Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 378 The Prince's Righteousness

"As for the emperor, you need to write a memorial yourself, Fengyue, and explain it to him. By the way, you said that King Linyuan has an orphan?"

Gu Fengyue told him: "I was afraid that the barbarians would come back to attack the White Pagoda, so I hid the child. The child is only three years old this year..."

These words made the atmosphere a little heavier. Song Chunlin thought of what Chen Ci said about King Linyuan's three children, who were all sent away by their people during the chaos. The three children fled in three different directions, but currently only the youngest child successfully escaped to Baita City, and there is no news of the other two yet.

"As for the remaining two... wait until this war is over, and then send someone to look for them. Maybe they are blessed by fate and are still alive and well somewhere."

Of course, everyone actually understood that at this time there was no news, and it was very likely that the two children had met with misfortune. Chen Ci said that he sent out twenty-four death warriors, divided into several groups, but in the end only one death warrior broke through the siege with a child, and when that death warrior arrived at Bai Ta City, he was already dying. If it were not for his amazing perseverance, he would have died halfway due to excessive blood loss. However, he did not finally break away and fell off his horse until he arrived at the military camp outside Bai Ta City.

Gu Fengyue had someone feed him spiritual spring water to keep him alive, and now it is unknown whether he has been saved.

Gu Fengyun asked someone to bring an incense burner and paper money, lit incense and burned paper for King Linyuan, and then asked Song Chunlin to put King Linyuan back into the space.

"Chunlin, keep him first and take him out when we get to the capital. It's not convenient to hold a funeral now that the barbarians are still guarding outside."

"The prince also thought so before he left. He was afraid that the soldiers in Linyuan City would be demoralized by the news of his death, so he asked us not to announce the funeral yet."

Gu Fengyun sighed softly: "Your Majesty is righteous and worthy of admiration."

The huge amount of supplies brought by Gu Fengyun filled up the several empty granaries in Linyuan City. Of course, the winding fire dragon walked for a long time before it saw the tail of the team.

The barbarians on the opposite side looked at the grand scene here and all broke camp overnight. Nonsense, the reinforcements from Dajing have arrived, and they have no food to eat. If they don’t run away, will they be killed or starved to death?

The barbarians would certainly not run away willingly. They had already planned their route. If they did not seize a few Han cities while the other side was taking inventory, they would be truly unworthy of all the grievances and sufferings they had endured.

Gu Fengyue also thought of this, and then under Gu Fengyun's questioning, Song Chunlin told him very proudly that he had confiscated all the food and medicinal materials of the barbarians.

Gu Fengyun looked incredulous. He had never thought that a war could be fought like this.

"You're just going to take them all?"

"Yeah, I took them all. I didn't leave any grass for them. Hehe, am I smart?"

Seeing his proud look, Gu Fengyun couldn't help but give him a thumbs up: "Not bad, well done. It seems that they have run out of food and grass, and they will definitely want to capture Linyuan faster if they are hungry."

"Yes, they did come here before you came, but they failed. Now that they see you coming, they are probably thinking about how to escape from here."

Gu Fengyue pondered for a moment, then continued, "No, they have nothing to eat, so they should think of ways to solve the problem of food and clothing, and it seems that Linyuan will not be defeated in a short time..."

Song Chunlin also reacted: "So they will turn to attack the nearest small town and plunder some supplies from there."

"It's very likely. Let's go gather some people."

Gu Fengyun stopped them and said, "Don't worry. Don't you have to give them some time to rest? We should wait until daybreak to give them time to break camp."

Gu Fengyun's words were quite arrogant. If someone didn't understand them, they would think they were saying that the weather was bad today and they would go out when the weather was good tomorrow.

Gu Fengyue actually thought it made sense, so she told everyone to go downstairs and rest quickly as they still had things to do tomorrow morning.

Although no one knew what it was, since it was said by the Grand Marshal, it must be a big deal, so everyone went to bed obediently, leaving only Gu Fengyun, who came from afar, staring with red eyes to preside over the situation.

