His entire family perished in battle; he rose from the ashes to conquer the world.

Fang Yuyan's voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly:

"You've ruined the Crown Prince's plans, but you've also pushed our Fang family into an even more dangerous situation. His Majesty is shrewd; he won't believe you're just 'reporting the facts.' He'll definitely suspect you're hiding something else in the middle."

Mu Yuan took the sword from his waist and handed it to his personal guard. He walked to her side, took out the hidden account page from his pocket, and placed it on the stone table. The sunlight illuminated the numbers on the paper clearly, and every transaction of salt and silver ultimately pointed to the Western Army's armory and granary.

"I want to make him suspicious." Mu Yuan picked up his teacup, the scalding tea overflowing the rim and burning his fingertips without him noticing. "What His Majesty has feared most these past few years has never been the struggle between the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince for the throne, but rather the collusion between the salt merchants of Jiangnan and the military generals of the border towns. If I go along with Zhu Qi's words today and drag the Crown Prince into this mess, His Majesty will immediately become alert—that the Western Army and the Fang family are joining forces to stir up the court under the guise of the princes' struggle, and that would be a disaster that wipes out the entire family."

He looked up at Fang Yuyan, his eyes showing a hint of weariness, yet unusually clear-headed: "By turning against His Majesty in the Golden Palace and pointing the finger at 'someone sowing discord among the princes,' I can temporarily lower His Majesty's guard. He will think that I, Mu Yuan, did not participate in the struggle for the throne, but was merely helping him see through the shady dealings in the Grand Canal."

Fang Yuyan looked at the dark circles under his eyes and knew he hadn't slept a wink all night, meticulously planning every possible outcome. But she still frowned: "But the Crown Prince won't let this go easily. You've ruined his three-month-long scheme; he'll definitely do everything in his power to expose the connection between the Western Army and the Fang family. The joint trial by the three judicial authorities will be his next battlefield."

Mu Yuan tapped his fingertips lightly three times on the stone table, exactly the same gesture he made last night when tapping the account books. A ruthless smile, completely different from the one he'd made in the Golden Palace, curled at the corner of his lips.

"If he wants to play, I'll play along to the end. On the day of the joint trial by the three judicial authorities, I'll make those two assassins he personally planted confess everything in court—not the Fang family's smuggled salt, but evidence that the Crown Prince has embezzled official grain transport funds to support his private army over the past three years."

Fang Yuyan suddenly looked up at him: "How do you have this evidence?"

"During the Southwest War last year, I intercepted a suspicious grain transport ship. There wasn't a single grain of official rations on board, only armor and weapons." Mu Yuan's voice deepened. "At that time, I knew that someone in the capital was transporting private soldiers to the border towns, but I hadn't been able to find out who was behind it. It wasn't until the Crown Prince deployed people along the grain transport route this time that I followed those unfamiliar faces from the capital and finally pieced together the clues."

A breeze rustled through the treetops in the courtyard, carrying a coolness rarely seen in the capital's summer. Meanwhile, in the Crown Prince's residence, Zhu Xu smashed a celadon teacup on the table to the ground, shards scattering everywhere.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" He pointed at the several trusted men kneeling on the ground, his gentle voice shattering into rage. "Didn't you say that Mu Yuan had been tied to Zhu Qi's ship and would definitely tear the Fang family apart today? Who told me he dared to betray us in the imperial palace!"

A black-clad assassin lowered his head, his voice trembling: "Your Highness, our informant in the Western Army has sent word that Mu Yuan sent men out of the capital last night to the Grand Canal checkpoints. I'm afraid... I'm afraid he went to retrieve old files."

Zhu Xu's chest heaved violently. He walked to the map and pressed his fingertips firmly on the nodes along the canal route. He had been plotting for so long, intending to use the Fang family's smuggled salt case to frame the fourth prince, Zhu Qi, as a culprit who was undermining the succession. Then, under the guise of "suppressing smuggled salt," he would take control of the entire Jiangnan salt route. At that time, military pay and grain supplies would be in his hands, and the dragon throne would be his sooner or later.

