Seeing that he could not scare King Jingbei, the leader of the secret guard changed his mind and wanted to escape and return to the palace to return to his life, and then avenge today's humiliation later.
So he changed his expression to a polite one and said with a dry smile: "Your Majesty, I have offended you... The general is just following orders, please forgive me..." After that, he left and prepared to lead a few secret guards. slip.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the maid Caiping was about to sneak away, but the princess asked two strong servants to catch her and escort her to King Jingbei.
Seeing King Jingbei's sharp eyes, Caiping looked at the leader of the secret guard in panic, asking him for help with his eyes, but saw that the leader of the secret guard was indifferent and had no intention of saving him. Suddenly he knelt down with a plop, kowtowed to King Jingbei and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, this servant is just following orders..."
King Jingbei looked at her sudden behavior and asked with great interest: "Oh? Then are you willing to reveal the mastermind of the rumor and cause trouble and reduce the punishment?
Upon hearing this, the maid Caiping glanced at the secret guard leader carefully and said hesitantly: "This, this, slave..."
Before she finished speaking, the leader of the secret guard next to her suddenly pulled out his sword and slashed at the back of her neck.
Caiping fell to the ground in response, his eyes wide open, as if he was still dead.
King Jingbei glared at the leader of the secret guard and shouted: "How dare you kill someone in front of me! Come and capture him..."
After giving the order, the Xiao brothers immediately rushed towards the leader of the secret guard. The leader of the secret guard was not willing to give in easily, but he also called on his men to resist.
At the same time, the guards of the palace swarmed up and started fighting fiercely with the secret guards in the palace.
The princess heard the commotion and hurried over with several maids. Several of the maids who knew martial arts also stepped forward to help.
When King Jingbei saw the princess walking quickly with a big belly, he hurriedly went over to support her and told her not to worry and to go back to the room first to avoid being accidentally hurt.
The princess was worried about King Jingbei's safety and insisted on staying. King Jingbei patiently tried to persuade him, but in the end he couldn't defeat the princess, so he had to accompany the princess to watch the battle.
The two brothers, Xiao Jie and Xiao Kai, were already very accomplished in martial arts, and with the two joining forces, they clearly had the upper hand. The leader of the secret guards couldn't beat him, so he whistled and called for all the secret guards to evacuate.
After the secret guard leader returned to the palace, he reported the status of the operation to the emperor in a more embellished manner. The failure of the mission was attributed to King Jingbei's cunning and stubborn obstruction.
The emperor was very angry, but he had some scruples. After all, King Jingbei and I are brothers from the same mother. If I really hit King Jingbei cruelly, it would be hard for my mother to explain it to her.
That night, the emperor didn't even go to his favorite concubine's palace, and the newly chosen beauty also disappeared. After sitting alone in the imperial study for a long time, he returned to his bedroom.
The next day, the emperor urgently summoned Master Yan to the palace for discussion. The two talked secretly for a long time and decided to do something about the border war to dampen the vigor of King Jingbei. At the same time, they suppressed the Weiyuan Escort Agency, which had the effect of killing chickens and warning monkeys, so that other people in the world would not dare to easily interfere with the affairs of the court.
Soon, the emperor summoned King Jingbei to the palace alone, falsely claiming that Beiyi had declared war, and issued an oral order to King Jingbei to immediately go to war.
King Jingbei vaguely guessed the emperor's brother's intention, but he could not refute it. He could only agree and quickly returned to the palace to discuss with the princess and the Xiao brothers.
After listening to King Jingbei's story, the princess's eyes were full of worry and she asked carefully: "In the past, when the emperor needed the prince to go on an expedition, he would always ask the eunuch to pass the edict or give the order in front of all the civil and military officials. Why is this so? Summoned alone for the first time? And only with oral instructions? Is there any mystery in this? "
King Jingbei pondered for a while and said: "Perhaps there is not really a war at the border, but the emperor is just using the topic to play..."
Xiao Jie echoed with a solemn expression: "The general thinks so too... It's a little unusual for the emperor to ask you to lead the troops this time... And I heard that the emperor often summons Grand Master Yan to go to the palace alone to meet the saint... I'm afraid it's not good for you. Very disadvantageous..."
King Jingbei nodded and said in a low voice: "Grandmaster Yan and I have always had different political opinions. Anyone with a discerning eye can see what kind of plans he has... It's just that the emperor's brother was too suspicious and was deceived by him for a while... Let's be patient for a while. , use your plan to go to the border... As the saying goes, if you don't enter the tiger's den, you can't catch the tiger's cubs..."
