When the crown prince heard the emperor's words, his face turned even paler.

The emperor didn't ask about the result, didn't ask the reason, only asked what he was thinking at that time.

This is clearly not giving him a chance to defend himself.

It was the first time the emperor had treated him like this, and if it was only their father and son, he would have directly admitted his mistake to his father.

But now, in the hall at this time, there are more than a dozen officials standing, all of whom are important ministers in the court, and the prince is not only a son kneeling here, but also a prince, what will happen to his admission of mistake in the eyes of the ministers in the court?

"Your Majesty." A prince's subordinate official knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "Your Highness didn't mean this, the situation was too critical at that time, and there were also villagers in Shanghe Village who colluded with these people, and it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and me, so Your Highness had to be cautious." ”

The prince's subordinate officials and officials in Xijing at that time also spoke one after another.

"Your Majesty, this group of people has done a lot of evil, and they are extremely vicious, which has made the hearts of Xijing people uneasy."

"Your Majesty, it's not His Royal Highness the Prince's fault, it's that group of wicked people who are committing murder."

But this matter is too important, and some officials stand up and ask: "Then why did you hide this matter in the first place?" The Shanghe Village case was only announced to the public a few days later, saying that the bandits had looted and continued to hunt down the bandits with great fanfare, but did not say that the bandits had died on the spot? ”

So at that time, everyone in Xijing was shocked by this, but they didn't think too much about it.

"What's the point of saying that?" One official retorted, "It will only make the city unstable and the people's will more chaotic." ”

The palace fell into a quarrel again, interrupting the question and answer between the emperor and the crown prince.

In the queen's palace who inquired about the news here, the fifth prince fidgeted and looked angry: "Father really wants to punish the crown prince?" ”

The queen sneered: "If you want to punish the prince, you must abolish the palace first, otherwise the palace will not give up, the prince has worked hard in Xijing, how much he has suffered and how much hardship, and now that the world is peaceful, he will come to punish the prince with this little thing?" ”

"Don't worry, queen mother." The fifth prince said, "This is someone framing the crown prince." He turned his head and asked the eunuch standing beside him, "Have the other princes passed?" ”

Something so big happened, although the emperor did not summon the princes, as the prince's brothers, they naturally had to go to the palace to kneel outside the palace to show that they were guilty of the same crime as the prince's brothers, and it was also a support for the prince.

It was rare for the prince to anger the emperor, but there had been one or two disputes about court affairs, and when the emperor scolded the prince, everyone did so, and when he saw his brothers working together, the emperor put his temper away.

The eunuch shook his head tremblingly: "No, no." ”

The fifth prince was stunned: "What does it mean that there is nothing?" ”

"It's just, no one goes." The eunuch raised his head and said, "The second prince said that the matter was important and it was up to His Majesty to decide, and he couldn't interfere, so he didn't go, and the third prince was busy with the matter of getting scholars, and said that he couldn't leave, and when the fourth prince saw that no one was going, he just——"

The five princes raised their feet and kicked, the eunuch knelt on the ground with his stomach in his arms, not daring to cry or cry out in pain, listening to the five princes angrily scolded, "This group of villains! "Passing him over, he rushed out.

When the five princes came to the main hall, they were not hindered, and they went in smoothly.

The palace was noisy, the prince knelt in front, the prince sat on the dragon chair, and the five princes went over to kneel with the prince.

The emperor glanced at him, raised his hand and shouted: "Okay, stop it." ”

The arguing in the hall stopped, and the emperor stood up and walked down a few steps.

"You have a point." "But that's not what I asked. ”

He looked at the prince.

"I asked another question, I said that there was no chance to react to your thoughts, then I asked you, if the bandits held the lives of the people of Shanghe Village hostage at that time and forced you to retreat, waiting for you to choose, what would you choose?"

The palace was quiet, and the prince's heart was cold, and his father had to ask him for it.

Choosing to ignore the lives of the villagers, it was he who was cruel and ruthless.

Choosing to save the lives of the villagers and letting go of the bandits is not only to get a benevolent heart, but also to be incompetent.

