Chapter 2216 - 2218: Dog-Eat-Dog Fight

Unexpectedly, Prefect Liu arrived at this moment and overheard the entire conversation between Prefectural Magistrate Song and Ye Zi’an.

Prefect Liu was furious, he knew nothing and hadn’t said a word, yet Prefectural Magistrate Song pushed all the blame onto him.

"Lord Marquis, it was my mistake, my heart was blinded by greed, but the plan came from this old man. He even instructed me to seek out those bandits, saying to incite them to fight with you, so there would be mutual destruction."

"You old bastard, I knew you had intentions to harm us, I’ll kick you to death, you dog!"

Ye Zi’an wasn’t angry yet, but the big-bearded man erupted, kicking Prefectural Magistrate Song twice.

"Ouch..."

Hit accurately, Prefectural Magistrate Song was furious but refrained from lashing out due to Ye Zi’an.

He only glared angrily at Prefect Liu, "It was clearly you who sent your attendants to find them, what’s it got to do with me? Stop shoving everything onto others." From the start, he’d planned to deny everything.

Watching the two bite at each other, Ye Zi’an roughly understood the situation: Prefectural Magistrate Song came up with the plan, then Mr. Liu executed it. Mr. Liu feared taking the blame alone, so he implicated Prefectural Magistrate Song in the letter.

Fortunately, he tampered with the letter; otherwise, it would be difficult for him to hit two birds with one stone today.

"Prefectural Magistrate Song, don’t try to argue!" Ye Zi’an pulled out a letter, "This is a letter written by you, the ironclad proof of your conspiracy to murder the court’s marquis. Before I left the capital, the Emperor granted me the authority to execute officials."

After a pause, he signalled to Ye Liu, "Arrest both of them. Conspiring to murder a court official, by law, is punishable by execution!"

"I didn’t do it, I did nothing, Liu Xiong, you’re slandering me, you’re framing me..."

Prefectural Magistrate Song struggled but was ultimately subdued by those detaining him.

Prefect Liu seemed resigned to his fate, neither crying nor shouting.

"What’s with the yelling?" Ye Liu kicked him once, annoyed by his noise, "Even if there’s no evidence of you conspiring against the marquis, you incited officials to open shops for personal gain, squeezing out other merchants. That was your idea. Moreover, when Great Qi attacked, a bunch of courtiers bought their lives with money, showing spinelessness and disgracing Great Zhou. That was your idea too, you led them, and you even negotiated with Great Qi, including the prices. Do you still dare claim innocence?"

His whole body weakened under such words.

Prefect Liu hung his head lower, realizing Ye Zi’an indeed knew everything, just hadn’t acted.

If only he hadn’t acted, at least the charges would have been lighter, but now the crimes were compounded. It’s over, completely over...

"You damned old man, you brought me to ruin!" Prefect Liu moved to kick Prefectural Magistrate Song, but was stopped.

Prefectural Magistrate Song also felt he acted thoughtlessly, ruining a perfectly good situation and dragging him into it.

On the way to prison, the two men traded accusations, undermining each other and revealing secrets.

Even the matter of Prefect Liu substituting for his brother as an official was exposed.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zi’an was almost sick to his stomach—what kind of people were these?

It turned out Prefect Liu and his brother were twins, but his brother was the actual original prefect. However, Prefect Liu’s brother was frail, and after arriving in Xining, he fell ill and died within two months.

At that time, Prefect Liu happened to be visiting his brother with his family. Having grown accustomed to a life of being served in the prefect’s residence, he had no desire to return to farming.