"I'll help you!" He Zifeng's eyes were gentle and he came up with love words at his fingertips: "No matter what happens, I will always be on your side."
Chu Yunli couldn't help but curl up the corner of her mouth. After arriving at the front hall, she said directly: "Dad, it's cold outside and you haven't recovered well yet. Let me go."
After Bei Wang was detoxified, he had to recover for more than half a year. Now he looks like a normal person, but in fact he is still in poor health. It is winter outside, so if he gets sick, he will have to recover for a long time.
King Bei somewhat disagreed, and Princess Bei had already said: "There are so many talented people in the North Palace, why do you, a girl, have to travel so far away?" She glanced at Gu Yin with a hint: "In my opinion, it is most suitable for the prince to go.
.He doesn’t know how to fight on his own, so he can just bring a few more people with him.”
Gu Yin volunteered: "Sister, I'll go."
"Yes!" Princess Bei agreed with her face: "As the Crown Prince, as a man, you should be responsible. If not, let the people in the north know that the Crown Prince is a coward, and it will also bring shame to our Prince's Palace."
After hearing this, Gu Yin stood up and said, "There is no need to discuss this matter anymore. I'll go!"
King Bei frowned slightly and glanced at Princess Bei displeasedly: "I've been very busy recently. This year, the Zhou family's taxes are wrong in many places. You go back tomorrow and let them figure it out and send it to you."
Hearing this, Princess Bei turned pale: "Your Majesty, I..."
In fact, everyone in the northern border pays 30% of their total profits in taxes to the palace every year.
It doesn't seem like much, but a few big families monopolize almost all the business in the north, and 30% of it is worth over one million taels. Besides, who would be willing to give away the money they earned for no reason?
Since you are not happy, you have to think of other ways. For example, concealing the accounts and underreporting the profits. This method is dangerous. If you are caught by the palace, you will be fined ten times or dozens of times. There is another more
Directly, it is to ask the palace to take the initiative to collect less... Here, you have to find the right way.
For example, the Zhou family's daughter became the North Princess. Over the years, she has only collected 20% of the accounts, and the palace has never checked the Zhou family's accounts. This makes many people in Beicheng envious.
This year, we also paid 20%. But now, King Bei personally asked the Zhou family to make up for it, which shows that he was angry.
Princess Bei was unwilling, but she did not dare to plead for mercy. If the palace wanted to investigate the Zhou family's accounts, the matter would be even bigger. She stood up and hurriedly said: "I suddenly remembered that the steward of Man Yue Buzhuang is still waiting in the courtyard.
I, I'll go first."
Gu Yin was a little confused: "Father, what's going on with mother and concubine?"
King Bei initially chose the daughter of the Zhou family as his step-concubine, in order to let her take good care of his two children, and he did not stop them from getting close to each other. Gu Yin was only six years old at that time, so he changed his name to mother-concubine.
It's been called like this all these years.
Looking at his son like this, King Bei sighed inwardly, his face as usual: "She is in a hurry, so don't worry about her. As for your trip to Hongye Mountain..." He pondered for a moment, as if thinking seriously: "I'm very busy here.
If you need help from someone you trust, let your sister go there."
Gu Yin immediately felt that it was more important here, nodded and said: "I listen to my father."
Fortunately, he was still obedient, and King Bei asked again: "You are the prince, and as long as what you do is for the good of the people, why should you be afraid of what others say? As for daily life, you still put your own comfort first, and you cannot let outsiders influence your thoughts."
Gu Yin nodded again.
He should be casual and not fall in love with him at first sight.
King Bei didn't force it, and looked at his daughter: "Then you go. Remember to put your own safety first."
Chu Yunli didn't want to delay, so he had his horse ready and planned to set off immediately.
He Zifeng was a little anxious: "I'll go too."
King Bei looked at the two of them, then lowered his head and picked up the beads. Apparently he didn't want to care about this matter.
He Zifeng's eyes were full of worry: "I'm not worried, I want to stay with you."
Then let's go.
Chu Yunli brought thirty of his best guards. Since they were suppressing bandits, King Bei also ordered three hundred private soldiers. The group left on horseback in a mighty manner, and everyone on the main street saw it with their own eyes.
It has been a long time since the Northern Palace made such a big move, which caused everyone to talk about it.
The common people were fine and could just talk a few words, but for the major aristocratic families, every action of the palace deserved their special attention. As a result, many servants went to the back door of the palace.
After galloping all the way, in the afternoon of the second day, the group arrived at the foot of Hongye Mountain.
Hongye Mountain is surrounded by mountains of about the same height, and the terrain is dangerous. People who are not familiar with the terrain can easily climb to other mountains.
This is the border of Beicheng, which can barely be regarded as the fiefdom of the Northern King. A few dozen miles away is Maple City in the Ming Dynasty. The guards have already found an old farmer who is familiar with the terrain to take them up the mountain.
When they reached a mountain col, the old farmer refused to step forward and pointed to a place halfway up the mountain: "Those gangsters live there!"
Judging from his appearance, it was obvious that he didn't want to go any further. Once he found a place, Chu Yunli didn't make things difficult for him and just rode ahead.
During this period, He Zifeng often followed her in and out of the city. He learned things quickly and could keep up, without holding him back.
A few steps further up, the terrain became steeper and it was no longer possible to ride a horse. Chu Yunli got off his horse and led the people to hike up. After passing the steep cliff, the terrain became flat. There was a winding path that was enough for two people to walk side by side.
Winding deep into the dense forest, the ground was covered with dead branches and fallen leaves.
