It was the same as usual when he went to the palace to meet the emperor, but the difference was that this time Jiang Yi met the emperor alone. Jiang Yi's face was calm, but the words he said were as shocking as a storm.

The fact that Prime Minister Jian had a close personal relationship with King Jiangxia forced the emperor to take it seriously.

It has been several years since this matter was discovered, but it was only recently that it was finally confirmed that King Jiangxia was plotting something. The emperor frowned and asked Jiang Yi to tell him in detail.

Jiang Yi started by talking about how he discovered tribute from the South China Sea on the Dingbei Marquis' Mansion a few years ago, and then gradually pulled the Jian Mansion hidden in the dark out of the water. Jiang Yi remembered every detail of the past few years clearly, and pointed out every problem word by word.

Until recently, when Princess Lin'an came to Beijing, she deliberately made her affair with Jian Yuyan known to the whole city. Wei Xiongjie, who was traveling with Princess Lin'an, had also been in frequent contact with Prime Minister Jian.

The more the emperor listened, the heavier his expression became. Being in a high position, he was naturally suspicious. One suspicion was enough to make him take it seriously, let alone many suspicions. What's more, Jiang Yi was an important minister promoted by the emperor himself. He admired him for his promising young age, and now, after many years, he has become one of his most trusted ministers. Although Jiang Yi and the Crown Prince were very close, and even the outside world automatically attributed Jiang Yi to the Crown Prince's side, in reality, the one who valued Jiang Yi the most was still the current emperor.

If someone else had said such shocking news, the emperor might still be skeptical, but if it was Jiang Yi who said it, the emperor would have believed it for the most part, not to mention that King Jiangxia had been a thorn in his side for many years.

The emperor was silent for a long time, then his eyes fell on Jiang Yi's face and he whispered, "I know your temper. If there is no sufficient evidence, you will not tell me. So, besides this, what else do you know?"

"I also know that all this news was leaked deliberately by Princess Lin'an," Jiang Yi said.

"What do you mean?" The emperor was shocked and motioned Jiang Yi to sit down.

"At first, I went to Hangzhou to welcome Princess Lin'an to the capital and spent some time with her. Later, when she came to the capital, she behaved out of character, and I couldn't help but feel suspicious..."

Jiang Yi then pointed out all the flaws Yan Yiming had revealed. The emperor became more and more confused the more he listened. "Princess Lin'an is the biological daughter of Prince Jiangxia, so why would she reveal such a flaw? Could it be that she grew up beside Prince Jiangxia but was thinking about my kingdom?"

The reason here was something Jiang Yi couldn't explain. Jiang Yi smiled and said, "I don't know what Princess Lin'an wants, but I'd rather believe it than not. It's true that King Jiangxia has been disrespecting the emperor's power for many years, and it's also true that Prime Minister Jian has had a close personal relationship with King Jiangxia for many years. Your Majesty, please think about it."

Jiang Yi didn't know what she wanted, but he would always remember that Ah Ming once said in a casual chat with him that His Majesty was concerned about the country and the people, the country was at peace, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. This was a great blessing for the world. How could she, who could say such things, be compared with a traitor like King Jiangxia?

The emperor nodded. No matter who the Princess Lin'an was, the most important thing at this moment was still the matter of Prime Minister Jian. If Prime Minister Jian really colluded with King Jiangxia, Prime Minister Jian had been powerful in the court for so many years, and Jian Yuyan had grown up as a companion to the prince since he was a child. Just thinking about it was creepy enough.

"Then, my dear, where should we start?"

"I think that we must not alert the enemy now that the jackals have not yet appeared. One option is to dispatch troops to fill the gap in Jiangnan just in case. The other option is to follow the trend and conduct a secret investigation."

Jiangnan has many soldiers but few generals, and is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Strengthening defenses was part of the emperor's recent plan. Secret investigations to seek evidence also showed that Jiang Yi did not intend to frame him.

