Chapter 334: Next Plans]
Qin Mengyue always thought that she and Emperor Yucheng were a married couple, and that Emperor Yucheng always respected and loved her. But it turned out that it was all because her father, brother and Shuo'er had shielded her from all the hardships.
As a mother, she has completely neglected her duty!
In fact, I'm afraid that Emperor Yucheng wanted to marry her in order to ascend the throne with the support of the Qin family!
"I... understand! I'm so stupid that I only understand all this now! Xiao Qian, you hypocrite!" Qin Mengyue said angrily with tears on her face.
Xiao Qian is the name of Emperor Yucheng.
Chen Fenghe counseled Qin Mengyue for a few more words before finally persuading her to drink the medicine and lie down to rest.
She came out of the room holding the bowl, only to see Xiao Yunshuo waiting silently at the door.
Chen Fenghe was startled, then laughed and said, "Your Highness, why are you standing outside the door? Why don't you go in?"
Xiao Yunshuo glanced inside the room and chuckled softly, "Has Mother taken her medicine? She'll definitely feel even more guilty and sad when she sees me. It's better not to go in."
After hearing this, Chen Fenghe knew that Xiao Yunshuo might have heard what was just said in the room.
She glanced at him, and a soft spot in her heart couldn't help but ache again.
She knew it was a painful feeling.
I feel sorry for him, knowing full well that his biological father disliked him, yet he pretended not to know. For many years, he walked alone on thin ice, being the "target of public criticism" of the crown prince, risking his life to make great military achievements, to protect his mother and younger brother...
"Are you hungry? I'm making ginseng and pheasant soup in the kitchen. I'll give you a bowl."
Hearing this, Xiao Yunshuo subconsciously touched his stomach, then smiled and said, "I'm indeed hungry. Good."
Chen Fenghe went to the kitchen to get some chicken soup. Xiao Yunshuo picked up the spoon and took a sip of the soup without any precautions.
"Hey! Why did you drink it directly? Aren't you afraid that I would poison you?" Chen Fenghe said half-jokingly.
After so many years in the palace, many people must have tried to poison him, right?
If Xiao Yunshuo had not been careful, he would not have survived until today.
Xiao Yunshuo smiled and said, "You are my Crown Princess. Even if I doubt everyone in the world, I still believe you."
Chen Fenghe felt a little guilty for a moment.
If he knew that she still wanted to divorce him, I wonder if he would kill her.
"How have you discussed this with Luo Yan and the others? Now that your true identity has been exposed to them, what are your plans? Are you going to gather your old subordinates... and head south back to the capital?"
Shen Fenghe asked cautiously.
Now, these firearms and gunpowder left by Qu Wenmin - she deliberately did not teleport into the warehouse in advance and store them in the space, also in order to leave them for Xiao Yunshuo, as well as the troops of General Chen, General Li, General Zhao, Luo Yan and other old subordinates, if they really want to go to war with Emperor Yucheng, they will probably be able to reach a level of equal strength.
Xiao Yunshuo took a sip of chicken soup, looked up at her, and then smiled, "I'm not Qu Wenmin. If I lead troops south to force the palace, wouldn't that confirm my crime of treason?"
Hearing him say this, Shen Fenghe couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
She originally thought that if he planned to follow Qu Wenmin's example and lead his troops to force the emperor to abdicate, then it would be almost time for her to part ways with him.
"So what are you going to do...?"
"Until I am cleared of the charge of treason, I have decided to remain hidden for the time being and wait and see. Generals Chen, Li, and Zhao are all reliable men. Their coming to keep Qu Wenmin's appointment was originally a secret trip. As for the others present at the time, they were all told not to leak the news, otherwise they would be punished like the traitors. They are not stupid enough to risk their lives by telling others. After I have rested, I will continue to travel with the exile group to Youzhou City as Master Yun."
Chen Fenghe: “…”
But if you think about it, Xiao Yunshuo's decision is indeed the best option at the moment.
