Spring comes to the desperate place

The speed at which the princes entered the capital was faster than Song Chunlin had imagined. On the third day after the emperor's death, the princes who were closest to the capital had already rushed back. Song Chunlin heard those people entering the capital in the middle of the night. They were closest to the official road, and he could hear the sound clearly even without his special powers.

Song Chunlin got up quietly and walked to the corridor. He found that all the other members of the Song family had woken up. They were all standing quietly in the corridor, waiting for those people to leave.

The sound of horse hooves lasted for a long time, and Song Chunlin instinctively sensed that something was wrong. He immediately released his mental power. Now the range covered by his mental power had reached ten kilometers. On a hilltop three kilometers away, Song Chunlin saw densely packed soldiers. They did not follow the main force, but were quietly stationed on the mountain. A rough estimate showed that there were about 20,000 people.

Song Chunlin's face turned pale instantly. Which vassal king would go to a funeral with his private soldiers? Isn't this a clear sign of rebellion?

Looking at his family members who dared not speak, Song Chunlin forced himself to remain calm and made an OK gesture, meaning that everything was fine. Grandpa Song and Auntie Song breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this, and the old couple supported each other and went back to sleep.

Song Dazhuang has always been a carefree person. Seeing this, he hugged his wife and went back to sleep. On the contrary, Song Chunsheng, who was the last to stay, followed Song Chunlin back to the house, which was uncharacteristically the case.

Song Chunlin pulled his brother into the bed, and the two of them hid inside and whispered.

"Chunlin, tell me, is everything really okay outside?" In bed, Song Chunsheng's face was still pale, and he was obviously frightened by the sound of horse hooves just now. During this period of time, he also listened to the old gentleman in the school talking about some things about the court. He is no longer the child he used to be.

The emperor passed away and the princes returned to the capital. These eight words often meant that there would be a period of turmoil in the court. It would be fine if the emperor appointed a crown prince before his death, but the old emperor thought he was still strong and had not appointed a crown prince even though he was over 50 years old. He had eight princes under him, three of whom were adults and two were about to come of age.

Song Chunlin didn't know how to comfort his brother. If he told him that the prince's private soldiers were two kilometers away, the whole family would probably not be able to sleep tonight.

"Brother, those are things that the superiors have to worry about. We are just ordinary people, and they are far away from us. Besides, we are all honest farmers. Who will pay attention to us?" Song Chunlin said this, and it was not known whether he said this to comfort Song Chunsheng or simply to reassure himself.

Song Chunsheng relaxed a little, felt sleepy, and soon fell asleep with steady breathing.

Song Chunlin pulled his head out of the quilt, placed it on the pillow, looked at the soldiers outside again, closed his eyes and entered the space.

In his previous life, he had confiscated several guns, but they had never been used. Song Chunlin took them out from the corner, counted how many bullets were left, and then put them in the most conspicuous place. Then, he picked up a bunch of knives from a pile of sundries. These were all picked up from the supermarket. In the early days of the apocalypse, they were very convenient to use to chop zombies or humans. In the later days, everyone relied on superpowers, so these were covered in dust in the space.

After finding a suitable weapon, Song Chunlin still felt it was not enough, so he took out a box of laxatives from a pile of medicines, thanking himself for his hard work, otherwise he would not have such abundant resources to use.

After doing all this, Song Chunlin left the space contentedly. The next step was to wait and see what would happen. If things didn't get chaotic, it would be fine. But if things really got chaotic, he also had a way to take the Song family out safely.

The lights in the palace were on late at night. Gu Fengyun had been kneeling before the emperor's spirit for three days in a row without a drop of water. His throat was so dry that it was about to burn. When he heard someone outside announcing that Prince Pingnan had arrived, he rarely opened his eyelids and glanced at the man who was quickly approaching the front.

The man was still in military uniform, with only a white silk wrapped around his waist. There was no expression on his pampered face. He pursed his lips and knelt down to burn incense to the emperor.

After burning incense, he sat quietly aside. The others could not guess what the serious Prince Pingnan meant. Gu Fengyun turned his head slightly and did not notice that there was someone behind Prince Pingnan. According to the character of this master, it was impossible for him to enter the palace without anyone. He must have been stopped at the palace gate.

Gu Fengyun's guess was correct. When Prince Pingnan came, he brought a team of guards with him. However, they were stopped at the palace gate. The one who stopped him was the chief eunuch in the Queen's palace. He had no hope in the first place. Who would have thought that Prince Pingnan would actually leave those people outside and go in himself.

