Shocking! Five men are in love with the same woman!

As for the trafficking of women, one reason was naturally to make money, and another was to place people in various mansions to gather information or to win over these people.

Although the Zhou family, as the Empress Dowager's maternal family, appeared to outsiders as imperial relatives, they were in reality just empty shells.

There were no promising young men in the clan to uphold the family's reputation.

That's why the Empress Dowager kept trying to win over Xiao Muyao, thinking of marrying Zhou Xian to him.

However, Xiao Muyao was unyielding, and the Empress Dowager had tried various methods over the years without success.

Although the Empress Dowager still harbored illusions and refused to give up, her brother, the Marquis of Chengen, had already given up hope.

Because he knew Xiao Muyao's character all too well, he knew that once he said something, it was final and there would be no room for negotiation.

Furthermore, he is intolerant of any wrongdoing, and once he ascends the throne, he will inevitably disapprove of them and settle scores with them.

So why is he so determined to bet on him?

Therefore, he made a decision after accidentally discovering the true nature of the second prince.

He felt that the Second Prince had been hiding his abilities so well all these years, and that no one had discovered him yet, which proved that he was a man of great ambition. Therefore, he certainly had a good chance of contending with Prince Rui.

So he took the initiative to pledge allegiance to the second prince and became his servant.

The trafficking of women is just one example; there are many other shady and unsavory incidents.

This included seizing fertile land and secretly abducting many boys under the age of ten through improper means, carefully cultivating and educating them, all in order to increase manpower.

There were also cases of embezzlement, bribery, eliminating dissidents, and murdering entire families to seize wealth, and not just one family.

There are also cases of forming cliques for personal gain, indiscriminately killing innocent people, and exploiting the common people.

Most importantly, they even abducted many young men from various places to serve as their private army, numbering as many as 20,000.

It is hidden in a secluded mountain in Jiangnan.

They also illegally minted weapons there.

The second-rank general they controlled had also misappropriated military funds twice to give to these private soldiers.

These are all the things I found out about the Second Prince and Consort Shu during this period.

No wonder they need money so much; maintaining an army is extremely expensive.

With so many crimes, any one of them would be enough to lead to the confiscation of the Second Prince's property and the extermination of his entire clan.

So tonight they were discussing how to expose this matter and get Emperor Jingzhao to stop protecting the two and punish them.

Of course, given Emperor Jingzhao's nature, it was impossible for him not to cover it up.

However, these crimes must be made public so that everyone knows about the numerous crimes they have committed over the years.

However, Xiao Muyao must not be allowed to expose this matter, lest Emperor Jingzhao suspect that he deliberately framed him because of the struggle for the throne.

Lu Yanqing won't do either.

He was Emperor Jingzhao's knife; how could he turn around and stab Emperor Jingzhao's heart?

Of course, He Jingchuan is even less suitable.

He is already easily suspected and feared, so we must not make things worse for him.

The group discussed it back and forth but couldn't come up with an insurance solution that wouldn't involve them.

At that moment, Lingyan suddenly thought of someone.

It is very suitable for him to do this.

The tenth prince.

Lingyan's reasoning was: "The Tenth Prince is already under my control, so he will definitely do as I say and will not dare to implicate us. Moreover, his leg is already crippled, so there is no possibility of him succeeding to the throne. Therefore, Father has no suspicion or distrust of him. He will subconsciously trust him rather than doubt him."

"So as long as the tenth prince enters the palace to complain and tells the emperor that the second prince sent someone to do his broken leg, the emperor will be furious and disappointed in the second prince."

"In his extreme anger, and with his immense guilt and affection for the Tenth Prince, Father will definitely issue an order to thoroughly investigate this matter and the actions of the Second Prince's faction over the years. If the Tenth Prince then hints that this matter can be handed over to us, namely A Yao, for investigation, Father will definitely agree. Then the initiative will be in our hands."

We'll see how the Second Prince, Consort Shu, and the others escape!

After listening and thinking it over carefully, the three of them all agreed.

This is currently the best and safest method.

………………

So the night after the matter was agreed upon, Xiao Muyao took Lingyan to visit the Tenth Prince's residence late at night.

