I transmigrated to ancient times and became a king with a title equal to mine.

Long Yingfu handed the strip of cloth to Wang Zongbao: "Pass it around one by one."

The hall was completely silent; most people shed tears after watching it.

The eight princes trembled with fear after reading it.

Wang Shulong Yunhu knelt down with a thud and choked with sobs, saying, "Your Majesty, this poem is Jiu'er's silent cry, her tearful accusation. Your humble servant was ignorant of right and wrong and acted as the vanguard in deposing the Prince of the South. Your humble servant is ashamed before our ancestors, ashamed before my brother, ashamed before the soldiers who died in this incident, and ashamed before Jiu'er. Therefore, your humble servant resigns and will no longer concern himself with the affairs of the court."

The seventh prince, Long Yingshan, also knelt down and cried, "Although I did not participate in the matter against my ninth brother, I acquiesced to it. Seeing my ninth brother writing a poem in blood, I feel extremely guilty. I stand silently in the court and resign my title of prince to Father Emperor, and voluntarily relinquish my post and become a commoner."

"..."

The officials inside the golden hall were shocked, stunned, surprised, and bewildered. "Sigh..."

Long Yunfu sighed deeply and said softly, "Starting tomorrow, I will take a break for a period of time. Long Yingkun will oversee the country and handle military and political affairs. Court adjourned!"

The officials were bewildered: What happened? Has His Majesty abdicated?

"Long live the King! You may rest, but you cannot neglect state affairs," Wei Zhong said, kneeling down and choking back tears.

Ma Zhankui and Wang Zongbao also knelt down and pleaded, "Your Majesty, several countries on the west and north sides may send troops to invade us. At this critical moment, you must not back down."

"We beg Your Majesty to spare a few more years of concern for the Great Xia!" Including several princes, everyone knelt and pleaded with His Majesty to retract his decision.

Only then did the eldest prince, Long Yingshen, suddenly realize how terribly wrong he had been. But it was too late; the second prince had already assumed regency.

The regent is the crown prince, the heir apparent.

When he saw his second brother, Lung Ying-kun, looking so smug, his heart sank. He cursed himself for being a pig, thinking that he was making himself the target of the nation's condemnation so that someone else could sit on the throne.

Long Yunfu's decision to take a break wasn't a sudden one; he had long wanted to travel all over the country, especially to Lishui to witness the power of cannons.

At the same time, it was also a test of the people's feelings inside the hall.

Just as he was about to insist on resting, a ragged man was helped in by the Imperial Guards outside the palace gate.

With a thud, the man knelt down and cried, "Your Majesty, your subject Lin Shan has finally met you!"

"Lin Shan?" Long Yunfu asked in surprise, "What happened to you?"

"Your Majesty, I was ambushed all the way to the capital. If it weren't for the Seventh Prince's intervention, I would have been dead long ago."

Long Yunfu's dull old eyes suddenly flashed with a murderous glint as he swept around the hall and glared at the princes.

Long Yingshen felt a chill run down his spine.

The people who hunted down Lin Shan were sent by Long Yingshen, because Duan Cunmin was his spy planted by the Empress. Lin Shan killed Duan Cunmin, and then killed Zhu Zhi in Jining. The eldest and second princes successively sent experts to intercept and kill Lin Shan.

Lin Shan was the Seventh Prince's mentor, so Long Yingshan naturally wouldn't stand idly by and sent his personal guards to protect him.

Long Yunfu helped Lin Shan up, then turned back and said, "My mind is made up, and I will not take it back."

"Yingkun, the matter of the Prince of Nan ends here, and should not be pursued further." "Your subject obeys!" Long Yingkun knelt down and agreed with satisfaction, but in his heart he shouted: Long Bin, I will definitely kill you!

Long Yunfu personally helped Lin Shan and brought him back to the palace.

In the Imperial Study, Lin Shan took off his cotton-padded coat, tore open the outer layer, revealing that the front two panels of the coat were filled with paper. The back contained a long strip of cloth.

