Chapter 133

Northern Xinjiang.

After arriving at the border, the guards of the Zhiyi carriage were replaced.

The guards from the imperial city were gathered together and accompanied her to the royal court to protect her safety. Fifty of them were elite soldiers selected by Xu Jin, and another fifty were Xu Tingfeng's men who disguised themselves as a caravan to trade at the border.

The guard level has been raised by two levels.

After a brief stay in Northern Xinjiang, the wedding procession from Northern Xinjiang invited Zhiyi back to the royal court.

The strange thing was that the person who came to welcome the bride was King Kuru's younger brother, a boy of about ten years old, and the new king himself did not come.

Zhiyi frowned: "Why didn't your king come in person?"

The young man had a strange expression on his face, but he also knew that Northern Frontier and Great Zhou needed to maintain peace at the moment, so he said respectfully, "It's not that I'm being disrespectful, but that the king is asking the witch to exorcise the evil spirits."

Zhiyi: “?”

Drive what?

-

Royal Court.

Outside the king's tent.

The bonfire burned in a circle, and on the platform in the middle were a few weirdly dressed women and old men, dancing around a man who was sitting cross-legged in the middle.

There was a dark patch under the man's eyes.

It was none other than Jirigala, the king of Kuru.

He was still in his twenties, full of vigor and vitality. He had seized his father's power and swallowed up the royal court. He was in the prime of his life and was surrounded by many beautiful prairie girls.

But just half a month ago, he began to have nightmares every day.

The dreams were varied, extremely monotonous and disgusting. First, a beautiful singer threw herself into his arms, and when he made a move, a big spoon suddenly appeared and fed him hot cow dung.

Or maybe the singer turns into a killer, or the woman turns into a big man, and holds him down by force.

Or maybe a pair of embroidered shoes suddenly appeared beside the bed. He was in an empty and deserted yard with apparently no one around, but he inexplicably felt his heart beating faster.

These dreams are intertwined and mixed together, and once I close my eyes, they are all flashbacks.

People in northern Xinjiang believe in gods.

Jizhigla felt that this was probably a hint from the gods that a devil was haunting him, so he asked a witch to exorcise the evil spirit.

Witch grandmother is a profession unique to the Northern Frontier. Regardless of gender, all are called witch grandmothers, and they are beings that can communicate with gods.

Jizhigla invited all the famous witches on the grassland, and they must succeed in exorcising the evil spirits.

Otherwise, as time goes on, not to mention the subtle aversion that seeing beautiful concubines would make him think of eating cow dung, he would become mentally weak and his control over the new royal court would decline.

The latter was something he would never allow to happen.

The exorcism ceremony lasted from the afternoon to the evening. The bonfire was trembling in the bone-chilling cold. Jizhigra circulated his inner force round and round, but still couldn't help but sniffing.

The witches then stopped their long communication with the gods.

"Your Majesty, it's done. We have communicated with the gods based on your description."

Jiriga stood up, crossed his hands and pressed them against his chest, "Listen carefully to the words of the gods."

The witches said solemnly, "Your Majesty, there is an evil spirit on your body, and it is entangled with you tightly."

Jizhigla: "What should the king do?"

Witches: "Stay away from all yin energy, water, night, and even women. Stay closer to yang energy, such as fire, the sun, roasted meat, and prairie warriors."

Jizhigla frowned and said, "I understand."

The gods seemed to be telling him to recruit more brave men from the grassland and stay away from women.

This must be a warning from the gods because they see that he has the power to unify the northern border.

-

The Queen's Solitary Tent.

Zhiyi sat on the bed, her fingers tightly clasped around her handkerchief.

The tasseled phoenix crown gave her a headache, but she had to cheer up and prepare to deal with the king of the new royal court.

In addition to the two personal maids who had followed her since childhood, there were also two agile women pretending to be maids in the tent.

She had rehearsed in her mind countless times, but the verbal exchanges, sparring and counterattacks never came.

A few maids from the Northern Frontier came outside first.

All of them were wearing veils. Most of the girls from Northern Frontier had taller frames than those from Great Zhou, so the last one who looked taller was not very noticeable.

They came in with trays: "Food for the Queen."

