456 How to End the Old Grudge (2/2)

General Xia Hou first went to the palace to meet the Emperor after he returned to Chang'an. He was awarded the royal rank in the meeting and received much respect and honor.

After that, he turned down some ministers' invitations and went to the Military Ministry. It was said that he spent a whole afternoon in the tower beside the Vermilion Bird Street and had a long conversation with General Xu Shi.

Xia Hou left the Military Ministry when it was late. He was protected by his private soldiers and went to the Prince's Mansion in the Northern City.

The mansion was brightly lit at night. After having dinner in a friendly atmosphere, the Prince, Li Peiyan brought him to his study room.

On the black table were a few files with a lot of characters on them. Some of them were new and some were old. There were a lot of names on the files and each of them was commented.

Zhang Yiqi, Chen Zixian, Yan Suqing, Lin Ling, Gu Xi, Huang Xing, Yu Shuizhu...

They were normal citizens, officers or soldiers. However, they had two things in common, one was they were all used to be members of Tang's Military, and the other was that they had all died.

Li Peiyan looked at the names and said, ”Their deaths suggest that a man who should have died long ago is alive.”

Xia Hou pointed at a name and said with no expression, ”This man wasn't involved in that case.”

”But he took part in the Yan territory event.”

Li Peiyan sighed and pushed the files away. He looked at Xia Hou and said worriedly, ”Even if we have no evidence, these names and what they did are all connected. They tell us that what we were concerned about is happening. These indicate that someone related to the Xuanwei General is alive.”

Thinking of Lin Guangyuan's name, Xia Hou frowned his eyebrows tightly.

How was he able to forget who Lin Guangyuan was?

A dozen years ago, there was a Xuanwei General in Tang, and his name was Lin Guangyuan. At that time, all people considered him as the second valiant general after Xia Hou.

In the first year of Tianqi era, Xia Hou exterminated Lin Guangyuan's entire family.

He did that not because of people comparing them like that. Even he was famous for his obduracy and barbarity, he would not exterminate an entire family with such a little provocation.

Xia Hou narrowed his eyes slightly and looked a little complicated.

Since he had killed so many people in his life and he also did something crueler than that, he did not feel sorry for the Xuanwei General even if he exterminated his family.

However, the name of Lin Guangyuan indeed reminded him of many things in the past.

A dozen years ago, the Empress had passed away because of illness, and someone in Qinghe County was not discontented. His Majesty was tired of this, so he went to the south to play and inspect along with a concubine named Xia Tian.

Xia Hou was ordered to return Chang'an from Tuyang City with thousands of cavalry soldiers in secrecy. He was told to defend Chang'an and helped the Prince with national affairs.

Then he received a letter from the West-Hill Divine Palace.

Facing this, if he wanted to protect what he had in his life, he had to accept their requests.

A rain of bloodshed had covered Chang'an and the Xuanwei General's family was exterminated.

Xia Hou knew that his actions would infuriate the Empire, but he also believed that the Empire would do nothing for there was no evidence pointing at him, and because of what he had done for the country no matter how angry he was.

He did not want his sister to be the Empress of Tang because he knew how dangerous it would be. Unfortunately, His Majesty still made his sister the Empress anyway.

Compared with this, he did not care how much blood was on the stone lions in front of the Xuanwei General's mansion at all.

…

…

Inside Li Peiyan's study room.

He looked at Xia Hou and said bitterly, ”It's not a big deal that a son of Lin Guangyuan is alive. However, if the boy who is trying hard to avenge his father's death has become the core disciple of the Headmaster and Mr. Thirteen on the Second floor of the Academy, that is a big problem.”

Xia Hou thought for a while and said, ”You mean, Ning Que is Lin Guangyuan's son?”

Li Peiyan sighed. ”Even though I don't want to admit, there is no other explanation except for this.”

”I supervised the case by myself and there were few people who could be exempt from punishment. Since they were all temporary workers without contracts, no one was able to escape.”

Xia Hou gazed at the candlelight on the table and said, ”Lin Guangyuan only had two sons and all the characteristics were in the record. I checked them by myself, too.”

”They must have been tampered by someone.”

Xia Hou thought for a while and said, ”Even if Ning Que is Lin Guangyuan's son, what can he do to us?”