The naughty and cowardly little crybaby sold himself out

The fourth prince found the orphanage after investigation.

The empress dowager had passed away several decades ago. At that time, the emperor was still the crown prince and was only ten years old. The late emperor and the empress dowager took him to the orphanage to visit the children in disguise. Unexpectedly, the horses were startled for no reason on the way, and the carriage ran rampant and finally crashed. The empress dowager died on the spot while protecting her son. The late emperor was also seriously injured and lay bedridden for more than half a year before finally passing away.

The emperor ascended the throne at the age of ten, and the eldest princess took over the affairs of the orphanage. It was not until the emperor established a queen that he handed the matter over to the queen. However, the queen died just a few years after taking over.

Later, it was supposed that the empress dowager should take over, but the emperor did not let her take over. He was against the orphanage from the bottom of his heart, and took away his closest people one after another, so the management of the orphanage was handed over to the Ministry of Revenue.

The Fourth Prince found the orphanage. Although the orphanage in the capital looked respectable from the outside, it was actually dilapidated on the inside. There were only two old maids, who were so old that they could hardly walk steadily. They were probably arranged by the Empress Dowager.

"Who are you?" One of the maids opened the door.

"This is His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince of the current dynasty." A guard stepped forward and pushed the door open.

"Oh, the Fourth Prince." The maid trembled and stepped aside, but as soon as the Fourth Prince led his people in, the maid stopped them again, "Who are you? This is the orphanage built by the Empress Dowager. How can you trespass?"

The fourth prince frowned. This nanny was obviously old and confused. Was there no one else in the orphanage? He signaled the guards to take her away and put her in a good place.

It was only when I reached the backyard that I saw another nanny, who was cooking a large pot of porridge by herself.

The nanny was not confused, but her first reaction when she saw them coming was to pick up the spatula and hit them.

"Get lost, you hypocritical, madmen! Even if I die here today, I will never allow you to take another child away!"

The fourth prince was scolded for no reason and almost got hit by a shovel.

"Mammy, please don't be rude! This is the Fourth Prince of our dynasty!" A guard snatched the spatula from her hand.

“What Fourth Prince? The person who came last time also said he was a son of a noble family and took away a lot of children, but later we found some of them in the mass grave. I think you are just trying to trick an old woman like me. You even dare to pretend to be a prince. I’m afraid you don’t want to live anymore!

I warn you, I have already submitted a petition to the Ministry of Revenue, and someone will come to investigate soon. Don't even think about taking another child away from me!"

Although the nanny is old and breathes heavily after speaking a few words, it does not affect her fierce temperament at all.

"Mammy, I am really the fourth prince of the current dynasty, Jing Muyun. I came here for this matter. I hope you can give me some advice." Jing Muyun dismissed his men, gave her enough safe space, and handed her his token for confirmation.

This nanny naturally recognized the prince's token, but the last time she saw the Fourth Prince was more than ten years ago, when he was only a few years old.

"The fourth prince? Your Highness?"

The nanny burst into tears and pulled his hand to pull up his sleeves. There was a short scar near his elbow. It was more than ten years ago, after the death of the former queen, when there was no successor. The fourth prince's mother brought him here. At that time, he was still a child and accidentally fell and scratched his arm. It was quite deep. She thought at the time that there would definitely be a scar. "It's really you!"

The Fourth Prince also had some memories of it, but after his mother died, his father issued a strict order for no other prince to set foot in the orphanage, so he never came again.

The nanny held him with a loving expression. The fourth prince's mother was the best candidate to be the queen, and she had the demeanor of the empress dowager. It was just a pity that she died not long after coming here and returning. It was also for this reason that the emperor directly forbade the harem to be in charge of the orphanage.

"Mammy, we found out that some people who were sold were released from here in the past two years. Mammy, can you tell us more about it?"

"It's all my fault!" The nanny started to cry before she could finish her words. "The Empress Dowager had originally arranged it very well. The children here will be taught some simple skills, and when they are thirteen or fourteen years old, they can go to the embroidery workshop to embroider flowers. If they practice more for a few years, they can go to the accounting office to be a teacher, and at the very least, they can be a waiter.

