Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Xiao Dingbang asked with a hint of doubt, "I've been deceived? By whom? Was it the second prince? Or someone else?"

Consort De said, "Your Majesty, you've been fooled by that good-for-nothing Xiao Ce! I can guarantee with my life that he will not only survive, but he will live a very good life! He's faking it!"

Xiao Dingbang's suspicion deepened: "Why are you so sure?"

Consort De has already gone to see Xiao Xiangqing.

Xiao Xiangqing reported the whole story to Consort De, including the information he obtained from Mr. Qianlong.

Based on the information provided by Xiao Xiangqing, Consort De quickly guessed what had happened.

It's obvious that Xiao Ce orchestrated all of this himself!

The problem now is that even if she knows the truth, if she tells Xiao Dingbang directly, he might not believe her.

However, although Xiao Ce had handled the matter very meticulously, Consort De still discovered a problem.

That means Xiao Ce is definitely safe and sound, as long as it is proven that his injury was fake.

That means what Xiao Xiangqing said is true.

However, Consort De naturally wouldn't reveal anything about Mr. Qianlong. Instead, she changed the subject: "Your Majesty, because Xiang Qing wouldn't lie to me. Even if he wanted to deal with the Second Prince, he wouldn't use such a foolish method!"

"Your Majesty, you will know the truth if you try my method!"

Xiao Dingbang looked at Consort De with a puzzled expression: "Oh? How do I try it?"

Consort De said, "Your Majesty should bring Xiao Ce into the palace under the pretext of treating his injuries. I will then test him and find out."

"If Xiao Ce is truly on the verge of death, then it proves the Second Prince was right! Conversely, if Xiao Ce is unharmed, then it proves Xiang Qing was right, and it means Xiao Ce's return to the capital this time is not so simple!"

"If that's the case, we can also take advantage of the situation to control Xiao Ce! Your Majesty, doing so will not cause you any loss; on the contrary, it will allow us to catch the real culprit!"

Xiao Dingbang nodded as he listened: "Although your statement is ridiculous, how could Xiao Ce, that good-for-nothing, have done all this! However, since you insist, I will make you give up completely! You have lived in the deep palace for so long that you probably don't really understand your own son."

Consort De listened to Xiao Dingbang's words and did not refute him.

After all, she was content as long as she achieved her goal.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. If Xiang Qing has truly lied to me, you don't need to lift a finger; I will give the Second Prince and Consort Hui an explanation!"

Xiao Dingbang nodded in agreement and said to the head eunuch beside him, "Just do as Consort De said and bring that good-for-nothing over here!"

The head eunuch bowed: "What if His Highness refuses to hand over the person?"

Xiao Dingbang's face darkened: "If you don't hand over the person, then say it's my imperial decree! If you don't hand over the person, then it means there really is a problem with this matter."

The chief eunuch bowed and nodded before stepping away.

A triumphant glint flashed in Consort De's eyes.

……

Outside the prison

Xiao Ce followed Commander Ma to a room on the side.

This room is the rest room for the prison guards.

They saw Commander Ma bring Da Lei in.

The jailers inside all stood up: "Brother Ma!"

Commander Ma waved his hand at them: "I've brought two new brothers. Let's see if they can get used to it today."

The jailers listened and nodded, without asking a single question.

Commander Ma then took out a small bag of silver and threw it in front of them: "Let's have an extra meal for the brothers today, and the rest can be divided among us!"

Seeing this, the prison guards smiled and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Brother Ma!"

Xiao Ce watched from the side and felt that they were both tacitly aware of each other's intentions, and neither of them had dared to break the unspoken agreement.

Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd done this.

Commander Ma then said to Xiao Ce and Da Lei, "Wait here for a while, then change your clothes. Tonight, I'll take you to get familiar with the place!"

Xiao Ce and Da Lei accepted the clothes given to them by Commander Ma, changed into them, and then waited on the side.

Commander Ma ignored them and went off to do his own thing.

The prison guards, who were resting there, ignored them.

It wasn't until after dark that someone brought them some food, which they ate a few bites of.

It really didn't taste very good.

A moment later, Commander Ma pointed at Xiao Ce and Da Lei: "You two come with me. I'll take you around to familiarize yourself with the surroundings first."

I followed Commander Ma into the Heavenly Prison, which was actually an underground dungeon.

There is only one entrance and exit, and once inside, there is a foul and pungent smell.

This prison is very large, and it holds many people.

This prison holds serious criminals, so they are all in single cells, and the lighting inside is very poor.

Only a few dim oil lamps and candles flickered.

Commander Ma held a high position here, and even the passing jailers would greet him.

They went straight to the outside of the deepest cell.

Commander Ma said to Xiao Ce, "King of the Northern Desert, King Zhen is inside. If you can, tell him to stop insisting! If he agrees, I can help you get King Zhen out without anyone noticing. By the time they find out, you'll already be out of here!"

Commander Ma's unexpected words left Xiao Ce looking at him with a face full of surprise.

"you know me?"