After King Pingnan arrived, the remaining King Ru'an and King Chuyue also arrived on the fourth and fifth days. Like King Pingnan, these two also brought a large number of troops, and they were all hiding outside the capital. Song Chunlin curiously counted them. Wow, there were 30,000 soldiers stationed on the mountains near Changping Town. As for who they were, Song Chunlin didn't know, but none of them were easy to deal with.

At this moment, Gu Fengyun was sitting in the side hall to rest. Gu Fengyue changed her clothes early in the morning and came in to bring spiritual spring water to her brother.

Gu Fengyun had been kneeling for several days in a row, and his knees were so painful and stiff that he couldn't straighten them. Gu Fengyue hurriedly poured him a cup of spiritual spring water. Gu Fengyun took it and drank it. Only then did he feel his swollen and aching head become clearer. After a while, his stiff legs slowly stretched out.

"Brother, why don't you go back and rest for a night? The national mourning will last for several more days. What if you collapse from exhaustion?"

Gu Fengyun waved his hand nonchalantly: "I'm much better now. If it were my previous condition, I would have gone back to rest a long time ago."

The reason why Gu Fengyun did not go back to rest was purely to let everyone know that even though he was weak, he could still support the Yongyi Marquis Mansion, so that others would stop planning to attack their family.

I have to say that this trick worked quite well. Halfway through the national mourning, almost everyone who saw Gu Fengyun dropped their jaws in shock.

Didn't this person claim that he wouldn't survive this winter? Now not only has winter passed, spring has come, and Gu Fengyun is still alive and well.

Even the King of Chuyue, who was far away in the frontier, was puzzled by this. He couldn't help but ask the people around him: "Isn't that the sickly person from the Gu family? Is he still alive?"

Standing next to him happened to be the taciturn Prince Pingnan. Upon hearing his words, he quietly moved forward and pretended not to hear his nonsense.

King Chuyue was not annoyed. He turned around and whispered to King Ru'an. King Ru'an poked him in annoyance and motioned him to stand still because the national teacher was coming.

Today is the funeral of the late emperor. The national teacher, along with a group of Taoist priests, chanted around the emperor's body. After several long speeches, it was already afternoon. Everyone, who had been standing all day with empty stomachs, was already dizzy.

Gu Fengyun was better off. He drank a whole cup of spiritual spring water before the ceremony began. Now, except for feeling a little hungry, everything else was fine.

Gu Fengyue was young and had no official position, so he could only wait in the carriage outside the palace gate. It was almost dark when Gu Fengyun came out, supported by the palace servants.

As soon as he got on the carriage, Gu Fengyue quickly handed over the prepared spiritual spring water. Gu Fengyun drank it all in one gulp and finally came back to life.

Gu Fengyue asked quietly: "Is it almost over?"

Gu Fengyun nodded tiredly: "It has been buried. The date calculated by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory is two days from now. During this time, we still have to go there every morning and evening to burn incense and kowtow."

Gu Fengyue continued to ask in a low voice: "Is it the Third Prince?"

Now Gu Fengyun was silent. He was also in the palace when the emperor was seriously ill. It was indeed said that the third prince would succeed to the throne, but it was only a verbal order, without an imperial edict. Without the imperial edict, the third prince would not be able to sit firmly on the throne. The three princes all had military power. Once they brought troops into the capital privately, there would be bloodshed in the capital.

Thinking that the Song family lived right next to the official road that was the only way to get to Beijing, Gu Fengyun asked his brother, "Should we send someone to escort the Song family to a safe place?"

Gu Fengyue thought of Song Chunlin. If he used his abilities, he wondered if he could escape unscathed.

"We used to have close dealings with the Song family. If someone were to dig up this matter, the Song family might not be able to survive. Brother, I will send someone to take them to my uncle's farm, which is relatively remote. I will send them back after the storm has passed."

"So, very good."

After sending her brother to rest, Gu Fengyue changed into civilian clothes and made some disguise adjustments to her face before leaving the capital with two guards from the mansion.

During the national mourning period, not many people entered and exited the city gate. Gu Fengyue and his group were dressed very low-key, so the gatekeepers quickly let them in.

This time, Gu Fengyue did not go through the South Gate, but the North Gate where more people gathered. It takes a detour to get from the North Gate to Yongle Village, but they don’t have to go through the official road and can walk directly from the foot of the mountain to the Song family’s backyard.

