The prince loves me like his life, but I force him to rebel

It was almost noon.

If the Second Prince's men had not come to hunt them down, according to the four's original plan, they should have reached the outskirts of the capital city late yesterday evening.

But now the Second Prince's men have set up defenses everywhere, so they have to make other plans.

Shu Huaiyuan began to review the situation: "We, the guards, have always been riding Yujing horses, which made me think that this kind of horse is very common and will not attract other people's attention. However, I didn't expect that Yujing horses and Ferghana horses walking together would be equivalent to advertising our identities to the public."

"I can't blame you for this." Sima Yao said, "If it weren't for this experience, I would never have believed that the entire Dingxi Prefecture only obeyed the orders of the Second Prince, and I didn't know that the Second Prince had such a strict intelligence organization among the people."

"My second brother has been planning for several years, but I have never responded." The prince sighed: "In the end, it is because I am too weak and incompetent that I have caused the current situation."

"It seems that even if we return to the palace, we will still be in danger." Sima Yao turned to look at Gu Nianzhi: "Mr. Gu, last time I asked you about the good and bad luck of this trip, but you didn't make it clear. Now can you..."

Gu Nianzhi also wanted to know how the story would develop, but due to her intervention, the current situation was increasingly different from the original book, and even she didn't know what would happen in the future. She could only vaguely mention the plot of the original book.

"According to my previous divination, the prince will experience a life-and-death crisis before he leaves Qiangyi. Now that the prince is still alive, I think... if you survive a great disaster, you will have good fortune in the future. As long as we are careful enough, we should be able to return to the palace safely."

"Could it be that the hexagram that Mr. Gu divined refers to the fire in the villa?"

"This... I can't be sure either. Anyway, the hexagram is just a reference. Only by being flexible and adaptable can we be safe."

Shu Huaiyuan took out some dry food and distributed it to the four people.

"Since the Second Prince's men know that the four of us have escaped, they will definitely have spies in restaurants and teahouses. Next, we should try to take the country roads."

The four of them ate some dry food to fill their stomachs while discussing the follow-up arrangements.

"The guards of the imperial city are in charge of me and the second prince. There are my people and the second prince's people. Even if we arrive at the city gate, if we don't disguise ourselves, once we meet the second prince's men, the outcome will be hard to say." Sima Yao said.

"The guards below didn't know what the prince looked like, but they judged from previous information that we were traveling as a group of four. Plus, the Ferghana horses and Yujing horses were too special, so we were discovered by them," Shu Huaiyuan analyzed.

"Now that the Ferghana horse is lost, we are not that conspicuous." Sima Yao said.

"Then...if we combine them in pairs or threes based on this, won't it be more difficult for them to find us?" Gu Nianzhi said.

"That's a good idea."

As the city gates were about to close, a drug dealer successfully entered the city from the northeast gate carrying a large bag of medicinal samples.

Not long after, the three scholars who went out to collect folk songs also returned to the city safely.

In this way, the prince and his four companions hid their identities and entered the capital. When the third prince was about to escort the prince back to the palace, he heard the leader of the guards outside the Duanmen Gate giving a speech.

"The crown prince passed away in Qiangyi four days ago. His badge is invalid. Anyone with ulterior motives who enters or leaves with the crown prince's badge or claims to be the crown prince will be beaten to death immediately. No mistakes will be made."

It seems that the news of the fire in the villa where the prince lived has been sent back to the capital.

The palace must be in chaos at this moment.

All the guards have been replaced by the Second Prince's men.

It is obviously impossible to enter the palace now.

The prince deliberately lowered his head, and the four of them left together.

It was completely dark.

Guangjuxuan.

The shopkeeper Liu Shineng personally brought the food box to the upper room of Tianzi and reported to the prince and his entourage.

"I just inquired about it. The Second Prince first recalled the guards that the Crown Prince had transferred to the Imperial Mausoleum. Then, he transferred all the Imperial Guards under the Third Prince to the Imperial Mausoleum on the pretext that the Imperial Mausoleum was short of guards. Now, almost all the guards in the entire Imperial City are the Second Prince's men."

"Doesn't the emperor have any suspicions?" Gu Nianzhi asked.

"This only involves personnel changes outside the palace, and there is no need to report it to the emperor." Sima Yao patiently explained: "For example, the prince has the right to transfer soldiers in the wedding party and the imperial mausoleum guards without reporting it. But if the stationing locations or total number of the wedding party and the imperial mausoleum guards are adjusted, this involves the establishment issue, and it must be reported before it can be implemented."

"So, the emperor doesn't know now that all the guards outside the palace are the second prince's men?"

"Probably."

"Then, if the prince had revealed his identity earlier, he might have been beaten to death by the guards at the gate?"

"This is very possible. Anyway, all the guards in the palace are the Second Prince's men. If anyone else asks, it would just be a matter of exchanging a corpse. It wouldn't be a big deal for them."

"Why don't you look surprised at all?" Even though Gu Nianzhi knew that the Second Prince in the book was cunning and vicious, he was still surprised by his methods.

After all, the eldest prince is his biological brother.

"This is what my second brother and the queen are capable of. I am very familiar with their methods, so why should I be surprised?" Sima Yao's eyes were so calm that they made people a little scared. "Mr. Gu, do you think there is a way to break this deadlock?"

Gu Nianzhi thought for a moment and said, "The key to this deadlock lies in the life and death of the crown prince. If the crown prince is really dead, then the second prince's order is not wrong, because the one who was beaten to death must be the fake crown prince. But the crown prince is still alive, so the second prince's order is sinister, and his purpose is to kill the real crown prince without anyone noticing."

"So..." Gu Nianzhi paused for a moment: "What we need to do now is to let everyone know that the prince is still alive."

"But, in the past two days, everyone in the city has known about it. Even the elderly, the weak, women and children know that the crown prince died a violent death and will not come back." Liu Shineng added: "Rumor has it that the third prince also...so the second prince's party has submitted a petition, asking the emperor to re-appoint the master of the East Palace as soon as possible to reassure the people."

"The people don't care who will be the crown prince. The ones who care about this issue most in the court right now are the queen and the second prince." Sima Yao said.

"The news of the prince encountering a fire in Qiangyi must have come from official channels. Generally speaking, ordinary people have no way of knowing about such things, and the news will only be widely spread among the people after the state funeral. This time it spread so quickly, it must have been done deliberately by someone with ulterior motives. However... we can imitate their approach." Gu Nianzhi seemed to have thought of a solution.

“How to emulate it?”

“The people really don’t care who sits on the throne of crown prince, but they like to listen to stories, especially stories with twists and turns. The crown prince died on the way to the wedding and the crown prince came back to life, which of these two stories do you think is more attractive to the people? In teahouses, wine shops, inns, and restaurants, as long as there is one person who tells this story with great excitement, within half a day, the news that the crown prince is still alive will spread throughout the capital.” In modern society, celebrities buy hot searches and create public opinion in order to become famous. Why can’t such experience be used in books?

"I understand. If the people all believe that the crown prince is still alive, then the second prince would be very ambitious by doing this."