Just as Xue Shen had predicted, the Northern Rong troops outside Xizhou City did not hold out for long. After Xue Shen personally led his troops to meet the enemy and twice annihilated them, the enemy withdrew without resistance.
Two days later, Shen Mingjiang and his son arrived in Xizhou.
Shen Youying and Xue Shen came out to greet her. She stood anxiously at the door looking around, and her eyes welled up with tears when she saw her father and brother dismount.
"Father, elder brother."
Shen Mingjiang strode forward and looked her over for a while, then said with some relief, "You look better than before."
Shen Youying nodded, then looked at Shen Xiuyi with some urgency: "Father wrote that Brother has remembered everything?"
Shen Xiuyi nodded, glanced at Xue Shen with a complicated expression, and said gently, "Zhaozhao has suffered."
She shook her head and said, "I'm fine as long as Father and Brother are well."
Shen Xiuyi gently stroked her hair, his eyes growing even gentler: "Let's go inside first. My father and I have come here to discuss important matters."
Xue Shen led the two to the flower hall, and had his trusted confidants stand guard outside before sitting down and asking, "What is it that has troubled my father-in-law and elder brother to come all this way to Xizhou?"
"But what did you remember, brother?"
Shen Xiuyi nodded upon hearing this. He became serious and said in a deep voice, "I remember everything that happened before the assassination attempt. Do you remember my previous guess that the assassination attempt might be related to embezzlement of military funds?"
Xue Shen nodded: "Could it be that you had already found out something back then, brother?"
Shen Xiuyi said with a solemn expression, "That's right. I discovered that the Qin Prefecture army's pay and supplies were seriously embezzled. At that time, there was some friction with the Tubo, and the two armies were facing each other. It was a time when food and supplies were urgently needed. However, the food and supplies sent from the rear were mixed with a lot of chaff and sand. After I discovered this, I secretly investigated and found that the quartermaster who transported the food and supplies was a member of the Zhou family."
"The Zhou family?" Xue Shen raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "The Zhou family?"
Shen Xiuyi nodded: "That's right, it was the Zhou family. And I had already found conclusive evidence at the time that most of the military pay embezzled by the quartermaster was sent to the Zhou family and Prince Chen, and Qi Zhong even had the Empress Zhou's handiwork."
"I originally planned to collect evidence and submit it to the authorities, but I was betrayed by someone close to me. The Zhou family noticed something was wrong and took action in advance. They attacked and assassinated me while I was out secretly investigating the evidence. When I was exhausted and unable to fight back, I had no choice but to take a chance and jump off the cliff."
"Unexpectedly, although I survived the fall off the cliff, I lost my memory due to a head injury. I was rescued by a family of mountain hunters who kindly took me to seek medical treatment. However, I was intercepted by Tibetans on the way, and then my identity was recognized by the Third Prince's men. That's when the Third Prince took me away and took advantage of my amnesia to use me."
Qi Zhong's story was full of twists and turns, which Shen Xiuyi did not elaborate on, and instead turned the topic back to the Zhou family: "At that time, I had already found evidence that the Zhou family had embezzled military funds, but Prince Chen and Empress Zhou were very powerful at the time, so without complete certainty, I did not intend to expose this matter rashly. I just hid the evidence in a safe place."
“Now my father and I have retrieved the evidence. With this, we can bring down Empress Zhou and the Zhou family and clear my name.”
After speaking, Shen Xiuyi took out the roster and ledger.
Xue Shen took the book, flipped through a few pages, then closed it and said, "Prince Chen is dead, and the Zhou family is not what it used to be, so they are biding their time. However, Empress Zhou doesn't seem to have given up on her fate. What do you and my elder brother plan to do next?"
Shen Mingjiang said angrily, "Of course we should return to the capital and confront them. Anyone who dares to harm my son will have to pay the price."
Xue Shen nodded: "Everything here in Xizhou has been arranged, and it's about time for me to return to the capital. In that case, we can travel together with my father-in-law and elder brother."
Shen Mingjiang said, "That's exactly what I was thinking too. Zhaozhao is about to give birth, so it would be more reassuring for her to return to the capital to prepare for childbirth."
After the three of them made their decision, they agreed to set off for Beijing the day after tomorrow.
In the past three days, Xue Shen handed over all affairs to Pang Lai. Now that Pang Lai has been appointed as the governor of Xizhou, he has supreme military and political power over Xizhou and is perfectly positioned to oversee the gold mines in Xue Shen's place.
With everything prepared, Xue Shen and his party set off for Beijing in early July.
As Shen Youying's due date drew nearer, someone worried that the long journey would harm her health, so they specially commissioned the construction of a carriage the size of a house, pulled by twenty horses, to ensure that even on bumpy roads it would feel like walking on flat ground before daring to let Shen Youying travel by carriage.
Because the carriage was too large and traveled slowly, it took the group more than half a month to return to the capital.
For the past two weeks, Shen Youying hadn't suffered much because the carriage Xue Shen had prepared was spacious and stable. However, when the carriage was about to enter the city, it was so large that it almost couldn't fit through, attracting a large crowd of onlookers.
Everyone stared in amazement at the carriage, which was as big as a house, and wondered who was sitting inside.
It wasn't until someone spotted the Shen father and son behind the carriage that the people who recognized them exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't that General Shen? General Shen is back!"
"Look at him. Isn't that General Shen next to him?"
"Wasn't it said that General Shen was a traitor who betrayed the country and is already dead?"
"How come he not only didn't die, but he came back?"
"The treason claim is false, isn't it? The Shen family army is renowned for its prestige. How could General Shen possibly be a traitor? It seems to me that someone has framed him."
"Now that he's back, whether it's true or not, there will be an explanation."
Some people were curious about who was in the carriage: "Who is it that General Shen and Young General Shen are escorting?"
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