Later, I became the prince of the group

Chu Li twisted his body with difficulty, trying to see what the outside looked like through the hole in the wooden door, but someone stood in front of the wooden door, blocking the light.

He didn't have any injuries on his body, but he just woke up after smelling the sweat medicine, his mind was dizzy, and the rope on his body was too tight, and it hurt when he moved.

He felt that sitting like this was not comfortable lying down, so he tried every means to move himself from the thatch pile to the ground. When he fell, he couldn't support himself, and his head hit the ground all at once. He gritted his teeth desperately and didn't cry out, but the movement still alarmed the outside world. people.

Half of a man's horrific scarred face was exposed in the hole, scaring Chu Li to his wits.

"What are you doing?" Scarface's voice was hoarse, and it didn't sound like a human being at all.

Chu Li originally thought of revealing his identity to scare the gangsters. He didn't know what "jumping over the wall in a hurry" meant. He just felt that no one would dare to touch the son of the king of Pingcheng, let alone the emperor's own daughter.But at this moment, he didn't dare, and finally suppressed the fear in his heart, and said tremblingly: "Sitting is uncomfortable, I want to lie down."

Scarface stared at him for a while, but didn't say anything, acquiesced to his behavior, and even walked away a little.

Only then did Chu Li turn around and roll, looking at the little girl lying on the thatched pile, when he looked over, the little girl had her eyes open, and she didn't know when she woke up, she was so silent.

Chu Li didn't cry just now facing the scarred face, but now his eyes are full of tears: "I'm sorry, sister princess, I shouldn't have brought you out, it's all my fault... woo... it's all my fault for hurting you..."

Wan Tao didn't speak, Chu Li thought she was angry with him, felt more and more guilty, and comforted her cautiously: "You... don't be afraid, brother An Wang will definitely come to save us."

As soon as the words fell, there was the sound of soldiers and horses not far away. Chu Li put his ear to the ground and heard it clearly. He was immediately overjoyed: "There are so many horses! They must have come to look for us!"

Those people seemed to be searching from house to house. Chu Li was very anxious, and only hoped that they would find out here quickly. At this moment, Scarface opened the door and came in, stuffing a steamed bun into his mouth.

He turned his head and saw that the little girl was still unconscious with her eyes closed and tilted her head, so she didn't go there, but stared at Chu Li indifferently: "Eat."

Chu Li had to chew hard, he swallowed one mouthful, and the next mouthful was immediately blocked.

After an unknown period of time, he felt that his mind was starting to feel dizzy again.

When he woke up again, the surroundings were already too peaceful.

His first reaction was to look at Wan Tao next to him, and tried to call out, "Sister Princess?"

The little girl opened her eyes again silently, she was awake all the time, Chu Li realized that Wan Tao had escaped the medicine in the steamed bun just now by pretending to be asleep.

Wan Tao licked her dry lips and said softly, "They didn't come."

Chu Li looked bewildered.

how could be?

"They went directly to the next house and didn't come." Wantao said, "I can't shout."

Chu Li guessed that she must not have shouted, otherwise she would also be fed steamed buns.

But she really can't shout. Even if Wantao speaks with the loudest voice, it is almost as loud as other people's usual voice. If those soldiers and horses can search the yard, they may be saved, but there is a wall No matter what, the child's cries for help can't compete with such a big commotion outside, not to mention that she started panting after only two words.

It was only then that Chu Li realized that something was wrong with her, and after struggling to move his body closer, he realized that her face was pale and seemed to be in quite pain.

Chu Yan couldn't help but frown when he heard the news from all sides.

Most of the three places he circled and the vicinity of the city gate have been checked, but there is no news.

He has already widened the range as much as possible without delay, so the kidnapper has the ability to fly into the sky and escape from the ground, so he left that area so quickly?

Or maybe the kidnapper did not follow the usual path, so that Chu Yan guessed the wrong direction from the beginning?

Is it really necessary to expand the search scope to the entire capital right now?

Let's not talk about how much commotion this will cause, just talk about the time, if you really have to go door-to-door in a place as big as the capital, how long will it be delayed?

What if the gangster's goal is not to blackmail threats, but to seek revenge?After such a long delay, are the two children still alive?

Chu Yan didn't want to think about things so badly, but he couldn't help imagining the worst outcome. He vaguely noticed that he was starting to panic.

No, there is no rush.

