Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Seeing that Lin Xuan'an was about to be dragged away, Cao Meng hurriedly pleaded with Jiang Chong: "Your Highness, Lin Xuan'an has committed a grave mistake that is indeed unforgivable."

But as he said, having followed the prince for so many years, he could say he's worked hard even if he hasn't achieved great things.

"Considering his unwavering loyalty to the Prince and his status as a half-step Innate Martial Artist, let's give him another chance to redeem himself!"

The main reason he pleaded with Jiang Chong to save Lin Xuan'an was that he, as the deputy commander of the Dongzhou camp, had offended too many people, and he had very few reliable people in the army.

First, he was at odds with Wang Jian, the military commander of Hezhou, and publicly called Wang Jian a coward. The reason was that Wang Jian's mountain city defense system was impregnable, which aroused Cao Meng's jealousy.

Wang Jian was a famous general in Shu. After learning about this, he didn't know what he had done to offend this confidant of the prince. He wrote a letter to inquire and humbly admitted his mistake.

Unexpectedly, Cao Meng burned the letter without even reading it.

From then on, Wang Jian had no further dealings with Cao Meng and directly requested permission to go to Hezhou to build defensive fortifications.

Cao Meng was completely unaware that his deteriorating relationship with Wang Jian was tantamount to a complete break with the gentry of Hezhou.

Having offended Wang Jian, he then offended Fa Xiaozhi, who had served as a clerk and military advisor in the army.

He repeatedly insulted Fa Xiaozhi to his face, calling him a two-faced, smiling tiger, which led to Fa Xiaozhi's entire clan refusing to have any communication with this scoundrel except for official business.

In addition, Cao Meng also cursed Pan Jun, a famous scholar who originally came from Jingzhou to seek refuge with him.

As it turned out, Pan Jun was no pushover either. In response to Cao Meng's provocation, he directly and bluntly cursed back, without using a single vulgar word.

After cursing Cao Meng until he was red in the face, Pan Jun, in a fit of displeasure, prepared to draw his sword and challenge him to a duel. Then, he returned directly to Jingzhou and recommended himself to Ye Mo for the position of the governor of Jingzhou.

Because Cao Meng considered himself the prince's longest-serving confidant, he became arrogant and didn't take anyone in Shu seriously. Over time, he was actually completely isolated by the powerful families and even the army in Shu, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

After all, such a major incident as the granary fire occurred, yet not a single person in the army went to report this terrible news to him, which shows that Cao Meng had only just learned about it from Li Ye.

Lin Xuan'an was one of the few military generals who could get along and play with him. If he died, there would be even fewer people he could rely on.

"Let him go? Cao Meng, have you lost your mind?"

"Your Highness, I know this request is excessive, but the Dongzhou camp really can't afford to be any less manpower right now. After all, Lin Xuan'an is a martial artist with considerable cultivation."

Hearing this, Jiang Chong became even angrier and slapped Cao Meng on the back of the head.

"You don't believe me when I say you've lost your mind?"

"Two million six hundred thousand bushels of grain were burned because of him, and you still have the nerve to beg me for mercy? Why don't you just die with him!"

Cao Meng silently lowered his head and remained silent, letting Jiang Chong beat him.

Jiang Chong's temper only grew angrier with each blow. As if he had just thought of something, he pointed at Jiang Chong's nose and yelled, "Why did you leave a drunkard to guard the camp? Is it because you think I have too much food and it's too conspicuous for you?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Meng was so frightened that he immediately knelt down: "Your Highness, please calm down. It was my dereliction of duty. Please be lenient with me."

"I'll settle the score with you later!"

Jiang Chong glared at him, then looked at Li Ye again: "Li Ye, I have a question for you, and you'd better answer me honestly."

Li Ye: "Your Highness, may I ask?"

"Cao Meng said that you have already surrendered to the imperial court. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ye was startled and hurriedly shook his head, replying, "No, absolutely not, Your Highness, Cao Meng is framing me!"

Cao Meng: "Enough, Li Ye. The prince already knows about your affair. Just admit it openly."

"What do you want me to admit?!" Li Ye was so angry that his face turned red. "Cao Meng, I thought you just looked down on me, but I never expected that you would do such a thing as framing a loyal official in front of the prince."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chong immediately pressed, "Zhongliang? Whose Zhongliang are you?"

"Your Highness, of course I am loyal to you. Why do you listen to Cao Meng and question me like this?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jiang Chong pulled out the jade record: "Take a look for yourself and see if Cao Meng has wronged you."

Li Ye opened the photographic jade tablet with some skepticism.

Upon closer inspection, they were utterly dumbfounded.

"Can you explain this to me?"

When Li Ye met Jiang Chong's extremely sinister eyes, his face trembled uncontrollably.

"Your Highness! I swear to Heaven, I, Li Ye, have never been disloyal to you!"

"I can explain the contents of this projected jade tablet."

So he revealed the purpose of his meeting with Shen Lang that day.

After he finished speaking, Jiang Chong was still skeptical: "Is everything you said true?"

"Your Majesty, please understand."

Cao Meng suddenly spoke up: "Who knows if what you're saying is true or not? Don't make up some inexplicable reasons to deceive the prince again."

Li Ye looked at this scoundrel and was so angry he was about to die.

Just as he was about to speak to prove his innocence, Jiang Chong said, "Putting aside whether it's true or not, didn't you say you confiscated Yi Wancheng's property? What about his wealth? Was it confiscated and put back into the treasury?"

Li Ye sighed: "Your Highness, the Yi family mansion has been completely sealed off. As for the money and grain inside, they have all been taken away by the Duke of Zhen."

"What did you say? Yi Wancheng's family fortune is actually in Shen Lang's hands?" Li Ye was a little confused. "Why would it fall into his hands? Didn't you confiscate the Yi family's assets?"

Li Ye replied awkwardly, "No, the Yi family's property wasn't confiscated by me, it was done by the Zhenguo official..."

“No wonder…” Cao Meng interrupted with a laugh, “Why did Shen Lang come to ransack the house out of nowhere? Is my Prince’s manpower insufficient?”

This deepened Jiang Chong's suspicions about whether Li Ye had already sided with Shen Lang.

Just as Li Ye was about to continue explaining, someone came crying in from outside the door to report.

"Your Highness! Lord Li, something has happened at the Dongzhou camp."

The newcomer was Leng Bao, who was covered in blood and whose armor was tattered.

What happened at the Dongzhou camp?

The Dongzhou camp was his foundation, and he could not afford to make any mistakes.

Upon hearing the words "something has changed," Jiang Chong panicked.

"Your Highness, they've rebelled! All the units in the army have rebelled!"

“They were all disobeying orders, and many of them were clamoring to leave the army and go home to farm and hunt.”

Upon hearing this, Li Ye hurriedly asked, "What? Did the Duke of Zhenguo fail to deliver grain to the army as agreed?"

Although these words were highly ambiguous to Jiang Chong and Cao Meng, and could easily deepen their misunderstanding.

But he couldn't care less about that at the moment.

"No, the Duke of Zhenguo brought grain, but the soldiers just picked up the grain and left the camp, saying that the treatment in the army was worse than that of pigs and dogs, and that it would be better to go home and farm."

“How many people left?”

"Of the 340,000 people who remained, more than 200,000 left this morning after the Duke of Zhenguo delivered grain."

"What? More than two hundred thousand?"

Upon hearing the number, Jiang Chong's vision went black, and he collapsed backward.