Suddenly, the voices of soldiers came from behind.
Tao Zhi's back stiffened, and she instinctively closed the door behind her.
A commotion instantly broke out outside. Several feet away, the footsteps of soldiers, mixed with the sounds of clashing swords, grew closer and closer.
Chu Changning turned around, her heart pounding. She glanced casually around the pavilion, then steeled herself and pulled Taozhi and Xiao Yan toward the couch.
"Quick, put on a show."
She and Xiao Yan were walking ahead, and the soldiers probably only saw Tao Zhi, who was rushing behind. She was pregnant, making her an obvious target and easily arousing suspicion, so she had to hide.
Xiao Yan understood her meaning, stuffed the unexplained peach branch into the quilt, and handed her the human skin mask he had been carrying.
"Wear it, just in case."
Chu Changning looked at Taozhi, whose face had turned red with embarrassment, and silently muttered "what a sin" in his heart. He put on the human skin mask in front of the bronze mirror, glanced around again, and then went into the cabinet.
The commotion outside grew louder, and the leading soldier kicked open the door and stormed in.
Hiding in the closet, Chu Changning covered her stomach with a cloak and listened intently.
"What are you doing, beating around the bush in broad daylight? Come down, come down---"
As soon as the soldiers rushed in, they saw the swaying bed and heard a woman's sweet, low voice, which started to make a fuss.
"To capture the assassin, everyone cooperate and come out."
"What's all the noise about? Who let you in?"
Xiao Yan deliberately shouted a few words, then pulled up his trousers and angrily lifted the curtain.
Upon recognizing the soldiers, his expression immediately changed, becoming obsequious.
"Oh, it's an official. What are you doing here?"
When the officers and soldiers saw him casually put on his clothes and come down, and faintly heard the frightened sobbing of the woman inside the tent, they all started to tease him.
When the leading officer saw his expression, his anger subsided after being scolded; after all, one doesn't hit a smiling face.
"We're hunting down an assassin, everyone please cooperate, put on your clothes and come down."
The order came from above: it was a woman.
Therefore, the officers and soldiers didn't pay much attention to Xiao Yan, but looked around the house.
Xiao Yansheng, fearing they would look at the cabinet, directly offered them silver to ingratiate himself with them.
"It's just a small token of my appreciation. I run a small restaurant with a lot of customers. It's a small business, so please hurry up and have some fun after the officials have finished their investigation. Don't scare away all my customers."
These soldiers had always been good at skimming money, and seeing how cooperative he was, they stopped slashing around with their knives.
Taozhi came down dressed, and the other soldiers, seeing the girl's shy demeanor, wanted to take advantage of the situation.
The leading officer glanced at Taozhi's belly, cursed the absurd officers, and led his men away.
The county constable is waiting outside; he's harassing girls, he's asking for a beating.
Xiao Yan smiled and saw the person out.
Once everyone had gone far away, Taozhi immediately regained her composure and closed the door.
"Miss, please come out."
Chu Changning was almost suffocating in that cabinet, and slowly walked out, supporting her stomach.
Taozhi helped her to a stool and sat her down.
"Are you alright?"
Chu Changning shook his head. "It's nothing."
Penglai belongs to the southeast region and is within the territory of Southern Liang. It is not under the jurisdiction of Great Jin. Why would someone specifically come to arrest her? She doesn't even know her. Could it be that they are just being paranoid and have made a mistake?
Thinking of this, a brilliant idea flashed in her mind.
wrong.
Prince Cui Xun of Qinghe.
With the world in turmoil and various states at war, Cui Xun had been guarding the southeast for many years and was on good terms with the Emperor of Southern Liang. Could it be that he wanted to eliminate him completely and had come here to hunt him down?
As she thought about it, she felt it was increasingly possible and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"Miss, should we stay here any longer? What if we've been discovered?"
Taozhi asked with concern.
Chu Changning pondered for a moment and said, "Don't go out for the next few days. Stay in the courtyard."
