The day after Prince Zhenbei met with Yu Zicheng, he announced Yu Zicheng's identity as the crown prince.
As for Yu Zizhen, who did not return to the northern border with Mr. Jiang, the King of Zhenbei planned that if Yu Zizhen returned safely, he would restore her true identity as the princess of the royal palace and let her live a life of luxury.
On the other hand, if Yu Zizhen didn't want to come back, or was in danger and couldn't come back, then he wouldn't worry too much about her. He could just pretend that he never had a daughter like Yu Zizhen.
The news of the replacement of the Crown Prince of Zhenbei Palace quickly spread among well-informed people. Fang Huaiying, who had heard Yu Zizhen mention that he was not liked by his parents, was not surprised but angry. He was very wary of Yu Zizhen. Chen Hushan, who thought that Yu Zizhen would be his biggest rival, was shocked and confused.
He didn't understand how outstanding the newly promoted prince Yu Zicheng was that the Zhenbei Prince would hurt Yu Zizhen so much not long after Yu Zizhen escaped from the capital.
You have to know that those who came to Beijing as hostages did not live a life of luxury. They made great contributions to the forces and families they belonged to. The King of Zhenbei was demolishing the bridge at this critical juncture. The bridge belonged to his own son. Isn't he afraid that those who followed him would secretly judge him as cold-hearted?
Chen Hushan was just wondering when the latest news was passed to him by his trusted servant.
Only then did Chen Hushan realize that the Prince of Zhenbei had publicly held a funeral for Yu Zizhen the day after announcing the candidate for the new crown prince, and announced the death of his "eldest son" to the public.
The King of Zhenbei's explanation for first appointing his second son as the new crown prince and then announcing the death of his eldest son was that he had to stabilize the people's hearts in the north and the morale of the Zhenbei Army.
After waving away the servant who brought the message, Chen Hushan leaned back and stared at the beams with unfocused eyes.
He did not believe the official statement of the Zhenbei Palace, and did not believe that Yu Zizhen died at the hands of the Lu family. The Yu Zizhen he knew would never be so useless that he couldn't even run back to the northern border safely.
If Yu Zizhen was really dead, then Chen Hushan felt that Yu Zizhen must not have died at the hands of foreign enemies.
"Family, parents, brothers, huh..." Chen Hushan had a complicated expression. "If you really die, then I wish you... that in your next life you won't have to deal with such cold-blooded parents."
Yu Zizhen, who was dead and the subject of heated discussion, sneezed several times for unknown reasons. She rubbed her nose with tears in her eyes, completely confused as to what was going on.
She had just passed the capital and had not had time to meet up with her subordinates who were stationed in the eastern region. At this time, the only people with her were still her personal guards including Yuheng and Yaoguang.
Hearing Yu Zizhen sneeze, Yaoguang immediately offered him a bamboo tube filled with warm water and a small porcelain bottle filled with a large medicine pill. "Prince, have you caught a cold? I have some medicine here. Take one."
Yu Zizhen waved her hand and said, "No, that's not the reason." She was very sure that her sneezing was not caused by her body at all.
After much thought, Yu Zizhen felt uneasy. She looked at the map and said, "Once we get to Feng County, let's go into the city to find out the latest news."
Everyone agreed.
Feng County is a small county located in the northeast of the capital. The local officials are extremely corrupt and are always thinking of ways to squeeze the people's wealth under various pretexts. The petty officials and yamen runners who were replaced by him one after another are all like him. The county magistrate eats meat and they drink soup, so that the people of Feng County can hardly make a living.
In order to survive, the people of Feng County either moved to other places with their families, or abandoned their homes and businesses and went into the deep mountains and forests to start a new life, so there are not many permanent residents here.
After Yu Zizhen and his companions entered the city, they discovered that the only inn in the city that was operating normally was the inn with a very shabby storefront and the waiters and the owner all sitting idle in the shop, staring blankly.
After running through two relatively busy streets and confirming again and again that this was indeed the only remaining inn in Feng County, Yu Heng couldn't help but persuade Yu Zizhen, "Master, why don't we go find out more about this? I have a feeling something is not right in Feng County."
Yu Zizhen sighed, "That's right, isn't it?"
No normal county town would be so deserted and dilapidated. Not only are nine out of ten houses empty, but there are only a few shops open. Most importantly, the people living here are so lifeless.
Not to mention the pedestrians they occasionally met who were so thin that they were just a bag of bones, just look at the shop owners and clerks in each shop. Which normal shop owner and clerk would not welcome customers from all directions with a smile?
Looking at these people in Fengxian, it’s almost as if the words “life is hopeless” are written on their faces.
Yu Zizhen was now very glad that they did not bring horses into the city, "Let's go, let's leave the city."
Yuheng and others responded "yes" and turned around, preparing to return to the outside of the city and meet up with their companions who were responsible for watching the horses and picking them up.
However, before they could walk out of the dilapidated street, a team of yamen runners surrounded them and blocked them.
Yuheng and others subconsciously protected Yu Zizhen in the middle. Yu Zizhen, who was already in a bad mood, frowned and tried hard to control his murderous aura.
She was in a hurry and didn't want to cause trouble, otherwise she would have sent people to gather information and investigate what was going on in Feng County.
"Where are you from? What are you doing?" The leading yamen runner walked up to Yu Zizhen in a nonchalant manner, his triangular eyes scanning back and forth. Yu Zizhen knew at a glance that he was evaluating the identities and backgrounds of his group of people and the amount of property they had.
"Greetings, sir." One of Yu Zizhen's guards smiled and bowed to the yamen runner. "We came from Chao County and went into the city to buy some dry food."
The yamen runner hummed in disbelief, "Where's the pass? Show it to me."
The guard had anticipated this and immediately took out one of the spare travel passes for their group.
However, the yamen runner did not look at their passes carefully. After taking the passes, he just casually glanced at the contents of the top pass, and then blatantly handed the passes to one of his subordinates.
The yamen runner who had received the travel permit understood and said to Yu Zizhen and the others in a high-handed voice, "There's something wrong with your travel permit. We now suspect you're spies sent by the enemy country. If you don't want to go to jail, hand over all your luggage so we can examine it carefully and clear your suspicion."
If we ignore the greedy looks they gave the bags carried by Yu Zizhen and his group, and their excited expressions of determination to win, their words could be considered reasonable. But it was because they were so used to acting recklessly that they were too lazy to even act properly.
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