After crossing, I was forced to hold on to my thighs and build a kingdom

Children really grow up quickly. When Li Ge'er was 28 days old, he had grown into a little baby with black hair, fair skin, babbling, and was loved by everyone!

Because Jinchu often visited his eldest nephew, Li Ge'er was already familiar with his aunt's voice and smell.

Whenever he heard her voice, he would start shaking his head to find his aunt's position. Jin Chu was so happy that he hugged his nephew and cherished him so much that he always wanted to be close to him for a while before letting go.

Everything was peaceful and quiet in Prince Dingbei's Palace, and they were just waiting to prepare for Ge Li'er's full moon banquet the day after tomorrow.

The past half month in the capital city felt like a year. Although the postmen sent out went to Fuyun City in the northwest and Jiaocheng in the south, there was no reply yet.

During this period, Shenyou kept Zhao Huaiqing under his watch, ostensibly to serve the Crown Prince, but actually to monitor his daily movements.

His trusted subordinates are loyal, but their ability to lead troops in battle is just so-so. Now, when fighting against Su Cheng'an, it is clear who is stronger and who is weaker.

This is also the reason why Crown Prince Shenyou, after having taken back the military power of the 50,000 city defense troops, still kept Zhao Huaiqing by his side for monitoring.

His purpose was to force Jingchuan Hou Zhao Wenyan to help him lead troops to fight against Su Cheng'an.

Although the capital city appears calm on the surface, it is secretly a place of alarm. Fifty thousand troops from the northern border are stationed outside the city. For more than half a month, no one has been able to enter or leave the capital city.

Now everyone in the capital is expecting the Northwestern Army of Fuyun City and General Chen from the southern border to lead their troops back to the capital to defend the king, but unfortunately there has been no movement yet.

People's hearts gradually began to panic. Every day in the court, there were quarrels and chaos. Under the pressure of the army, those who were blinded by greed in the past also felt the preciousness of being alive when their lives were in danger.

On September 28, Prince Su Cheng'an of Dingbei led his troops to raid the 50,000 city defense troops guarding the capital. As soon as the battle started, with the dual support of good generals and elite soldiers, the 50,000 city defense troops led by Shenyou's confidant were quickly defeated and fled back into the city in a panic.

In this battle, the northern border troops lost less than 3,000 people, but the city defense troops suffered more than 10,000 casualties. If they had not escaped back to the city in time, the city defense troops would have suffered even greater losses.

Even so, the city defense force, which was just of equal number before, now has less than 40,000 left. Although there are 20,000 soldiers from the Five City Arms and Horses Division in the city, most of those troops are there to protect the royal family and will not participate in the battle unless necessary.

Even if they joined the war, with only 60,000 people fighting against the nearly 50,000 brave and invincible elite troops from the north, their chances of winning would be slim. Moreover, if the capital was left empty, who would protect the royal relatives?

After much thought, it is still necessary to rely on local forces to defeat Su Cheng'an. Crown Prince Shenyou is really looking forward to the early return of the royal army led by General Chen in the south or General Liu in the northwest to the capital.

Seeing that he was distracted, his confidant reminded him, "Your Highness, the troops from various regions have not yet arrived to support the king, but the traitorous Prince Dingbei is at the gates of the city, threatening to seize the city with his might."

"The Du family is Su Cheng'an's in-laws. As a matter of urgency, we should use the Du family to force the rebels to temporarily withdraw their troops as a delaying tactic. This way, we can give the soldiers in the capital a break and buy more time for the troops to come to the rescue of the king."

Shen You, who was as anxious as an ant on the hot pan, was immediately delighted when he heard this. He immediately sent people to the Du Mansion to arrest the man, but he did not expect that the Du family had already been deserted.

Except for a few old servants who were doing the cleaning, even the elderly couple of the Du family, the old minister and his wife, had already left the capital.

It turned out that as early as the day after Su Cheng'an left the capital, Qing Huan and Qing Yue, who were disguised as grandsons, took advantage of the situation and disguised themselves to drag the two elders of the Du family out of the capital.

Then they reunited with the eldest and second masters of the Du family and their spouses at the farm. After the family disguised themselves, they were escorted by the Qingyun Guards to the safe place arranged by Su Cheng'an.

Upon hearing the news, Crown Prince Shenyou was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot, and he killed the servant who had failed to do his job with a single knife.

In his rage, he was about to attack several more people, but was persuaded by Zhao Huaiqing beside him: "Your Highness, calm down. The Du family has escaped now. Even if you kill all of them, you can't turn back time. Things have come to this point. The important things are more important. Don't waste time with these servants."

Crown Prince Shenyou snorted coldly and cursed, "Idiots!", and finally let these people go.

He turned around and patted Zhao Huaiqing's shoulder very intimately, acting like a good brother: "Ah Qing, you are my cousin. At the critical moment, you still think of your cousin."

"Now that the Du family has escaped, and the troops supporting the king have not yet arrived, the traitor Su Cheng'an rose to fame at a young age, a valiant warrior, and this time he leads the elite divisions of the northern border. Our current soldiers are no match for his fierce and ferocious troops, and we have no capable generals in our army. For the time being, we are completely helpless against him."

At this point, he gave a wry smile, looked eagerly at Zhao Huaiqing, and made a frank request: "Ah Qing, as long as I am here, your position as Marquis of Jingchuan will be as stable as Mount Tai in the future. This time, considering our relationship, can you go back and ask your uncle to come out and help support the city defense army for a while?"

Here it comes, the highlight is here!

Zhao Huaiqing sneered in his heart, but put on an extremely moved expression on his face.

He met Shenyou's gaze, his words filled with helplessness: "I am truly willing to share your worries, my cousin, as I am honored to be called your brother. However, my father's illness is indeed difficult to recover from. The leg and waist injuries he suffered last year have only gotten worse. He has been unable to walk for half a month and is bedridden!"

"Is it really that serious?"

Crown Prince Shenyou was shocked and hurriedly said, "I can send someone to carry my uncle to the mansion, or ask the imperial physician to treat him quickly..."

"It's all useless. The palace has been seeing the imperial physicians constantly, but my father's condition has been recurring. Now it's even getting worse. The imperial physician also said that this is a chronic disease that can't be cured overnight. The only thing he can do is to think less, move less, and take good care of himself. Only then will his condition show signs of improvement."

"But now that the enemy is approaching the city, how can father remain silent? That day, he was so worried about Your Highness that he fell to the ground in anxiety. Since then, he has been unable to leave his bed."

At the end of his speech, Zhao Huaiqing's eyes were red and his tone was choked with sobs.

Crown Prince Shenyou sneered and could no longer pretend. He pulled Zhao Huaiqing over, and there was no trace of sincerity on his face.

"I see you and your son are both so stubborn you won't even accept a toast! I've been so respectful to your father for so many years, but he's always been so self-sufficient and refused to help me. In this life-or-death moment, you're even using some chronic illness to deal with me. Do you really think I'm stupid?"

Shenyou was obviously extremely angry and didn't even mention "gu" in his words.

"I'm going to be frank with you right now! If your good father wants you to live this time, he'll have to crawl into the city defense army to fight Su Cheng'an! If you can hold out until the troops come to support the king, then both you and your son will be safe. If not, I'll make sure you and your son die before me!"

After saying this, he pushed Zhao Huaiqing to the ground and shouted to his guards, "Go to the Marquis of Jingchuan's mansion and tell that old man what I mean. If he doesn't come out to lead the troops, he'll have to wait and take his son's body home tomorrow!"