"This matter truly is fortunate. After receiving the general's wife's kind invitation, one of my guards went to buy gifts and flowers, preparing to give them to the beautiful general's wife. But when my guard was buying flowers, he saw a lady buying rat poison. That lady was gritting her teeth and said she wanted to poison a big rat from Philadelphia." Charles said with a wry smile.
Actually, this was thanks to Charles, the transmigrator. The guard originally told this to Charles as a joke, describing how beautiful this woman was, yet she said such vicious words.
But Charles felt that the guard's description of the woman's beauty somewhat resembled General Arnold's wife. He suddenly remembered that, historically, General Arnold was a traitor, and it was precisely under the seduction of his pro-British wife that he defected to the British.
Hearing the guard say that this woman was actually preparing to poison a big rat from Philadelphia, he immediately got a jolt, sensing that this might be targeting him, a prominent figure from Philadelphia.
He immediately sent his guards, Bidlee and Phil, to personally investigate the woman's situation in detail. As a result, Bidlee had just experienced the royalists' arrest operation in Philadelphia and recognized at a glance that this woman was a royalist who had fled from Philadelphia.
He also found out that she was indeed the newlywed wife of General Arnold, the commander of Richmond.
Charles had truly thought last night that he would have a wonderful romantic encounter today. Although he loved Diana very much, a man's curiosity, a home flower is not as fragrant as a wild one, and a roadside wild flower is not picked for nothing, it was a wonderful one-night stand, a temporary affair.
Who would have thought that this wild flower was poisonous, and it was a murderous trap?
The general's wife's fiery gaze at him last night was not a flirtatious look at all; it was clearly murderous intent.
It was really hard for her to flirt while simultaneously preparing to poison and assassinate him.
Yet, he himself seemed to be possessed, always feeling that this woman was interested in him, completely unable to see her abnormality.
It seems that although home flowers are not as fragrant as wild ones, these wild flowers cannot be picked casually. In the future, he must be cautious and vigilant, with his guards always by his side.
"Even if I said I wanted to poison a big rat from Philadelphia, how could you conclude that your target was me based on just one sentence?" Madam Peggy smoothed her long hair and asked naturally.
There was no longer any trace of tension on her face from being caught red-handed. Instead, she had the expression of a revolutionary preparing to die heroically after being captured.
This made Charles feel a little uncomfortable, as if he had become the villain persecuting her.
"Of course, Your Excellency Godfrey had already seen through your true colors. After hearing that sentence, he knew your method of committing the crime!" A Virginia congressman flattered Charles.
"Haha! I don't have such great abilities! It's just that before the Defense of Philadelphia, for the sake of internal stability, I had my guards cooperate with the garrison to extensively arrest royalists in Philadelphia.
And this lady, unfortunately, was a royalist who escaped from Philadelphia. My guard happened to recognize her and, from the person who was tracking her, found out the home address of this lady who was preparing to poison.
It just so happened to be the same address I was going to visit at noon. So my guard reported this situation to me, and I then informed the state police." He didn't directly say that he felt something was unusual and then asked someone to investigate.
"There was such a coincidence?" Everyone was greatly surprised.
"Alas! It's just that I troubled General Greene and several congressmen to come and bear witness for me. I'm truly sorry." Charles turned to thank the others.
During this assassination attempt, he had also asked General Greene and the others to call General Arnold out. One reason was to facilitate his exposure of Madam Peggy's true colors, and the most important reason was that Charles was afraid that the couple might conspire to poison him directly during the meal.
So, halfway through the meal, he had the people outside call Arnold out on time.
When he made this request, the expressions on their faces were very ugly, thinking he wanted to find an opportunity to flirt with the general's wife.
If he, as a prominent figure from Philadelphia, were to be assassinated in their territory, it would be an incredible political incident. They certainly would not have cooperated so submissively.
It was also fortunate that Madam Peggy's assassination skills were not high. The rich creamy scent of the cookies, coupled with the semi-forced feeding, allowed him to immediately identify which one was the real poison.
If she had served it mixed in with the main dishes, he truly wouldn't have been able to tell which dish was poisoned.
"Not at all, not at all. If you had any accident in Richmond, then we would truly be sorry!" General Greene's reply was very direct.
"Yes, yes! You should truly thank your loyal guard. He not only saved your life but also saved the honor of our Richmond." Several Virginia congressmen also said in unison.
If something were to happen to Charles, Virginia would certainly be blamed by other states. Such a political incident could even trigger another war.
"But I truly don't understand, Madam Peggy, why did you insist on assassinating me? You are clearly not skilled in assassination.
Even if these creamy cookies, strong enough to kill a rat, successfully poisoned me, you wouldn't be able to escape at all. It was clearly a suicidal assassination, so why did you still do it?" Charles felt a little pity for such a beauty in his heart.
Madam Peggy, upon hearing Charles' question, instead let out a faint sigh of relief.
"My father and mother were both arrested by your men during the clearing of Philadelphia. I barely managed to escape from Philadelphia, but I didn't expect you, this demon, to still not let me go, even pursuing me to Richmond to harm me.
Originally, I only wanted to drag you down with me, but I didn't expect you to still escape! But this is also good; I can finally break free from false smiles. You rebels, God will surely punish you!" Madam Peggy pointed at everyone, including her husband, General Arnold.
Facing the accusation, Charles' face showed no expression. His actions during the clearing of Philadelphia did indeed lead to many unpleasant actions by the army.
But such actions are completely unavoidable in war. If these internal dissidents are not cleared out, then when the war reaches its most intense point and they turn against us, his side will suffer.
Any American could understand his actions.
So he merely said faintly:
"Alas! Your parents, including you, I never knew.
