The Demonic Crown Prince

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan suddenly realized, "Damn it, so someone really did try to sabotage me after I left the military camp!"

Fortunately, Wang Wanquan and his group resisted the temptation; otherwise, if they had turned on each other, it would have been a real problem.

He turned to look at Xu Rui and Liu Yuwen with a smile in his eyes, but to his surprise, the two of them only looked surprised and disappointed, and did not see much.

He frowned; something was definitely not right.

"What false accusation against the King of Qin?"

Emperor Jinglong frowned and asked.

"First, they want us to falsely accuse the King of Qin of killing the Minister Wang."

Secondly, they wanted us to falsely accuse the King of Qin of threatening the three of us to kill Wu Ying and others.

Third, they want us to falsely accuse the King of Qin of robbing and expelling these low-ranking officers.

"So what's the truth?"

"The fact is that before the King of Qin received the troops, Wu Ying had already summoned us and asked us to deliberately neglect the King of Qin, resist the acceptance, and resolutely disobey the military order to go to Yanbei Road."

After the King of Qin arrived, Wu Ying and others kept making provocative remarks and even tried to attack him. We were filled with righteous indignation and feared being implicated, so we rose up to help the King of Qin kill them.

Wang Shilang was killed by Wu Ying in the chaos of battle.

During the process of receiving the troops, the King of Qin investigated the military situation and learned that the junior officers were embezzling military pay at every level and even eating the flesh and blood of the soldiers. Enraged, he rectified military discipline, led all the junior soldiers to confiscate the embezzled silver, enforce military law, and expel more than 300 bad officers.

Furthermore, the confiscated silver was used to directly supplement the soldiers' pay.

Now, every soldier who mentions the King of Qin gives him a thumbs up and is willing to die for him, even if it means going to Yanbei Road to their deaths.

His Highness is a good man and a good general. If anyone tries to harm him, all the soldiers of the Thirteen Garrison Army will be the first to object!

Therefore, we have come here specifically to plead for justice for the King of Qin and hope for a fair judgment from Your Majesty!

Wang Wanquan said loudly.

The last sentence was shouted out with almost all his might.

"We plead for justice for the King of Qin and beseech Your Majesty to deliver a just verdict!"

The hundred people behind him also knelt down and roared at the same time.

The sound carried beyond the main hall and even reached outside the palace.

The more than a thousand people outside also heard the roar, and immediately they all roared back, "We cry out for justice for the King of Qin! We beseech Your Majesty to deliver a just verdict!"

Keep in mind that this was over a thousand people shouting in unison at the same time; how powerful was that?

The roar was deafening, shaking the very roof tiles of every palace in the imperial city, and sending dust flying down!

Li Yuan, standing beside him, looked at the soldiers inside and outside the hall, his eyes slightly moist.

Even setting aside the multiple factors surrounding Wang Wanquan and others, just consider those soldiers—what a simple and honest group of people! If you treat them even slightly well, they would be willing to risk their lives to protect you!

"quiet!"

The eunuch on duty frantically rang the jade bell to maintain order, and only then did the group stop shouting.

Emperor Jinglong stared blankly at the soldiers, recalling his time as the Prince of Qin, leading troops into battle.

The soldiers at that time also supported him in this way, and were willing to die for him.

When he looked at Li Yuan again, his originally stern eyes softened considerably!

At this moment, Li Yuan slowly spoke, looking at Liu Yuwen, the Minister of War, and smiled slightly.

"Minister Liu, you just said there are three hundred witnesses."

Now, I have over 1,600 witnesses.

What else do you have to say?

"This, this..."

Liu Yuwen's chest heaved rapidly, but she avoided his gaze and could not answer.

"Wang Wanquan, I ask you, who tried to bribe you to harm the Prince of Qin?"

Emperor Jinglong composed himself and looked at Wang Wanquan, asking again.

"It is Liu Jingui, the Zhaoyong General of the Capital Region General's Office."

He not only bribed us, but also threatened us with our families.

"Your Majesty, please send men to protect our families immediately, otherwise, the lives of our families will be in grave danger!"

With tears in his eyes, Wang Wanquan slammed his head heavily to the ground, his tears falling into the dust.

