Help! The cunning and treacherous minister and I were reborn together!

Blood flowed like rivers in the canyon, and smoke billowed everywhere.

The imperial guards were moving the corpses when they discovered a jade thumb ring with a dragon design on one of the charred bodies. The item was unlike anything an ordinary person would possess, so the guards immediately reported it and presented the ring to His Majesty.

Li Kai's face was pale. "This was a gift I gave to the Prince of Wu on his tenth birthday. How could it be in the hands of a traitor? Could it be... Go, summon Commander Xiao!"

Xiao Zong spared a few prisoners, and just as he finished interrogating them, he received a summons from the emperor.

Seeing the Emperor's gloomy expression, he cautiously reported: "Your Majesty, there are a total of 1,822 rebels. Eleven have been captured, and the rest have all been executed! On our side, 72 are seriously wounded, 207 are slightly wounded, and there are no fatalities so far!"

Li Kai nodded, ordered the Imperial Medical Academy to treat the prisoner well, and then asked, "Has the prisoner been interrogated?"

"It has been reviewed."

Who is the mastermind behind this?

Xiao Zong remained silent. Li Kai threw the ring at him, "Speak! Is it the King of Wu?"

"……Yes."

"That unfilial son!" Li Kai's eyes blazed with fury. He summoned the commander of the Imperial Guards, "Go! Find the charred corpse wearing the thumb ring, whip it three hundred times, and leave the body to rot in the wilderness!"

Still not satisfied after doing all that, he sent a eunuch back to Shengjing by carrier pigeon, ordering Consort Dun to be given a cup of poisoned wine. He had originally intended to punish the Director of the Imperial Observatory, but upon hearing that Duan Sheng had been struck by an enemy crossbow bolt, he gave up the idea!

The emperor was clear about rewards and punishments. After dealing with the rebels, he should reward the meritorious officials.

Xiao Zong and the commander of the Imperial Guards were respectively granted the titles of Earl of Weiyuan and Earl of Zhongqin. All of their subordinates were promoted one rank and given gold and silver.

After Li Kai finished bestowing rewards, he saw Xiao Zong and suddenly remembered the woman who had just caused the "burning of the camps".

"Congyun, where is your wife?"

Xiao Zong's eyelids twitched, and he cupped his hands and said, "Madam was frightened and is resting in the carriage now."

Li Kai smiled and pointed at him, "Your wife was able to come up with a brilliant fire attack plan, and she acted decisively and with great courage and spirit. She is not as weak as you say. Go and bring her here. I want to reward her properly!"

Xiao Zong received the order and brought Yuan Zhi over.

Li Kai lowered his eyes, looking at the woman kneeling below, and said, "I was able to escape today, and Lady Xiao deserves the greatest credit! It's a pity that your rank cannot be promoted for the time being. I heard that you opened a restaurant, so I will grant you a winery and an additional five hundred taels of gold. From now on, half of the imperial wine in the palace will be purchased from you. What do you think?"

Yuan Zhi was stunned; the old emperor was still so generous!

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!" She bowed deeply, then straightened up, her eyes shining. "Your Majesty, may I ask you for a favor?"

"What's the matter?"

"I wish to distribute this money to the injured palace servants and officials. I beg Your Majesty's permission!"

Li Kai asked with interest, "Doesn't Madam Xiao feel bad about spending so much money?"

"Of course I feel sorry for them! But compared to them who were injured and haven't received any reward, I'm already very content!"

After Yuan Zhi finished speaking, he lowered his head to hide the guilt in his eyes.

Li Kai said with a deep voice, "Madam Xiao, there's no need for you to make such a painful decision. I will provide them with their compensation money separately!"

The emperor's tone was so indulgent that Xiao Zong's pupils contracted, and he gripped Yuan Zhi's hand tightly.

At this moment, he had to admit that he was afraid!

He feared that His Majesty would steal his beloved away, and even more so that she would covet power and status and fawn over His Majesty.