"But wouldn't it be too risky to do this? Your Majesty, you should take more care!" The princess asked eagerly when she saw that King Jingbei was deliberately putting himself in danger.
King Jingbei patted the princess on the shoulder and said comfortingly: "Princess, don't worry, I have my own rules... Just stay in the palace and raise your baby with peace of mind, and wait for my triumphant return..."
The princess nodded numbly, her eyes still filled with sadness.
Xiao Kai pondered silently for a while, and then suddenly asked: "Your Majesty, would you like to invite Miss Nangong and Mr. Qin to give you some advice..."
The prince was stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Don't do it for now... Brother Huang is very suspicious of me now. If we contact the Weiyuan Escort Bureau frequently, I'm afraid it will hurt them..."
Xiao Kai nodded after listening to the prince's analysis and said no more.
Xiao Jie looked at King Jingbei's tired look and asked tentatively: "It's late at night, the prince and the princess should take a rest early..."
King Jingbei nodded and signaled Xiao Jie and Xiao Kai to go back and rest.
The two brothers quietly retreated. Halfway through, Xiao Kai couldn't help but leaned into Xiao Jie's ear and asked: "Brother, do you really don't need to talk to the Weiyuan Escort Agency? With the way the emperor behaves, there is no guarantee that he will not have suppressed the power." Far Escort Bureau’s thoughts…”
"Xiao Kai, be careful in everything you say and do... I know you regard them as close friends and want to give them a warning... But at the moment we still have to put the overall situation first and the prince's safety first. Do as you are told and don't act without permission..." Xiao Jie interrupted his brother and advised him earnestly.
Xiao Kai reluctantly said "Oh" and decided to sneak out tomorrow to give Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan a heads up.
The next day, before King Jingbei led his troops to leave, Xiao Kai hurriedly wrote a note and used a bunch of candied haws to bribe a child playing near the palace, asking him to send the note to the Weiyuan Escort Bureau.
The child left happily with the note and candied haws. Xiao Kaicai led his horse and walked towards the military camp.
In the Weiyuan Escort Bureau, Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan took the note sent by the child and looked at the crooked handwriting and Xiao Kai's signature on the note, showing expressions of surprise and joy.
Fortunately, Xiao Kai reported the message in time, otherwise he would not have known that the emperor was already thinking about him and regarded him as an accomplice of the rebellious ministers and traitors! There are intact eggs under the overturned nest, and the destiny is turned upside down. How should a young escort choose?
Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan were very distressed. After discussing for a while, they decided to hold a public meeting of the escort agency to listen to everyone's opinions before making a decision.
On the other side, the army led by King Jingbei was almost at the border. The guard was Yan Taishi's distant nephew, Lieutenant General Yan. When he heard the spies' report, he immediately drafted a secret letter and rushed it eight hundred miles away. Go to the Taishi Mansion in the capital.
When King Jingbei's army arrived, Lieutenant General Yan greeted them respectfully and sent people to secretly monitor King Jingbei's actions.
A few days later, Vice General Yan received a reply from the Grand Master, asking him to lead troops pretending to be the Northern Yi army, raid the military camp, and annihilate King Jingbei and his bodyguards in one fell swoop.
After reading the secret letter, Vice General Yan summoned several trusted leaders to secretly discuss a plan to frame King Jingbei.
At the same time, King Jingbei also received a secret letter from his mother, instructing him to be careful of Lieutenant General Yan, not to go deep into enemy territory alone, to be more alert when sleeping at night, and to try to keep the Xiao brothers by his side.
King Jingbei became more aware after receiving the secret letter from his mother. He silently burned the secret letter and asked the Xiao brothers to secretly monitor the whereabouts of Lieutenant General Yan.
In the first few days, both sides made secret arrangements and lived in peace.
Some time later, it was a rainy night, and the soldiers went to bed early. Lieutenant General Yan felt that the time had come, so he led his trusted soldiers to dress up as Beiyi troops and set fire to the military camp at night.
King Jingbei had already prepared. Lieutenant General Yan missed the attack and was captured alive by the Xiao brothers. Witnessed by all the soldiers, King Jingbei beheaded Deputy General Yan in front of the battle for treason.
When Master Yan heard about this, he was so angry that he fell ill in bed. The emperor was worried that the conspiracy would be exposed and King Jingbei would come back to settle the score with him, so he hurriedly asked his mother to intercede.
