Children of Loulan

Chapter 291 Suing the Prime Minister

Finally, the long and cruel thirty strokes of the cane came to an end. The eunuch walked slowly forward, looking down at the dying woman in front of him, and asked coldly: "How are you? How do you feel now? Do you still have the strength to continue to file a complaint to the emperor?"

At this moment, the woman's head was drooping like a candle in the wind, and beads of sweat had already soaked her hair, which was wet and stuck to her scalp. She was trembling all over, as if she had exhausted all her strength to barely raise her trembling hand and support her shaky body with great effort.

Her face was as pale as paper, her lips were cracked, and the corners of her mouth were covered with bright red blood. Her eyes, which were once clear and bright, were now bloodshot. However, even in such a miserable state, her eyes were still firm and unwavering, like a bright lamp in the cold night, shining brightly.

She opened her mouth with difficulty and said word by word: "Yes, I want to sue the Prime Minister. He has harmed Loulan, treated the lives of ordinary people as worthless, killed people at will, and even tried to silence them. I beg the king to make the decision for me!" Although her voice was extremely faint due to weakness, every word she said was as clear and audible as a huge bell.

After saying this, she gritted her teeth again, endured the severe pain, and with an almost stubborn attitude, struggled to fumble out a neatly folded paper from her arms. Although she was already weak, the paper was not damaged at all, and it was obvious that she was well protected. She held the petition in both hands and handed it to the eunuch in front of her, saying in a firm tone: "This is my petition, please be sure to present it to the king for review!"

The eunuch nodded slightly, indicating his agreement. He took the petition from the woman, but the nails of the woman's hands were broken, and the petition she handed over was stained with a little blood. Then, he turned around and ordered the imperial guards beside him, "First, take good care of this woman. Before the king summons her, you must protect her safety. In addition, quickly invite an imperial physician to give her good medicine, and there must be no mistakes!"

After receiving the order, the imperial guards quickly lifted up the woman and the stool she was lying on, and walked towards the palace in an orderly manner. The eunuch carefully put the petition in his arms, then hurried into the palace to report the matter to the king.

At the same time, after returning to his residence, the prime minister immediately summoned his trusted men and ordered them to quickly investigate the situation of the informants in the palace. Since he secretly began to hoard private soldiers, in order to avoid unnecessary suspicion and risks, he has withdrawn nearly half of the informants originally placed in the harem and redeployed these people in the front court and around the king. In this way, if the king or the ministers in the court discovered that he had privately hoarded troops, he would be able to obtain information in time through these spies and take corresponding countermeasures.

After careful deployment and arrangement, in the past few years, the prime minister has focused almost all his energy on the private army, and he rarely pays attention to the affairs of the palace. Unless it involves the establishment of a crown prince or important issues related to the private army, he generally does not take it to heart.

However, the prime minister never expected that it was his laissez-faire attitude towards the palace that eventually led to his daughter being framed by others. What shocked and angered him even more was that the other half of his informants in the harem not only did not pass on any news about his daughter being in danger, but also did not even offer a helping hand.

Obviously, it is very likely that some of the informants had unexpected situations, but even so, why did the other informants who were still safe do nothing? Could it be that they also betrayed him? Thinking of this, the prime minister frowned and secretly wondered how to deal with this sudden change next.

Just as he frowned and looked worried, suddenly, a light but hurried sound of footsteps came from below. Then, a low and nervous voice broke the solemn silence: "Sir, it's not good!" The man's face was as pale as paper, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. It was obvious that he had been running all the way.

He was heard trembling as he said, "Something bad has happened to our informants! Some of them were killed without anyone noticing! Some of them managed to save their lives, but now they are in danger! They were unable to help the Concubine Xian escape, let alone pass on any useful information. As for the few people who stayed with the Concubine Xian... Alas! The King has issued an order to throw them all into prison!"

Although the prime minister had already had some premonition and preparation for this matter, when these cruel facts really reached his ears, his weathered heart could not help but feel a sharp pain. After all, those were all the spies he had carefully cultivated and arranged! It was really heartbreaking to see them all wiped out like this.

However, the Prime Minister felt a little relieved that so far, no one seemed to have chosen to betray him. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but let out a long breath, as if he wanted to expel all the troubles and sorrows in his heart with this breath.

"Have you found out who is so bold as to touch my people?" The prime minister's face was gloomy and his voice was cold and frosty, which made people shudder.

The visitor stood there trembling, with his head lowered, not daring to look directly into the Prime Minister's fierce gaze. He just shook his head slightly and stammered, "Your Excellency Prime Minister, we have not yet found out who did it. But according to reports from my subordinates, the man's swiftness, precision, and cruelty were beyond imagination. Our people didn't even have time to detect the other party's intentions and whereabouts before they were killed by him... Therefore, I have not been able to obtain any valuable clues and information!"

When the prime minister heard this, he frowned and slowly closed his eyes. He knew in his heart that the man in front of him was not to blame. After all, he had issued a strict order that no one could contact the prime minister's residence without authorization unless it was a matter of vital importance. Thinking of this, the prime minister sighed lightly, then waved his hand gently, signaling the man to leave.

However, this was not the time to be sad. The prime minister knew that time was running out and it was too late to re-place the informant. After a moment of contemplation, he quickly walked to the bookshelf on one side of the study and gently pushed a seemingly ordinary wooden board. With a slight "click" sound, a hidden compartment slowly appeared.

The prime minister carefully took out an extremely thick book from the secret compartment. This book recorded the various positions in the harem and the detailed information of the people who held these positions, even including their respective family backgrounds. Not only that, the book also clearly marked which people were related to which forces, and which people might be able to be used by him.

The most urgent task at the moment is to select a few people from these people to use for his own purposes. If he can bribe them, that would be the best. If not, he can only use threats. As long as he can help his daughter get rid of her current predicament as soon as possible, he doesn't care about any means!