Both Zhang Chuang and Xu Lei were like this.

This surprised Li Yuan. He hadn't expected there to be such a hidden story, and he was deeply moved!

"Qin Yang, I hereby order you to personally lead the Black-Clad Guards to investigate this matter immediately and protect the safety of Wang Wanquan and his family. I will never allow my soldiers to be so loyal and brave yet to suffer injustice and shed tears!"

If anything goes wrong, you won't need to come back to see me.

Emperor Jinglong shouted at Qin Yang, the commander of the Black-Clad Guards, who was standing next to him.

"Yes, Your Majesty. If I fail to uncover this truth, I will offer my head in retribution!"

Qin Yang cupped his hands in greeting and led his men out of the hall, his face contorted with murderous intent.

"Wang Wanquan, I ask you, did Liu Jingui say anything else?"

Emperor Jinglong looked at Wang Wanquan again and asked.

Wang Wanquan hesitated for a moment, then knelt down and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Liu Jingui told the three of us that it was Jiang Zhanyue, the deputy commander of the capital region's military headquarters, who ordered him to do this..."

"Jiang Zhanyue? Impossible! This is a smokescreen, a deliberate attempt to create confusion and kill multiple birds with one stone—by making enemies for us!"

Li Yuan immediately ruled out Jiang Zhanyue as the mastermind.

He unconsciously turned to look at Xu Rui and Liu Yuwen, but the two of them had solemn expressions and did not look at him.

Meanwhile, Wang Wanquan and his two companions did not dare to hide anything and recounted the so-called cause and effect.

He also recounted how Jiang Zhanyue went to the military camp to stand up for a junior officer but ended up getting beaten up by Li Yuan.

"Wow... the King of Qin is actually so brave and skilled, defeating Jiang Zhanyue?"

"Impossible, right? Jiang Zhanyue is the army's top general; it must have been a moment of carelessness on her part..."

For a moment, everyone was shocked by Li Yuan's victory over Jiang Zhanyue and began to whisper among themselves.

This former crown prince, now the King of Qin, is increasingly defying their expectations.

"Silence." The eunuch on duty struck the jade bell again, and the officials fell silent.

"Jiang Zhanyue, the only bloodline of the Duke of Wei's mansion? Summon her to the palace; I want to get to the bottom of this."

Emperor Jinglong frowned deeply. How did this involve Jiang Zhanyue?

Before long, Jiang Zhanyue arrived in front of the hall.

"Jiang Zhanyue, I only have one question for you: Did you ever stand up for the people of the Thirteen Garrison Command and go to the Prince of Qin?"

Did he instruct Liu Jingui to win over people's hearts and falsely accuse the Prince of Qin?

Emperor Jinglong asked, "No matter what, I must give Li Yuan an explanation for this matter."

Jiang Zhanyue paused for a moment, then said, "I did indeed confront the Prince of Qin and we got into a fight, but I did not instruct Liu Jingui to falsely accuse the Prince of Qin."

But just as she finished speaking, a cold laugh suddenly came from outside the hall, "Deputy Commander Jiang, you say you didn't do it, so you didn't?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Qin Yang, the commander of the Black-Clad Guards, striding into the hall. He still had bloodstains on his body and was holding a letter in his hand.

"Your Majesty, I have successfully completed my mission. I did indeed find the thieves at the home of Wang Wanquan and the other two men. After a battle, I rescued the loyal family members of the martyrs."

However, all those traitors actually committed suicide by poison, leaving no survivors.

However... during the on-site physical examination, someone recognized them as all former personal guards of Jiang Zhanyue, the deputy commander-in-chief, who had retired to farming.

I personally led men to arrest Liu Jingui, but unexpectedly, Liu Jingui committed suicide out of fear of punishment and hanged himself.

However, during the search of the house, a letter was found in a secret compartment in the study. The handwriting was still fresh, and it turned out to be a personal letter from Deputy Commander-in-Chief Jiang.

The handwriting has been verified and it was indeed written by Jiang Zhanyue himself.

This letter is sufficient proof that it was Deputy Commander-in-Chief Jiang who instructed Liu Jingui to falsely accuse the Prince of Qin.

Qin Yang held up the letter.