CH 112.1

This Princess Jia Hu probably had not wake up from a big dream yet. They were all ran for their lives, the situation was so urgent, Yuan Yu didn’t even pick up Xiao Hei, let alone Da Bai who just gave birth to a litter of cubs. If he really took those two, there would be a long line of short legs running behind the team.

Besides, he fled to a faraway place, and it’s not safe for the dogs to follow him, so it’s better to sheltered the dog with friend in the capital, in that way they wouldn’t suffer.

But she came all the way here in the middle of the night, so he couldn’t speak too unkindly, and explained that Da Bai was weak after giving birth, and he had already entrusted his friend to take care of her.

Jia Hu’s face fell in disappointment, but she still greeted a few people and led them all the way through the closed gate.

The news of the care and assistance provided by the Huihu to the group was kept secret, and the Great Zhou side was naturally unaware of it, otherwise they would probably tear face with them. But the Turks were convinced that even if Great Zhou wanted to continue to maintain the ally relationship with Huihu, it would be powerless at the moment, so they seized this opportunity to raise troops.

The Turks were raging the border city, and seeing that the Huihu soldiers could not resist for a while, Yuan Yi Zhi sent a letter to the Khan as soon as he entered the pass, saying that he would lead his troops to fight alongside the Huihu and drive out the enemy together.

Lu Shi Qing did not object to this.

Regardless of the private kindness of the Huihu to them, from the overall situation, once the Turks, who were said to control millions of people when they were strong, took the Huihu and replace them, there would never be peace in the northern border of Great Zhou.

This battle was actually fought for Great Zhou.

Yuan Yi Zhi led his army to attack. Three days later, the situation at the border improved slightly.

The Turks, realizing that they couldn’t break through this defensive line, quickly shifted their focus and turned to seek vulnerable points for a breakthrough. Yuan Yi Zhi, in order to prevent the enemy from escaping, remained steadfast in the border city and sent out messages to inform the surrounding areas to be on high alert and reinforce their defenses.

However, the Turks continued to send more reinforcements, and they employing deceptive tactics in all directions, leaving Huihu bewildered and unsure of where to defend. By the time they finally managed to break through the enemy’s tactics and found the hole they really wanted to bite, it was already a step too late.

The next day, the Huihu defenders were defeated and the border town fell.

The Turks were good at fighting and cunning, so it was no wonder that the Huihu royal court was unable to hold them off. After all, it took them half a year to completely drive the enemy out of the country with the joint efforts with Great Zhou, let alone the current weak lone army.

This fall was a step-by-step defeat.

Lu Shi Qing did not take part in the war at first, but stayed on the border to follow the movements of the Great Zhou court. But now seeing that the Huihu war was getting tighter and Yuan Yi Zhi had to rush north to help, he had to put aside his work for the time being.

After all Yuan Yi Zhi was not young anymore. After he killed Ping Prince, he fought with the pursuers all the way, suffered minor injuries, and was tired day after day for a whole month.

Lu Shi Qing caught up with him before the soldiers went to march, and offered to lead the Huihu soldiers deep into the north on his behalf.

Seeing that her father was so tired that he could fall asleep on horseback, Yuan Ci Xian did not stop Lu Shi Qing, but only told him to be careful. As for Great Zhou, let her take care of it.

After Lu Shi Qing left, she quickly took over the secret report from the south.

Previously, Father quickly destroyed Ping Prince, so fast that Nanzhao did not expect it, and seemed to have lost the opportunity to invade the Great Zhou on a large scale. But since Xi Ju took advantage of the fire and sent assassins on Lu Shi Qing, it showed that he still intended to intervene in this chaos. So she couldn’t take it lightly.

She sorted out the letters from the past few days and got one good news and one bad news.

The good news was that after their group quietly fled to Huihu, Zheng Zhuo pretended to pursue them in the direction of Diannan for a few days, which gave the rest of the pursuers a wrong idea and successfully diverted their attention, led the “conceal people” to Nanzhao, and ruled out the suspicion of the war-torn Huihu.

