Chapter 1081: Do you want the kingdom or the beauty?

The next morning, Yun Zheng left Sawtooth Ridge.

This time, Zhang Xu is also going back to Shuofang with them.

When they left Sawtooth Ridge, the messenger had already left with his handwritten letter, and the order to Fu Tianyan had also been sent out.

The affairs of the Northwest Protectorate should mainly be handled by Dugu Ce and others.

He just needs to determine the general direction.

As they were rushing back, the Xiqu delegation also left the Daqian Imperial City.

On the second day after the Xiqu delegation left the Daqian Imperial City, a major event occurred in the palace.

Yun Li, who was still presiding over the court meeting, was forced to interrupt the meeting and hurried to Changning Palace where Empress Xu lived.

When I arrived at the palace, I found that Emperor Wen and Gu Xiu and his daughter were all there.

In front of them lay a half-dead maid.

This maidservant was the maidservant of the Crown Prince's Concubine Wan Yangjin, and was also the maidservant who came with Xiqu as a dowry.

Yun Li had a bad feeling in his heart, but he didn't bother to ask more questions. He hurriedly saluted Emperor Wen and Empress Xu and said, "I, your son, pay my respects to you, father and mother."

Emperor Wen glanced at Yun Li indifferently, and then winked at the eunuch next to him.

The eunuch understood and quickly knelt down in front of Yun Li with a tray in his hand, then held the tray in both hands and presented it to Yun Li.

Inside the tray was a small cloth bag.

"Do you know what this is?"

Emperor Wen asked Yun Li unhappily.

Yun Li glanced at the small cloth bag and said, "I... don't know."

"There's poison in this!"

Empress Xu reminded with a dark face.

what?

poison?

Yun Li's face changed drastically. He looked at the four maids kneeling on the ground and a terrible idea suddenly occurred to him.

These maids of Yangjin got poison from the Xiqu delegation. They either wanted to murder him or his father!

"Father, this..."

Yun Li was panicking, "What the hell is going on?"

"What happened? You still dare to ask what happened?" Emperor Wen shouted angrily, "If your father-in-law hadn't caught this bitch by accident, I wouldn't even know how I died!"

Yun Li became even more flustered when he heard this, and hurriedly cast inquiring glances at Gu Xiu and Gu Lianyue.

Gu Xiu sighed softly, bowed and said, "I was acting on the secret order of His Majesty, and accidentally discovered that this slave girl sneaked out of the palace and had a secret meeting with the Xiqu delegation. The Xiqu delegation gave her this thing. I was suspicious, so I arrested this slave girl and brought this thing back to His Majesty. After being identified by the imperial physician, it was found to be a highly toxic poison..."

Hearing Gu Xiu's words, Yun Li's face was instantly filled with anger, and he looked at the dying maid with his eyes as sharp as knives.

How dare this slave girl do this?

After trying hard to suppress the anger in his heart, Yun Li kowtowed with a face full of shame: "I failed to supervise you, please punish me, father!"

"I don't want to punish you!"

Emperor Wen sighed with a tired look on his face: "I called you here not to punish you, I just want you to tell me one thing! Do you want the kingdom or the beauty?"

Which one do you want: the kingdom or the beauty?

Yun Li's heart skipped a beat.

This requires him to make a choice between Jiangshan and Yangjin!

Do you still need to choose?

Yun Li lowered his head and said, "Your son knows that Yang Jin is guilty! Your son..."

"I'm asking you something!"

Emperor Wen's face suddenly fell.

Yun Li's heart twitched fiercely, and he answered with gritted teeth: "Your son... wants the country!"

"Since you want the country, then get up!"

Emperor Wen's complexion improved slightly, and he slowly stood up. "Tell me, how do you plan to deal with Yang Jin?"

"Father!"

Yun Li called Emperor Wen and said with an embarrassed look on his face, "Yang Jin is indeed guilty of a thousand deaths, but she is the princess of Xiqu after all! Moreover, Yang Jin is already pregnant. If I kill Yang Jin..."

"I didn't ask you to kill her!"

