After Su Xiao successfully dealt with Ioseco, the morale of the Imperial Guards was greatly boosted, and they marched all the way into the courtyard of Chief Judge Hervey.
"Did you find something?" Su Xiao turned his head slightly and motioned to Bob Wang to look for Chief Judge Hervey to prevent this guy from escaping through the secret passage.
Bubu barked and then disappeared from everyone's sight.
As for Eminem, with a deafening roar, Eminem charged directly towards the wall of the courtyard.
The gate is obviously nearby, but Eminem has a special liking for the wall, and I don't know why he likes to break through the wall so much.
Eminem's huge body was like a heavy tank, bursting out with astonishing power the moment it was about to hit the wall.
There was only a loud noise, and the wall collapsed under the impact of Eminem, sending up smoke and dust all over the sky.
"That old guy Rowan Harvey couldn't hold himself back and was about to run away. Now he is packing his things at home. After finishing packing, the old guy has been sitting in front of the table, apparently waiting for something." Su Xiao hurriedly approached. When he arrived in front of Lin Yi, his eyes fell on the tablet in Lin Yi's hand. He saw that Rowan Harvey did not pack too many things and only brought a few of his most commonly used items with him.
Now that he is preparing to run away, Rowan Harvey will not be able to use any of the items here.
"Rowan Harvey is too conspicuous. I'm afraid this guy will do something to divert our attention tomorrow. Otherwise, it will not be so easy for him to escape." Lin Yi frowned slightly and said thoughtfully.
After playing Pi Pang's decryption game, Lin Yi gradually began to understand some criminal psychology.
After he stepped into the role of Rowan Harvey, he discovered that if he wanted to escape, the best way was to leave quietly when no one else was paying attention to him.
"Tomorrow the old king will host a banquet for all ministers and the crown prince."
"It seems like something will definitely happen at the banquet tomorrow. I've taken away twenty of your guards."
"Yes." Su Xiao nodded. The number of these guards did not have much impact on him.
Even if Su Xiao is the only one here, he is confident that he can kill the entire courtyard with Eminem.
The role of the Imperial Guard is mainly to represent the will of the old king, and at the same time, it also serves as an eyeliner to keep an eye on Su Xiao to prevent him from knowing something he cannot know. The previous high priest is a lesson learned.
Lin Yi ordered twenty praetorian guards and led Hicks out of the courtyard of Chief Judge Hervey.
"You go back and report, tell him that Rowan Harvey may be at risk of defecting, and ask him to send me more people."
After hearing Lin Yi's words, the imperial guards assigned by Lin Yi knelt on one knee to show their acceptance of the order, then stood up and ran towards the palace.
About twenty minutes later, Lin Yi led a dozen guardsmen to the vicinity of Rowan Harvey's mansion.
Rowan Harvey's mansion is located near the royal palace, and the surrounding mansions are all occupied by officials who are very important to the kingdom.
Here, killing just one person would most likely have a huge impact on the political stance of the entire kingdom.
Lin Yi was well aware of the stakes involved and did not dare to act without authorization.
After all, Rowan Harvey hasn't really run away yet, he just showed the intention of running away.
If he acted privately, he would probably alert the enemy and alert Rowan Harvey, causing the Necron clan behind him to disappear.
Soon, the soldiers Lin Yi sent before appeared near Lin Yi with 300 imperial guards.
At the same time, the soldier also brought a secret letter from the old king.
Lin Yi received the secret letter, which contained only a very simple sentence.
"If Rowan Harvey leaves the royal city tonight, he will be killed without mercy."
The old king did not fall asleep. After taking the medicinal powder made by Lin Yi, he was surprised to find that his sleep time was getting shorter and shorter.
This is definitely not a good sign. Obviously, the old king's body is evolving in an inhuman direction.
When he learned the news from Lin Yi, the old king was not shocked.
He had already expected it, just because he had never been able to catch Rowan Harvey before.
Since the opponent showed his hands and feet this time, the old king didn't mind cleaning him up, but the old king still wanted to use Rowan Harvey to fish, so he didn't order Lin Yi to take action immediately.
He was eager to see how rampant the power behind Rowan Harvey could be.
