Tibet.

Chapter 1380: Capturing the Suspect
In the imperial study, Li Ye was listening to Wei Jiansu's report on Prince Shiguo.

"This prince of Shi State's Chinese name is Shi Shuting, and his Sogdian name is Aseman. He is the first heir to the throne of Shi State. Five years ago, the Saint Maiden Society annexed the Illuminati. In order to fight against the expansion of the Saint Maiden Society, the six secular countries including Kang State, An State, Shi State, Mi State, Cao State, and He State formed the Six-Nation Alliance.

Last year, it was the turn of the Shi Kingdom to convene the Six-Nation Alliance, so the Prince of Shi Kingdom traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an on behalf of the Six-Nation Alliance to explain to us the causes and consequences of the sneak attack on Suiye."

When Wei Jiansu said this, Li Ye interrupted and asked, "Did the prince of Shiguo bring the letter of credence?"

"Yes! He brought letters from the six countries. He also came to pay homage to Your Majesty as an envoy of the six countries, and he also brought gifts from the six countries."

Li Ye nodded, "Prime Minister, please continue!"

"Five years ago, the Saint Maiden Association began to establish its own army. The Six Nations Alliance took advantage of the Saint Maiden Association's lack of military knowledge and used a trick to occupy the magpie's nest. A large number of active troops from the six countries joined the Saint Maiden Association's army. In name, the Saint Maiden Association had 50,000 troops, but in fact, this army was controlled by the Six Nations Alliance. At least that's what they thought."

"Did they realize they were wrong?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Wei Jiansu nodded. "The problem lies in the surprise attack on Suiye. The Six Nations Alliance did not issue such an order at all, and they did not know where the problem lies. They realized that the army of the Saint Maiden Society was very complicated and they did not have full control over it."

"Have they guessed the reason themselves?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "Of course they have speculated. They think there are three possibilities. The first is that the Saint's Council gave the order and the army carried it out directly without going through them. The second is that the garrison commander Alfonso acted on his own and wanted to plunder Suiye's wealth. The third possibility is that other forces have infiltrated the army. They suspect it was the Arabs. They suspect the third possibility."

"why?"

"Your Majesty, they said that the commander of this army, Alfonso, is from Anguo. Anguo people are most influenced by the Arabs. This Alfonso has converted to the Arab religion."

Li Ye happily said: "That's right!"

He took a piece of eagle letter intelligence from the table and smiled faintly: "This is the intelligence sent by Li Chenghua from Suiye. The enemy has evacuated Suiye. Suiye City has been severely damaged, and the Buddhist temple and Guangming Temple in the city have been completely destroyed. So I also suspect that this sneak attack on Suiye is related to the Arabs."

"Your Majesty, are we still going to march west?"

"Of course we have to march west. The Arabs are ready to make a move and want to create disputes to force the Sogdians to come to them. Although this move is rather cruel, it wastes time and gives us the opportunity to enter the river first."

After a pause, Li Ye continued, "Go and inform Prince Shi that I will formally receive him the day after tomorrow morning!"

Three thousand reinforcements from Anxi have arrived in Suiye. They brought 50,000 shi of grain to solve Suiye’s urgent needs.

At the same time, there was news from the Holy Maiden Society.

That morning, Li Chenghua met with the investigation team sent by the Holy Maiden Society. The news of Anga being poisoned in Suiye and Suiye being ambushed by the army had already reached the Holy Maiden Society in Samarkand. The Holy Maiden of Light Jin Shanling was shocked and angry, and immediately sent people to Suiye to investigate the truth.

The leader of the investigation team is called Comilla, an old woman in her fifties. She is the Left Silver Saint of the Holy Maiden Society, and the Right Silver Saint is Anga who was poisoned to death.

Comilla looks very much like an old witch in Western fairy tales, with a hooked nose, triangular eyes, a pointed chin, and cold eyes full of suspicion.

Li Chenghua snorted coldly, "How dare you suspect that we were the ones who did it? We escorted them all the way from Chang'an just to kill them in Suiye?"

"I don't doubt your country. What I mean is that if the guards were a little stricter, they wouldn't have been poisoned to death. Your country was careless!"

Although Kang Mila did not doubt Datang, she was obviously blaming Datang for failing to take good care of her.

Li Chenghua was immediately furious: "They were killed by the Saint Maiden Society themselves. Instead of blaming others for not taking good care of them, you should reflect on yourself first!"

Kang Mila was shocked, "Why did General Li say that?"

"Your army of the Saint Maiden Society attacked Suiye and sent people to ambush in advance. We have sufficient evidence and witnesses. It was your army that sent people to ambush Suiye City and bribed the servants at the post station to poison and kill Anjia and others."

Kang Mi La hurriedly shook her head. "We did not arrange for the army to attack Suiye, nor did we send people to sneak into Suiye to ambush in advance. We, the Holy Maidens of Light, were also shocked. Although the army was from the Holy Maiden Association, this attack had nothing to do with the Holy Maiden Association. Our Great Light Temple in Suiye was also razed to the ground. If it was us who gave the order, we would not have destroyed our own foundation."

