So when Li Mao wrote last time saying that he did not see Nangong Jing leading the army to Langzhou, he was thinking about re-arranging his plans.

Looking at the court now, the emperor simply cannot find a more suitable candidate to replace Li Mao, nor can he find anyone he can trust more. So after much deliberation, he can only start from other aspects.

Putting Li Mao in the open, the emperor made arrangements from other aspects. In short, the result of everything was to kill Nangong Jing.

Now that Lin Luwan had offered such a brilliant plan, the emperor was very happy. In the morning court the next day, he even praised General Lin with a few words of praise, which made everyone very curious.

After the court session, the words of praise that General Lin received from the emperor at the morning court session reached the ears of the concubines in the harem. Some of them smashed things, some shouted loudly, and some had cold faces.

The civil and military officials of the court also found out some news through their own means. They learned that Lin Luwan, the most recently arrived concubine in the harem, had been canonized as a concubine by the emperor. This made her the concubine with the highest status among all the concubines in this session, which surprised everyone.

General Lin himself felt that his back was straightened up. It felt great to be envied by others.

After returning, he was even more obedient to Rong and rewarded her with many things.

What no one expected was that not long after the morning court session ended, at noon, the eunuch beside the emperor went to Wanxiang Palace with an imperial edict. In less than an hour, someone came to Lin Luwan to inquire about the news. Only then did everyone know that the emperor had promoted her rank again. She was now a beauty, a concubine of the fourth rank.

Not only did the empress not understand the emperor's actions, but other concubines also didn't understand what it meant. Since ancient times, concubines were either canonized for giving birth to princes or for their families in the previous dynasty to obey the emperor's orders.

But the Lin Luwan in front of him became a beauty without doing anything.

The concubines who have lived in the harem for many years are all wondering what kind of magic potion Concubine Lin has given the emperor. She has only been in the palace for five or six days and has been promoted from a concubine to a beauty as an exception. If this continues, isn't she afraid of losing the hearts of the harem and the previous dynasty?

But no one could listen to what they said, and the emperor naturally ignored them because he had more important things to do.

Only the two of them knew about the brilliant plan that Lin Luwan proposed that day, and no outsiders knew about it, so the emperor arranged for his secret guards to go and make the arrangements.

In the empty hall, the emperor looked at the sky outside through the window and said secretly in his heart, Nangong Jing, Nangong Jing, if I wanted to spare your life and let you live in this world before, now I just want to see your head placed before our ancestors.

The secret guards around the emperor led their men and rushed all the way to Yuzhou City, but found that Prince Duan Nangong Jing and the army were no longer there, so they could only look for traces of the army in the surrounding cities.

At the same time, it was discovered that someone had sneaked into Yuzhou City in the same way as Trace, and was trying to gather information about Prince Duan and the army.

This was a major discovery, and the secret guard immediately sent a pigeon to tell the emperor.

In fact, no one knew that these people were sent by Li Mao.

He waited in Langzhou for many days, but Nangong Jing did not show up, and the emperor did not make any arrangements.

Li Mao, who was eager to make a contribution, thought of a way himself. He sent his people to Yuzhou City to check the news. If they found any trace of Nangong Jing, they would immediately lead a large army to take his head in one fell swoop.

In this way, Li Mao could go directly back to the capital to report, but he never expected that these people of his would be discovered by Emperor An's secret guards.

Now Li Mao still didn't know that the emperor had sent An Wei to Yuzhou City, and he was still waiting for news in Langzhou.

On the other side, two of the secret guards assigned to Lin Jiuxi by Nangong Jing had been lying in ambush in Yuzhou City. They had been doing fine these past few days, but they discovered some people behaving suspiciously. They had been asking the people in the city about the news of Prince Duan and the army. They did not rush to take action, but followed them slowly from behind, hoping to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Lin Jiuxi was also told this news, and he also agreed with their approach. However, he did not expect that another group of secret guards appeared in Yuzhou City. Their clothes and dressing were different from those people. The two secret guards were also experienced and could tell something was wrong. At nightfall, one of them rushed back to Baihuzhou overnight and reported the whereabouts of this group of people clearly.

"Princess, we don't know who this person is yet, and we dare not act blindly. Please decide whether to write a letter to inform the prince?"

Lin Jiuxi shook his head slowly and said, "Now there are two people trying to find out where the prince and the army are. That means besides the emperor, there are others looking for the prince. Who do you think it is?"

The two looked at each other, thought for a while and then said, "General Li Mao!"

Lin Jiuxi looked at the two men with appreciation and said, "Yes, it's someone from Li Mao's side. He must have been unable to wait for the prince to lead the army over in Langzhou, so he sent someone to get information."

"Then Princess, what should we do now?"

The two of them couldn't make up their minds for a moment and didn't know what to do.

Lin Jiuxi had a plan in mind and said, "Since they are all here, what are we afraid of? The prince will be fine. We just need to hold them here and buy time."

The two of them didn't know that Lin Jiuxi had sent Ah Wu to the temple outside the city to check the secret room. They didn't hold much hope, but they never expected that Ah Wu would find the secret room when he went to the temple. However, it was different from what was said in the book! The secret room was not in the temple, but in a mountain behind the temple. Ah Wu discovered it by accident. The secret room was very secret.

It took Ah Wu a lot of effort.

The secret passage can lead to Yuzhou City or Baihuzhou, but the specific entrances to Yuzhou City and Baihuzhou are still unclear. Lin Jiuxi is also curious, but she cannot leave Baihuzhou, so she asks Awu to take two more people with her to find out the secrets here.

Now it seems that this cave will come in handy!

Lin Jiuxi thought for a moment, tapping his fingers on the table in a powerful rhythm, and said, "Starting tomorrow, the gates of Yuzhou City and Baihuzhou will be closed, and no one is allowed to leave or come in again. If anyone insists on leaving, let the soldiers guarding the gate investigate those who want to go in and out. Do you understand? "Yes, Princess, I will go down and arrange it right away."