"What preparations?" Shen Yu was no longer calm.
"Be prepared to have your property confiscated and be demoted to a commoner."
This was the first time Wan Xueying had explicitly shared the predictions that had flashed through her mind. While she knew it would be difficult to change the outcome—after all, thunder and rain were all grace from the emperor, and confiscating property and demoting to commoner status was a simple matter of the emperor's word—if she had made preparations ahead of time, the Duke's Mansion could have retained more of its wealth. This was the thought that had reached her mind when Meng had just come to visit Shen Yu in prison.
Shen Yu frowned slightly, "How did you know?" he asked.
"This..." Wan Xueying thought for a moment, "It's not hard to guess. Think about it, the reason the emperor didn't touch, or couldn't touch, the Duke of Ping's Mansion in the past was because the Duke of Ping had a golden seal and an iron certificate. Now that the Duke of Ping's Mansion no longer has a life-saving talisman, aren't you at the mercy of others? Unless you can guarantee that the Duke of Ping's Mansion has not committed any crimes over the years."
Not only did he do it, but as far as he knew, he had done a lot more. Shen Yu fell into deep thought.
Wan Xueying was just giving him a direction to think about. As for whether he believed it or not, that was his business.
Before leaving, she saw the basket in Aunt Chen's hand and thought that Shen Yu had so much food that he wouldn't need these buns. So she asked Shunzi, who was left behind by Shen Yu, to distribute these buns to the children imprisoned in several nearby cells, as a good deed.
Shen Yu secretly told Shunzi some things. That afternoon, Shunzi gave Wan Xueying almost all of Shen Yu's belongings, the three of them, and the deeds of the servants who managed the house where Wan Xueying currently lived.
Considering Shen Yu's fondness for the house, she asked Shunzi to transfer the property to her temporarily without selling it, and to sell everything else that could be converted into cash. Even though she had some money on hand, if she really spent it, she probably wouldn't have much left.
As for how much the Duke of Ping's Mansion would give Shen Yu? The more, the better, of course. But she needed money in her hands to keep herself from panicking. Haha, maybe it was a little petty, but how could she survive without considering so many people and such a long journey?
Because of the haste, even though Shunzi found a familiar brokerage, Shen Yu's belongings, including several famous paintings and calligraphy, were sold at a very low price, totaling less than two thousand taels. It seemed that he, a young master, was really poor!
Wan Xueying handed Shunzi a five-hundred-liang silver note and asked him to go to the Beijing government office to arrange for the smooth registration of his, Nanying, Beiwu, and others under her name. She left the rest for Shunzi and the others to use for shopping, and as an experienced person, she offered a lot of practical advice.
As for the travel permit? We have to wait until Shen Yu decides on the place of exile before we can apply for it.
The three of them were no longer considered members of the Duke's Mansion. After finishing the relevant matters, Shunzi brought Nanying and Beiwu to Wan Xueying that night to recognize their temporary master.
As Shen Yu's guards, Nan Ying and Bei Wu were no strangers to Wan Xueying and were very respectful. However, since they weren't her own men, they weren't comfortable using them. Wan Xueying told them to follow Shunzi's instructions and focus on finding out about Shen Yu for the next two days. She also had her own guards reserve a room for the three of them to stay in.
Shunzi never mentioned whether Duke Ping believed Wan Xueying's previous suggestion to make some preparations in advance. Wan Xueying acted as if she had never mentioned those things and did not ask.
Early the next morning, Nan Ying asked Bei Wu to bring back the news that Shen Yu and others had been sentenced.
"Where will your second young master be exiled?" Seeing Bei Wu standing anxiously in front of her, Wan Xueying asked.
Uh…Because she was too sure, Bei Wu, who had originally planned to start from the beginning, opened his mouth and said after a long while: "Beijiang."
Northern Xinjiang? Actually, there wasn't much of a surprise. This was because there were only two places of exile in this dynasty: Northern Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang.
Southern Xinjiang is adjacent to Lingnan Kingdom. Regardless of whether they were framed or not, both the Third Prince's faction and the Dingyang Earl's Mansion were convicted this time because they were involved in the Lingnan Kingdom case. It would be unreasonable to send them there.