However, if Jian Xiang had really been planning this for many years, it would be extremely difficult to investigate it now.

"There are so many clues. Your Majesty can investigate thoroughly on one person."

"who?"

Jiang Yi smiled, his handsome face still calmly saying the name of a person.

"The eldest son of the Jian family, Jian Yuyan."

Prime Minister Jian has been hiding in the court for more than 20 years. It is not easy to investigate now, but then again, as long as you really want to investigate, you will always find clues.

Once the seeds of doubt are planted, they will surely lead to many spreading vines.

The emperor did not alarm the people in the court and launched a secret investigation. He did not target Prime Minister Jian directly, but started with the other people mentioned by Jiang Yi, such as Marquis Dingbei who almost became Prime Minister Jian's relative. In addition, he focused on investigating Jian Yuyan's identity.

The emperor did not pay too much attention to Jian Yuyan, but half a month later, he really found out many clues.

For example, Jian Yuyan is not actually Prime Minister Jian’s biological son.

It turns out that Jian Yuyan was not the biological son of Prime Minister Jian and Madam Jian, but the son of Prime Minister Jian's biological sister and the man who was adopted by Master Jian. Both of them died for unknown reasons after Jian Yuyan was born. Except for those old servants who had been in the Jian family for many years and were very trusted, all the people who knew about the situation disappeared overnight.

The emperor then realized that this matter was unusual and immediately ordered people to continue investigating, but he was unable to find out any other facts.

The identity of that man, Jian Yuyan's biological father, remains a mystery.

There is nothing wrong with raising a nephew as a son, but the Jian family killed all those who knew about the matter in order to conceal it. This was enough to arouse the emperor's suspicion.

What exactly does the Jian family want to hide?

What unknown secrets are hidden in Jian Yuyan’s identity?

At the beginning, because he never suspected anything, he never noticed anything wrong. Now, the emperor quietly conducted a comprehensive investigation when Prime Minister Jian and others were off guard, and he really found out a lot of things at once.

All these signs made the emperor more and more convinced that Prime Minister Jian had been lurking for many years and was not as loyal and kind as he appeared to be.

But over the years, Prime Minister Jian has always secretly supported the prince. When the emperor sent Jian Yuyan to the palace to study with him, he turned a blind eye. Now that Prime Minister Jian has made unusual moves, what about the prince?

Was he kept in the dark, or was he the same as Prime Minister Jian, King Jiangxia, and others...

The emperor was very suspicious and could not help but doubt even his own son. Jiang Yi saw this and reminded the prince after leaving the palace that His Majesty was dissatisfied with Prime Minister Jian recently and asked him not to get too close to Prime Minister Jian.

The prince has a close relationship with the Jian family. Jiang Yi directly told Nangong Xuan that the Jian family had the intention of rebellion. Nangong Xuan would definitely not believe it completely. Jiang Yi put it another way and put pressure on him by saying that His Majesty was the emperor. Nangong Xuan did not doubt him but asked him directly why.

"Your Majesty discovered a few days ago that Prime Minister Jian and King Jiangxia have a close personal relationship."

Nangong Xuan was stunned and found it unbelievable.

But this was what his father suspected. Nangong Xuan recalled his father's strange expression in recent days and finally understood what was going on. However, he still couldn't believe it no matter what.

Jiang Yi smiled faintly and didn't feel surprised. He just mentioned the private affair between the prince and Jian Yuer at the right time, and then said, "Your Highness was interested in Miss Jian at the beginning, and the Queen also agreed, but in the end they missed the marriage opportunity, except..."

Jiang Yi paused for a moment before continuing, "Except for the Crown Princess, Your Highness, do you remember what Prime Minister Jian did back then?"

Nangong Xuan recalled that he was close to Jian Yuer in the past and had even mentioned it to his mother, who also summoned Jian Yuer into the palace, but later the matter was left unresolved.

