Qing'an City was prosperous and prosperous. Although the human race suffered, there was no impact on this ancient capital. On the other hand, the Confucius Temple in the city was overcrowded at the moment, with an endless stream of people coming here to burn incense.
Ordinary people only knew that there was a scholar who saved them, so they attributed all the credit to Master Confucius, and they all went to the temple to pray for blessings.
The small businessmen and hawkers who knew how to do business moved their stalls in front of the Confucius Temple and shouted loudly to attract passers-by. The scene was much more lively than during the New Year.
The people were peaceful and prosperous, but Prince Xiaoyao's palace was full of depression.
In Nuo Da's square courtyard, only Queen Mother Gao Cuifeng and King Xiaoyao Baili Qianshan were sitting there without saying a word. There was not a single servant around, and there was no sound from the plowing.
Gao Cuifeng closed his eyes, sleeping and waking up in and out of sleep. He held on to the dragon head crutch with his right hand without letting go.
When Baili Qianshan saw it, he sneered and said: "Queen Mother, I opened the skylight to speak frankly. There is no need for you to stare at me. Even if all your grandchildren are dead, I have no intention of visiting Yuxi Palace." seat!"
Unexpectedly, Gao Cuifeng said without opening his eyes: "Although you have no intention of traveling thousands of miles away, I'm afraid that other people have intentions. Now, old lady, I have nowhere to go, so I would like to borrow a chair from you, wouldn't the prince be willing to do so?"
Baili Qianshan said helplessly: "You sit down, I will accompany you. It's just that I have something I don't know whether to say or not."
"The prince has something to say, but there is no harm in saying it."
Baili Qianshan said: "Now that the crown prince and the second prince have gone, the third prince, the fourth prince and the sixth prince are still here. If the queen mother does not return to the court to stabilize the situation, is it possible to watch them fratricide?"
Gao Cuifeng slowly opened his eyes and asked, "If I go back, won't they kill each other?"
Baili Qianshan chuckled when he heard this, but did not answer.
Gao Cuifeng continued: "My grandson Changkong died here with you. Old lady, I will stay with you for a while. As for the others, they have their own destiny and cannot be forced."
Baili Qianshan nodded. While they were talking, a servant came to report from outside the door: "Queen Mother, Your Majesty, there is a eunuch from Taiyue City outside the door. He claims to be sent by the Fourth Prince and asks to see the Queen Mother."
"oh?"
The Queen Mother and Baili Qianshanjin both frowned. They both knew very well that whoever sent people first would already be in control of the situation. But they originally thought that the third prince Baili Shuze and the sixth prince Baili Hanran had the greatest chance of winning. They never thought about Baili Xiyu, who had always been away from the court.
"Tell him to come in!"
"yes!"
Not long after, a young eunuch walked in and said politely: "This servant pays homage to the Queen Mother and Your Majesty. The fourth prince ordered me to come and invite the Queen Mother and Your Majesty to go to Taiyue City together."
Gao Cuifeng snorted coldly when he heard this and said, "Fourth prince? Now should we call him a saint, right?"
The young eunuch didn't understand why and said: "His Royal Highness has not ascended the throne and changed his title."
"this……"
Gao Cuifeng didn't know why, if Baili Xiyu hadn't won yet, he sent people to recruit her back, and why he had to accompany her over hundreds of miles and thousands of mountains.
Baili Qianshan is also confused. Logically speaking, he has no friendship with Baili Xiyu. Moreover, the last time he succeeded in a sneak attack, he had already let people know that he was seriously injured and had not recovered. Now that they are attacking each other, could it be that... there is a traitor!
Thinking of this, Baili Qianshan smiled secretly and said in his heart: "This Baili Xiyu is not the reckless person rumored to be, but he has some tricks. Even I was plotted by him. No wonder he dared to come alone. The Taoist body that destroyed Baili Changkong turns out to have such a reliance."
