Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

The Baiqisi was a special guard directly under the emperor. They were elite soldiers carefully selected by the emperor from the Yulin Guard. They were not only responsible for the palace guards and entourage, but also undertook important intelligence tasks.

The Hundred Cavalry Division is led by two commanders, the positive and negative commanders. Commander Bao Hu and deputy commander Qiu Bao are the emperor's absolute confidants.

As he grew older and learned from his own experience of ascending the throne, the emperor became more suspicious. One of Qiu Bao's important daily duties was to collect intelligence about the several princes.

"The fourth child hasn't been to the North Suburbs Racecourse for some time. When the kid wants to relax, he likes to run a few laps at the racecourse. I remember that he occupies a large share of the racecourse."

"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince has a 50% share in the Northern Suburbs Horse Farm. This is the Fourth Prince's largest private property besides the property bestowed by Your Majesty."

The emperor placed the memorial in his hand on the desk, picked up the strong tea beside him, took a sip, and seemed to be thinking about something. After a long time, he seemed to be talking to himself.

"The fourth brother doesn't have a strong family to support him, so a small horse farm like this is his largest private property. Compared with his three brothers, this horse farm is probably not even worthy of his attention."

Qiu Bao and the eunuchs all lowered their heads silently. After a while, the emperor asked Qiu Bao a question.

"Did Lao Si go to the stable alone?"

"Your Majesty, apart from Xu Jingzu and Xu Jingzong, the close attendants, the Fourth Prince did go to the Northern Suburbs Horse Farm alone."

"It's rare that he actually met a student from the Imperial College at the horse farm."

"Your Majesty, in the past, when the Four Princes went to the North Suburbs Horse Farm, the stewards of the horse farm would clear the field. However, the Imperial College has recently increased the number of riding and archery courses for students. Today, I happened to encounter students from the Imperial College practicing riding at the horse farm."

"People outside are good at reading people's expressions. They know that I don't like the mother and son of the fourth child, so few people are willing to get close to them. Over the years, the fourth child has been a little lonely. Well, he can get to know some peers of the Imperial Academy, which may help him relieve some of his loneliness."

The emperor brought the strong tea in his hand to his lips and took another sip, but asked again with some curiosity.

"Have you found out who the people who are acquainted with the Fourth Brother are? You just said that he went to a restaurant with two students for a banquet. Do you know the background of these two students?"

"Your Majesty, most of the students in the Imperial College are curious about the Fourth Prince's Xuanlei Horse, but they have not had much contact with the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince mainly met two students at the horse farm. The Fourth Prince also gave each of them a horse. The three of them ran at the horse farm for a while before going to Yunfeng Tower for a banquet. These two students are disciples of Cai Zhengqing, the former Imperial College's chief priest."

Qiu Bao's words made the emperor collect his scattered thoughts at once, and he asked Qiu Bao with some surprise.

"Who do you think these two students are that the fourth student met?"

Hearing the emperor's somewhat hurried questioning, Qiu Bao still maintained a stern expression and answered in a businesslike tone.

"Your Majesty, the two students that the Fourth Prince met are the sixth disciple of the former Imperial College Master Cai Zhengqing, Liang Jingcheng, and the youngest disciple, Ye Changyan."

After hearing the exact answer, the emperor's face became gloomy for a moment and he fell into his own thoughts for a long time.

"Did Lao Si come into contact with anyone other than his own house during this period? Especially when he went to the horse farm today, did he come into contact with anyone else?"

"Your Majesty, after the Fourth Prince came to the palace to pay his respects to Your Majesty on the tenth day, he went to the harem to visit Concubine Kang, and then returned to the Fourth Prince's residence and has not left the house since today, until he went to the Northern Suburbs Horse Farm. During that time, apart from the two personal attendants of the Fourth Prince, the first outsider who spoke to him was Cai Zhengqing's closed disciple Ye Changyan. Today, apart from Liang Jingcheng and Ye Changyan, the Fourth Prince only exchanged a few brief polite words with the students at the horse farm, and then invited Liang Jingcheng and Ye Changyan to sit in his carriage and go to Yunfeng Tower near the Imperial College for a banquet. He did not come into contact with other outsiders until he returned home at 10:00 p.m."

The emperor nodded slowly, but muttered something in a voice that only he could hear.

"What a coincidence! The fourth child is indeed too lonely. He is much older than his brothers and rarely has the opportunity to interact with people of the same age. It may not be a bad thing for him to interact with these two children and get to know them sooner."

The emperor muttered for a while, then looked up at Qiu Bao.

"From now on, you don't need to keep an eye on the Fourth Master and Cai Zhengqing when they interact with each other. Also, who spread the news that the grandson of the Marquis Dingyuan family was infected with a strange disease? Have you found out anything?"

"I am incompetent and have not yet found any specific clues."

"You still haven't found any clues after all this time. It seems that this matter is not done by the eldest and the third brother. The possibility of the fourth brother is even lower. I am really curious about who wants to muddy the waters."

The emperor showed a somewhat fierce look. As the second son's in-law, Dingyuan Hou was born to stand with the second son. The emperor was happy to see this. Among Dingyuan Hou's two grandsons, the eldest, Jin Wenxun, was indeed quite talented, but the second, Jin Wenshao, was a bit too stupid. And Dingyuan Hou's grandson, Zhan Xiaohai, whose bloodline was questionable, was a person who changed with the wind.

The emperor thought it was understandable that the second son wanted to seize the throne. On the contrary, he admired some of his actions. However, he was too nepotistic in some matters. For example, Jin Wenshao and Zhan Xiaohai, two fools, would never achieve anything great.

When Jin Wenshao was just put under a grass ghost, the emperor had already received a secret report. Jin Wenshao was arrogant and domineering. He was treated as the young master of Youshui City in the Imperial College and had a conflict with Liang Jingcheng who stood up for him. He deserved to be put under a grass ghost.

The second son's wife is also a fool. The wet nurse is such an important person, but she easily believed the words of her sister-in-law and had someone plant such a spy around her. Fortunately, this spy was only gathering information. If he had the intention of murdering people, the second son's wife would be doomed to death.

Thinking of this, a red circle was added behind the second prince’s name on the emperor’s list of candidates for the crown prince.

The emperor silently counted the red circles behind the names of the princes on the list of candidates for the crown prince, shook his head and sighed. Then he suddenly asked Qiu Bao with great interest.

"Can the grandson of the Dingyuan Marquis family use the folk remedy that has been passed down by word of mouth among the beggars?"

"Your Majesty, Jin Wenshao took a pill made of incense ash, realgar powder, and the urine of five black dogs before the full moon on March 15th. He did not have another attack that night."

“Hahaha… this idiot deserves to be punished. Although Yueyue doesn’t have to suffer the pain of being bitten by thousands of ants, he still has to make Yueyue take pills made with dog urine. He really deserves it!”