In the years of famine, I led a comfortable life with my husband

At the same time, the emperor's expression became extremely grim. "Good, good, good, very good, Zhao Hui... Imperial Tutor Zhao... What else do you have to say? How come I didn't know when you, Imperial Tutor Zhao, became so capable? You colluded with the previous dynasty and the harem, and with foreign nations. What else do you have to explain?"

Zhao Hui had already fallen to the ground, his face pale. "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, your humble servant, your humble servant..."

His lips trembled and he could no longer say anything. The evidences one after another solidified him and left him with no way to refute. Moreover, the emperor's mind was unpredictable. Even if there was a trace of doubt, the Zhao family would certainly not be able to escape.

Thinking of the Zhao family, Zhao Hui closed his eyes. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he kowtowed several times and said, "Your Majesty, I know I cannot escape the death penalty, but this matter has nothing to do with my family, let alone the Empress. I hope Your Majesty will understand."

The emperor sneered, "Zhao Hui, do you think I'm a fool?"

Zhao Hui's body, prostrated on the ground, was still trembling slightly. After a long moment, Zhao Hui was about to say something when the emperor interrupted him, "Come here! From now on, the criminal Zhao Hui will be stripped of his position as Grand Tutor and immediately imprisoned. He will be executed in the autumn. The rest of the Zhao family, male, will be exiled to the frontier, and the female will be reduced to slavery or forced into prostitution! As for the Empress, scorn! She will be demoted to a commoner, banished to the cold palace, and executed on a date to be chosen! ... The Third Prince will be removed from the imperial family tree and adopted by Prince Rong. He will move out of the palace in three days."

After saying this, the emperor simply flicked his sleeves and left without even looking at Zhao Hui.

Zhao Hui collapsed to the ground, exhausted. "It's over... It's over... Everything is over..."

The court officials around him also looked at Zhao Hui with a mocking expression, and gathered in groups of three or four to point fingers at Zhao Hui.

Xie Chengjin and Shen Wenjun looked at Zhao Hui expressionlessly, then turned and left together, no longer paying any attention to Zhao Hui.

In the harem, the queen naturally knew what happened at the morning court. She didn't expect that the matter would be exposed so quickly. She was exhausted. She had lost her position as queen and her son's inheritance rights. She could not even save her life.

Many other concubines in the harem also heard some rumors, and one or two of them ran directly to the queen to ridicule her.

"Oh, isn't this our noble Queen? Why is she sitting on the ground now? How are these servants supposed to serve her?"

"That's right, how can we let the Queen sit here? Oh no, I almost forgot, our Queen will no longer be the Queen soon."

"Oh, from now on I can't call you Queen anymore. I have to change it to the criminal Zhao, hehe..."

The Queen couldn't stand it any longer. Her face turned pale and she shouted, "Get out! All of you, get out!"

"Oh, you still think you're the queen? Why don't you look in the mirror and see how you look now? You're in such a mess. You don't even have the demeanor of a queen. Not to mention you're colluding with foreign nations. Bah!"

They laughed at each other for a while until they were tired and left in twos and threes.

The queen hated Xie Chengjin and Shen Wenjun in her heart at this moment. After all, it was thanks to these two people that she ended up in this situation.

But she can't do anything now. Even her own son is implicated and loses the chance to inherit the throne. If it weren't for the fact that the third prince is the emperor's blood, the emperor would probably let the third prince and the queen die together.

Although the third prince escaped the disaster, he still became a target of public condemnation just like the queen because of the queen's affairs.

The third prince was a filial son. Even though he was dragged down by the queen, he still held back in front of the queen. The queen spoke harshly to him.

Even though the queen seemed like a bad person to the outside world, she was quite reasonable to her own children. Seeing the third prince looking much more haggard in the past few days, the queen couldn't bear it. After all, tomorrow was the day she would be sentenced to death by the emperor.

Thinking of this, the queen was very unwilling. She was unwilling to accept that she had planned for so long and was about to succeed, but now everything was in vain.

Finally, the Queen touched the Third Prince's face and said, "My child, please go with me."

The Third Prince was somewhat puzzled. "Mother, where can we go? Will Father agree?"

Upon hearing the emperor, the queen's face twisted. "Don't tell me about him. He's about to sentence me to death, so why should I care about him? Child, follow mother and let's escape from the palace. The world is vast, but once we leave the capital, who will recognize us?"

The third prince was somewhat tempted. After all, he had also lost the chance to inherit the throne, so there was nothing wrong in escaping with the queen.

The two hit it off immediately, and then they packed up some gold and silver jewelry, and took advantage of the gap in the guards' guard to sneak out, escaping from the palace safely.

By the time the emperor received the news, the two were no longer in the palace, and the emperor instantly became furious.

"A bunch of useless people! There are only two people, how can they guard the place? Who were on duty last night? Drag them out and give them fifty lashes!" The emperor was so angry that his facial features were distorted.

In addition to punishing those on duty yesterday, the emperor also sent people to capture the escaped queen and the third prince.

On the other hand, in the previous dynasty, the emperor and Xie Chengjin worked together to punish many of the cunning and treacherous officials in the court, either by execution or by demotion. For a time, the entire previous dynasty almost underwent a complete reshuffle.

However, the court was busy with government affairs, and many positions of those ministers who were punished were vacant. Although some people were promoted to take their places, there was still a lack of successors.

Seeing this, the emperor stopped hiding the truth and promoted Xie Chengjin again.

But Xie Chengjin was only happy on the surface, he was very annoyed in his heart. His free time was gone just like that. Xie Chengjin, who was reused, transformed himself from a minister who was despised by everyone to a favorite in the eyes of the emperor.

The news has spread, and those dignitaries who had taken advantage of Xie Chengjin's misfortune have changed their attitudes again. They ran over eagerly to find Xie Chengjin again.

Xie Chengjin seized this opportunity. Since he was in the capital, the emperor trusted him very much. Xie Chengjin took this opportunity to secretly build up his own power.

Previously, when he came to the capital with Su Zhizhi, he brought with him confidants who were unfamiliar with the capital. As a result, he encountered obstacles everywhere in doing things in the capital.

Right now, Xie Chengjin is training a group of people who have been in the capital for a long time and are very familiar with the capital. Whether they are doing business or other things, they will not be subject to too many restrictions, and Xie Chengjin's identity also provides a solid guarantee for these things.