Commander Ma nodded with a smile, then said, "Your Highness, the King of the Northern Desert, of course! You may not remember me, but I will never forget you... Back then, outside the capital, you gave a mother and child who had fled to the capital fifty taels of silver..."

Commander Ma recounted a story from the past.

This Commander Ma is named Ma Su.

Just a few years ago, the original owner of this body, Xiao Ce, saw a mother and child on the verge of death outside the capital, and then brought them to his residence.

They were given some money to settle down in Kyoto. With his intelligence and ability, Ma Su also managed to find a job in Kyoto.

They've climbed their way up to their current position over the years.

According to Ma Su, the original owner of the body, Xiao Ce, had done many similar good deeds.

The reason Ma Su hadn't mentioned it before was because he didn't know about his relationship with Qian Dafang and the others.

Now that they were here and there was no one around, they followed Xiao Ce's words.

Xiao Ce nodded: "Have many people come to see Uncle Jiu?"

Ma Su nodded: "That's right, the King of Zhen has had many opportunities to go out... but he stubbornly refuses to go out or say anything. However, no one has come in for a long time now!"

As he spoke, Xiao Ce glanced into the prison cell.

The King of Zhen, Xiao Dingshan, was sitting on a bed with his back to the door, seemingly meditating cross-legged.

"Ma Su, may I go in?" Xiao Ce asked.

Ma Su nodded repeatedly and said, "Of course, of course you can go in..."

As he spoke, Ma Su held up a key.

"This is the key to the cell. Generally, there shouldn't be any problems. You and the King of the Town can talk for as long as you like! If there's any situation outside, I'll ring the bell immediately. You'd better come out right now!"

Xiao Ce nodded and said to Ma Su, "Alright! Thank you."

With his stern face, Ma Su shook his head and said, "Your Highness, you are too kind. Without you, my mother and I would have starved to death at the gates of the capital years ago, becoming corpses of the starved..."

Xiao Ce took the key and walked over.

Ma Su then wisely left.

Xiao Ce took the key and opened the cell door.

Xiao Dingshan sat cross-legged, motionless, seemingly unconcerned about who had come.

"Uncle Nine!"

Xiao Ce called out to Xiao Dingshan in the prison cell.

However, Xiao Dingshan remained motionless.

Da Lei's expression grew increasingly serious as he said, "Your Highness, something seems amiss!"

Da Lei sniffed the air twice, his face turning grim. "It smells of blood," he said.

Xiao Ce wanted to step forward, but was stopped by Da Lei.

"Your Highness, I'll go take a look first."

Xiao Ce nodded without insisting, realizing that something was amiss.

As Da Lei spoke, he ran forward and saw Xiao Dingshan sitting cross-legged with his mouth open and blood flowing down his body.

Da Lei very carefully reached out and placed his hand next to Xiao Dingshan's nose.

After feeling it for a moment, he suddenly pulled his hand out.

After pulling his hand back, he said to Xiao Ce with a grim expression, "Your Highness, the old prince is dead!"

Xiao Ce's eyes widened in disbelief as he asked, "What?"

He was about to step forward when Da Lei stopped him.

"Your Highness, don't come any closer! We need to get out of here. Something's wrong!"

Xiao Ce naturally understood Da Lei's meaning and asked with a surprised look, "Is this a trap?"

Da Lei nodded.

Just then, a sharp whistle sounded from outside.

"Someone's breaking into the prison! Someone's breaking into the prison!"

Da Lei's expression turned extremely ugly, and he pulled out two short knives from his sleeve.

"Your Highness, don't worry about me later, your escape is the most important thing!"

Xiao Ce frowned and shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid we can't escape."

Because the two men had just come out of the cell, they saw another person dressed as a jailer.

They had surrounded the passage with more than fifty armored soldiers armed with bows and arrows.

It's clear they came prepared.

The lead jailer said, "You are not allowed to move. Surrender now. Your accomplice, Ma Su, is already under my control. If you make any move, I'll shoot you into a sieve!"

Xiao Ce knew he was doomed this time. He had no doubt that if he dared to make a move...

With dozens of people shooting arrows at the same time, he had no room to move in such a confined space.

Seeing this, Xiao Ce threw his weapon in front of him and said, "We surrender!"

Da Lei did the same.

Soon, under the orders of the head jailer, Xiao Ce was pinned down.

Then the lead jailer pretended to enter the cell: "Quick...quickly fetch the prison doctor! The King of Zhen has been assassinated!"

"Take these two assassins into custody! Put them in shackles and chains."

In an instant, Xiao Ce and Da Lei were bound hand and foot and put in shackles and chains.

Xiao Ce felt incredibly frustrated; how could he have been so caught off guard and ended up in such a predicament?

...

At this moment, Nie Bing sat quietly in a carriage outside the prison.

A short while later, a young page boy walked over from the entrance of the prison.

They returned to the carriage.

Nie Bing asked the young page with some anxiety, "Little Phoenix, how is it?"

The young page respectfully reported to Nie Bing, "Sir, everything went smoothly! The King of Mobei and one of his men have been captured! And Xiao Dingshan is dead as well. This time, even if the King of Mobei had three heads and six arms, he's doomed!"