Chapter 176: Lure the Thief into the Trap
As Ling Chan expected, Zuo Lun recruited soldiers along the way in the name of the imperial court and promised many benefits, such as any man who joined his army would be exempted from taxes for five years and labor service for three years.
Wherever he went, he recruited countless soldiers, more than Ling Xue had expected.
When they arrived near the capital, the number of recruits had reached 30,000.
Thirty thousand troops were stationed outside Beijing...
That night, someone went to Prince Rui's Mansion to investigate.
Ling Chan was nestled in Xiao Jin's arms, soundly asleep.
Suddenly, the glasses beside her pillow vibrated, she opened her eyes in dissatisfaction, and grumbled...
Just as he was about to reach for his glasses, an arm reached out and took them away.
"I'll do it." Xiao Jin's voice didn't sound sleepy at all.
He fiddled with his glasses and saw the entire Rui Wang Mansion.
There are several men in black who have been locked up and are coming here.
"Someone is coming," he said.
The night was as dark as ink, and the cold wind of autumn and winter was howling, making the dead leaves in the yard rustle.
One after another, dark shadows moved lightly and silently.
They held long swords in their hands, flashing with cold light...
Ling Chan sighed, then shouted painfully outside, "Someone, someone..."
The sound was not loud, but it was very clear in the quiet night.
Hongdou ran out of the side room next door. She rushed into the room and came out after a while with a terrified look on her face.
"Imperial physician, imperial physician, please hurry up! My princess is bleeding again."
As she shouted, the courtyard where the imperial doctors temporarily lived suddenly became lively.
The man in black was lurking in the dark, watching what was happening in Ling Chan's yard.
Several imperial physicians rushed in, then came out sighing and groaning, and began to discuss prescribing medicine.
The servants carried in hot water and came out with bright red water...
And Ling Chan's voice...became smaller and smaller, and the servants looked sad.
The imperial physician was also helpless and could not find any prescription to relieve the symptoms.
"Miss, the princess is in critical condition... We, we really have no other options. We can only try our best to use medicine to keep the princess alive..."
"How could this happen?" Hongdou burst into tears upon hearing this, "Miss, my poor young lady..."
The imperial physician could not hide his grief.
If you think about it carefully, Princess Rui's life was indeed miserable. She was bullied when she was in Ling Mansion. After she finally got out of Ling Mansion, she was stationed at the border for so long as a woman and helped the court to repel Da He.
After being married to the King of Rui for only a year, the King of Rui died, the child was gone, and she herself...
It's so bitter...
The same thing happened to Concubine Xi. Just when she was about to enjoy the pleasure of playing with her grandchildren, her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren all disappeared...
"Young lady, the Concubine Dowager... please accept her condolences." The imperial physician felt that he had been too cruel. "We will... return to the palace to report to the Empress Dowager."
Hongdou grabbed the doctor and tried her best to act heartbroken, "Doctor, doctor, please save my young lady..."
"If you don't save her, she really won't be able to hold on."
"Imperial Physician, Imperial Physician... please..."
Tears and grief...
But the imperial physician was helpless. "Miss, with the degree of hemorrhage the princess is experiencing, she should have been..."
"If it weren't for the palace's finest medicinal herbs..."
That’s all I have to say. Everyone can understand the meaning.
So many medicinal herbs in the palace were used on the princess, which prolonged her life...
"You can't leave!" Xi Lingyue came out with a cane.
This was made for her by Hongdou and Lingchan modified it.
The cane is impressive, and its function is even more impressive.
The crutch has a scanning function and can automatically recognize faces and movements.
If the other party is found to be making any move to harm Xi Lingyue, an anesthetic needle will be injected.
Xi Lingyue can also actively press a button on the crutch to launch an anesthetic needle when she detects danger.
She could also swing her cane to hit people with such force that she could send them flying out of the palace.
The crutch can also be used for conversations and transform into different shapes, and has many other functions.
"You must stay and take care of Chan'er." Xi Lingyue suppressed her grief. "Chan'er got hurt because she went to the palace to see the Queen Mother."
"Since she asked you to take care of Chan'er in the palace, you can't leave."
"Go prepare the best herbs for me and make medicine for Chan'er immediately."
The imperial doctors had no choice but to send someone into the palace to explain Ling Chan's physical condition to Zuo Dongrou.
Everyone else stayed behind to continue prescribing medicine for Ling Chan and preparing to boil the medicine.
But they no longer had the urgency they had before. In their hearts, Ling Chan was now just waiting...waiting for the day when her luck would run out.
