Use a substitute on your wedding night to scatter the ashes of your entire family

Before leaving, Zhang Desheng secretly glanced at Lu Dongqing. The man looked as if nothing had happened, standing there with his back straight. It was unknown what important thing he had just presented to the emperor.

Not daring to delay, he walked out of the imperial study and immediately asked the eunuch beside him to call Zheng Xinjiang, the commander of the imperial guards.

Half an hour later, nearly a thousand guards, led by Zheng Xinjiang, left the palace and headed straight for Suzaku Street.

Zheng Xinjiang held a bright yellow imperial edict in his hand.

People on the street moved to both sides.

"What happened? Why are there so many imperial guards?"

"It's Chinese New Year, and it looks like they're going to raid my house."

"The direction the Imperial Guards are heading seems to be Suzaku Street. What kind of people live on Suzaku Street? Those of the third rank don't even have a place to stay. Most of them are royal relatives, princes and princesses."

"Looking at this situation, could it be that some important person is plotting a rebellion?"

"Hush, you're not going to die, you can still say that."

The crowd suddenly fell silent and watched the imperial guards leave.

Two quarters of an hour later, more than a thousand guards surrounded the residence of the Third Prince Ling Yao.

Zheng Xinjiang held the imperial edict in his hand, rode on horseback, and shouted at the gate of the Third Prince's residence: "The Third Prince Ling Yao has raised private soldiers in Liangshan, numbering 30,000. His intention to rebel is obvious, and the evidence is irrefutable. We are ordered to search and confiscate the Third Prince's residence. Please do not put up any unnecessary resistance, open the gate immediately, and let us in."

However, the gate of the Third Prince's Mansion was tightly closed. Not only Ling Yao himself, but even the servants did not come out to open the door.

He had no idea what a shocking scene had happened inside this gate just an hour ago.

On the contrary, a few crows on the towering bare treetops of the Third Prince's Mansion were startled, screamed, leaped up from the courtyard, and flapped their wings and flew away.

Zheng Xinjiang looked up at the flying crow, frowned slightly, got off his horse, walked to the gate, and shouted what he had just said again.

Still no one opened the door, and it was deathly silent.

There was such a big commotion, but there was no sound from inside. Something was very wrong.

Zheng Xinjiang realized something was wrong, his expression suddenly changed, and he ordered, "Someone, break the door open!"

A few imperial guards came up, and with a few bangs, the towering vermilion-lacquered gate collapsed.

The moment he fell, Zheng Xinjiang saw the scene in the yard clearly. His pupils suddenly shrank and the blood color on his face faded completely.

What did Zheng Xinjiang see?

The moment the door collapsed, what came into view was the corpses lying all over the ground. They all had foam at the mouth and had died of poisoning.

There were a few people who were still breathing their last breath, their bodies still twitching. However, before Zheng Xinjiang could call for help, they kicked their legs, rolled their eyes, and tilted their heads to one side, and died.

These people were all poisoned not long ago.

In addition to the Third Prince's wife, there were also several of his legitimate daughters, illegitimate daughters, concubines, and mistresses.

They were all dead. Hundreds of people in the Third Prince’s Mansion were all dead.

The corpses piled up on top of each other were shocking to see.

In the middle of a pile of corpses, the third prince Ling Yao, with disheveled hair and a dagger across his neck, looked at Zheng Xinjiang coldly.

Zheng Xinjiang's legs were shaking. He walked towards Ling Yao step by step: "Third Prince, please put down the dagger and don't be impulsive."

Ling Yao looked at him and smiled strangely: "Commander-in-Chief Zheng, the emperor asked you to announce the decree, why don't you read it? Are you raising private soldiers with the intention of rebellion? Or are you hiring someone to assassinate the crown prince? Are you secretly teaming up with Zhao Mingshan to seize the throne? Or are you guilty of all these crimes?"

Zheng Xinjiang stuffed the imperial edict into the hands of the imperial guards behind him, and dared not announce: "Third Prince, if you have any grievances, you can clarify them in front of the emperor. You'd better put down the dagger quickly."

Ling Yao pretended not to hear: "I was the one who provided the poison to assassinate the Crown Prince. I just hate it. I hate that my mother and grandfather only have eyes for the Crown Prince. I hate that my mother always wants to suppress me. I hate even more that she always reminds me to keep my duty as a subject!"

"But why? Why can such an incompetent person become the crown prince just because he was born a few years earlier? Why should I, as the legitimate son, kowtow to him for the rest of my life? How am I inferior to Ling Ji? Do they want Northern Jin to perish in his hands?"

Zheng Xinjiang didn't dare to respond and could only take another step closer.

"Back off, Zheng Xinjiang, you back off!" Ling Yao moved the dagger one inch closer to the neck. Bright red blood rolled down the pale neck and dripped onto the plain clothes.

The extreme white and extreme red impacted everyone present.

"Okay, okay, I'll step back, Third Prince. I, I won't go any closer. I beg you, can you please put down the dagger?" Zheng Xinjiang took several steps back.

"Although I, Ling Yao, am unwilling, I will not raise private soldiers. I will take the position of crown prince from Ling Ji in an upright manner. It was Ling Ji, that bastard Ling Ji, who framed me. I don't have private soldiers! No!"

Zheng Xinjiang's scalp was numb, and he could only say, "I believe it, Third Prince, I believe it. Please put down the dagger, and we can talk about everything, okay?"

Ling Yao laughed loudly, and two lines of tears rolled down his face. He yelled at Zheng Xinjiang, "Zheng Xinjiang, please help me pass on a few words to my parents."

Zheng Xinjiang just felt bad because he said "father and mother" instead of "the emperor father and the queen mother."

"I, Ling Yao, hate being born into an imperial family the most in my life. If there is an afterlife, even if I am a pig, a dog, or a beast, I will never be reborn into the royal family again and never be a descendant of the Ling family again!"

After saying that, he slashed the dagger across the neck and the man fell to the ground with a bang.

Blood splattered all over Zheng Xinjiang's face.

Zheng Xinjiang stood there, his mind was blank, with only the blood in front of him.

At this moment, Emperor Jingzhang was still cursing in the imperial study, calling Ling Yao an ungrateful person who dared to rebel against his father. He would definitely throw him into prison and skin him alive.

When Queen Jiang received the news that the third prince had raised 30,000 private soldiers in Liangshan in order to force the emperor to depose the crown prince and make him the heir, she was so angry that she swept everything on the table to the ground.

"Rebellious son, I really gave birth to a good son! If I had known this, I should have strangled him to death when he was born! That way he wouldn't always be thinking about things that don't belong to him."

The confidant nanny wanted to say, "Your Majesty, the matter has not been clarified yet." But she swallowed the words back in the end.

Half an hour later, the news reached the palace.

Queen Jiang fell to the ground with a pale face. Those were just words spoken in anger.

Ling Yao is also her son, the flesh and blood that fell from her body after ten months of pregnancy. She just wants them to be kind and respectful to each other. She only wants Yao'er to assist his brother well and protect the Northern Jin Dynasty, and not have any inappropriate thoughts.

How could I possibly hope for his death?

How could he die like this!

Queen Jiang couldn't catch her breath and fell backwards.

The trusted nanny and a group of palace maids were shocked and hurried to help her up and call the imperial physician.