The weather in the imperial capital has gradually warmed up. In the side hall next to the main hall in the palace, he is sitting on the sofa where he sits most often. On the coffee table in front of him are two opened envelopes and a folded envelope. stationery.
The letter on the table was sent by Xiaoyue before leaving the camp of the expeditionary army. It contained a report on the battle situation on the front line. The result was as An expected:
With the empire's comprehensive preparations, the rebels had no power to fight back, and their desperate fight did not cause any waves. The crusade successfully prevented the further expansion of the harm. The remaining bandits were besieged on the barren hills by the crusade, and it was only a matter of time before they were completely wiped out.
The excellent results are gratifying. All we have to do next is wait for the crusade to escort the remnant rebels back to the imperial capital, and then the interrogation can begin.
This requires patience and preparation in advance. Don't rush.
The letter An was reading was handed over by the escort instructor Haider. It contained the investigation status of the real jailer:
Xiaoyue and the others have arrived near their destination and have determined that there is an enemy surveillance network around them, which is quite tight.
In order not to disturb the enemy, the two of them will go to the village alone for the next action. They will not have the next exchange with the Imperial Capital until they leave safely.
Going deep alone when the enemy's status is unclear is undoubtedly a risky move, but it is also a helpless move.
An learned from the fake jailer Xiu En that he and the real jailer were deceived by their enemies and committed wrongdoings. These two people will become the best witnesses in the trial of the mastermind behind the scenes. On top of this, they can also get the most scarce and important information at the moment.
Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that they are within the scope of one's control and at the same time ensure their personal safety.
It is for this reason that An specially wrote a letter asking Xiaoyue to go to the village to investigate - she is the most reliable person that An can trust now.
However, An could not ensure that Xiaoyue could escape unscathed. He actually didn't know much about Xiaoyue. He thought there was nothing wrong with her. He relied more on his intuition that he couldn't explain why.
Thinking of this, An's hand holding the letter unconsciously tightened, causing the paper to wrinkle slightly.
He had this reaction not because he was worried about Xiaoyue's safety, but when he thought about it, there seemed to be a voice in his heart telling him:
She can do it.
...I hope so.
"call--"
An took a deep breath and adjusted his emotions.
In addition to worrying about the safety of her companions, An also had another concern, which was the residents of the village.
The letter mentioned that the enemy's surveillance network is quite tight, which means that the enemy attaches great importance to the target person and has no intention of releasing him.
So make an assumption.
If Xiaoyue and Floya's personal strength is good enough and they can lead a single target, although the process may be a little difficult, it is not unimaginable to escape safely.
The question is, what if the enemy begins to massacre the villagers frantically in order to vent their anger, or uses the villagers as a threat to force them to hand over the target?
Based on the current understanding of the enemy, An feels that this is not only possible, but also very likely!
Even if the local imperial armed forces could rescue them in time, it would take time. An couldn't imagine how many innocent people would be killed during this period.
He had the intention to remind Xiaoyue of this matter, but it was too late. Which way it would turn out would only depend on the judgment and decision of Xiaoyue and Froya.
——Believe her.
An raised her hand, rubbed her sore eyes, folded the letters in her hand and put them on the table.
There was a slight dizziness in his brain. He rubbed his temples and lay down halfway.
"Didn't you sleep well last night?" At some point, Miku came to An's side.
"Here you are, our great hero." A smile appeared on the corner of An's mouth.
"Don't call me that!"
Miku was originally going to rub An's head to relax him, but after hearing that call, he hit him on the head in shame.
Since that night in prison, Miku's unintentional words clarified An's thinking, and he praised her from the bottom of his heart as "our great hero".
Everyone else present thought there was no problem, but Miku herself was very resistant and shy about the title. Once Ann shouted it out, she would retaliate privately.
However, An thought Miku was cute like this, so instead of correcting herself, she often called her that.
"How dare you shout like that?!"
Miku clenched his fists with both hands, and the knuckles of his index fingers were slightly raised, pressing against An's temple, which meant "I will drill you to death if you don't admit defeat."
"I surrender."
Ann raised her hands and smiled happily.
"snort."
Miku rolled his eyes at him, released his hand and massaged An with just the right amount of strength.
"Are you feeling better?" Miku asked softly after rubbing for a while.
Looking down at Ann, her eyes were worried.
Although she couldn't detect Miku's expression, An could hear it from her tone.
...The dizzy reaction just now was seen.
"Well, it's much better now." Installation didn't notice and made a pun.
After a pause, he asked: "What about you, have you rested? Are you sleepy now?"
"I went to bed so early last night, of course I'm not sleepy." Miku said with a smile, "I'm not a busy person like you."
"Don't say that, you helped me read a lot of documents. If you didn't help me summarize it, I wouldn't be able to sleep these days."
Since the investigation was restarted, under the diligent investigation of the Imperial City people, the case has been reorganized over and over again, and many details have been dug out.
Clues on the surface continue to verify that the investigation at that time was correct, and the leader of the attack was the former guard captain.
Except for An and the others, no one was suspicious of this result. The subsequent investigation was to look for possible accomplices, and the investigators were extremely aggressive. If there were not strict rules, many innocent people might be implicated.
Even though the selection of review targets is quite strict, there are still many people who have doubts.
As progress is updated and suspects are investigated, new case files are constantly being summarized. Not only the magistrate and the princess will check these case files one by one, but An will also ask Leonhardt to go through them himself and sift through possible clues.
There are a lot of them, and without Miku's help, An would not be able to handle them.
Although Mei Ke and others wanted to help, they were immersed in art all year round and were really powerless in such highly professional matters as investigating cases and troubleshooting doubts.
To be honest, Miku's ability to keep up with An's pace surprised everyone. However, this is a good thing and something that makes Miku very happy - she can finally help An in more places!
"Come, sit over here." An held Miku's wrist.
Miku walked around to the front of the sofa and sat next to An.
She picked up the letter closest to her, and after An nodded, she spread it out and said while reading, "Have you made your decision?"
Miku was referring to the discussion the day before yesterday.
Leonhardt suggested taking advantage of the situation to selectively disclose the clues they had, and use the support of the people to investigate all high-ranking nobles. Rely on the majestic momentum to put pressure on the person hiding behind the scenes. Once the enemy makes a mistake, the resistance to catching him will be reduced to a minimum. Even if the other party is leak-proof, it can reduce the scope of suspects to the minimum, making it easier to defend.
Erlan immediately expressed his opposition. He believed that although this method was feasible due to the people's respect for the regent, no one knew the strength of the mastermind behind the scenes. If we do this, the enemy may jump over the wall in a hurry, causing irreparable losses to the empire. What's more serious is that emotionally out-of-control people may be misled by the enemy, and instead become a tool for the enemy to exclude dissidents!
After all, I am in the light and the enemy is in the dark. If you can't take the lead, you can only be cautious and take every step carefully.
The two opinions have their own advantages and disadvantages, so the decision comes to An.
He didn't give an immediate answer at the time, and Miku wondered if An had made a decision now.
"Is it so sudden?" An smiled bitterly, "There's no foreshadowing at all?"
Miku looked up and glared at Ann. Her intuition told her that this guy was selling his stuff.
"Okay, okay, let me tell you, my great hero..."