Ling Chan's situation was reported to the Zuo Lun military camp, 20 miles outside the capital, by people who came to investigate.
"Really?" Zuo Lun stood up excitedly.
"That's great, that's great!" He looked at Wu Shao who was standing beside him. "Ling Chan is going to die. Without her, we won't have anything to worry about."
Wu Shao was staring at something in a daze, he seemed a little dazed...
Ling Chan is going to die? Is this true?
Why...does it feel so unreal?
Could it be another misunderstanding?
"Have you seen her?" Wu Shao asked.
The visitor shook his head, "I didn't see it, but..."
"When we left, Concubine Xi had been kneeling in the yard praying. It didn't look fake."
"Also, so much blood..."
"No matter how powerful Ling Chan is, she's still a woman." Zuo Lun sneered disdainfully, "For a woman to get pregnant and give birth is like walking through the gates of hell."
"Besides, Prince Rui died before her, and she was so sad...it's normal for her to be hurt."
"Those imperial doctors may seem powerful, but they're not good at treating women's illnesses."
"Otherwise, so many children and concubines wouldn't have died in the palace."
Wu Shao thought, this is...
How can the medical level of this era be compared with that of modern times?
Just as Zuo Lun said, these doctors mostly studied men's diseases and had little experience with women's and children's diseases, so it is possible that they delayed Ling Chan's treatment.
"But I heard that Ling Chan has a medical immortal under his command..."
Zuo Lun snorted, "That's just empty reputation, people in the martial arts world just give her face."
"What kind of medical immortal is this...at most, he's just a little bit better at medicine."
He looked at Wu Shao and asked, "Wu Shao, are you so afraid of her?"
"Did you get scared by her beating you when you were in He Yun's residence?"
"Or... have you had a festival before?"
"Come to think of it, you're as mysterious as she is, especially those thunder and fire bombs... and..."
Before Zuo Lun could finish, Wu Shao rolled his eyes at him and said, "Don't worry about that."
"After I help you break into the capital, I will return to Youzhou. By then, just give me and my brothers a place to stay."
Zuo Lun naturally agreed to his request, but there was disdain in his eyes.
With those things in his hands...he still thinks he can get away with it?
With two snaps, two more people appeared beside Zuo Lun.
"grown ups?"
"Send a message to Jie Zhen. If nothing unusual happens, we'll start tomorrow night at midnight."
Xi Lingyue stood up with the help of a cane and entered Ling Chan's room.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Ling Chan and Xiao Jin were sitting by the bed safe and sound.
"It's okay, I'm fine." Ling Chan touched her belly, "Mother, just wait to hold the baby."
Xi Lingyue sighed helplessly, "I hope this matter can be resolved as soon as possible."
"Mother, you've worked hard." Ling Chan touched her hand, "You should go back and rest quickly. Your hands are cold."
Originally, she was not allowed to participate, but Xi Lingyue felt that it would not be perfect without her, and others might not believe it.
After all, in the eyes of others, there is only an old empress dowager and a princess in the Rui Palace. With two women accompanying her, how could she sit idly by and watch Ling Chan?
"Well, I'm going back."
Xi Lingyue patted the back of Ling Chan's hand, "Chan'er, you should also go to bed early."
"No matter how anxious they are, they won't do it tonight."
After Xi Lingyue left, Ling Chan and Xiao Jin slept for a while.
Hongdou brought the imperial physician's medicine again.
"These imperial doctors have already determined that you, young lady, will not live long, and they didn't even prescribe the medicine properly." Hongdou muttered and poured the medicine out of the window.
"Don't blame them." Ling Chan said.
Their medical skills are already among the best of this era.
She deliberately used some methods to deceive them, and no matter how powerful they were, they couldn't detect it.
Since all the medicine has run out of effect, why waste the herbs?
Putting away the medicine bowl, Hongdou turned her back to the bed and said, "Miss, Gong Zi has sent a message."
"Zuo Lun has already passed the news to Jie Zhen and also to the palace. Action will be taken at midnight tomorrow."
"Um."
Hongdou exits the room...
Ling Chan buried her head in Xiao Jin's embrace, her voice slightly muffled, "I don't think Jie Zhen will be so honest in trading with Zuo Lun. I'm afraid there will be some changes tomorrow."
"At midnight, people have already gone to bed and will not waste time on the streets."
"We will definitely march straight into the palace."
"Once their men have entered the palace, we will simply close the palace gates and catch them in their tracks."
Ling Chan hummed, "Although we expected this, we still have to protect the people in the city..."
