After Qin Shuhuai gave the order, as soon as he walked out of the door, Zhao Yi came over with a very ugly face and said, "Master, Zhao Yu left the city by water."

Qin Shuhuai was not surprised at all.

From the moment he saw the letter, he knew that Zhao Yu was not a good person. Since he was not as harmless as he and Qin Peng thought, when he was willing to let Zhao Yu go, and Zhao Yu also knew that he wanted to target the Liu family, he would naturally take Qin Peng away as soon as possible.

But……

Why did he take Qin Peng away?

"Order the river to be blocked and the entire country to be under martial law. Especially every road to Beiyan must be carefully inspected."

Qin Shuhuai gave the order, and then ordered Zhao Yi to lead his men to chase in the direction Zhao Yu was taking.

After Zhao left, Qin Shuhuai sat in the hall and closed his eyes.

Jiang Chun didn't dare to say anything. Every time Qin Shuhuai closed his eyes and looked calm, he must be planning something big.

The last time Qin Shuhuai was in this state was when he went to Beijing to support the king.

He sat upright all night, and the next day, he led his troops into the capital.

But now he was silent for only a quarter of an hour, then he opened his eyes.

"Order Qin Zuo to lead 20,000 troops to the capital, and Qin You to guard the border, ready to fight at any time."

Hearing this, Jiang Chun's expression suddenly changed: "Prince, has it come to this?"

"Why do you think Liu Shiyun died?"

Qin Shuhuai asked Jiang Chun a question in return.

Jiang Chun was slightly stunned: "Could it be... not to frame the princess and control the prince?"

"Who do you think benefited from Liu Shiyun's death?"

"Zhang...Ying?"

"He lost a Dali Temple minister."

Qin Shuhuai reminded: "He used a position as a Dali Temple official to gain my reputation for partiality and perverting the law."

Jiang Chun couldn't figure it out, so Qin Shuhuai said a name: "Zhao Yu."

"If Liu Shiyun hadn't died, Pengpeng wouldn't have been in danger, the Liu family wouldn't have attacked me, Qi wouldn't have been in turmoil, and I would never have let Pengpeng go with him."

At this point, Jiang Chun finally understood: "In this matter, Zhao Yu is the biggest winner!"

Not only did he take Qin Peng away without sacrificing a single soldier, he also plunged the enemy country into civil strife, and even killed Qin Shuhuai.

"Yes." Qin Shuhuai said a little tiredly: "Zhao Yu has enough capital and motivation to do all this. The most important thing is...he and Liu Shiyun have been in contact seven years ago."

"I have always wondered why someone as proud as Liu Shiyun would be willing to commit herself to Zhang Ying. But if it was Zhao Yu, I would understand."

"If it was Zhao Yu, then he had already set up a plan when Zhao Yu first came. One was to cause chaos in Qi, and the other was to take Peng Peng away. So he let Liu Shiyun deliberately frame Peng Peng and put Peng Peng in danger. He then reappeared and took the opportunity to take her away."

"So," Jiang Chun understood this time, "Miss Liu didn't intend to die at the beginning, right?"

Qin Shuhuai nodded, with pity in his eyes: "She may have thought that after faking her death, she could go to the Northern Yan Palace and become a concubine or even the empress of the Northern Yan Palace."

Only such a position would be enough to make this ambitious woman give up her position as the eldest daughter of the Liu family.

"If she just wanted to be a concubine or queen, why didn't she go to the Qi palace?"

Jiang Chun continued to ask, and Qin Shuhuai's face gradually turned cold. He pursed his lips and said, "Because she is from the Wu tribe, and Li Shu is also from the Wu tribe."

"Empress Dowager?!"

Jiang Chun cried out in surprise.

"Pengpeng is from the Wu clan. The Qin family cannot be from the Wu clan. They are even mortal enemies with the Wu clan. So the bloodline she inherited can only be Li Shu. There is already a Li Shu in the royal family of Qi. Do you think Li Shurong can marry Liu Shiyun? Even if Li Shurong can marry her, she just wants to train her to be her confidant in the palace. She will never let Liu Shiyun give birth to a prince to threaten her. And for someone like Liu Shiyun, is she willing to be inferior to someone like her?"

Qin Shuhuai had countless threads in his mind, and now he finally sorted them out.

Jiang Chun thought for a moment and said, "So, you already knew that the Queen Mother had a problem?"

Qin Shuhuai nodded, but said nothing more.

Whether Li Shu had any problems or not was no longer a priority. After all, it was not Li Shu who had been doing the work. He had always guessed that Li Shu had been hiding for so many years and must have had minions outside. Who were the minions? Now everything became clear.

He should be grateful to Zhao Yu. If Zhao Yu had not thought that he knew nothing and revealed the fact that Zhang Ying was from the witch clan in order to confuse him, he might still not know the relationship between Zhang Ying and Li Shu.

He thought about it, stood up and walked out.

"What is the prince going to do?"

Jiang Chun was a little confused, and Qin Shuhuai said, "Looking for His Majesty."

When Qin Shuhuai arrived at the palace, Qin Ming was practicing calligraphy.

Compared to a year ago, he has grown a lot taller, but he still has the innocent look of a child.

When Qin Shuhuai arrived at the palace, he heard the announcement, put down his pen, and looked up at Qin Shuhuai.