The Jinwu Guards unfurled the cloth strip, which greatly shocked them.

The large red characters on the more than ten-foot-long white cloth were eye-catching.

The dense red handprints in the blank space made the Emperor overjoyed: Bin'er is excellent. In just three months, he has won the love of the people. The Great Xia is saved.

Lin Shan briefly introduced his observations, which were basically consistent with what Gu Bufan had said.

"Long live the Lord Lan! The papers on the ground are the investigation files of Lord Lan and his team."

"How did you end up bringing back Lan Tianpeng's investigation results? Where are they?" Long Yunfu was somewhat surprised and unhappy.

"Long live the Emperor! If they return to report, they will likely suffer the same fate of assassination as I have."

Seeing that His Majesty still did not understand, Lin Shan sighed and said, "Their feelings were blatantly framed, and they called a deer a horse in broad daylight. Their purpose was to kill the Prince of Nan. Now that the Prince of Nan is dead, everything will be over. At the same time, everyone who knows the truth will die. Prefect Ma Gui of Lishui, the Prince of Nan, Lord Lan, and others are all targets for assassination, including the Marquis of Wanjiang."

The emperor and his minister talked for a long time. Long Yunfu decided to disguise himself and leave the capital. At this moment, news came that Wei Zhong had entered the palace.

"Your Majesty, the Southern King's troops have been stationed in southern Henan, eastern Henan, and western Shandong on the south bank of the Yellow River. At the same time, the Southern King's Southern Family Army defeated 100,000 bandits from the East River and captured 200 villages and 16 market towns along the Danyang line on the opposite bank in one fell swoop."

"Occupy so much territory of Dongjiang Kingdom?" Long Yunfu was stunned. "He entered Dongjiang Kingdom in the east and resisted the Yu Nan Army in the west. Where did he get so many troops in just three months?"

"After the Marquis of Wanjiang went mad, the Prince of Nan reorganized the Marquis of Wanjiang's troops. At the same time, he sent Song Zhonglin to rehabilitate 60,000 prisoners of war from Dongjiang. After a month of training, these 60,000 soldiers are now extremely tenacious in combat and have very high combat skills. Zong Zhonglin defeated 50,000 Yu Nan troops with only 20,000 men."

Lin Shan had personally witnessed the power of the cannons and the effectiveness of the Southern King's training of the troops. He said with great pride, "His Majesty the Southern King is preparing to annex the Dongjiang Kingdom within five years."

Wei Zhong withdrew his joyful smile and said very solemnly, "Your Majesty, seven out of the eight princes have dreams. After the second prince takes office as regent, apart from the seventh prince, the other six will not be content with this."

"Yes, from this moment on, there will definitely be many strange things happening under the guise of power in the court."

Long Yunfu shook his head helplessly and said, "Never mind all that, let the Regent handle everything. If he handles it well, I will abdicate; if he can't even handle this kind of thing, let the capable one take over."

"Uncle, you should observe the situation in court and speak less. I'll just sit back and enjoy a few days of leisure."

Wei Zhong had always suspected that the Emperor might have been held hostage by the Empress, but he couldn't fathom how she had managed to do so. Fortunately, she was focused on her son's succession to the throne and didn't interfere too much in court affairs, so he turned a blind eye.

Upon hearing that His Majesty wanted to cultivate his mind and live a fulfilling life, Wei Zhong nodded and said, "Very well, very well."

After returning to the palace, Long Yunfu disguised himself as a member of the Imperial Guard and quietly left the palace.

Before leaving, he told Lin Shan, "Tell Bin'er that consolidating the people's livelihood and economy within the jurisdiction is of paramount importance. Do not expand blindly."

"Your Majesty, in three days I will return to Lishui and assume the post of Grand Steward of the Southern King's Palace."

Long Yunfu was stunned for a moment, then gave him a wry smile.

On the dilapidated dike on the south bank of the Yellow River, Long Bin frowned deeply: "We must repair the Yellow River dike!"