Who put the yellow robe on me?

Jiang Chen's words were cut short by a sudden gust of wind. Outside the hall, locust blossoms fluttered like snow. A petal swirled and landed on his blood-stained wristband, creating an eerie contrast with the dark brown stain.

"Chen'er!" Emperor Liang suddenly sat up on the edge of the bed, the collar of his bright yellow nightgown slipping down, revealing a purple and black bruise on his collarbone. "Do you know what's hanging in the Northern Qiang King's tent?"

Jiang Chen's thumb unconsciously rubbed the hilt of the sword with a dragon pattern at his waist. That day, he had disguised himself and sneaked into the Northern Qiang army camp. In the tent where the smell of sheep and blood intertwined, he had witnessed it with his own eyes -

"It's my father's old armor." The taste of rust rose in his throat, and he could almost hear the sound of black wolves gnawing at the armor again. "They hung it on the altar with twelve black iron chains, and every new moon they watered it with the blood of captives."

Emperor Liang's skinny fingers suddenly clenched the dragon-patterned quilt, and his knuckles turned blue and white: "Twenty years ago outside Yanmen Pass, when I personally cut off the head of the Northern Qiang King, the blood spurted out of that beast..." He suddenly coughed violently, and pale pink blood foam splashed on the gilded bed curtain, just like the mandala that bloomed outside the pass that year.

"Your Majesty!" Shi Baixia's hands were shaking as he held the medicine cup. The bitter taste of deer antlers and rhino horns mixed with the smell of blood filled the hall.

Jiang Chen suddenly stood up, his black iron boots crushing the locust flowers on the ground. He untied the brocade pouch at his waist and poured out three jade tokens. The words "Wisdom," "Dream," and "Heroism" were clearly engraved on the warm, mutton-fat jade, gleaming faintly in the candlelight.

"The eldest princess, Yelu Huimin, seeks revenge, and the third princess, Yelu Mengmeng, seeks a marriage alliance." He tapped the jade token with his fingertips. "And the Black Wolf Army commander, Yelu Xiong..." The jade token suddenly cracked, revealing the dark red cinnabar inside. "He seeks the entire Central Plains."

Prime Minister He's jade scepter fell to the ground with a clang. Twenty years ago, when he had accompanied Emperor Liang on his campaign, he had seen this blood-oozing cinnabar at the Northern Qiang altar—a deadly poison made from the heart blood of prisoners of war mixed with datura pollen.

"So what do you want to do?" A gleam of light suddenly flashed in the Emperor Liang's cloudy eyes, just like the look when he rode his horse and broke into the Turkic king's tent.

Jiang Chen suddenly knelt on one knee, the scales of his armor colliding with the sound of swords: "I would like to take advantage of the opportunity of the Northern Qiang Princess's marriage proposal delegation coming to the capital-"

"Ridiculous!" Zhong Wenbin shouted, causing ripples to form in the medicine cup. "How could the Northern Qiang jackals truly ask for marriage? This is clearly a delaying tactic!"

"General, do you know what's on the Third Princess' dowry list?" Jiang Chen pulled out a blood-stained sheepskin from his sleeve. "In addition to three thousand war horses, there's also..." He paused deliberately, watching the old general's pupils suddenly shrink. "The tiger talisman that the Mu family army lost all those years ago."

"Impossible!" Zhong Wenbin snatched the parchment scroll fiercely. When he saw the tiger talisman pattern drawn on it clearly, his bronze face turned pale instantly - it was indeed the black iron tiger talisman that disappeared after General Mu died in the battlefield twenty years ago.

Jiang Chen's lips curled up subtly. "Three days ago, a secret report intercepted by me showed that Yelu Mengmeng's biological mother..." He lowered his voice, each word sharp as a knife, "is none other than General Mu's legitimate daughter, Mu Qingge."

Dead silence.

Emperor Liang suddenly shuddered violently, his shrunken chest rumbling with gasps like a bellows. Memories flooded back like a tide—the bloody battle at Yanmen Pass twenty years ago, the image of Mu Qingge charging into the enemy lines on her red horse, and the gilded arrow that had pierced her heart.

"She's not dead?" The emperor's hoarse voice seemed to come from hell, "I killed her with my own hands..."

