"I ask you, when they rebelled, did they think of sparing my life?"

This question left Noble Princess Consort Rong stunned. She was dazed for a moment, then quickly shook her head, "Cousin, Yi’er and the others would never kill you."

"Not kill me?" The Emperor sneered, "If they don’t kill me, how can he ascend the throne?"

"Cousin..."

The Emperor interrupted Noble Princess Consort Rong again, "You were not aware of this matter, I won’t hold it against you, but as for them, I will never spare them lightly."

"Cousin, Yi’er is our first child..."

"Sun Kui, escort the Noble Princess Consort back to the palace. Without my orders, she is not allowed to step out of Yongxin Palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Cousin, I beg you..." Sun Kui had no choice but to forcefully escort Noble Princess Consort Rong away with Sun Doudou.

The Emperor raised his hand to pinch his brow, then continued reviewing the memorials as if nothing had happened.

After a while, Sun Kui returned to the Imperial Study.

"Your Majesty, the Noble Consort fainted again."

"Have the Imperial Physician take good care of her, and make sure that those around her attend to her well," the Emperor said very calmly, "Don’t let her leave Yongxin Palace again."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Sun Kui turned and left the Imperial Study, repeating the Emperor’s instruction to Sun Doudou, who immediately went to make arrangements.

When Sun Doudou returned, he saw his master guarding the door and asked in surprise, "Why are you not inside attending?"

"His Majesty is not in a good mood."

"Master, does His Majesty really want to..." Sun Doudou didn’t dare to finish his sentence.

Sun Kui glared at him warningly, "That’s not something you should be inquiring about."

Sun Doudou immediately shut his mouth obediently, not daring to say another word.

At this moment, Prince Chu came over with several ministers.

Sun Kui quickly went into the Imperial Study to report, and the Emperor allowed Prince Chu and the others to enter.

Prince Chu and several ministers reported to the Emperor the truth about the collusion of Prince Dai, Prince Yue, Marquis Xuanping, and Prince Han in the rebellion.

They originally thought Prince Dai would keep his mouth shut, refusing to say anything. Unexpectedly, Prince Dai confessed everything honestly.

During the examination, Prince Dai cried with tears all over his face. He deeply regretted his rebellion and begged the Emperor to spare his life.

Prince Han initially said nothing, but later, when Prince Chu presented all the evidence of his collusion with the Xiongnu and informed him it was all a trap, he couldn’t withstand it, shouting madly. Eventually, he stopped denying everything he had done.

After reading the confessions of Prince Dai and Prince Han, the Emperor’s expression remained calm.

"Father, Prince Dai wants to see you," At present, Prince Dai has not yet been convicted, so he temporarily remains Prince Dai.

The Emperor guessed what Prince Dai wanted to say and replied coldly, "No." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Prince Chu asked, "Father, what should be done next?"

"Proceed according to the law, announce it at tomorrow’s early court."

Suddenly, Prince Chu knelt on the ground, "Father, I beg you to spare Prince Dai and the others."

Seeing Prince Chu pleading for Prince Dai and the others, the Emperor was not surprised at all.

Meanwhile, in Prince Han’s Mansion, Zhao Yao was reading a letter sent by He Lianfang. Every ten days, He Lianfang would write to Zhao Yao, informing him about the situation in Swamp Prefecture and other prefectures in Lingnan, as well as in Siam and Johor.

With He Lianfang guarding it, everything in Lingnan was normal, and the neighboring foreign countries were also very compliant.

"Ah, Uncle... Uncle..." During his absence, his uncle certainly secretly orchestrated quite a few things again.

Tong Xi asked, "Your Highness, what’s wrong with the Second Master?"

"Nothing," Zhao Yao asked, "Is the Eighth Brother in the mansion?"

"Your Highness, Prince Wei is busy at this time and should not be in the mansion."

"Indeed, they are all very busy, unlike me, who’s idle." Zhao Yao finished speaking, then picked up a roasted rice cake to eat.

"Your Highness, will Prince Dai and the others die?"

"It’s hard to say whether Prince Dai and Prince Yue will die, but Prince Han will definitely die; after all, he colluded with the Xiongnu. But it’ll probably not be beheading—he might die of illness in prison instead." Zhao Yao thought to himself, "Even if the father spares Prince Dai and Prince Yue, the Eighth Brother probably won’t let them go."

"Prince Han deserves it."

At that moment, a Hidden Guard suddenly appeared to report, "Your Highness, Commoner Xun has died."

"Commoner Xun?" Zhao Yao didn’t immediately remember who this person was.

Tong Xi reminded, "Your Highness, it was the former Princess Consort De."

Only then did Zhao Yao react, "So it was her. How did she die?"

"The Emperor gifted her poisoned wine."

"That’s normal."

"Before Commoner Xun died, she said she had the Noble Princess Consort Rong accompanying her, so she did not die unjustly."

"Didn’t father say he wouldn’t blame the Noble Princess Consort Rong?" Zhao Yao had just said that when he realized he spoke naively, "Once Prince Dai, Prince Yue, and Marquis Xuanping are dead, the Noble Princess Consort Rong will likely not survive."

"Noble Princess Consort Rong’s health is not good," the Hidden Guard added, "Prince Chu pleaded for Prince Dai and Prince Yue. The Emperor did not say anything."

"It’s not surprising Fourth Brother pleaded for them." Both publicly and privately, the Fourth Brother would plead for the two brothers of Prince Dai.

"Prince Dai is crying in prison, pleading to see the Emperor."

"Regretting his rebellion, huh?"

"Yes."

Zhao Yao sneered, "Regretting now, why even rebel at first? Ultimately, it’s fear of death."

The Hidden Guard further reported about Prince Han’s madness in prison.

"Let’s go see my good Fifth Brother in prison." Zhao Yao wanted to thoroughly humiliate Prince Han before he died.

"Your Highness, can we go?"

"Why can’t we go? Father hasn’t decreed that we can’t."

Zhao Yao took Tong Xi and headed to the Zongzheng Temple’s prison.

Those in Zongzheng Temple did not stop him.

Zhao Yao arrived at the cell holding Prince Han and saw Prince Han, with disheveled hair, leaning in the corner of the cell in a pathetic state.

"Fifth Brother, I came to see you."

Prince Han had no reaction, not even moving his eyelids.

Zhao Yao dragged a chair to sit in front of the cell and continued, "Fifth Brother, I didn’t expect you to be so foolish. When I destroyed your forces in Johor and Siam, you got so scared you wet your pants, didn’t dare return to the capital, and stupidly colluded with the Xiongnu’s third princess to rebel."

Prince Han finally reacted. He angrily ran over, glaring venomously at Zhao Yao.

"Zhao Yao! I’ll kill you!"

Watching Prince Han, who wished to skin him alive, Zhao Yao laughed very happily.

"I’ll kindly inform you of one more thing, your rebellion this time was driven by the Eighth Brother behind the scenes, and of course, I helped a bit."

Prince Han shouted angrily at Zhao Yao, "I’ll kill you all!!!!"

"You thought colluding with the third princess would assure everything, but let me tell you, the Left Virtuous King and Right Virtuous King of the Xiongnu Royal Court are both Eighth Brother’s people. You think you controlled the Xiongnu Royal Court, but in fact, it was a trap set by the Eighth Brother." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "In this rebellion of yours, both the Eighth Brother and Father arranged everything well. When you headed south, General Chu attacked the Xiongnu Royal Court; the third princess you were involved with is already dead."

"Aaaaahhhh..." Prince Han suddenly started screaming maniacally.

He had never expected everything he did was pre-arranged by others.