"And Zuo Lun's soldiers are all newly recruited soldiers. They probably don't know Zuo Lun's purpose."
"so..."
"Don't worry." Xiao Jin patted her back gently, "When the time comes, I will let them go."
Like the people in the city, these new recruits were innocent people who were deceived by Zuo Lun.
At the hour of Xu on the second night, Gong Zi was in the palace, guarding Xiao Ze like other palace servants.
She was only thinking about Zuo Lun's attack in an hour.
He didn't even notice that a palace maid was approaching Xiao Ze.
When she found out, she didn't stop it.
The man came to Xiao Ze's bed, pulled out a knife and put it against Xiao Ze's neck.
The palace maids were all panicked and ran out of the palace.
Gong Zi turned around but didn't run away. "What are you going to do?"
"You, go and ask the Queen Mother to come over. She only needs to come."
"If you dare to bring other people, I will kill the emperor." When he said this, he moved the knife in his hand towards Xiao Ze's neck.
Gong Zi looked at the imperial guards gathered outside the palace... "Didn't you hear what he said? Why don't you go tell the Queen Mother?!"
The imperial guards hesitated. They had been guarding outside the palace... to protect the emperor. Unexpectedly, the emperor was still kidnapped.
They are so many in number that they can definitely catch this person if they rush in, but the emperor...
"Hurry up and go." Gong Zi shouted harshly.
The imperial guards finally responded and sent two people to Ningshou Palace.
Zuo Dongrou hadn't gone to bed yet. She hadn't had a good sleep for a long time.
Especially in the past two days, she couldn't sleep even more after hearing that Ling Chan was dying.
Without Ling Chan, who can help the emperor protect Daqi?
In the past two days, she thought about many people.
But those people can't be used. If they knew Zuo Lun was planning a rebellion...
The entire Zuo family will be doomed.
Now she can only count on the people Ling Chan arranged in the palace.
She believed that Ling Chan must have made arrangements, definitely!
"Empress Dowager." The nanny screamed outside, "Empress Dowager, something terrible has happened."
Zuo Dongrou sat up from the bed and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, Your Majesty has been held hostage."
Without the nanny saying anything else, Zuo Dongrou had already put on her clothes and walked towards Xiao Ze's bedroom.
The cold wind was blowing fiercely at night, but she didn't feel it at all. She was only focused on running towards Xiao Ze's bedroom.
When she arrived at the bedroom, the guards made way for her and she went in.
When she saw Gong Zi, she glared at him first, then looked towards the bed.
The palace servant beside the bed held a knife against Xiao Ze's neck, and a few drops of blood were obviously flowing out of Xiao Ze's neck.
"You, who are you?" Zuo Dongrou asked.
"Your Majesty, don't worry about who I am." The man waved at Zuo Dongrou, "Come here too."
Zuo Dongrou didn't dare to resist and could only walk over obediently.
When she approached the bed, the man took out a piece of brocade and directly put it around her neck.
"Hahaha." The man laughed heartily, "Now the Emperor and the Queen Mother are in my hands, don't act rashly."
"Open the palace gate and let Commander Jie in."
Now it is clear that this person is Jie Zhen's person.
"Quick!" The knife moved closer to Xiao Ze and the brocade cloth was pulled tighter.
Zuo Dongrou frowned, her face in pain, "No, I can't open..."
The brocade around her neck tightened again, and she couldn't breathe.
"Empress Dowager, will you open the palace gate?"
Zuo Dongrou was about to refuse, but Gong Zi had already turned around and ordered the imperial guards, "The Empress Dowager has issued an imperial decree. Open the palace gates and welcome Commander Jie into the palace."
"I..." I didn't... Zuo Dongrou wanted to refute, but no sound came out of her throat.
She looked at Gong Zi angrily, very angry but unable to vent.
This person is someone close to Ling Chan. Is she actually helping the thieves now?
wrong...
Zuo Dongrou suddenly realized, could this be Ling Chan's arrangement?
She looked at Gong Zi again, and seeing that Gong Zi's face was calm, her emotions also stabilized.
Looking at the hesitant imperial guards, Zuo Dongrou said, "Didn't you hear? Why don't you go and open the palace gate?!"
The imperial guards no longer hesitated and sent someone to the palace gate to deliver the message.
After an unknown amount of time, Zuo Dongrou heard a noisy and chaotic sound. Jie Zhen... brought people in.
"Hahaha." Jie Zhen was very arrogant and came to the emperor's bedroom with a big laugh.
"Jie Zhen, what exactly do you want to do?" Zuo Dongrou asked loudly!
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