The Rebirth of the Deposed Empress

"Hahahaha, fine, fine, today there is no distinction between monarch and subject, my dear ministers, just treat this as a family feast!"

The banquet was harmonious for a while, when suddenly someone stood up, walked to the middle of the banquet and knelt down.

"Your Majesty, I, Han Che, have something I would like to ask Your Majesty to decide!"

"Hmm? What's up, Master Han?"

"I received a letter from His Royal Highness Prince An a few months ago, saying that my brother had violated the laws of the Kingdom of Ye at the border and was captured by His Royal Highness Prince An and is being escorted back to the capital."

"I have waited at home for several months, but my brother has not returned to the capital. A few days ago, I heard that His Royal Highness Prince An had returned, so I went to his house to inquire, but His Royal Highness Prince An avoided me. I really had no choice, and today I finally met Prince An, so I dared to ask him a question."

"Your Highness Prince An, I wonder what my humble brother has done wrong? Where is he now?"

Ye Chuji knew about the mine collapse in Dongshantou. The mine collapse must have been caused by the people sent there discovering that the mine was discovered, so they activated the mechanism to destroy the mine in order to cover up the illegal mining.

I thought that since Ye Buhuo had lost Han Bing, the only clue, the matter of the mine could be revealed, but I didn't expect that Han Che would report the matter to his father.

Ye Chuji stared at Han Che, who was still kneeling in the middle of the hall, with a slightly gloomy expression.

Unlike Ye Chuji who felt gloomy after hearing these words, Ye Lanfeng felt somewhat happy.

These words can be regarded as an accusation against Ye Buhuo. Unexpectedly, Ye Buhuo got into trouble as soon as he returned to Beijing.

Ye Lanfeng pretended to care about his subjects and said:

"Eighth brother, what's going on? Why are you hiding from Lord Han? Where did you take Lord Han's brother?"

The previous sentence was still asking Ye Buhuo what happened, and the next sentence forced Ye Buhuo to ask where he had taken the person.

Isn't this just trying to pin the news of Han Bing's disappearance on Ye Buhuo without any reason? Hua Wu Ke rolled his eyes silently at Ye Lanfeng in his heart.

Ye Buhuo stood up and stood not far from Han Che, and replied respectfully:

"Reporting to the emperor, I have indeed escorted Han Bing back to the capital."

"I wonder if the emperor still remembers the theft of the silver and fodder that the court distributed to the soldiers at Beimoguan?"

Ye Lanfeng certainly remembered that when he received the news that the grain and fodder had been stolen, he should have quickly distributed another batch to the soldiers at the border.

But because of Ye Lanfeng's selfishness, the matter was delayed until the battle between the two armies was over, and he had not yet compensated the soldiers with silver and food.

Ye Lanfeng's eyes flickered vaguely, and he responded briefly, "Yeah."

"Later, I tracked down the whereabouts of the grain and found that it was hijacked by a group of bandits. I then tracked down the bandits and discovered that Han Bing, the brother of Mr. Han, was the second in command of the bandits."

"This matter is of great importance, so I sent someone to escort Han Bing back to the capital to listen to the emperor's orders and sent a letter to Lord Han."

"Unexpectedly, not long ago, I received news that the team escorting Han Bing back to the capital was ambushed and Han Bing was killed. I don't know how to tell Lord Han this bad news, so I resorted to this desperate measure to avoid Lord Han."

It was just a bandit who died on the way back to Beijing. What is there to cover up?

Could it be that there is another hidden story behind this matter, and that Ye Buhuo did something secretly and therefore does not want this matter to be investigated?

Ye Lanfeng looked at Ye Buhuo with suspicion in his heart, and immediately ordered the Dali Temple to investigate the matter thoroughly.

"This man robbed the court's military pay and food, and was assassinated on the way back to the capital. There must be something hidden. My dear Lord Xiao, I order you to investigate this matter thoroughly. No matter who is behind this, you must get to the bottom of it!"

As the Minister of Dali Temple, Xiao Liqiu immediately accepted the order.

Seeing that the emperor had ordered a thorough investigation of the matter, Han Che thanked him sorrowfully and then returned to his seat.

The matter came to an end and the banquet continued.

When Ye Chuji heard that the Dali Temple was involved, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked.

If my father knew about the mine, the consequences would be disastrous.

He was a little absent-minded, pursed his lips and looked at the Queen on the podium.

After meeting the Queen's indifferent expression, he forced himself to suppress his thoughts and greeted the ministers as if nothing had happened.

After the banquet, Ye Chuji came to the Queen's bedroom.

"Mother, this Dali Temple Minister won't really find out something, right?"

"Has Han Bing been dealt with?"

"It's been dealt with, but I'm afraid Xiao Liqiu will find some clues related to the iron ore."

Mining consumes a lot of manpower, and transporting weapons is not an easy task, so it is inevitable that some clues will be left behind.

Ye Chuji was afraid that Xiao Liqiu would follow these clues and discover the private soldiers he had raised, which would be a real problem.

Queen Shen thought for a moment and said:

"Didn't the emperor ask Hua Jingqian to go north to deal with a batch of illegal salt?"

Ye Chuji nodded, it was true.

Previously, Hua Jingqian sacrificed his own daughter for Ye Chuji's reputation. Later, in order to appease Hua Jingqian, Ye Chuji gave him a chance to make money, which was to go north to Long County to resell illegal salt.

"Is the emperor involved in this matter?"

That batch of smuggled salt was just a small business. Ye Chuji didn't care about the thousands of taels of silver at all, otherwise he wouldn't have given it to Hua Jingqian, so this matter had nothing to do with him.

"I just mentioned this matter to Hua Jingqian. The other matters have nothing to do with me."

The queen raised her lips and smiled:

"In that case, my prince, go and give him some advice."

Longcheng is on the only way to Beimo Pass. If Xiao Liqiu starts from the capital and investigates along the way, he might find out that Hua Jingqian is reselling private salt in Longcheng.

Selling contraband salt is a capital crime. If Xiao Liqiu can be eliminated with the help of Hua Jingqian, no one will be able to dig up the Dongshantou incident.

Even if Hua Jingqian's conspiracy against Xiao Liqiu was exposed, Ye Chuji would not be afraid.

The contraband salt reselling was done by Hua Jingqian alone. He targeted Xiao Liqiu in order to cover up his crime. On the surface, the whole thing had nothing to do with Ye Chuji, so naturally he would not be implicated in this matter.

Hua Jingqian has been his disciple for so long but has not helped him at all. The defense map he sent out last time failed to deal with Hua Zhukong, and later he couldn't even deal with Hua Wuke.

Seeing that Hua Wu Ke and Ye Buhuo were getting closer and closer, the spy he had planted at Beimo Pass with great difficulty was removed by Ye Buhuo's design.

This Hua Jingqian is really useless. If we can sacrifice Hua Jingqian in exchange for the incident at Dongshantou not being discovered, this deal would be a very good deal.

After a little thought, Ye Chuji understood Queen Shen's intention and said "yes" respectfully.