As the saying goes, there is no road in this world. If there are more people walking on it, it will become a road.
Now that Li Ran was forced into a desperate situation, he had to find his own way.
Hantai Palace.
He stood at the gate of Hantai Palace, looked up at the two seal characters of Hantai, and felt a little enlightened for a moment.
A deposed Luoyi Cangshi Shi, a young man who was hunted down by the Zhou royal family, and a somewhat destitute time-travel traveler. Now he stands at the center of the political whirlpool of Lu State.
He didn't know what would happen when he entered it, and he couldn't predict it. But he didn't have any idea of retreating, and his steps were unwavering.
"Li Ran, a common man, pays his respects to the prince."
Li Ran shouted loudly outside the hall, then leaned down and knelt down. Even though at this moment, the prince was pretended by the person he arranged, the scene still had to be complete.
"Get up and enter the palace."
Li Ran heard the sound, stooped down and walked into the palace. But at this moment, he felt that everyone's eyes were turned towards him. An inexplicable sense of oppression came over me.
"Li Ran, do you know why I announced your arrival this time?"
The person pretending to be the prince was temporarily recruited from the prince's attendants by Li Ran's instructions. Sun Wu knew this person very well about the prince's habits, and his acting skills were quite good. Even Li Ran was almost fooled, and he actually had a hint of regal power in his body.
It seems that the majesty and majesty of the king will actually show through to anyone as long as they are in that position.
He casually glanced at Sun Wu, who was standing behind the false prince as the commander of the bodyguards, and said with a strange look on his face:
"The common people don't know."
"Then do you know that someone came to assassinate me in this hall yesterday?"
"What?"
Li Ran pretended to be surprised. But I heard the false prince continue:
"This time, an assassin sneaked in and wanted to kill me! However, my life is tied to the sky, so I was lucky enough to escape this disaster. Even so, the matter is of great importance after all! Doctor Shusun just said that he has been waiting for the past few days I am at home and have never gone out. I know nothing about anything here. I have heard that you have a good relationship with Dr. Shusun and are now his disciples. Do you know anything?"
Shu Sunbao came to Li Ran just to prove his innocence, so the topic suddenly came to this.
Ji Sunsu on the side was obviously a little dissatisfied with the prince's question. After all, Li Ran was just a commoner and a retainer of Shu Sunbao. Even if he could prove something, would his testimony be convincing?
However, because the Lu Palace assassination case had already shocked the government and the public, they could not forcefully judge Shusun Bao's crime in front of the fake prince, so they gave Li Ran a chance to speak.
Li Ran frowned slightly, thought for a moment and said:
"Doctor Shusun has indeed not been out at home these past few days... Since there is an assassin who intends to do evil, may I ask His Highness the Crown Prince if he has ever caught the murderer?"
Li Ran's control of micro-expressions was very good. He was saying these three sentences with a very confused expression on his face.
But at the same time, it gave people a feeling of having a well-thought-out plan, which made Ji Sunsu feel a chill down his spine for a moment.
In fact, Li Ran's words are also very simple, the focus is on the murderer! Yes, it’s the murderer!
After all, catching the prince's assassin is the key to the whole thing!
But since Ji Sunsu entered the palace and Shusun Bao was released, when the pretended prince asked about this matter, no one mentioned the murderer!
Has this murderer been caught? Where were you after you were captured? If not caught, are there any clues? No one mentioned this, and it seemed that everyone had selectively forgotten this key point.
And Li Ran will not forget it, because this is the only clue to reveal the truth about the prince's assassination.
The expression on Ji Sunsu's face suddenly changed.
Although he arranged for Ji Sun Yiru to silence him, when Li Ran asked about the murderer and saw the confident look in Li Ran's eyes, he couldn't help but become worried.
He had heard about Li Ran and heard from his grandson that Li Ran had spoken nonsense at the rally. He also knew that Li Ran was behind his plan to worship the emperor on behalf of the emperor. Therefore, towards this "enemy", he I don’t dare to take it lightly anymore.