It was already very late, and the Song family had just finished washing up and were getting ready to rest. Song Chunlin was the first to discover Gu Fengyue, who was standing at the back door.

Song Chunlin quickly ran to the back and let Gu Fengyue and others in. He also scanned the area with his mental power and found no one following them, which made him feel relieved.

Grandpa Song and Aunt Song were too old to recognize Gu Fengyue, until he started talking, then they realized who he was.

"…That's it. I'll take you to the farm where my uncle's family stayed for a few days. I'll bring you back after the third prince ascends the throne."

The Song family still felt that it was a bit unreal. How could they, common people, be involved in such a fight for the throne?

Song Chunlin rolled his eyes and asked Gu Fengyue, "Are the princes not allowed to bring troops into the capital?"

Gu Fengyue: "Of course, the princes are not allowed to enter the capital without a summons, let alone bring troops to the capital. What's wrong, did you see them bringing troops?"

Song Chunlin nodded seriously, turned around and went back into the house. Soon he came out with a piece of rice paper and a brush.

Gu Fengyue watched him write and draw on the paper, and he explained it to Gu Fengyue after he finished.

"Here, here, there are soldiers hidden. I don't know who they belong to, but three groups of people have hidden at least 80,000 soldiers around the capital."

Gu Fengyue took a breath when he heard this. There were actually 80,000 troops. If this was true, and if the three princes rebelled, the remaining 40,000 troops in the capital would be simply vulnerable.

"Are you serious?" Gu Fengyue didn't realize that his voice was trembling. He never expected that these three princes would be so bold and presumptuous.

Song Chunlin nodded heavily: "It's absolutely true. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to investigate now. With so many people hiding in the mountains together, it's impossible that there would be no movement at all, right?"

Gu Fengyue didn't know why Song Chunlin was so confident, but he inexplicably believed in him. He calmed himself down and called a guard over.

"You return to the capital immediately and tell my brother that the three princes secretly brought troops into the capital with the intention of rebellion. Tell my brother to gather all the troops in the capital and wait for orders. I will go to the western suburbs camp and ask General Qi to send troops to cooperate with my brother from inside and outside."

The guard didn't expect that his master actually believed what the child said. He wanted to refute, but Gu Fengyue was firm in his attitude, and the guard had no choice but to obey the order and go.

Gu Fengyue turned around and looked at Song Chunlin again: "It seems that I can't take you with me now. The road out of Beijing must be full of spies. If I take you away rashly, it will only bring you danger."

Song Chunlin patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, I will definitely protect my family. As for you, it's so dangerous outside, remember to protect yourself."

Gu Fengyue smiled and patted his head: "Uncle Song, please help me harness the horse. We didn't ride a horse when we came here."

Upon hearing this, Song Dazhuang immediately went to harness the horse, and Song Chunlin even made an exception and fed the horse a bowl of spiritual spring water.

The horse drank the water happily and rubbed its head against Song Chunlin's arms. Song Chunlin touched the horse's head helplessly and said, "Horse, you have to run faster this time. Don't let anyone catch up with you. OK?"

The horse had drunk so much spiritual spring water from Song Chunlin that it had already become somewhat spiritual. After hearing what Song Chunlin said, it actually nodded at him, indicating that it understood.

Song Dazhuang quickly put on the saddle, and Song Chunlin still handed over a small bag of spiritual spring water. He thought for a while, then took out two small brown medicine bottles, opened the cap of one of them and let Gu Fengyue take a look.

"This small pill is called a safety pill. It can stop bleeding and save the lives of seriously injured people. The powder below is your wound medicine, but it is even more effective than the wound medicine. I've given each of you a bottle. Keep it close to your body and don't drop it."

Gu Fengyue took the medicine bottle and gave one to the guard. The guard took it flattered. He had heard from the child that the small pills inside were life-saving. He didn't expect that he would get a bottle of such precious medicine.

"If the prince wants to rebel, he will definitely not allow anyone to call for reinforcements. You must be careful when you go there."

Gu Fengyue nodded seriously and told them not to go out unless necessary. Then he mounted his horse and quickly disappeared into the night.

The father and son watched their figures walk away until they could no longer see anything, then they closed the door.

Back in the main room, Grandpa Song and the others were sitting on chairs, their eyes filled with unstoppable worry.

"The child is still so young, how can you let him go to such a dangerous place alone?" Song Amuo felt a little reluctant. In his heart, Gu Fengyue, who was the same age as Song Chunsheng, was also his other grandson. How could Song Amuo feel at ease when he knew that he would face many dangers along the way?