"Your Majesty, all the rebels have been captured!" Lu Yucheng and Qi Shaocheng rushed in from outside the palace, both covered in blood, and had not heard the old emperor's words.

Qi Shaocheng spotted Zhu Yu in his purple outfit at a glance, his eyes widening in amazement, and his body trembled slightly.

Although she was now covered in blood, it couldn't hide her unparalleled beauty, and she seemed even more beautiful than when he saw her at Lianfu Restaurant half a month ago before he left the capital.

Seeing this, Zhu Yu glared at him fiercely.

Qi Shaocheng was taken aback. He wanted to ask her if she was injured, but considering that the timing was not right, he lowered his head.

Seeing Qi Shaocheng's reaction, Zhu Dan then looked at Zhu Yu, who had a woman's body and a man's soul, and frowned slightly. He knew that the fact that Yun'er and his fourth brother had swapped bodies should not be known to people of this era.

However, they still couldn't figure out how to get the two of them to switch bodies back.

Upon seeing the two of them, Zhu Heng's eyes widened in fury: "Qi Shaocheng, what are you doing here? Why are the Northern Army here?"

He pointed at Lu Yucheng: "And you, as a son, why aren't you being filial to your seriously ill father? What are you doing here! Is it worth risking your life for such a dog emperor who is always on guard against and suspicious of you, and who is always thinking of getting rid of you?"

Just then, someone came running up at breakneck speed: "Great victory! Great victory! The Duke of Zhenguo has led the Lu family army to a great victory over the Chen army of 200,000, captured ten cities of Chen, and Chen has surrendered!"

Smiles finally appeared on everyone's faces.

Even the old emperor breathed a long sigh of relief.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Heng understood everything. His face turned ashen, and he collapsed to his knees, pounding his fist on the blood-soaked bluestone slab.

"You dog emperor, Zhu Yu, Zhu Dan, you knew my whole plan from the very beginning. Today you deliberately lured me into a trap, didn't you!"

Lu Xiaoyun calmly said, "Second brother, you have evil intentions. You colluded with assassins from the Chen Kingdom to assassinate Father Emperor during the Lantern Festival. You also used the snow disaster in Mu City to incite a popular uprising, which caused the people of Mu City to contract the plague, resulting in the deaths of countless innocent people."

Despite the blood splattered all over his face and body, Zhu Dan remained as gentle as ever, and his voice was still very pleasant.

"Second brother, you have been scheming and plotting for many years, thinking that everything is under your control. Little did you know that your fourth brother and I had already discovered it. Over the years, you have committed countless crimes."

Zhu Yu was extremely annoyed watching the two of them chatting and laughing, but unfortunately, he couldn't get involved in the situation.

Zhu Heng was heartbroken: "So, that's why you staged such a show on the streets of Shengjing City a month ago, letting me see the Fourth Prince's leg broken and the Duke of Zhenguo seriously injured? Ha, what a clever scheme, what a clever scheme."

The day Zhu Yu and Lu Xiaoyun left the mansion, they "coincidentally" met Zhu Dan on the street. This was no accident; they already knew that Zhu Heng and Ren Yushan were there.

Zhu Heng closed his eyes tightly. He thought he had made a perfect calculation, but he didn't expect that he had already fallen into their trap.

Lu Xiaoyun laughed and said, "Do you really think that Father Emperor would leave the Lu family army unused and send the Northern Army on a long and arduous expedition to Chen Kingdom? The day after you went to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to confirm that the Duke was 'seriously injured,' he rushed to the southern border."

Zhu Heng sneered, "Besides believing himself, who else would this dog emperor believe! The Lu family army has accumulated too many military merits. He's so wary of the Duke of Zhenguo and his son, would he let them accumulate more military merits? I don't believe it, I don't believe it!"

"The Northern Army is now in his hands, Fourth Brother. He never truly believed that you would willingly hand over the command of 200,000 Northern Army soldiers. Taking advantage of this expedition to Chen, wouldn't it be a perfectly legitimate opportunity to reshuffle the generals and officers?"

The old emperor's eyes flickered. It must be said that although Zhu Heng was not his biological son, he still understood him very well.

He did have such a plan at first, but a month ago, his fourth and fifth brothers told him about Zhu Heng's intention to rebel, so they finally discussed having the Duke of Zhenguo attack Chen and recalled the Northern Army that had been gone for half a month.

The Duke of Zhenguo rode at full speed and arrived in the southern border region in just five days.

Zhu Heng gritted his teeth in regret.

Lu Xiaoyun smiled faintly: "Second brother, you also deserve a lot of credit for the Duke of Zhenguo's successful capture of ten cities in Chen. If you hadn't secretly sent someone to deliver the message to Chen, making them mistakenly believe that the Northern Army would not arrive in the Southern Frontier until February 20th at the earliest, the Duke of Zhenguo would not have been able to achieve such a great victory by surprise."

“That’s not right.” Zhu Heng raised his head and stared intently at Lu Xiaoyun. “Just ten days ago, didn’t we receive a battle report saying that the Northern Army and the Chen Kingdom’s army were locked in a stalemate? That’s why the dog emperor ordered the Duke of Yingguo to lead 100,000 troops from the Xishan Military Camp directly from Mucheng to reinforce them?”

"How...how is this possible? How is this possible?"

The old emperor gave a cold laugh.

Zhu Heng understood everything from that smile: "You don't trust the third prince who has 150,000 troops, so all those so-called battle reports at the morning court were fake, just to get the Duke of Yingguo's Xishan Military Camp transferred away! You're afraid the third prince will reap the benefits?"

"Indeed!" the old emperor said coldly. "Unfortunately, you've realized it too late. Guards, throw Zhu Heng and Xie Lilan into the imperial prison! Send troops to surround the Second Prince's residence immediately, and don't let even a fly out!"

Ever since he learned that Zhu Heng intended to rebel on the day of the imperial examination, he had sent people to keep an eye on the Second Prince's residence.

Perhaps because Zhu Heng thought victory was assured, no one left the mansion.

However, before the guards could even approach, Consort Xian and the maid Hongman who was supporting her both gushed black blood from the corners of their mouths and collapsed before their very eyes.

Everyone was shocked. They hadn't expected that Consort Xian and Hongman had already taken the poison before they arrived.

Zhu Heng's face turned deathly pale with fright. He cried out and crawled toward Consort Xian on his knees. He was bound and could not crawl very fast: "Mother, Mother!"

Lu Xiaoyun, Zhu Yu, and the others did not stop them.

Dark blood kept gushing from the corner of her mouth. Consort Xian's hand trembled as she touched Zhu Heng's face: "Heng'er, I'm sorry, it's, it's your mother who killed you."

With his hands bound, Zhu Heng panicked and could only use his shoulder to press against Consort Xian's mouth, trying to stop the gushing blood from flowing any further.

However, it was all in vain. The blood gushed out more and more, and Consort Xian's breath gradually weakened.

Zhu Heng cried out, "Mother, how could you be so foolish? Why did you have to be so foolish? I did all of this willingly, how could you be so foolish..."

Zhu Heng turned around and kowtowed repeatedly to the old emperor, his forehead instantly becoming a bloody mess: "Your Majesty, I beg you, I beg you, quickly summon the imperial physician, summon the imperial physician to beg my mother... You can kill me however you want, but please save my mother..."