summoned the eunuch to leave, and the eunuch outside Ji'an came in to report, and Cheng Beikui, the brother of the deceased concubine, came to mourn with his family.

Cheng Beikui served as the deputy envoy of the state regiment training in Dongchuan County, and the mountains and rivers were far away, and he missed the time when the courtiers concentrated on condolences all the way. Considering the special relationship between his in-laws, Emperor Chengde nodded and agreed to him enter the palace to mourn.

After Cheng Beikui led his family and a group of seven people into the palace, he first went to Emperor Chengde and bowed.

"Get up, before the coffin is sealed, you can still see the last side of the concubine." Emperor Chengde waved his hand and said with a tired face.

"Your Majesty, when the minister returns to Beijing this time, in addition to condolences to the concubine, there are also important things to report." Cheng Beikui couldn't stand on his knees.

"What?"

"The minister dared to bring the eldest princess of Fukuni back to Kyoto."

"Jin Yao?!" Emperor Chengde was shocked when he heard this, "Where is she at the moment?" ”

"Father and emperor——, unfilial daughter Jin Yao bows to her father and mother!" Behind Cheng Beikui, a woman dressed as an official suddenly bowed to the ground.

"Jin Yao, you are Jin Yao——?" As soon as she heard Jin Yao's voice, Empress Zhao was stunned. She opened her eyes wide to distinguish, but the woman in front of her was clearly not Jin Yao.

"Does the queen mother no longer recognize her daughter?" Jin Yao knelt down a few steps, threw herself in front of Queen Zhao, and cried: "After my daughter married Xili, she has been suffering from rashes all over her body, and now this appearance is only afraid that it will scare her father and mother, so Shen Gongzi asked someone to change her daughter's appearance......"

Empress Zhao pulled her up suspiciously, looked back and forth, and when she finally recognized Jin Yao, she hugged her fiercely, and the mother and daughter hugged her head and cried.

"What's going on? We received a message saying that you were killed on your way home......"

Listening to Emperor Chengde's questioning, Jin Yao slowly suppressed his crying, sneaked into the Xili Summer Palace in disguise, replaced himself out of the palace with a disguise technique, and took himself all the way through Rouge Continent and returned to Beijing through Lucheng around Dongchuan.

"...... are you talking about Shen Gongzi?"

"Father, this Shen Gongzi is the great benefactor who sneaked into Xili to rescue his daughter." Jin Yao invited Shen Zhu, who was standing behind Cheng Beikui, out and said with a grateful face.

"Zhenxi Jun Ru Lin Lang has seen His Majesty and Niangniang." He bowed to the ground and saluted again.

"Are you from the Zhenxi Army?" Empress Zhao looked shocked.

"Back to Niangniang, the lower officials were arranged by His Royal Highness, and Qiao pretended to be a fat powder merchant and sneaked into the west plough to receive the eldest princess back to the court. In order to get rid of the Xili chasing soldiers and Yong'an's spies, the lower officials took it upon themselves to take the princess all the way back to the court, which made the princess suffer along the way, and really worried His Majesty and Niangniang. After saying that, Shen Zhu bowed to Ling Li again and said, "The lower official failed to return to the camp within the agreed time, and asked His Highness to punish the crime." ”

"If you return to the camp as originally planned, I'm afraid that Emperor Jin Yao won't be able to see her father and mother." Ling Li stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "Fortunately, you sent a letter in time to remind me that there were spies in the army, so that I could find the traitors." ”

"There are spies in the Zhenxi army?" Cheng Beikui on the side was surprised.

