to send someone to secretly investigate this matter. Since Hóu Líng was able to obtain so many materials, he must have had help from others. It's likely that people in the Military Equipment Bureau and the Ministry of Works have been bribed. If we openly investigate, with Hóu Líng's ruthlessness, he will definitely kill people to silence them beforehand, and we won't be able to find out anything." Fáng Xuánlíng thought for a moment before seriously saying.

  "What Xuanling said is not wrong, I also think so. It's really infuriating that such a ruthless and crazy organization still exists in our great Tang Dynasty! If it weren't for Fang Jun's timely intervention in solving the ghost case, we might still be unaware of the existence of this 'Hou Ling' organization!" Whenever Li Shimin thought of Hou Ling, he felt a deep hatred. They had slaughtered the entire Cow Village, sparing not even infants. Moreover, Li Shimin also felt a sense of fear - he had not expected that under his rule, there existed such an uncontrollable force, and yet the imperial court was completely unaware of it.

  "Your Majesty, Jun'er was too hasty this time. After solving the Ghost Case, he could have stopped, there was no need to rush like that. If he had been more cautious, the people of Niujiacun wouldn't have had to die." Fang Xuanling shook his head and sighed bitterly. He knew that the townspeople of Moliu would be silenced no matter what, but the villagers of Niujiacun didn't have to die at all. Fang Xuanling sighed inwardly, his son was still too young.

  "Fang Daren, I think this matter cannot be blamed on Fang Junxian. Who would have thought that the Monkey Spirit would be so ruthless? Think about it, if you were in his shoes, could you have done better? Before things happened, none of us knew how cruel and vicious the Monkey Spirit was. After killing the villagers of Ma Liu Town, it even killed the villagers of Niu Jia Village." Wei Zheng furrowed his brow and expressed his opinion. He didn't think Fang Yi had done anything wrong. The plan to flush out the snake by hitting the grass was a good one, but unfortunately, everyone knew too little about the Monkey Spirit.

  Li Shimin sighed and said, "Xuanling, Xuan Cheng is right. This matter really can't be blamed on Fang Jun. Even I didn't expect the Monkey Spirit to be so ruthless. Moreover, Fang Jun is still too young after all. It's already quite impressive that he could achieve this much. Even if it were us, we wouldn't dare guarantee that we could do better than Fang Jun. Fang Jun has made a great contribution this time. If not for him, we would still be in the dark until now."

  "Your Majesty, what's the point of this matter? Compared to the 721 lives lost in Niujiacun Village, everything else is no longer important." Fang Xuanling slightly shook his head. He understood Li Shimin's meaning, but this was not what Fang Xuanling wanted to see. It was not a good thing to draw other people's attention too early.

  "Xuan Ling, you can't say that. Merit is merit, fault is fault. Never mind, let's not talk about this now. Everything will be discussed when Fang Jun comes back!" Li Shimin currently holds a high opinion of Fang Yiai, who at such a young age already has such a good head on his shoulders. From the case of the haunted house, it can be seen that Fang Yiai did very well, only to have encountered this stubborn and difficult-to-deal-with Hóu Líng. In Li Shimin's view, taking this loss is actually a good thing, because if no one had taken this loss, everyone would still not know about Hóu Líng's behavior and conduct.

  "Your Majesty, I think it's better to send someone to investigate the Monkey Spirit as soon as possible. Judging from their style, it will take some effort to take down the organization," said Zhangsun Wuji with a bitter smile. Li Shimin waved his hand in frustration, "Assistant Zhang, what you said is too simplistic. It won't be easy to get to the bottom of the Monkey Spirit's affairs in just ten or eight years. Let's discuss and decide who should take charge of this matter."

  "Your Majesty, the person responsible for this matter cannot attract the attention of the Huiling, so their identity cannot be too prominent. Moreover, they must be clever and resourceful. Such a person is really hard to find." Du Ruhui furrowed his brow in deep thought, and others also lowered their heads to think.

  "Heh heh, Ke Ming, I actually have someone in mind." Li Shimin said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

  "Really? Your Majesty has already chosen someone, it just so happens that I also thought of someone. Why don't I speak first and see if our thoughts are the same?" Changsun Wuji said with a smile, clasping his fists together in respect.

  "Haha, exactly what I was thinking, go ahead and say it!"

  "Your Majesty, I, your humble subject, am thinking of Fang Jun's lingering affection!"

  Li Shimin heard Zhangsun Wuji's answer and burst out laughing: "He who knows me, assists me!"

  Household slave Xuan Ling was somewhat flustered, and hastily knelt on the ground saying: "Your Majesty, please retract your decree, Jun Er is too young, it's hard for him to bear such a heavy responsibility!"