If they were just looking for revenge, they would have found the body a long time ago. Those bandits didn't have to take their two children to hide until now, and just killed people and sneaked into the common people. Maybe it would be easier to escape the search that arrived half an hour late.

So the kidnapper must have another purpose, and the two children will be fine for the time being!

Just thinking about it, it was reported that Lu Shangshu and the third prince from the Ministry of Punishment had arrived together.

These two people are obviously not together, after Lu Shangshu saluted, he took a special look at the third prince, seemed suspicious, and quickly looked away.

Chu Yan asked Lu Shangshu to take a seat, and the servants immediately served tea. Lu Shangshu saw that Chu Yan didn't care about Chu Rui's existence, so he went straight to the topic: "My lord, after Zhu Shengyou moved out of Zhu's house, he moved to Qiaoxi Hutong. Although he was expelled from the clan in name, the Zhu family still divided the family for him according to the share of the legitimate sons, and they also helped him on weekdays, and his life was pretty good. Recently, he has been addicted to gambling brothels, and often talks about... The Zhu family suppressed foul language and occasional oppression of the people, but there was nothing unusual about it. Except for the people from the Zhu family and the friends he made in the place of fireworks, he had no contact with others. "

Lu Shangshu paused for a moment, and then said with a troubled expression: "As for the Zhu residence...it's not easy to investigate, and there are no clues yet."

Chu Yan knew in his heart that even if he went in person, the Zhu family might not give him this face, and it would be even more difficult to find out.

Chu Rui interjected: "Do you suspect that Zhu Shengyou sent someone to tie Tao'er?"

Chu Yan shook his head, but did not explain.

Lu Shangshu then continued: "There have been letters between Liangzhou. The most recent letter was half a month ago. It was a letter from the family. The post station did not receive a reply from the princess of the county."

Chu Yan paused, and then asked: "How long did it take for the princess of the county to reply to the letter?"

Lu Shangshu said: "It's just that there is something unusual here. In the past, when there was a letter from Liangzhou, the princess of the county would send the reply to the post at the latest on the second day. However, letters from the Prince's Mansion of Pingcheng County are sometimes entrusted to the merchant. Send it back, so the people at the post station didn't think it was strange. I specifically checked, and there was no official document sent to Liangzhou in the past half a month, and the princess of the county may have made a special trip because she didn't want to bother the post station."

Normally, this makes sense, but it just so happens that this occasional incident happened at this time, so Chu Yan couldn't help being a little concerned.

But what does it mean if the princess of the county doesn't reply to the letter or goes to the business to reply to the letter?It seems that this is nothing.

Chu Yan suppressed her doubts, and said: "I visited the princess of the county after I left the palace, and she also mentioned the letter half a month ago, saying that it contained some ordinary family affairs, and did not mention whether she had any enemies. As for the capital city Besides, I didn't provoke anyone."

Chu Rui listened for a long time, and finally kept up with their rhythm, and asked suddenly: "So they are still here for Tao'er? The prince is just getting involved?"

Master Lu said seriously: "There may be some clues that have not been discovered."

"But what's the use of finding these?" Chu Rui closed the teacup heavily, "You know who did it, don't you still want to find their traces? Sooner or later, people will be searched, right? If there are not enough people , then send more, there are so many soldiers and horses in the camp on the outskirts of Beijing, why don't you ask the emperor to send some of them in?"

Chu Yan thought about this too, but he thought it too clearly.

After he returned to his own palace from Pingcheng County's palace, the first thing he did was to have someone report the distribution of the troops of the imperial army, and then inform the imperial army to report every half an hour.So he knew that not only the imperial guards who were originally guarding the palace were left behind by the emperor, but even an extra group of people were sent to guard the palace.

Why?Because although Emperor Chengxing was worried about his daughter's safety, he was even more afraid that this matter was not only as simple as it appeared on the surface. He was guarding against the fact that there was something behind this matter, and he was also guarding against someone who would take advantage of this matter to cause trouble.

So at this time, he will never let the outside army enter the city easily, so as not to take advantage of the loopholes.

It's no wonder that Emperor Chengxing's grass and trees are all soldiers. When his princes were kidnapped the first two times, they were accompanied by rebellion. The word "kidnapping" is simply a curse.

Not only did Emperor Chengxing take precautions, but even some ministers might react in the same way when they first heard that the sixth princess was abducted.

Naturally, Chu Yan would not explain this to Chu Rui in front of Lu Shangshu, and he had already begun to think in his heart that he would try his best to ask for people as a last resort.

