The Crown Prince forcefully threw the wooden table, knocking one person down.
But three more were rushing towards them, without any handy weapons, and the Crown Prince was momentarily unable to fend them off.
The Empress might not care about Emperor Qi, but she had to care about her son.
Thus, she risked her life to protect him.
Just as the three were about to succeed in sending Emperor Qi, the Empress, and the Crown Prince's family of three to their deaths, Lin Wang, Su Cheng, and Feng Jinlin unleashed three arrows from outside, not letting a single one escape.
Two of them were hit in the chest and died on the spot.
However, another one was only shot in the shoulder. Seeing the Imperial Guards surrounding them, he knew he wouldn't leave alive, so he prepared to slit his own throat. But Su Cheng leaped forward and captured him.
The arrow in his hand was kicked far away, and his jaw was dislocated to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide.
The sudden turn of events allowed Emperor Qi's life to be preserved.
He cast a grateful glance at the three, then looked at the Crown Prince.
"Good, good, I am fortunate to have such a good son! The Crown Prince was indeed not wrongly established! The Empress too, risked her life to protect the throne! Good!"
The two who were praised now stood on either side of Emperor Qi. Looking at the other concubines and royal relatives who had hidden far away, Emperor Qi felt annoyed even looking at them.
"Your Majesty, Prince Ning's palace is surrounded by Imperial Guards from front to back. Not a single person can escape."
Since General Meng's death, Lin Wang had become Emperor Qi's most trusted person. He had gone from being the commander of the Imperial City Army to the leader of the Imperial Guards, in charge of the safety of the entire Imperial City.
Today's events were sudden, but now that the culprits were captured, they naturally had to be interrogated.
At this moment, he looked at the Sixth Prince as if he were not his own son, but an enemy captive.
"Do you have anything else to say!"
"Father Emperor! Your son is wronged! Your son does not know where these people came from, nor did your son prepare this gift. Someone must be framing your son, please Your Majesty see clearly!"
"Hmph! Little Six, I trusted you so much, Crown Prince, yet you harbored ill intentions and even attempted to assassinate Father Emperor! Were you planning to kill me too after succeeding, so you could take this position!"
Even if this matter was not done by the Sixth Prince, he would still pin the blame on him.
This was a heaven-sent opportunity. Even if it was later discovered that the Sixth Prince was innocent, he had not been involved in any way.
His hands were clean.
Not only the Sixth Prince, but even the newly enfeoffed Consort Liu felt wronged.
She immediately knelt down and tearfully pleaded, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Little Six is the most filial and timid child. How could he dare to find people to assassinate Your Majesty? There must be a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"
She cried so prettily that it was hard not to be moved. However, Emperor Qi had just experienced a near-death ordeal and did not care about such worthless tears.
Instead, Feng Jinlin suddenly stepped forward and said.
"The Sixth Prince and Consort Liu are quite good at acting. If it weren't for your benevolent facade, you wouldn't have deceived my elder brother and caused him to almost lose his life in Qingzhou!"
"Your elder brother? What do you mean?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, my elder brother narrowly escaped from the demon's den in Qingzhou and just returned home. He revealed a shocking secret, so your subject brought him to the palace in a hurry. Fortunately, we were able to stop the Sixth Prince in time, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
Hearing that Feng Jinxu was still alive, let alone Emperor Qi, even the Sixth Prince was astonished!
"How is that possible! I saw him burned to death with my own eyes! How could he be alive! Are you trying to deceive Father Emperor! What are your intentions, Feng family! Who are you taking orders from! Speak quickly!"
The Sixth Prince was also quick-witted, trying to turn the situation around in a few sentences.
Unfortunately, he was facing the two Feng brothers, and even with a mouth, he couldn't explain himself clearly.
Soon, Feng Jinxu, clad in a black cloak, emerged from the shadows. His leg was still limping. The Crown Prince immediately noticed and asked.
"Lord Feng, what happened?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, it is an old injury that has relapsed due to continuous travel. It is not serious."
"Elder Brother Feng, His Highness is now the Crown Prince. This was proclaimed to the world a few days ago."
Feng Jinxu showed a brief moment of surprise, then lowered his head and said.
"It is my fault for traveling in such haste that I did not notice this. I beg Your Highness's forgiveness."
"It's alright, it's alright. Tell me first, how did you get injured?"
Feng Jinxu's appearance essentially sealed the Sixth Prince's fate. At this moment, the Crown Prince did not care about his address.
Moreover, this surprise made him even more believable that he had rushed back from outside day and night, rather than hiding in the capital long ago.
It further corroborated the truth of his words.
Thus, Feng Jinxu, with a righteous demeanor, began to recount the events of that day.
"Your subject was ordered to go to the southwest for disaster relief with the Sixth Prince. When we passed through Qingzhou, I felt unwell, so I did not have dinner. Fortunately, I didn't eat, otherwise, your subject would have been reduced to ashes today! Not long after dinner, everyone went to rest. Who knew that we suddenly smelled kerosene. My guard had a keen nose and good skills, so he immediately went to investigate and found that someone had indeed sprinkled kerosene around the room where we slept. Unfortunately, it was too late to notify everyone, and those people set fire to the post station."
He spoke word by word, and everyone present listened intently.
"My guard wet a handkerchief and a quilt, and told me to wrap myself in them. Taking advantage of the chaos, I slipped out. I intended to find the Sixth Prince, but there was no one in his room! I had no choice but to leave first. My guard was unfortunately hit by a wooden beam during the process and died. As for me, I accidentally fell into a dry well next to the post station due to slipping, and my old injury was sustained then."
"Because I hit my head when I fell, I was unconscious for a long time. When I woke up, I didn't know what day it was and almost thought I would die in the dry well. Fortunately, a few playful children came to play, and I begged them to go home and find someone to rescue me. From those villagers, the Sixth Prince announced to the world that I had been burned to death, along with half of the supplies."
"I was anxious to return to check the situation, but at night, I unexpectedly discovered people secretly transporting goods from the post station. The markings on the boxes were made by me personally, so I naturally recognized them as supplies. Thus, I hid in Qingzhou and secretly investigated, and indeed, I uncovered quite a lot of things!"
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression towards the Sixth Prince changed.
They had originally thought he was a hero of disaster relief, but unexpectedly, he had embezzled supplies!