If you hadn't actively planned this assassination, my guards wouldn't have known about you."
Seeing that no one else had questions, and Madam Peggy was still staring blankly at the few dead white mice in the cage, the state police stepped forward and reached out, preparing to help Madam Peggy up.
"Stop!" Arnold suddenly stepped forward, pushed the state police away, and stood in front of Madam Peggy. Turning to the crowd, he said, "This is impossible, Charles Godfreyng! This must be your doing.
My wife is pro-British, but she has no grudge against you personally. How could she poison you because of this? This must be a deliberate frame-up. Yes, it's definitely a deliberate frame-up of my wife!"
As soon as he uttered such indiscriminate words, Charles, General Greene, and the others all looked very displeased.
Charles was a little worried that this general would hold a grudge against him.
—
General Greene, on the other hand, originally felt that this matter had nothing to do with Arnold. Although Arnold would certainly harbor resentment against Charles because of this, he truly valued his talent and was prepared to save him this once.
But now, with Madam Peggy caught red-handed, Arnold was still blindly defending his wife, and naturally, General Greene felt that this person was beyond saving.
Knowing that Charles was not convenient to speak at this time, he decided to be the bad guy.
General Greene, having made up his mind, unceremoniously shouted at Arnold:
"General Arnold, you married a royalist and conspired to murder a high-ranking official of the Continental Congress.
You yourself are an object of judgment; where do you have the right to speak for your wife! Guards, first arrest General Arnold, and then let the judge interrogate him thoroughly!"
"Yes!"
Just then, General Greene's guards, who had come to watch the excitement, immediately stepped forward. Disregarding General Arnold's strong resistance, several people worked together to tie General Arnold up and throw him to the ground.
"No!" Charles suddenly shouted loudly.
He suddenly took a step forward, supported Madam Peggy, and fiercely pinched her mouth.
General Greene and the others also noticed Madam Peggy's abnormality. When they came over to look, they saw Madam Peggy's face was pained, her teeth were clenched, and her mouth was full of white foam, clearly showing signs of poisoning.
"Cough, cough, I will never let myself fall into the hands of you rebels!" Madam Peggy glared at Charles with a ferocious expression, her hands clawing and reaching out to grab Charles.
Frightened, Charles quickly released his hand and stepped back, letting Madam Peggy weakly lean back in the chair.
"Let's save her! She seems to have eaten that poisonous cookie she had in her hand when General Arnold was blocking the way!"
Although Charles, General Greene, and the others tried hard to save her, this highly toxic rat poison worked extremely fast.
Almost as soon as the doctor, who had come to treat her, managed to pry open her clenched teeth and was about to administer an emetic, Madam Peggy rolled her eyes and died on the spot.
"Alas!" Seeing such a captivating life disappear before his eyes, Charles let out a helpless sigh.
General Greene came over and patted Charles' shoulder, comforting him:
"She brought this upon herself; she's not worth pity. These royalists only remember the British king and don't think about the vast people of the United States.
Even if she hadn't poisoned herself now, she wouldn't have escaped death after a trial."
Charles nodded silently, still feeling a bit of regret.
"But it's still fortunate. During the last Richmond campaign, she was very close to General Arnold, so she must have had other motives. Fortunately, she didn't have time to seduce Arnold before the campaign was victorious.
If the war had dragged on and she had persuaded Arnold to become a royalist, the fate of our entire United States might have been rewritten.
Alas! Originally, if I had captured her, I would have interrogated her thoroughly to see if there were any other accomplices. During the last Richmond campaign, there was no clearing of the city, which probably had something to do with her persuading Arnold.
Now that I know her identity, I always feel that there are quite a few royalists hidden in Richmond, and we must thoroughly investigate." General Greene sighed again.
Charles felt a shiver down his spine. That truly was fortunate. It was probably because General Arnold had just arrived in Richmond when the battle of Richmond began, and these royalists didn't have time to make arrangements.
If they had been given enough time, and this Madam Peggy had hooked up with General Arnold before the Richmond campaign, this general might indeed have defected to the British, just like in history.
Even if the overall prospect of victory in the war of Independence remained unchanged, at least the Southern battlefield would definitely have changed drastically.
If Arnold had truly defected to the British, it might even have made all of America fight for several more years.
If that were the case, then his credit for dealing with this Madam Peggy today would truly be immense.
With this woman's methods, she must have already been seducing General Arnold to defect to the British. As long as a truce agreement was not signed, General Arnold could betray the United States and defect to the British at any time.
The interrogation of General Arnold quickly yielded results.
Benedict Arnold was a brave general. After Washington failed to win the Charlestown campaign last time, he was left to lead five thousand Northern army troops to guard Virginia.
When Cornwallis invaded Richmond, he was appointed city defense commander at Adams' suggestion.
This hero on the battlefield, however, could not withstand the test of peaceful days. During his tenure in Richmond, he became arrogant, indulged in alcohol and women all day, and even married Peggy Shippen, the daughter of a pro-British individual.
To please his young wife of noble birth, Arnold, who was penniless, put on a grand show and spent lavishly, soon accumulating massive debts.
Before this incident, he had already embezzled public funds for personal gain, gradually falling into corruption.
After investigation, although General Arnold had indeed not participated in the assassination of Charles, he had repeatedly provided a large amount of Continental army intelligence to Madam Peggy under her seduction.
This led to many scattered Hessian army and British army troops successfully escaping west and south to the British colonial territories on the south bank of the Ohio River.
Coupled with conclusive evidence of embezzlement, the Virginia Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to dismiss him.
Subsequently, the court, based on Arnold's embezzlement amount and his crime of leaking secrets, sentenced him to five years in prison.