Zhiyi: “Just leave it there.”

The tallest maid came forward, but the people around Zhiyi stopped her.

The maid's voice was a little strange, and she said softly: "If the princess of Da Zhou put on her riding and archery clothes and shoot arrows on the grassland, she would surely amaze everyone."

Archery on the grassland.

Zhiyi instantly grasped the key words, looked up and carefully examined the maid...male?

She finally pulled out a face from her mind. It was Agumuda? !

The maid in front of me doesn’t look like her either!

Zhiyi cleared her throat and said, "You guys go down first. You stay. I don't know how the food in Northern Frontier differs from that in Great Zhou. Please introduce it to me."

"yes."

The maids retreated.

Zhiyi's two personal maids went out to guard the door, and then tried to signal: "Been beaten twice?"

Agumuduo took off his veil, winked at her, lowered his voice and smiled: "I knew you still remembered me."

Zhiyi's palms were covered with cold sweat: "You are here? You are going to die."

She received training as a princess who was to be married to a foreign country before coming here. She needed to be familiar with the distribution of each tribe so that she could quickly establish herself here.

Agumud is the expelled heir of the old royal court. Isn’t his appearance here the biggest provocation to the new king?

And in the tent of her, the queen.

If she is discovered, she may not be in danger, but Agumuda will definitely die.

But Agumuduo saw the wolf fang on her wrist at a glance——

He owed the Seventh Prince that life many years ago.

It turned out that the seventh prince gave her the wolf fang.

He didn't mention the matter of Langya for the time being. He restrained his smile, lowered his voice to the lowest level, and quickly explained the reason why he was here.

"The number seven was marked on the message I received. Although it was Xu Jin who contacted us, this crazy gamble that involves the lives of our tribe is not Xu Jin's style."

When they were shooting arrows on the grassland, the Seventh Prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty let him shoot the strawberries on top of his head without blinking an eye. His gambler's spirit was exactly the same as the message delivered by the messenger.

With a little thought, I knew that this method was his.

The seventh prince won the bet.

He was indeed unwilling to see the king being killed, and unwilling to be expelled like this.

Zhiyi took a deep breath and said, "What do I need to do?"

Agumuduo: "I am from the Northern Frontier. It is impossible for me to completely turn my heart to the Great Zhou. I just want the old royal court to return and reduce the war. You gather information about the royal court, and I will be outside, coordinating internal and external affairs."

Zhiyi didn't know how much of his sincerity was and how much of his desire was for power.

But Agumdo is now considered her temporary ally.

Zhiyi: "I will get familiar with it as soon as possible."

Agumduo nodded, and without further ado, he handed her a bottle of medicine juice: "This is a grass unique to the grasslands of Northern Xinjiang. It blooms small flowers in winter. People outside don't know this. If you pick it for the first time and touch it, you will get a rash on your body. It doesn't hurt or itch, but it's ugly. It can last for more than a month."

"If you don't want to come into contact with Jizhigla, use this."

Zhiyi: "What does Jirigela look like?"

Agumuda hesitated, "It should be OK."

Zhiyi is used to getting along with Qu Watanabe, and has become a bit of a face-obsessed person, so her thinking can sometimes go astray.

She didn't notice the hidden care and love from Agumu at all, and thought for a moment: "Then I won't be at a disadvantage when I try to get information from Jirigela in the future."

And when fighting, you don't have to face an ugly face.

Zhiyi said sincerely: "I'll use this thing if you think it's useful. Thank you."

Agumudo was silent for a while, put on his veil again, and left the king's tent.

Zhiyi waited for another quarter of an hour, but Jirigela didn't show up, so she started to eat. After eating, she waited until midnight, when a voice outside the king's tent said, "Your Majesty."

Jizhigla is here.

Zhiyi sat upright on the stool, and after a moment, she frowned slightly.

Why is no one talking?

"King Kuru?"

Jizhigla stood at the door, looking at the red embroidered shoes on Zhiyi's feet.

he:"……"

Zhiyi lifted the tassels of the phoenix crown and looked at Jirigela.

good.

