Chapter 228 The Tomb Raider Team!
At this moment, Shen Lanxi was filled with immense grief and resentment.
"I told you all not to go into the city, not to go into the city, why didn't you listen!"
“This was definitely a targeted and planned assassination attempt. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been attacked so soon after entering Xiling City. Clearly, the assassins had been watching us for a long time and knew our every move!”
"Lord Cao risked his life to save the princess, which shows great righteousness, but it cannot cover up his dereliction of duty."
"If he hadn't insisted on entering the city, the marriage alliance delegation wouldn't have been assassinated. They could have prevented it from happening in the first place, but he chose to send them to their doom!"
"This general will certainly submit a memorial to the court, impeaching Cao Ziling for acting on his own initiative, disobeying orders, and indulging in pleasure. As for whether the court will convict him of treason, that depends on His Majesty's decision!"
Shen Lanxi spoke first, while Xiao Fang and the others lowered their heads and smirked.
If they hadn't taken care of it last night, they would have believed it!
Upon hearing Shen Lanxi's words, the officials of Xiling City immediately began to beg for mercy and fawn over her.
Shen Lanxi exchanged a few perfunctory words with them, then sighed, "I know you are all innocent. You only wanted to show hospitality to the princess upon her arrival. I will put in a good word for you with the court and His Majesty later. You are also victims of this assassination attempt!"
Yesterday, the officials of Xiling City looked down on Shen Lanxi with disdain, but today, upon seeing her, they were so shocked by her impeccable demeanor that they dared not even breathe.
"This marriage alliance mission has suffered heavy losses, and many of the guards we just recruited have been killed or wounded. You can decide whether to send soldiers from Xiling City to escort us to the Northwest, or whether we can recruit some warriors from Xiling City to escort us."
Shen Yuanjing timely reminded, "General, let's go see the princess first. I just heard from the imperial physician that the princess was quite frightened. I don't know if it will delay our journey!"
Xiao Fang shouted, "It's written in the imperial edict that if we delay the journey, our entire family will be executed!"
Shen Lanxi subtly surveyed the officials, both high and low, and not long after she left, someone came to contact Shen Yuanjing and his group.
"General, you are truly a brilliant strategist! The Prefect just slipped me five thousand taels of silver!"
"The county magistrate gave me a box of gold."
"The prefect saw me off..."
Everyone around Shen Lanxi was given a generous gift!
Shen Lanxi smiled and said, "Let's stall them for a while. When they come looking for you again, you can decide what to do."
Xiao Fang put the gold down.
Shen Lanxi: "No need to give it to me, this is a gift from them to you, you can keep it!"
Xiao Fang refused: "General, let's use this money to buy grain!"
Shen Lanxi smiled mysteriously and said, "Do I lack this much? What we got last night wasn't enough. From here all the way to the Northwest, there are so many cities. Isn't that enough for my tomb raiding team?"
Tomb raiding team?
The group thought about the things they had moved back last night, and then considered the name again; it was indeed very fitting.
The imperial court responded very quickly this time.
"...Cao Ziling acted on his own initiative, causing the marriage alliance to suffer heavy losses. He cannot escape his guilt. Considering that he risked his life to protect Princess Wanhe, his family will be spared. All male members of his family over the age of fifteen will be exiled to the army, and the rest will be exiled to Dongchuan to serve as slaves for the armored soldiers..."
"Given the heavy casualties suffered by the marriage alliance delegation, Shen Lanxi is hereby ordered to continue hiring guards locally. Once the guards are in place, proceed to the Northwest immediately without delay..."
Shen Lanxi accepted the imperial decree and glanced at the crowd.
"Continue recruiting guards!"
No one dared to object, and the marriage alliance delegation obediently followed the arrangements.
Two days later, they continued their journey.
Zhou Yunyue sat in the carriage, staring blankly at the scenery outside the window. Suddenly, someone pushed her wrist.
"Princess, they're here!" the palace maid said urgently.
Zhou Yunyue snapped out of her daze, immediately pulled out a silk handkerchief from her hand, and threw it forcefully to the side.
"Oh dear, my silk handkerchief~"
"Yuan Jing, hurry up and get it for me!"
Shen Yuanjing was on patrol when he heard Zhou Yunyue's voice and spurred his horse to go over.
"Princess, what's wrong?"
Zhou Yunyue pointed behind her and said, "My handkerchief was blown away by the wind. It was a gift from the Empress, so I can't lose it."
"Yuan Jing, hurry up and pick it up for me!"
Seeing that she had stood up in the carriage, Shen Yuanjing did not want to cause any more trouble.
"You wait!"
Zhou Yunyue smiled and said, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you!"
Shen Yuanjing found these words strange, frowned twice, and then ignored them.
He turned his horse around and rode back for a while. Sure enough, he saw a silk handkerchief. He took it, put it in the carriage, and continued his patrol.
Zhou Yunyue watched Shen Yuanjing's departing figure for a while, then looked away and whispered, "Where's my box?"
Zilan: "It's in your dressing case."
Zhou Yunyue raised the corners of her mouth with a cold look in her eyes.
The further northwest they went, the farther apart the post stations became. Apart from Xiling, they did not see a single post station after traveling for two days, and the marriage alliance delegation was forced to camp in the wild for two days!
It's time to set up camp again.
"Yuanjing, I'm afraid there are bugs inside. Can you check it for me?" Zhou Yunyue had a palace maid find an excuse to summon Shen Yuanjing.
Even the most careless Shen Yuanjing noticed something was wrong.
“Princess, you can call me Lord Shen, or Vanguard Shen.” It’s strange to call him by his name, and they’re not familiar with each other.
Zhou Yunyue poured Shen Yuanjing a cup of tea: "We're relatives. You call me Father Emperor Uncle, but I'm a few months older than you. In an ordinary family, you should call me Cousin!"
Shen Yuanjing felt a chill run down his spine after hearing what Zhou Yunyue said. Hadn't she been boasting that she was a princess?
How did I suddenly change my mind and start talking to these lowly people?
"I've checked it, everything's fine, I'm leaving!"
Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhou Yunyue quickly stuffed the tea into his hand.
"You've helped me so much, have a cup of tea. This tea is from the palace, it's sweet and fragrant, you should try it!"
Shen Yuanjing looked at the teacup that had been shoved into his hand, unsure whether to put it down or drink it!
"...Alright, from now on, just call the guards if you need anything. I'm very busy. For small things like chasing away insects, the guards or palace maids can handle it!" Shen Yuanjing tilted his head back, drank the tea, put down the teacup, and turned to leave!
Zhou Yunyue quickly grabbed him.
"Yuan Jing, don't be in such a hurry to leave!"
Shen Yuanjing felt a wave of dizziness and knew something was wrong. He had just taken a step when everything went black!
Zhou Yunyue looked at the person lying on the ground and sneered, "You two idiots, why don't you hurry up and help carry him to the bed?"
The two palace maids quickly lowered their heads and tried their best to move Shen Yuanjing.
...
"Yuan Kun, have you seen Yuan Jing?" Shen Yuanxu asked.
"No, was he summoned by the general?"
Shen Yuanxu: "No, I just came from the general's place!"
"Strange, they've already eaten, where did they go?"
~
"General, something terrible has happened! You'd better go and see!" Xiao Fang rushed over to Shen Lanxi and whispered to her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