Emperor Wen interrupted Yun Li in a bad mood and said with a dark face: "I heard that the Crown Prince Wanpin is pregnant, and I am very happy! From now on, the Crown Prince Wanpin will be brought to Changning Palace to take care of the baby and accompany the Queen!"

House arrest!

Emperor Wen wanted to put Yangjin under house arrest.

It was only to maintain the royal family's reputation and not to damage the relationship with Xiqu that they said that Yangjin would be sent to Changning Palace where Empress Xu lived.

"Keep an eye on her! If she steps out of Changning Palace without my permission, I will hold you responsible!"

Emperor Wen warned Empress Xu and left in anger.

It was not until Emperor Wen disappeared completely that Yun Li felt as if he had been pardoned.

Yun Li took a deep breath, slowly walked to the dying maid, and kicked her hard, "Tell me, who do you want to poison?"

The maid spat out a mouthful of blood and wailed weakly: "That poison is not... mine. They... framed me..."

"Bad maid!"

Gu Xiu snorted coldly, "You are about to die, yet you still dare to sow discord! If I wanted to frame you, why would I spare your life to confront me?"

In fact, he was the one who forced the poison into the maid.

He needs to eliminate the potential threat to his daughter!

All of this was tacitly approved by Emperor Wen, so he didn't need to worry at all.

"I...have been wronged..."

The maid's face was filled with pain and she was still crying out for justice.

"Injustice?"

Gu Lianyue snorted coldly: "Why don't you tell me where you are wronged? If there is no conspiracy, why would you leave the palace secretly to meet with the Xiqu envoys?"

The maid groaned and stopped talking immediately.

"Okay! No need to ask."

Empress Xu raised her hand to stop Yun Li. "The fact that she left the palace without permission to meet with the Xiqu envoys is enough to prove that she has bad intentions! Come, drag this slave away and beat her to death!"

Yun Li opened his mouth slightly, wanting to stop it, but was powerless.

Yes!

This lowly servant, although Yangjin's maid, secretly left the palace to meet with the Xiqu delegation. Even if the Xiqu delegation did not give her poison, neither she nor Yangjin could escape the blame.

Soon, two guards came forward and dragged the maid away.

“This matter is not over yet.”

Empress Xu sighed softly: "Your Majesty now suspects that Xiqu wants to poison him through Yangjin, thereby triggering Yunzheng's rebellion! Your Majesty is angry, you must interrogate Yangjin and give your Majesty an explanation!"

"My son understands."

Yun Li nodded with a sullen face, "I will go back and interrogate Yang Jin thoroughly!"

"After you're done asking questions, send it to Changning Palace."

Empress Xu nodded, "Your Majesty, handling this matter privately is already a special favor! If you tell this matter in the court, you will be questioned by the ministers in the court."

Yun Li nodded slightly and bowed to take his leave.

Gu Xiu and Gu Lianyue also quickly bowed to Empress Xu and took their leave.

After leaving Changning Palace, Yun Li asked Gu Xiu with a gloomy face: "Why didn't you tell me about such an important matter earlier?"

Gu Xiu sighed and said, "Commander Han of the Imperial Guards has been following me all the time, and I didn't even have the chance to tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about this in advance..."

As he spoke, Gu Xiu told the story of how Emperor Wen had instructed him to deceive the Xiqu delegation.

At the same time, he also told Yun Li about Emperor Wen's concerns.

Their main purpose was to defraud the Xiqu delegation of gold and silver to build warships, and capturing that slave girl was completely an accident.

After hearing what Gu Xiu said, Yun Li couldn't help but feel angry.

This old man actually hid so many things from me? Fortunately, when the forging method of patterned steel was lost, I got angry.

It turns out that all this was secretly planned by him and his father!

This old guy did take credit in front of his father, but it put him in a passive situation.

Now that Yangjin is under house arrest, it is inevitable that Xiqu might even think that he is deceiving them with a fake forging method.

In this way, his plan to secretly join forces with Xiqu to deal with Lao Liu would most likely fail!

Damn old thing!

Incompetent bungler!