He suddenly realized that he had no advantage in this marriage; everything he had, the man at the head of the table had once had as well.

He didn't even dare to think about whether she had ever felt even a little bit of affection for him!

Yuan Zhi thanked him for his kindness, but Xiao Zong pulled her away without saying a word.

He was like a prisoner in a fit of impotent rage, his inferiority complex and resentment intertwined. He was so jealous that he wanted to kiss her like a madman, to possess her completely, and to hear her say that she would only ever love him!

However, the Fengshan ceremony was thwarted, and it remained undecided whether to continue to Mount Dai or turn back. He could only suppress his emotions and wait with the Imperial Guards for His Majesty's decree.

Yuan Zhi sat in the carriage, her hand on her heaving chest, barely daring to breathe. Xiao Zong's gaze just now was terrifying, as if he saw through all her pretenses and was about to settle scores with her.

She was prepared to fight to the death, but he got off the carriage in a fit of rage.

There seemed to be no more movement outside. She gripped the carriage curtain tightly, still lacking the courage to watch whether he had left or not.

After an incense stick had burned, the coachman returned and said that the plan remained unchanged; His Majesty still intended to go to Daishan. The wounded were taken to a nearby town by the Leopard Guard to recuperate, while the others continued their journey.

The carriage rumbled forward, and Yuan Zhi, limp and weak, slumped against the corner of the carriage wall.

That night, the group set up camp on the border of Tongzhou. Xiao Zong took care of the wounded and, on the way, captured the prefect of Tongzhou.

Li Kai ordered the prefect to investigate the source of the rebels' weapons as soon as possible, or else he would be beheaded. The prefect was so frightened he almost wet his pants, and repeatedly promised to find out the truth and bring the rebels to justice!

After seeing the prefect off, Xiao Zong was about to return to his camp when Dou Zhao stopped him, saying he had something to show him.

Xiao Zong entered Dou Zhao's tent, and the other man took out a hidden arrow from a cabinet and said, "This is it."

Xiao Zong looked at it; the sleeve arrow was small and lightweight, and the wrist opening was much smaller than normal.

"For women?"

Dou Zhao nodded, "The brothers have checked, and the rebels are all men. The holder of this hidden arrow can only be someone from the Fengchan team."

If it was used by a woman for self-defense, there would be no need to discard it; if it was used to assassinate His Majesty, and failed once, there would be another time, so why would she throw away her weapon?

Xiao Zong's expression turned grave. "It's very likely that someone is trying to sabotage things and eliminate dissidents. I'll go ask the imperial physician for the medical records!"

Dou Zhao said, "I'll go! So many people died today, Master should go and keep the young mistress company."

Xiao Zong gripped the hidden arrow in his sleeve and slowly shook his head. "She should be asleep by now. It doesn't matter whether I stay with her or not. I'll go find the imperial physician. You wait for me here."

After riding for two hours, he had vented his resentment and calmed down.

A real man should fight for what he wants; why make things difficult for a woman?

Xiao Zong entered the tent and explained his purpose. The on-duty physician presented him with a medical record, saying that he could only look at it, not take it away.

He scanned the nearly three hundred injured people, searching for any clues.

He slowed down when he came across the records of the Director of the Imperial Observatory. Duan Sheng's arrow wound was different from others, both in terms of its size and the description of the affected area.

Looking back, no one else was in a similar situation.

Xiao Zong frowned. Those who had a grudge against Duan Sheng were the wealthy and powerful families who were forced to send their daughters to the palace.

Among the officials on this trip, the fathers and brothers of several noblemen did come along, but they were completely unable to wear the sleeve darts used by women!

Could it be a case of hiring someone to commit murder?

He returned to Dou Zhao's tent with a lot of questions in his mind. After listening to him, Dou Zhao's eyes showed a slight hesitation.

"My lord, there is something I am not sure if I should say."

"But it doesn't matter."

Dou Zhao hesitated, then said, "The first person to discover that the Supervisor was injured was—the young mistress!"