But in the past few years, many orphanages were closed in various places, and a large number of children were sent here. There were also more orphans, and the silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue did not increase, so it was not enough. I went to ask, and they talked about the war. They had to focus on the battlefield at the front first. There was nothing they could do.

A few years ago, someone came to me and said that they could help to build a bridge for some childless or child-seeking families to adopt some children from here, or that they could allow wealthy families to give priority in selecting maids and servants from here. I reported this to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and they approved it.

At first, it was fine. The adopted children would write to us or come back to visit us. But in the past year or two, we have heard nothing from almost all of the adopted children. Later, there were even secret messages saying that the bodies of the children from the orphanage were found in a mass grave. I went to confirm it, and it was indeed the children from our orphanage, and there was more than one..."

The nanny was very distressed and beat her chest, "It's all my fault. I have failed to live up to the Queen Mother's instructions. I have no face to face her!"

The Fourth Prince was horrified. Whoever was behind this must be extremely brave to touch the people in the orphanage. No wonder there were more and more beggars in the capital. They would rather sleep on the streets than go to the orphanage. Even if they went in, they would find ways to escape. So this was the reason.

The court also has principles for taking in orphans. They will only take in those who are willing to go or are too young. As for the older children who don't want to go, they will only give some help, occasionally give them porridge or medicine, and that's it. No one has ever thought about any problems in the process. At least during the six months that the Fourth Prince has been supervising the government in the Ministry of Justice, he has never received any information about the orphanage.

It seems that someone has tampered with this.

*

This matter alarmed the emperor, who was furious and ordered the Fourth Prince to investigate the matter. Although he was superstitious about the orphanage, it was his mother's hard work and he had indeed neglected it over the years, but that didn't mean he could let anyone ruin it.

The court was in a panic for a while, and the Sixth Prince and the Fifth Prince were the worst affected. They were the two who had been investigating politics in the Ministry of Revenue in the past two years, especially the Fifth Prince. He had spent a year in the Ministry of Revenue and a year in the Ministry of Justice. Such an obvious case was hastily closed, which led to no one investigating the orphanage.

The Fourth Prince received a special order from the Emperor and conducted a more thorough investigation, even catching those women who had been in the Young Master's backyard for a year or two.

Now, the emperor heard what the human trafficker Boss Chen, who was killed by Qingye, had said, and the bad habits started by the Fifth Prince. He also learned that at the last chrysanthemum viewing banquet, the eldest princess had ordered him to dismiss half of the people in the mansion. However, considering that he was still a good person, he took good care of those dismissed women, and none of them were from orphanages, nor were they abducted. They all volunteered, and there were no children among them.

Moreover, he was afraid of trouble this time and assisted the Fourth Prince in arresting many people, which was considered a bit of credit, but he was still punished, beaten with dozens of boards, and was confined to his house.

Chu Jian in Prince Zhan's mansion laughed when he heard this.

"Mu Yang, I heard that when Fifth Brother was beaten with a stick, Father was personally supervising. Although it was not a military stick, it hit his flesh and he screamed in pain so hard that the whole palace could hear it. His buttocks were bruised, hahahaha..."

"Are you so happy that he was beaten with a stick?" Jing Muyang also laughed.

"Of course, it's his fault that he always targets me, and he doesn't behave like a prince, he deserves it!" I would never feel sorry for him when I first saw him.

Many days had passed since Li Jingmuyang was punished, and the wounds on his body had all scabbed off. The emperor summoned him to court. The Sixth Prince was the Crown Prince's man, and even if the Crown Prince was unaware of it, it was a serious oversight. The emperor was unprecedentedly disappointed with the Crown Prince's performance in state affairs.

Having said that, the aftermath of this matter has not yet subsided. It is a great achievement but also an offensive matter. The emperor does not want the crown prince to rush to the front, nor does he want to let the eighth prince take the lead. The third prince is too ambitious, and the fourth prince cannot handle it alone. The sixth and seventh princes are just for show, so he has to push Jing Muyang to do it. With the reputation of the King of War, things will be easier.

But there were many things that the emperor could not have imagined. This time his decision directly led to a series of very bad things happening afterwards.

From then on, the foreshadowing was laid, and there would never be peace in the capital again.

**