In this turbulent world, with nations at war and refugees everywhere, where could they go, especially with their large bellies?
Moreover, this place has already been searched, so it might not be as thorough. Her little courtyard is also secluded, making it a good hiding place.
The Prince of Qinghe's Mansion in Jingzhou.
Inside the lobby.
Cui Xun listened to the general's words and spoke.
"Not found?"
"Yes, we've searched the entire sea, including Penglai, but there's no trace of them."
Several officials were seated below. Upon hearing this, one of them asked with dissatisfaction.
"Why is Your Highness so devoted to helping the Emperor of Great Qi? He hasn't given us any face in the Southeast at all. If you ask me, if he wants to fight us, we're not afraid. At worst, we'll fight."
Cui Xun's reverie was pulled back. He glanced at the adult who had spoken and smiled faintly.
"Is Lord Hu confident that he can defeat the Yan family? Or that he can defeat Li Bei? It's not worth it to suffer heavy losses and show off his temporary prowess."
"The prince is benevolent and righteous, and does not want to fight."
"In the first place, Prince An should not have agreed to the marriage alliance with the Prince. She married Princess Nanping and caused so much trouble in the southeast. As for the matter in Chaodong, the Prince helped her settle it all. But she didn't even come to see the Prince when he was injured."
Cui Xun sat down calmly and chuckled, "As a husband, if you can't even protect your wife and children, you might as well die on the battlefield."
Having said that, he didn't want the adults to say anything more, and directly gave orders to the people below.
"The person must be in Penglai. Send people to guard all the exits of Penglai and send news to Jiankang."
"yes."
The north was divided and plagued by warring states, with more than a dozen regimes splitting up, while various ethnic groups from the Western Regions raided southwards, causing turmoil and unrest.
Yan Beimo ascended the throne in Jiankang and became the founding emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty.
Upon ascending the throne, he immediately dispatched troops to launch a northern expedition. Domestically, his first target was the Guanlong Group, led by the Li family of Longxi, to make an example of them and quell the internal turmoil within the aristocratic families. He also took the opportunity to recover the Southern Liang and expand the territory of the Great Qi.
However, the four major clans of Yandu entered the cabinet because of his ascension to the throne and began to interfere in the affairs of the court.
In this chaotic world, the political system was strictly controlled by powerful clans, and people from humble backgrounds should have no way to rise in society. However, when Shen Yan was in power, he made great use of people from humble backgrounds, allowing them to enter the court as officials and breaking the monopoly of powerful families.
Now that Yan Beimo has ascended the throne, as the eldest son of a powerful family, the families are demanding the abolition of the recommendation system and the restoration of the system where "public officials have their own officials and ministers have their own ministers," so that the powerful families of Yan can control the government and monopolize the court.
However, Yan Beimo was eccentric and acted against the ancestral precepts of aristocratic families. He completely ignored the demands of the old men of the aristocratic families and did as he pleased, which made the previous dynasty tense.
Inside the Council Hall.
Yan Beimo looked at the letter sent back from Li Bei, his expressionless face bearing a hint of mockery.
"This Shen Yan is quite courageous."
The lower part of the hall was filled with Yan Beimo's trusted confidants.
Zhong Yuan stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the former emperor is a major threat. It would be best to send someone to get rid of him."
Allowing the former emperor to leave the capital with the corpse-fixing pill was already a major problem.
Yan Beimo tossed the letter into the cloisonné enamel incense burner in a calm voice.
“He doesn’t want the throne. He took a dead woman to the northern capital, hoping to end the division in the north and unify the north and south. Wouldn’t killing him be a huge loss?”
"Tell Xuan Yao to send troops from the north to help."
The group exchanged glances, and someone stepped forward.
"But the former emperor has established himself in the Northern Capital and successively destroyed the Western Liang and Northern Yan kingdoms. Once he unifies the north and marches south, he will pose a threat to Your Majesty."
Yan Beimo didn't care at all; his expression remained cold and emotionless.
"The world has been in chaos for a hundred years, what harm is there in a little more chaos?"
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