Aoyama

Chapter 233 Missing
"Hu Junxian!"

"Hu Junxian, if you are a man, come out and explain yourself clearly, don't hide on the city wall!"

The Yulin Army was clamoring in front of the city gate, but Hu Junxian seemed to be deaf and ignored them.

Command arrows were sent out from the city gate tower, and the border soldiers took the arrows and went to pass on the orders, ignoring the prince and the Yulin Army.

Qi Chenzhuo said angrily: "Your Highness, this Hu Junxian doesn't take you seriously at all!"

The prince, wrapped in his white fox fur coat, said calmly, "Please consider this. Don't get angry here. Where is the dignity of the Yulin Army? Withdraw."

Qi Chenzhuo opened his mouth, then clasped his fists and stepped back.

At this time, footsteps were heard, and Deputy General Zhou led a team of border infantry passing by the Yulin Army.

Zhou You said coldly, "I am the general of Guyuan Dusi Mansion, and I am a high-ranking official of the imperial court. I will not tolerate you, a bunch of playboys, shouting and yelling. Please be respectful. We are soldiers guarding the border, not cats and dogs tied to the foot of the imperial city."

After saying this, he led the infantry to the city gate and climbed up the stairs to the city wall without looking back.

Li Xuan frowned and thought for a moment, then turned to the prince and said, "Your Highness, Hu Junxian lied to keep you here. What should we do now?"

The prince was silent for a moment, then sighed, "It would be great if Mr. Qi was here, but unfortunately he was transferred to the palace by my father and was unable to come to Guyuan this time."

Li Xuan looked ashamed. He and others were by the prince's side, but the prince regretted that Mr. Qi did not come. It was obvious that he thought they were useless.

The prince looked at Chen Liqin, who was wearing a bright red official robe. "Sir Chen, I heard earlier that you have made great achievements in Luocheng, and my father also praised you... What do you think?"

Chen Liqin thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will go and negotiate with General Hu. I will ask him to open the city gate and let us out of the city."

The prince remained silent.

Chen Liqin dismounted and headed towards the city gate, but before he got close, two border soldiers crossed their spears and blocked his way: "This is a military secret area, outsiders, stay away!"

Chen Liqin frowned and said, "This is not the White Tiger Hall, nor the Council Hall of the Military Affairs Office. According to the military law of our Ning Dynasty, this is not an important place for military affairs. Prince, I am the Junior Zhanshi of the Zhanshi Office, a fourth-rank official. When the war comes, I have the authority and responsibility to inquire about military affairs. If you don't understand the law, don't talk nonsense!"

After hearing what Chen Liqin said, a border soldier hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at his comrades and asked, "What is the name of the young Zhan Shi in the Zhan Shi Mansion?"

Another border soldier shook his head: "It sounds like he is a high-ranking official, but he should not be as high-ranking as our general."

"Oh, since he is not as senior as our general, then we will listen to the general."

Chen Liqin's face turned blue and purple due to the teasing, and his opponent even ignored the military law!
He patiently negotiated with the border soldiers for a stick of incense, but he didn't even get to the top of the city wall and had to come back in disgrace.

The prince soothed him gently, "Don't be discouraged, Lord Chen. It's not your fault that the border troops are rude and unreasonable."

Chen Liqin hesitated to speak and finally remained silent.

Just as he had said to Liang when he was in Luocheng, he was a capable official in governing a place, but he did not have the quick wit to deal with danger. He had never thought about the position of Shao Zhanshi, but somehow the court arranged for him to assist the prince.

The prince looked at the flickering flames on the city wall from afar and was in a dilemma for a moment.

Qi Chenzhuo came closer and whispered, "Prince, I have a way to get out of the city."

The prince said calmly, "Please speak."

Qi pondered for a moment: "After I arrived in Guyuan, I heard that there are two secret tunnels in and out of the city. Merchants can use these two secret tunnels to avoid the city gates and transport some prohibited commercial goods... Maybe Your Highness can also leave through the secret tunnels?"

The prince glanced at him and said, "The crown prince of a country fled in a panic through a tunnel. Where is the dignity of the royal family? There has never been such a cowardly crown prince in my Great Ning Dynasty. Don't mention it again."

Li Xuan said, "Your Highness, we have to make decisions in an emergency. If anything happens to you..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a voice not far away: "You are not allowed to leave the city."

The prince and Li Xuan turned their heads at the same time and saw Chen Ji riding his horse forward: "Your Highness, you cannot leave the city at this time."

Chen Liqin frowned and said, "Why are you here to join in the fun? Back off!"

Chen Ji bowed to the prince and said, "Your Highness, you see that the army is busy here, it is not prepared for a show." The prince thought for a while: "What do you mean?"

Chen Ji pointed at the soldiers of the Border Army and said, "The Border Army is short of military supplies. Ordinary soldiers can only wear rattan armor, and their weapons are incomplete. According to the market price, it takes eight taels of silver to make a hard bow of one stone. This kind of bow must be extremely cherished by the soldiers in the Border Army..."

Qi Chenzhuo interrupted, "What exactly do you want to say? Make it short!"

