In my previous life, I killed my whole family. In my next life, I killed the royal family.

The emperor took a few quick breaths and finally managed to hold on. His voice was like a candle flame blown by the wind, erratic, yet with a hint of nervousness.

He asked quietly, "Are you... coming back to take back the throne?"

Wang Qin raised his lips slightly, revealing a disdainful sneer. His eyes were as cold as a frost knife, as if they could penetrate the emperor's soul, and the emperor lowered his head.

Wang Qin said coldly: "Who would care about the world you have ruined?"

When the emperor heard his younger brother Wang Qin's evaluation of the world under his rule, he couldn't help feeling dissatisfied.

He widened his eyes and tried to look more dignified, but his weak body prevented him from doing so.

He gritted his teeth and argued in a low voice: "How can the world be dilapidated? Taxes have increased a lot compared to more than ten years ago, and the bandits who used to roam around have been recruited and have disappeared."

Wang Qin frowned slightly, and a hint of dissatisfaction flashed in his eyes.

He questioned the emperor: "Now there are so many corrupt officials, and the phenomenon of buying and selling official positions continues despite repeated bans. Isn't this considered a mess?"

The emperor's arrogance dropped instantly, and his voice became low and weak.

He murmured to himself, "Maybe the situation is not that bad..." However, his tone revealed a sense of uncertainty, and he seemed not to have much confidence in his own defense.

In fact, the emperor spent too much money on building an underground palace, constructing a villa, recruiting bandits, and sending people to search for Wang Qin's whereabouts, which led to the country's financial constraints. He had no choice but to resort to this last resort.

He secretly sold some unimportant official positions in exchange for a large amount of silver to enrich the national treasury. Unexpectedly, his behavior set a bad example for the prince.

The prince not only imitated the emperor's practice, but even went a step further and bought and sold more official positions in order to gain more wealth and personal connections.

In addition, the second and third princes also secretly used their power to embezzle and accept bribes for personal gain.

These actions seriously undermined the fairness and integrity of the court, and gradually plunged the entire officialdom into chaos.

The emperor was aware of these things, but pretended to be ignorant and allowed the princes to sell official positions, embezzle money, and form cliques.

"They are all my sons anyway." This is what the emperor thought.

He refused to admit that he was incompetent in governing, and repeatedly argued, "I haven't lost. The world is still fine. I won't lose."

Wang Qin threw a letter into the emperor's arms, "Undefeated? See if you can defeat me."

The Emperor opened the letter and read its contents by the light of a lantern in the corridor.

"Prince, we must start preparing for our joint conquest this year. You help me, and I help you..."

The emperor was so angry that his hands were shaking as he held the letter. He was a ruthless man who killed his own brother for the sake of his kingdom.

His son was even more ruthless. For the sake of his country, he joined forces with the enemy and sent troops to the capital to help.

If someone makes public the news that the third prince is seeking help from the enemy in order to seize the throne, there will be no generals left to lead troops to kill the enemy.

Perhaps, before the enemy troops even entered the capital, the war had already broken out in other parts of the country.

When the emperor thought of this, he shuddered all over.

His thin face turned blue with anger, and he cursed, "That evil creature!"

He put away the letter and said to Wang Qin, "I will imprison him forever."

Wang Qin said coldly: "If you don't use the charges to execute him, I will make his other letters public."

"I..." The emperor opened his mouth.

Wang Qin ignored him, turned around and left, and his figure disappeared after a few steps.

The emperor then understood that Wang Qin's kung fu was so powerful that he could come and go without a trace.

The emperor did not sleep all night and sat there doing nothing.

When he was about to go to court, he called the imperial guards and said, "Kill the beauty on the bed."

The beautiful woman who accompanied him at night was pulled out of her dream, and before she could wake up, she had died.

The emperor put on his dragon robe and went to the morning court.

The emperor, who seldom spoke at morning court, unexpectedly spoke.

"I have learned that the Third Prince sent his guards to murder his brother. This is a heinous crime. He and his men have been imprisoned in the dungeon, awaiting punishment."

There was silence in the hall, and all the officials looked at the emperor in a daze.

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince opened their mouths wide, unable to believe what they heard.

Prince Consort Qin opened his eyes wide in surprise.

They had just heard the emperor say at the palace banquet last night: "The royal family should unite and not engage in internal strife and make a fool of themselves."

The emperor also gave the third prince two beauties and three carts of tribute as a token of appeasement.

But this morning, the emperor made such a decision again. Is he sick? Or has he figured it out?