As long as the charge of treason against him is not redressed, if he rashly announces that he is still alive and then leads his troops south, it will only confirm his treason. People in the world will not care whether he was forced to take up arms to save himself.
Xiao Yunshuo stood up, walked in front of her, and said with a smile: "Why do you look unhappy?"
Chen Fenghe quickly shook her head and said with a smile, "How could that be? If you can stay with mother and us, we won't be afraid of being bullied by others in the future, right?"
She had originally planned that if he led an army south, it would naturally be impossible for him to take her, Qin Mengyue, Xiao Yunhao and other women and children with him. After helping Qin Mengyue and Xiao Yunhao settle down, she would think of a way to make it look like she had died accidentally, secretly take Shen Yichuan and Shen Qingxing away without saying goodbye, and then live her life in anonymity.
As for the divorce, it would be best to talk to him face to face, make things clear, and then part ways with each other.
But Xiao Yunshuo, a prince, might not tolerate a woman like her being so presumptuous, so faking her own death and leaving was the safest way.
If Xiao Yunshuo also wanted to go to Youzhou, then his plan would be difficult to implement. After all, Qin Mengyue was somewhat easier to deceive, but if it was Xiao Yunshuo, the possibility of being exposed would increase significantly.
However, now we can only take it one step at a time...
Everyone rested in the valley for a few hours. Most of Qu Wenmin's men were willing to follow the prince - after all, if they followed Qu Wenmin south to "clear the court", even if they succeeded, they would only be rewarded with titles of king or marquis. Then following the prince would only be more legitimate.
They found a corpse of similar size to Qu Wenmin, mutilated its face, and brought it back to Dingzhou, saying that while patrolling in the mountains, they encountered Northern Rong soldiers and suffered heavy casualties. General Qu was unfortunately hit in the face by a firearm and died on the spot. They reported this to the court.
The others returned to their duties and waited for the prince's latest instructions.
Xiao Yunshuo gave the firearms, gunpowder, etc. in the warehouse to Luo Yan for safekeeping in a secret place. If they really had to go to war in the future, they would distribute them to the army.
General Chen, General Li, and General Zhao also returned to their respective prefectures and counties where they were stationed.
Xiao Yunshuo, Shen Fenghe, Qin Mengyue and others then returned to the cave together and reunited with Chen Wu and other exile teams.
Chen Wu was naturally overjoyed to see them return safely, and greeted them with a smile: "Miss Shen, Miss Qin, you are back safely! This is so great! Oh, and Yuan Xun also escaped safely from the Beirong bandits!"
Yuan Xun walked up from behind Chen Wu, glanced at Shen Fenghe, and then said, "Miss Shen, Miss Qin, I'm so glad you're all okay."
Yuan Xu couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw that Yuan Xun was fine. He had previously sent people to track Prince Zhao's whereabouts, but the news they sent back was that they had not seen the whereabouts of the captured Dayu people. He thought Yuan Xun was probably in danger.
Qin Mengyue couldn't help but feel happy when she saw Yuan Xun escape danger. She asked, "Master Yuan, it's great that you're able to escape danger. If anything happened to you, I would have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life."
Yuan Xun bowed and said, "Thank you, Madam Qin, for your concern. I was also extremely lucky. I don't know which hero Dayu happened to pass by and saw me being captured by the Northern Rong bandits. He risked his life to save me. Otherwise, I would have been killed by them long ago. However, I was too weak, so I had to obey my benefactor's advice and escape first. I was unable to follow him, and I don't know if he escaped safely..."
Chen Fenghe pretended not to know and said with a smile, "Since that hero let Master Yuan go first, he must be very skilled and have found a way to escape. Master Yuan doesn't need to blame himself too much."
Yuan Xun nodded and said, "That's the only way."
