coobybook Chapter 266 Concern
Chapter 266 Concern
Li Xiaonuan hurriedly asked the young princess what kind of dirty trick Chu Lin and Chu Feng had come up with that could threaten the emperor.
The young princess stammered for a long time but couldn't give a specific reason. This worried Li Xiaonuan greatly.
There was no other way; Chu Lin and Chu Feng, brother and sister, had only met with the emperor briefly in the palace, and the emperor released the empress and her son. There was no doubt about that.
That's why the young princess said that Chu Feng and his sister had used a treacherous scheme to force the emperor to release the people.
But apart from the emperor and Chu Feng and his sister who were present at the time, no one else knew the inside story.
However, one thing is certain: the Empress and the First Prince have indeed been released.
Furthermore, General Wang brought back far more than 80,000 troops. He brought back almost all of the 200,000 troops from the Northwest Camp.
However, they did it discreetly, in several batches. As a result, none of the talented and extraordinary people in the capital noticed this.
Even now, the 50,000 Imperial Guards in the capital, plus the bodyguards of officials from various departments, barely amount to 80,000. How could they possibly contend with the nearly 200,000-strong Northwest Army?
Furthermore, the Di and Rong tribes in the northwest are now unable to restrain themselves and have begun to invade the border.
In other words, the Qi-Song dynasty is currently facing a double whammy of internal troubles and external threats.
It seems that the Wang family had already planned everything for this day.
After the Empress and the First Prince were released from prison, they headed straight for the Wang family army. However, before leaving the city, they secretly met with the Chu siblings and discussed matters for an entire night.
What conclusion they reached remains unknown.
But judging from the current situation, the Chu siblings are indeed quite capable. Just considering that Chu Lin has already been moving among the families of the border guards, they are trying to forge an alliance between the Empress and the First Prince.
Chu Feng, on the other hand, was inside the city, leading his men to attack the imperial guards stationed at the city gates.
Why the emperor didn't harm Chu Feng and his sister remains a mystery to this day.
Furthermore, Prince Jing gathered forces several times to capture the brother and sister, but all attempts failed.
Every time Prince Jing's men were about to succeed, another group of people would appear and intercept them.
Therefore, Prince Jing no longer bothered dealing with Chu Feng. His biggest concern now was whether Wei Yu had successfully summoned reinforcements. Also, he worried about whether Wei Yu could successfully subdue the Di Rong tribes upon arriving in the Northwest.
Meanwhile, outside the western suburbs, the Imperial Guards were engaged in a fierce battle with the Wang family army.
The one who commanded this battle was none other than Zhao Wangchuan.
Why did Zhao Wangchuan appear on the front line of the fight against the enemy?
This story begins the day before they planned to withdraw and head overseas.
So, that day, the weather was fine, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. Uh... I digress. It was early winter, and the fields were desolate.
That day, Zhao Wangchuan and his mother disguised themselves carefully and were about to leave in their carriage.
Several days prior, Zhao Wangchuan's men had already planned the route. Once the mother and son successfully left the city, they would be free to roam the world.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Wangchuan and his mother had just driven their carriage out of the manor when they were kidnapped by a group of people.
It goes without saying that everyone knows the person who kidnapped Zhao Wangchuan and his mother was the emperor.
In order to be able to fly freely in the skies overseas, Zhao Wangchuan had no choice but to accept the emperor's conditions and lead 50,000 imperial guards against the Wang family army, along with 30,000 mixed-quality bodyguards.
After hearing so much from the young princess, Li Xiaonuan realized that Wei Yu had gone to fetch reinforcements. Incidentally, he also had to deal with the invading Di Rong tribe.
However, the Northwest is said to be under the control of the Wang family. Moreover, there are currently fewer than 20,000 soldiers remaining there.
No wonder Wei Yu acted so seriously before leaving that day.
Li Xiaonuan suddenly felt a little worried. She had heard that the Di Rong tribe was a very brutal and warlike people. If Wei Yu didn't have enough men, he might really die there.
"What? Worried about Wei Yu? You seemed so resistant before, I thought you were heartless." The little princess looked at Li Xiaonuan, who had a worried expression, and snorted.
"Princess, now is not the time to dwell on those things. Tell me, do we have a chance of winning?" Li Xiaonuan was worried about Wei Yu, and also concerned about Xiao Yang and the others who were far away in the prefectural city.
Although the Northwest Theater is some distance from the Southwest, if the defending forces are defeated and the Di and Rong people invade Qi and Song, they will definitely head to the Southwest first.
Although the southwest is far from the capital and somewhat remote, it is rich in resources and has abundant grain, making it an ideal place to gather military supplies.
Thinking of this, Li Xiaonuan couldn't sit still any longer. She had to write back to tell Xiaoyang and the others to prepare for the war.
"Princess, is it still possible to send a message out of the city?" Li Xiaonuan stood up and asked Princess Qingning.
"What message? To Wei Yu? I can help with that." The young princess smiled knowingly and said.
"No, I..."
"You, Li Xiaonuan! You're already engaged, and you still want to seduce Brother Yu. How can you be so fickle?" Before Li Xiaonuan could finish speaking, Chu Xun'er interrupted her rudely.
"Second Miss Chu, you should worry about yourself first. Don't pretend you don't know about the Chu family's affairs. You should know that once this incident is over, your uncle the Emperor will definitely hold your family accountable," Princess Qingning said coldly.
Princess Qingning disliked the Chu family from the start, so she had no good feelings towards Chu Xun'er either.
After Princess Qingning's reminder, Chu Xun'er finally grasped the key point. Their Chu family was now under the control of Chu Feng and Chu Lin. In other words, both Madam Chu and Master Chu were under house arrest.
"No, I have to go home to save my parents." Chu Xun'er hurriedly got up and tried to run outside.
Li Xiaonuan followed closely behind, grabbed Chu Xun'er, and shouted, "What's the use of you going back now? What ability do you have to rescue them? It's so chaotic outside, are you planning to go out and die?"
"Let go of me. Li Xiaonuan, stop lecturing me with that fake righteousness all the time. I'm much better than you; at least I'm loyal in relationships. Besides, I need to go back to save my parents. What right do you have to stop me? This isn't my home, and you're nobody to me. You have no right to stop me." Chu Xun'er frantically tore at Li Xiaonuan's hands that were holding her, crying and cursing loudly.
“I can let you go. But have you ever thought about why you were able to move here so easily? Let me put it bluntly, it was your mother who sent someone to beg my mother to let us protect you. Don’t you think about why your mother did that?” Li Xiaonuan said while dodging Chu Xun’er’s attacks.
"Let her go. Brainless thing! She's just wasting her life." Princess Qingning quickly ordered someone to pull Li Xiaonuan away.
Freed from her restraints, Chu Xun'er ran towards the gate of the villa without looking back. However, before she could even leave Li Xiaonuan's courtyard, a tremendous explosion rang out outside.
The sound was so loud that the teacups and saucers on the table in the room fell to the ground.
Moreover, the explosion was very close, so close that Li Xiaonuan felt it happened right at the entrance of the villa.
"Quickly, send a few people to check what's going on!" Princess Qingning ordered the guards standing on the courtyard wall.