The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 480 Don’t Be Born Into a Royal Family in Your Next Life

On March 3, the third year of Daye, Prince Changning Yang Yan was poisoned to death. Subsequently, Yang Yong's sons, Prince Pingyuan Yang Yu, Prince Ancheng Yang Jun, Prince Anping Yang Yi, Prince Xiangcheng Yang Ke, Prince Gaoyang Yang Gai, Prince Jian'an Yang Shao, and Prince Yingchuan Yang Ying were exiled to Lingnan.

By the way, although they were members of the royal family, the sons of the deposed Crown Prince Yang Yong were demoted to commoners and no longer had the title of king after Yang Guang came to power. Even so, they were still feared and persecuted by Yang Guang.

If there were two individuals crucially involved in the deaths of Yang Yong's sons, they were Yang Su and Yun Dingxing. Yang Su, a man of great ambition, constructed a secret underground chamber in the capital Chang'an, connecting the city to the imperial palace, containing countless treasures, weapons, and armor. Having helped Yang Guang secure the throne and enjoyed immense favor, he became wary of the deposed Crown Prince, Yang Yong. At Yun Dingxing's instigation, Yang Su petitioned Yang Guang, consolidating his position and eradicating Yang Yong's descendants.

However, Yang Su died suddenly (he died in office in the second year of Daye) before he could see the deaths of Yang Yong's sons. Later, Yun Dingxing (Yang Yong's father-in-law) decided to draw a clear line with his son-in-law for his own future, and persuaded Emperor Yang of Sui to kill these useless grandsons through Yuwen Shu.

In the third year of Daye, under the persuasion of Yuwen Shu and Yun Dingxing, Yang Guang still raised the butcher knife after confirming that his throne was stable and the royal family would not care about Yang Yan and others. He first poisoned Changning King Yang Yan, and then exiled Yang Yong's sons, intending to kill them one by one along the way.

At this time, Yang Guang was still the domineering king who would have the final say in the future. He poisoned Yang Yan to test the bottom line of the royal family. He knew that it would not be wise to openly sentence his other nephews to death. Sometimes kings also need to be secretive in their actions, at least they cannot do bad things openly.

Yang Yong's sons had also grown up and were living in fear and uncertainty because of the persecution by Yang Guang. Their maternal grandfather Yun Dingxing, to whom they had taken refuge, was a fence-sitter and a snob who was willing to sell out his grandsons for his own future.

When the news of Yang Yan's death came, Yang Xuyan and Anlong immediately mobilized Buzhou's forces to get the news of Yang Yong's other sons as soon as possible. After learning about the exile route, they issued the first mission after the establishment of Buzhou's assassination department.

"Assassinate the son of the late Crown Prince Yang Yong!" The mission is not to rescue but to assassinate. It requires one person to be killed every day without being noticed by the escorting officers and soldiers, and the action must be taken three days later.

The Buzhou Anbu was established only half a year ago and has a hundred members, half of whom are under ten years old, there are no more than a dozen adult men, and the oldest is less than twenty-five years old. They practice Yang Xuyan's simplified introductory assassination technique of the Butian Dao, and also have various knowledge of disguise, spying, assassination, and poisoning. This is the first major public mission after the establishment of the Anbu. If the mission is completed, further martial arts inheritance will be obtained.

The members of the Anbu are all miserable people. They obey the orders of Yang Xuyan and Anlong. Killing is not a difficult thing for them. The first thing they do after joining the department is assassination. They use human life as a token of their loyalty to join the Anbu. The assassins are also arranged by Yang Xuyan.

Seven former princes were exiled to Lingnan, and there were hundreds of officers and soldiers escorting them, as well as two generals, all of whom were veterans of many battles. They were picked up and dropped off by government offices along the way, and they could use the post stations at will. However, strange things happened soon after they left Chang'an.

On the first day, there was a chaotic fight outside the post station, resulting in dozens of casualties, and alarmed hundreds of officers and soldiers, who were unable to sleep all night.

On the second day, when passing through a river, the official ship was hit by a merchant ship and capsized. Seven former princes fell into the water. Two of them were very frightened and had a high fever that night. The doctor diagnosed it overnight and managed to suppress the fever.

On the third day, they checked into the government office. Several night watchmen were missing and the guards were fast asleep. At dawn, they found that Prince Pingyuan Yang Yu had died. The doctor diagnosed that it was because he had caught a cold after falling into the water and had taken too much medicine.

On the fourth day, the boats were converted into horse-drawn carriages, and hundreds of people paraded through the streets. During lunch, Ancheng King Yang Jun suddenly foamed at the mouth and died after struggling for a while. The accompanying doctor was unable to diagnose him and gave an absurd conclusion that he had died of illness.

However, everyone ate and lived together and had the same diet, except for the death of King Ancheng Yang Jun. No poison was found in the food, and the case was eventually left unresolved, with the news being reported to Chang'an by express horse.

On the night of the fifth day, Prince Anping Yang Yi got up at night and fell into a deep well in a daze and died.

At noon on the sixth day, a tiger jumped out during the march and frightened the horses. King Yang Ke of Xiangcheng was shaken and fell under the carriage and was trampled to death by the fast horses.