"The one shot by Father was a substitute." Jiang Chen suddenly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the hideous arrow scar on his chest, "Just like the arrow I blocked for Thirteenth Sister in the Western Regions." The scar glowed dark red under the candlelight, as if mocking everyone.

Prime Minister He suddenly stumbled, clinging to the gilded lamppost. The corpse of "Mu Qingge," which he had personally disposed of, now seemed strangely peculiar. It lacked the phoenix-shaped birthmark characteristic of Mu family women, yet between its fingernails was stained red clay, a characteristic of the Western Regions.

"So the third princess has Mu family blood in her veins." Jiang Chen tied his clothes again, and the rustling sound of the black fabric was particularly clear in the silence. "This is the information that my secret agent obtained in exchange for three lives." He tapped the map on the table with his fingertips, leaving a dark red fingerprint at the location of the Northern Qiang King's City.

Emperor Liang suddenly burst into a wild laughter, and the laughter wrapped in blood foam echoed in the hall: "Good! Good Mu Qingge! Good Third Princess of Beiqiang!" He slammed his skinny palm on the edge of the bed, causing the medicine in the medicine cup to splash out a strange blue-black color.

Jiang Chen suddenly grabbed the teacup on the table and drank it all in one gulp. The cold tea, mixed with the smell of blood, slid down his throat, reminding him of the beheading wine he drank on the top of Qiuci City that day - when Thirteenth Sister's red tassel spear was still stuck in the enemy general's eye socket.

"The delegation will arrive in Beijing in three days, and I will put on a show." He wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, and the glass cup reflected the dark tide in his eyes. "Please ask the emperor to issue an edict to confer Yelu Mengmeng the title of..."

"No!" Zhong Wenbin slammed his scabbard to the ground. "How can a barbarian girl be allowed to rule the East Palace?"

"Who said I wanted to be the Crown Princess?" Jiang Chen suddenly chuckled, pulling a blood-stained handkerchief from his bosom. On the white silk, the ink-stained poem was so vivid that it made Prime Minister He's pupils shrink. "I see the green mountains, how charming they are. I suppose they see me the same way."

“This is…” The old prime minister’s fingertips were trembling.

"Lord Yu Wenbo wrote a love poem to the Third Princess last month." Jiang Chen gently placed a silk handkerchief over the Mu family tiger talisman. "The Third Princess's Chinese teacher is none other than Madam Yu."

A gleam suddenly shone in the Emperor Liang's cloudy eyes. Twenty years ago, he had used the same chain of tactics to plunge the Turkic royal court into a stalemate. Now, within the Emperor's shrunken chest, his aging heart began to beat violently again.

"What a great way to kill three birds with one stone!" The Liang Emperor's fingers, like dry branches, suddenly grasped Jiang Chen's wrist. "You want to use the affair between Yu Wenbo and the Third Princess to obtain the Mu family's tiger talisman, disrupt the Northern Qiang King's court, and also..."

"And let Southern Chu think we're joining forces with the Qiang to attack Chu." As Jiang Chen continued, the jade bracelet on his wrist suddenly slipped and shattered into three pieces. The broken jade surface revealed dark red streaks—it was a birthday gift from the Thirteenth Princess when she came of age.

Prime Minister He suddenly stared at the broken jade and exclaimed: "This blood stain... is the phoenix blood of the royal family of Southern Chu!" When the old prime minister's court boots rolled over the broken jade, he suddenly remembered the batch of blood jade that Southern Chu presented as tribute twenty years ago. It was a highly poisonous substance made using witchcraft.

Jiang Chen bent down to pick up the broken jade, letting the sharp edge cut his fingertips: "Three days ago, I found this in the secret room of my fake sixteenth brother." Blood seeped into the jade cracks, suddenly emitting a strong mandrake fragrance.

"Mandragora..." Shi Baixia suddenly stumbled back, "This is the incense commonly used by witch doctors in Nanchu!"

In the dead silence, Jiang Chen gently placed the blood-stained jade fragment in the palm of Emperor Liang's hand: "When the Thirteenth Sister was kidnapped, the robbers used exactly this kind of aphrodisiac." His voice suddenly became gentle, but it sent a chill down everyone's spine, "And Madam Yu..."