Chapter 430: Dissension
Princess Kunxing ordered the palace maids and eunuchs to forcibly send Zhaoren back to the mansion, while Li Sihong, Kou Baimen and Shen Yunying in the distance had no idea what was happening here.
Li Sihong said, "I hope this is the last battle. After the battle, I hope the prince can spend more time with the children."
"Yes! Is there no one left in the Ming Dynasty? Everyone depends on him for everything!" said Kou Baimen.
"Anyone in the Ming Dynasty who is a nobody would be asked to run around all the time. I also heard that there are a lot of criticisms in the court. Many ministers hope that the prince can stay in the court more. They are afraid that the prince will steal the credit from them, and some also think that if the prince has no more rewards to give, he can only give up the throne." Shen Yunying said.
"They are talking nonsense! If the prince wanted to be the emperor, he would have sat on the throne long ago! Who could stop him? But he didn't, because he remembered the princess's kindness." Li Sihong said angrily.
Kou Baimen said: "I don't understand the affairs of the court, but I know that the court still owes money to our palace. Without the money from the palace, the court will find it difficult to operate. How dare they say that to the prince!"
"I think someone in the government would say this, and there must be someone who supports it," said Li Sihong.
"Who?" Shen Yunying and Kou Baimen asked at the same time.
Li Sihong didn't say anything, but turned her head towards Princess Kunxing and raised her chin.
Shen Yunying and Kou Baimen immediately looked towards the distant city wall, but did not find Princess Zhaoren, only Princess Kunxing standing on the city wall.
The three of them thought that Princess Zhaoren was unwilling to admit defeat and went down the city wall first, but none of them paid any attention.
"The eldest princess (referring to Kunxing) has rarely returned to the palace recently. Apart from visiting the children, she almost never spends the night in the palace. And the maids in the palace told me that the eldest princess doesn't let the prince touch her at all." Li Sihong said.
"She has become addicted to being the princess regent. Haven't you seen that she hasn't asked about the affairs of the palace for a long time? She feels that the palace is not her home anymore." Kou Baimen said.
"I also feel that the princess is getting farther away from us!" said Shen Yunying.
Zhao Xiaofei passed through the city gate. He didn't see Princess Zhaoren, but only saw Li Sihong, Kou Baimen, and Shen Yunying waving at him. In the distance, he seemed to see Kunxing's shadow, but it didn't seem to be him.
Zhao Xiaofei felt that Princess Kunxing had changed a bit, becoming more jealous. She was even getting on his nerves. Today, I'm leaving the capital for the battlefield, and she didn't even come to see me off. He looked at the civil and military officials lining the road, each one offering compliments with a fake smile. Zhao Xiaofei quickly forgot his previous annoyance and immediately began responding to their blessings and compliments.
Li Sihong and Shen Yunying boarded the carriage and returned to the palace, but they did not see Princess Zhaoren. Moreover, they did not even bring the child Ruyi with them, who was only being looked after by a wet nurse.
Li Sihong wanted to ask the palace maid to inquire about Princess Zhaoren's situation, but at this time a eunuch came to the palace and found Li Sihong.
Li Sihong asked the eunuch what was going on. She had seen this young eunuch before. He was by Princess Kunxing's side and she had seen him inside before.
"The princess said she would bring her sister to live in the palace for a few days, and also bring Ruyi and Wenxian into the palace together." said the eunuch.
Li Sihong naturally had no reason to stop them, but she still felt something was very strange. Kou Baimen waited until the eunuch left, then came to Li Sihong and asked, "I feel like something's wrong! Did something happen?"
"I also feel something is wrong. The little princess should come back. She said she never wanted to live in the palace again. She felt there were too many bad memories there. She almost lost her life there. How could she agree to let the eldest princess live in the palace?" Shen Yunying said.
"Is there going to be a disaster in the palace?" Li Sihong seemed to be talking to herself.
"How could such a disaster happen? Could it be that the eldest princess was controlled by someone?" Shen Yunying said.
Li Sihong shook her head, not sure what she meant. Kou Baimen was also confused, and the three women were extremely flustered.
After a while, Shen Yunying broke the awkwardness and said, "No! I feel very bad. I want to leave the palace and go south to follow the prince."
Li Sihong nodded and said, "Go ahead! With your kung fu, you should be able to catch up soon."
"Okay! I'll clean it up right away!" Shen Yunying wanted to go back to the house immediately.
Kou Baimen held her back and said, "Take some of the female guards from the mansion with you. They will take care of you!"
"Okay!" Shen Yunying returned to her room, packed her clothes, and took the sword Zhao Xiaofei had given her. This sword was made by Zhao Xiaofei in modern society using special materials. It had two special features: it was incredibly sharp, and it was very light.
Shen Yunying was so happy for many days after getting the sword that she couldn't let it go every day and even wanted to sleep with her arms around the sword.
The nine female guards were all skilled in martial arts and had undergone special training. Each one was a sharpshooter and extremely accurate with their muskets. Of course, only the royal palace could afford such people.
After leaving the palace, Shen Yunying took nine female guards and headed directly south, planning to go to Jinan to find Zhao Xiaofei.
Zhao Xiaofei led his army aboard a ship from Tongzhou, sailing south along the Grand Canal. Inside the cabin, military reports and reports from officials from various regions were placed on the desk.
Zhao Xiaofei read one and threw it on the table. He took the second one and read it, then angrily threw the report to the ground.
Xiao Si, who was waiting on the side, asked, "What happened to the prince?"
"Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi, upon hearing that King Tang ascended the throne, all wrote letters to acknowledge the pseudo-dynasty, and withheld the national tax silver that was about to be handed in, preparing to send it to Nanjing! Now almost everything south of the Yangtze River has fallen into the hands of the pseudo-dynasty!" Zhao Xiaofei was very angry.
"At least the Governor of Fujian has not surrendered to the puppet dynasty yet, and there are still people in the south who are on our side." Xiao Si comforted.
"Zhang Xuesheng? His decrees can't even get out of Fuzhou City! I'll be happy if he can keep Fuzhou City! Is there still no news about Zheng Zhilong in Xiamen?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Your Highness, the internal guards lurking in Xiamen reported that Zheng Zhilong is preparing to go north, and his brother Zheng Zhifeng is contacting the Portuguese fleet, intending to hire their fleet to go north together to deal with Shi Lang's fleet." Xiao Si said.
"Oh? What did the Portuguese say?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"The Portuguese have no intention of interfering in the civil war of our Ming Dynasty, and many goods can only be provided by our palace, so the Portuguese can only watch from the sidelines." Xiao Si said.
"Send someone to tell the Portuguese that if they send troops to help me deal with Zheng Zhilong, I will reduce the price of their goods by 20%." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Yes! I'll send someone right away!" Xiao Si said.
"When can we get the troop deployment information for Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou? I don't want to destroy these places, and the palace will have to pay for their reconstruction when the time comes." Zhao Xiaofei said.
At this time, a guard from the inner guard came over, bowed and said to Xiao Si: "Sir Xiao, this is a letter from Xiamen." After that, he handed the letter to Xiao Si.
Xiao Si took it and opened it in front of Zhao Xiaofei. He read it quickly and said, "Your Highness, Zheng Sen said he would support the court at the critical moment. He only hopes that his father can be spared."
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