Professional Ethics of a Concubine

the other side.

Last night, Prince Su counted all the cavalry in the camp outside the capital, which amounted to only 2,000 men, and there were 15,000 infantrymen, who marched rapidly overnight to the Yuhuan Mountains.

Cavalry is too difficult to maintain. Prince Su claimed that he had 100,000 Black Feather Troops, but in reality only 50,000 of them were capable of combat, and the rest were logistics and other arms.

Among them, there were only 5,000 cavalry, and 3,000 cavalry were still guarding the border to guard against Dayan.

There was no need to carry baggage, and two days' rations for each soldier were prepared overnight. They marched in a forced march almost all the way, hoping to cover eighty miles a day.

Two days later, the cavalry, led by Prince Su, arrived at Xiangyun County first for rest and recuperation, and it would take another two or three days for the infantry to arrive.

When County Magistrate Kong of Xiangyun County saw the two thousand cavalrymen led by Prince Su, he fell to his knees.

He feels guilty.

Of course he knew that the prince kept private soldiers in Yuhuan Mountain. After all, they had to transport supplies every day, and he, as the county magistrate, needed to provide cover.

Prince Su looked at County Magistrate Kong, whose face was pale and whose body was shaking like a sieve, and knew that he was a spineless man, so he scolded him coldly,

"County Magistrate Kong, the Crown Prince's affair has been exposed. He has given up resistance and voluntarily revealed the hiding place of his private soldiers and his military token.

I am here on the orders of the Emperor to collect these private soldiers. You should be sensible and act as a guide and persuade them to surrender. Let those people on the mountain obey my orders and don't make any unnecessary resistance. I also promise not to hurt them at all.

They are all good men of the Great Zhao. If anyone dies in such an internal struggle, I will feel sad. Do you understand?"

"I understand! I understand!" County Magistrate Kong nodded repeatedly, "I will go to Yuhuan Mountain Range right away and report this to Lord Li, and ask him to arrange the surrender."

"No rush, let's set off early tomorrow morning." Prince Su said.

Afterwards, King Su ordered the cavalry to have a good night's rest, as well as the horses, and to feed them enough grass to prepare for the possible battle tomorrow.

Many times, when you say you want to rebel, a group of people will be excited to follow you, not because they submit to your personal charm, but because they are also aiming for high positions and generous salaries.

You may have status and fame, so everyone will be willing to nominate you as the leader and lead everyone in rebellion.

However, when you quit your job and say you don't want to rebel anymore, it doesn't mean that the people under you don't want to do it either.

Therefore, although there was the military order given by the prince and the letter written by the prince, Prince Su knew very well that this did not mean that everything would go smoothly.

Sure enough, it was just as Prince Su had guessed.

The five middle-level leaders of these private soldiers and thirty small leaders who helped the prince manage the quarry had an internal conflict when faced with the prince's abandonment.

Half of the people chose to surrender directly, and then they could be killed or cut into pieces as you wished.

These people are the prince's true confidants. The prince's words are ironclad orders. The prince's honor and disgrace are their honor and disgrace. They have no thoughts of their own.

As for the remaining half, a small group of people did not care about the lives of others and only wanted to escape and save their own lives.

Another large part are more radical. They want to fight to the death. Even if they cannot win, they still want to bite off a piece of meat from the imperial court. Some people even clamor to chop off Prince Su so that they can leave a name after their death, even if it is a bad name.

The main point is, if you don’t want me to have an easy life, then you don’t have to have an easy life either!

County Magistrate Kong was also tied up by them. Listening to their quarreling, he was terrified and trembling with fear.

I’m afraid that those angriest troublemakers will kill themselves first to vent their anger.

They argued for two hours and were still at a stalemate. It was time for lunch.

Everyone decided to eat first and then discuss what to do.

And it was during this meal that the prince's confidants drugged those radical opponents and the escape faction.

The person who planned this was the Lord Li mentioned by County Magistrate Kong. He had a fair complexion and no beard, and looked somewhat feminine. It was not difficult to guess that he was a eunuch.

