The Holy King's Palace.
Bai Shi had just received the letter sent back by Xuan Yuanzhan's secret guards and immediately summoned Su Xuening and Pei Luo.
"What did the Prince say?" Su Xuening asked anxiously as soon as she entered the room, without even having time to greet her mother.
During the conversation, Pei Luo, You Yi, Dao Yi, and Su Yun'an all arrived.
"The Northern Rong suddenly invaded the northern border, and Zhan'er was tied down and unable to return for the time being." As she answered, Madam Bai handed the letter in her hand to Su Xuening.
Su Xuening quickly took the letter and started reading it, and Pei Luo and the others also came over to look.
After reading it, the expressions on their faces all turned serious.
"Why would the Northern Rong suddenly invade the northern lands out of the blue?" Although Youyi didn't know much about the affairs of the Eastern Chu Kingdom, the Northern Rong's surprise attack at this critical moment seemed very strange!
Su Xuening also frowned: "Could the sudden invasion by the Northern Rong be related to Xuan Yuan Yu and Xuan Yuan Zhi?"
After all, the only ones who can prevent Xuan Yuanzhan from returning to the capital right now are Xuan Yuanyu and Xuan Yuanzhi.
Their plan was indeed very successful; Xuan Yuanzhan was truly tied down and unable to return to the capital.
Upon hearing this, Bai narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Then they are colluding with the Northern Rong and committing treason!"
If the Emperor were still lucid, anyone who colluded with the Northern Rong would be sentenced to death!
Even if the emperor spared their lives out of consideration for their bloodline, he would surely demote them to commoners!
Su Xuening looked solemnly at the guard: "Is the Prince doing well in the North?"
Upon hearing this, Bai Shi and Pei Luo also looked at the guards.
The guard immediately bowed: "Your Highness is doing well. As soon as you arrived in the North, you wiped out all the bandits and then recruited them. Before the Northern Rong invaded, Your Highness watched them dig canals every day, as if the drought in the North was about to be resolved. Everything was proceeding smoothly until the Northern Rong suddenly launched their attack. However, the North has the Zhenbei Army, the 100,000 reserve troops Your Highness brought, and the 40,000 bandit troops recruited. Resisting the Northern Rong should be no problem. Your Highness is just worried about the Dowager Consort and the Princess Consort, especially since the Princess Consort is about to give birth..."
They followed the prince every day, so they naturally understood his thoughts.
The prince wanted to return to be with the princess during childbirth, so he was very proactive in dealing with matters in the north, hoping to quickly provide disaster relief and suppress bandits to alleviate the drought and return to be with the princess as soon as possible.
But who would have thought that the Northern Rong would suddenly launch an attack again? Even if the prince wanted to return to the capital, he could not leave the North unattended, especially since so many people and soldiers in the North were counting on him!
Hearing that Xuan Yuanzhan was safe and sound, the group was relieved.
Su Xuening looked at Bai Shi: "Now that the Emperor is under control and the Prince is unable to return to the capital, I think their next step should be to deal with us. We should make plans as soon as possible."
Bai nodded silently. She also felt that they could no longer sit idly by in the Holy King's Mansion. Ning'er was right. Xuan Yuan Yu and Xuan Yuan Zhi might start dealing with them next.
They want to deal with Zhan'er, and using them to threaten Zhan'er is the most effective means.
She's fine, she's an old woman, but Ning'er is pregnant now and can't take any more stress.
After pondering for a moment, Madam Bai made a decisive decision and immediately turned to instruct Granny Shang: "Quickly pack some valuables, the sooner the better, and pack only the valuable and lightweight items."
"Yes." Granny Shang immediately responded and quickly led the people to tidy up.
Su Xuening immediately instructed Bihe and Lülian: "You two should also hurry back to Linshui Pavilion to pack your valuables."
"Yes." The two replied and immediately returned to Linshui Pavilion.
Upon arriving at Linshui Pavilion, Bihe did not forget to warn Lülian: "Now that Miss is in trouble, if you betray her at this time, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Green Lotus knew that she was worried that Green Lotus would betray her mistress again at such a crucial moment because of what she had done before.
Green Lotus smiled bitterly: "Don't worry, even if I die this time, I will never betray Miss."
Her entire family's indentures are in the young lady's hands; she would never dare to betray the young lady, even if she betrayed anyone else in the world.
Moreover, she had witnessed the young lady's methods firsthand. The young lady had already given her a chance last time. If she were to foolishly betray the young lady again this time, she would surely die. How could she dare to do that!
"Hurry up and pack up." Seeing that she was sincere, Bihe didn't want to hold a grudge against her for what happened before, and immediately started packing up with her.
Ningxiang Garden.
Bai looked at Su Xuening and Pei Luo and said, "The capital is not safe now. Let's leave the capital together after nightfall and go to the bamboo forest to take shelter."
Pei Luo nodded: "Alright, there's a formation in the bamboo forest. Even if they knew about the bamboo forest, no one could break the formation."
Su Xuening still felt that Kyoto was not safe, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "We'd better find a safe place to take refuge temporarily. The bamboo forest is still too close to Kyoto."
Even if they can't break the formation, they will definitely find a way to get into the bamboo forest.
Moreover, the bamboo forest was her master's secret base, and she didn't want to implicate him.
You Yi thought for a moment and said, "No matter what, let's leave the capital tonight. As for where to hide, we can go back to the bamboo forest and discuss it later."
"Alright," Su Xuening nodded in agreement.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened!" Just as the group was exchanging a few words, Di Su rushed over and said, "A large number of Imperial Guards have stormed into our Holy Prince's residence, claiming that our Prince is using the pretext of pacifying bandits to amass a private army and plot a rebellion!"
"What?" Upon hearing this, Bai Shi and Su Xuening jumped up from their chairs.
The guard also said anxiously, "When did Your Highness start building up a private army? Your Highness has already submitted a memorial requesting the pacification of bandits!"
Su Xuening's face was ashen: "The memorial submitted by the Prince must have been ruined by Xuan Yuan Yu and Xuan Yuan Zhi."
They had long wanted to use this fabricated charge against Xuanyuan Zhan, her, and her mother.
Di Su said urgently, "Now that the Third Prince has issued an edict, the Imperial Guards will be coming to arrest the Dowager Consort and the Princess Consort immediately."
Pei Luo and the others all had solemn expressions.
They had originally planned to run away tonight, but they were even faster. If they had known this would happen, they should have run away last night.
Perhaps I shouldn't have come back to Kyoto in the first place!
Youyi frowned and said, "Should we run now?"
He then looked at Pei Luo and Dao Yi and asked, "Shall we each take one?"
The three of them, along with Su Xuening, Su Yun'an, and the Empress Dowager, shouldn't have too much trouble escaping.
Before Pei Luo and the others could answer, Green Lotus and Green Lotus came running over, each carrying a large bundle: "Your Highness, a lot of Imperial Guards are coming this way."
"It's too late!" After a moment of panic upon hearing Di Su's words "plotting a rebellion against the court," Bai Shi had now completely calmed down.
Madam Bai glanced back at Granny Shang, who had already packed her valuables, and said, "Here's what we'll do: all of you hide well. They want to capture me and Ning'er. Protect yourselves and find another opportunity to rescue us!"
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