No matter what the situation was, the Imperial Guards received the order and immediately set out to arrest someone from the Third Prince's mansion.

The third prince was lying on the bed, drinking the fine Western grape wine given by his father and eating soft and fragrant cherry cakes. A palace maid was holding a bowl of goat's milk, ready to feed him.

He received a cart of gold, silver and jewelry as a reward from his father, and he became more financially comfortable.

He planned, "When my legs are healed, I will make another one for my father when I go to Nanjing to make a dragon robe for him."

There were chaotic footsteps outside. The third prince frowned, leaned forward, and prepared to scold.

A guard ran in and reported, "Your Highness, the Royal Guards are here to arrest someone."

"Who to take?" The third prince looked dissatisfied.

He cursed, "Prince, are you crazy? Last night, the Emperor said that we must unite..."

Before the third prince could finish his words, the guards rushed into the inner room.

The leader was the left commander of the imperial guards. The third prince was stunned.

Commander Zuo was wearing armor and had a broadsword on his waist. He placed his hands on the hilt of the sword and said politely, "Your Highness the Third Prince, the Emperor invites you and your people to question him."

"What's the matter? What do you want to ask?" the third prince asked in horror.

The left commander of the Imperial Guard shook his head, "I don't know, I'm just following orders to lead people to the palace."

Without waiting for the Third Prince to nod, he waved his hand and said, "Take it away."

A team of imperial guards came in carrying a door panel that came from nowhere.

Commander Zuo considerately took a quilt from the bed and placed it on the door panel.

This action of his gave the Third Prince a false impression that "No matter how big a mistake I make, Father will not do anything to me."

The guards came forward and carried the third prince. He did not struggle or object, and let them carry him onto the door panel and onto the carriage.

The Third Prince muttered, "Do I really have to go? Doesn't Father know that my legs hurt?"

All the guards of the Third Prince were disarmed and escorted out with their hands tied.

Outside the imperial city, officials stood and watched the scene. Many of them felt uneasy, fearing that they would be implicated.

The prince looked at the third prince being taken away with a sneer on his face.

He rarely spoke to the Second Prince, "I'm afraid he must have committed a serious crime, so Father will punish him."

The second prince nodded, "I don't know what it is, and how the emperor will deal with it."

"If my father doesn't kill him, I will." The prince made a secret decision, "The less the better."

The second prince also had the same idea, "To get rid of the third prince is to cut off the crown prince's left hand."

The third prince and his guards were thrown into the dungeon, and the news quickly spread throughout the capital.

Qi Mansion Upper House

Qi Wan was very happy when he heard the news, and thought to himself, "It seems that Brother Qin has handed the evidence of the Third Prince's collusion with the enemy to the Emperor, forcing the Emperor to punish the Third Prince."

She could guess that the emperor would at most let the third prince take poison and die, and would not publicly execute the prince. After all, this was a royal scandal, and once it was spread, it would inevitably cause an uproar and might even shake the foundation of the royal family. Therefore, the emperor would definitely control the matter to the minimum extent to avoid causing a greater impact.

However, Qi Wan was not satisfied with this.

She thought to herself, "How can that be possible? How can I avenge myself if the Third Prince, that bastard, died so easily?"

In the evening, Qi Lu and his son returned from their mission and sat in the Senate to discuss matters.

There were no servants in the hall, and Qi Lu and his son talked about the third prince in front of Qi Wan.

"The third prince was fine even after breaking the princess's son's legs. This time he was taken to the dungeon. I'm afraid that incident has been exposed." Qi Lu pointed to the north.

Qi Ze nodded. He was a vice minister in the Ministry of Revenue, and his office was adjacent to the Ministry of Justice. An official from the Ministry of Justice, with whom he had a good relationship, secretly told him the news under the pretext of coming to the Ministry of Revenue to collect Mid-Autumn Festival bonuses.

Qi Ze lowered his voice and said, "I interrogated the Third Prince's men and they confessed many things, including colluding with foreign tribes to try to gain the throne. The Third Prince also has a dragon robe."

"It's very strange. The Imperial Guards went to search and almost tore down the Third Prince's mansion, but they didn't find the dragon robe, only some gold and silver."

When Qi Wan heard that the Third Prince, this bastard, had got gold and silver again, he was shocked.

She spun the beads and said silently, "Roll up all the gold, silver and jewelry of the Third Prince."

"Put in an old dragon robe and a plan book for rebellion."

A few shooting stars streaked across the window.