I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 317 A bunch of treacherous insects!
At 9 o'clock, we arrived at Hepu camp.

"It's almost noon, why hasn't the prince gotten up yet?"

Ni Kuan would walk out of the tent from time to time, glance at Liu Ju's big tent from afar, and then go back and sit down helplessly.

"The prince usually sleeps until this time. He got up early today, so it's normal for him to sleep a little longer."

Zhao Zhou took a sip of tea and said slowly,
"Mr. Ni, just sit down and relax. There is no rush for you to go out to sea. Once everything is investigated, His Highness will make arrangements... Besides, His Highness not letting you take the lead in taking risks is also a manifestation of his respect and love for you. Why are you so anxious?"

"That being said, General Yang has already ordered people to go out to sea for exploration many times before, so there should be no danger in going to this island."

Ni Kuan patted his thigh solemnly and said,
"Besides, Your Highness has already sent those rumormongers and sorcerers out to sea this time. If the rumormongers can go, I can go too. How can I let those rumormongers have the limelight all to myself?"

"Even if Your Highness doesn't say anything, I have taken the initiative to ask Your Majesty to go to sea on His Highness' behalf. If I don't take any risks and just stay in the camp waiting for news, how can I explain to Your Majesty when I return to the capital in the future? Wouldn't Your Majesty regard me as a coward who only knows how to talk and live a life of fear?"

"Moreover, we did not find any fairyland or immortals during this voyage, but only deserted islands and savage tribes. Your Majesty will be greatly disappointed when he learns about this..."

"Anyway, I won't wait any longer."

"Next time General Yang sends his navy out to sea, I will ask for permission from Your Highness to go with the ship, even if it means dying at sea!"

Zhao Zhou put down his teacup after hearing this, and continued in his leisurely tone:
"Mr. Ni, are you anxious again?"

"You can't say such discouraging words even if you are in a hurry. In my opinion, His Highness is so calm at such a young age, which shows that he is so steady and calm even when faced with a huge crisis. You should learn from His Highness. At your age, you should start to cultivate your character... Would you like some tea? I'll pour it for you?"

Ni Kuan rolled his eyes and said unhappily:
"Of course you are not in a hurry. You only need to make sure His Highness does not take risks at sea to atone for your sins. How can you compare to me who has other missions to shoulder?"

"Mr. Ni, that's not what I meant..."

Zhao Zhou was about to open his mouth to refute.

Suddenly, Yang Pu appeared at the door of the tent, looking inside and asking anxiously:

"Prime Minister Zhao, Internal Affairs Secretary Ni, is the Crown Prince in your tent?"

"No... Isn't the prince catching up on his sleep in his tent?"

Zhao Zhou and Ni Kuan were both stunned when they heard the voice, and they suddenly stood up and went to greet him with puzzled looks on their faces.

"I just sent someone to deliver food to the prince, and learned from the guards in the big tent that His Highness had not returned to the big tent after giving him a speech early in the morning."

Yang Pu frowned and shook his head.

"I went into the tent to check, and the prince was not there. Even Guo Zhen, the prince's horseman, was missing. Even the prince's attendants didn't know where he had gone... The camp was so small, and there were foot soldiers patrolling everywhere. Where on earth could the prince have gone?"

"Have you asked General Han, Emperor Chang, and Li Ji's camp?"

Zhao Zhou and Ni Kuan asked again hurriedly.

"not yet……"

Yang Pu had just said two words when Han Shuo's voice came from behind:

"I have never met the prince either."

The tent Han was talking about was not far from here. He noticed that Yang Pu came to find Zhao Zhou and Ni Kuan, and that he looked a little strange, so he took the initiative to come over to check what had happened.

"Then only Chang Rong and Li Ji are left. Besides them, Gongsun Qing and his group of alchemists have already boarded the ship and set sail. Your Highness will not go to other camps. I will go and ask them now!"

As he spoke, Zhao Zhou had already hurried out of the tent and was trotting ahead to look for Ni Kuan, as if he was not the one who had just advised Ni Kuan not to worry.

Ni Kuan, Han Shuo and Yang Pu had nothing to say at the moment, so they hurriedly followed behind.

At this moment, they all had a bad feeling in their hearts.

Liu Ju has been missing since he finished his speech early in the morning. Not only is he not in the camp at the moment, but there are always soldiers patrolling around the camp. Although it cannot be said that not even a fly can fly in, it is not possible for a living person like Liu Ju to go out without alerting anyone.

In addition, Liu Ju got up early today for the first time to give a speech, and after the speech he claimed that he would go back to sleep, but the guards in the camp did not see him go back.

Those guards definitely wouldn't dare to lie. This was definitely not a trivial matter for them. If not handled properly, their entire clan might be exterminated.

