The temporally court hall was smaller than the one in the imperial palace, but it served well enough for Yi Long's brief stay at the temple. He sat on a high seat, wrapped in black silk, and regarded his son. "Crown Prince, what have you discovered about the culprits who attacked Miss Liu?" he inquired.
His son shifted uneasily. He glanced at his uncle, the Marquess of Jiao, who stood beside him. Then he answered: "Imperial father, the three men were soldiers from the Bao Su army."
Yi Long's eyes shifted to Marquess of Jiao, and all the officials present followed his gaze, for the Marquess was the chief commander of the Bao Su army.
The Marquess knelt down. "Your Majesty, this unworthy subject is full of guilt and begs for your forgiveness. As the chief commander of the Bao Su army, he failed to discipline his men properly, endangering the lives of both his own daughter and General Liu's daughter, and disgracing the country.
Yi Long raised a curious eyebrow. "Marquess, you say you endangered both your own daughter and General Liu's daughter. Did your daughter also suffer from those men?"
The marquess lowered his head. "Your Majesty may not know this, but those men were assigned to protect this subject's daughter. If they dared to attempt such a heinous act on general Liu's daughter, they might have done the same to this subject's daughter had they had the opportunity."
Yi Long looked at General Liu, who stood protectively beside his daughter among the gathered officials. He remembered the words the general had spoken to him earlier.
"They were men of the Marquess of Jiao, Your Majesty," the General had said. "His own guards, sworn to protect his daughter. They acted on her orders."
Yi Long's own investigation had confirmed the general's words: the culprits were indeed the guards of the Marquess' daughter, sent by her to ambush Miss Liu. But now the Marquess was protecting his daughter by claiming that she too was a victim and that her guards had acted on their own.
But what hurt Yi Long the most was his son. He knew the Crown Prince was involved in the plot to hide the truth, for if he was not, he would have mentioned the maid his uncle had ordered to be killed, the maid who had acted as the messenger between his uncle's daughter and the three men who had harmed Miss Liu.
Yi Long eyes turned to General Liu and his daughter. He felt a pang of guilt and anger that his own son had conspired to deny them justice. Yi Long had always tried to curb the Marquess' influence on the Prince, but the Marquess had always used his sister, the empress, to sway the boy, for he knew she held great influence over her son. But what the Marquess did not know was that by admitting failure and asking for mercy, he had given Yi Long a rare chance, a chance he had been waiting for a long time.
He looked at the kneeling Marquess and said, "Marquess Jiao, you have been a loyal and capable commander of both the Ding army and the Bao Su army for many years. This emperor does not blame you for the misconduct of some of your subordinates. Rather, this emperor feels that he has placed too much burden on you. The Ding army and the Bao Su army are both formidable forces which comprise of thousands of men. It must have been hard for you to oversee them all. Therefore, this emperor will appoint another person to take charge of the Bao Su army in order to lighten your burden.
Yi Long noticed the Marquess's face turn white, clearly he was caught off guard by this. The Bao Su army had a hundred thousand soldiers, which was small compared to the Ding family army two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. But still, it was a significant loss of military power for the Marquess.