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

Gu Xingcheng felt sorry for his younger brother who was not fully recovered yet, so he temporarily allowed him not to get up early to attend the morning court. He also had no formal work assigned to him, so he let him rest first.

There is no need for those hypocritical explanations between brothers, they understand each other.

Except for a few people like Ou Jianglin and Chen Tinghua, few people in the palace had formally seen the Ninth Prince who was just brought back by Lord Ou a month ago.

Even at the funeral of the late emperor and the emperor's coronation ceremony a few days ago, he stood in the front row like an invisible man and did not talk to anyone.

It wasn't that there weren't some people who wanted to come forward and start a conversation, but firstly, both ceremonies were very solemn, and secondly, the Ninth Prince didn't even glance at anyone who wanted to start a conversation the entire time.

Almost everyone believed that this prince, who had been abducted by human traffickers when he was just three months old and raised in the mountains, must be a petty and unpresentable person.

So, it’s not that he doesn’t want to talk to others, but he doesn’t dare to. He is afraid of showing his weakness and embarrassing the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, right?

Some people even secretly gave him a nickname: "Farmer Prince".

Several people looked at each other, and saw disdain and amusement in each other's eyes.

With this thought in mind, everyone turned and looked towards the entrance of the hall.

It was still a sunny day today, and the sunlight poured in from outside the hall, giving that tall figure a layer of golden light.

The man was shrouded in a halo of light, and under the golden sand and silver powder, the mountains and plains were filled with the man who was walking towards them step by step through time. It was like a dream and did not seem real.

When I got closer, I saw that the man was wearing a black wide-sleeved python robe, his back was as straight as a green pine, his figure was tall, and his features were deep and three-dimensional.

His angular and handsome face was tough as if it was cut by a knife or an axe. He looked straight ahead, as if those people who opened their mouths slightly and turned their heads in disbelief as he approached did not exist.

Everyone looked at each other, and saw a hint of "How is it possible? How could this person have such a temperament?

Gu Xingyan strode over, and when he came, he knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, your humble servant, Gu Xingyan, pays respect to His Majesty."

"Xiaojiu, get up quickly. Why did you come here instead of staying at home to recuperate?" Gu Xingcheng quickly stood up from the dragon throne.

Su Chaoquan hurried forward to help, but was gently pushed away by Gu Xingcheng. He couldn't let Xiaojiu feel that his health was not good now.

He walked downstairs, lifted Xiaojiu up from the ground with both hands, and asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm fine." How could Gu Xingyan let his brother help him? Seeing that his brother was pale and weak, he knew that he had not had a good rest for a single day since he ascended the throne.

State affairs are heavy, and now Zhao State is eyeing us covetously.

He stood up and turned to Gao Yarong, and saw that he had his hands on his waist and was looking at him indifferently.

He said in a cold voice: "Although Daliang does not have much iron ore, it is not lacking, and the few iron mines that have been mined are not barren. How come Mr. Gao said that Daliang is so poor that he can only buy one of the farm tools and weapons?"

Gao Yarong's face darkened slightly: "Your Highness the Ninth Prince is taking things for granted. In recent years, very few weapons have been forged. The Emperor and all the gentlemen present are aware of this."

"Is that so? How come, as far as I know, a month ago, there were still thousands of pounds of pig iron in the armory of the Ministry of War, and hundreds of thousands of unused swords and halberds?"

Gao Yarong snorted coldly, "As the Minister of War, how many things are there in the armory? Oh, Your Highness, you have only been back to Daliang for a few days? I don't know much about Daliang's treasury and armory, so I dare not say anything to you. But you can't just lie in front of all your colleagues and the emperor, right?"

"Really? Humph, am I lying? Someone, bring the things up."

At Gu Xingyan's command, two imperial guards came in, each holding several account books in their hands.

When Gao Yarong saw the things in the hands of the imperial guards, his head buzzed and his face turned pale. How did Gu Xingyan get these things?

Hasn’t he only been back for less than a month?

He has been recuperating in the East Palace due to injuries he suffered some time ago. How did he do it?

Gu Xingyan walked slowly to the front of the imperial guards, opened a book, flipped through a few pages, and then opened another one: "I don't know when Daliang allowed two sets of accounts to be used for Yin and Yang!"

After saying that, he turned around abruptly and smashed the account book in his hand heavily on Gao Yarong's face.

"Your Majesty, I have found two sets of account books from the Ministry of War. This set contains the details of weapons entering and leaving the warehouse in the past few years. The ink on this set is still new, and the scent of ink has not even faded. It can be seen that it is no more than a month old."

Gu Xingcheng looked at Gao Yarong and asked, "Gao Yarong, what else do you have to say?"

Gao Yarong knelt on the ground with a plop: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, am wronged. I am wronged."

His forehead was covered with fine beads of cold sweat. Half a month ago, when the late emperor was murdered, the empress and the crown prince were imprisoned in the palace, and there was civil strife in the court, he followed the orders of the then Third Prince, now Prince Chen, to have some old weapons transferred from the armory to his private residence on the outskirts of Sijiu City.

At that time, King Chen patted him on the shoulder and said that if he could ascend the throne, this batch of old iron could be exchanged for silver to fill the national treasury and resist foreign enemies, and he would be a great contributor to Daliang.

But, Prince Chen did not say, what if he had not ascended the throne?

He didn't dare to think about it, but he had to do it.

Just as my head was buzzing, I saw Gu Xingsheng, dressed in armor, coming in, dragging a middle-aged man with weak legs. When he got closer, he threw the man to the ground.

When Gao Yarong saw the man clearly, he almost fainted.

Gu Xingsheng cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my mission and found a large number of old weapons in a private residence in the eastern suburbs of Sijiu City. According to investigation, they are the ones that disappeared from the armory half a month ago."

Gao Yarong was so frightened that he couldn't even finish his words: "Half, half, half a month, a month ago, that, then, then the late emperor, the late emperor... Your Majesty, I didn't know, I failed to check, I really didn't know, please forgive me, Your Majesty..."

Gu Xingsheng sneered, "Don't know? Ha, this person is a steward in your Gao Yarong's house. When I found him, he was still taking inventory."

The steward was so frightened that he could not even kneel. He crawled in front of Gao Yarong and grabbed his arm tightly: "Master, it's over, it's over, it's all over, Imperial Guards, Imperial Guards..."

Gao Yarong pushed the man away, spitting and cursing: "I don't know you. Who are you? Who ordered you to do that? Why are you slandering me for no reason?"

"Sister, brother-in-law, it's me, it's me..." The middle-aged man didn't even call him "Master" anymore, but directly called him "Brother-in-law."

"Brother-in-law? I don't know you. Don't make random accusations in front of Your Majesty! Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am innocent. I am innocent. I don't know this person at all."