Whether they can successfully send Rowan Harvey out without them even realizing it.
If the forces behind Rowan Harvey can even do this, then the old king is determined to bloodbath the upper echelons of the entire kingdom.
In addition to the sharp "iron hand", the hyena Heslett, the commander of the kingdom's military forces, and the consul Joe Valentine, who is responsible for managing most of the officials, will also be involved in this turbulent storm. among.
After all, even Treasurer Rowan Harvey dared to commit treason, so why wouldn’t others?
If the Rowan Harvey matter cannot be properly resolved tonight, then the old king will not mind taking a group of people away when he is dying.
He wanted to leave a clear political environment for the new emperor, even if he paid a huge price for it.
"Tch, here comes the fishing trick again." Lin Yi looked at the content on the note and instantly understood in his heart that the old king planned to use Rowan Harvey to lure out the forces behind it.
In this case, let’s take a good look at who is the mantis and who is the oriole.
At this moment, as Su Xiao began to vigorously eliminate dissidents, the entire king's capital was like a turbulent sea. It seemed calm on the surface, but in fact, it was surging underneath.
[Tip: The Hunter has completed the side mission: Purge, and has obtained 100,000 Paradise Coins. 】
"It looks like Bai Ye's work is over."
After hearing the reminder from Samsara Paradise, Lin Yi knew that Su Xiao's work was done.
Because of the Rowan Harvey incident, the old king urgently ordered Su Xiao, who had just completed the cleanup task, to enter the palace.
The old king handed Su Xiao a longer list. Some of the officials on this list were originally planned to be cleaned up later, but now the situation has changed and they have to act in advance.
There are also some people on the list who are quite close to that old guy Rowan Harvey.
In order to avoid subsequent trouble, the old king decided to let Su Xiao clear out all these people at once.
Su Xiao looked at the list of nearly a hundred people in his hand and knew clearly that this time the old king was obviously ready to take action.
A large-scale clean-up operation began.
At around one o'clock that night, a total of 119 officials, big and small, were taken away from the royal capital.
Eighty-six of them were sentenced to death, 19 were imprisoned for life, and the rest faced several years in prison.
The old king had carefully arranged this purge operation, so the entire power system was basically not affected too much.
That night, corpses were transported out of the royal capital one by one, one by one.
The streets were filled with a strong smell of blood, which was nauseating.
Those princes and princesses had no idea that before they arrived in the royal capital, the old king had dealt with the instability here resolutely.
The relationships among these officials who were dealt with within the kingdom were as intricate as the roots of a tree.
They have all been officials throughout their lives and have gone through countless ups and downs.
Although those princes and princesses are very capable in their respective fields, when it comes to power struggles, they are no match for these sophisticated people.
After all, the territory they govern is too far away from the royal capital and is beyond their reach.
At this special point in time, the danger level in the royal capital is no less than that on the frontline battlefield.
The evil in people's hearts is the most terrifying thing.
As for Rowan Harvey, he had already stood up and left the room.
He knew in his heart that since the kingdom suddenly purged so many officials, someone would definitely need to search their homes, and at this time, no one was more suitable than him.
If the old king had not given the order at this time, then Rowan Harvey would be preparing to run away now.
Sure enough, after Rowan Harvey left the room, he immediately saw a knight riding a big red horse rushing to his mansion like lightning.
The knight held the old king's secret letter, and Rowan Harvey understood what the old king's order was without even opening it.
Lin Yi followed Rowan Harvey from a distance to prevent the old guy from disappearing suddenly.
That night, everyone in the royal capital was in danger.
When the "iron hand" knocks on their door, it means their death is coming.
Therefore, all the officials in the royal capital stayed awake all night, their hearts filled with fear and uneasiness.
They don't know if they will be taken away next, so they can only wait in this long dark night.
…
Early the next morning, as the sun rose in the sky, nothing seemed to happen in the capital. In other words, the civilians had no idea what happened last night.
The princes and princesses closest to the royal capital will arrive at the royal capital today.
At the gate of the royal capital, an extremely luxurious carriage slowly drove in from the city gate.
The entire carriage is carefully made of metal, showing solemnity and luxury with gold patterns on a black background.
