Great, it's just a lackey, we're saved!

Chapter 226 Cleansing the Emperor's Side, Eliminating the Evil Concubine!

Li An flicked his sleeve dismissively, showing utter contempt for the Crown Prince's reaction.

"Zhu Zhen deserves to die? The Crown Prince is mistaken."

"Zhu Zhen pulled back from the brink, realized his mistake and returned to the right path. It was not his fault that he was a henchman of evil people; the instigator was the real culprit."

"You led the beast tide to slaughter countless people, and afterwards, fearing that your deeds would be exposed, you wanted to kill the survivors."

"His heart is like a scorpion, his actions like a dog's; his deeds are utterly worse than those of pigs and dogs. Does someone like you deserve to be the crown prince?"

Li An's words were extremely harsh, and the Crown Prince's face turned red.

"Outrageous! Li An, I am still the Crown Prince. How dare you insult the Crown Prince! What is your punishment?"

Ang Lee, however, was not afraid; he cupped his hands in a gesture of respect towards the sky.

“If the Crown Prince follows the way of the sages, I, Li An, should be torn to pieces for insulting him like this.”

"But if the crown prince is like you, Jiang Yueshan, I will risk my old life to rid the people of this scourge!"

Ang Lee has gone all out.

He had waited for this day for so long; it felt like an eternity.

On that day, Zhou Wei and the Princess approached him, saying they wanted to seek justice for the Li family and asked him to leave the city and risk his life.

Ang Lee agreed without the slightest hesitation!

If it weren't for the Li family, he would have died long ago by crashing into the Fengtian Hall.

Now that he has the chance to witness the fate of Mei Xingyue and the Crown Prince, Li An couldn't help but laugh out loud!

With the testimonies of Chen Wenyu and Li An, the fact that the Crown Prince led the beast tide has been confirmed.

Zhou Wei pressed her advantage, saying, "If Your Highness has nothing to do with the beast tide, why did you kill people to silence them? Do you perhaps have some kind of hobby of killing for pleasure?"

The crown prince was speechless when questioned, and in his panic, his eyes swept over everyone present.

Almost everyone looked at him with suspicion.

But he still wanted to make a final struggle, so he mustered his spirits and began to act, bowing deeply to Chen Wenyu and Ang Lee.

He then said with a pained expression, "I really never expected that Zhu Zhen would do such a heinous thing behind my back!"

"This is the first time I've heard of this matter. As the leader of the Eastern Palace Golden Guard, Zhu Zhen failed to restrain him properly, and that is my fault."

Upon hearing this, Li An was dumbfounded, almost laughing in anger at the Crown Prince's shamelessness.

He never expected that even with all the evidence laid bare, the Crown Prince could still so evade the issue.

Ang Lee couldn't help but sigh, "I have seen the shamelessness of a person like you today... no, I should say I have seen the most shameless person in my life."

The Crown Prince ignored Li An's sarcastic remarks and instead placed all the blame on Zhu Zhen, claiming that he knew nothing about Zhu Zhen's actions.

In any case, on that day, only Zhu Zhen and Jinwuwei rushed into the village to kill and silence witnesses.

The crown prince hid outside the village, and neither Chen Wenyu nor Li An saw him!

Seeing that the Crown Prince was still struggling to survive, the Eldest Princess spoke up.

"The trick of 'no one can prove the truth after the mountain' is only needed once."

"Elder sister, what do you mean?" the Crown Prince asked warily.

"Those dozen or so Imperial Guards were all secretly executed by Zhu Zhen on your orders," the Princess said slowly. "Afterwards, you poisoned Zhu Zhen with a cup of wine, and after his death, you simply dumped his body in the wilderness. Am I right?"

Upon hearing that Zhu Zhen and more than a dozen Imperial Guards had been silenced by the Crown Prince, the court officials gasped in shock.

The Crown Prince was so willing to kill so many people to protect his secret, even his trusted confidants of many years. It was truly terrifying.

Seeing that the eldest princess had exposed his intentions, the crown prince stopped pretending.

He simply shrugged and said, "Royal sister, it's not that I wanted to play the trick of killing without evidence, but that Zhu Zhen and those Imperial Guards made a mistake, and I dealt with them according to palace rules. What mistake did they make?"

"But now it seems that I did the right thing in dealing with them. They dared to slaughter the people and almost accidentally injured two high-ranking officials. Now that they are dead, they deserve to die."