"Hmph! I called you here to prove whether Shu Sunbao knew nothing about Lu Palace. I didn't ask you to solve the case! You don't even look at your identity. You are talking nonsense here. A portion?"
Li Ran's speech at the rally had already spread throughout Qufu. Therefore, there were many ministers of the State of Lu who dismissed his remarks, and the one who spoke at this time was one of them.
"Okay! Now that you have proven that Shusun Bao knows nothing about Lu Palace, that's enough. Now stand down!"
Ji Sunsu waved his hand, indicating that Li Ran could retreat.
But at the same time, he was determined. After this incident, Li Ran must be eliminated and no more troubles can be left.
Now, he was just thinking about how to continue to accuse his uncle Sun Baoluo, but unexpectedly, the fake prince suddenly spoke again:
"Wait!"
"Li Ran's words reminded everyone that since the assassin missed the target, was he ever captured?"
The false prince knew Li Ran's purpose very well, how could he let him leave so quickly? Today was a bureau specially set up for Ji Sunsu, and Li Ran was the one who planned it, so he had to be there to take charge personally.
Shusun Bao heard the sound and said hurriedly:
"The assassin did accidentally injure a few people in the palace and then fled away. Because I couldn't catch them in time, I was banned at home, so I couldn't arrange for guards to investigate. I'm guilty!"
Shusunbao kept shouting that he was guilty, but in fact he was putting the responsibility back on Jisunsu.
The assassin assassinated the prince and fled. When the truth was unknown, you first arrested Dr. Qing, the chief steward of the Lu Palace Guards. How could he find the murderer?
The false prince frowned and looked at Ji Sunsu and asked:
"Dr. Jisun, what do you have to say?"
Ji Sunsu also knew that his move was a bit hasty, but it was only because he was extremely confident in his plan. After all, if the prince was really killed, who would care about such trivial truths?
After all, the truth is always the least important thing in the court.
But at this moment, Ji Sunsu, who was forced into a dead end by this "truth", could only bow quickly and said with some fear:
"Prince Mingjian, even if Uncle Sunbao didn't know this, he was still guilty of improper defense of Lu Palace! It is only natural that he should be grounded!"
"As for the murderer, I have already asked several commanders in the palace. Once this person's portrait is posted, there will always be clues. Please be safe, Prince..."
While Ji Sunsu was trying his best to defend himself, Li Ran sneered from the side:
"Ha! Doctor Jisun, I have a question and I would like to ask."
Everyone turned their eyes and saw Li Ran still standing there, with long sleeves reaching to his body, green and deep, dignified and elegant. His whole temperament suddenly became mysterious because of the words he just said.
"Oh? What else do you want to ask? Just ask."
Before Ji Sunsu could object, the false prince gave him the opportunity to continue asking at the right time.
When Ji Sunsu heard this, he couldn't get angry on the spot, so he had to hold back and wait quietly for Li Ran's question.
Li Ran asked calmly:
"What a coincidence. Yesterday, grassroots people were also assassinated in Qufu City. I wonder... is there any connection between the two?"
"What?!"
"Were you assassinated too?"
As soon as his words fell, there was a sound of surprise in the hall.
Ji Sunsu's face looked very ugly for a moment. He failed in his assassination attempt on the prince, and also failed in his assassination attempt on Li Ran. It was a failure! What a huge failure!
Now being asked by Li Ran about the relationship between the two, even though he was full of confidence, he suddenly didn't know how to answer. After all, the time when the two things happened was so coincidental that they happened almost at the same time. It doesn't matter, no one in this palace will believe it.
"Oh? Is there such a thing? Haha, I think you are just a commoner, who would think of assassinating you?"
"Oh... that's right! I heard that Li Ran fled here since Cheng Zhou, so he came to Qufu to take refuge, right? Then... could it be that someone from the Zhou royal family sneaked into Qufu and did something to you?"
