Chapter 87 Freedom (First update, please subscribe)
In the second year of Kaiping, on February 2, the dragon raised its head.

The morning light of dawn shone quietly, gradually covering the shafts of the cart. The two brown horses pulling the cart were also warmed by the sun, snorting excitedly and galloping hard on the slightly dry road.

Behind, the figure in the pavilion was getting farther and farther away until it was out of sight and could no longer be seen.

Xiao Yan leaned in the front room, holding the reins with both hands, and drove at a steady pace. Since he had already reached an agreement with Miao Chengtian, he would not stay in Fengxiang any longer, and Zhu Wen had already returned to Bianliang, so it was time for him to return to Luoyang.

In the carriage, the surrendered minister came out from behind the curtain, holding an ancient book and yawning.

A strong wind blew over with a chill, instantly blowing the long hair beside her ears to the side. The pink hair ends floated beside Xiao Yan's face, and the pleasant fragrance floated in his nostrils, but it also made people feel itchy.

"good weather."

Jiang Chen flipped open the book, sat down next to Xiao Yan, and said, "If you don't bring the little girl with you, aren't you afraid that she will miss you?"

Xiao Yan twisted the long pink hair away from her face.

"We'll see each other soon, no rush."

"Tsk." Jiangchen curled his lips and asked no more questions.

After a long time, the carriage passed through Chang'an. As they had already left the border of Qi State, the token given by the empress in Xiao Yan's hand was useless, so the surrendered minister paid to replace two horses to pull the carriage.

He was received in a wing adjoining the stables.

"Captain, there is a letter from the chief." He took out two letters from his pocket and pointed to one of them that was obviously copied and said, "This letter is enclosed together. The chief said that he wanted the captain to read it himself."

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and put it in his arms.

"There is one more thing. According to the captain's previous order," the unruly man dressed like a manager lowered his voice a little and said, "The emperor has been sent to Luoyang. Does the captain need to ask the brothers to bring him to Chang'an?"

"No need to do that. Thank you for your hard work."

The bad guy was somewhat moved, and then he stroked his short beard with a sigh: "If the captain had not reactivated the two rudders in Yanzhou and Luoyang, I would have forgotten the identity of this bad guy..."

Xiao Yan was silent for a moment, clasped his fists with respect to the nearly forty-year-old bad guy, and strode away.

Outside the stable, the two new draft horses had been harnessed.

After he got on the carriage, Jiang Chen looked at the bad guys who were still watching him from afar, gritted his teeth and said, "Since I'm your man, why do you still want to take my money?"

"I owe it to Corpse Ancestor."

Xiao Yan didn't even raise his head, took out the letter from his arms, and first read the one written by Sanqianyuan.

After leaving Guanzhong, the Three Thousand Courts headed north, intending to return to the headquarters outside the Great Wall, but they could not resist Xiao Yan's suggestion and caught up with Bal in disguise. In Xiao Yan's plan, this step was crucial if he wanted to induce Zhu Wen to attack Jin.

But the few big words on the letter made him suddenly change his mind.

"There has been a change in Lulong. It is suggested that the matter of offering Luzhou City be shelved. We may start from Hebei."

Xiao Yan closed his eyes and thought for a while.

Seeing him being so perfunctory, the surrendered minister leaned over to take a look, only to see that Xiao Yan had already crushed the letter into pieces.

"Are you on guard against me?"

Jiang Chen stared, frowned in dissatisfaction, and said, "Do you really think I'm curious? Ha, mortals only know how to do these intrigues."

But even though she said so, when Xiao Yan read the second letter, she still moved over immediately.

"Watch the horse and don't hit the tree." Xiao Yan reminded.

The surrendered minister ignored him, and pointed to the words on the letter, saying, "I have dealt with Shi Jingtang, the Guoyi Commandant of Daizhou, once."

"Oh?" Xiao Yan tilted his head and stared at her cheek which was very close to him.

"Have you ever heard of the Xuanwu Mountain Tianshi Mansion?"

“Not very well.”

"Back then, Zhu Wen had not yet become emperor. In order to make the entire martial arts world of Central Plains at his disposal, he once asked the Dark Emperor to lead people to sweep the entire martial arts world. At that time, all the sects, big and small, that had not surrendered, nominated the Tianshi Mansion as the leader and wanted to fight against the Xuanming Sect."

The surrendered minister recalled, "At that time, the Tianshi Mansion did hold out for a long time, but it was instantly breached by the Xuanming Sect one night, and its Tianshi Zhang Xuanling also disappeared overnight. Not long after that, Shi Jingtang came to visit me, saying that he wanted to help his father-in-law Li..."

