The daughter of the emperor is beautiful and holds the power over the world

Eunuch Gu quickly presented Wei Shu's portrait. The emperor took it and looked at it, and couldn't help frowning.

The emperor couldn't help but look at Prince Xin. At first glance, he thought the person in the painting was Prince Xin.

But if you look closely, it doesn't seem like it.

"Is this the Book of Wei?" asked the emperor.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Si Yan nodded. "This was painted by an artist who had seen Wei Shu. I think he made Wei Shu look a little younger, but the basic characteristics are all there."

The content of the portrait is briefer, but the facial features are easier to highlight.

Prince Xin was the emperor's son, so the emperor had naturally seen Prince Xin's portrait, and it was easy for him to associate the portrait in Wei Shu with Prince Xin.

"This painter's skills are probably not very good," the emperor commented. "When I first glanced at it, I thought it was the Prince Xin."

At this moment, Jia Zhongchun suddenly stood up and bowed solemnly to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I have seen Wei Shu before, and he looks a bit like His Royal Highness Prince Xin."

Jia Zhongchun was once a member of the Prime Minister's party. After returning from the border, he listened to Si Yan's words and switched to Prince Yong.

He once met Wei Shu briefly in the Prime Minister's Residence.

Xin Rui was already a little uneasy. Si Yan would not bring Wei Shu's portrait into the palace for no reason.

She must have some conspiracy behind this.

Xin Rui couldn't help but say, "There are so many people in this world who look alike. How can a mere staff member of Prince Chen's Palace be compared with His Highness Prince Xin?"

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister is absolutely right." Jia Zhongchun replied and retreated.

Lord Si Yan told him that he only needed to say this one sentence.

There is no need to say anything else.

However, Jia Zhongchun stepped down and the fifth prince, Prince An, stepped forward again.

"Your Majesty, I have also met Wei Shu. He and the Imperial Concubine seem to have known each other for twenty or thirty years. It is said that Wei Shu was an orphan in his childhood, living in poverty. He was taken in by the former Prime Minister, the father of the current Prime Minister."

After saying this, Prince An looked at Xin Rui and asked, "Is that so? Prime Minister Xin."

"That's pure nonsense." Xin Rui's face was gloomy, and he stared coldly at Prince An. "Your Highness, please don't just talk nonsense about these unfounded things."

"Oh, I just heard about it..." Prince An Qi Guang'an said and retreated.

The emperor listened and felt that something was wrong. Prince Xin looked a lot like Wei Shu, and Wei Shu had known Concubine Xin for a long time?

What a mess this is...

The emperor was in an annoyed mood and waved his hand to have Wei Shu's portrait taken away.

The emperor looked up at Si Yan and said, "I can issue a wanted notice for Wei Shu, but the artist didn't draw it well. I'll have someone redraw it later."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Of course, the painting was not well done. Si Yan deliberately asked the painter to make Wei Shu look ten years younger.

Xin Rui stared at Si Yan with a gloomy look: "How strange! How come Lord Si Yan still carries Wei Shu's portrait with him?"

Si Yan chuckled: "Because on the Lantern Festival, someone led assassins to rob the prison in Zuowei Mansion. It was this Wei Shu."

"That's impossible," said Song Yi, the Minister of Rites. "Didn't the Book of Wei disappear on the Lantern Festival?"

"Wei Shu disappeared after the failed prison break that day and his identity was exposed."

Si Yan glanced around and said calmly, "However, my lords, don't worry. His Majesty has issued an order for Wei Shu's arrest. He won't be able to escape even if he has wings."

Xin Rui felt a suffocation he had never felt before.

He really didn't expect that Si Yan was actually staring at Wei Shu, which was more dangerous than staring at him.

Shouldn't Si Yan's full attention be on him as the Prime Minister?

Si Yan continued, "Your Majesty, the only person imprisoned in the Zuowei Mansion prison is King Hao of the Northern Mang Kingdom. Therefore, Wei Shu's prison break in the Zuowei Mansion had only one purpose, which was to rescue King Hao of the Northern Mang Kingdom."

