109 109. Investigating the teapot. Part two.

This noon, a small house on the outskirts of Capital City was visited by a group of shadow guards who worked under Empress Dowager. This house was a small house occupied by the maid's family who was threatened by Concubine Ming. The concubine used the lives of all the family members who lived here to control the maid so that she was forced to become the concubine's conspirator to poison Empress Song; the woman loved dearly by the Emperor just so the concubine could become her replacement.

"Shadow one, inside that house, does contain people who are being held hostage by some men. This one recognizes the leader who captured them as one of the Concubine Ming subordinates from the Su Clan."

One of the Shadow guards who was sent to scout the house returns and reports to the captain of the Shadow guards who are gathered in the area near the small and old house. Even though the house is small and old, being able to stand in the Capital City area means that the house stands on the land of one of the noble families that are rented out to ordinary residents who also work in the Capital City as employees of various existing and developing stores in Capital.

"Find out whose ownership this house is under?" command the Captain.

One of the Shadow Guards went straight to the place where all the data regarding the owners of all the lands in the Capital City were recorded. Using Imperial Family's guard tokens could make it easier for the shadow guard to find out about the information they want to find. The powers those tokens possessed by the shadow guards under Empress Dowager can only be defeated by the shadow guards' tokens belonging to Emperor and Yu Wang.

"Captain, this house's land is own by one of the low-noble who has inherited this land from generation to generation."

"Hmm..it seems like the owner of this land has no connection with Concubine Ming's group. The current Su Clan's Patriarch hates low-noble relations."

"Captain, are we going to attack them right away?"

"Yes, we will attack them in a moment."

"Are we going to catch them all alive?"

"Kill everyone other than the two people who are leading this group! The Empress Dowager doesn't need small ones like them. We only need to arrest two people for the Emperor and Yu Wang to be examined."

Swish, swish.

Several people dressed all in black with veils and black hoods moved toward the small and old house inhabited by the maid accomplice's family members that were held hostage by Concubine Ming's men. Inside the house, two eunuch-like people dressed in expensive silk were enjoying some hot meals on the dining table while the family held hostage by them sat in a corner, trembling.

It had been several days since they had all been held hostage by this group of strangers. This group of people had suddenly taken all of them, hostage, when the daughter of the old couple who lived here came to visit when she had a day off from her work at the Imperial Palace as Palace maid.

"Eunuch Hu, how much longer are we going to guard this place?" One of Eunuch Hu people asked softly to his leader.

"Concubine Ming hasn't given the order to leave them all. I think it won't be long after that maid finishes her task, we can all leave from here."

"Will they all be killed?"

"Concubine Ming will not let the live eyewitnesses, let alone they are all eyewitnesses along with that maid."

"I see."

A big commotion could be heard from outside the small house, making the faces of the hostage-takers who were enjoying the food inside. Some of them immediately got up to check the situation outside.

"The enemy is coming! The Imperial Palace's shadow guard is attacking us!" The sound of warning from outside sounded inward, making Eunuch Hu and his two subordinate looks nervous.

"Take those hostages!" Eunuch Hu commands his subordinates to take the maid's family members. They can't let those shadow guards take those hostages because they all eyewitnesses for their big scheme.

Brak

The door of the small house where all the hostages were with the gang under Concubine Ming's orders was kicked open by one of the shadow guards.

"Capture the leaders, finish off the others, secure all the hostages!" The voice of orders from the shadow guard leader was heard loudly from the front door of the house which was destroyed by one of his men.

All the shadow guards burst into the small house. Some of them approached the hostages who were trying to take cover getting to the corner of the room in fear of seeing the fight that was happening in their home. Few people attack Eunuch Hu and his men who try to escape.

The martial arts of these few people was high enough that each of them had to go head-to-head with two shadow guards. Seeing this situation, the shadow guard's captain looked a little annoyed because he felt that his men looked weaker after a long period of inaction.

After a long battle, Eunuch Hu and his two trusted subordinates were caught with their bodies covered in wounds. The wounds they received did not endanger their lives, but they would not be able to escape. Shadow guard's captain removed their jaw so they couldn't kill themselves with poison. Their legs and arms had been paralyzed and their inner strength had been sealed by the captain so that they were now like ordinary people.

"Take them all to the palace. Our masters will love to interrogation them."

The shadow guards carried the hostages and conspirators of Concubine Ming's remaining men to the Imperial Palace. The Captain is sure that Empress Dowager can't wait for them to come back to the Imperial Palace, together with her two sons. According to his superior under the Empress Dowager commands, the Emperor had wanted to get direct evidence for quite a while to be able to convict Concubine Ming because the young woman had annoyed the Emperor with her dirty tricks.