So I just said lightly: "You are right, when there is really no other way, I will go to the father for help."

Chu Rui was extremely annoyed: "When there is really no other way? Your sister's life or death is uncertain now! Do you want to wait for her bones to cool before doing your best? Or is it because you pretended that you loved Xiao Taoer before?"

Seeing this, Lu Shangshu was in a bad mood, and he didn't dare to listen to the quarrel between the brothers, so he hurriedly withdrew on the grounds that his subordinates were looking for traces.

After he left, Chu Yan looked at Chu Rui: "Are you planning to quarrel with me at this time?"

Chu Rui choked, and after a long while said coldly, "Of course I don't dare to disturb my elder brother's meritorious service", and then left.

"Stop." Chu Yan stopped him behind him, "Who told you that I did it for meritorious service?"

Chu Rui turned around and asked, "If not, why don't you send more people? The sooner you get Tao'er back, the better, right? Don't you want to show off your ability to resolve cases alone?"

Chu Yan: "Since you know that the sooner the better, wouldn't it be more meritorious for me to get Tao'er back as soon as possible? Why do you think that I didn't ask my father for help?"

"Who knows, maybe the longer the time drags on, the more difficult this matter will appear, and the more you will appear to be a great brother." Chu Rui knew that he had already started to argue with his words, but he really listened to Chu Yan's indifferent words. He said in a tone of voice, "If the eldest brother is really not doing meritorious deeds, why bother to defend himself so much."

Chu Yan laughed angrily. He could see that Chu Rui had been irrational from the moment he entered the palace, and it was useless to reason with him. Let me ask you, is it you who think of me this way, or someone told you something? If you don’t understand, let me explain more clearly, does anyone want to use your mouth to open the city gate?”

The last few words were decisive and knocked Chu Rui awake. He suddenly realized that neither Chu Yan nor the emperor had mentioned the reason for letting the soldiers enter the city, and he heard what Chu Yan was alluding to. Then there was a bit of confusion in his eyes.

It took a while before he spoke, and his tone no longer had the heavy hostility just now: "Just now... I didn't think carefully, big brother forgive me, but big brother don't have to be so suspicious, I haven't met anyone related to second brother before I came, but It just happened to be with several ministers on the right, and because I cared about Xiao Tao'er, I chatted with them a few times."

After speaking, he lifted his foot and left.

Chu Yan sat back to his original place, thinking secretly.

Because Chu Rui presided over the Xiaochao, everyone on the right was ordered by the emperor to teach Chu Rui something when they were working in the later court every day.

So much so that Chu Rui got very close to these ministers during this period, and some people even secretly discussed that the right minister Li Pingruibao might become the party of the three princes, and many people who were close to the right minister took advantage of the opportunity to stand behind Chu Rui .

These people are on Chu Rui's side, so naturally they won't help the bandits escape. Indeed, as Chu Rui said, he must be suspicious...

But how could it be such a coincidence that at this moment, Chu Rui was provoked by these words, and provoked him with a temper?And he opened his mouth to let the guards from outside the city come in, so why not call out some people from the palace first?The imperial city is closer, isn't it?

Chu Yan immediately drew up a letter and asked Xinqing to deliver it to the palace in person, and then called a messenger soldier, saying: "Bring your commander here."

The commander of the imperial army arrived very quickly. Although he came back, Chu Yan didn't say what happened until Xinqing hurried back, hurried in, and whispered the word "Zhun" in Chu Yan's ear.

Chu Yan put down the teacup and said: "Tomorrow at Yinshi, the south city gate will be opened, and the Jin Guogui will bring in a few troops. Today, the forbidden army will gather in front of the imperial city after checking the specified range."

The commander of the imperial army frowned fiercely: "Aren't you going to investigate tonight?"

"Although there is no curfew tonight, don't disturb the people." Seeing his disapproval, Chu Yan added, "Father has already approved it."

The commander of the forbidden army thought to himself: All right, anyway, if anything happens or goes wrong, King An will be responsible for it, and they will just follow orders.

It's just... He obviously thought An Wang was pretty reliable before, but now he's acting nonsensically again.

Half an hour later, the sky darkened, and the imperial army had already gathered near the imperial city. The commander was still sitting in the palace, feeling that the cushion under his buttocks seemed to be pricked by needles, and he couldn't sit still.