The driver is a sharp-eyed knight, and the cart is pulled by two black horses with single horns on their heads, which is an extremely rare species.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a handsome man about 40 years old with a mustache on his chin leaned out of the carriage. He was the eldest prince in the old king's mouth.
"We finally arrived at the Royal Capital." The eldest prince looked at the scenery of the Royal Capital from a distance. The smile on his face was very gentle, giving people a feeling of spring breeze.
"Your Highness, we have many opponents this time, and there are many people we need to win over."
An old man in the carriage spoke. He was a confidant of the eldest prince.
"There are indeed many enemies, but there are not many people who need to be won over. The kingdom's treasurer Rowan Harvey, the consul Joe Valentine, and the army commander Huslett, as long as they have the support of these three people, there is no need to win over. People are my opponents, and the three of them are my father’s right-hand men.”
"What about the Iron Hand? If these three are his right-hand men, then the Iron Hand is almost His Majesty's representative."
The old man spoke, he wanted to win over Su Xiao, the iron hand.
"Iron Hand? That is the ruling party, not something we can fight for. His support is too fantastic, so I didn't even consider it. Last night he bloodbathed the royal capital. How glorious was the chief judge Hervé Anthony? It's just a corpse now."
The eldest prince sat back in the carriage. He was the first heir of the old king to arrive in the royal capital, and he also had the 'right to avoid death' secretly granted by the old king. He was the favorite in this power struggle.
But he didn't know that the Rowan Harvey he was planning to win over had already been targeted by Lin Yi and the old king.
If the eldest prince rushes to win over Rowan Harvey at this time, he will undoubtedly be lighting up the toilet - courting death.
Today's old king is extremely suspicious. Anyone involved with Rowan Harvey can be said to have been included in the cleanup list.
At the same time, Su Xiao received a summons from the old king. In fact, all the middle and upper-level officials in the royal capital received the summons.
The reason is that the first batch of princes and princesses arrived.
There are ten potential heirs to the throne who rushed to the royal capital this time, including six princes and four princesses.
Their arrival was like pebbles thrown into a calm lake, instantly causing waves in the capital.
All forces were secretly observing and speculating on the movements of these princes and princesses, as well as the old king's true intentions.
The old king had a total of forty-nine direct descendants, which was quite a number.
As for illegitimate children, they were even more numerous. After all, the old king had many women.
As long as his body can bear it, getting an heir is just a matter of probability.
Illegitimate children are naturally not qualified to inherit the throne. Only the children born to the queens are the direct children of the old king.
Of course, there is not just one queen. Each of these queens has different backgrounds. Some are the daughters of powerful officials, and some are the daughters of wealthy businessmen.
Thirty-six queens combined represent a huge network of power.
The center of the power network is the old king, surrounded by powerful ministers and wealthy businessmen, and it is these queens who connect the two.
They are an important part of the composition of rights, but they cannot have real power in their hands, or in other words, they should not have real power in their hands at all.
They just need to be a bond, and once they have power, things don't go well.
The queen who has no real power is basically in a state of soy sauce in the struggle for power.
The new king's ascension actually has little impact on them. The new king also needs to use them to maintain the surrounding powerful officials and wealthy businessmen.
Royal power is like a spider web, the structure becomes more complex toward the outside.
The old king is the spider in the center of the web. It shakes the web from time to time to check for damage and to know whether there is prey on the web.
Naturally, the forty-nine descendants of the old king would not all be involved in the fierce struggle for power.
Eighteen of them have given up on this fight for power. It’s not that they lack ambition, but that they were pushed out early and lost the capital to compete. However, this time they will also rush to the royal capital.
Sixteen of the remaining thirty-one people have an attitude, that is, don't mess with me casually.
They will not voluntarily give up the fight for rights, but they will not actively compete.
If a prince or princess has an absolute advantage in seizing power, they will support that party in the hope that after the other party succeeds to the throne, they will obtain an idle position with a large official position but no real power, which is commonly known as a prince.
These sixteen princes or princesses who were like soy sauce were all relatively young. They knew that they could not compete with their elder brothers, so they chose to give up temporarily.
But don't think these people are completely harmless, they just are, for the most part.
If a God-given opportunity arises, they will transform themselves into the next king. Of course, this possibility is slim.
