The imperial court is ceding territory from our northern border? Then we'll rebel!

That evening, Xiao Jingchen hosted a grand banquet at the Regent's Palace to entertain Hu Yanbao and his entourage.

At the banquet, toasts were exchanged, and singing and dancing filled the air.

Xiao Jingchen was extremely enthusiastic, frequently toasting Hu Yanbao, and his words revealed his great interest and anticipation for this "alliance".

Hu Yanbao was so drunk that he felt increasingly that the regent of the Great Yan Dynasty was nothing more than a brave but reckless warrior, and he became even more smug.

After the banquet, Hu Yanbao was arranged to stay in the most luxurious inn at Hongke Temple.

He dismissed his attendants, leaving only one trusted confidant.

"See? I told you so!" Huyan Bao said smugly to his confidant. "That Xiao Jingchen has been completely fooled by me. Right now, he's probably dreaming of our Yuezhi warriors fighting for him while he reaps the benefits!"

"Your Excellency is wise!" the confidant quickly flattered.

"Hmph, once he and Ashina Sun have exhausted their resources, it will be time for our Yuezhi iron cavalry to flatten Shuobei City and drink from the Yellow River!" A greedy glint flashed in Huyan Bao's eyes. "Then, this dazzling world of the Central Plains will all be ours!"

Unbeknownst to him, right on the roof of his room, a secret agent from the Imperial City Guard was clinging to the tiles like a gecko, meticulously recording every single word he uttered.

What surprised him even more was that his "grand plans" had already been delivered to Xiao Jingchen's desk before he left the banquet.

Because the seemingly humble maid who poured him the wine was actually a top-notch lip reader planted by the Imperial City Guard.

Late at night, at the Regent's Palace.

Xiao Jingchen looked at the intelligence sent by the secret agent and a knowing look appeared on his face.

"Your Highness, these bastards are definitely up to no good!" Lei Lie gritted his teeth in anger. "We'll go right now and chop them into mincemeat!"

"No rush." ​​Xiao Jingchen placed the intelligence report on the candle flame, burning it to ashes. "The fish haven't taken the bait yet; it's too early to pull in the net now."

His gaze fell on the last line of the intelligence report.

"Interesting. This Huyan Bao, besides talking to us, is also secretly contacting people in our capital."

Intelligence indicates that one of Huyan Bao's attendants secretly went to a teahouse this afternoon and met with someone.

That person was the brother-in-law of the former Vice Minister of Rites. That Vice Minister of Rites was one of the officials who had been imprisoned and had their homes confiscated on orders from Xiao Jingchen during the previous purge for corruption.

At the same time, he was also a key member of the "peace faction" who advocated ceding territory to seek peace.

An invisible thread slowly connected in Xiao Jingchen's mind.

"It seems there are still some persistent rats in our capital."

A flash of murderous intent crossed Xiao Jingchen's eyes.

"Pass down the order to the Imperial City Guard not to alert them. I want to see what kind of show this venomous snake from the Western Regions wants to put on with these rats in our capital."

For the next few days, the capital city appeared calm on the surface.

The "negotiations" between the Regent's Palace and the Yuezhi delegation seemed to have reached a stalemate. Xiao Jingchen, citing "the matter is of great importance and requires detailed discussion," summoned key ministers such as Zhou Wenyuan and Chen Jing to hold closed-door meetings in the palace every day, but he refused to give Huyan Bao a clear answer.

Although Hu Yanbao was somewhat impatient, he didn't show it too much. In his view, the Great Yan court's sluggish efficiency was perfectly normal. Moreover, it gave him more time to carry out his other "secret activity."

Almost every day, he would send his trusted confidants out of the guesthouse under various pretexts to wander around the capital and make contact with people of unknown identities.

Some of these people were former nobles whose families had been impacted during the previous purge and who harbored resentment towards Xiao Jingchen; others were businessmen whose interests had been damaged and who were on the verge of bankruptcy due to the establishment of the Commerce Bureau; and still others were confidants and protégés of the dismissed "pro-peace" officials.

They were like a group of rats hiding in the gutter, drawn by the tempting "cheese" that was Huyan Leopard because of their shared hatred.

Huyuenbao promised them that if they could create chaos within the capital after the Great Yan army marched north to conquer Ashina Sun, thus shaking Xiao Jingchen's rule, then everything they had lost would be returned tenfold once the Great Yuezhi cavalry entered the Central Plains. They would become the founding heroes of the new dynasty.

Faced with such a huge temptation, these already resentful people quickly wavered. A conspiracy against Xiao Jingchen was quietly taking shape in the shadows.

All their conspiracies, every contact, and every word they spoke were meticulously compiled into Xiao Jingchen's desk through the Imperial City Guard's pervasive network.

Inside the Regent's Palace, in a secret room.

The atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Xiao Jingchen sat in the main seat, with Zhou Wenyuan, Chen Jing, and Zhao Kuo seated on either side. On the table in front of them lay a thick stack of files.

These are all surveillance records from the Imperial City Guard over the past few days.

"Your Highness, these scoundrels are utterly depraved!" Zhao Kuo slammed his hand on the table, his face flushed with rage. "Your Highness, you have devoted yourself to the Great Yan Dynasty. Not only do they not serve their country, but they even collude with foreign enemies, betraying their nation for personal gain! This humble general requests permission to lead the troops now and arrest these traitors, along with that so-called envoy, and execute them all by a thousand cuts!"

As the supreme commander of the capital's defenses, Zhao Kuo felt a burning pain in his face at such a sight.

"General Zhao, please calm down." Zhou Wenyuan's expression was also extremely grim, but he was much calmer than Zhao Kuo. "Your Highness, this matter involves many people, including some descendants of the old lord. If we arrest them all, it may cause turmoil in the court."

His concern was that if not handled properly, it could trigger a collective backlash from the nobility, which would be extremely detrimental to the upcoming Northern Expedition.

"Instability?" Xiao Jingchen sneered. "Old Prime Minister, do you think it's better to burst these boils now and let them cause some turmoil, or wait until our army is engaged in a decisive battle with Ashina Sun on the grasslands, and then let them explode behind us, causing even greater turmoil?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wenyuan broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately understood what Xiao Jingchen meant.

If the capital and the rear areas were in chaos by the crucial moment of the Northern Expedition, the consequences would be unimaginable.