Dugong

Chapter 98 Eliminating the Traitor
Imperial Horse Stables.

Duty room.

Li Ping'an sat upright in the armchair, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest. The sound was not loud, but it was particularly jarring in the quiet duty room.

"Do you know we're keeping a ghost in our house?"

More than twenty godchildren and fathers-in-law knelt in two rows, their foreheads touching the ground, waiting quietly for the governor's thunderous wrath.

"We need to know who tipped us off within half an hour!"

Li Ping'an raised a finger and said in a cold and cruel voice, "You have all seen what happened to Eunuch Deng and his adopted son. If you don't want to follow in their footsteps, you'd better go and investigate."

The Imperial Horse Administration had just obtained the confession from the interrogation when Eunuch Leng sent someone to deliver the message. Considering the time it took to relay the message, he actually found out about it before Li Ping'an did.

"As ordered."

The godsons and fathers-in-law thought of Eunuch Deng's miserable state. If Eunuch An failed in his struggle, the enemy would not let them off the hook.

The cruelty and bloodshed of palace intrigue far surpasses that of court struggles.

Officials and nobles were masters and scholars, while eunuchs were nothing more than tables, chairs, benches, bottles, and jars that couldn't even be considered ordinary people; if they were destroyed or broken, they could just buy new ones.

Li Ping'an sat alone in the duty room, his eyes lowered. He was not angry about his subordinates' betrayal.

Loyalty? In the eyes of eunuchs, it was a joke.

What truly angered Li Ping'an was that some people couldn't see the situation clearly. Seeing that Eunuch Leng was being disliked by the Emperor, they didn't even hurry up and switch allegiances.

Such a clueless spy would be better off dying sooner and being reborn into a good family in the next life, rather than coming to this shameful place, the palace, to die.

Without making the admiral wait half an hour, all the eunuchs suspected of being traitors were brought to the capital in just a quarter of an hour.

Ten of them, trembling, knelt before Li Ping'an, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

One of them was a minor official named Eunuch Wen, currently serving as a clerk in the inner stables, and he was quite efficient in handling his duties.

Xiao Yu said in a low voice, "Godfather, all of these guys are suspects. It's hard to determine which one it is. Should we send them all away or investigate them more thoroughly?"

"No need to bother."

Li Ping'an said, "Go directly to Eunuch Leng and ask him which one is his mole. If he doesn't even have this much sincerity, then we won't go to see him."

Xiao Yu asked worriedly, "What if Eunuch Leng says something wrong?"

"Eunuch Leng is a smart man."

Putting himself in the other person's shoes, Li Ping'an would never let a minor incident cause him to miss the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting.

After a while.

Xiao Yuzi returned and reported: "Eunuch Leng said that the informant was Xiao Jiaozi. This morning, he sent a message to the Directorate of Ceremonial, and then the message was forwarded to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs."

Xiao Jiaozi was a lowly eunuch who fed horses. He was honest and unassuming, but after hearing Xiao Yuzi's words, he even stopped begging for mercy.

Everyone in the Imperial Horse Stables knew of Eunuch An's methods; he was willing to part with money and even more willing to kill people.

Xiao Yuzi glanced at Eunuch Wen and continued, "Eunuch Leng also said that Eunuch Wen is another mole in the Imperial Horse Administration, and there are no others."

"Jie Jie Jie..."

Li Ping'an chuckled a few times: "No wonder Eunuch Leng was able to become an ancestor. He's much more capable than any of you. Listen carefully and learn from him. This is what it means to know what to choose and what to lose."

Xiao Yuzi quickly flattered, "Godfather, you're no less than Eunuch Leng; you'll be an ancestor in the future too."

Eunuch Fei chimed in, "Eunuch Leng is far inferior to my godfather; otherwise, why would he beg you to come over and talk to him?"

at this time.

Eunuch Wen collapsed to the ground, muttering, "Impossible, impossible. We were classmates and fellow townsmen with our ancestor. He would never betray us. I must see our ancestor..."

"Go downstairs and wait."

