The prince is more stable

Chapter 510: Rushing to Beijing
You can say Zhao Hao is lazy, fat, or bad, but you can never say he is bad.

As the son of Emperor Yingzong, the younger brother of Emperor Shenzong, and the uncle of Emperor Zhao Xu, King Zhao Hao of Chu remained unmoved after three dynasties. He had experienced countless court storms and remained unscathed. Did they really think he was a harmless old dude, a cowardly relative who was just waiting to die?
The news came from Zhending Prefecture three days ago. With just a few words, Zhao Hao quickly made a timely and accurate judgment.

Zhao Hao realized that something was wrong just from Zhao Xiaoqian's action of mobilizing troops to search for Han Wei and others.

Of course, he knew his own son well. Although Zhao Xiaoqian seemed gentle, he actually had a strong character and would rather die than yield. If Han Wei and others had not pushed him into a corner, Zhao Xiaoqian would not have taken such a drastic action.

Once he did this, it meant that there was no room for maneuver and he would definitely do it to the extreme.

Han Wei was the Chief Transport Commissioner, Wang Yuan was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and in addition, forty other officials were also on the wanted list. According to Zhao Hao's understanding of his son, once he caught these officials, there was a high probability that they would be killed.

If an official from the imperial court was ordered to go down to the local area to perform his duties and was killed by Zhao Xiaoqian, it would be a catastrophic disaster.

Zhao Hao's heart skipped a beat at this moment. Thinking of the serious consequences of this matter, he felt that a disaster was about to happen.

The news was from three days ago. By today, Han Wei and other officials might have been killed. However, Zhao Hao had a secret force under his command, and the news was transmitted one or two days faster than the normal imperial courier.

In a day or two, there might be a huge storm in Bian Jing, and Zhao Xiaoqian and the Chu Palace will become the target of public criticism. It is also unclear what the emperor's attitude will be after learning about this.

Zhao Hao looked solemn, with layers of cold sweat oozing out of his forehead, and his face gradually turned pale.

"Send a fast horse to Zhending Prefecture and order Ding Jiu to continue to gather the latest news. Also, send someone to tell Qian'er that if he has caused a major disaster, he must return to the capital immediately without delay. Before a disturbance arises in the court, he must return to the capital to meet with the emperor and confess the whole story..."

"If he's not in the wrong, then we can still do something. But if he's not right..." Zhao Hao paused, then suddenly relaxed a little. "Qian'er wouldn't do anything unreasonable. Even if he killed those dozens of officials, he must have had his reasons."

Zhao Hao spoke with certainty. Although he knew nothing, he had unconditional trust in Zhao Xiaoqian.

Father and son have been together for many years. If he doesn't even have this little trust in his son, wouldn't all these years have been lived in vain?
At this moment, Zhao Hao calmed down and carefully sorted out the limited information. He felt more and more that Zhao Xiaoqian must have had a reason for killing the official. As long as he had the right reason, the worst result would at least not be life for life.

As long as you are alive, there is a possibility of turning things around in the future.

The person who reported the news was still standing in front of him stupidly. Zhao Hao glanced at him and couldn't help but get angry. He kicked him with his fat little legs, making him roll over.

"What are you standing there for, you idiot? Get to work! Hurry up! Tell the messenger to change people and horses, but don't stop for a moment. You must deliver the message as quickly as possible!"

Seeing his incompetent subordinates running away, Zhao Hao sighed, turned around and went back to his room, with a look of worry on his face.

This is not going to be easy!

If possible, Zhao Hao really wanted to call Zhao Xiaoqian his living father.

Why don't you just kill the Liao army? Why kill the Song officials for no reason? If you think your life is too long, then you should go to a woman's belly too much. It will definitely shorten your life. Why do you do such a suicidal thing?

He turned around and went back to the house, where the pretty widow, with a gentle and charming smile, came up to him.

The widow was one of the women Zhao Hao kept in his outer house.

Zhao Hao himself couldn't even count how many women there were in Bianjing City.

The reason why he kept so many women was not only to meet the personal needs of a middle-aged, single, divorced man, but more importantly, the lineage of King Chu was not prosperous. Zhao Hao wanted to try his luck. Maybe God would have mercy on him and allow him to open a small account?

As a result, over the years, the palace and the outer houses had so many women, but not a single one laid eggs.

It's okay if they don't lay eggs, but at least by exercising them diligently every day, you can achieve the goal of losing weight, right?

The result was still no result. There was no sign of the fat on my body decreasing.

At this time, the pretty widow took the initiative to come forward and hugged Zhao Hao's fat body.

"Your Highness..." the pretty widow called out softly with emotion.

Zhao Hao pushed her away impatiently. "Your Highness! The situation is urgent, and a woman shouldn't think about serving her country and dying for it, but instead dwells on these ugly female desires every day. It's simply shameful!"

The pretty widow was stunned.

Why is His Highness so righteous today? It's so strange...

Normally, you would pounce on her like a demon when you saw her. Why didn’t you say “serve the country and die for it” at that time?
Zhao Hao's fat cheeks twitched, and he pushed the widow away and walked out.

The man was almost out of the backyard when the pretty widow suddenly seemed to remember something and giggled at Zhao Hao's back.

"Your Highness, please come back when you are able. I will serve you well..."

Zhao Hao paused, his face turning purple.

Humiliation! This is absolutely a great humiliation for men!
But... he couldn't refute it.

Chilling!
When will men truly stand up!
He walked out of the gate with a downcast face, and found that the servants had already prepared a carriage for him.

Zhao Hao's face was cold, and he was in no hurry to get on the carriage. After thinking for a while, he suddenly said, "Send someone back to the palace to move some valuable gifts from the storeroom. They should be worth at least 200,000 strings of cash. Send them to Prime Minister Zhang's residence immediately and tell him that I will visit him in an hour."