Chen Wu smiled and said, "What we've experienced in this mountain is truly the greatest crisis I've faced in my twenty years on this job. Now that everyone is safe and sound, it's a testament to the fact that those who survived this calamity will surely find happiness in the future. Let's all hurry out of the mountain and head for Youzhou."
After hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement and called everyone to set off.
Qian Qiuyun listened for a long time, and finally couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Where is my father-in-law Qin Jinzhong? Didn't he go with General Qu?"
She also fantasized that Qin Jinzhong could get close to General Qu and then send someone to rescue her and the rest of the Qin family. After all, although she was a daughter-in-law of little use, her grandson was the blood of the Qin family. Qin Jinzhong would definitely not refuse to save him, right?
Hearing this, Qin Mengyue sneered twice and said, "You are still thinking about Qin Jinzhong coming back to save you, right? It's a pity that he has been killed by Qu Wenmin. I advise you to give up this idea."
"What?!" Qian Qiuyun became dejected in an instant when he heard this.
This was her only hope. Now that even Qin Jinzhong was dead, only the women and children were left in the Qin family.
It’s so cold and bitter in the exile place, how can they survive?
However, Qian Qiuyun was mean, selfish and trouble-making along the way, so no one cared how broken she was. They just packed up their things and left.
After walking for more than a day, the exile team finally got out of the mountain safely. For a moment, they all felt a sense of surviving a disaster.
After leaving the mountain, they walked for another day before arriving at the gate of Youzhou City.
Chen Wu handed over the pass. The soldiers guarding the city looked at it, then glanced at the exile team before letting them pass.
Youzhou was a place of exile, so someone at the city gate took Chen Wu and his group to the yamen responsible for receiving and placing exiled prisoners.
Convicts sentenced to exile generally had several options for placement. Those convicted of serious crimes and sentenced to slavery to armored soldiers were the worst off. After being taken in by the government, they would be escorted to the border garrison and handed over to the garrison, where they would be assigned tasks like digging trenches, serving as human bait for the northern barbarians, or carrying food and fodder to the trenches ahead under heavy fire. In the rear, they would help feed horses and cook, and these were good jobs that could only be obtained by paying the garrison commander a small sum of money.
The middle class was forced labor, mainly working in the rear villages and towns, which were safer than the front lines, to open up wasteland or raise livestock. Ninety percent of the crops and livestock they raised had to be handed over to the garrison for food supplies. Although life was hard, at least their lives were not in danger.
Those with the lightest crimes were those who were sent to live in exile. The government would allocate a piece of wasteland for them to reclaim and settle down, and they would be subject to the same labor service and taxes as the local people.
In ancient times, remote and barren lands were vast and sparsely populated. To expand their territory, the imperial court relocated many soldiers and civilians from the Central Plains to the border areas, as recorded in historical books. Exiling criminals to replenish the population was also a common practice.
However, unlike ordinary people, the resettlement office would regularly send officials to check whether they showed any signs of fleeing back to their hometowns or engaging in other improper behavior.
In order to demonstrate his benevolence, Emperor Yu Cheng charged Qin Mengyue, Shen Fenghe and others with the lightest level of crime, which meant that they were exiled as civilians.
The official in charge of this matter in the yamen was named Qian. After receiving Chen Wu's pass and the list of prisoners, he made all the arrangements according to their different crimes.
When he came to Qin Mengyue and Shen Fenghe, because he received a secret order from the palace, he specially allocated the worst piece of land in the west of Youzhou City to them.
Chen Wu and Yuan Xun had been escorting prisoners to Youzhou for years, so they had some familiarity with the situation in Youzhou and its subordinate prefectures and counties. They couldn't help but ask, "Master Qian, I remember that piece of land west of the city had signs of desertification a few years ago. Even if it wasn't desertified, everything you planted died. Furthermore, there were often bandits from the Northern Rong who plundered that area from time to time. Three years ago, three villages in that area were even massacred by Northern Rong soldiers! Therefore, it hasn't been assigned to any exiled prisoners in the past two years. Why is it being assigned to Madam Qin's family now? Is there... a mistake?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Qian's face darkened. He glanced at Chen Wu coldly and said, "No doubt about it. It's this piece of land. If you're not convinced and want to fight for them, you can file a complaint with the Emperor when you return to Beijing. If His Majesty gives his approval, it won't be too late for me to relocate them!"
