When Jiang Donglin saw Jiang Qiulu's poor appearance, he had the urge to slap him to death.
"Brother Imperial, you said this yourself."
"As a person of the highest rank, you must always keep your words," Jiang Donglin said.
"That's natural."
While the two were chatting and laughing, Di Yunhao entered the imperial study room.
"Your Majesty, our people have sent news."
"Master Liang and the others are on their way back and have already arrived near Dingfeng Mountain." Di Yunhao said.
Jiang Qiulu nodded.
"Dingfeng Mountain, I heard bandits are rampant there and it's quite dangerous."
"Why did they choose this route?" Jiang Donglin asked doubtfully.
"Bandits?"
"There are actually mountain bandits in the territory of our Great Xia Dynasty?" Jiang Qiulu said.
"Brother Emperor, you don't know something."
"This group of bandits is different from other bandits."
"I heard that the local government sent troops to encircle and suppress the people several times, but they all ended in failure."
"And a lot of people were lost, but this all happened ten years ago."
"I haven't heard of any action by them recently," Jiang Donglin said.
"Maybe Mr. Liang and the others are in a hurry to return to Kyoto."
"This route to Dingfeng Mountain is the closest one."
"But if Zhang Ying and Chen Fei are together, there will definitely be no accidents." Di Yunhao said.
"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what happens."
"No matter how powerful these four people are, it will be very troublesome if they are targeted by bandits."
"Besides, we don't have any information about their specific strength and number of people." Jiang Qiulu said.
"I just hope they can return safely." Jiang Donglin said.
"Commander Di, how long does it take to get from Dingfeng Mountain to Kyoto?" Jiang Qiulu asked.
Di Yunhao thought for a while.
"Your Majesty, the distance between Dingfeng Mountain and Kyoto is about three days' journey."
"Does Your Majesty mean to prepare to meet them?" Di Yunhao asked.
"That's right." Jiang Qiulu nodded and said.
"If you wait until something happens to greet you, I'm afraid it will be too late."
"These people are the backbone of our palace and cannot make any mistakes." Jiang Qiulu said.
"The minister will immediately bring someone to meet him." Di Yunhao asked for orders.
"Okay, bring the secret guards."
After receiving the highest permission, Di Yunhao immediately went to prepare.
Due to time constraints, Di Yunhao took his people and left Kyoto City directly during the day without waiting until night.
This operation was discovered by King Yong's spies in Kyoto City.
In Prince Yong's Mansion.
At this time, King Yong was playing chess with Shen Liancheng, the minister of Dali Temple.
After King Yong heard the news, he did not think about the motives as before.
"I understand, you go down." King Yong said.
"Come on, let's continue."
King Yong's attention returned to the chess game again.
"My lord, don't you want to know where they are going?" Shen Liancheng asked strangely.
"Wherever they like to go, it has nothing to do with me."
"If you interfere casually, you may get burned. Why do I care what they do?" King Yong said nonchalantly.
Seeing King Yong's dishonest look, Shen Liancheng became even more confused.
In the past, whenever there was any disturbance in the palace, King Yong would carefully consider it and then take action.
But now King Yong doesn't care about their affairs at all.
For those who don’t know, they think that King Yong has changed his ways and no longer covets the throne.
Shen Liancheng immediately rejected this idea.
Shen Liancheng has known King Yong for many years, and he absolutely does not believe that King Yong can turn around.
Therefore, Shen Liancheng thought of another possibility.
"My lord, your move seems random."
"Are you trying to trick me into letting down my guard and then eat my dragon?"
There was something in Shen Liancheng's words, and King Yong immediately understood what it meant.
"Haha, this can't be hidden from Master Shen's eyes."
"Yes, I do have a backup plan. The chess pieces before this are just foreshadowing." King Yong said with a smile.
"That is to say, the prince is preparing the final killing move, right?" Shen Liancheng asked.
King Yong did not answer, but dropped a son.
"Haha, Lord Shen, you lost." King Yong said.
"Actually, my king's killing move is ready."
"As long as I want to take action, I can control the entire battle situation." King Yong said.
Shen Liancheng looked at the big dragon on the chessboard that had been swallowed by him, and he suddenly became enlightened.
"Your Majesty is brilliant!" Shen Liancheng praised.
The two chatted for a few more words, and then Shen Liancheng stood up and left.
"Master Shen, if you have nothing to do, come here often, play chess with me, talk, etc."
"I'm old and can't do anything anymore. I just want to stay quietly." King Yong said.
Of course Shen Liancheng knew what King Yong meant.
The meaning is that Shen Liancheng was promised to take his own position in the future.
King Yong's words were actually just trying to win over Shen Liancheng's people.
But Shen Liancheng was very excited about this.
After turning around and saluting King Yong again, he left King Yong's Mansion.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Shen is the only one holding an important position beside you now."
"Isn't our power in the DPRK a little too weak?" Pang Fu asked from the side.
Until now, all the ministers in the court have basically been on Jiang Qiulu's side.
Due to repeated failures, King Yong's prestige in the hearts of ministers has been reduced a lot.
Some people even secretly wanted to put aside their relationship with King Yong and chose to protect themselves wisely.
"Then what can we do?" King Yong said.
"There's nothing we can do about it, but..."
"Now in the court, Jiang Qiulu is at the peak of his powers. This is his peak period."
"As the saying goes, the higher you stand, the harder you fall."
"Don't worry, there will be a day when he regrets it." King Yong said.
At this moment, another guard entered Prince Yong's Mansion.
"Your Majesty, our people discovered that someone else sent a lot of supplies to the princess's mansion."
King Yong closed his eyes and listened to the guard's report.
"Well, what happens next?" King Yong asked casually.
"This time, our people secretly followed these people to see what they bought."
"After verification, these items are all tonics to prevent miscarriage," the guard continued.
After hearing this, King Yong opened his eyes and the walnuts in his hand stopped spinning.
"It seems that Rong'er's guess is correct."
"This can confirm that Concubine De is indeed pregnant." King Yong said.
"Then what should we do?"
"Jiang Qiulu's first child is born, unless the young lady is also pregnant."
"Otherwise, the young lady will completely lose her power in the harem." Pang Fu said worriedly.
"no need to worry."
"Even if his heir is born, is there no way I can make this child disappear?"