When Chen Ci saw this scene, he felt something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

General Lin, who was conscripted into the army, had a miserable life. He had to sleep in the open air all the way. When he arrived at the end of the field, he thought he could have a good sleep, but he was dragged back to work before he could even sit down on the bench.

General Lin's eyes were also full of bloodshot. He didn't understand and wanted to protest, but after seeing that even Gu Fengyun was working with a pair of red eyes, he didn't even dare to fart.

He is a military general, it is impossible that he cannot be defeated by a civil official.

Linyuan City had been invaded by a small group of barbarians before. Although it was cleaned up by Song Chunlin and the soldiers in the city, the damaged streets and buildings could not be repaired in a short time. Chen Ci was also a military general. Such matters had always been handled by the staff of King Linyuan and other officials in the city. Unfortunately, these people were either killed in battle or seriously injured and were unable to come out to work. Therefore, when Gu Fengyun arrived, he was ready to sort out the internal affairs of the city.

The first thing he did was to count the remaining food in the city. The food they had eaten along the way was counted, and they had brought a lot of things with them. He had already made an account book with these and had his own clerk to record them. The situation in the city was more chaotic.

General Lin was sent to keep watch on the city wall, and Gu Fengyun didn't dare to let him do other work. After all, he couldn't even manage his own personal affairs.

Song Chunlin and Gu Fengyue rested well until dawn. Their breakfast was spiritual spring water and big steamed buns. Song Chunlin also did not forget to pour the spiritual spring water that he had saved all night into the soldiers' breakfast, so as to boost their spirits and prepare for the upcoming battle.

It was not until just before departure that Song Chunlin saw General Lin with red eyes.

"Wow, why did you turn into a rabbit?" Song Chunlin looked at the other person with amusement. He naturally knew the reason, but he just liked to see General Lin jumping up and down. After teasing him, he felt something was not right.

"No, why are you here? Your ancestors are willing to let you out?"

General Lin didn't want to talk. He turned his head away angrily and didn't look at Song Chunlin. This made Song Chunlin even more curious. Seeing that he couldn't get an answer from General Lin, Song Chunlin turned to ask someone else. After asking, he kept looking at General Lin with an incredible look.

General Lin was a little annoyed by being looked at, and shouted at Gu Fengyue fiercely: "You should take care of your guy, and stop staring at other men all day long."

But Gu Fengyue didn't buy it. He was also very curious about the reason that could make General Lin sneak away to such a dangerous place as the border.

General Lin was so angry at the couple's teasing that his eyes became even redder. If the two were not about to set off, he would have argued with them to see who was better.

After playing around, Gu Fengyue put on a serious expression and took Song Chunlin with him to chase the fleeing barbarian troops.

The barbarians did not run as fast as they imagined. When they led the Gu family army to charge forward, the barbarians had not even gone three miles when they were almost defeated by the Gu family army that caught up with them from behind.

Maybe it was because these people were hungry, Gu Fengyue felt that it was effortless for him to kill the barbarians. In the end, the two sides fought for half a day, and only half of the barbarian soldiers escaped by chance, and they fled in several directions. Gu Fengyue also dispersed some people to pursue them, trying to inflict heavy damage on these barbarians. If successful, the border would have at least twenty years of peace.

Gu Fengyun sent people to other cities last night to inform them that the barbarians might be heading towards them. By now, most people have received the news and are on high alert. Even early in the morning, they didn't dare to open the city gates.

When Gu Fengyue and Song Chunlin came back, it was already the afternoon of the third day. When they returned to Linyuan City, they found that Gu Fengyun had already prepared the coffin in the palace.

After seeing the coffin, Song Chunlin stepped forward and said, "Brother, is it ok now?"

Gu Fengyun nodded deeply: "Okay, you can put him in the house."

Song Chunlin put King Linyuan's body back into his room. Because it was put into the space not long after his death, King Linyuan's appearance has not changed much. Even Chen Ci, who knew the inside story, could not help but marvel that the secret hidden in this young Master Song was truly unfathomable. He felt even more awe for Song Chunlin.

Gu Fengyun announced to the public that King Linyuan died of his injuries, but he did not say when he died, so everyone just assumed that he had just died. Those who knew the inside story were also given a death order by Chen Ci, not to tell it to anyone.

