Chapter 130

Changchun Temple.

Because of the uninvited guest Zhan Shaoying, Jiashan and Princess Ruyang both slept very late tonight. After coaxing Xuan Ge'er to rest, Jiashan still didn't feel sleepy at all, so she and Ruyang simply set up a chessboard in the room.

After getting married, Jiashan often played chess with Zhanyue. With Zhanyue's guidance, Jiashan's chess skills improved a lot. For two consecutive games, Ruyang was defeated by her.

Ruyang simply threw away the pieces and teased, "You are a woman of many talents, and I cannot defeat you."

Jiashan was naturally humble, so he said, "I always beat my aunt by a narrow margin, only by half a piece or one more piece."

At this point, she couldn't help but think of Zhan Yuelai, and she said to Ruyang with a smile: "Every time I play chess with Yanqing, he always wins half of my territory."

"That's really embarrassing." Jiashan said.

Ruyang knew that Jiashan was comforting herself, but he was still distracted by the sweetness in her words when she mentioned Zhan Yue.

Ruyang's expression softened a lot, and he smiled and praised: "I remember that when you first came to watch a few years ago, your chess skills were not as good as mine. The reason why you have made great progress in the past few years is thanks to Yanqing."

Jiashan's face was filled with a happy and peaceful smile, and he didn't say much.

However, Ruyang really liked to see her in this rare young girl's posture. Jiashan's appearance reminded Ruyang of the scene of his wedding.

It is the same as the harmonious marriage of zither and harp, and honey and oil.

Perhaps lost in her memories, Ruyang's gaze froze for a moment. After a moment, she whispered, "Have you heard about Fu Xiao's whereabouts recently?"

It has been nearly three months since the news about Fu Xiao came back.

He and his group of people were never seen alive or dead. Neither the Marquis of Anding nor the Turkic Yeli Khan had any news about Fu Xiao's whereabouts.

At first, there were still many people in the court and the public who insisted that Fu Xiao had surrendered to the enemy, and people wrote to Emperor Zhang He repeatedly, demanding the extermination of his entire family.

Emperor Zhanghe then brought up the Li Ling incident during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, saying that there was no evidence or conclusion on Fu Xiao's case to date, and if his entire family was exterminated first, wouldn't that discourage loyal ministers and good generals?

After a long time, the ministers who wrote letters to the emperor also realized that the emperor had different ideas from the previous emperor, and the emperor had always been protective of the Fu family. Moreover, now the eldest princess and her husband were involved with the Fu family, so no one was interfering.

However, the guards in front of the Fu Mansion have not been lifted.

In the past, Lu Sixian of the Jinwu Guard sent people to guard it. Later, Lu Sixian was ordered to lead his troops to the northwest, and the soldiers of the Fu Mansion were replaced by those of General Chu Xi of the Yulin Guard.

Since Chu Xi took over, Jia Shan has not been to Fu's house. Firstly, she was pregnant, and secondly, Zhan Yue's relationship with Chu Xi was not as close as his relationship with Lu Sixian, so Jia Shan did not go to cause trouble for others.

Fortunately, the situation between Song and Ting'er has been good. Song has always been a person who is not surprised by humiliation. Now she can still keep her composure and not lose her composure.

Jiashan said: "Not yet."

“But I think it will be soon.”

If Fu Xiao was implicated in this conspiracy because of them, then if something happened in the capital, the northwest would naturally respond, whether it was good or bad.

Thinking of this, Jiashan pinched his eyebrows subconsciously.

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhu Zheng and Chen Chu came in from outside. They both looked a little hurried, Chen Chu was relatively calm, but Zhu Zheng was obviously a little nervous.

Jiashan knew something must have happened, so he asked, "What happened?"

Zhu Zheng's face darkened slightly, and he said, "Someone took advantage of the darkness of night to surround Changchun Temple."

After questioning Zhan Shaoying, Jiashan knew that tonight would not be an easy night, so he remained calm and just asked, "Do you know how many people there are?"