"Also, send valuable gifts to the residences of Envoy An Tao, General Xu, Minister of Revenue Cai Jing, and others. I'll give you a list later. Each family should receive at least 100,000 strings of cash. Tell them I'll be visiting them soon."

Zhao Hao climbed onto the carriage with great difficulty. The carriage started to move forward, and Zhao Hao sat inside, his face full of pain and frustration, his eyes red and filled with grief. He sat in the carriage and muttered to himself in a daze.

"You got into trouble, and I paid for it. This one move is worth tens of millions of taels! You prodigal son, what did the royal treasury do wrong to deserve such a disaster? You are so filial to me! Wuwuwu..."

…………

Zhending City.

The disaster was serious, and Zhao Xiaoqian naturally knew that he had to rush back to Bian Jing immediately to save himself.

It would be best if he arrived in Bianjing before the news reached there, then perhaps the matter could be resolved.

If the news had reached Bian Jing before him and caused public opinion both at home and abroad, then he would be beyond the reach of even the gods.

What we are fighting for is time, and we cannot waste even a moment.

He hurried back to the Prince's Mansion and said a few words to the three girls, Nian Nian. As the three girls looked on in panic and reluctance, Zhao Xiaoqian led Chen Shou and hundreds of other imperial guards out of the city and rushed towards Bian Jing.

This trip was very fast. In order to save time, Zhao Xiaoqian specifically ordered that each person should take two horses on the road. People should not stop on horseback, and they could change horses without changing people. Even eating and drinking were hastily solved on horseback.

After leaving the city for several hours, the group had already run two hundred miles away.

Chen Shou and hundreds of other imperial guards rode their horses at full speed, exhausted, but without complaint.

They all knew that this was to help the prince save his life.

If the prince stopped to rest for a while, he would be in greater danger.

Hundreds of people ran wildly in silence, and everyone was in a very solemn mood. They were more worried than Zhao Xiaoqian himself. Their future and fate were uncertain, and everyone was under heavy psychological pressure.

As it was getting dark, Zhao Xiaoqian suggested finding a place near water to set up camp and continue the journey early the next morning. However, Chen Shou said firmly, "Sir, let's continue on our journey. We can't waste a moment. Let's rest a little after midnight."

Zhao Xiaoqian said unhappily, "Are you trying to tire me to death? How can my frail body compare to yours? I died on the way before being punished by the court. I'm too embarrassed to plead for mercy in the underworld."

Chen Shou still insisted, "Prince, can we run for a little longer? Just for a little while. This is extremely urgent. Prince, please don't take it lightly. This is a matter of life and death!"

Zhao Xiaoqian listened to the whistling wind and the waves of summer heat blowing in his face, and said with increasing impatience, "No, I can't endure any hardship. I'd rather die of exhaustion on horseback than return to Bianjing and be executed. At least I'll have a decent death... Eh?"

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Xiaoqian suddenly discovered that about a mile ahead, there was someone riding a horse at full speed. He was riding alone and had a black box on his back.

Chen Shou also saw the lone rider ahead. He squinted his eyes and looked at him. He said, "The black box behind that person is used to transmit urgent military information. It seems that he is heading towards Bianjing, just like us..."

Zhao Xiaoqian frowned and said, "I am the border commander of Zhending Prefecture. If there is urgent military information, why don't I know about it? Besides, the Liao people have been beaten so many times, do they still have the courage to invade the border?"

Chen Shou suddenly opened his eyes and said excitedly, "No, it's not an urgent military information, Prince, we must stop that person. I suspect that he must be reporting to Bian Jing, reporting the news that Han Wei, Wang Yuan and others have been beheaded!"

Zhao Xiaoqian was shocked. "He's the one who reported me? Damn it! Stop him!"

Dozens of guardsmen behind whipped the horses hard, and the horses sped up in pain and soon caught up with the knight.

The knight probably didn't expect that he was just delivering a message, but he was caught up at this moment when it was almost dark. Several riders had passed him and were standing sideways on the narrow road ahead, pointing their swords at him.

The knight was horrified and reined in his horse.

Before he could ask a question, Chen Shou pulled him off his horse and snatched the black box from his back.

When the knight tried to stop them, countless knives were already on his neck. The knight immediately squatted down obediently with his hands on his head.

Chen Shou nonchalantly broke the sealing wax on the black box. After opening the box, there was only a letter inside.

Chen Shou took a quick glance at the letter, showing a frightened expression, and handed the letter to Zhao Xiaoqian.

"Prince, it turned out to be the messenger. Fortunately, we stopped him, otherwise disaster would have befallen us."

Zhao Xiaoqian glanced at the letter, his lips curled slightly. "It seems that God has mercy on me. There is always help in the dark. Stopping this man has bought me at least two days..."

Just as he was about to send someone to take the messenger knight back to Zhending City for custody, he saw Chen Shou suddenly draw his sword. The sword flashed across the knight's neck, and a line of blood spurted out.

The knight opened his eyes wide, covered his neck and struggled unwillingly for a few times, and finally fell in a pool of blood and died.

Zhao Xiaoqian was startled and turned to look at Chen Shoushi with a very gloomy expression.

Chen Shouye knew what he had done, but he still said with no regrets, "Sir, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The fate of the Song Dynasty depends on you, and the people of the world are looking forward to peace. Regardless of whether he is innocent or not, anyone who has done something to harm you is asking for death."

Zhao Xiaoqian was silent for a moment. He was also the commander of an army and knew the necessity of decisive killing.

Chen Shou was not wrong, he was just loyally protecting his master.

"Leave two people to bury him, and we will continue on our way." Zhao Xiaoqian said coldly, then jumped on his horse.

(End of this chapter)