They carefully avoided the guards in the mansion and made their way to the Tenth Prince's bedroom.

The tenth prince was already fast asleep.

The servant guarding the outer room was also put to sleep by applying a pressure point to his acupoints.

They didn't light any lamps; instead, they woke the tenth prince in the darkness.

When the tenth prince was woken up, he saw two dark figures and was about to scream.

Xiao Muyao had anticipated this, so he picked up a teacup and held it to his mouth.

Lingyan then spoke up at the opportune moment, saying, "Don't be afraid, it's just me and the Prince."

The Tenth Prince would never forget Lingyan's voice, even if he were beaten to death.

This was like a devil's voice to him.

Therefore, he relaxed upon hearing this and nodded emphatically.

Xiao Muyao then removed the teacup.

Lingyan then stopped wasting words with him and said directly, "I want you to go to the palace first thing tomorrow morning to complain to Father Emperor that your broken leg was caused by the second son."

The tenth prince was incredulous and somewhat frightened upon hearing this, and his body trembled violently.

He stammered, "Are you... going to... do something to... the second brother?"

Who's next?

Will they eliminate them one by one?

Thinking of this, he shuddered.

His eyes were filled with fear as he looked at the two of them.

Lingyan remained silent.

Xiao Muyao was also speechless.

What have you been imagining that has scared you so much in just a short while?

Speechless as I was, I still had to continue giving him instructions.

Lingyan then spoke again, "The second prince has committed many crimes over the years. It is inconvenient for the prince to come forward, so you will be the one to uncover this secret. After that, you will imply to the emperor that the prince should investigate the second prince. I believe you will do it flawlessly without any loopholes, right?"

I don't know why, even though her tone was very calm.

But the tenth prince nodded repeatedly in fear, saying, "I understand, I will definitely do this well."

After saying that, he hesitated and asked, "But if I go to complain, why would they assume that the second brother did it? Are they just going to say that the second brother did it without any evidence?"

Lingyan replied, "You don't need to worry about that. We've already made arrangements. Among the group that left the capital with you last time, there was an Imperial Guard who had been taking medicinal baths since childhood, so his body was quite resistant to drugs. He was still conscious when everyone else was drugged and heard them say that they were acting on the Second Prince's orders. However, he didn't have the strength to resist and passed out."

"After waking up, he dared not speak of this matter, fearing that His Majesty would not believe him and would accuse him of being a wolf in sheep's clothing and deliberately framing someone. He had no evidence, so he kept silent. However, he could not get over the pangs of his conscience, so he thought of telling you about this matter. You are the victim, and he felt it was necessary for you to know who did this, so that you could seek justice for yourself."

The tenth prince was greatly shocked after hearing this.

Was it all planned out so meticulously?

He then asked, "But I've never met him or had any contact with him. The investigation found out about this very easily. What should we do?"

Lingyan smiled slightly after hearing this, and took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it to him.

The tenth prince took it and looked at it by the moonlight. It was written down in great detail what Lingyan had just said.

Seeing that he had finished reading, Lingyan continued, "Because this Imperial Guard did not want to reveal who he was, he could only write it as a letter and secretly put it in your room in the middle of the night when no one would notice. When you woke up the next morning and read it, you were immediately filled with anger and wanted to seek justice for yourself, so you went to the palace to file a complaint. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, the tenth prince was speechless.

All I could do was nod emphatically to show that I understood.

What can be said?

They had everything planned out; all I had to do was obey and follow their instructions.

He didn't even think about resisting.

After all, one's life is more important.

Especially now that they have witnessed their formidable methods, they dare not resist even more.

Having finished speaking, the two prepared to leave.

Finally, the tenth prince mustered up his courage and asked, "How did you manage to control that imperial guard? Why did he agree to such a dangerous thing?"

Ling Yan replied calmly, "Everyone in this world has weaknesses. As long as you find the right weakness, no one will disobey you. Aren't you the one?"

The tenth prince choked.

He was then unable to say anything more.

Seeing this, Ling Yan sneered, and then she and Xiao Muyao disappeared into the night.