Chapter 106: Finally Meeting Di Renjie

It was getting dark and the setting sun was fading.

Zhao Ji and Shangguan Wan'er led a team of Yulin Guards and galloped on the official road from Huzhou to Changcheng County.

When they were near Changcheng County, they unexpectedly discovered that on the official road ahead, a large group of soldiers were busy searching for something, blocking their way.

Zhao Ji and Shangguan Wan'er had no choice but to stop their horses and go forward to inquire about the situation.

Shangguan Wan'er rode her horse to Zhao Ji's side and asked, "Chengyuan, what's going on? Where did the large group of government troops come from?"

Zhao Ji thought thoughtfully: "Looking at this situation, it should be Di Gong's guards. I wonder what happened."

At this moment, an officer and several soldiers came up and asked, "Who are you?"

Zhao Ji straightened his back and responded loudly: "I am General Zhao Ji, the General of the Right Thousand Bull Guards. I have been ordered to go to Changcheng County on official business. Which army are you from? Why are you blocking the official road? Who is the leader? Ask him to come out and give an answer!"

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers immediately saluted respectfully: "We are the guards of Lord Di. We are following Lord Di's orders to search for the whereabouts of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Shangguan Wan'er was shocked when she heard this: "What do you mean? The prince is missing?"

The officer replied, "I don't know the details. Di Chun, the steward of Lord Di, is not far ahead. You can go ask him."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ji immediately rode forward, followed closely by Shangguan Wan'er and the Yulin Guards.

Not long after the cavalry had gone a short distance, they saw Di Chun.

Zhao Ji got off his horse, walked up to Di Chun and asked, "Di Chun, I heard that the prince is missing? What happened?"

When Di Chun saw Zhao Ji, he was delighted and replied, "General Zhao, the prince arrived at the Changcheng County Posthouse yesterday to look for the master, but the master happened to go to Huzhou City. So the prince went to Huzhou City to look for the master again."

"Later, the master rushed back from Huzhou overnight. I told him what happened, and he said, 'Oh no, something has happened to the prince.' Then he asked us to look for the prince here."

Shangguan Wan'er was confused, but Zhao Ji had already understood roughly what was going on: "So, did you find anything?"

"We didn't find the prince. We only found some signs of fighting on the road and some covered-up bloodstains." Di Chun answered honestly.

Zhao Ji frowned, and had guessed what was going on: "Where is Di Gong now? Is he in Liujia Village, or in the county inn?"

Di Chun said concisely: "At the Changcheng County Posthouse."

Zhao Ji nodded and said decisively: "Di Chun, stop searching and immediately bring the guards back to the county with me. I know how to find the prince."

Di Chun was overjoyed and said, "Really? Thank you, General Zhao."

Zhao Ji got back on his horse and commanded, "Follow me to the Changcheng County Posthouse."
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In the main hall of Changcheng County Inn, Di Renjie and Zeng Tai were discussing something. There was also a special guest in the room - Liu Chuanlin.

After receiving Zhao Ji's long letter yesterday, Di Renjie rushed back to Changcheng County overnight.

Then he learned that the prince went to Huzhou to find him, but there was only one official road from Huzhou City to Changcheng County. Considering his own return time and the departure time of Prince Li Xian, the two groups would definitely meet.

However, Di Renjie did not see any cavalry on his way back to the city, and Changcheng County was under surveillance by the internal security, so he concluded that something had happened to the prince.

To make matters worse, even Li Yuanfang, whom he sent to monitor Liujiazhuang, and Yingyu, the prince's subordinate, disappeared.

He first rushed to Liujiazhuang to search and found the strange building with mechanisms, but he was not sure what was so strange about it.

In this critical situation, Di Renjie thought of Liu Chuanlin, who was rescued by Zhao Ji, and believed that he was the young master of Liujiazhuang and might know something.

Therefore, Di Renjie rushed back to the county town and found the inn where Xiao Bao and Liu Chuanlin were staying.

Di Renjie first got reacquainted with Liu Chuanlin, and then explained the ins and outs of many things.

Then he said carefully: "Master Liu, I already know everything about you. Now Yingyu and my guard captain Li Yuanfang are both missing."

"I suspect their disappearance may be related to the small building in the back garden of your Liu Mansion. Can you tell me what secrets that small building has?"

When Liu Chuanlin heard that Yingyu was missing, he was shocked: "Yingyu is missing? How could this happen?"

Di Renjie quickly comforted her, "Don't worry, Yingyu should not be in danger yet. Only if you tell us everything you know, we can help you find Yingyu back."

Liu Chuanlin nodded and said, "Master Di, I am not saying anything, but I have never been in that small building. I also guess that His Highness Li Gui is imprisoned in there. There is nothing else I can do."

Di Renjie frowned and said, "Okay, thank you for your help, Master Liu."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Ji's voice came from outside.

"My lord! My lord!"

Di Renjie stood up immediately after hearing the voice and said with great joy, "It's Chengyuan, Chengyuan is here."

But Zhao Ji did not allow anyone to pass the message and rushed directly into the main hall, ready to bow down.

But Di Renjie hurriedly stopped him and asked excitedly: "Chengyuan, why are you here?"

Zhao Ji looked at Di Renjie, who looked tired after running all night, and felt a little touched: "Sir, you didn't rest last night." The two were about to express their greetings, but Shangguan Wan'er behind Zhao Ji coughed lightly, and the two came back to their senses.