"The Regent is here."

He said this calmly, as if he had known it for a long time.

Qin Shuhuai's heart sank. He knew how much Qin Peng loved Qin Ming.

She used to love Zhao Yu, but Zhao Yu betrayed her.

Later, she loved Qin Ming. If Qin Ming also betrayed her...

The first thing Qin Shuhuai thought of was how sad Qin Peng would be if he knew.

Qin Ming saw that Qin Shuhuai looked unhappy, but he was not afraid. He waved his hand and asked everyone to leave. Then he imitated the adults and said to Qin Shuhuai, "Prince Regent, sit down."

As he said this, he wanted to pour tea for Qin Shuhuai, but when he picked up the teapot, his hands shook.

Only then did Qin Shuhuai confirm that this was indeed just a child.

Qin Shuhuai raised his hand, took the teapot from Qin Ming, poured tea for Qin Ming, and said calmly: "What is your majesty afraid of?"

"I'm afraid," Qin Ming smiled reluctantly, "The Regent will kill me."

"Your Majesty, you are joking. How dare I?"

"I heard that the nobles have now joined forces and gathered 200,000 soldiers and horses, ready to protect the king at any time."

Hearing this, Qin Shuhuai's face changed. Even if Qin Ming was smart, he was just a child after all, and it was impossible for him to have such news. Such news must be from Li Shu.

Qin Ming told Qin Shuhuai that this was a hint of surrender!

Qin Shuhuai sat up straight involuntarily, and watched the young man in front of him pick up the teacup, take a sip, and continue: "I also heard that the Regent King has already prepared troops in the north and mobilized troops to come here."

Qin Ming said these words very calmly.

He is now nearly eleven years old. As for members of the royal family, Qin Shuhuai never dares to measure what they can do based on their age.

After all, he was only nine years old when he and Zhao Peng planned to leave the cold palace.

"Why did your majesty tell me this?"

Qin Shuhuai was puzzled. Qin Ming didn't look at him and lowered his head to look at the tea in his hand.

"My sister is very good to me." He spoke slowly: "Better than mother. Mother's heart is full of hatred. She took all the resentment of all the dead people in the Wu clan on herself. But I am different." Qin Ming looked up at Qin Shuhuai, with confusion in his eyes: "I am a member of the Wu clan, but I am also a member of the Qin family. More importantly, I am the emperor. I have to protect my subjects and this country. I don't want it to be destroyed, and I don't want it to be destroyed in my hands."

Qin Shuhuai listened quietly, and saw a smile on Qin Ming's face: "It's actually very dangerous for me to say this. I want to be the emperor. I wonder what the regent thinks?"

"I returned to Qi at the age of 20. Do you know what I was thinking?"

Qin Shuhuai talked about an irrelevant topic. Qin Ming was a little confused and shook his head. He listened to Qin Shuhuai continue: "At that time, I thought that I could finally leave the royal family with the one I love and go to Southern Qi. I wanted to buy a yard, have a few children with my wife, and live a stable life under the protection of the royal family."

This made Qin Ming a little surprised: "Then why did you become the regent?"

"She's dead." Qin Shuhuai smiled bitterly: "Because I had no ability, I killed her. In order to avenge her, I have come all the way to today and become the Regent."

"So," Qin Shuhuai's eyes were full of sincerity, "If Your Majesty really has the heart to be an emperor and has the benevolence that an emperor should have, just like your father, then I will be very happy. I hope Your Majesty can become a wise ruler. When Your Majesty comes of age, I will take the person I love and retire to the mountains."

"The person you love," Qin Ming couldn't help but laugh: "Is it my sister?"

"yes."

Qin Shuhuai smiled: "I only have one wish now, to marry her and live with her till old age."

This was the first time Qin Ming talked to Qin Shuhuai like this, and he found it very novel. He wanted to ask more about Qin Peng's specific matters, but he felt that it was not the right time, so he could only suppress his curiosity and continued, "Can I ask you to promise me one thing?"

"Um."

Qin Shuhuai nodded, not treating Qin Ming as a child at all, and said solemnly: "You say."

"I know that Zhao Yu took my sister away. I can help you find my sister, but from now on, please spare my mother's life."

"You knew I would win?"

Qin Shuhuai couldn't help but laugh: "Your Majesty has too much confidence in me."

"I don't know if you will win," Qin Ming tried to suppress the struggle in his eyes and looked up at Qin Shuhuai: "But I can't let you lose."

He used the word "朕" and Qin Shuhuai understood what he meant.

He spread out his wide sleeves and bowed respectfully toward Qin Ming.

"I obey your order."

Qin Ming looked at his calm attitude and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I once secretly heard from my mother and Zhang Ying that the county magistrate of Quancheng is Zhang Ying's student and has already prepared new identities and clearance documents for Zhao Yu and others."

"I've seen the location of Quancheng. It takes about a day and a half to get there by going downstream from Xuanjing. If I'm not mistaken, they will probably stop in Quanzhou, change their identities, and then leave Southern Qi."

With this clue, if Qin Shuhuai still can't catch the person, then it will be his problem.

Qin Shuhuai nodded, thanked him, and left respectfully.

As soon as he walked out of the palace, he said to Jiang Chun behind him: "Ask someone to follow me to Quancheng!"