Chen Chu replied, "About a hundred."

"The number of people is nothing to worry about." Chen Chu paused.

Hearing the reservation in his voice, Jiashan narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "What is there for us to be afraid of?"

Chen Chu said: "They all carried crossbows."

Crossbow. Crossbows have a longer range and higher damage than bows, and they don't require as much training to use as bows, so even new recruits can have a decent accuracy.

To be able to take out more than a hundred crossbows at once, this must be a skill that only someone in the military can do, and it must be someone who commands a large number of troops!

Jiashan's face suddenly turned gloomy.

Her tone was like frost after a heavy snowfall: "More than a hundred crossbows were not used on the battlefield to aim at the enemy, but were used against me."

Jiashan was so angry that he couldn't help but sneer, "You really think highly of me."

Zhu Zheng said sternly: "The crossbow has a very long range. Although they are still outside the temple, Your Highness and Young Master must not show up."

"Don't worry." Jiashan gnashed his teeth and said, "Since they spared such a large circle, they must have captured me alive. They are reluctant to kill me."

Jiashan said: "The living are more useful than the dead."

Ruyang was also resentful at first, but like Jiashan, she soon realized that these people's purpose was definitely not to kill them.

After thinking for a while, Ruyang calmly asked: "Have you seen the leader? Who is it?"

Zhu Zheng hesitated for a moment, then replied in a low voice: "My eyesight is poor, but I vaguely feel that the man is the son of the Marquis of Pingyang."

The prince of Pingyang! The elder brother of Princess Lu and the eldest brother-in-law of Zhao Youcheng!

Jiashan couldn't help but sneer and said, "Well, you came at the right time."

Li Weian, the son of Marquis Pingyang, was a fourth-rank deputy envoy in the Censorate under the Censorate, in charge of judicial and supervisory functions, and was considered a civil servant.

But Li Wei'an was born in an aristocratic family, and had learned to ride and shoot arrows since he was a child. In addition, he also served as a military historian in the Censorate. Those who could serve as military historians were all good at speaking.

The trip to Changchun Temple is extremely critical tonight, so the leader can only fall on Li Weian.

It was also Li Wei'an's first time using a crossbow. While playing with the crossbow arrow, he asked a guard beside him, "Can you ensure that it is foolproof?"

Perhaps to disguise himself, the guard had two extra mustaches on his lips. He lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry, my lord. Some of the people following Zhan Shaoying are our marquis's men from the Western Regions. It won't be a problem for them to deal with a few guards from the princess's mansion."

"Okay." Li Weian clapped his hands and said, "Then let's wait for them to attack at the same time. Then we can cooperate with them from inside and outside and capture them easily."

After he finished speaking, he looked towards the south of the capital with some worry: "I don't know what the situation is in the capital. If something goes wrong there... even if we capture the princess, it will be too much to help."

The guard smiled and said, "Your Highness is wrong. If something goes wrong in the capital, the eldest princess will become even more critical. Without the eldest princess, how can we negotiate with His Majesty and the eldest son-in-law?"

The guard did not mention Zhao Youze in his words, and it was obvious that he never took the immature Fourth Prince seriously.

He said: "Even if the capital is defeated, as long as we have the eldest princess, we can delay time, and the Marquis will find a way to rescue us."

With his words, Li Wei'an's heart could not help but calm down a little. He nodded and said, "You are right."

The night in the mountains is so dark, especially tonight when there are no stars. The night sky is like a dark cloud pressing down on the city, so thick that it is almost suffocating.

Inside the inner room of Changchun Temple.

After a brief silence, Jiashan said calmly, "How is Zhan Shaoying doing? Has everything been done according to my instructions?"

Zhu Zheng replied, "Yes. My subordinate knocked him unconscious and he is still tied up. He has no martial arts training and is not a serious threat."

"Where are the guards?" Jiashan asked.

