The wedding dates of Zhu Rui, the king of Yong'an County, and Zhu Pei, the lord of Yongping, were both advanced by a month, which also means that the day when the Queen Mother and the four princes returned to the capital was also advanced by at least a month.

The news soon spread to the capital and to the imperial palace. The emperor looked at the secret fold from King Yan's henchmen, and was quite satisfied with his brother's approach.

Of course, he knew that it was not the Queen Mother who was unwell, but the four princes, and in the name of the Queen Mother's weak health, the Queen Mother's return to Beijing was advanced, not really so that the Queen Mother could return to Beijing as soon as possible to receive treatment from the Tai Hospital, but for the sake of his body as the emperor.

After the diagnosis of the two imperial physicians beside the Queen Mother, who hurried back to the capital from Beiping, the emperor had determined that he had really been infected with some kind of chronic strange poison, and his physical condition was slowly weakening. According to the medical records, if there is no accident, his body will completely decay by the autumn of this year, and he will show signs of running out of oil and running out. If the imperial physician has good medical skills, maybe he will be able to survive until next year; If the Imperial Physician is also helpless about this poison, then he will not survive this year.

If the important ministers of the court knew that he was in such a physical condition, it was unknown whether they would agree with Yi Chu. Although the crown prince has many shortcomings, but he is an adult, he has already married a wife, and he is about to have children, compared to the half-grown child of the fourth prince, it seems to be more like an heir to the throne.

However, the emperor knew that the position of the prince must not allow the crown prince to continue to sit! In the past, it was just because Empress Cao helped cover it up, but in fact, the prince had many absurdities that were not known to the foreign ministers. Now that he is just a prince, he can kill his wife and contradict his ministers for a concubine, and he doesn't even care about his biological parents and uncle. In the future, when he becomes the king of a country above ten thousand people, and no one can restrain him anymore, won't he be more and more ridiculous?! For the sake of the Wang family's enchantress, he is afraid that even Jiangshan Sheji can give it up!

Not to mention that the Cao family is still eyeing the power of the court.

When the emperor first heard that his favored heir, the fourth prince, was poisoned, he even thought about letting the third prince succeed to the throne, anyway, he must not let the crown prince ruin the great country! But now, the fourth prince is out of danger, and he only needs to slowly remove the residual poison to recover his health, and he can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The youngest son is pure and filial, in order to save his old father, despite the fact that his body has not yet recovered, he wants to send the only two imperial doctors who know the details of the strange poison back to the capital to treat the old father, and the emperor is very moved. For the filial piety of his youngest son, he will not let others take the position of the youngest son's prince no matter what! Regardless of whether the poison in his body can be removed or not, his heir will only be the youngest son, and there will be no one else!

The emperor remembered the three princes who had often come to him to offer their courtesies recently, and snorted coldly.

King Yan and Zhu Rui sent several investigation reports, he had read them all, and naturally knew that they initially suspected the Cao family, but recently they had begun to suspect the third prince.

If the person who poisoned him, the emperor, was Empress Cao's party, then the one who poisoned the four princes would be the third prince nine times out of ten, and there was no need for the former to do more and more!

Why did the third prince poison the fourth prince? Naturally, he was sure that the four princes were his biggest opponents, but the crown prince had not been deposed yet, if the three princes did not have the handle to defeat the prince, they would directly poison the four princes, and the emperor would never believe it!

The emperor did not think that his third son had no strength like King Yan, but had always been jealous. The Xiao family still has Xiao Mingde, and with Xiao Mingde's prestige in the city guards, even if he has left the position of commander now, it doesn't mean that he can't command this group of troops! The emperor may have trusted Xiao Mingde, but when he found out that Xiao Mingde had concealed himself in Zhu Rui's affairs, just to protect his sister Xiao Guifei, he knew that this former loyal minister was no longer reliable!

Xiao Mingde once concealed the existence of an emperor's eldest son from the emperor he was loyal to in order to protect Xiao Guifei, so it is also possible that he concealed more important news from the emperor he once served to in order to protect Xiao Guifei and Xiao Guifei's son, such as ...... A conspiracy of a prince who is trying to snatch the throne.

He may even take the initiative to participate in their plans in order to protect his sister and nephew!

The emperor did not dare to pin his hopes on Xiao Mingde's loyalty. Xiao Mingde knew too many secrets about him, and he couldn't even talk openly and honestly about this matter with this former loyal minister, lest the other party be provoked and tell some secrets that he couldn't tell, which would affect the stability of his throne and hurt some people.

The emperor didn't dare to take this risk, so he could only be on guard with Xiao Mingde.

The Emperor put down the secret fold in his hand and picked up another fold on the side of the bookcase. This was handed over by Xiao Mingde a few days ago, requesting to be transferred to the Southwest Army, but he suppressed it.

If there was no such thing as the third prince, the emperor would have been willing to let Xiao Mingde go to the southwest army to monitor the movements of the Cao family's old department. But now, he really didn't dare to take that risk. Even if the old department of the Cao family may not be able to act according to Xiao Mingde's orders, he needs to beware of several garrisons around the southwest, as well as Xiao Mingde's old department. It would be bad if someone among them secretly echoed Xiao Mingde and secretly did something harmful to the society. Xiao Mingde is still safer to stay in the capital for now, if necessary, as long as he detains the other party, the power in the hands of the third prince will be weakened by half, and there is no longer enough power to threaten the fourth prince.

The emperor put down Xiao Mingde's fold again, picked up King Yan's secret fold, and secretly made up his mind.

He summoned his henchman eunuch and whispered instructions, and the eunuch quickly took the order and left. Two hours later, the eunuch turned around and reported to the emperor: "The several chamberlains and guards ordered by the emperor have been detained in the prison and can be interrogated at any time." ”

The emperor nodded: "Let Jiao Wenying take people to ask who the people behind them are, what they have done, and what other accomplices are in the palace!" ”

The eunuch took the order again. The emperor touched the secret fold in his hand, squinted his eyes, looked gloomy, and was silent.

He summoned his henchman eunuch and whispered instructions, and the eunuch quickly took the order and left. Two hours later, the eunuch turned around and reported to the emperor: "The several chamberlains and guards ordered by the emperor have been detained in the prison and can be interrogated at any time." ”

The emperor nodded: "Let Jiao Wenying take people to ask who the people behind them are, what they have done, and what other accomplices are in the palace!" ”