But now is not the time to track down spies. Baili Qianshan looked at Gao Cuifeng and asked, "What does the Queen Mother think?"
Gao Cuifeng didn't answer and asked the young eunuch, "Why doesn't the Fourth Prince come by himself?"
The little eunuch said honestly: "I don't know."
Gao Cuifeng nodded, exchanged glances with Baili Qianshan, and understood the reason. Baili Xiyu must have led the troops to control Taiyue City, but the other two people were still confronting each other outside, so Baili Xiyu did not dare to come out. These two people didn't know that the sixth prince Baili Hanran was dead, so they came to this conclusion.
Therefore, Gao Cuifeng said: "You go back and tell the fourth prince that King Xiaoyao is seriously ill and the Ai family is here to treat him. He cannot leave for the time being. You can let him deal with it on his own without discussing it with me."
"Slave understands!"
The little eunuch turned around and left. Gao Cuifeng is not afraid that the little eunuch will go back and say that this is a lie. The excuse is just a lie. They both understand it tacitly, so there is no need to waste any energy.
As soon as the young eunuch left, someone came to report from outside the door: "A messenger from Liang Chen of Shangzhu Kingdom came and asked to see the Queen Mother and the Prince."
The two of them had expected such an incident, so they ordered them to be brought up.
A general in armor came. When he arrived, he said to the two of them: "I have been ordered by the Shangzhu Kingdom to ask the Queen Mother to go to Jizhou to discuss important matters!"
Jizhou is not far from Taiyue Mountain in the capital. It seems that Liang Chen has already arrived in Jizhou from Qiongzhou.
Gao Cuifeng told the general what he had just said to the young eunuch, and the general had no choice but to go back first.
Gao Cuifeng and the people who can wait for the Sixth Prince beyond Baili Qianshan. But this time it didn't go as they expected.
Seeing the visitor like this, Baili Qianshan took the lead and said: "The situation of the court is unclear, how can the Queen Mother sit still?"
Gao Cuifeng said in a deep voice: "Because the situation in the court is unclear, the Ai family can still stay in peace. Presumably, the people sent by the prince to find out the news should have returned, right?"
While he was talking, there was a personal guard standing at the door, and he didn't dare to walk in. When Baili Qianshan saw it, he said: "How dare you be so presumptuous in front of the Queen Mother? You have already found out some news and why don't you report it as soon as possible?"
"yes!"
The man walked in and said to the two of them: "Now Taiyue City has been occupied by the soldiers and horses of the four princes. The four gates are closed, and there is no access to the inside and outside. I don't know the situation in the city. Liang Chen of the Shangzhu Kingdom returned to Jizhou to station, and did not continue to go to Taiyue. Signs of the city’s advance.”
Baili Qianshan asked: "Where are the third prince and the sixth prince?"
The man replied: "I don't know where they are."
As soon as these words came out, Gao Cuifeng's expression changed slightly. There were too many missing things. He might have been detained in the city by Baili Xiyu, or he might have been protected in the army by Liang Chen. Now the two armies are facing each other, and they don't know what to do.
Baili Qianshan signaled his guards to retreat and continued to inquire about the news. Then he said to Gao Cuifeng: "Whose hand should the jade seal of the state be in?"
This is the key to the problem. Only by mastering the jade seal can we master the final victory. Just looking at the current situation, Yuxi should not be in the hands of anyone.
Gao Cuifeng looked at the dragon-headed crutch in his hand and fell into deep thought...
…………
In the Jade Seal Palace, countless messengers were sent out by Baili Xiyu, and they didn't know where to send the messages.
After the young eunuch who came back from Qing'an City reported what Gao Cuifeng said, Baili Xi stood up with a cold face and said in a deep voice: "This old woman is really hateful!"
Standing next to him was his confidant general Men Zhaoping. Men Zhaoping stepped forward and said solemnly: "How about letting the last general lead the troops and capture the Queen Mother and Baili Qianshan together?"