  "Xuanling, why be so flustered? Get up, I didn't say that Fang Jun must take responsibility for this matter. Let's wait until Fang Jun returns before discussing it further!" Li Shimin smiled and helped Fang Xuanling to his feet. The emperor and his ministers conferred for a while longer before dispersing. After leaving the Taiji Palace, Du Ruhui rode his horse alongside Fang Xuanling and said: "Xuanling, send someone to inform Junxian nephew to be careful. Changsun Wuji is trying to play a trick of 'killing with praise'. If Junxian nephew can't find anything when he investigates, Changsun Wuji will likely take advantage of the situation."

  "Ke Ming, it seems you've also thought of this point. I'm thinking the same way too, but unfortunately, His Majesty seems to have already made up his mind." Fang Xuanling was all too familiar with Li Shimin's character - once he decided on something, he wouldn't easily change his mind again. Du Ruhui was also very worried and rubbed his horse's mane, sighing: "Xuanling, let's wait for Junxian to come back before we say anything else. I believe Junxian has his own plans. What I'm worried about now is whether Changsun Wuji will have any evil intentions if he finds out about Junxian's whereabouts."

  "Ah, don't worry about Ke Ming on this point. When Jun Er left Chang'an, Uncle Bao Xian gave him the twelve guards who were by his side. With Qin Hu and the others there, Jun Er's safety shouldn't be a problem." Fang Xuanling wasn't too worried about Fang Yi Ai's safety because he had twelve guards with him. What he was worried about now was that His Majesty would play a trick and issue an imperial edict. If Fang Yi Ai really accepted the edict, then even if Fang Xuanling were more capable, there would be nothing he could do."

  After the departure of Zhangsun Wuji and others, Li Shimin also went to the Baifu Hall with a gloomy face. Seeing the ruddy complexion of Empress Zhangsun, Li Shimin said with joy: "Guanyin bi, your complexion is getting better and better, it seems that Fang Jun's kid really has some skills."

  "Heh heh, right, Your Majesty, where has Jun'er gone these few days? I heard from Xiao Chui that he hasn't been to the Imperial Academy for many days." Empress Changsun put down her brush and asked with a smile. Li Shimin shook his head and said, "That kid said it was too hard to practice, needed to go out and have some fun. And then he led a group of people to open up Chang'an, I heard they're going to Emei Mountain!"

  "It's good to have some fun, practicing every day isn't good either. By the way, Your Majesty, did you find that girl named Lier I told you to look for?" Empress Changsun suddenly remembered the girl named Lier and asked with a frown.

  Li Shimin was speechless, he couldn't understand why his empress was so concerned about Fang Yiai, after all, he wasn't even her own child. He reluctantly said, "Don't mention it, the whole city of Chang'an already knows that Fang Jun is looking for a girl named Lier again, who knows what's going on? None of the ministers have a daughter named Lier. This matter is really strange, shouldn't these two people be in love and from matching families, how did this strange thing happen?"

  "Hehe, Your Majesty doesn't have to worry too much about it either. Let's wait and see in two years, I quite like Fang Jun anyway." The Empress Changsun said with a smile.

  "Guanyin, I know what you mean, the problem is that we don't have a daughter to marry Fang Jun, so just give up on this idea. If you want to, you can send Xiaochi to Fang Jun instead." Li Shimin said with a bad tone, he didn't understand when did Fang Yilove become so popular, in Li Shimin's eyes, Fang Yilove was only good at flattering and nothing else.

  "Your Majesty, what nonsense are you talking about? Little Shizi is still young, and Jun'er is already fourteen years old. Are you going to let Jun'er wait six more years to get married? Even if Jun'er agrees, Housemaster Fang will not agree with it. You know he doesn't even have a grandson yet." Empress Zhangsun scolded Li Shimin with a slap on the back of his hand.

  "What's the big deal, waiting for six years is just waiting for six years. Being able to marry my daughter Li Shimin is his good fortune. By the way, what's going on with Changle lately? I think she seems to have something on her mind, always looking gloomy!" Li Shimin asked with a furrowed brow. If you had to say which of his children Li Shimin loved the most, it would be Princess Changle, Li Lijun. You could say he spoiled her so much that he was afraid of dropping her if he held her in his hands, and afraid of melting her if he held her in his mouth. Even though Changle had been married for two years, Li Shimin still often invited her to live in the palace, showing just how much he doted on this daughter.

  The Empress Longsun stroked her hair and smiled lightly, "Who knows? Daughters always have their own thoughts, I asked also white ask. However, Your Majesty, we often bring Changle closer to the palace to live, will Chonger have an opinion?" After all, Longsun Chong was still her nephew, she would not be like Li Shimin and do something reckless.

  "Changsun Chong, does he have an opinion? If he has an opinion, let him come find me and that's it. I'm not someone who doesn't listen to reason! Besides, even if Chang Le didn't come to the imperial palace, she would still be living in the princess's residence, so for him, isn't it all the same?" Li Shimin said this very lightly, but Empress Changsun couldn't help but smile bitterly. She was too familiar with her own big nephew - put nicely, he was refined, but put bluntly, he lacked masculinity.

  The Chang Le Gong Zhu Fu was still lit up at night, and in the quiet of the night, there were always people who couldn't fall asleep!