After all, Ji Sunsu was also scheming. He just calmed down and quickly thought of a countermeasure. This made all the courtiers present involuntarily nod in agreement.
As for Li Ran's origins, everything that needs to be clarified has basically been clarified. Since he was hunted by the Zhou royal family, it seems reasonable to be assassinated in Qufu City.
At this time, the fake prince didn't seem to know that Li Ran had this experience. He suddenly heard about it and didn't know how to express his stance. Just as he was thinking about how to transfer the topic to Ji Sunsu, Li Ran unexpectedly spoke first again:
"What Dr. Ji Sun said is absolutely true. The common people were driven out of Luoyi precisely because of the changes that happened to the Zhou royal family."
"But it is strange to say that the ordinary people were hunted down all the way because they were close friends with Prince Jin of Zhou. But it was never heard that His Highness the Crown Prince had any relationship with Prince Jin Ke of Zhou. Why were they also assassinated? Woolen cloth?"
When Li Ran asked this question, he obviously pointed the finger back again. But this was far from enough. Just listen to him continue:
"The prince is about to assume the throne of the king, and the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven has been prepared. At this moment, when the whole world is celebrating, who would be so heartless and choose to assassinate the prince at this time? Could it be that... someone doesn't want the prince to be killed? Can you succeed in taking the throne?"
As Li Ran spoke, his face was filled with a calm expression, without any hint of joy or anger. But it is not difficult to tell from his words that he related the assassination of Lu Palace to the previous incident of Ji's intention to sacrifice to heaven on behalf of the prince. It is to give others an illusion.
Isn't it because Ji's intention to offer sacrifices to Heaven was to take full control of Lu's palace? But the matter was abandoned due to the anger of the Marquis of Jin. The Ji family was unwilling to accept it and assassinated the prince. Wouldn't it be more justified?
When Ji Sunsu heard this, he suddenly became furious. When he was about to question Li Ran about what he wanted to say, and then accuse Li Ran of slandering Shang Qing, he suddenly thought that this was a trap.
As sophisticated as he is, how could he not see that this is Li Ran's trap?
Once he is eager to deny that the Lu Palace assassination incident is not a follow-up to the Daijitian incident, and once he denies it too excitedly, then in the eyes of others, it is equivalent to being convinced.
At that time, although he can still use his power to suppress the matter, it will eventually become a stain that may explode in the future.
After all, if it was something made out of nothing, as a minister of a country, wouldn't it be a sign of guilty conscience to argue with a commoner in such a demeaning manner?
So he remained silent and said coldly:
"Haha, it seems that this matter is really a bit fishy... In this case, now we can only see if we can catch the assassin!"
Obviously, Ji Sunsu no longer wanted to confront Li Ran in the court. Winning is not honorable, losing is even more embarrassing. Why bother?
At this time, Ji Sun Yiru had already been arranged by him to silence him. Ji Sunsu knew that as long as Li Ran couldn't catch the murderer, there would be nothing against him.
Don’t you want to find out the truth? Okay, I'll give it a try and see what else you, Li Ran, can do!
"This Li Ran...hehe, you really have some skills, and I almost got into your trap. Okay, come on, a prince, an uncle, Sunbao, and you, the three of you, please look after me Come on!"
At this time, Ji Sunsu stood aside and was calm, but boundless hatred was already arousing in his heart.
But Li Ran definitely had no way of knowing all this. He only knew that the first phase of his plan had been successful.
The fake prince heard this and didn't say anything more. After all, his mission today was to let Li Ran finish what he said.
As for Shusun Bao, he was even more sensible and knew that if he didn't know all Li Ran's plans, he would be wrong if he said too much, so he remained silent from beginning to end.
"Come here! I give you an order to start a city-wide search for the assassin immediately!"
So, the false prince issued his second order as a prince.
