Even the crown prince is getting a marriage of convenience? Why are you in such a hurry to stop bein

Based on Xiao Lie's understanding of the emperor, no matter how much he doted on Consort Yuan, he would never be willing to live forever with her.

The emperor was a womanizer; he only ever heard the laughter of new concubines and never the cries of old ones.

He used to treat Consort Xian very well, but she was still neglected.

Since the Third Prince was confined to the Imperial Clan Court, Consort Xian has been ill and unable to recover.

When the emperor was in good spirits, he only knew how to be with Consort Yuan and never once looked at Consort Xian.

The current Consort Xian is likely to become the future Consort Yuan.

Seventeen remained silent for a long time, then said, "The most callous are those of the imperial family."

A person as ambitious and narrow-minded as an emperor cannot tolerate someone staying by his side for long.

If he could truly live forever, he would definitely change his favorite concubine every now and then.

"With no powerful maternal family to rely on, will the Emperor suddenly abandon her?" The Emperor is currently extremely tyrannical; "Will he kill her in a fit of anger?"

Every day, many gruesome corpses were carried out of the palace, and the mass graves were almost piled up like mountains.

Although he did not arrange for Consort Yuan to enter the palace.

But she was always doing things for him, and Xiao Lie didn't want Consort Yuan to end up like this.

"Leave a Shadow Guard by her side." In case the Emperor decides to kill her, protect her at all costs.

Seventeen replied, "The Fifth Prince is really sticking to us this time. He's not satisfied with the pawns we threw out last time; he's still desperately looking for other incriminating evidence against us."

Xiao Lie was not surprised.

The Fifth Prince isn't stupid; how could he not realize that what he found were all insignificant?

"If that's the case, then we'll make a bigger sacrifice."

Now, spies are found in all six departments.

There's no need to keep the underground gambling den anymore.

Keeping them around will only pose an endless threat to them in the future.

"Your Highness, we have put a lot of effort into opening this underground gambling den. If it is handed over to the Fifth Prince, we will suffer heavy losses."

Seventeen was even more unable to let go than Xiao Lie.

"You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, don't you understand this principle?" Those who achieve great things must be willing to make painful sacrifices.

Xiao Lie gave Seventeen a long lecture, saying, "Don't be indecisive when doing things; be more decisive."

Seeing that his persuasion was ineffective, Seventeen could only silently retreat.

That underground gambling den was a tool that Xiao Lie had set up behind the scenes. Sure enough, once the Fifth Prince caught him, he stopped keeping such a close eye on Xiao Lie.

However, the fifth prince did not stop there, but continued to win over and bribe court officials.

The Fifth Prince's every move was under the surveillance of the Shadow Guards, so Xiao Lie was able to attend to other matters first.

In the past few days, the emperor has stopped summoning him to the palace to be a test subject for medicine.

It seems that after taking the elixirs, the emperor had come to trust those alchemists quite a bit.

Therefore, there's no need for Xiao Lie to test the medicine.

Yuan Ajiao sent word that the emperor was taking more pills every day than before.

His eye sockets were deeply sunken, but his eagle eyes were exceptionally chilling.

After taking the emperor's pulse, several imperial physicians, led by Physician Zhao, tearfully advised him not to continue taking the medication.

But the emperor had become obsessed and thought that they didn't want him to have immortality.

Driven by suspicion and anger, the emperor became so cruel as to order that Physician Zhao and others be dragged out and beheaded.

It was only because Yuan Ajiao pleaded for their lives that the few remaining former members of the Imperial Hospital were spared.

Physician Zhao ran to Xiao Lie crying, "Your Highness, you must go to the palace quickly and persuade the Emperor. If this continues, the Emperor may not live much longer."

Only in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion did Physician Zhao dare to speak frankly about the emperor's health condition.

Xiao Lie looked intently at Physician Zhao. "Physician Zhao, you have come to my residence to examine me a few times. Based on these few encounters, I must give you some advice."

Physician Zhao was puzzled, not knowing what he was going to say.

"From now on, you'd better not go to the Imperial Hospital." Ask the emperor for sick leave and stay in your own residence; that way, you can save your life.

It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over Zhao Taiyi's head.

He was icy cold. "Your subordinate understands."

Watching Physician Zhao leave dejectedly, Xiao Lie got up, intending to write a letter home to send to the frontier.

A blood-soaked guard burst in, barely clinging to life. "Your Highness," he cried, "the border war is critical! The Southern Barbarians and the Northern Di have colluded and launched a surprise attack on several of our northern fortresses."

"Because the Fifth Prince wanted to bribe the city's generals, his men held a banquet with them in a restaurant, which prevented them from defending against the enemy in time, and those fortresses almost fell."

"The Duke led his troops to provide support, but he only managed to drive the enemy army a hundred miles away."

Our army suffered heavy losses in this battle.

The Southern Barbarians and Northern Di were well-prepared, and every two hours they rested, they would launch an attack.

"Weapons are in short supply at the front, and several generals have already led several thousand men to risk their lives to retrieve the arrows."

"..."

The more Xiao Lie listened, the more uneasy he felt.

Even if we quickly gather supplies from the public and send them over now, it's like trying to put out a fire with water from afar.

The only thing we could do was to plead with the emperor.

Let him provide reinforcements from the nearest location first.

"I'll go to the palace right now." Presumably, the beacon fires have already been lit by now.

When Xiao Lie arrived, he saw that many ministers had already gathered outside the main hall.

But when the emperor urgently summoned them to the palace, they were nowhere to be found.

The ministers discussed it amongst themselves, none of them able to understand.

Someone whispered, "The Emperor has been extremely tyrannical lately. Could it be that he summoned us to the palace to have us all tortured and killed?"

This sound sent a chill down the spines of all the court officials.

Some ministers even collapsed to the ground because their legs went weak.

Just as everyone was scaring themselves, Deshun opened the main hall door and brought in a chair.

After the emperor sat down, the court officials knelt down in a dense crowd.

"The Duke of Zhenguo has come to request support. The border war is urgent, and we need reinforcements and a large amount of military supplies."

"What do you, my esteemed ministers, think?"

The Minister of Revenue, who had always known the Emperor's intention to eliminate the Duke of Zhenguo, flattered him, saying, "With the Duke of Zhenguo guarding the borders, what enemy army would dare to invade?"

"It must be that the Duke of Zhenguo exaggerated in order to swindle military funds so that he could resell some and secretly hide them in his private treasury."

The emperor was indeed very satisfied with the Minister of Revenue's advice.

The other courtiers, fearing they might die outside the palace that day, also echoed this sentiment.

Xiao Lie was so angry he laughed. He disregarded his own life and death, stood up and asked them, "You keep saying that those southern barbarians, northern Di, eastern Yi and western Rong dare not invade because my grandfather, the Duke of Zhenguo, is in charge."

"In all these decades, has my grandfather ever once asked the imperial court for reinforcements?"

"As the saying goes, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. Does that mean a general can win a battle with his bare hands?"

Xiao Lie took the lead, saying, "I am willing to contribute half of the Zhenguo Duke's mansion's wealth to purchase military supplies and send them to the front lines as soon as possible."