"Princess, it's Shen He!" Xiao Ran had sharp eyes and could tell at a glance that the man riding on the horse with tattered clothes was Shen He.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanluo hurriedly walked over to him, but her heart couldn't help sinking. What she guessed was right. There had been no news from Tianque Pass for many days, and something must have happened.

"Shen He, your prince..." Lu Yanluo's face was pale, and she stared at Shen He closely. She was eager to know the situation in Tianque Pass, but was afraid to hear any news that would make her collapse.

Shen He turned over and got off the horse. His steps were obviously a little weak. The non-stop running day and night and the shortage of food made even a body of iron unable to bear it.

After enduring a dizzy spell, Shen He said, "Princess, the prince is fine, it's just... it's just that our front-line food supply has been cut off, and the prince has sent his subordinates back to report the news to His Majesty."

Lu Yanluo's face changed. How could this be possible?

"After you left, the imperial court sent food to Tianque Pass many times. How could there be no food?"

Ever since Chu Xuan led his troops away, Lu Yanluo was afraid that someone was doing something behind the scenes, so she specially sent people to watch over the food, medicines and other things sent to the front line. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue sent food to Tianque Pass three times together, but now they say that Tianque Pass has been out of food for a long time. So where is the food?

"Princess." Xiao Ran looked around and whispered, "Don't worry, there are people coming and going outside. Let's go to the mansion and talk."

The Night Prince's Palace was under surveillance. On the day Chu Xuan went to the battlefield, several suspicious people suddenly appeared outside the palace. Lu Yanluo guessed that they were probably people sent by the emperor to keep an eye on her.

The incident happened suddenly and Lu Yanluo had no time to think about it. When Xiao Ran said it, she immediately took Shen He into the mansion to discuss it in detail.

Sure enough, just as Lu Yanluo entered the palace, several people suddenly appeared at the entrance of the originally empty alley and stared at the gate of the palace that had just been closed.

"Who was that just now?" one of them asked.

The other person looked suspicious and replied uncertainly: "He looks like someone from the Night Palace. I've never seen him before."

The two looked at each other, and neither of them expected that the person coming was Shen He who accompanied Chu Xuan to the expedition.

Thanks to the fact that Shen He stayed in the dark all day long and never showed up in front of anyone, few people in the capital had ever seen his true face.

Lu Yanluo hurriedly led Shen He into the study of the palace. Xiao Ran was very obedient and stayed outside the door to guard.

In the study, Lu Yanluo saw that Shen He's steps were unsteady, and without caring about etiquette, she asked Shen He to sit down, gave him some cakes and tea, and ordered someone to prepare some food.

"Okay, tell me while you eat. What is the current situation at Tianque Pass? Without food and grass, what will the prince and the others eat? Will Tatuo take the opportunity to attack Tianque Pass?" Lu Yanluo asked anxiously.

Shen He stopped eating, and the sweet and soft pastries in his mouth instantly lost their taste. He would not even look at these things before, but after spending some time in Tianque Pass, these things became rare delicacies.

"Your Highness...after we ran out of food and grass, we had no choice but to kill the horses to satisfy our hunger. At first, no one wanted to do it, but human lives were at stake and we couldn't just watch everyone starve to death. At first, it was some weak and injured horses, but with a total of 500,000 people, how long could those horses last? With no other choice, Your Highness had to take the risk and lead us to attack the grain transport team at Tatuo."

The more Shen He spoke, the uglier his expression became, and his tone gradually became filled with anger: "Originally, we thought we were robbing Tatuo's grain, but... but after we robbed it back and opened it, we found that there were boxes with seals from our Ministry of Revenue inside, and they were filled with our grain."

"How could this happen..." Lu Yanluo was stunned. She had been very careful. Every time the imperial court escorted grain and fodder, she would secretly check it again and again, fearing that they would pass off inferior goods as good ones, or slip through. She could only feel at ease when she saw the grain and fodder being transported out of the capital with her own eyes.

But the fact is, everything she did was to help others.

"Kong Chenyang! It must be him. He was the one who secretly switched the food and sent the real food to Tatuo." Lu Yanluo's eyes were full of hatred. She regretted it very much now. She should have killed Kong Chenyang at the beginning to prevent future troubles.

"The prince originally planned to cut off Tatuo's food supply line and force them to take desperate measures. In the end, they changed to the trade route, and we were the ones who were cut off from food..."

"No, that's not right!" Lu Yanluo seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and suddenly stood up and asked, "Tianque Pass has never stored food. If the imperial court did not deliver food in time during the war, it would be temporarily supplied by Qingzhou and Tongzhou. Why didn't Tongzhou and Qingzhou send food to help?"

Speaking of this, Shen He couldn't help but sneer: "Tongzhou and Qingzhou? Princess, do you think the prince won't think of it? When the first batch of grain from the court was not delivered on time, the prince noticed something was wrong. In order to be prepared, the prince immediately sent people to Tongzhou and Qingzhou to ask for grain."

"But the governors of Qingtong and Tongzhou are of the same opinion, as if they had already discussed it. They both said they had not received the imperial decree to start a war and refused to send food. The prince sent people three times and was rejected three times. They had planned it all!"

"Then what about the prince and the others now..." Lu Yanluo didn't dare to imagine what Chu Xuan would look like now.

Since she came here and met Chu Xuan, this was probably the most difficult time for him. He was fighting against foreign enemies outside and bloody battles. He did not lose to his opponents, but lost to a group of corrupt officials who were protected by him.

"Before the prince sent his subordinates back to the capital secretly, he had just intercepted 20 carts of food and grass from Tatuo. It should be enough to hold out for a while, but the war was tense and we were short of war horses. Tatuo was attacked from time to time. If this continues, we will definitely lose the war. The prince wrote several letters to report to the capital, but in the end, no one responded. The prince had no choice but to send his subordinates back."

"Your Majesty has a feeling that something has happened in the capital. This time I came back, first, to meet the emperor in the palace and relay the situation at Tianque Pass to him in order to ask for support. Second, to make sure the princess is safe. If something has really happened, I will take her away from the capital at all costs."

Lu Yanluo's expression moved slightly, warmth surged in her heart, and her eyes became hot.

Even in such a difficult situation, he was still concerned about her safety. No, no, she had to find a way to deliver the food and supplies to Tianque Pass.

"Well, Shen He, you stay in the mansion for a while to rest. Tomorrow morning, you leave secretly and wait for me at Luanfeng Mountain. I will go to the palace immediately to ask His Majesty for an imperial decree for food and fodder."

"Princess, when I entered the city, I heard from the secret guards that the emperor was seriously ill and unconscious. How are you going to get the imperial edict?" When Shen He came back, the city gates of the capital were under martial law. He and the secret guards in the city sent letters by carrier pigeons and secretly sneaked into the capital through a secret river.

Along the way he had already gotten to know the situation in the capital.