Looking at it again, King An was much calmer than when we first met in the morning, as if there was no such thing as the sixth princess being kidnapped.

Liu Qi returned to the mansion at this time, picked up the plate of cakes that no one cared about, and said while eating: "I sent the princess of the county back to the palace of the prince of the county, and the princess of the county took her mother to cry as soon as she arrived at Lu's house. , Her body really doesn't know if it can bear it."

The commander of the imperial army who accidentally listened to it looked strange.

It was not a problem for the prince to send his own concubine to appease the concubine of the county, but it was strange that Liu Qi, a man, went to appease a woman.

Fortunately, after hearing a few words from Liu Qi, I realized that it was the princess of the county who was so sad that she almost fainted after learning that her son had been kidnapped. Maybe he would go to the door of the Prince's Mansion, leaving Liu Qi and two guards to look after him.

The princess of the county was so worried that she couldn't eat, and she vomited all the medicine she took, so she had to endure the discomfort in her body and wait in the front yard, just to wait for the news of her son as soon as possible. Later, the maid beside her couldn't see Going down, he cleverly mentioned that you can go to Lu's mansion to find Mrs. Lu. Once there is news of the young son, it's the same for people to pass it to Lu's mansion. What will be the delay.

The princess of the county was short of mental medicine, she agreed after being persuaded a few words, and when she arrived at her mother's house, she hugged Mrs. Lu and cried for a long time, but she was persuaded by her relatives to eat something and rest on the couch for a while .

It wasn't until dark that the Princess of the County returned to the Prince's Mansion to continue waiting for news.

Liu Qi didn't need to ask, he knew how the progress was going, after all, the people in the palace would send him and the county princess news every once in a while.

He thought for a while, then whispered: "There is one thing that may not be very important."

"It's okay, tell me." Chu Yan looked at him.

Liu Qi: "When the imperial army searched, they passed by the Lu family. Naturally, the Lu family was not searched, but I saw that when they searched other houses, it was not very smooth. The people living nearby are all ministers, and there are many civil servants. A bunch of hats were buttoned down with a single movement, I see that although the Commander is holding His Majesty's... father's badge, after entering, he can only search for a general idea, and dare not be too offensive."

"But it should be fine. If a courtier is really responsible for this matter, it is impossible to hide him at home carelessly. He must pick himself up clean, otherwise he will be found out in case. This is going to destroy the Nine Clans."

Something flashed through Chu Yan's mind, but he didn't catch it for a while.

Thinking to no avail, he held down the plate, moved it to his side, and said: "It's enough to put two mouthfuls. This thing has been stored for a long time, and it's not good to eat too much. Ask the kitchen to make some hot food again."

Xinqing had good eyesight, and immediately said: "The kitchen is ready for hot food, I will ask someone to serve it."

Chu Yan looked aside: "Let's use some of Commander Zhou too."

Commander Zhou finished a careless meal, but the chefs carefully selected by the palace didn't show any skills.

Chu Yan wiped his mouth, and then said a few words to him in a low voice, his eyes lit up, he immediately stood up, cupped his fists, and walked away quickly.

There was no curfew this night, but patrols were still arranged, and the rest were guarded near the city gate, ready to meet the defenders in the early morning.

It started to rain in the middle of the night, it was not cold, only a cool feeling in this season.

Sitting in the front hall, Chu Yan thought to himself: the right time and place.

Three quarters of an hour before Yinshi, Chu Yan asked someone to prepare the horse, glanced at Liu Qi who was sleeping on his arm, and hugged him as lightly as possible, before walking a few steps, Liu Qi woke up .

"Are you leaving?"

"Ah."

"I'll go as well."

Chu Yan didn't stop him, but asked someone to go back to the house to get the coir raincoat, and asked someone to add another horse.

At this moment, there was only a light drizzle left, but Chu Yan still got wet after staying outside for a long time. It didn't matter to Chu Yan himself, Liu Qi couldn't follow him in the rain.

The two of them came to the south gate before Yinshi. At this time, there were uniformly dressed soldiers near the gate, and several canopies were set up beside it.

Commander Zhou had already been waiting for a long time, so he hurriedly greeted the two of them, and after entering the canopy, he said, "The patrolling team did not encounter any people or carriages at night, and the area around the city gate has been checked during the day, so there are not many people left to patrol."

He paused, lowered his voice and asked, "Your Highness, is this really useful?"

Chu Yan took a deep breath: "I am also betting."