The most important point is that the father and brother of Ye Chengyun, the third prince's other study companion, had previously been in charge of the Pingnan Camp. Even if they had surrendered their military power, their influence would not be eliminated in a short period of time. Exiling them to the southern border would be like letting a tiger return to the mountain.
"Where's the Northern Frontier?" Even though her place of exile was the Northern Frontier, where her adoptive parents lived, it was vast, two or three times larger than a smaller county. It was just mostly barren mountains and wilderness.
"Ningyang County." Bei Wu replied.
"I know it's a remote place in the far north of the Northern Frontier." It's very far from Ningjiang County, the southernmost part of the Northern Frontier where her adoptive parents lived. "When will he be exiled?" Wan Xueying asked.
"Tomorrow at noon."
Noon? Ha, why would they be beheaded at Caishikou for an hour with the condemned? That seems a bit unlucky! Her inner thoughts were a bit more dramatic, but she remained calm on the surface. "Okay, I understand."
Noon is actually not bad. It gives Shunzi and the others some time to apply for travel permits and prepare some more things they will need for the journey.
Since the exile team and she had been traveling together for a long time, in order to take care of each other with Shunzi and the others, she didn't mind setting off with the exile team and following behind them, and she could also take care of Shen Yu on the way.
Furthermore, with the escort of officials, the bandits on the road would have to consider their own strength if they wanted to rob these passers-by.
Although she knew that this would play into Shen Yu's hands, after Shen Yu helped her many times, she decided to help him.
"Where is the third prince? Is he guarding the mausoleum of the emperor's ancestors?" If the princes of this dynasty committed a crime that was not punishable by death, they would usually be sent to guard the mausoleum of the emperor's ancestors.
"Yes." Bei Wu felt that the speech he had prepared in advance was a bit redundant. This young lady knew a lot, which was very different from the rumors that she came from the countryside and had never seen the world.
"When do you leave?"
"Also tomorrow at noon."
Wan Xueying frowned slightly. "That means it's a bit of a side trip." The mausoleum of our dynasty's ancestors is located on Long'an Mountain in Anyang County, the birthplace of the Great Yan Dynasty. It's also located in the north, but it's quite far from the northern border. If you start from the capital, you'll save more than half the distance.
The two separated at the fork in the road at Fengyangling, which means that before that, the two escort teams were in the same place.
The reason she frowned was that traveling with the Third Prince would greatly increase the danger of the trip.
Cutting the grass without removing the root would only leave the greatest hidden danger for oneself. Furthermore, if the Third Prince wasn't eliminated along the way, it would be even harder to eliminate him once he reached the Imperial Ancestral Mausoleum. The Mausoleum was guarded by 10,000 soldiers. Eliminating him from their hands, regardless of success or failure, would be considered treason if discovered.
Crown Prince Ning Tai would have to be a fool to send someone to the Imperial Ancestral Mausoleum to commit the crime. Of course, he could have used other methods, such as poisoning, but that would depend on whether he could find the perpetrators.
Of course, these are not what Wan Xueying should worry about. She just feels that the journey will be particularly uneasy because of the third prince.
Bei Wu, or more precisely Shen Yu, guessed her thoughts and said, "Don't worry, Miss Wan. The second young master ordered us to protect you as we protect him." Afraid that Wan Xueying would mind the affairs of the Earl's Mansion, Shen Yu ordered his men to call her Miss Wan directly in the future.
"Forget it," Wan Xueying waved her hand. "Even if you three protect Shen Yu, it might not be enough. I have more than ten people here, so we should be able to protect ourselves."
"I'm not trying to dissuade Miss Wan, but your guards are unstable and weak, and I really can't tell how much real skill they have."
Wan Xueying rolled her eyes at him and said, "What truth are you talking about?"
How could she, a martial artist of considerable skill, not see that? These past few days, she hadn't brought too many guards along with her on every shopping trip, so they could practice combined attack and defense. Besides building rapport, it was also crucial for them to learn trust and be able to trust their teammates.
If they couldn't even do this, let alone protect her, Aunt Chen, and Madam Wu, they themselves would be in trouble if they encountered bandits, not to mention that they didn't know what dangers they would encounter along the way.
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