Li Ping'an flicked his finger, and his true energy pierced through Eunuch Wen's skull, exploding inside his head with a bang.

"A man in his thirties or forties, yet so foolish!"

As his former godfather once said, his adopted sons were all just numbers, let alone a spy like Eunuch Wen. Eunuch Leng didn't care if there were one more or one less number; as long as he still held power, an endless stream of new recruits would flock to him to serve him.

After dealing with the traitor, Li Ping'an stood up and said.

"Since Eunuch Leng has given us face, we must accept it. Lead the way and let's go to the Directorate of Ceremonial!"

……

Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Located on the west side of the Qianqing Palace, the duty room was ready to be summoned by the Emperor at any time. It also held the power to approve imperial edicts, hold the seal, write, and proclaim decrees, making it worthy of being the head of the twelve directorates of the Inner Palace.

Li Ping'an had come many times before, and each time he was humble and obsequious, bending over and sticking out his buttocks.

Today is different from the past; I swagger in, chest out, head held high.

The eunuchs on duty had already received the emperor's orders, so instead of stopping them, they respectfully knelt down and paid their respects.

"Greetings, Admiral!"

"No need to be polite."

Li Ping'an waved his hand as if the one bowing was one of his own men, and led a dozen or so accompanying old eunuchs into the duty room.

These old eunuchs all possessed profound internal energy. Although they were far inferior to the old eunuchs of the Hidden Martial Pavilion, they were very useful as cannon fodder to resist encirclement and attack.

Before meeting Eunuch Leng, Li Ping'an made all sorts of arrangements.

He sent someone to work near the Imperial Study so that if anything happened at the Directorate of Ceremonial, he could immediately notify Eunuch Yuan.

At the same time, the commander of the Imperial Guards was informed to intensify patrols near the Directorate of Ceremonial to prevent Eunuch Leng from resorting to desperate measures.

He brought enough guards with him before coming to the Directorate of Ceremonial to speak.

Li Ping'an stepped into the duty room and found it empty, with only Eunuch Leng leisurely sipping tea alone.

This ability to cultivate inner strength alone surpasses that of 99% of the eunuchs in the palace.

Li Ping'an bowed forward, as if to kneel: "This humble official greets the Commander-in-Chief!"

"No need for such formalities, Eunuch An."

Eunuch Leng quickly put down his teacup and stepped forward to help Li Ping'an down, preventing him from actually kneeling. He glanced at the menacing old eunuchs.

"Even Eunuch Yu is no match for Eunuch An, do you think you're afraid we'll harm you?"

Li Ping'an carefully sensed his surroundings and confirmed that only Eunuch Leng was there. He waved his hand and said, "Go outside and wait. I'll have a chat with Eunuch Leng."

The old eunuchs bowed and withdrew, standing guard outside the door, ready to break it down at any moment.

inside the house.

The two sat down on either side of each other, and Eunuch Leng poured Li Ping'an a cup of tea.

"The Yangxian tea sent by the Tribute Office is described in the Classic of Tea as 'the best in Jiangnan, with a fragrance that surpasses all others.' Please, Eunuch An, have a taste."

Li Ping'an picked up the teacup, sniffed it and found no strange smell. He took a small sip, actually holding his true energy in his mouth, and shook his head with a smile.

"Please don't be offended, Eunuch Leng. I'm a rough man and can't tell the difference between good and bad tea. I can drink Yangxian and Longjing tea, and I can also drink coarse tea from the countryside."

The old eunuch said quietly, "Our family is used to drinking tribute tea and has no desire to eat simple meals in temples."

Li Ping'an advised, "Why bother? It's better to let go sooner rather than later."

Eunuch Leng said in a deep voice, "Why should we give up the power that we fought so hard for? What right do we have to give it up?"

Li Ping'an nodded and said, "If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die!"

After a long silence, Eunuch Leng took out a scroll from his sleeve, opened it to the first page, and wrote down Eunuch Lai's name, position, evidence of his crimes, and even his nine generations of relatives.

“These are the forces and undercover agents our family cultivated in the palace. His Majesty wants us to hand them over so that we can clean them up…”

(End of this chapter)