Chen Wenyu and Li An were both shocked by the Crown Prince's reaction.

With the character of a street thug, how could such a person have held the position of crown prince for so many years?

It's terrifying to even think about!

"Is that so? Yue Shan, are you so certain that you carried out the silencing without leaving any trace?"

Looking at the shameless Crown Prince, the Eldest Princess smiled sarcastically, then clapped her hands three times.

As the voice faded, a person slowly walked in from outside the hall. The court assembly was nearing its end, and the morning sun shone into the hall.

The prince turned around and, facing the somewhat dazzling sunlight, saw a familiar figure.

He squinted, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand, and when he saw who it was, he suddenly took two steps back!

"You! How could it be you?" The crown prince's voice trembled. "Weren't you dead?"

Zhu Zhen's face was pale, and his cheeks were slightly sunken. He walked in with a stagger.

Upon reaching the center of the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Zhen bowed deeply to Bai Xiaoxiao.

"Your subject, Zhu Zhen, Commander of the Imperial Guard, pays respects to the Imperial Noble Consort!"

Zhu Zhen's appearance reversed the situation once again, leaving the Crown Prince completely shocked.

After a long pause, he angrily retorted, "Impossible! I saw him drink the poison and die with my own eyes; there is absolutely no possibility of him surviving."

"Where did you find someone to impersonate Zhu Zhen in order to frame me?"

The eldest princess sneered, "Yue Shan, the leader of the Golden Guard who has followed you for many years, who could impersonate him?"

"If an ordinary person drank your poisoned wine, they would naturally be beyond saving, but don't forget, Zhu Zhen is a third-rank martial artist."

"And don't forget, Zhou Wei is an expert in traditional Chinese medicine. Her acupuncture technique is so skillful that she can even cure the leg ailment of the Duke's son. What difficulty would it be for her to clear the toxins from Commander Zhu's body?"

Bai Xiaoxiao raised her hand to help Zhu Zhen up.

She said with a worried look, "Commander Zhu, you look terrible. It seems you're feeling unwell."

Zhu Zhen's expression darkened: "Your Highness, although I was saved by General Zhou, the poison damaged my foundation, and I will never be able to cultivate again in this lifetime."

Upon hearing this, the court officials all sighed.

Although Zhu Zhen aspired to an official career and entered government service as a cultivator, he could no longer cultivate, which ruined everything for him!

After Zhu Zhen finished speaking, he turned to look at the Crown Prince with icy eyes.

"Your Highness, you didn't expect this, did you? A dog you used and then threw away actually turned around and bit you?"

The crown prince glared at Zhu Zhen, his eyes bulging with fury.

Zhu Zhen continued, "Of course, if only I am alive, Your Highness the Crown Prince might not be very happy, so I have another piece of good news to tell you."

"Your Highness ordered me to eliminate the dozen or so Imperial Guards who went to Wangjia Village with me to silence them, but I did not do so. Instead, I secretly hid them away."

"They are waiting outside the palace now. If the Crown Prince needs them to confront him in person, they can enter the palace immediately."

Upon hearing this, the prince felt as if all his strength had been completely drained away.

He never imagined that Zhu Zhen, who had always been loyal, would betray him.

"Zhu Zhen, I am the Crown Prince. If I ascend the throne one day, with your merits, you will surely become a close minister of the Emperor!"

"I believe I have never mistreated you, yet you have been two-faced, colluding with Chen Wenyu and others, and now you want to come back and deceive me?"

"Zhu Zhen, you are unworthy to be a subject!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhen felt as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

“Your Highness, a subject must die if the ruler commands it, but if the ruler is like you, the subject’s death is humiliating.”

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince was furious and wanted to continue to berate Zhu Zhen, but he keenly sensed that the atmosphere in Fengtian Hall had changed.

He then realized he had said the wrong thing!

He admitted that he orchestrated the silencing, and Zhu Zhen carried it out!

The entire court looked at him with anger.

His courtiers, who had always supported him, were mostly disappointed and sighing.

A sense of impending doom and helplessness arose in the Crown Prince's heart.

Just as he felt weak all over and almost collapsed to the ground, he heard the urgent voice of the Embroidered Robe Envoy from outside.

"Report!!!"

"Your Highness, the Roushan Camp has 100,000 troops approaching the capital, raising their banners to purge the emperor's inner circle and eliminate the wicked concubine!"

"Furthermore, there are unusual movements at the two camps in Qianshan and Fengshan, as if a large army is gathering!"