Baili Xiyu shook his head and said: "Baili Qianshan is in charge of Qing'an City. If he is not allowed to leave the defense, it will be difficult to surrender. There is also Baili Taizao beside the Queen Mother, and this person should not be underestimated. If you go there rashly , there must be no bargains to be gained.”
Men Zhaoping nodded and asked, "In that case, what should we do?"
Baili Xi said: "What we need to do now is to find my third brother. He must not be allowed to meet Liang Chen! We have to defeat him one by one."
Men Zhaoping nodded and said, "General, I understand!" After saying that, he turned around and left the hall.
Baili Xiyu looked at the throne behind her, then at the jade seal in the air, and said to herself: "Sooner or later, you all belong to me!"
…………
In a valley outside Taiyue City, Baili Shuze stayed with Zuo Fengyuan, Zhu Wanquan and Chen Gui. Originally, Song Zheng went to Taiyue City, but there was no news.
Baili Shuze thought that the catastrophe was over and he would return to Taiyue City, but he didn't know that Baili Xiyu came with troops. Baili Shuze was overjoyed to see him and wanted to reunite with his brothers. Fortunately, Zuo Fengyuan caught him in time and did not send him to seek death.
Baili Shuze paced back and forth and said, "Waiting like this is not an option. I have no intention of taking the throne. If my fourth brother wants to take it, just take it. I won't compete with him!"
Unexpectedly, Zuo Fengyuan scolded him and said, "Do you think you will be fine if you don't fight? If you don't fight, we will all be buried with you! Your brother Baili Qingfeng's death will be in vain!"
These words were like a huge stone weighing on Baili Shuze's heart. It took him a long time to convince himself and asked: "Mr. Zuo Ge, what should I do now?"
Zuo Fengyuan said: "Chen Gui has already found out that Bailixi Yuzao sent people to search for our whereabouts. This valley is not safe. We need to leave quickly."
"But where to go?"
"Of course the farther away the better!" Zhu Wanquan said: "Go to Tianzhao City. I have been the city lord there for many years, so I am quite familiar with it!"
But Chen Gui suddenly said: "It's better to go to the small town outside the city. There are people living there, it's easy to hide, and it's dark under the lamp. It's the safest."
Zuo Fengyuan nodded when he heard this: "What Eunuch Chen said is reasonable."
Seeing this, Baili Shuze agreed. So the four people disguised themselves and arrived at the small town.
The small town has no crossing, and the blessings of Ji Xiu, Kong Mengyao and others have not been affected in the slightest. But now a lot of Baili Xiyu's soldiers and horses came to the town, eating and drinking together, making it very chaotic.
The four people were old and young, and it was very unnatural for them to walk on the street. When they saw groups of soldiers and horses approaching, they hurriedly ducked into an alley.
But after walking a few steps, I heard the sound of soldiers talking and laughing in front. The four of them were startled, not knowing what to do, when they saw the door of a small courtyard nearby being gently pushed open, and the head of a little girl poked out. The little girl looked at them and whispered: "Quickly Come in!"
The four of them didn't dare to delay and hurried in. As soon as the gate was closed, the group of soldiers turned around and grabbed a lot of things from the people's homes with their hands on their shoulders.
The four of them each let out a sigh of relief, and Baili Shuze hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you for the rescue."
The little girl smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Big brother said that we should save people from danger. I think the jade pendant around your waist must be very valuable. If those soldiers see it, it will be robbed." Let’s go!”
After hearing this, Baili Shuze looked down at his jade pendant, put it away quickly, and felt relieved again. He thought the little girl recognized his identity, but it turned out that it was just because of this jade pendant.
Zuo Fengyuan looked at the little girl behind him, let out a light sigh, and blurted out: "Little girl, I didn't expect that you are still a monk in the Qingyou Realm at such a young age. I wonder where you learned from and which sect you are a disciple of?"
