The atmosphere inside the tent was tense, with only Li Dequan, Su Peisheng, Tulichen, and Erlu remaining.
A burly Mongolian man helped him kneel on the ground, his head covered with a black cloth bag. Yin and Qingyan sat at the lower left, waiting for Kangxi to come and interrogate them personally.
The imperial tent was surrounded by shadow guards personally dispatched by Tulichen, so no one could hear them talking.
"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Kangxi knew Yinzhi well; it was time for the little darling to complain.
Qingyan blushed. If she hadn't been so talkative, Yin wouldn't have been so nervous.
"Father, it was I who complained to the master!" Qingyan looked at Yin and, with his encouraging gaze, directly stated the reason.
puff!
Consort Tong spat out her tea; she blushed under Emperor Kangxi's gaze.
"Haha, you two, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, have the same temper!" Kangxi laughed, and both Consort Tong and Qingyan blushed. "Li Dequan, take off your hood."
The black cloth bag was taken down, revealing a burly man with a shaved beard. Kangxi squinted his eyes; the man's build resembled that of a Mongol, but his appearance was not quite like that of a Mongol.
"Father, this person's pupils are somewhat unusual!" Yin was unsure whether this person was a spy.
In Mongolia, some princes also had Russian female slaves by their side, and some of them had children.
Tu Lichen stepped forward and carefully examined the man's face. His heart skipped a beat, and his expression changed. Qingyan felt a little flustered.
She quickly activated the space's identification system and soon determined that this person was merely a descendant of Han Chinese and Russians.
A moment later, Qingyan took a sip of tea and waited for the outcome of the interrogation.
Yin was somewhat uneasy; if he had arrested the wrong person, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Your Majesty is a descendant of Han Chinese and Russians, and has nothing to do with Mongols!” Tulichen had a way to verify Ren Zhong’s identity.
ah?!
Qingyan's eyes widened in surprise. How did Tulichen know?
“The Tulichen family has been coroners for generations!” Yin explained softly.
Qingyan stuck out her tongue, realizing she had overreacted. No wonder some people said that one should never underestimate the methods of the ancients.
Tulichen became Kangxi's most trusted shadow guard, which shows he was definitely not an incompetent person.
"What?!" Kangxi was shocked. The clothes the person in front of him was wearing should be the everyday clothes of a commoner from a small tribe. This was obviously... something was wrong.
“This servant is certain that they are definitely not from the grasslands!” Tulichen concluded.
Instantly, the air pressure inside the tent dropped. Kangxi never expected that the Russians could plant the spies so deeply. If Qingyan hadn't been careless with his words today, these spies would have played a very important role.
"Li Dequan, summon all the princes!" Kangxi said coldly.
The Mongols were naive; the Russians had gotten close without them noticing.
“!” Li Dequan agreed.
Later that evening, all the Mongolian princes gathered inside the imperial tent, and everyone was somewhat worried about what had happened to His Majesty.
"Your servants pay their respects to His Majesty, His Highness, Fourth Prince, and Fourth Princess Consort." The princes quickly and respectfully bowed and paid their respects. The people kneeling inside the tent couldn't help but gasp. This person's clothing clearly indicated that he was from the grasslands.
Emperor Kangxi slowly sipped his tea, while the expressions of the Mongol princes changed several times. Some of them even panicked, worried that this person would implicate their tribes.
Qingyan sat to the side, watching these burly men kneeling on the ground, not daring to get up.
Previously, she had been so angered by the wives of these men that she felt like she was drinking bitter water; now, seeing the princes' ashen faces, she felt much better.
"Take a good look at this man, everyone. Who brought him here?" Kangxi ordered Erlu to stick on his beard as before, and stared at them with icy eyes.
The Mongol princes all turned to look at him, realizing that this person was probably not from their tribe.
However, the princes from the Borjigit clan's collateral branches looked displeased, as this man's clothing clearly belonged to the Khorchin tribe.
Many people began to feel uneasy, but the princes of Khorchin were not concerned. Even though the Empress Dowager was no longer around, she would have left them an imperial edict to save their lives.
They couldn't count on the Empress Dowager at all. Qingyan's fiery gaze made the Khorchin princes shift their bodies uncomfortably.
“Your Majesty, these people are not from the slave tribe!” The princes stated directly that they had no connection with such people.
Yin coldly observed the princes of Khorchin, noting the exquisite fabrics worn by the finest craftsmen. Apart from the Khorchin tribes, no one else in the remaining tribes, except for their direct descendants, would possess such fine clothing.
"It must be from Khorchin!" Kangxi smiled coldly.
Qingyan shivered twice; even with the Emperor's imposing aura, she felt cold. She moved her small body closer to Yin.
He chuckled softly. The Khorchin had really messed up this time; at the very least, their collateral branches would be weakened by Kangxi.
“This servant…I’m sure this person isn’t from the direct line.” The Khorchin Prince dared not say more; the tribe was not united, and the relationship between the direct line and the collateral branches was extremely poor.
The Empress Dowager single-handedly created this situation, with no contact whatsoever between the direct line and collateral branches.
“Not a direct descendant!” Kangxi muttered these four words to himself.
ah?!
Qingyan looked at Yin with surprise and couldn't help but try to find out the answer using the communication channels in the space.
"Fourth Brother, why is it only a guarantee that you're not a direct descendant?" Qingyan was very confused.
If the relationship between the direct line and the collateral branches of a family is not good, the direct line can still control the people around the collateral branches.
“Khorchin is different from other places. Angguma’s interference in Khorchin affairs has strained the relationship between the direct line and the collateral branches.” Yin did not approve of the Empress Dowager’s methods.
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