Chu Yunli walked in the front, looking at six roads. When she vaguely saw a house in front of her, the officers and soldiers behind her were a little restless, but she stopped, picked up a stone at hand, and threw it towards the middle of the road.
The stone fell to the ground, but was directly buried among the dead leaves. At the same time, there was a rustling sound all around, and as the big tree swayed, a small silver light shuttled through the forest, and the ominous black sap on the tip was faintly visible. A large figure also appeared on the ground.
The pit and the daggers in the pit were all tied to tree trunks and pointed upwards. Several large nets fell from the sky, and many tree trunks thicker than people flew around at high speeds.
The officers and soldiers behind were stunned. With the mess in front of them again, it was hard to imagine that this was a quiet path just now.
There are so many agencies layered on top of each other. If they step into them without knowing it, they will definitely suffer heavy casualties.
The guard commander on the side had been on guard, and when he saw that the surrounding area was quiet, he breathed a sigh of relief. When he came to his senses, there was cold sweat on his forehead and back.
The officers, soldiers and guards of the palace have always fought with real swords and spears. I have only heard of such trap skills. But that was all on the battlefield. Who would have thought that there could be such a proficient trap in a small village?
Where are people?
As soon as the crowd came to their senses, many people in short-sleeved clothes rushed out from above, all holding large swords and showing a fearless attitude.
The officers and soldiers of the palace had never looked at the mechanism. When they saw them rushing towards them like this, they were immediately confused. Instead of retreating, they drew their swords and faced them with a more ruthless attitude than them. The two sides instantly became involved in a battle.
Probably because the officers and soldiers of the royal palace were too powerful, within a quarter of an hour, the robbers were injured and tied up.
It was not that the officers and soldiers were merciful, but once the two sides fought, they quickly discovered that these people were fake. The commander immediately asked them to be merciful.
Chu Yunli walked up to a middle-aged man in his fifties. This man stretched out his hands very neatly and had just exchanged several moves with her.
"Where is the fifth prince?"
The middle-aged man stopped talking and said in an impatient tone: "I don't know what you are talking about. If you lose, you will lose. If you keep doing this, your head is gone. It is just on my head. If you want to kill me, kill me!"
"
Chu Yunli nodded: "I don't want to live anymore! That's easy..." She waved her hand: "Kill them all."
It is better to die than live.
There were only a few people who were willing to die, and most of them still wanted to struggle. For a while, everyone was twisting and begging for mercy.
Others shouted: "Master, my son is only three years old this year. I don't want to die..."
The middle-aged man closed his eyes: "I will take you there."
The fifth prince was imprisoned in a cave near the top of the mountain, with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth gagged. His gorgeous clothes had already been stripped off, and even his underwear was replaced with tattered cloth clothes. The jade crown on his head was no longer there.
He didn't even have shoes on his feet. If it weren't for his icy skin, he would have been a beggar. Next to him was a man in his thirties with a fair face and no beard. He had a rather delicate appearance and must be his father-in-law.
Chu Yunli stood at the entrance of the cave and looked at the master and servant.
The guard was a little confused, but he stepped forward and pulled out the cloth from the fifth prince's mouth, and then helped him loosen his ties.
As soon as the man in his thirties took the cloth away from his mouth, he immediately said in a sharp voice: "It took three days to send the letter, why are you here now?"
"Wynn!" the young man scolded.
Chu Yunli waved her hand and asked someone to take the leader down, then she looked confused: "The letter said the person coming is the fifth prince, you two... which one is it?"
In fact, one of the two men no longer looks like a man, and anyone can guess who the fifth prince is.
The man in his thirties raised his orchid finger with an unhappy look on his face: "Can't you see?"
Chu Yunli looked at this and that, and said: "I have never been out of the North since I was a child, and I have never seen the prince. They say that the prince in the palace is pampered and his skin is whiter than that of women. You two are like this
Bai, how do I know who it is?"
Hua En was about to scold him when he opened his mouth. After the fifth prince Gu Xun was untied, he was the first to salute: "Thank you, Sister Yuan, for saving your life."
Quite flexible and flexible!
If it were the pampered prince who was imprisoned and deliberately misidentified, he would have lost face long ago.
Chu Yunli looked him up and down: "As long as you're okay, my father is already waiting, let's go now."
Gu Xun stopped talking and glanced at Wynn.
Huaien immediately understood what his master meant, took a step forward, and said angrily: "The fifth prince has been imprisoned for three days. He must eat and wash up first, and then go to the North Prince's Mansion. In any case, the prince is the elder of the fifth prince, so he is so disheveled."
It would be too rude to go see him."
Chu Yunli looked carefree and waved his hand: "It doesn't matter if we are in the capital. Now in the north, we are all one family. Don't pay attention to these false etiquette."
With that said, he got on his horse and said, "Hurry back and try to get back to the palace before dawn."
After saying that, don't give anyone a chance to speak, and then leave immediately!
When I went back, I took dozens of robbers with me, not that many horses, and pulled them along at a trot. They started walking from the afternoon until the evening of the next day, and finally arrived at the gate of the North City.
The fifth prince was still wearing the same tattered clothes and his feet were still bare. He wanted to stop several times, but Chu Yunli refused mercilessly.
The lights in Beicheng were brightly lit at night, and it became more and more prosperous as we walked. People on the roadside saw Chu Yunli leading the team back. The fifth prince was wearing rags and was very conspicuous among the officers and soldiers.
Someone on the road asked: "Who is that? The beggar the princess rescued?"