Lock and secure

All the officials breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Bei Zhenqing being controlled. Just as everyone was relaxing, dozens of poisonous needles flew towards Bei Zhenming.

"Your Majesty!" someone exclaimed.

Bei Zhenming came back to his senses and quickly dodged a needle by moving sideways, but he couldn't dodge the needles that were coming in succession. Everyone took a deep breath.

At the critical moment, a black shadow landed in the hall, spun around, and twisted the trajectory of the needles with his sleeves. The man stood in front of Bei Zhenming, unsheathed his sword, and crackled to block all the poisonous needles.

Dozens of people who rushed forward and attempted to assassinate were killed instantly. Everyone was frightened and stood there in a daze. The man put away his sword and flew out of the hall without hesitation.

"Coin!"

The black shadow paused in front of the hall when he heard the call, then turned over and disappeared.

Bei Zhenting, covered in blood, rushed into the hall with the remaining dozens of soldiers. Seeing the scene in the hall, he knelt on one knee.

"I am late to your rescue! Your Majesty is frightened!"

The soldiers who entered the palace were divided into two columns and quickly controlled the scene. The rebels were shackled and taken away, and the Prince of Qi was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison for attempting to usurp the throne.

The Red Guards of Zhumen escorted food into the city and cleared out the rebels in various parts of the capital. By dawn, the capital was peaceful.

The sun shines through the imperial dragon ball on top of the red gate. Hundreds of officials are paying homage as the post-war morning court session is underway.

"Who sent the food?"

The Red Guards lieutenant general, covered in blood, knelt before the palace and said, "Your Majesty, the food and fodder were delivered to the Red Guards camp by the monks from Daci Mountain in Yuanzhou."

"How can a group of monks afford to buy so much food? Are you just talking nonsense?!"

Bei Zhenming squinted his eyes and looked at a soybean carefully.

Soybeans are easy to grow and easy to cultivate, but there is no good way to prepare them.

Bei Zhenting had not yet taken off his blood-stained clothes, and his eyes were fixed on the half-opened bag of soybeans in front of the hall.

He already knew what Luo Yao had done during the poisoning period. Making tofu from soybeans was Luo Yao's doing. A large part of the food and fodder was soybeans, and it was most likely sent by Luo Yao.

Resisting the urge to go to Daci Mountain to find Luo Yao, Bei Zhenting forced himself to stand in front of the hall.

Bei Zhenming also guessed that it was Luo Yao who sent it. It can be said that Luo Yao completely overturned his previous guess. However, since Luo Yao was rescued by someone, who rescued him? How did so much food and fodder get collected and transported to the capital?

Bei Zhenming turned his gaze to the officials in the audience, "Has there been any news from Yuanzhou, Zhezhou, or Hanzhou?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier rushed into the hall.

"Report! Disaster victims from Yuanzhou and Zhejiang are crossing south!"

All the officials were in an uproar. Bei Zhenting and Jiang Zecheng had serious expressions, and Bei Zhenming stood up directly.

This year has been full of disasters. The drought in the north is severe. The disaster relief efforts in summer and autumn, coupled with the civil unrest and war, have left the whole country without food. If there are really disaster victims appearing in Yuanzhou and Zhejiang, a civil explosion will definitely occur!

"What a good thing!"

"I'm afraid there's not much food left in the entire Greater Chengdu..."

Just as everyone was having a headache, a young eunuch hurried into the hall and presented two memorials.

"Bring it up quickly and let us see it!"

Zhu Shengyuan took the memorial and presented it to the emperor. "Your Majesty, I'm from Yuanzhou and Zhejiangzhou."

Bei Zhenming couldn't wait to open it, read it quickly, and was surprised.

"What's wrong with Your Majesty?" All the officials were puzzled.

"Hurry up! I need to write an imperial edict to reward the two governors of Yuanzhou and Zhezhou!"

"Your Majesty, what's going on?!" someone asked loudly in confusion.

Zhu Shengyuan's shrill voice rang out: "Ministers, don't worry about Yuanzhou and Zhezhou. These two states are very stable now!"

Bei Zhenting and Bei Zhenqing were completely bewildered.

Seeing that they were confused, Bei Zhenming generously asked Zhu Shengyuan to take the memorial down and show it to all the officials.

After Bei Zhenting and Jiang Zecheng read it, the memorial was passed to Fu Yushi. All the officials ignored etiquette and gathered around Fu Yushi to check it out.