The most important thing is that this is just a hypothesis, in fact, the bandits and the villagers are dead, so what is the conclusion in the hearts of everyone?

Naturally, the sinner who slaughtered the village was him-

The fifth prince shouted beside him, "Father-"

The emperor shouted, "I didn't ask you, are you the crown prince?" Do you want to be a prince? ”

The emperor was indeed furious, and when such words were shouted, the five princes' faces froze.

So far, only after passing the current hurdle first, the crown prince raised his head: "Father, son-"

As soon as the crown prince spoke, an old voice sounded outside the hall: "Your Majesty, this matter is not a matter of His Royal Highness the Prince's decision. ”

It was the voice of the Iron Mask General, and everyone in the hall looked over and saw the Iron Mask General walking in, followed by two military generals, holding two boxes in their hands.

The emperor's face was gloomy: "General, what do you mean by this?" ”

The iron-faced general gave a salute and said, "Those bandits are not the real people of Xijing, but the soldiers and horses planted by the King of Qi in Xijing. ”

What the? How so? The hall was suddenly amazed.

"Their purpose is to take advantage of the relocation of the capital to disturb the city and mess up Your Majesty's rear." General Iron Mask continued, "So no matter what the prince chooses, the people of Shanghe Village are dead. ”

The emperor hesitated, and the prince's cold heart kneeling on the ground gradually warmed up, and he bowed his head and choked: "It's the incompetence of the sons and daughters, and they don't even know about it." ”

An official asked, "Does the general have any evidence?" We have all verified the identities of these troublemakers afterwards, and they are indeed all people from Xijing. ”

The iron-faced general said: "These people were planted in Xijing by the King of Qi many years ago, and they are extremely secretive, if they hadn't recovered the Qi capital and counted the soldiers and horses of the Qi State, the old minister would not have found out." He turned and pointed to the box held by the two generals behind him.

"The number of soldiers and horses of the Qi State has always been wrong, and the old minister has been tracking for a long time, and found that one of them is in Xijing."

"Lao Chen arranged for people to search in Xijing all the time, and it was only recently that he learned that it had been exterminated, but because his identity was not revealed, he was silent."

"This is a record that dates back ten years, and it can be found what these people are called, where they came from, in what capacity they went to Xijing, and what names they changed."

"Your Majesty, please."

A military general stepped forward and raised the box, and the eunuch Jinzhong personally came down to hold the box to the emperor.

The emperor took a few pieces of paper from them, glanced at them a few times, and stopped talking.

"The old minister thought that the Shanghe Village case was aimed at the prince, so no matter what the prince thought, those villagers were bound to die, but fortunately, the prince was decisive." The iron-masked general said, looking at the prince who was kneeling on the ground, "Otherwise, if you let these people go, there will be the next Shanghe Village case, and at this moment, the orphan of Shanghe Village suddenly appeared, also to slander the prince." ”

"The prince's reputation is tarnished, the East Palace is turbulent, His Majesty must also be upset, coupled with the viciousness of the slaughter of the village, the people of the country are panicked."

"These orphans are hiding extremely secretively, silently, and suddenly appear in the capital, which is not something that a few orphans can do."

"Since Lao Chen found out that the Shanghe Village case involved the soldiers and horses of the King of Qi, he immediately tracked down whether there were any comrades in the same party, and after the appearance of these Shanghe Village orphans, the whereabouts of those people also appeared, and Lao Chen has arrested several of them, and is on the way back to Beijing at this time, which is a record of interrogation."

He gestured to another general behind him, who stepped forward and lifted the other box.

The Emperor took it and glanced at it a few more times, and angrily smashed both boxes down.

"Qi Wang Xiao'er!" He shouted, "Death without repentance!" Rampant to this day! ”

The ministers of the palace were busy saluting, "Your Majesty is angry." ”

The crown prince also leaned over and shouted, "The son is incompetent." Tears also flowed, but at this time the tears and body were warm.

Even if the emperor dies of anger next, it has nothing to do with him.