The First Lackey Under The Empress

Zhao Du'an's heart sank abruptly, thinking, could it really be that coincidental?

He first glanced at the "God of War" beside him, who was munching on a sweet potato, before lowering his face and asking, "What's going on?"

Hou Renmeng had rushed back all the way, and at this moment, he also noticed the Grand Councilor beside him, hesitant to speak.

"Speak," Zhao Du'an said calmly.

Hou Renmeng nodded, took out a letter, held it up with both hands, and handed it over, while explaining:

"This morning when we mustered at the hall, we found three people missing. At first, we didn't pay much attention, thinking they were just late, but later, someone sent this letter, saying they wanted you to come and get them."

Zhao Du'an took the letter. There were only a few words on the paper, no content, just an address, and the signature:

Xu Zudi.

Speak of the devil... Zhao Du'an squeezed the letter expressionlessly, turned his head to exhale at Xue Shence, and said with a wry smile:

"Lord Xue, your reminder was really timely."

Xue Shence swallowed the last piece of sweet potato and asked, "Xu Zudi?"

"Yes, it seems my men have been detained by this Prince, and he wants me to redeem them," Zhao Du'an sighed, and proactively handed the letter over.

Xue Shence took it, glanced at it, and frowned, seemingly not expecting the other party's revenge to come so quickly.

His reminder to Zhao Du'an was only a return for helping him deliver the message.

But the timing was so coincidental, it immediately made his "reminder" a bit awkward.

"Lord Xue, it seems I will have to excuse myself from the banquet later."

Zhao Du'an cupped his hands. Since his men had been detained, he had to go and deal with it immediately.

Xue Shence pondered slightly, then suddenly said:

"The time is still early anyway, this official will accompany you on this trip. After all, he is the Prince of Heng, causing too much stiffness will not be good for you."

Now it was Zhao Du'an's turn to be surprised. This was such obvious muddy water, yet this top military official was taking the initiative to get involved?

Xue Shence seemed to see what he was thinking and smiled indifferently:

"I can't eat your sweet potato for nothing. The Pear Blossom Hall is also under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Guards, so they are also my subordinates. It's understandable for a general to go and bail out his soldiers, no matter where you put it."

Returning a favor?

Or using this opportunity to actively confront the Prince of Heng, in order to show his position to the Empress and repair the distrust caused by the mole in the Grand Council?

Zhao Du'an's thoughts were in a jumble for a moment, unsure of Xue Shence's intentions.

But no matter how he thought about it, it wasn't a bad thing. If Xue Shence wanted to accompany him, then a large group of generals behind him would inevitably follow.

Having the entire military meritocracy group as his backing to suppress a Prince who hadn't yet inherited his title was truly using a cannon to kill a mosquito... Zhao Du'an smiled, didn't refuse, pondered for a moment, and said:

"Your Excellency is kind, I won't decline, but after all, this is a private matter, please allow me to first meet with that Xu Zudi. Your Excellency can hold the fort in the rear, how about it?"

Xue Shence nodded with a smile.

Zhao Du'an immediately spurred his horse, taking Hou Renmeng, and rushed towards the distant city gate.

Xue Shence fell behind, waited a moment, and then a large group of military officers followed.

Shi Meng asked curiously, "Grand Councilor, Zhao Qian'shi, this is..."

Xue Shence glanced at the generals and said lightly:

"No need to ask more, just follow this official on this trip. Join in the fun."

......

......

Ahead.

After running for a distance, Zhao Du'an slowed down his horse and looked at Hou Renmeng with a solemn expression, saying, "What exactly happened?"

Through observing his expression, he had long seen that Lao Hou hadn't been completely open, and his words were somewhat reserved.

Hou Renmeng also pulled on the reins, got closer, and reported:

"When that person came to deliver the message, he said the reason for detaining the people."

Then, he described the situation:

The detained people were three ordinary Jinyi guards from the Pear Blossom Hall, the kind whose names Zhao Du'an couldn't remember.

According to the other party's statement, last night after these three people finished their shift, they went to Yanzhi Alley to drink. During the meal, they took a fancy to a beautiful courtesan at the next table and demanded that she come over to accompany them. The guests at the next table naturally refused, and the two sides quarreled.

After that, the three Jinyi guards, taking advantage of their drunkenness, directly rushed over and beat the person severely, and the other party was injured and ran away.

The three guards didn't care and continued to stay and drink, but they didn't expect the other party to call people over, and directly captured them all and took them away.

"The other party said that the beaten drinker was a relative of the驸马(Imperial Son-in-Law) Li Shuping. After he was beaten, he went to the 驸马府, and the Prince of Heng, who was there, found out and sent his followers to arrest them," Hou Renmeng explained.

Zhao Du'an listened expressionlessly, rubbed his brow, and said calmly:

"Do you think the other party deliberately set a trap, or is it a coincidence?"

Hou Renmeng thought for a while and said honestly:

"It's hard to say, things are indeed a bit coincidental. But this kind of mess is indeed something those three guys could do."

The implication:

With the general quality of the Jinyi guards, it wouldn't be surprising if they really did something like relying on force to cause trouble...

After a pause, he added:

"Provided that the other party's statement is true, not fabricated."

Zhao Du'an didn't say anything.

In fact, whether this matter was true or false didn't matter. What mattered was that the other party had seized this pretext, and the goal was still to target him.

After all, the imperial Jinyi were never good people, and if you wanted to find flaws, you could grab a handful.

"Forget it, we'll talk about this matter later. Let's first meet with this Prince."

Zhao Du'an sneered, "It's enough for the two of us to go, lest the other halls laugh at us."

"Yes."