Whether it is related to the county prince's mansion or the sixth princess, it is inseparable from the royal family.

First of all, the people behind them have the courage to take action against the royal family. Secondly, they have the ability to help people wipe their butts so clean that no clues are left, and the search is fruitless. Furthermore, no bad news has been found after searching for so long. It shows that the purpose of the bandits is not simply to kill people, but to have other plans.From these three points, it can be judged that there must be capable people behind the bandit, and it is by no means a wild way formed spontaneously.

The "capable person" behind this, not to mention the high position and weight, should have no problem with the smooth flow of news. When Chu Yan searched, he didn't deliberately block the news. , with a little investigation, you can know when they withdraw their troops, when they start patrolling, and when they open the city gate.

If Chu Rui came to the door out of nowhere by accident, then the bandits would definitely seize the opportunity to open the city gate and do something.Even if by chance, the bandits captured two royal bloodlines, they would not be able to directly cause chaos in the city. Whether they want to rebel or do something else, they definitely need to find a more suitable place to slowly calculate the next step, and they will need more Manpower, these people must be waiting outside the city to meet them.

Unless they are vigilant and afraid of being deceived and dare not act rashly, this opportunity to get out of the city will definitely be seized.

If Chu Yan had opened the city gate to fish earlier, Chu Yan might not be sure, but now, he is at least [-]% sure.

For one thing, the imperial guards had searched the city with great fanfare for a day, and they were exhausted by the evening. It would make sense to temporarily stop the search if there were really no clues.

Secondly, Chu Yan's image of not having much talent and learning is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Others will only think it is normal for him to make such an order to stop the search in the middle of the night and open the city gate to welcome the defenders in the early morning.Speaking of which Chu Rui made a fuss, it just happened to make the current situation more reasonable.

The third, of course, is that it will rain tonight.

When it rains, a canopy should be set up at the gate of the city, so that there will not be many people at the gate of the city, and people patrolling the road will also find places to hide from the rain, and the risk of being discovered when traveling at this time will be low.

Yin time had come, and the people watching from the city tower were a little puzzled, and whispers spread quietly.

The deputy commander came in a hurry, without saying a word, he just exchanged glances with Chu Yan and Commander Zhou.

About half an hour later, there were more and more discussions on the tower, all talking about whether the defenders were late. A small soldier retreated quietly amidst the slight commotion, taking a detour under the cover of night.

When he was about to leave, he passed a person, and the person asked casually, "Are you urinating too?"

The little soldier responded, "Yeah."

The man didn't care, and walked back leisurely after asking a question, and only straightened his back when he was almost in the line, trying to put on a vigorous look.

Xiaobing made a gesture of relieving himself, while looking around, seeing that no one noticed him, he quickly pulled up his pants and left in the opposite direction.

Not long after, he arrived at the pre-appointed place. He was welcomed in by the people inside, and before he could take off his armor, he hurriedly said: "Return immediately, the defenders didn't come at all, and our people outside did not." If you didn't show up, it might be a bait!"

The person who responded was calmer than him: "The boss has heard that the imperial army has blocked the road, and he has expected to change, so he has already taken people away."

At the gate of the city, Chu Yan breathed a sigh of relief calmly when he heard someone report that "the man has left"—he must have made the right bet.

He got up from the chair and gathered his robe casually: "Let's go, with such a small area, we should be able to find it."

He didn't let anyone follow the person who left, because there was no need, and once he was discovered, he would just go around in circles.

When he came, the patrolling Imperial Army received an order to encircle all the roads within five kilometers near the south gate.

Not long after the search started, someone came to report: "My lord, Commander, no one has left except for the driver of the Prince's Mansion in Pingcheng County."

"Pingcheng County Prince's Mansion?" Commander Zhou was a little puzzled.

The person who reported the news said: "It is said that the concubine of the county fell ill at night, and the maid beside her went to invite the usual doctor back."

Commander Zhou was still at a loss: "Why don't you invite an imperial doctor?"

The reporter said: "The way is that I have troubled the imperial doctor to go back and forth many times in a day, so I don't want to bother."

Commander Zhou was about to nod when he heard Chu Yan beside him chuckle.

"Stop the search for now."

Commander Zhou said in surprise: "Why..." He suddenly thought of something, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Chu Yan looked at him calmly, and said, "Go to the Prince's Mansion in Pingcheng County."

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

Beat the cold day!