Therefore, the only person who could have lied could be Crown Prince Liu Ju!

Numerous details indicate that Liu Ju must have done something without telling them, and considering the time when Liu Ju disappeared from everyone's sight...

"!!!"

Several people didn't even dare to think further, and their pace immediately quickened a lot.

If Liu Ju really did sneak out to sea...

The two of them were men who had made up their minds for their crimes, and the one who went to sea on behalf of Liu Ju on the orders of the emperor, all of them were in big trouble!
Even Yang Pu, who was not sent by the emperor to protect Liu Ju, could not escape blame!
He was even more afraid than Zhao Zhou, Ni Kuan and Han Shuo.

After all, Liu Ju's previous private conversation with him had made his crime much more serious than Zhao Zhou's "knowing but not reporting" and Han's "insufficient money for 酎金".

Those two people could be said to have "made meritorious contributions while serving their sentences", but he now felt that he was simply "atonement for his sins by paying with his head".

How could there be any mistake?
……

After a while.

"Your Highness, could it be that he really secretly went out to sea with the ship? What should we do? What should we do?"

After returning to the tent, Ni Kuan immediately slapped his thigh and jumped up and down in anxiety. Compared with the impatience he had before, it was nothing compared to what he felt now. If you didn't know, you would think he was performing some kind of Nuo dance.

They just went to Chang Rong and Li Ji's tents, but found nothing.

So they went together to the only exit of the camp and summoned all the guards who were currently on duty to question them one by one, but still could not find out any trace of Liu Ju.

This was the only possibility they could think of now.

Only Liu Ju was left who mixed in with the people who went out to sea early in the morning and followed them on the boat.

"Perhaps His Highness is just taking Guo Zhen for hunting near the camp... I will order people to look for him right now, searching all over the mountains!"

Yang Pu still refused to give up and turned around to go out and give orders.

"Wait a minute!"

Zhao Zhou stopped him at this moment and said in a low voice,
"If you really do this, this matter will be known to everyone. If it is discovered later that His Highness has really gone out to sea, you will not be able to conceal it even if you want to. This matter will definitely be reported to His Majesty. Can you bear the consequences of this matter?"

"Gulu!"

Yang Pu was stunned when he heard this and couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

Han Shuo and Ni Kuan also took a breath of cold air.

Not only Yang Pu could not afford it, none of the people present could afford it. Each of them came here with an unshirkable responsibility and a reason to stop Liu Ju.

Also.

If Emperor Wu of Han knew about this, not only would they be to blame, but Liu Ju would also be guilty of falsifying the rules... although this was definitely not the first time he had falsified the rules.

"Then according to Prime Minister Zhao..."

Several people looked at Zhao Zhou. In fact, there were no fools here. In just two breaths, they had their own ideas in their minds, but these ideas were not suitable to be said in public, for fear of giving others a handle.

"At this point, we naturally need to find the prince as soon as possible."

Zhao Zhou looked serious and said in a lower voice,

"However, in order to prevent the situation from escalating, we have only sent our most trusted followers to search the area around the camp in a low-key manner. We must not make it public."

"General Yang, you will personally lead a few ships out to sea and search for that island."

"As long as we can find the prince and make sure he is safe, then we will work together to conceal this incident and pretend it never happened."

"If His Majesty doesn't know about this later, he will naturally not blame us. And after Your Highness returns to the capital, he can avoid being punished by His Majesty for falsifying the rules. This is not only beneficial to us, but also not a bad thing for Your Highness."

"I wonder what you think?"

"This……"

Ni Kuan and Yang Pu thought about it for a while before nodding.
"I'm afraid this is the only way for now. There is no other way..."

Then the three of them looked at Han, who frowned, and said, "He didn't nod in agreement, nor did he raise any objections immediately.
"What does General Han think?"

"I……"

Han said that he was in a state of conflict between himself and himself at this moment.

He knew that the three people's decision was the best solution at the moment, but this was deceiving the emperor, and it was impossible to keep this matter secret. They had just found Chang Rong and Li Ji. If those two people were not fools, they would have guessed what had happened.

Chang Rong was a junior eunuch, and Li Ji was an usher.

These two were Liu Ju's close attendants, and were closer to Liu Che than they were. Even if they suppressed the matter temporarily, no one could guarantee that these two would not expose the matter to Liu Che after returning to the capital, which would only make the problem even bigger...

"Please wait a moment, let me think about it..."

Han was hesitating and thinking about something he had brought with him. Seeing the anxious faces of the people, he immediately added,
"It only takes a few breaths."

As he spoke, Han Shuo turned his back and took out three connected sachets from his arms.

He opened the first brocade bag according to the order Han Ling marked on it, took out a small strip of white silk from it, and looked at it carefully with wide eyes.

