Chapter 545 The old emperor's plan

"Qiu Yongchao? I know him, and I killed him myself." Wu Fan said, "How did your majesty know about this?"

Wu Fan remembered that after he killed Qiu Yongchao, he wanted County Magistrate Guo to help him report his achievements. As a result, his people were directly driven out by County Magistrate Guo, and the report was left unfinished. He did not expect that the old emperor actually knew about Qiu Yongchao.

"You killed him?" The old emperor was surprised.

"Yes." Wu Fan nodded, and then told the details of Qiu Yongchao's sneak attack on the Hermit Village.

"After killing the traitor Qiu Yongchao, I wanted to report it, but County Magistrate Guo did not agree. I had no other channels to report this matter. I thought this matter would be buried, but I never thought that your majesty actually knew about it. I wonder how your majesty knew about it?" Wu Fan asked in confusion.

The old emperor was so smart. After listening to Wu Fan's words, he already understood the whole story. It was obvious that the county magistrate surnamed Guo wanted to take the credit of Wu Fan and bully him because he couldn't report his military merits himself, but he didn't expect that this matter would be exposed like this.

My Qi'er is still very perceptive, the old emperor praised in his heart.

"Wu Fan, you really make me look at you more and more with new eyes." The old emperor praised, and he did not answer the questions raised by Wu Fan.

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty." Wu Fan said.

"Okay, you go down first, I want to rest." The old emperor showed a trace of fatigue on his face, and said to Wu Fan: "The assassination of the emperor of Nanping is a matter of great importance. You need to pay attention to it and make more preparations. Once you are ready, you can set off."

After the assassination, although the old emperor had recovered a lot after many days of recuperation, he was old after all, and it was difficult for him to recover to his previous state, so his complexion and spirit were much worse than before.

"Your Majesty, the matter of the minister's fiefdom..." Wu Fan asked shamelessly.

"The imperial edict will be delivered later." The old emperor closed his eyes slightly and said.

"Yes, I will take my leave." Wu Fan bowed and turned to leave.

So the reason why he called me here today was not to reward me in person or confirm the fiefdom, but for that special assassination mission. Perhaps, the fiefdom and reward were not worth mentioning in the eyes of the old emperor. He could just issue an imperial edict. There was no need for a face-to-face meeting. Perhaps the old emperor only cared about the assassination mission.

After Wu Fan left, the old emperor was the only one left in the room again. The old emperor opened his eyes slightly and stared at the direction where Wu Fan left, with an inexplicable look in his eyes.

In fact, although the gift Wu Fan gave on the seventh princess' birthday last time made the seventh princess very satisfied, it was far from being able to directly upgrade her title. However, the old emperor unexpectedly directly upgraded Wu Fan's baron to viscount, and did not confer his territory on the spot but asked him to come to the imperial capital to meet the emperor. This was all because the old emperor had his own considerations.

The old emperor knew his situation. He was old and his health was getting worse day by day. His sons were not very capable. Once he died, he was afraid that the next emperor would not be able to control the situation. After all, whether it was civil officials or military generals, they were basically in a group. Although he wanted to change it, he did not have the time and energy to do so.

In this case, he needed external forces to break this situation. Wu Fan was the target chosen by the old emperor. However, Wu Fan was only one of the targets, not the only target. Wu Fan and the ministers in the court did not know this.

The first time the old emperor saw Wu Fan's name was before the seventh princess' birthday. Wu Fan performed well in the process of transporting grain. Not only did he deliver the grain smoothly, but he also wiped out a group of rebels on the way. The old emperor was trying to encourage others to fight the rebels like Wu Fan, so he made Wu Fan a baron. Later, at the seventh princess' birthday party, the old emperor heard Wu Fan's name again. At this time, he really paid attention to Wu Fan. It was at that time that he regarded Wu Fan as one of the observable targets, so he asked Wu Fan to come to the imperial capital.

The old emperor was originally planning to observe and test Wu Fan, but he didn't expect the assassination to happen. This incident also made Wu Fan's position in the old emperor's heart a lot more important, and the old emperor had many more expectations for him.

In fact, the old emperor has met a lot of people during this period, but the outside world doesn't know about it. These people are similar to Wu Fan. They are not famous, ordinary, but highly skilled and flexible. They are the backup prepared by the old emperor. They are prepared to be trained and left for the next emperor to use, so that the new emperor will not be without available and trustworthy people when he ascends the throne.

As for the assassination of the emperor of Nanping, this is something the old emperor suddenly thought of, and it is also an assessment of everyone including Wu Fan. Therefore, the person sent by the old emperor to assassinate the emperor of Nanping this time is not just Wu Fan. However, they don't know each other's existence for the time being. The old emperor will reward them afterwards based on their performance.

Of course, the old emperor also knew that this was a very dangerous mission with a high mortality rate. It was possible that most of the people he sent would be killed or injured, or all of them would die, and they might not be able to complete the mission. However, the old emperor didn't care. He could always find another batch of people who only had strength but no background, and continue to train, observe, and evaluate them.

And if anyone could complete the mission, then this person must be brave, resourceful, and capable, and he would definitely be the right person to assist the next emperor.

At least that's what the old emperor thought.

"Wu Fan, what your future will be like depends on your own luck." The old emperor muttered to himself.

Although Wu Fan had saved his life before, the old emperor did not give Wu Fan a back door on this matter concerning the future of Yanfeng Country. He still insisted on arranging Wu Fan to carry out this mission as planned before.

The old emperor's approach was fine from his own perspective and from the perspective of Yanfeng Country, but he ignored the ideas of the chosen people. In his opinion, all the chosen people would not refuse the opportunity to be chosen by him and to ascend to heaven in one step, and they should be grateful.

Others may really be as he thought, but Wu Fan may not be!

The old emperor did not understand Wu Fan, and only thought that he was the same as others. In fact, Wu Fan's ideas were obviously different from others. Although he lived in Yanfeng Country and even had the title and official position of Yanfeng Country, he was not a Yanfeng Country person! He did not have much sense of belonging to Yanfeng Country!

Now that the old emperor is using him like this, he may not be happy. Moreover, Wu Fan has never thought about assisting the emperor before. All he wants is to have a certain status, make good money, and give back to reality.

As for being a loyal minister of the Yanfeng Kingdom's royal family for a lifetime, Wu Fan has never thought about it, nor is he very interested.