After Nangong Yuan's letter was delivered to the capital, the court learned that the grain supplies that should have been sent to Yanlang City long ago had not only been delayed but had also disappeared.
Meanwhile, Sun Xin, the Minister of Revenue in charge of transporting the grain, was so frightened by the news that the plot had been exposed that he turned pale, rolled his eyes, and fainted.
What followed was news of Dongli's failed siege once again.
Upon hearing this news, the Prince of Yong'an's eyes darkened. He hadn't expected Dongli to be so useless, failing to capture Yanlang City even when Beichen was short of supplies.
However, he dared not delay any longer and ordered his men to arrest Ye Li, revealing her identity as a spy from Dongli. He also said that the reason why the grain supplies had not been sent out was because Emperor Beichen had been bewitched by this woman, who felt that Nangong Yuan's achievements overshadowed his own and wanted to kill him.
These words caused an uproar in the court and among the people. No one expected that Emperor Beichen would be so bewitched by a woman that he would disregard the lives of the people of Yanlang City and do such an extremely foolish thing.
As Nangong Yuan's grandfather, Nangong Ling was filled with grief and indignation. He never imagined that after the Nangong family had fought to defend the border, and only Nangong Yuan remained of the family's sons, he would be so suspicious and even have his life taken. Therefore, he ignored the Prince of Yong'an at the head of the table and turned to leave the Taiji Hall.
The imperial court doesn't care about his grandson, but he can't ignore him. He needs to hurry back and prepare provisions to send to the border.
Watching Nangong Ling leave in anger, the Prince of Yong'an's eyes darkened. He then shifted the blame for colluding with the Minister of Revenue to hoard grain onto Ye Li. Before Ye Li could speak, he killed her with a sword in front of everyone.
At this moment, the Minister of Revenue, who had just fainted from fright, slowly woke up again. However, before he could even open his mouth to defend himself, he was dragged out by the Prince of Yong'an's men, and it seemed he was not going to live.
Upon seeing this, the court officials couldn't help but frown. If what they said was true, why were they not even given a chance to explain themselves?
However, the court officials dared not raise any objections at this time. The reason was simple: the current Emperor Beichen was still lying on the dragon bed, his life hanging in the balance. Therefore, the person in front of them was qualified to sit on the dragon throne. They dared not offend this person who might be their master.
Of course, if Nangong Yuan were to rebel, that would be a different story.
Seeing that all the court officials had lowered their heads, the Prince of Yong'an couldn't help but smirk, and then he gave a fake order.
"Rest assured, my beloved ministers, I will personally interrogate the Minister of Revenue to make him reveal the location of the hidden grain supplies, and then send the grain supplies to Yanlang City as quickly as possible, so that he will not fail due to the lack of grain supplies..."
The way she spoke made it sound like she was the ruler of a country.
Upon seeing this, the court officials lowered their heads even further.
Sure enough, early the next morning, news spread that the Minister of Revenue had not only confessed everything in prison, but had also committed suicide out of fear of punishment, saying that he had hidden the grain in a cave a hundred miles outside the city.
To demonstrate his concern for the grain supplies and the people of Yanlang City, the Prince of Yong'an personally led his troops to search for them.
When they arrived at the cave, they were dumbfounded. It was completely empty, without even a single grain of rice. Even the soldiers who had been assigned to guard the cave were nowhere to be seen.
Upon seeing this, the Prince of Yong'an was furious. He believed that the Minister of Revenue had been disobedient and deceitful in front of him. Therefore, after returning to the city, he imprisoned the entire family of the Minister of Revenue and forced them to reveal the true location where the grain was hidden.
However, little did they know that, unable to get any information, he directly ordered the execution of all 38 members of the Sun family, including Sun Xin's five-year-old granddaughter.
When this news spread, it caused another uproar in the court and among the people. If such a person were to sit on the throne, the court would never have a peaceful day again.
Now that the provisions have vanished, we have no choice but to prepare them anew. In order to demonstrate his benevolence, Prince Yong'an took on the task.
Meanwhile, Ye Yi, worried that Yanlang City would fall without food supplies, dared not delay after finding the food and immediately accelerated its transport to the border. As a result, the journey that originally took twenty days was shortened to ten days.
Seeing the grain and fodder stored up, Nangong Yuan finally felt relieved. After the battle a few days ago, Dongli suffered a crushing defeat and was certainly powerless to attack the city again.
In addition, the Beichen soldiers now have sufficient food and supplies, so there is no need to worry too much. Just then, they received a secret letter from the Nangong family, informing them that the current political situation is unstable. Therefore, they decided to take Han Yiyi back to the capital.
Originally, he planned to personally escort Han Yiyi and the other two back to Ping'an Town after the supplies arrived. The reason he brought Han Yiyi back to the capital was because he wanted Han Yiyi to try and see if she could wake up Emperor Beichen.
According to the secret letter from the Nangong family, Nangong Yuan also knew that Emperor Beichen had been in a coma for more than a month, but the people of the Imperial Hospital could not even find out the cause, and could only rely on some soup to keep him alive every day.
Nangong Yuan and Emperor Beichen have known each other since childhood, so he naturally knows Ye Li's place in his heart. However, it would be very disappointing if he disregarded the lives of the border warriors and the people of Yanlang City because of Ye Li.
However, in the current Beichen royal family, besides Emperor Beichen, there is only Prince Yong'an. If we compare the two, Emperor Beichen is definitely more suitable for that position.
Therefore, Nangong Yuan thought of asking Han Yiyi to see if there was any way to wake up Emperor Beichen. After all, Han Yiyi had previously cured the poison Dongli had planted in his body.
The provisions have been delivered for several days now, but Nangong Yuan hasn't mentioned repaying the money. Han Yiyi is getting anxious, as that's all his savings.
While it's true that everyone has a duty to defend against foreign enemies, but... but that was all her possessions...
Han Yiyi was still hesitating about how to speak to Nangong Yuan, or whether to speak at all, when a soldier came to report that Nangong Yuan wanted to see her at the main camp and wanted her to bring her two children with her.
Upon hearing this, Han Yiyi was overjoyed, thinking that Nangong Yuan was going to return the money to her, and led the two children back to the main tent.
As soon as they entered, they saw Nangong Yuan looking at them and the two children with a strange expression. Not only that, Ye Yi was also looking at them with a strange expression.
Upon seeing this, Han Yiyi frowned.
"What's going on...?"
Hearing Han Yiyi's question, Nangong Yuan finally turned his gaze away from the two children. He never expected that the two children in front of him were actually his own.
He thought to himself, no wonder he always felt an unusual sense of familiarity whenever he saw the two of them. So, the woman he was with that time was actually the person in front of him.
Thinking of this, a hint of secret joy flashed in Nangong Yuan's eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