Hou Renmeng was a little ashamed. He was too embarrassed to say that the three people who were arrested were his subordinates.

......

The location on the envelope was a large house with white walls and black tiles in the city.

It was also where Xu Zudi and his party stayed after entering the city.

When Zhao Du'an arrived at the entrance of the house, he found two soldiers wearing soft armor guarding the door.

According to the laws and regulations of the Great Yu, every prince could raise a prescribed number of private soldiers. Xu Zudi also brought some men with him on this trip to the capital.

"Halt, who goes there!"

Two private soldiers from Qingzhou, holding the hilts of their swords, stepped forward to intercept him.

Zhao Du'an dismounted and said indifferently:

"Zhao Du'an, a Jisi from the Pear Blossom Hall, requests an audience with the Prince."

One of the private soldiers looked him up and down with a strange expression, on the one hand, surprised by the age and appearance of the visitor.

On the other hand, Zhao Du'an had rushed over all the way, still wearing the light armor of a military officer, plus his delicate and tender appearance, at first glance, he looked like a gilded young general in the army, and it was difficult to associate him with the head of an agency like Zhaoya.

"Show your waist tag to verify your identity," the private soldier said coldly.

Zhao Du'an was stunned for a moment and frowned.

Was it deliberate? To embarrass himself? Or was it just a foreigner who didn't recognize his face at all?

"Little bastard, how dare you shout at my lord? Verify your identity? Are you even worthy?"

Hou Renmeng was furious. He had been holding back a stomach full of fire, and he was about to explode.

"Lao Hou!" Zhao Du'an raised his hand, stopped his subordinate, his expression still indifferent, and even with a kind smile on the corner of his mouth, he said to the guard who had turned cold:

"This official came in a hurry and did not bring the Jisi waist tag. Please inform him, your Prince should know."

The two soldiers were already showing anger, perhaps used to being tyrannical in Qingzhou, and self-consciously relying on the royal Prince, they sneered with a sullen face:

"Without a waist tag, you are just idlers. Do you really think His Highness has the leisure to be disturbed by just anyone who comes to visit? Want to enter? Go back and get your waist tag first."

The condescending tone made Zhao Du'an feel a little dazed.

Since he made a name for himself in the capital, how long has it been since someone dared to speak to him in this tone in this area?

That's right, this is the treatment of a transmigrator. He should be shown a stinky face and mocked wherever he goes.

The taste is right.

Thoughts flashed, and Zhao Du'an said seriously:

"Just now my subordinate was quick to speak and was very rude. How about I apologize for him? Please trouble the two of you to inform him, so as not to delay the business."

The two soldiers stood like door gods, one on the left and one on the right, too lazy to pay attention to him at all.

The humble and polite smile on Zhao Du'an's face finally slowly faded.

He had been courteous, so he couldn't blame himself.

He calmly glanced at Hou Renmeng next to him and said:

"What are you still standing there for? Do I have to personally demonstrate how to open the door for you?"

Hou Renmeng was stunned for a moment, then a ferocious smile appeared on his face. With a clang, he drew out his long knife, and a majestic aura had already wrapped the blade, slashing at the two stunned private soldiers who didn't expect anyone to dare to attack!

"Get out if you don't want to die!"

The tightly closed courtyard door was blasted open by the sword energy, and the two armored soldiers also fell in with screams, stained with blood.

They stared at the door in disbelief.

Zhao Du'an stepped over the threshold, didn't look at them, and went straight around the screen wall, heading towards the depths of the courtyard.

Entering the middle courtyard, he vaguely heard the sound of silk and bamboo instruments in front, and many servants in the house also came out after hearing the sound.

Among them, there were several private soldiers, but they looked at Zhao Du'an, who was carrying his hands on his back and strolling leisurely, with suspicion and uncertainty.

Seeing Hou Renmeng behind him with a blood-stained knife, they all panicked and avoided his gaze.

"Zhao Du'an pays a visit, where is Prince Xu?!"

Zhao Du'an announced his identity loudly, and the Wangfu guards, who were ready to move around, suddenly stopped.

The playing sound in the front house also stopped abruptly.

Zhao Du'an, without waiting for anyone to answer, led Hou Renmeng, surrounded by the crowd, and stepped straight into the back hall.

The door was open, and there were clusters of bright chrysanthemums under the porch.

Zhao Du'an lifted a hanging curtain and saw the scene inside the house.

Inside the spacious room, the floor was so shiny that it could reflect people. In the center of the room, there were dancers wearing skirts, and in the corners around, there were several musicians playing.

On the main seat in the house, there was a long table.

A young man in his thirties, with red lips and white teeth, was resting his head on the fair thighs of a plump concubine, who was gently massaging his temples with her fingers.

Unsurprisingly, it was Prince Xu Zudi of Heng.

Below Xu Zudi, another long table was placed with a Yaoqin on it. The person playing the qin was a woman in her thirties, whose temperament was very different from the musicians and dancers.

Her cloud-like hair was black, adorned with white jade pearls, and she had a face of national security and peace, with a dark flower silk skirt scattered on the ground.

In the corner of the room, there was also an old man with hands that passed his knees, who would be ignored if he wasn't careful.

The moment Zhao Du'an stepped into the room, the old man vaguely locked onto him.

In addition, behind another low table, holding a wine glass, was actually also a noble young man, who was staring over with a gloomy gaze, his expression slightly distorted, mixed with excitement:

"Zhao Du'an! You actually came!"

Zhao Du'an glanced at this guy he had almost forgotten, and raised his eyebrows:

"Li Lang? Your leg is healed, why aren't you staying at home? What are you running around for again? Be careful to cause trouble for your mother again."