The emperor disapproved of questioning the Tiansheng Restaurant owner and the third brother right now, saying it would alert the enemy. That meant the emperor was secretly watching the third brother's every move. Of course, the emperor would definitely not let the third brother and the Jin Kingdom succeed. Perhaps he would use the third brother's collusion with the Jin Kingdom to severely undermine the Jin Kingdom.

By then, the third brother will definitely be in trouble!

Hahaha, third brother, you are so clever, but in the end you end up being outsmarted by your own cleverness!

Xiao Kun was unaware of all this and thought his plan was flawless. He had even thought about it. If someone was held responsible for the leak of border military secrets, he would push the generals who were close to the Yun family out as scapegoats. He believed that his father would be very satisfied with his thoughtful move.

Not long after, the border was in crisis, and the Jin Kingdom indeed dispatched tens of thousands of troops to attack Daxi.

Xiao Kun waited for news of successive defeats at the border so that he could petition the emperor to go to war. However, what he got was news that tens of thousands of Jin cavalry were killed in ambush at Xiaohan Pass.

"How is that possible?!" Hadn't he informed Shopkeeper Jin of the border defense deployment, who then passed it on to the Second Prince, who was leading the army? Why had the Jin army been completely annihilated? What had gone wrong?

"Your Highness, His Majesty has summoned you to the palace. Will you come with us now?" Eunuch Tang, the third attendant of Emperor Jinghuan, came to convey the order to Xiao Kun.

Xiao Kun's heart trembled. Why would his father summon him into the palace at this time?

He winked at his attendant, who immediately stepped forward and stuffed a purse into Eunuch Tang's hand.

Xiao Kun smiled and asked, "I wonder why my father summoned me to the palace?"

Eunuch Tang accepted the gift but didn't reveal any information. He smiled and said, "We don't know either. You will know when you enter the palace."

Xiao Kun cursed inwardly, thinking that the eunuch was truly despicable. He took the money but didn't reveal a single word.

Therefore, he had a more bad feeling.

However, no matter how much he resisted in his heart, he had to obey the order and enter the palace.

The moment he stepped into the imperial study, Xiao Kun's pupils suddenly shrank and his heart sank, because he saw a man collapsed on the ground, his body covered with scars from torture, which was shocking. This man was none other than the shopkeeper Jin with whom he had had a secret conversation before!

Shopkeeper Jin was caught! He didn't get any news at all.

Now, looking like this, he may have confessed!

Xiao Kun had never been so panicked as he was now, but when he thought about it, he realized that he had been very cautious in his previous dealings with Manager Jin and had not left any evidence behind, so he reluctantly calmed down.

He stepped forward and bowed politely, "Your Highness, your son greets you."

Emperor Jing Huan didn't even look at him, and said directly to the collapsed shopkeeper Jin: "You can speak now."

Manager Jin has been arrested for a few days and has been detained in the Sky Prison. He has been subjected to all kinds of torture that ordinary people cannot endure. However, he is worthy of being the number one spy sent here by the Jin Kingdom. He is very stubborn and has never confessed, always insisting that he is innocent.

At this time, Xue Huan took action in secret and pasted a puppet talisman on him. Shopkeeper Jin finally "couldn't stand the torture" and confessed.

If she had used the puppet talisman on Shopkeeper Jin from the beginning, and Shopkeeper Jin had confessed easily, wouldn't that be too suspicious? So she kept waiting. At this time, if Shopkeeper Jin, unable to endure the torture, confessed, it would seem much more reasonable.

During this period, she was afraid that Manager Jin would not be able to bear the torture and die, or commit suicide, so she secretly gave him medicine to keep him alive, and also tried to stop him from committing suicide several times.

In fact, when the emperor sent people to arrest Manager Jin at the beginning, he almost escaped. If Xue Huan had not been watching in secret, Manager Jin would have escaped.

With her secret help, the emperor's men successfully captured Shopkeeper Jin, but the moment he was caught, Shopkeeper Jin bit the poison sac in his mouth without hesitation.

If Xue Huan hadn't flicked a pill that could cure all poisons into his mouth in time, he would have successfully committed suicide.

However, before he confessed, it would not be so easy for him to die.

In the imperial study, after the emperor spoke, Manager Jin confessed everything.

Xiao Kun accidentally met the second prince of the Jin Dynasty. Both of them were the "second in command" and were ambitious to take the throne. Although they had different positions, their goals were the same and their interests were temporarily the same, so they hit it off and decided to cooperate to help each other take the throne of their country.

It won’t be too late to compete with each other after they each ascend the throne.

This is the agreement between the two.

Afterwards, to show his sincerity, the second prince of the Jin Kingdom told Xiao Kun the identity of the shopkeeper Jin, and Xiao Kun let the second prince leave Daxi as promised, and the two reached a preliminary intention of cooperation.

Every communication between the two was inseparable from the middleman, Manager Jin, so Manager Jin was particularly quick to confess.

Xiao Kun tried to interrupt him several times and defend himself, but before he could open his mouth, he was often met with the emperor's stern and fierce gaze.

There was clearly a strong murderous intent in the emperor's eyes.

Xiao Kun's heart was beating like a drum. He could only shut his mouth and think hard about how to defend himself.

After Shopkeeper Jin finished his confession, Emperor Jing Huan looked at Xiao Kun with a cold expression, "What do you have to say?"

Xiao Kun had studied the emperor a lot in private, trying to figure out his expression and tone. When he heard this, he knew he was in trouble.

The emperor's words seemed to be giving him a chance to speak, but his tone clearly showed that he had already determined that what Manager Jin said was true. It was more like he was saying, "I want to see how you can argue."

Xiao Kun knelt down with a thud. "Your Majesty, I am innocent! I only knew him as the Jin, the shopkeeper of Tiansheng Restaurant. I've only greeted him a few times, but never had a secret conversation with him. Let alone the claim that he colluded with the second prince of the enemy country and leaked border defense secrets! This is sheer nonsense!"

"I was the one who exposed the Yun family's treason. I hate those traitors so deeply, but how could I have done something so damnable? Father, you must trust me! This enemy spy is clearly deliberately trying to incriminate me, trying to drive a wedge between us!"

Xiao Kun knelt before the emperor in tears, grabbed the hem of his dragon robe, and swore to the sky to prove his innocence.

He looked like he had been wronged.

The emperor looked at Xiao Kun, seemingly moved by his words. However, the next second, he said something that made Xiao Kun's heart tremble: "Weren't you the one who caused the Yun family to treason? Didn't you have someone forge that letter? If you hadn't treasoned, how could you have forged that letter so perfectly?"

Even the emperor knows it!

Xiao Kun's expression froze. At this point, he knew that further excuses would be futile. Suddenly, he burst into laughter. "Hahaha, so what? If I hadn't forged that letter, how could you have gotten rid of this thorn in the side of the Yun family?"

At this moment, he has completely torn off the mask and no longer pretends.

After saying this, his expression turned fierce and he actually rushed forward to hold the emperor hostage.

"His Majesty!"