The bad news was that Xi Ju really sent someone to spread rumors in Great Zhou, saying how Zheng Zhuo and Lu Shi Qing were colluding and how they deceived courtiers and the emperor, just like she had feared.

Rumors spread to the capital and the court, but the officials from Zheng Zhuo’s faction quickly took control, and the limelight quickly subsided. However, the old emperor, who was already extremely paranoid, became crazy and ordered Zheng Zhuo to stop chasing and return to the capital quickly.

The courtier who had been favored for many years had betrayed him, the old emperor was greatly stimulated. Yuan Ci Xian guessed that he was probably a little delirious. At this time, no matter the person was wronged or not, he had to kill anyone who might threaten him. The so-called summoning Zheng Zhuo back to the capital was to send someone to attack him on his return journey, and at the same time, it was likely to control his mother in the harem, Xue Cairen.

After all, for Emperor Huining, wives, concubines, and children were nothing in front of the imperial power.

But Yuan Ci Xian believed that Zheng Zhuo had guessed the old emperor’s intention, so in order to prevent the previous planning and sacrifice to go up in smoke, he would be ruthless, and before the situation became irreparable, he would send someone to get rid of his father and help his mother out of danger.

After the death of Emperor Huining, no matter how doubtful the courtiers were, in the face of the princes who were unable to bear the burden of responsibility, most of them should choose to support him to the throne. The only drawback was the lack of a logical edict, which could make people talk in the future.

Sure enough, two days later, Yuan Ci Xian got the news that Emperor Huining had collapsed in the Zichen Palace and died suddenly. Because of his sudden death, he did not have time to issue an edict. Zheng Zhuo was still on his way back to the capital, and there was no one in the imperial family who could take charge of the situation, and it became a mess. In the end, the empress stabilized the situation, began to prepare for the old emperor’s funeral, and called the courtiers to discuss which prince would inherit the throne.

Great Zhou’s situation was too unusual. One there was no imperial edict, two there was no crown prince, and three none of the three princes was a di son. Two difference factions arose that night: most courtiers supported Zheng Zhuo, but a group of people chose Zheng Hong, Thirteen Prince who was raised under the empress’s knees.

Seeing this, Yuan Ci Xian frowned slightly.

Forced by the rumors arranged by Xi Ju, the time had become a bit tense. Zheng Zhuo had not had time to return to the court, and the courtiers had not completely settled their hearts. Facing the death of the old emperor, some people quietly thought about supporting a puppet young emperor so they could take this opportunity to expand their power.

What matter was that it was Empress Liang who presided over this matter.

Although the empress usually seemed to be aloof from the world, but since she stood in the harem, no woman was truly selfless, pure and ignorant. Zheng Zhuo was famous for his filial piety. After he ascended the throne, although he would not immediately break the rules and honestly respect Empress Liang as the Empress Dowager, but after a long time, who knows if he would call Xue Cairen to the throne?

The empress must have such concerns, and she must also hope that Zheng Hong, who was raised under her knees, could ascend the throne. Not to mention being the Empress Dowager who presided the court, at least she would be able to cling power for the rest of her life.

Yuan Ci Xian’s heart thumped. For some reason, she felt very uneasy.

She immediately found her father, who was recuperating in the city due to injury, and discussed the matter with him. However, Yuan Yi Zhi held a different opinion: “Sixth Highness has paved the way for many years, and he has a deep foundation in the court, but Thirteenth Highness has nothing. It’s absolutely impossible to finalize this matter with a few courtiers and an empress with ulterior motives. The courtiers under the Sixth Highness will suppress this dispute no matter what.”

Yuan Ci Xian knew that his father’s analysis was rational.

But perhaps because in the dream the person who finally ascended to the throne was Thirteenth Prince, when he and Zheng Zhuo were placed together, she couldn’t help but feel worried. It was not that she didn’t like Zheng Hong, but such a young child was mostly treated as a puppet when he was in that position. It was really difficult for him to take the responsibility of restoring Great Zhou. What’s more, this life was not like the previous life. With Lu Shi Qing’s current situation, it was very difficult to return to the court to assist him.