"Cheng Tuanlian didn't know, the third highness was afraid that the eldest princess would suffer in the west plow, so he sent people to pick up the princess in the court of Kusu Wang before the Zhenxi army and the Wushu barge fought, who expected that the Zhenxi army was hiding a traitor, and the news leaked before the team was about to return to the camp, so that the people of the Wushu barge intercepted the princess back. After that, the Third Highness sent the lower official to answer again, and the lower official went deep into the Kusu royal court, only to learn that there was an internal response who betrayed the receiving team last time......" As he spoke, he asked Ling Li again, "But I don't know how His Highness found out the spy?" ”

"After receiving your letter, I deliberately said that the princess needed to be answered on the way back, and Zhao Dong, the captain of the school, took the initiative to ask Ying to pick up. I sent the men of the cavalry battalion to follow him, and found that he had easily passed through the Mutak checkpoint without a single soldier, and ambushed the fake princess escorted by Luo Geng eighty miles before the checkpoint, and after the ambush, he sent a flying pigeon message in the direction of Kyoto. ”

"No wonder as soon as the eldest princess and I entered Beijing, we heard that the eldest princess was killed by someone sent by General Zhenxi on the way, and it turned out to be a letter from him." Shen said with a frightened face, "It's also fortunate that His Highness has seen through Zhao Dong's clever plan, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Ling Li and Shen Zhi explained the ins and outs of rescuing the eldest princess of the Fu Kingdom in this back and forth question-and-answer session. Empress Zhao on the side was stunned. She and Ling Chong set up a witch plan to murder Cheng Zhaoyi, originally to avenge Jin Yao, but they didn't expect that Jin Yao was actually rescued by the people sent by Ling Li who sacrificed their lives and died!

"Then what is the origin of Zhao Dong?" Emperor Chengde, who had been listening silently for a long time, asked.

"Back to his father, he was the backbone of the Zhenxi Army selected from the forbidden army at the beginning of its formation. What is the specific origin, Erchen is not very clear. When Erchen detained him for interrogation, he was very angry, and only said that this move was to repay the great favor of Yong'an nobles, and then he hit the pillar and committed suicide. ”

"If the minister remembers correctly, this Zhao Dong was a strong general under the command of the auxiliary general in his early years......" Cheng Beikui hesitated.

"Auxiliary General?" Emperor Chengde's face suddenly darkened. Zhong Jishu, the general of the auxiliary state, is the prince's father-in-law, at the beginning of the year, the prince was punished and grounded for half a year for inserting eyeliner in the Zhenxi army. Thinking of Ling Li being chased and killed by the killers of the Night Rain Pavilion on his way back to Beijing, he suddenly couldn't sit still, "Come on, go and invite the prince!" ”

"Your Majesty, the concubine is guilty!"

As soon as Emperor Chengde mentioned the crown prince, Empress Zhao suddenly knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty. She knew that the matter of witch Gu was unnecessary, and if Emperor Chengde seriously investigated it, not only would she be involved, but she would also be involved in the crown prince Ling Chong. Rather than this, it is better for her to take all the matter and protect the prince.

"What's the queen's crime?"

"Your Majesty, Cheng Zhaoyi's death was indeed committed by a concubine. The concubine heard that it was said that the three princes sent someone to kill Jin Yao in order to seek war merits, and in grief, they executed Cheng Zhaoyi to vent their anger with witchcraft. The concubine was ignorant, impulsive, and reckless, and she lived up to His Majesty's love, and she was sorry for the innocent Cheng Zhaoyi, and the concubine was willing to accept the crime and be punished...... "Empress Zhao didn't know the real reason why Emperor Chengde wanted to summon the prince, and she only thought that the matter of witchcraft was about to be exposed, so she took all the responsibility on her head.

When Jin Yao heard that she had designed to kill Cheng Zhaoyi because of a rumor, she looked incredulous: Is this still her loving and generous mother?

Listening to Empress Zhao explain the reason for her mother's murder, Ling Li slapped his palm on a sacrificial jade pixiu placed beside him, and the pixiu was shattered into a pile of powder in an instant. Everyone in the hall was stunned for a moment, and Concubine Xu was even more frightened and retreated several steps.

"Your Majesty, the matter of witch Gu was done by one of the concubines, please punish the concubines heavily and correct the palace." Empress Zhao saw that Emperor Chengde was already angry, lest he be angry with the prince, so she bowed down to the ground and emphasized that this matter was only done by herself.

Emperor Chengde looked at Empress Zhao kneeling in front of him in disbelief. She has been in charge of the middle palace for many years, has always been benevolent and demure, calm and decent, and gave birth to the eldest princess and the eldest son of the emperor of Nanyue!!