Princess Menglang is hard to change, the whole capital is embarrassed for her

Fang Yao continued, "As for only surrounding the Duke of Chongguo's mansion? I'm willing, what can you do to me? Not convinced? Fine, I'll go surround the Prime Minister's mansion and the Marquis of Guanyong's mansion another day. They both heard with their own ears that I surrounded their homes at your request, so they can't blame me. If anyone needs to be blamed, blame you, Duke of Chongguo."

Duke Chongguo pointed at him and kept saying "you, you, you" for a long time, but didn't say another word.

The search teams came back one after another.

"Report, nothing found."

"Report, nothing was found in the backyard either."

"Report, we've searched everything, but nothing was found."

As more and more people came back, Duke Chongguo gradually became worried.

He deliberately infiltrated his own people among the officers and soldiers and asked them to focus on searching those bottles and jars.

How come you didn't notice it?

Did you put it in the wrong place?

It shouldn't be.

He stared at the last wave of people returning and asked silently. The leader shook his head slightly.

Duke Chongguo's heart skipped a beat and he immediately sank to the bottom.

It’s over.

The Mansion of Duke Chongguo.

Under Mu Heng's personal supervision, Zhu Yi found a secret letter from Duke Chongguo's study.

The letter was written to him by Xiqiang.

The letter thanked him for his cooperation with the Western Qiang, having designated Fang Jitao, the eldest son of the Fang family, as a Western Qiang spy, rendering him unable to defend himself. The Fang family army was thrown into disarray, allowing the captured Western Qiang spies to escape home. As a token of his sincerity, he offered a generous gift of money, which had been deposited at various banks in Beijing for immediate redemption.

Zhu Yi immediately handed the letter to Mu Heng, who took it back and presented it to the emperor.

The emperor was furious and immediately ordered his men to surround the Duke Chongguo's mansion and take the Duke Chongguo to the Sky Prison to await his punishment.

The incident happened suddenly, and by the time the queen learned about it, the capital was already in an uproar.

The queen immediately ran to the outside of the imperial study and knelt down, crying at the top of her lungs, saying that her father was framed and begged the emperor to clear the Chongguo Mansion of its injustice and make it known to the world.

The second prince also entered the palace after hearing about it. When he saw his mother kneeling there, he was about to kneel down, but the queen angrily scolded him, "Stupid! Why are you joining in the fun at this time? Leave now."

The Second Prince said, "My Queen Mother is here, pleading for my grandfather. How can I just sit back and do nothing?"

The Queen said angrily, "What can I say to you, Mother? Why don't you understand? You should be standing by your father's side, sharing his worries and concerns, instead of accompanying Mother here to plead for your grandfather. No matter how wronged or innocent your grandfather is, you cannot plead for him. Not just this time, but at any time."

Looking up at the distressed Second Prince, the Queen lowered her voice and said, "Since ancient times, there have been no fathers and sons in the royal family. Even if you are acting, you must act as if your father is the only one who has your heart set on him. Only in this way will your father see you and remember your loyalty. Only then will he be able to cultivate you and hold high hopes for you. What are you still standing there for? Go and ask for an audience? When you see your father, don't even say a word of pleading. Just say that you heard about what happened at the Chongguo Mansion and are very worried about him. I came to see him specially and ask him to prioritize the emperor's health. His sons will take care of the rest of the worries."

After she finished speaking, the queen covered her face with her handkerchief and growled, "Go away."

Then she burst into tears. "You rebellious son, you refused to visit your grandfather on my behalf. What was the point of me giving birth to you? Wuuwuwu, Your Majesty, father was wronged. He was framed. It must have been Fang Yao who took revenge on him. It must have been Fang Yao... Your Majesty, wuuwuwu, I beg you to investigate this matter. I beg you to investigate this matter."

The emperor sat in the imperial study, his head throbbing with pain.

Just as he was rubbing his brows, Eunuch Chang came in and said, "Your Majesty, the Second Prince requests an audience."

The emperor said irritably, "No."

Eunuch Chang retreated.

After a while, Eunuch Chang quietly came in, walked to the imperial desk, changed a cup of tea for the emperor, and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Second Prince has passed away. Before he left, he specifically asked this old servant to serve you well. Please take care of yourself and don't worry."

The emperor was startled. "He didn't plead for Duke Chongguo?"

"No, not a word."

The emperor slowly put down the teacup in his hand and was about to say something when he heard a message from outside, "The Empress Dowager has arrived."

The emperor hurriedly stood up and walked out of the desk. The empress dowager had already walked in, supported by Nanny Zheng.

"Greetings, son to mother."

"Yes." The Queen Mother nodded, and the Emperor hurried over to support her and asked her to sit down.

The Queen Mother asked, "What's going on outside? The Queen is crying so hard she wants the whole palace to hear her. Tell me the truth about the Duke Chong's family. Was this a deliberate scheme set up by you and Fang Yao? I'm telling you, why did you confine him for so long for no reason? No matter how I think about it, it's impossible that it was just to protect him from going crazy and hitting people in the court."

The emperor wiped away his previous depressed and angry look and said with a smile, "Nothing can be hidden from the eyes of the Queen Mother."

The Queen Mother said angrily, "Tell me quickly, what are your thoughts? Why did you treat the Duke of Chong so cruelly?"

The Emperor took the teacup from Eunuch Chang and motioned for him and Madam Zheng to go out and keep watch. Then he asked the Empress Dowager, "Does Your Majesty know who killed the Second Master of the Yao Family?"

"Who?"

"Even my son can't believe it. It was a group of Western Qiang people who killed him."

"What?" The Queen Mother jumped up from her chair in shock. "How could they be from the Western Qiang?"

The Emperor also sat down on a chair nearby and said to the Queen Mother, "Yes, my son didn't dare to believe it when he first learned about this. But Fang Yao personally investigated this matter and there is no doubt about it. Fang Yao said that several Western Qiang people disguised themselves as citizens of the Great Zhou and mixed in with the people mining at the Mizhou Iron Mine, secretly investigating the secrets of the iron mine. Their whereabouts were secretive and they were not discovered. If Fang Yao had not dealt with the Western Qiang people for many years and saw their prayer movements at dusk, he would have noticed something was wrong and almost let them escape again."

"After they were captured, several of them died instantly from biting their fangs. Those who survived were interrogated by Fang Yao, who cursed them with their Lord's deity, and only then did they confess. They said that upon arriving in Mizhou, Master Yao Er had questioned the discrepancy between the actual and reported iron ore mining numbers, which had offended the noble who had colluded with them to smuggle the iron ore. The noble, after failing to bribe Yao Er, became murderous and ordered them to kill him and pin the blame on someone else."

"Fang Yao originally wanted to ask them who the nobleman in the capital was, but before he could ask, those people were poisoned to death. Even two of Fang Yao's men were assassinated. Fang Yao knew that things were not going well, so he wrote several letters in succession and sent them to the capital in batches by different people. My son received two letters, and the other messengers must have been intercepted and killed on the way..."

The Queen Mother was stunned when she heard this and murmured, "A noble in the capital? Who has such great power? To be able to bribe the Western Qiang people to work for him? Also, what are they doing with the iron ore? That stuff... Oh my God, that stuff can be used as a weapon. Could it be that person is planning a rebellion?"