After one night, the whole city of Linyuan was dressed in white, and many people knelt in the streets, lighting incense and burning paper for King Linyuan.

The barbarians have been driven back. Gu Fengyue said that they chased them to a place not far from the grassland and killed more than half of the barbarian soldiers. The barbarians were tired and hungry, and had to deal with the harassment of Gu's army. They were in a very embarrassed state when they fled. It was completely different from when they came to attack Linyuan.

Although Gu Fengyun was not too satisfied with the result, being able to drive the barbarians away was already very good. The most important thing right now was to send King Linyuan's coffin back to the capital, and also to find King Linyuan's orphan. Gu Fengyun thought about bringing them all back to the capital.

"He is of royal blood after all. Since his father died in battle, the emperor will certainly treat him well. However, he still has foreign blood. He will most likely have to return to Linyuan in the future to take his father's place here."

Song Chunlin didn't quite understand: "Why does it have to be him?"

Gu Fengyun had to explain to him: "Because the court does not like princes of foreign descent, and Linyuan City is located in a fortress, and it also has water sources for surrounding towns. It is the top priority of all border cities in our dynasty. If we send other people, the emperor will not trust them. If we send other princes, he is afraid that they will have their own troops and become powerful. However, princes of foreign descent are not accepted by the Han people, and they will never be able to ascend the throne. Therefore, they are the best and most suitable candidates."

Song Chunlin said that he understood. It was just discrimination against people because they were mixed-race. He didn't expect that ancient people also did this. Song Chunlin was a little speechless.

Gu Fengyun had already sent an express message, eight hundred miles away, to the capital city. When the news came back, the emperor was stunned for a long time holding the letter. It was only until the eunuch reminded him that he came to his senses.

All the officials looked at the emperor's expression and thought that Linyuan City was really conquered by the barbarians. They were extremely anxious, but the emperor just waved his hand and signaled everyone to leave the court.

The emperor's action was puzzling, but it was also understandable that Linyuan City had not been taken down, but why did the emperor have that expression?

At the Marquis Yongyi's mansion, Su Fuqing was looking forward to letters from the border day and night. When he heard the urgent battle report sent over a distance of eight hundred miles, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat. He hurriedly asked the servants if they had heard what was happening in Linyuan City now. However, the servants didn't know what was written in the urgent letter sent over eight hundred miles, so they had to tell Su Fuqing helplessly that the emperor withdrew from the court after receiving the letter, and now no one knew the contents of the letter.

"The court was dismissed? The court was dismissed?" Su Fuqing muttered to himself.

Old Madam Su was a little anxious and asked Su Fuqing what had happened. After Su Fuqing came to his senses, he hurried to comfort Old Madam Su.

"Don't worry, mother. Although we don't know the contents of the memorial, judging from the emperor's reaction, this is not good news, but it is not bad news either."

Old Madam Su didn't understand. This was both bad news and good news. What was the news?

"Mother, think about it. If Linyuan City really fell into the hands of the barbarians, he would definitely be furious and would never leave the court on the spot. But he didn't show any happiness, which means that what was said in the memorial must not be a good thing."

"If it's not a good thing, then isn't it a bad thing?"

Su Fuqing shook his head: "Yes, and no. It may not be a good thing for the emperor, but it is a good thing for Dajing. The good thing is that Linyuan City was saved and not broken by the barbarians. The bad thing is that perhaps a general died in the battle..."

Speaking of generals, the mother and son's hearts beat violently. They thought of something, but soon began to shake their heads.

"No, it can't be them. The ones who made the emperor so sad that he retired from court must not be Fengyue and Chunlin. It can't be the Marquis either. He just left not long ago and must have just arrived. How could it be him?"

The mother and son sat together to analyze the situation, and finally came to a conclusion that King Linyuan was probably not in good condition.

The more the two thought about it, the more they felt that this was the case. And they were not the only ones who thought so. Many officials in the court at the time also thought of this. The officials who could get to this point were not stupid. Combined with the emperor's reaction, they understood something after a little thought. It's just that the emperor did not say it clearly, and they did not dare to speculate on his intentions.