"You!" Chen Wu was so angry that he still wanted to argue.
Chen Fenghe stopped him and said, "Master Chen, thank you for your righteous words. But it doesn't matter. The land west of the city is good, and we don't have much to eat, so we can always survive."
After hearing this, Chen Wu also thought that if he acted like a hero by speaking up for the injustice, when they returned to Beijing, Miss Shen and the others would probably be troubled by the local tyrant, Mr. Qian, so he had to swallow his anger and give up.
After the fields were divided, officials from the yamen took the exiled prisoners to the places where the fields were allocated.
Chen Fenghe was speechless as she looked at the thatched house with loess walls that had been abandoned for at least three years and was about to collapse.
She knew the situation would be bad, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.
Qin Mengyue looked at the house and hesitated for a moment before asking the official who brought them here, "Official, is this... habitable?"
The officer sneered, "Why can't we live here? Just be happy you have a roof and walls to shelter you from the wind and rain. Those prisoners sent to grow crops and raise livestock for the garrison don't even have homes; they have to build their own. In this cold winter, who knows how many of them will freeze to death! Okay, this ten acres of land is yours. Once you confirm and sign, we should go back. It's freezing cold out here! I'm afraid it's going to snow again!"
Qin Mengyue and Shen Fenghe didn't say anything more - it was useless to say anything. They signed the document and took the land deed.
The two officers left.
Shen Fenghe went in and looked around.
This village was probably one of the ones Chen Wu had mentioned being massacred by the Northern Rong bandits. Originally, there were about twenty households, but now all the houses were abandoned. Only four or five refugees, who had fled famine from who knows where, were brave enough to settle down. The government, naturally, was pleased, registering them, allocating them land, and allowing them to settle down.
Apart from them, there were only a few families of Chen Fenghe and other exiled prisoners who were placed in this village.
The house assigned to Chen Fenghe and her friends was still in the west of the village, quite a distance away from the other abandoned houses, standing alone at the foot of the mountain. As dusk deepened, from afar, the entire village couldn't even see a single oil lamp. From time to time, the shrill cries of night owls could be heard from the mountains. It was as desolate as it could be.
Shen Qingxing and Xiao Yunhao snuggled up to Chen Fenghe and Qin Mengyue, and said timidly: "Sister (mother), I'm afraid..."
Qin Mengyue also got goosebumps and forced a smile, "Don't be afraid, Hao'er, your mother and sister-in-law are here."
As he spoke, he looked at Chen Fenghe worriedly: "Fenghe, this place... why does it feel like there are gusts of cold wind..."
Chen Fenghe thought, if this village had truly been massacred, the chilling winds were understandable. Luckily, she didn't believe in ghosts or gods, so she smiled and said, "Mother, it's okay. Palace... Young Master Yun and the others will probably sneak over tonight to join us. It's a good thing this place is quite far from the other houses in the village."
After hearing this, Qin Mengyue felt a little more at ease: "That's true. If someone ran into Master Yun and the others, it would be bad."
Chen Fenghe first took out a tinder from his bosom, found some stored firewood in the collapsed woodshed in the yard of the abandoned house, started a fire in the main room, and then took a torch to inspect the house inside and out.
Because it was some distance from the village, the house was not cramped. It had three main rooms, facing south, two east and two west wing rooms, a kitchen, and a woodshed for storing miscellaneous items and firewood, all enclosed by a fence.
However, the back walls of the east and west wing rooms had collapsed with a large hole due to age, and even the roofs of the kitchen and woodshed had collapsed, leaving only the appearance of "ruins".
