Chapter 236 I Want Him Dead

"All of them are detained and interrogated!" Xie Tingzhou said coldly.

All the people who gave gifts were taken to jail.

The interrogators were very skilled. In less than half an hour, Xifeng and Changliu got the confession and sent it over.

Xie Tingzhou had just taken a bath, and some blood splashed on his body when he cut the hand of the little mustache.

Xifeng handed over the confession and briefly explained the situation, "All of them insisted that they had no knowledge of it. The things were sealed when they were loaded, and they were only responsible for transportation. Only Chen Guang, the one whose hand was cut off by the prince, said that he secretly looked at the small box, and it did contain jewelry, a hairpin, a wooden comb, and a small wooden sword."

Shen Yu had no impression of other objects, but she was impressed by the small wooden sword. It was made by Shen Zhao to coax her when she was a child.

She had specially looked for it when she went back to the Shen Mansion to move things before, but she couldn't find it at that time, but she didn't know how it fell into Jiang Lianzhi's hands.

After Xie Tingzhou finished reading the confession, he turned his head and saw Shen Yu looking down in thought, "What's wrong?"

"I didn't give him those things." Shen Yu said, "I don't know about the hairpin and the wooden comb, but the small wooden sword is definitely mine."

Xie Tingzhou put the confession on the table, "It's not hard to guess, the things were swapped on the way."

"Why is the prince so sure?" Chang Liu was puzzled.

Xie Tingzhou glanced at him sideways, looking at him as if he were an idiot. "The journey from Shengjing to Beilin is long. If the bodies were dead, they would have rotted into skeletons by the time they reached Beilin."

Changliu suddenly realized, "Yes."

"That's right. Feng Yang has examined the bodies. They have been dead for less than two days." Xifeng gritted his teeth and said, "They must have been killed by people in our Beilin territory."

Xie Tingzhou did not move. "It's still unclear whether the person who switched the body was someone Jiang Ji hired or someone else."

"Then what should we do with those people?"

Xie Tingzhou finally raised his head. "Leave the one with the broken hand, and don't keep the rest. Let him go back to tell Jiang Ji and find someone to follow him. Don't let him die on the road. Make sure he gets back to Shengjing alive."

Changliu was confused. "But Your Majesty, that thing was switched. Jiang Ji must have been cheated."

Xie Tingzhou ignored him and told them to leave.

Of the four people in the room, Changliu was the only one who didn't understand.

Regardless of whether the corpse was sent by Jiang Ji or not, even if he sent a proper gift, sending a hairpin or a comb, which is a personal item, is like a provocation.

And Xie Tingzhou is the person who hates provocation the most.

After the people left, Xie Tingzhou leaned in the chair and looked at Shen Yu, "How did your things fall into his hands?"

Shen Yu looked at Xie Tingzhou's expression, unhappy, suppressed, wanting to get angry, but holding back.

"Do you suspect me?"

"Do I dare?" Xie Tingzhou leaned forward, supporting his elbow on the table, "How did that thing get into his hands? You have to think about it. That person is definitely not one of us."

"I thought about it." Shen Yu glanced sideways, "The things flowed out of the Shen Mansion."

"There are many people with eyes, and there are many people who can touch your things." Xie Tingzhou said.

Shen Yu looked at him, "That little wooden sword is my favorite thing, and not many people know about it."

"Has anyone chosen it?"

Shen Yu directly said a name, "Shen Yan."

Xie Tingzhou sat back again, "You forgot a more important person."

Shen Yu said, "Who is it?"

Xie Tingzhou looked at her bewitchingly, "Come closer and I'll tell you."

Shen Yu leaned closer, waiting to hear the answer.

Xie Tingzhou supported himself on the table, lowered his head and blocked her lips in her probing eyes.

Xie Tingzhou had a fire in his body, and kissed her fiercely and wildly. He didn't close his eyes, and his eyes were full of aggression.

"It's me." He panted and said to her in between kisses: "It doesn't matter who took the things. The key is that I'm angry, you have to coax him, and Jiang Ji, this person, I want him to die."

The hot breaths intertwined, Shen Yu wanted to speak, but was kissed by him and lost her words.

The table accidentally overturned when Xie Tingzhou pressed over, with a clang.

Changliu shrank his neck under the eaves and said to himself: "It's over. The prince is so angry. Will he beat the princess? No, I have to tell my grandfather and ask him to persuade her."

...

"It's so cold." The guard at the door rubbed his hands and exhaled white air.

"Yes, this weather is too strange. Why hasn't it snowed this year?"

The weather this year is wrong. It rained for days in spring and summer. Many places in the south suffered disasters and poor harvests, resulting in a sudden increase in refugees.

Now it's winter, and the weather is getting colder day by day, but there is no sign of snow.

The pool in the palace is frozen.

Changliu didn't dare to bring the little turtle out, for fear that it would freeze into ice if he wasn't careful.

The guard sent away the generals who came to discuss matters, and just as he was about to close the door, he vaguely heard a sound of horse hooves.

When he walked out of the gate and looked out, he saw a man riding a horse galloping towards him. He started shouting before he even reached the gate:

"Urgent news! Eight hundred miles in a hurry! Go and invite the prince!"

The man almost rolled off the horse's back when he reached the gate.

When he got off the horse, the horse also fell down, steaming all over and twitching on the ground.

The guard checked and confirmed the badge, and did not dare to delay, and rushed in to find someone.

The man did not even have time to drink water, and his voice was trembling, "Prince, the Western Jue people have made a comeback and raided the camp in Chihe a few days ago. The Xiao family army was defeated!"

"Say it again." Xie Tingzhou leaned over, "It's not Yanliang Pass, but Chihe?"

"That's right, Boda led his men to raid Chihe."

Xie Tingzhou's eyebrows were filled with gloom, "They didn't attack the weakly defended Yanliang Pass, but chose to gnaw on the hard bone of the Xiao family army. Why?"

Without thinking carefully, Xie Tingzhou walked out, "Follow me to the camp and tell all the generals to come."

It was dark outside, and the wind was blowing.

Xi Feng chased up and put a cloak on Xie Tingzhou.

Xie Tingzhou jumped on the horse, "Tell the princess not to wait for me, let her sleep first."

After that, one man and one eagle rode away.

Xi Feng called the guards to explain the matter, and then got on the horse and chased out.

The camp was solemn.

Han Jiwu said: "Shengjing is closer to us in the north, and it is reasonable to receive the news earlier than us. Is there any news that the court has sent troops?"

No one answered this question, indicating that no one had received the news yet.

The generals sat around, and Xie Tingzhou sat at the top, expressionless, but the candlelight made his face look grim.

"How was the casualty in Chihe?"

The messenger said: "More than 5,000 people were killed or wounded."

There were sounds of inhalation everywhere.

Five thousand casualties were not a small matter. The garrison along the border of Chihe totaled less than 50,000 people, and one tenth of them were lost in one battle.

Xie Tingzhou glanced at the messenger and then lowered his eyes.

Chihe is not a river, but a place name. To the west of Chihe is a vast desert, and inside the pass is yellow sand where no land can be grown.

There are few people inside the pass, and the Tiele tribes and Karluks of the Western Jue often harass the border.

This time, the Western Jue leader Boda personally led the troops. He used the whole army to raid a place where no food could be seized. Why?