Chapter 204: Inquiring for Information

The army marched for two days, but no trace of the pursuers was found along the way. Bai Yu did not give any warning when he came back from sentry duty.

Xie Tingzhou touched Bai Yu's fur, fed him some food and let him play by himself.

"We are already three hundred miles away from Beijing. We can't keep running like this. Both people and horses need to rest. Otherwise, if the pursuers catch up, we will not be able to fight. Let's camp here today to rest."

Xifeng went down to make arrangements.

Shen Yu's body had recovered, and she rode on a horse and walked side by side with Xie Tingzhou.

"Xiao Chuan hasn't come back yet." Shen Yu was a little worried.

Xiao Chuan used to be a scout in the Xiao family army, responsible for investigating the enemy situation. Yesterday, he selected a group of people to go to investigate the pursuers in three teams, but he has not returned tonight.

Xiao Chuan is very vigilant. Shen Yu is not worried about other things, but is worried that he will be ambushed on the road.

The army camped and settled down, dug a stove and made a fire to cook.

Today, I passed by a city and sent people to disguise themselves to purchase a lot of things. I also learned the news that Emperor Tongxu had passed away. The crown prince Li Zhaonian will hold the succession ceremony in half a month.

Tonight, we finally don’t have to eat dry food. Everyone can have a hot meal.

Changliu squatted by the fire and ate chicken legs with his mouth full of oil. While eating, he said: "It’s really good to escape. There are chicken legs to eat. Thanks to Shiyu, no, thanks to our future prince’s wife who is rich and has shops everywhere."

Xifeng brought beef soup, "Do you think everyone has chicken legs to eat?"

Changliu smiled, "That’s because I’m still growing. It’s our future prince’s wife who feels sorry for me that I’m still growing, so she gave me hers."

Xifeng said, "She’s not much older than you. Isn’t she growing?"

Changliu was stunned when he thought about it, "It seems so."

Xifeng ignored him. After Changliu finished eating the chicken legs, he hugged his arms and muttered about his little turtle for a while. He didn’t know if Zhongbo took good care of it along the way. He was so worried.

"Brother Feng, please go to the toilet with me. I feel like squatting."

Xifeng hadn't finished the soup in his bowl yet, and he lost his appetite because of what he said, "Go away."

"But I'm scared." Changliu pulled his arm and rubbed his clothes with grease.

Xifeng shook his hand away in disgust, finished the soup and stood up, "Are you not leaving yet?"

Changliu hurriedly followed him.

The forest was very quiet. Xifeng didn't get too close to Changliu. He found a tree to lean against with his sword. Changliu called him from time to time, fearing that Xifeng would leave him behind.

"Do you think there will be ghosts in this forest?"

"Can you hurry up?" Xifeng urged impatiently.

"Brother Feng, listen." Changliu pricked up his ears, holding back his fart and not daring to let out a fart, "It seems like there is someone."

Xifeng listened for a while, "What kind of person can there be in a forest where no one is shitting? What's there to be afraid of? What if it's not a person?"

If it's not a person, what else could it be? Changliu thought about it, shuddered immediately, and became even more scared.

He listened for a moment, and besides the sound of the wind, there were some subtle sounds.

"There really is someone approaching this way." Changliu said again: "No, I have to go up and take a look."

Changliu pulled up his pants and jumped up the tallest tree in a few seconds. He really saw a group of people approaching the camp in the dark.

"Brother Feng, someone is coming." He whispered.

Xifeng was alert instantly, and just as he was about to warn, he heard Changliu say: "Wait."

"Prince, Prince's Consort." Changliu ran quickly to the camp, shouting: "Xiao Chuan and the others are back."

Shen Yu focused all on the latter sentence, Xiao Chuan is back, and didn't pay any attention to the former sentence, Prince's Consort, and walked out of the tent quickly.

Xie Tingzhou glanced at Changliu, and when he passed by Changliu, he said: "The chicken leg in the tent is a reward for you."

Changliu was happy, and the call of Prince's Consort was really worth it.

Xiao Chuan and his men were in a mess, and they came back and wolfed down the hot soup.

Shen Yu sat by the campfire and looked at him, "Did you encounter pursuers?"

"No." Xiao Chuan said hastily, "I encountered refugees, who almost took off my pants."

After saying that, seeing Xie Tingzhou looking at him, he quickly put away his soldier look and said seriously, "Sir, I have been investigating along the way and found traces of pursuers. The place where they camped was full of corpses of imperial guards, and Jiang An was beheaded and hung on a tree, and his lower body was gnawed by wild dogs until only bones were left."

Xiao Chuan swallowed the last mouthful of soup, "There were no other corpses at the scene except for the imperial guards. I suspect that Jiang An and Xuanping Hou had an internal conflict, and Xuanping Hou designed to kill all of Jiang An's men."

Shen Yu stared at the fire, "It's a pity that I couldn't kill him myself."

Xie Tingzhou stood beside her. He knew that she thought of Pei Chunli's death, so he put his fingers on the back of her neck and gently pinched it to comfort her.

"Go on." He gestured to Xiao Chuan.

"Yeah, yes." Xiao Chuan was not under the jurisdiction of Xie Tingzhou, but he felt that this man was so imposing that he always made people feel inferior to him.

"Later, we followed their retreat trail to investigate. The 60,000 people of Xuanping Hou collided with the people of Nan Daying and started fighting, but the fight was not fierce. Xuanping Hou fought and retreated, fleeing towards Luzhou."

"Luzhou is the fief of King Duanqing." Xie Tingzhou said.

Shen Yu raised her head to look at him, "This just buys us time."

"Yeah." Xie Tingzhou also lowered his eyes to look at her, but his hand did not move away, "Xuanping Hou fought and retreated to preserve his strength. Nan Daying has no reserve baggage, and he wants a quick battle and a quick decision. Xuanping Hou only needs to delay time."

The two of them were intimate, and the others dared only to listen but not to watch, either with their heads down or staring at the fire.

Except for Changliu who stared straight at him, Xifeng pressed his head down.

"How many troops does King Duanqing have in his fief?" Shen Yu asked.

Xie Tingzhou said: "Thirty thousand, maybe more."

"Then Marquis Xuanping wants to seize King Duanqing's fiefdom and establish himself as king?"

Shen Zhao also came over after hearing the news.

"I don't think so." Xie Tingzhou retracted his hand and sat down next to her. "The fact that he dared to retreat to Luzhou without being afraid of being attacked from both sides shows that he is sure that Luzhou is safe. It seems that he and King Duanqing are safe." There has been collusion for a long time, and maybe King Duanqing had a hand in training his private soldiers."

Shen Yu also stared at the fire, wishing to put the two of them on the fire to roast them, "Those 60,000 soldiers were raised with the people's tax money and the granary of Da Zhou."

Xie Tingzhou said: "The current situation is not entirely beneficial to us. No matter which side we are facing, we are facing enemies on both sides. Marquis Xuanping has to deal with the soldiers of the imperial court, and he also has to be wary of Beilin. The imperial court and we are also facing two sides." Pincer attack and contain each other.”

"Dazhou has no money." Shen Yu said: "The Ministry of Revenue has no money to support the war."

Xiao Chuan nodded, "Then we can live a stable life for a while."

After he said this, he saw that the three people's brows did not loosen.

"What are you worried about, sir?" Xiao Chuan asked.