“Wow… Lord Li, it has to be you who took care of these people in one go.”

County Magistrate Kong was also released. He cried bitterly but did not forget to flatter the emperor.

Lord Li, also known as Li Anping, sighed quietly, looked at him with disdain, and said nothing to County Magistrate Kong. He just turned around and told the others,

"Send two people to burn the account books and letters here, and the rest of you follow me to see Prince Su."

"Master Li, will we be able to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince again?" Someone asked Li Anping, "Will he be beheaded on the spot, or will he be taken back to the palace?"

Li Anping shook his head and sighed. He was not sure.

Some days ago, he received a letter from the prince.

Although the prince told him that his legs were crippled and he was preparing to abdicate and rebel.

However, the prince did not mention any specific plans in the letter. Instead, he warned him that once he was persuaded to surrender, he should immediately deal with those troublemakers who were unwilling to surrender, and lead the others to obey orders and surrender.

After reading the letter, Li Anping immediately destroyed it and did not let anyone read it.

He thought this kind of thing would happen much later, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Li Anping was very worried about the prince's situation, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do.

But there is one thing he is very sure of, even if the prince dies, he will not try to escape death.

-

After listening to Li Anping's report, Prince Su's tense heartstrings finally relaxed, and the swollen and aching temples and the headache that had been making him irritable also eased.

"Very good!" Prince Su nodded solemnly, "All of you will follow me back to the capital, and the ordinary soldiers here will be recruited by my men."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Anping and the others kowtowed respectfully.

Prince Su rubbed his aching temple, didn't want to say another word, turned around and mounted his horse.

He wanted to return to Beijing immediately to hug Mu Nianqiu and see the two children.

He still overestimated himself a bit, and thought that this headache had been cured because of Nian Qiu's companionship over the past year.

But in fact, it is just relief, not a cure.

-

Beijing.

After Prince Su returned to the capital, he rode his horse at full speed and went straight back to the palace. He entered Tingyu Pavilion in a dusty state.

"What's wrong with the prince? He looks so unhappy." Eunuch Zhang looked at his master who came in, and while ordering the servants to quickly prepare water for bathing, he muttered to himself.

However, he wasn't worried either.

The princess is here.

Even if the prince was extremely angry, he would be easily pacified when he was with the princess and become very peaceful, like a tamed beast.

Mu Nianqiu was playing with two children. He held a rattle and shook it left and right, making the two children turn their heads left and right to find the source of the sound.

When she saw Prince Su coming back, she put down her rattle, asked Nanny Zhu and the wet nurse to look after the two children, stood up to greet him, walked quickly towards Prince Su, and asked with concern,

"Is the prince injured?"

"Headache." Prince Su simply held her in his arms and leaned his head on her.

"Why do you have a headache? Let the imperial physician take a look?" Mu Nianqiu's cold voice was filled with tenderness.

"Your Highness, you haven't had much rest these days? Lie down, I'll give you a massage, and you can get some sleep first?"

Prince Su hummed, but still held her tightly and refused to let go or move.

Seeing that the prince was pestering the princess as soon as he came back, Nanny Zhu and the two wet nurses lowered their heads and tried to hide themselves to reduce their presence.

"Beep, bab, bab..."

When the two children found that their mother was gone, they began to babble and turned their heads to look for her.

After looking left and right, they still couldn't find their mother. The impatient eldest son started crying with his mouth wide open.

When the younger sister saw her brother crying, she also started crying with her mouth open.

The two wet nurses rushed forward to hold the baby and comfort him.

"Your Highness, the children are crying. Let's go check on them and comfort them. Let the nurse take them away so Your Highness can have a rest. Okay?"

Mu Nianqiu spoke softly to Prince Su, still without any anxiety or impatience.

Prince Su let her go, turned his head to look at his noisy son and daughter, then looked at Mu Nianqiu and smiled comfortably.

"Nian Qiu, thanks to you, my headache is much better now."