These words were like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake, instantly causing a thousand waves.

All the ministers were surprised, and the emperor couldn't help but be extremely alert.

"In other words, this Wei Shu has a close connection with the Northern Mang Kingdom. He is very likely a spy sent by the Northern Mang Kingdom to Daxuan. He has been lurking in Prince Chen's Mansion and controlling everything behind the scenes."

Si Yan's voice was like a thunderclap, exploding in everyone's ears.

Si Yan raised his eyes and looked at the emperor: "Your Majesty, do you still remember that many assassins were found in Prince Chen's mansion before? These assassins entered Prince Chen's mansion through Wei Shu."

"I remember." The emperor responded sullenly.

In order to protect the reputation of King Chen, he asked Ling Mohan to secretly execute these killers.

Thinking about it now, he couldn't help but feel that he was too stupid.

He should have had people investigate these killers thoroughly and catch Wei Shu, but now Wei Shu has escaped.

Song Yi, the Minister of Rites, asked, "Master Si Yan, do you have any evidence for what you said?"

Si Yan said with a cold expression, "General Ling and I witnessed Wei Shu's prison break to save Prince Hao. The assassins who died in Zuowei Mansion and Prince Chen's Mansion had the same tiger markings on their bodies. These markings came from the Northern Mang Kingdom."

They have not yet found a way to reveal invisible marks, but some of these killers have visible marks on their bodies, all of which are tiger stripes.

The people from Yayue Pavilion have found out that this is the mark of the royal killer of Beimang Kingdom.

At this moment, Ling Mohan slowly spoke, "Your Majesty, after capturing these assassins, I have recorded all their characteristics, as well as the characteristics of the items they used, in a book. I discovered that they have one thing in common: they like to use items with tiger stripes."

After Ling Mohan finished speaking, he not only presented a booklet that detailed the killer's characteristics, but also took out some evidence, including clothes with tiger stripes, a peace locket, and a masked handkerchief...

Song Yi walked over, examined them, and asked in confusion, "I can't see any tiger stripes on these things?"

"Sir Song, these assassins from the Northern Mang Kingdom all act in secret, so they naturally wouldn't carve their marks in conspicuous places."

Si Yan walked forward, picked up a piece of clothing that had been stripped from the killer, turned it to the innermost part, to the shoulder, and pointed it out to Song Yi.

"Here, do you see it? Inside the black lining, embroidered with black thread, this is a tiger head pattern, this is the nose, these are the eyes..."

As Si Yan introduced, the court officials couldn't help but stretch their necks and come to check it out.

I saw that there was indeed something with a tiger head pattern on the innermost part of the clothes.

The fifth prince Qi Guangan walked forward, took a closer look, and picked up a mask.

"It's on this sweat towel, too. It's a black sweat towel with a tiger head pattern embroidered in black thread. If you don't look closely, you can't see it at all..."

"This belt has a layer inside, and there is also a tiger head pattern on the layer inside," said Jia Zhongchun.

The court officials couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As everyone knew, the totem of the royal family of Beimang Kingdom was the tiger. They loved tiger patterns and often embroidered them on clothes and other accessories.

Si Yan said calmly, "Your Majesty, these killers have more markings on their bodies, such as tiger head tattoos, but they usually destroy that piece of flesh when they commit suicide by poisoning in order to hide their identities."

The emperor's chest heaved violently. Could it be that the assassins from Beimang Country had penetrated so deeply into Daxuan?

Si Yan said with a serious expression, "Your Majesty, the existence of these assassins is enough to prove that there are people in our dynasty colluding with the Beimang Kingdom and intending to overthrow our Daxuan Empire."

The court officials could not help but become solemn, and even Xin Rui's party members were full of vigilance.

If there really is someone in the court who is colluding with the Beimang Kingdom, that would be treason!