"Humph! Perhaps you are just trying to use torture to get away with it? You want to get away with the responsibility of attacking Suiye."

Kang Mi La still shook her head. "If it was to escape responsibility, we would not have attacked Suiye. We are also investigating. At present, this army is in Juzhanti. The Holy Lady of Light has sent a special envoy to Juzhanti to investigate the truth. If the army acted on its own, we will definitely punish the commander severely and give an explanation to the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chenghua sneered and said, "After killing so many people and looting so much wealth and food, can the problem be solved by just severely punishing the commander?"

"We are willing to compensate for all the losses in Suiye. Although the sneak attack on Suiye was not our fault, we are willing to take the corresponding responsibility and solve the problem with our utmost sincerity." After that, Kang Mila took out another letter and handed it to Li Chenghua, "This is a letter from the Holy Lady of Light to His Majesty the Emperor of your country. Please pass it to your emperor, General Li."

Li Chenghua's expression eased a little, and he nodded and said, "Are we going to take Anjia and the others' bodies back?"

Kang Mila shook her head. "I want to hold a ceremony to burn them with holy fire so that their souls can return to the light. Please allow me, General."

Li Chenghua nodded, "You can hold the ceremony!"

That night, Kangmila returned to Samarkand without staying in Suiye. She seemed very anxious.

The next morning, Li Chenghua arrived at the temporary government office. An internal guard came hurriedly to report, "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, we have found the whereabouts of Suba, the poisoner."

Li Chenghua was overjoyed, "Where is he?"

"He is in Yezhi City!"

Li Chenghua immediately ordered: "Prepare camels and go to Yezhi City!"

A quarter of an hour later, Li Chenghua led two hundred internal guards on camels and rushed towards Yezhi City.

Yezhi City is a subsidiary military city of Suiye. Others include Dong City, Helie City, Peiluo General City and Baoda Military City. These five military cities guard Suiye, but from another perspective, these five military cities are more like five small towns where people of all ethnic groups live.

Yezhi City is where the Qalluk people live. There are more than 300 Qalluk households living in the city, and their main occupation is business.

At noon, Li Chenghua led his men into Yezhi City. The internal security soldier in charge of surveillance here stepped forward and said, "The boy is still at home, but it may be a bit troublesome!"

"What kind of trouble will it be?" Li Chenghua asked.

"The Karluks here are all from one tribe. If we arrest them directly, I'm afraid we'll be stopped by others!"

Li Chenghua frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "No matter what, just control the person in our hands first!"

The crowd came to a house, which was an ordinary Qarluk family's house with a courtyard wall and a door. Inside was a flat-roofed house made of mud. Almost every household here was the same.

Li Chenghua waved his hand and said, "Catch the man!"

A dozen soldiers rushed in and soon captured a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old, followed by a middle-aged couple, crying and shouting.

The arrival of the internal security soldiers had already attracted the attention of the entire city. When the crying and shouting sounded, the whole city immediately rushed over from all directions.

Hundreds of people blocked the way of the internal security soldiers and shouted at them.

At this time, a middle-aged man came out, and the people around him immediately quieted down. The middle-aged man said, "I am their clan leader Glenn. We have always supported the Tang Dynasty and abided by the law. Why did the Tang army arrest our children?"

Zhan Yannian pointed at the terrified boy Suba and said loudly: "He is guilty of murder and poisoned 25 important people. He must be tried!"

Chief Glenn shook his head. "He is only fifteen years old. How could he have killed so many people? Even if you are the governor of the river, you can't just come here and arrest people!"

Li Chenghua shouted, "Raise the crossbow!"

Two hundred elite inner guards raised their crossbows and aimed at the Sogdians. Li Chenghua held up a gold medal and said coldly, "I am the commander-in-chief of the inner guards of the Tang Dynasty. I hold the title of the third-rank champion general and am granted the title of Duke of Anguo. I came to Suiye to investigate the case under the order of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Anyone who dares to stop me from investigating the case will be killed without mercy!"

The clan leader Glenn's face suddenly changed. They were all businessmen and often went to Chang'an for business. It turned out that the woman in front of them was the famous female devil of the inner guard. It was said that when investigating the salt case, she killed hundreds of men, women, young and old without blinking an eye. Why did she come to Suiye?

At this time, an old man whispered to him: "Suba is a waiter at the Suiye Posthouse. The Tang army's arrest of him is probably not groundless!"

Chief Glenn had no choice but to bow his head and sigh, "We just hope for a fair trial!"

"We, the Internal Guard, will not wrongly accuse anyone. Let's go!"

Everyone urged the camels to gallop, and the Qarlugs who were blocking the way moved aside one after another. Two hundred inner guards rushed out of Yezhi City like lightning and ran towards Suiye.

(End of this chapter)