All the officials were stunned by this sight. Bei Zhenting and Jiang Zecheng looked at each other, both of them with confusion in their eyes.

"Who is this young man sent down from the imperial court to provide disaster relief? We have never heard of him before!"

Bei Zhenming obviously didn't pay any attention to the young man who was doing disaster relief. He took the memorial back and looked at it again, frowning.

This young man who provided disaster relief was mentioned many times in these two memorials, but the court's disaster relief efforts had ended long ago, and no officials were sent to provide disaster relief... Who was this person?

Imperial Censor Fu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this person's identity is unknown. We must be cautious. I'm afraid someone wants to suppress this disaster. We need to investigate as soon as possible, otherwise the victims will riot!"

There was endless debate in the morning court, ranging from rebels to food and supplies to disaster victims. The ministers argued until noon. The emperor saw that many generals were seriously injured in the battles and needed to rest, and many officials had not eaten or slept well for several days, so he dismissed the court.

However, after the court session, the things that need to be investigated still need to be investigated.

Bei Zhenting, Jiang Zecheng and Fu Yushi were retained.

The discussion lasted until the evening, and Bei Zhenting, who had not eaten, drunk or slept for many days and was completely exhausted, finally fainted.

After ordering someone to send Bei Zhenting back to the Yong'an Palace, the emperor returned to the imperial study.

He hurriedly ate a bowl of tofu and egg drop soup sent by the imperial kitchen. Just as he put down his bowl and chopsticks, Jia Shen rushed in crying for his parents, and the guards couldn't stop him.

When Jia Shen entered the hall, he began to kneel and kowtow:

"Your Majesty! You have to make a decision for this old minister. I am loyal and had no idea about the relationship between the Qi family and the rebel Bei Zhenqing. He was planning to usurp the throne. My daughter has nothing to do with that traitor. I just went to the mansion of that traitor and found that my daughter Ling'er was missing! Woo woo woo... My daughter has nothing to do with that traitor. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy... Save my daughter... Save the Jia family!" Jia Shen was crying and kowtowed repeatedly. His head banged so loudly that the old man's forehead was bleeding.

Bei Zhenming squinted his eyes and watched him kowtow. Jia Shen kowtowed for a long time before being helped up by Zhu Shengyuan.

"Prince Jia and Prince Qi are relatives. How can I believe that you, Jia Shen, did not participate in this rebellion?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, you can ask Prince Yong'an. After the rebellion broke out, I, the Fu Yushi, Prince Yong'an, and Prince Nanjiang discussed the strategy of repelling the enemy day and night. We were unable to sleep at night and stayed up all night for several nights. They can all testify for me!"

The doubt on Bei Zhenming's face did not diminish in the slightest.

Seeing the emperor's indifference, Jia Shen began to kowtow again, his face covered in blood. Bei Zhenming could no longer bear it and stood up. "I understand. Prime Minister Jia, please go back first. If the Jia family is indeed not involved, I promise not to implicate them."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace! Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace..." Jia Shenbangbang kowtowed and did not dare to get up and leave until the emperor left the imperial study.

Bei Zhenming returned to Longxin Hall.

"I don't believe at all that Jia Shen wasn't involved..."

"Your Majesty, after the riot broke out, Jia Shen has indeed not taken any action... Moreover, the Jia family has very few assets, and basically no profitable business in the capital. They are just living off their salaries and waiting to die. I wonder..."

Bei Zhenming frowned. He didn't believe Jia Shen was completely unaware of the situation. Although he knew Jia Shen had been lazy and poor in recent years, and had been in the main hall during the riot, Jia Ling's disappearance might have been caused by Bei Zhenqing sending someone to take her away. However, it seemed too reasonable, and Bei Zhenming still felt something was wrong...

Unable to figure out what went wrong for the time being, Bei Zhenming thought of the events in Yuanzhou and Zhejiangzhou.

"Who do you think this young man who is providing disaster relief is?"

Zhu Shengyuan: "Your Majesty, the one who sent the grain to the capital is most likely Princess Yong'an. If..."

Bei Zhenming's eyes lit up. He hadn't actually connected the two things.

The person who sent the grain into the capital was most likely Princess Yong'an Luo Yao. Although no one knows how he raised so much grain, but... if the two are connected, the young master who provided disaster relief might really be him!

"Is there any movement from the Duke's side?"

Zhu Shengyuan: "There's been no news from the Duke. I just heard that he went to his hometown in the countryside a while ago and is not at the Luo Mansion in Lin'an County..."