After being demoted, my 300,000-strong army trampled the imperial city!

Ake is Chen Futu's secret weapon. If the old eunuch discovers her now, he will have no choice but to kill him.

Just as the old eunuch was about to reach the dark corner, an aged figure suddenly jumped in from outside the wall without warning, landing right in front of the old eunuch. At a glance, it was Qi Wen.

Their eyes met, and the old eunuch looked them over in surprise. "A coachman, actually a grandmaster."

Qi Wen was indeed displaying the aura of a grandmaster at this moment, and he had deliberately barged in to disrupt the other party's investigation. He said calmly, "I am here only to protect the young master. Aren't you leaving now that you're done with your work, sir?"

The old lady remained silent, looked around to sense her surroundings, and finally said indifferently, "In that case, I will return to report."

After saying this, the old eunuch left the mansion without looking back.

Chen Futu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Qiwen, "Luckily you were quick-witted and disrupted that guy's aura, otherwise Ake would have been exposed."

Ake suddenly appeared and said quietly, "He seems to have discovered me, but there are too many powerful people here. He wasn't confident and was afraid of dying here, so he retreated."

"Should we kill him?" Chen Futu frowned, not wanting to reveal her presence.

Ake shook her head and said, "No need, we can kill him before we leave, there's no rush."

The old eunuch was probably undecided, unsure if someone was truly hiding something. Besides, even if he told the old emperor, it wouldn't make a difference; he couldn't very well take direct action against the delegation.

“I’m worried that if we take the old man’s remains away tonight, it will be linked to us. It seems we need to add fuel to the fire quickly.”

Chen Futu privately asked Liu Longyue to give her some instructions, such as conveying her message to the officials to muddy the waters regarding the matter against the prince, so that the royal family would not be able to deal with the delegation.

Of course, Chen Futu is now too lazy to meet with those officials in person.

Late at night, the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace, looking grim.

The Crown Princess had been waiting anxiously, and when he returned, she hurriedly inquired about the situation.

The Crown Prince was displeased: "Prince Xin is going too far. As a prince, he dares to start a war under the noses of the people. Even in front of me, he still shouts for war. He doesn't respect me, the Crown Prince, at all."

The Crown Princess whispered, "Hesitation only leads to more trouble. I think the Crown Prince should no longer consider the bond between brothers. Otherwise, in the future, without the Emperor's control, these princes may take advantage of their status to continue to harm the people in the provinces, or even raise troops to make their own way."

If the Crown Princess had said these things before, the Crown Prince might have reprimanded her for interfering in politics within the inner palace, but now Prince Xin's behavior made him feel anxious.

The crown prince remained silent for a long while. "Tell me," he said, "what should I do?"

“Your Highness need not appear in person. I will inform the officials to submit a memorial impeaching Prince Xin and, incidentally, strip him of his military power. Your Highness should gradually reclaim their power and, ideally, imprison them in the capital forever.”

The Crown Princess is a ruthless person, but the Crown Prince still has some concerns.

The main problem is that the emperor is seriously ill, and the crown prince is now in charge of the country. If the officials submit a memorial to impeach Prince Xin, will he agree or disagree?

If we agree, it might alienate our younger brothers; if we don't agree, how long will we keep delaying?

Furthermore, at present only Prince Xin is causing chaos in the court, and it does not involve other princes.

Just then, a eunuch rushed in and said, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Zhou Qingzhi's body has been taken away."

"What did you say!"

The crown prince was shocked and rushed to the eunuch, his eyes filled with anger. "What are the city guards doing? So many people, they set up an inescapable trap, and they still managed to escape!"

The eunuch said bitterly, "According to the commanders, there were three people who made the move, all of whom were extremely powerful and far beyond what they could handle. The initial estimate is that they were strongmen sent from the Northern Frontier."

"Very well, Chen Futu, you are showing contempt for me!"

Even a fool could guess that Chen Futu was responsible; only the Northern Frontier was willing to protect the Zhou family bloodline.

The Crown Princess immediately dismissed all the servants. "Has Your Highness considered that just as Prince Xin attacked the delegation, someone took advantage of the chaos to take away Zhou Qingzhi's remains? Is this related to the caravan? Their arrival was too coincidental."

The Crown Prince was startled. “My beloved consort is right. When I left, the mission’s chief, Zhu Guli, was not present. Moreover, he was an envoy from the Western Zhao. Zhao Xi’er has close ties with the Northern Frontier. On the surface, she came to improve relations with me, but in reality, she was using the mission’s name to retrieve Zhou Qing’s remains from the Northern Frontier.”

The Crown Prince finally understood, "They really have a lot of nerve, thinking I'm senile!"

The Crown Princess raised her gentle face. "Why should Your Highness be angry? Now that I think about it, this matter may be of our advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"Chocolate first contacted me through his family business, then presented me with a phoenix glass cup to arouse my interest, and then used a golden dragon glass cup as bait to lure me to the shop where I had a conflict with Prince Xin."

Upon hearing the Crown Princess's words, the Crown Prince's expression suddenly changed. "This is a trap!"

"I don't want to believe it either, but now I have no choice but to believe it. The other side has a very deep scheme, with one thing leading to another. In fact, given Prince Xin's personality, it is probably within their expectations that they would launch an ambush tonight. Making a scene in the capital will be their chance to take away Zhou Qingzhi's remains."

"My beloved consort, continue!" The Crown Prince's eyes widened as he watched his wife's expression change. Was his wife really that clever?

The Crown Princess paced back and forth and said, "Yan Qing is also in the delegation. I am almost certain that this caravan was sent by Chen Futu."

"How about we go and wipe them out right now?" the Crown Prince asked.

The Crown Princess shook her head with a smile, "No, Chen Futu sent people here in such a grand manner, it shouldn't just be to retrieve the remains. Judging from his methods, he knows that His Majesty is seriously ill and the old and new powers are about to be handed over. He wants to exacerbate the conflict between the Crown Prince and the Prince at this time, so as to create internal conflicts in the Great Qian Dynasty."

These few words made the Crown Prince break out in a cold sweat. He grabbed the Crown Princess's shoulder, both surprised and delighted, "Hearing my beloved consort's words is like seeing the sun after the clouds have parted, and I've suddenly understood everything!"

"The Crown Prince is about to ascend the throne. What you want is also to eliminate these arrogant princes and strip them of their military power, right? Why not go with the flow and let Zhu Guli continue to secretly instigate those princes, while the Crown Prince only needs to take the knife handed to him by Zhu Guli when necessary, unite with the ministers to reform the system, but he needs to use swift and decisive measures to take down those princes to avoid any unforeseen complications."

After the Crown Princess finished speaking, the Crown Prince looked at her beautiful face and laughed heartily, "With my beloved consort, I have nothing to worry about. I've decided to do as you say, but there are some things I'll need your assistance with. I'd like to see what kind of expression that chocolate will make in the end."

The following morning, civil and military officials were in attendance at the Golden Hall. The Crown Prince surveyed the assembled officials, then looked at his cronies, signaling that it was time to launch an attack on Prince Xin.