Shangguan Wan'er then took out the imperial edict and said, "Di Gong, here is His Majesty's order. Please dismiss your attendants."

Di Renjie immediately asked Zeng Tai and Liu Chuanlin to step aside, and Shangguan Wan'er read out the imperial edict.

However, the imperial edict only mentioned the handover of the guard. After receiving the edict, Di Renjie looked very heavy and felt that the situation was not optimistic.

Seeing this, Zhao Ji explained to Di Renjie: "Don't worry, sir. His Majesty sent Shangguan Cairen and I here, first to deal with Xu Shide, and second for the prince."

"His Majesty has specifically instructed that you and I should work together to 'find the prince', and then we will make the decision after His Majesty arrives at the Great Wall."

Di Renjie still looked worried and said, "But the prince is now missing. We have not found any trace of him so far."

Zhao Ji immediately said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must have fallen into the hands of Xu Shide and other inner guards. We only need to start with the inner guards and we won't have any problem finding out the Crown Prince's whereabouts."

Di Renjie nodded, his brows relaxed: I'm back, everything is back, the feeling of Youzhou is back, it feels so good to have someone to discuss with.

"Do you mean to order Zeng Tai to inquire about the news from the inner guards?" Di Renjie asked.

Zhao Ji shook his head: "No, Zeng Tai is an outer inner guard, he has no access to confidential information, and rashly asking around will only make Xu Shide wary. What I mean is to start with the inner guards of Liujiazhuang."

Di Renjie suddenly understood what was going on and nodded repeatedly: "Oh, how could I have overlooked this!"

But he immediately showed hesitation on his face: "But we have no right to deal with the internal guards, I am afraid that the internal guards will not cooperate."

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "Your Excellency, don't worry. His Majesty has issued an order to order Shangguan Cairen to take charge of Xu Shide's inner guards. She holds the inner guards' token, so there is no need to worry that the inner guards will refuse to cooperate."

Di Renjie then took a good look at Shangguan Wan'er, the female official, and said with a cupped hand, "Then I'll have to trouble the talented Shangguan."

Shangguan Wan'er bowed slightly and replied, "You are too kind, Lord."

Di Renjie's doubts disappeared, so he ordered: "Please invite Master Liu in again."

As soon as Liu Chuanlin entered the room, he immediately bowed down in front of Zhao Ji: "General Zhao, you promised me that you would help me be with Yingyu. Now that she is missing, you must help me."

Zhao Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and helped Liu Chuanlin up: "Don't worry, I'll keep my word, but I want to ask you something first. Which servants in your Liujiazhuang have entered the mansion in the past year and a half?"

Liu Chuanlin frowned: "There are quite a few, I can't remember them all."

Zhao Ji suggested, "Let me ask you another question. There must be quite a few of them, maybe all of them are internal guards. Who do you think is the most suspicious? Pick the important ones and tell me."

Liu Chuanlin suddenly understood what Zhao Ji meant. He said excitedly, "Butler Liu Da, it must be Liu Da! He came more than a year ago and inexplicably replaced my family's butler who had worked for many years."

Zhao Ji smiled with satisfaction and said anxiously, "Haha, this is the man! Sir, let's set out immediately to Liujiazhuang and capture Liu Da."

When Di Renjie heard the conversation between Zhao Ji and Liu Chuanlin, he suddenly recalled the scene when he first met Liu Da.

Liu Da was a left-handed man and had no respect for his master Liu Chali. He repeatedly mocked him and really did not act like a servant.

Thinking of the left-handed bloody handprint on the kitchen knife, Di Renjie's eyes flashed with a gleam.

He has also been able to confirm Liu Da's identity as an internal guard.

However, Di Renjie was not in a hurry. Instead, he asked Shangguan Wan'er for her opinion: "Ms. Shangguan must be a little tired after traveling all the way from Huzhou to Changcheng County."

"Why don't you rest for a while at the inn, and then we go to Liujiazhuang, capture Liu Da, and then ask you to make him talk?"

Shangguan Wan'er quickly declined upon hearing this: "Please forgive me, Lord. How dare I be so arrogant? I will just go with you."

"In that case, thank you for your hard work." Di Renjie said with a smile.

Shangguan Wan'er said again that she dared not.

Having said this, everyone went downstairs to prepare to set off.

Zhao Ji was also preparing to slip away, but was stopped in the room by Shangguan Wan'er.

She gently poked his forehead and whispered in reproach: "Look at Di Gong, and then look at yourself! You don't understand the ways of the world at all, and you don't know how to care about others."

Zhao Ji quickly begged for mercy: "Yes, yes, sister, I was wrong. I will pay attention next time. I will pay attention."

Outside the door, the licking spirit Zeng Tai used his power.

He gave a thumbs up, his face full of admiration: "Lord, General Zhao is truly a genius, outstanding, and he has come up with a breakthrough in such a short time. He is truly worthy of being your disciple."

Di Renjie smiled and said, "I have never taught him anything. It's just that Chengyuan is very intelligent and can see the big picture from the details. I have seen this when I was in Youzhou. This time, he saved the Li Tang Dynasty from collapse. His contribution is invaluable."

"I just hope that we can successfully rescue the prince this time when we go to Liujiazhuang."

(End of this chapter)