She said steadily: "You and I are from two countries——"

Jizhigla turned and left, his tone cold and hard: "Take good care of the queen, and we'll talk about the rest when we have the chance. The princesses of your Great Zhou are very cunning, so don't have any bad ideas and stay in the royal court honestly. Later..."

The rest of the words were not said, but Zhiyi knew it well.

If a war breaks out in the future, the best outcome would be being a hostage, the worst outcome would be death.

The Queen's tent was in complete silence.

Zhiyi frowned and thought, this was probably Jirigela's way of expressing his contempt for the Princess of Da Zhou?

She removed her makeup and walked out of the tent.

The moon on the grassland seemed much brighter than that in Dazhou.

On the first day she arrived here, she began to miss home.

-

Great Zhou.

Capital city.

After Qu Dubian came back, he set about establishing his own network of contacts with Northern Xinjiang. He borrowed his uncle's people and handed it over to Liu Liu to do it.

He was born in the Yi Twelve Secret Guards, originally belonged to the Yi Guard, and was originally trained to gather intelligence, so he was like a fish in water in this area.

Moreover, the poison from Sanrizui has been cured, so Yi Twelve does not have to worry about the poison suddenly taking effect while he is on duty outside.

When the dark web was first established, even with Xu Tingfeng's help, he had to go out frequently. After all, the absolute control of the dark web had to be in his own hands, and others could only help, and no one was an exception.

Yi Twelve upgraded from a personal bodyguard to the leader of the dark web——

Even now it is still a simple makeshift troupe.

After handing over his mission, Changping Hou Xia Hong returned to the capital to recuperate. His poison was under control and he took detoxifying pills, but his internal organs were still injured. When he fell off his horse, not only the bones of his left leg were injured, but also the meridians. Even if he recovers, he will still be lame.

For several months, I couldn't get out of bed.

Qu Dubian went to visit Xia Hong. Fortunately, he did not seem depressed. He was just worried about Xia Fuyang in the northern border.

Early summer of the second year.

When Qu Watanabe was fifteen years old, he received the first message from his secret agent.

The prince's residence.

Qu Dubian looked at the small piece of paper in his hand. Each horizontal and dot on it contained the exclusive code for this hidden line.

"News from Xie Lishan."

This guy actually survived and was doing pretty well among the slaves, able to take care of fifty sheep.

Ye Xiaoyuan: "How?"

Qu Watanabe: "Sister's side is relatively smooth. Agumuduo was besieged by the pro-war faction and almost died, but after escaping, the name of the Second Royal Court was called out, which was enough to give Jizhigla a headache."

He burned the small note and once again skillfully arranged a nightmare for Jizhigla tonight: [The Rebirth of the Old Royal Court]

"Banban, have the materials that I asked the Engineering Department to prepare arrived?"

Ye Xiaoyuan: "I'm here, I'll put it in the backyard."

There was a desk in the backyard, as well as a pile of copper, iron and wood objects.

There are messy drawings on the desk.

Qu Watanabe rolled up his sleeves, picked up a wooden ruler, drew the last straight line on the drawing, and then weighed the wheel sent by the Ministry of Industry.

Ye Xiaoyuan was curious: "Your Highness, what are you fiddling with?"

Qu Watanabe: "A component called an eccentric wheel. You will know after assembling it."

He put the two eccentric wheels together and looked at them carefully.

There is still one year before Jianfu goes to court. Whether he can get the official position he wants depends on what he has in his hand.

-

The capital was peaceful for a year.

The turmoil in the northern border has subsided a little, and all the plots are hidden under the temporary peace.

As the Seventh Prince approached the age of sixteen, the undercurrent beneath the calm became increasingly turbulent.

It’s not that everyone doesn’t want to go to the Seventh Prince’s mansion-building banquet, but everyone is secretly trying to figure out the emperor’s intentions.

Ever since the Seventh Prince fell out with His Majesty over Princess Zhiyi's marriage when he was fourteen years old, he never attended any banquets held in the palace again.

Including the annual banquet and His Majesty's birthday.

The crack is almost obvious.

Not only court officials, several princes, and other scholars who were interested in seeking refuge in the Seventh Prince's mansion were all watching Emperor Chongzhao's attitude.