Zhu Zheng was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously glanced at Chen Chu beside him, not knowing how to start. Jiashan obviously misunderstood his meaning, and she frowned and asked, "But what's wrong?"

This time, Chen Chu replied, "Don't worry, Your Highness. There is nothing wrong. It's just that before Guard Zhu left, I had already eliminated those people."

Jiashan frowned.

Chen Chu lowered his head, but his words were clearly pronounced for Jiashan to hear. He said, "Before I left, my Lord specifically instructed me to put the princess's safety first. I also promised my Lord that I would never allow the princess and the young master to have any mistakes."

Chen Chu's tone was even, but his words were filled with a chilling tone: "Among those guards, some were of unknown origin. I dared not take the risk, so I had to bravely kill first and then report."

"Your Highness, please forgive me." He paused, bowed slightly, and continued, "Your Excellency also said that if there is any injustice in the murder, then the retribution should be on his head."

Jiashan was silent.

At this moment, she sat upright in an extremely dignified posture, one hand unconsciously placed on her knee, her profile slender and quiet.

After hearing Chen Chu's words, Jiashan couldn't tell whether he was moved or satisfied.

In just a moment, the indignation and anger in my heart turned into peace and tranquility.

"Fool." Jiashan's face flushed, and he cursed in his heart, "Fool, fool."

"You and I are husband and wife. If the revenge is on you, then it should be on me, right? Besides, you are such a good person, how could God have the heart to do that?"

Jiashan thought for a while, and when she spoke again, she was much more calm. She praised loudly, "You did the right thing."

"I am a woman after all, I am soft-hearted and I am not as good as you in making this decision."

"Your Highness, thank you very much," Chen Chu said, bowing, "I am only following your orders."

"In your opinion, how long can our people hold them off?" Knowing that Zhu Zheng was not as good as Chen Chu in military affairs, Jiashan directly asked Chen Chu for his opinion.

Chen Chu said: "If they don't have crossbows, they can hold out for a few days and nights. But the power of more than a hundred crossbows cannot be underestimated. After all, my men are mortals. I can only promise the princess that I can hold out for one night."

One night...

That might be considered passive.

Since these people dared to openly surround Changchun Temple, the capital must have been in turmoil, and there would most likely be no reinforcements.

The reason why Jiashan came to Changchun Temple was because Changchun Temple was far away from Beijing, and no matter what happened in Beijing, it would not be related here.

Unfortunately, neither she nor Zhan Yue had expected that Zhao Youcheng could actually mobilize troops outside the capital.

Now, she has fallen into an isolated and helpless environment.

Jiashan frowned slightly.

"I have an idea."

Jiashan looked up and followed the voice to find the person who was speaking.

Ever since Zhu Zheng and Chen Chu came in, Qi had been curled up on the bed holding Hong Ge'er, trying her best to reduce her presence. This was the first time she spoke.

Qi spoke clearly, her voice deep and powerful: "The Prince of Pingyang has rarely seen the princess and me, and Hong and Xuan are about the same age. As long as we exchange clothes, I will dress up as a princess and the Prince of Pingyang will not recognize me."

"I can take Hong'er to negotiate with them and ask them to release everyone except us. The princess can then find a chance to escape with the young master." Qi said.

Jiashan stared at Qi for a while and said, "It's a good idea, but it's too risky. If you reveal your true intentions, neither you nor your son will survive."

Li Weian would not kill the real princess, but he would never be kind to a fake imposter.

Having anticipated this outcome, Qi's eyes were surprisingly calm. She said, "The princess is in this situation because of my mother and I. I am a lowly person and there is nothing I can do for the princess. I just want to repay you with this."

Jiashan just said nothing, protecting his stomach with one hand and touching the smooth and cold chessboard on the table with the other.

Chen Chu suddenly raised his head and said amiably, "If Madam really has this intention, I have another plan. I would like to ask Madam's cooperation."

Qi said, "Please speak."