When thinking about this matter, he always thought it was because of A Ming, but now thinking back, Nangong Xuan suddenly remembered one thing. Jian Yuer once cried in front of him, saying that Prime Minister Jian did not allow her to be close to him, but the reason was that he did not want Jian Yuer to marry into the royal family.

Thinking about it now, I still thought it was such a simple reason?

Jiang Yi stopped there, the prince was not stupid and could not tell right from wrong. The emperor was suspicious of the prince, but Jiang Yi had known the prince for many years and understood that the prince was also kept in the dark.

After more than a month of investigation, Prime Minister Jian had not revealed any clues, but the Marquis Dingbei had actually found out something.

Marquis Dingbei was also a third-rank general of the imperial guards, in charge of 100,000 imperial guards in the capital of Nanjing. However, such a person in such an important position was involved with the previous dynasty. Marquis Dingbei's mother, the old lady of Marquis Dingbei's mansion, was actually the daughter of Marquis Zhongyi of the previous dynasty.

The emperor was shocked and the pen in his hand fell to the table.

If the King of Jiangxia made the emperor uneasy all night, then the word "previous dynasty" was enough to wake the emperor from his dream.

The emperor was furious in court.

Jiang Yi had no time to enter the palace. The emperor, in a rage, had already ordered his men to surround the Dingbei Marquis's Mansion, leaving no time for anyone to react.

In the autumn of the fifty-fourth year of Chen Xia, the third-rank general Dingbei Hou had a grudge with the previous dynasty, and all the hundreds of people in his family were sent to the Heavenly Prison. No one dared to plead for Dingbei Hou.

No matter which emperor it is, he cannot tolerate any existence related to the previous dynasty.

A few days later, a riot broke out in Nanping, far south of Jinling. His Majesty was furious and ordered people to suppress the riot. He then ordered General Shao Jingyu, who was guarding the northwest, to return to the capital to report on his work. He took over the hundreds of thousands of troops in Jiangnan and served as General Wei to be in charge of the imperial guards.

The two points that Jiang Yi raised with the emperor a month ago have now been fully implemented.

Jiang Yi had an idea in his mind, but Prime Minister Jian was terrified. The emperor's visit did not give them any time to react. By the time he heard the news, Marquis Dingbei had been arrested and imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, and his life or death was uncertain.

Prime Minister Jian was shocked and angry at the emperor's tyranny, but he was even more saddened that after the death of Marquis Dingbei, all 100,000 troops fell into the hands of others. This loss was like breaking one of his own legs.

If he trusted General Wei and made friends with him, he might still be saved, but the emperor did not give the court officials any chance and directly ordered Shao Jingyu to return to Beijing.

Shao Jingyu severed ties with the Shao family back then, and became enemies with him because of Yu'er's incident. His Majesty had done him a favor, but Prime Minister Jian felt more and more uneasy about such a person. He didn't know why the emperor suddenly found out about this matter. Was it an accidental discovery, but was digging deeper and deeper, which would eventually lead the fire to him.

Whether it was Jian Xiang or Wei Xiongjie and others, they were all living in fear these days and were restless all night at the slightest sign of trouble. Only Yan Yiming saw the dawn of returning home as he watched Jian Xiang's affairs gradually fail.

Wei Xiongjie advised her to keep a low profile recently, but Yan Yiming shook her head and disagreed. Keeping a low profile would only make it easier for people to find out about her true identity. Wei Xiongjie couldn't convince her and could only let her continue to spend her time recklessly. With the help of Wei Xiongjie and others, Yan Yiming breathed a sigh of relief and sat in the deserted Maple Leaf, looking at the fallen maple leaves on the ground.

Someone was walking slowly behind her. Little Apple was about to speak hurriedly, but the person behind her had already called out "A Ming". The voice was clear and gentle, as familiar and natural as it had been many years ago.

Yan Yiming agreed subconsciously, then suddenly reacted and turned around. Jiang Yi was standing in the maple forest, looking at her quietly.

He has snow-white clothes, black hair, and an extremely handsome face, and at this moment he smiles so gently.