There are three main rooms. I guess good materials were used when they were built. Only the thatch on the roof was blown away by the wind and there are some leaks. The walls are still quite strong.
After Chen Fenghe finished her inspection, she took a walk outside the yard. Outside the fence, there was a large sheep pen, a horse pen, and a small vegetable patch. Of course, it was now in a state of abandonment.
There is a small path leading into the mountains behind the main house, which is about two miles away.
After looking around, Chen Fenghe took advantage of the fact that no one was around and secretly took out a wild rabbit from the space.
After entering the door, he smiled and said, "Mom, I'm so lucky. I went out for a walk and actually ran into a wild rabbit in the back room. We are in for a treat tonight."
Qin Mengyue and the other little ones were very happy after seeing this, as it helped to dispel some of their fear of this horrible environment.
"What a coincidence! Let's roast the rabbit first to fill our stomachs. In order to avoid being seen, Master Yun and his men will probably come late at night."
Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "That's right."
Immediately, all the big and small joined in, and they cleaned up the fat and juicy rabbit, skewered it with branches, and roasted it over the fire.
During this time, they cleaned the two rooms on the left and right of the three main rooms and spread some straw on the kang.
They were afraid that the mule carts, beddings, and mules they bought on their way to exile would be confiscated by the government office once they entered the city. Therefore, they gave them to Xiao Yunshuo and Yuan Xu, who brought them into the city and then secretly sent them over.
Soon, the aroma of barbecue filled the main room. Chen Fenghe shared the rabbit meat with everyone and they all had a delicious meal.
The three little guys ate until their hands and mouths were covered in grease. Chen Fenghe couldn't help laughing when she saw this. She found a basket woven from willow branches in the house and an iron pickaxe for hoeing the ground from the space. She said, "I'll go to the river to get some ice. I'll melt it when I come back so everyone can wash up."
After hearing this, Shen Yichuan immediately stood up sensibly and said, "Sister, I'll help you."
When Shen Qingxing and Xiao Yunhao heard this, they also clamored to go. Shen Fenghe smiled and said, "It's dark outside and it's easy to fall. Just let Yichuan accompany me."
After that, he took Shen Yichuan out.
Shen Yichuan was also very clever. Seeing that no one else was around, he quietly asked, "Sister, does that Brother Yun... like you, Sister?"
The wind was cold, but Chen Fenghe suddenly felt her face getting hot. She coughed and said, "You're just a kid. Who told you this?"
Shen Yichuan said unconvincedly: "I'm not a child anymore! I can see it all! If that Brother Yun didn't like me, why did he let us ride in the carriage along the way? And you even gave him delicious food... Actually, apart from his scary appearance, Brother Yun is a very good person. As for appearance, it's okay as long as you like him. Sister, you have a bad fate. Not long after you got married, your husband died. How pitiful. If you marry Brother Yun again, Qingxing and I will not object!"
Chen Fenghe: “…”
She coughed twice more and asked, "Yichuan, tell me honestly, where did you hear all this?"
"It was me..." Shen Yichuan wanted to say that he saw it himself, but when the words came to his lips, he whispered honestly: "I heard it when Aunt Zhou and Sister Feng'er were talking about it..."
Aunt Zhang and Sister Feng'er are the wives of Zhang Zhou and Zhang Yuan.
"Auntie Zhou said that women have to rely on men for their entire lives. Sister, you're a girl, and you're widowed at such a young age. No matter how capable you are, it won't work. You'd better find a good man and remarry..."
Chen Fenghe raised her hand and tapped him on the head: "What nonsense have you heard, you little brat? Don't talk nonsense outside anymore, do you hear me?"
Shen Yichuan touched his hit head with his little hand, his little face wrinkled, and said, “Oh!”
The two soon reached the river. The rivers in the north were covered with thick ice, some of which were even frozen to the bottom of the river.
Shen Fenghe knocked on the ice with an iron pickaxe and estimated the thickness of the ice based on the echo.
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