northernbook Chapter 125 Proton's Help
Chapter 125 Proton's Help
The man was about to leave, whining unwillingly, and even tried to kick the bucket over. Shuangxi grabbed him by the collar and said, "Behave yourself."
At this point, the man still held on to the hope that he would be discovered and rescued, and glared at Shuangxi fiercely.
The group hurried into the woods.
Shuangfu looked around and pointed to a road, "Go up there, and you can see their route, and we'll have a chance to run."
No one raised any objections. In the wild, their secret guards were much more capable than others.
The group stumbled forward, and just halfway through, they heard a uniform voice. A whole group of people came from the direction of Zheng's army camp. After a quick look, Gu Qingyun judged that half of them were foreigners, and these foreigners happened to not appear on the reported list.
The Zheng family maintained a private army of nearly 3000 people.
What are they going to do?
Because of the snow, the children were kept indoors for a long time, and they kept falling down when they walked. Even with a rope, it was impossible to control so many people.
The man, who had been tied up into a whole piece, was still whimpering unwillingly. Every time he made a sound, he would be hit by Shuangxi.
But he still whined unwillingly.
"Shaoqing, what should we do now?" Several people crouched in the woods and looked down.
Gu Qingyun thought for a moment and said, "We are definitely short of manpower today. We must inform the emperor. And... I still don't understand what their purpose is. I'm afraid that if I go back too late, they will start a riot. If we count it this way, there are only 3000 more people, but if we count the people from each sect, there will be more than 3000. The number of people who can go to the battlefield may be close to 6000. And the imperial guards at night are only 3000 people."
When everyone heard his calculation, their pupils shrank.
Suddenly the tied-up man let out a hideous laugh, and Shuangxi quickly covered his mouth.
"If we take the child away, our whereabouts will be exposed. We have to leave quickly. We have already alerted the enemy. We have to plan early." Gu Qingyun was suddenly stunned by the man's sinister smile, and the strings in his head were plucked.
He immediately said, "No, Xinhai is faster, you go back first. Take my letter to see the emperor and tell him what we found."
Looking at the vigorous sound of military training below and remembering Proton's words, Gu Qingyun felt that he could not wait any longer.
After hearing this, Xinhai ran back immediately. Although he had a horse, it would probably take until evening to reach Kyoto Prefecture.
There was no point in being anxious. Gu Qingyun couldn't possibly send the children back, so he simply walked back with his back hunched, no longer staring at the people below.
By the time Xinhai ran back to Kyoto Prefecture, it was already evening. The fragrance in the air made his stomach growl, but he didn't care about that anymore and rode his horse back to the palace.
Fortunately, the palace gate has not been locked yet.
Xinhai handed Gu Qingyun's handwritten letter, and soon after, Eunuch Wei came to pick him up in person.
When Xinhai arrived at the Qianqing Palace where the emperor worked, the hostage was already sitting there.
He gently flipped through the pictures of missing children drawn by Wu Huan, looking at them one by one, and then said nothing.
Seeing him here, Xinhai opened his mouth and closed it again, looking at the emperor with his eyes.
The emperor nodded. "Nothing, just report. It was I who agreed to let Xiao Ran sit here."
Xinhai was stunned for a moment, but still reported today's situation and Gu Qingyun's analysis to the emperor.
Compared with previous times, the emperor was much calmer this time.
"Xiao Ran'er, what do you think? Did you see it?" The emperor looked at the hostage and asked.
The proton nodded and said, "There was a beautiful emperor in the previous dynasty. Several princes fought for the throne and all died in the chaotic struggle. Only this prince who was raised in the deep palace was ignored because he was too well-behaved. When all the princes died, he naturally became the emperor.
But because he was so handsome and loved to play the zither and recite poetry, he could not convince the public. Many people even thought that he was having affairs with different male guards. He was also caught by the guards several times having affairs with different male guards. The child, who had no power to begin with, was just a puppet even if he became the emperor. Until he gave birth to a son, everyone wanted to help his son become the emperor. But a general had been preparing for a long time and wanted to seize the throne. After several fights, the emperor was killed, and the son disappeared..."
"This is a matter of the Southern Emperor of the previous dynasty. What do you mean, Xiao Ran?" The emperor narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Everyone says he is a beauty, but no portrait has been preserved, only some written descriptions. In this stack of portraits, almost all the children have the same description as him. Some children are as thoughtful as him, some children have the same cherry lips as him, and some children have ears that bring wealth and good fortune like him. In short, they all have..." The proton put down the portrait and looked at the emperor.
The emperor laughed in anger, "What a Zheng family, are you planning to restore the previous dynasty?"
Proton didn't say anything, and Xinhai was also dizzy from the series of news and the strange scene.
Isn't the hostage a member of the Zheng family? He wants to destroy the Zheng family? The scholar is really not to be provoked.
The emperor called Eunuch Wei and wanted to dispatch people to take down all the Zheng family troops, but then he heard the hostage say, "Your Majesty, the Zheng family's current actions are all based on Feng Shui metaphysics. If they want to restore the throne, they need special astrological signs to be legitimate. It would be better to ask the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to come."
The emperor thought about it and decided to dispatch a team of soldiers. "It's okay. It shouldn't alert the enemy. The Winter Solstice Feast will be held in half a month. Logically, we should dispatch them back to the capital."
The hostage didn't say anything, and the emperor finally summoned the Imperial Observatory. The day with astrological signs was around the winter solstice. If the Zheng family wanted to take action, it would probably be around that time.
According to the information submitted by the Dali Temple, they have been trained for a long time and have acquired certain combat capabilities. They also have specially hired people to grow food for them.
How big a chess game is this?
Xinhai was still confused until he left. The scene he imagined did not happen. The hostage helped the emperor kill his own family.
There is really a new mess every day, and each mess is different.
Over there, it was not easy for Gu Qingyun to bring back so many children because he didn't have that many horses. The group walked and stopped many times, and it was not until the late night that they arrived at Kyoto Prefecture.
The city gate was closed, and Gu Qingyun was not strong enough to knock on the gate, so he could only stay in the dilapidated temple outside the city until morning.
As soon as the city gate opened, he returned with a group of children, half asleep. He thought that they had not eaten all day, and was afraid that the children would be hungry and cold. It would take some time to notify their parents to come and pick them up.
A few days passed, and the renovation of Anqiao's restaurant was almost complete. Today, the shop next to the small restaurant was opened, and Gu Qingyun brought a bunch of little kids into the restaurant.