But Mu Yuan's sudden intervention completely disrupted the rhythm.

"Your Highness," the old strategist beside him bowed and said, "Now that things have come to this, we can't wait for the joint trial by the three judicial departments. Those two transport officials know too much about us. Once they fall into the hands of the Ministry of Justice, they'll confess everything in no time. Perhaps... we should send someone to solidify the 'evidence' first."

Zhu Xu turned his head, a fierce glint in his eyes: "What do you want to do?"

"Tonight, send men to the Ministry of Justice prison to kill those two transport officials and make it look like they committed suicide out of fear of punishment." The old strategist's voice was extremely low. "Then leave behind a 'suicide note' saying that everything was orchestrated by the Fang family, and they were afraid of being implicated, so they had no choice but to commit suicide. At that time, there will be no one to testify, the case can only be hastily closed, the Fang family still can't escape, and we can get away unscathed."

Zhu Xu stared at the porcelain shards on the ground, remaining silent for a long time before finally nodding slowly. Little did he know that every word of their conversation had been transmitted word for word to the temporary residence of the Western Army by a tiny eavesdropping pigeon whistle hidden in the roof beam.

After hearing the report from his personal guard, Mu Yuan gently placed his teacup on the table. Fang Yuyan looked at him and suddenly understood his intention: "You deliberately disrupted the Crown Prince's plans in the Golden Palace to force him into a corner and commit murder to silence him?"

"Yes." Mu Yuan stood up, picked up the sword bestowed upon him by His Majesty, the bronze ornaments on the scabbard gleaming coldly in the light. "I have already arranged for the elite of the Western Army to disguise themselves as prison guards from the Ministry of Justice and wait for his men in the prison. Tonight, the assassins sent by the Crown Prince will personally deliver the evidence of his treason into our hands."

Night gradually enveloped the capital, and the lights in the Ministry of Justice prison flickered dimly. The black-clad assassins from the Crown Prince's residence sneaked in through a pre-prepared secret passage. Just as they reached the door of the cell where two transport officials were being held, all the torches around them suddenly lit up.

Mu Yuan stood in the firelight, his sword already half an inch from its sheath. He looked at the dumbfounded assassin, a playful smile playing on his lips:

"I will accept the 'witness' sent by His Highness the Crown Prince without any hesitation."

The wind of this night was destined to blow the Crown Prince's secret, hidden for many years, to the dragon throne in the Golden Palace.

Just as the torches in the Ministry of Justice prison were suddenly lit, the black-clad assassin's knife pierced the cotton curtain of the prison door.

Mu Yuan stood where the firelight was brightest. The black armor of the elite Western Army soldiers gleamed coldly in the dim light, completely blocking the passageway. Seeing the situation was not good, the leader of the assassins quickly brought the poison pouch at his waist to his lips—this was a pre-prepared method of silencing witnesses by the Crown Prince's assassins; if the mission failed, no one should be left alive.

But the moment his fingertips touched the scabbard's opening, a flash of cold light grazed his wrist. The dagger embedded itself in the stone wall, vibrating and humming, before the hand, along with the poison scabbard, fell limply. Mu Yuan sheathed his sword, his voice echoing in the empty prison: "His Highness the Crown Prince has treated you well, yet he didn't even have the confidence to ask you to leave a single confession. Why die for him?"

The assassins' faces were ashen when they were pinned to the ground.

They came prepared to die, but little did they know that from the moment they stepped into the secret passage, they had already fallen into a trap set by Mu Yuan.

The Western Army found forged "secret letters of treason from the Fang family" and gilded tokens unique to the Crown Prince's residence in their pockets. These items were originally props used to frame the Fang family and solidify the "canal transport official's suicide out of fear of punishment" drama. Now they have all become ironclad evidence pointing to Zhu Xu.