The continuous changes and the deaths of four princes made everyone anxious and unable to sleep at night. The accompanying troops increased their vigilance and mobilized more soldiers and guards along the way. On the night of the seventh day, Gaoyang King Yang Gai hanged himself, with his feet more than two feet off the ground, and there were tables, chairs, benches and other things under his feet.

On the eighth day, the two officers did not set off in a hurry. Instead, they chose a nearby temple to set up camp. While they rode their horses at full speed to Chang'an for help, they also commanded their troops to set up a tight net to prepare for the unknown enemy.

From the third night onwards, a prince died every day, which seemed abnormal in any way. The two officers strictly ordered their subordinates not to act alone, and to form groups of at least three to avoid misfortune. In fact, they suspected that there were hidden enemy agents among the soldiers around them. As the saying goes, you can guard against a thief in your own home, but you can't guard against a thief in your own home. If the murderer is among the team, many of their arrangements will be ineffective and can be easily exploited.

At noon, everything was back to normal, which made the two tense officers breathe a sigh of relief. Just when they thought their arrangement had worked, Yang Shao, the King of Jian'an, was burning incense in a temple surrounded by soldiers. A Buddha statue fell down and hit him on the head, killing him on the spot.

The soldiers were thrown into chaos. The two officers immediately secured Prince Yang Yingchuan and hastily left the temple, setting up camp in the open wilderness to prevent any possible mishaps. Yang Ying's face was bleak. He bowed profusely to the officers and thanked them, but with a wry smile, he said, "I appreciate your kindness, generals. However, if Heaven wishes death, how can we resist? And how can we resist? This assignment is inherently difficult, and it's a shame that your bright futures will be jeopardized."

"This isn't a natural disaster, but God's will. God's will is hard to defy. How can a subject defy his ruler's will?" Yang Ying sighed, looking up to the heavens. "Please, Generals, prepare some toiletries for me so I can face death clean and sound. Here's a letter. Please pass it to my wife. Tell her that Yang Ying is unlucky and can't continue to be with her. We'll continue our relationship in the next life."

The two officers shuddered upon hearing this. Could this heaven be what they thought it was? It was understandable that the man wanted to kill them, but it only made it difficult for them, the two of them, to bear the brunt of the blame.

That night, the two generals stayed up all night, and even asked Yang Ying to eat and live with them, determined not to let him out of their sight. That night, wild beasts attacked the camp, and the chaos caused by snakes and rats were resolved one by one by them. It was not until dawn that they reorganized and set off with Yang Ying.

At noon on the ninth day, a bridge collapsed and Yang Ying nearly fell into the water. He was rescued by two generals at the risk of their lives. In the afternoon, the carriage encountered a pit on the road and was shaken. Yang Ying was slightly injured. Near dusk, a fast horse came galloping and ordered everyone to escort Yang Ying back to the capital. The two generals recognized that it was a thief in disguise. They besieged it but the thief was so skilled in light work that they easily retreated.

At this time, everyone realized that all this was not a coincidence but man-made. The two generals asked Yang Ying for instructions and suddenly found that the former King of Yingchuan was already dead. An arrow appeared on his chest with four small blood-red words on it: Mission accomplished!

Everyone was shocked and suddenly found that there was a sandalwood box on the carriage that Yingchuan King Yang Ying was riding in. When they opened it, there was a neatly written letter inside, which read: Respectfully presented to the Emperor of Sui Dynasty. It was actually a letter sent to Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty.

The two officers did not dare to act on their own, so they ordered their men to rush to Chang'an, while they themselves escorted Yingchuan Prince Yang Ying in a coffin and slowly returned to Cheng'an. The journey was smooth and there was no abnormality at all.

Inside the Chang'an Palace, Yang Guang looked at the letter before him, a mocking smile on his face. "What a great leader of the Bu Tian Dao! One hundred elite soldiers escort him, one life a day, and everyone dies in a different way. Truly worthy of being the most feared sect of the Saint Sect. Regarding Lord Yuwen's family, was this Bu Tian Dao leader invited by you, my dear minister?"

Yuwen Shu denied it hastily. He knew that Yang Guang had many connections with the Demon Sect, but he didn't dare to say it openly. He only said that due to the majesty's divine power, the Lord of Butian Dao had nowhere to serve, so he wanted to use the sons of the deposed crown prince as a token of his allegiance. His flattery made Yang Guang very happy, and then he casually asked about the widows of these princes.

Without Yuwen Shu's answer, a eunuch reported the truth. A princess had divorced long ago, and now seven princes have passed away. Two of them followed the news and are now being prepared for burial. Three others remarried. One married in Sichuan, one married in Hebei, and one even married in the Western Regions. The last princess was disheartened and became a Taoist nun. She left the city early yesterday morning and disappeared.

"Identify the body and bury him with honor." Yang Guang was more concerned about the living son of the deposed crown prince than the corpses. When the dust settled, he waved his hand and asked them to leave. Sitting on the cold dragon throne, Yang Guang said quietly, "Brother, don't blame me. Since ancient times, the royal family has had no relatives. This throne above everyone else doesn't allow for the slightest carelessness. Don't be born into an imperial family in your next life!"