Zhang Zheng uttered a "huh" and was about to ride his horse forward to argue with him.

Chen Ji raised his hand to stop Zhang Zheng's action and continued, "Hard bows are easy to crack, and cow tendon strings are brittle, so they are not strung when there is no war. When we entered the city in the afternoon, the bows of the border soldiers were inserted into the quivers on their backs, and they were not strung. But now, all the border soldiers wearing hard bows have strung cow tendon strings, without exception. If it was just a play, the border soldiers would not be willing to do this."

Li Xuan shook his head: "This doesn't prove anything. The ones who were acting were Hu Junxian and Zhou You. They only told their soldiers that the enemy was coming. How could they tell everyone about the idea of ​​treason? So the border soldiers really thought that the Jing Dynasty's Tiance Army was coming."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment and then said, "Don't you think the fire on the city wall is too bright?"

The prince asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Chen Ji explained, "If there were only torches, there would be no such a bright fire. Now the city wall is as bright as day, there is a big fire burning outside the city... The border troops are setting fire to the mountains outside the city to prevent the Jing Dynasty troops from coming here to cut down trees and build siege weapons. If there was no real enemy, why would General Hu go to this point?"

Before anyone else could say anything, Chen Liqin angrily said, "You are an ignorant person, yet you are talking about war on paper here, as if you saw the border troops setting fire to the mountain with your own eyes. I told you to withdraw, but is it possible for you to talk nonsense in front of His Highness?"

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then turned his horse and retreated.

Chen Liqin bowed to the prince again and said, "Your Highness, I am sorry that I have embarrassed you by not being able to teach my son well."

The prince hurriedly said, "Master Chen, why do you have to do this? Chen Ji is just trying to give advice, so there is no need to blame him."

Chen Liqin replied: "Your Highness, the most urgent thing is to be careful of the border troops who may jump to the wall in desperation. If they are allowed to hold the crown prince hostage, I am afraid that Your Majesty will also be in a dilemma."

The prince lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Xuan asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, do you also think that there are really Jing Dynasty officials outside the city who have infiltrated our Ning Dynasty's hinterland?"

The prince sat on his horse, looking up at the majestic city wall in the distance: "What Chen Ji said is not entirely unreasonable. This bastard of the Chen family is a careful observer, and he is not as bad as Lord Chen said. When the Liu family rebelled, the Jing Dynasty troops came to Chongli Pass. If I remember correctly, the Tiance Army was not among them. At that time, the officials in the court were wondering where the Tiance Army had gone. Now that I think about it, it is very likely that they really came to Guyuan for a surprise attack."

Li Xuan thought for a moment: "If the Tiance Army really comes, Your Highness should leave Guyuan. You are worth a lot of money. If Guyuan City is broken, I am afraid..."

The prince asked casually, "But if we leave now, what if we run into the officials of the Jing Dynasty outside the city?"

Li Xuan consoled him, "Ziwu Ridge is extremely dangerous. Cavalry can never pass through, and food and supplies cannot be transported in. Even if the Tiance Army sent officers to infiltrate, it must be a small group of people to intercept food and gather intelligence. The Yulin Army's 500 cavalry formation can kill the Jing Dynasty's officers. Your Highness, let's go!"

The prince was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head: "General Li's kindness is appreciated. But I am the crown prince of a country. If the Tiance Army of the Jing Dynasty really comes to the city, I will live and die with Guyuan, and I must not flee before the battle. Our Ning Dynasty moved the capital from Jinling to the capital, which means that the emperor is guarding the country. Those who are afraid of fighting are not worthy of this great country of Ning Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan was so excited that he clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Highness is right. Your Highness's vision and courage make me feel ashamed. You will definitely become a wise ruler in the future..."

"Don't talk nonsense when things are not decided yet," the prince interrupted in a gentle voice, "Commander Li, don't blame yourself. I understand that you are thinking about my safety... Let's go back to the Dusi Mansion and we will discuss the rest later."

After saying this, he gathered the fox fur coat on his shoulders, took another deep look at the city wall, and then turned his horse back.

The Yulin Army escorted the prince all the way back to the Dusi Mansion under the cover of night.

Arriving at the gate of the Dusi Mansion, the prince dismounted and handed the reins to Li Xuan: "Make sure to settle Lord Chen and his relatives..."

As he spoke, he turned around and glanced behind him: "Hey, where is Miss Zhang Xia?"

Li Xuan was slightly startled and looked back, but there was no sign of Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng behind the Yulin Army.

He hesitated and said, "I think my Yulin Army was in too much of a hurry, causing them to fall behind? Your Highness, please rest in the palace first, I will take people to look for them right away!"

Qi Chenzhuo said, "Your Highness, I just saw them take another path on Shule Street. They took the initiative to leave, not falling behind. I guess they were afraid that they would be murdered by the border troops if they followed us, so they ran away secretly. It wasn't just Zhang Zheng and Zhang Xia who left, but also the kid named Chen Ji and his maid."

The prince was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "In that case, let them go."

(End of this chapter)