When Su Xiao entered the banquet hall in the palace, she found that more than a hundred people had gathered here.
Don't underestimate these hundreds of people, any one of these people will be a big shot.
If you don't have real power and huge wealth, you are not qualified to attend this luncheon.
There are many long square tables placed in the banquet hall. High-end drinks, various rare fruits, and exquisite snacks are displayed on the square tables.
The old king has not shown up yet, so the atmosphere in the banquet hall is very lively.
Among the many officials, there are also many big businessmen.
Although they hold a lot of wealth in their hands, their status in the banquet hall is not high.
The reason why the old king summoned these big businessmen was mainly to let them meet the princes or princesses. The intention was very obvious, that is, to let them choose one of them to support.
The big businessmen who caught the eye of the old king were certainly not ordinary people, but in today's banquet hall, they had become insignificant little characters.
As soon as Su Xiao entered the banquet hall, many eyes focused on him.
"Hey, this way."
A rough shout suddenly came, and the person who dared to greet the "Iron Hand" in this way was certainly no small role.
This person is Heslett, the commander of the kingdom's army, who is in charge of the kingdom's military power.
Heslett was dressed in black and had several criss-cross scars on his face. The scars were like marks carved by the years, showing the vicissitudes and glory he had experienced.
There were two other people sitting next to Heslett, one of whom was Lin Yi's target - the kingdom's financial officer Rowan Harvey.
The other person Su Xiao has never seen before. According to his guess, this person is probably the consul Joe Valentine.
Su Xiao walked to the wooden table and sat down. Next to her were Rowan Harvey and three other people.
This square table is the closest to the old king's seat. Except for Su Xiao and four other people, no one else is qualified to sit here, not even the princes or princesses.
As for Lin Yi, he was sitting on an inconspicuous table at the moment.
As the vice president of the Royal Capital Alchemy Academy, Lin Yi's status in the capital is low and powerful.
Many officials would blame Lin Yi for problems large and small. At this time, Lin Yi was talking to several crown princes.
After all, according to his status, Lin Yi is the cousin of these crown princes and belongs to the same royal bloodline.
Under this situation, these crown princes also wanted to try their best to win over Lin Yi.
Even if you can't win him over, you must not offend him. Otherwise, just imagining an alchemist master as an enemy will give you a headache.
"Iron Hand, you ran away early yesterday, but I haven't had a good night's sleep yet."
The old man Rowan Harvey spoke, his face showing fatigue that could not be concealed. It seemed that ransacking a house was not an easy job.
In the invisible state, Boo Boo Wang looked at Rowan Harvey's appearance, and couldn't help but admire the other person's acting skills.
If Su Xiao and Lin Yi hadn't noticed the abnormality of Rowan Harvey, it would be really hard to imagine that the old man in front of him was actually a spy planted by the Necrons.
"It's not easy to kill anyone. I met Yoseke last night." A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face.
Now that the old guy Rowan Harvey has started to excel in acting, Su Xiao doesn't mind acting opposite this old guy.
"Joseph Co?"
The commander of the Kingdom Army, Heslett, spoke. He obviously recognized Joseph Ke.
"He is now..."
Heslett asked seemingly unintentionally, but in fact, he wanted Joseph Co to live.
"He was killed by me. If you guessed it correctly, he came to repay a debt of gratitude."
"Is this so?"
Heslett sighed, with some regret in his eyes.
"Drink a drink." Heslett picked up the wine glass. The wine in the glass was filled so full that it almost overflowed the rim of the glass.
Rowan Harvey and Consul Joe Valentine also picked up the metal wine glasses, and Su Xiao also picked up the wine glasses.
Ding~
The crisp sound of clinking glasses sounded in the banquet hall, and the four of them drank the wine in the glasses.
This seemingly simple act is actually a silent attitude.
"Bai Ye, let's talk about something private. When you killed the high priest last night, did he say anything interesting? That guy was a master."
Archon Joe Valentine spoke, a thin middle-aged man who was responsible for managing most of the officials.
Hearing Joe Valentine mention the high priest, Su Xiao immediately turned his eyes to look at him.
Sure enough, none of the guys in front of me were fuel efficient. (End of chapter)