There was a line of words clearly written on the cloth:

——[Looking ahead and behind, why not put the son-in-law in front as the front, and the son-in-law behind as the back, and make a clear distinction between the front and the back]

"This……"

Han was stunned for a moment.

Look! Come and have a look!
What does it mean to have your elbows turned outward?

What does it mean that a girl should not be kept when she grows up?

This daughter only has this prince in her heart, can she still keep him?

This note also made Han Shuo feel even more conflicted and he didn't know what to do. After all, the crime of deceiving the emperor by a leader is completely different from the crime of deceiving the emperor by an ordinary person.

After hesitating for a while, he immediately opened the second treasure bag:

——[When you are caught in a dilemma, it is better to take your son-in-law’s advancement as your progress and your son-in-law’s retreat as your retreat, and the dilemma will be resolved by itself]

"This damn girl, what's the difference between this note and the last one?"

Han Shuo grumbled secretly and opened the third treasure bag directly.

The handwriting on the note immediately made him tremble, and his eyes widened:

——[My father has been convicted this time and has already lost the friendship between us. If the relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law is further damaged, it would be like cutting off ties with the Han people.]

next moment.

He had already held the note in his palm, turned around and looked at Zhao Zhou and the other three who were eagerly waiting, and said solemnly:

"This matter must not reach His Majesty's ears!"

"Let's follow Prime Minister Zhao's plan, but we have to be on guard against Chang Rong and Li Ji. Although we didn't say it explicitly just now, the two of them have subtle expressions, so they must have known what was going on. I will order people to keep a close eye on them later and not allow them to send any letters. This is the only way to ensure that this matter is foolproof!"

Ni Kuan seemed to be reminded when he heard this, and his face was full of worry again:

"General Han's actions can temporarily prevent Chang and Li from reporting this to Your Majesty via letter, but as Your Majesty's close attendants, they will have to return to Chang'an with you. How can they keep this secret?"

"I have thought about this. We can invite them to go out to sea together. The ocean is dangerous and unpredictable. Any accidents are reasonable..."

Han's eyes turned cold and he raised his hand and stroked his throat.

"?"

Seeing his appearance, Yang Pu, who had fought with him on the battlefield before, was shocked, and a hint of strangeness appeared in his eyes.

Yang Pu was born a cruel official in a county. Although he did not kill people like crazy, his methods were enough to scare ordinary people, and this style of behavior continued after he joined the army.

And based on his understanding of Han.

This colleague who came from a noble family was not such a decisive person. On the contrary, in his impression, this person was not only indecisive and hesitant, but also sometimes showed some softness. The reason why he was able to be awarded the title of nobility for his military achievements was entirely because he took advantage of Wei Qing.

Therefore, in Yang Pu's eyes, the Han Shuo who was hesitant after listening to Zhao Zhou's words just now was the real Han Shuo.

And now this ruthless man who dared to kill the emperor's attendants and even took the initiative to bring it up was not the Han Shuo he knew. Speaking of which...

What on earth was in those sachets he held in his hands that could change another person so much in just a few breaths? !
"This……"

Zhao Zhou and Ni Kuan looked at each other, feeling that Han Shuo was a little different from before.

However, they also understood that if they wanted to ensure that this matter was foolproof, they would probably have to adopt Han's approach, otherwise it would be better not to do it.

After a brief pause, Zhao Zhou continued:
"Chang Rong can go to sea, but Li Ji still needs to think about it. When Chang Rong criticized the Crown Prince a few days ago, he confronted Chang Rong and even went to inform the Crown Prince. He should be on the side of the Crown Prince and us."

"He is first and foremost a member of the Li family. It was the Li family that gave birth to the prince for Your Majesty. Under such circumstances, he may not be of the same mind as Your Highness. Anyway, I don't trust him."

Han said seriously,

"Unless... Chang Rong's accident at sea is completed by him, so that we can ensure that he is of the same mind as us, otherwise it will be a risk to the lives of the prince and all of us."

"General Han, you are so calculating!"

Yang Pu once again looked at Han with new eyes, patted his shoulder and smiled with a feeling of regret for not meeting him earlier.

"We have to find the crown prince as soon as possible. How about we just settle this matter? General Han and I will be in charge of surveillance and going out to sea, while Prime Minister Zhao and Ni Neishi will be responsible for testing Li Ji's attitude. How do you think?"

"..."

Damn, what a bunch of treacherous insects! Ni Kuan cursed in his heart, but warned carefully:
"There is one more thing that needs to be arranged in advance. Before we find the prince, please ask the two generals to strictly prohibit anyone from approaching the prince's tent, and have people disguise themselves in the tent to create the illusion that His Highness is still in the camp to avoid causing discussion."

(End of this chapter)