She frowned, as if she couldn't remember.

Xiao Yan then reminded: "Li Siyuan."

"Yes, it is Li Siyuan. He wants to ask for a medicine that can suppress the extreme yang internal force for Li Siyuan..."

Xiao Yan thought for a moment and asked, "How did he know where the corpse ancestor is?"

"At that time, I was still in Xuanming Sect." Jiang Chen said, "But I was not in a good mood at that time, so I ignored him."

"Does the Corpse Ancestor know this person's character and strength?"

"Who is interested in this? Why should I know this?"

Xiao Yan smiled, didn't care, and scanned the letter again.

In the letter, an unknown person ordered Shi Jingtang to lead his troops out of Yanmen Pass and into Youzhou to help Liu Shouguang secure his position as Jiedushi of Lulong. At the same time, it also warned Shi Jingtang to bypass Liu Shouguang and make some contact with the people of Mobei when necessary.

The message of this letter was not complicated. It was nothing more than asking Shi Jingtang to support Liu Shouguang, and then after the latter secured the position of Jiedushi, he would stay under Liu Shouguang as the representative of the King of Jin. But the meaning behind it was somewhat interesting.

Why do we have to emphasize the contact with the Mobei people?
Xiao Yan didn't know much about Liu Shouguang, but he could guess that the person who wrote this letter should be Li Siyuan, Shi Jingtang's father-in-law, the leader of the Tongwenguan, and the chief of the Thirteen Guardians.

According to his impression, this person is extremely ambitious, the most ambitious among his peers. He never thought that now that Li Keyong and Li Cunxu are both alive, he has already secretly thought of forming a ties with Mobei...

It seems that the situation in Hedong, or the entire Hebei Province, is indeed much more complicated than that in the Central Plains.

Xiao Yan crushed the letter casually, held the reins, and began to think about the matter in his mind.

------

The carriage traveled for a day and a night and finally arrived in Luoyang.

Because Zhu Wen had already returned to Bianliang, most of the imperial guards in the city were gone. However, because of the turmoil in the imperial city half a month ago, the searches at the city gates were much stricter, especially for carriages carrying people.

"Your Majesty has issued an edict that anyone entering Liang territory from other states must be carefully searched!"

Seeing the long spears standing in rows, the surrendered minister glanced helplessly at Xiao Yan who had changed his appearance and wanted to get out of the car.

At this time, several riders rushed out from the city in the distance.

"What are you doing!?"

The Xuanming Sect leader who was riding in the front was furious. He pointed at the officers at the city gate and shouted, "This is the guest of the King Jun. You guys want to be so presumptuous?"

All the guards at the city gate were stunned, and then subconsciously moved aside.

Although the officers at the door were somewhat indignant at the leader's arrogance, they had no choice but to salute him with their fists clasped.

"I don't recognize you, my dear. Since you are the guest of King Jun, please enter the city..."

Now, the status of Prince Jun Zhu Youzhen has risen in front of Zhu Wen, and he is responsible for investigating the spies in the army and Xuanming Sect. He is in power. If you offend someone under him, you may be stripped of your official position the next day and thrown into prison for the crime of being a "spy".

The carriage was escorted into the city by several riders. Jiang Chen’s beautiful eyes turned softly, and he asked in a low voice: “How did you plant people into the Xuanming Sect?”

Xiao Yan just smiled faintly and asked, "Is it difficult to be placed in the Xuanming Sect?"

The surrendered minister frowned slightly.

The carriage entered the city and went straight into Anle Pavilion without going anywhere else.

Inside, Yu Youshu had already led people out to greet them.

The surrendered minister got off the carriage before Xiao Yan. He put his hands behind his back, looked around, and nodded with satisfaction.

"This place is suitable for cutting."

Yu Youshu was stunned for a moment, watching Xiao Yan get off the car carrying a medicine box, then she approached hesitantly and asked in a low voice: "Captain, who is this maid?"

Xiao Yan thought for a moment and said, "My attendant doctor, don't worry about it."

The surrendered minister in front of him chuckled softly and glanced at him sideways, but was too lazy to embarrass him.

Yu Youshu would never believe it.

Because of what happened half a month ago, she already had some admiration for Xiao Yan, and now she also had some respect for the surrendered minister, so she led the way in front.

"The emperor has been waiting for a long time."

The courtyard was quite quiet, with almost no one around.

Occasionally there were a few people, all of whom were bad guys who had met me a few times before, guarding various corners.

When they entered the courtyard, Liang Zhisui, who had already received the news, came out from the side room to greet them.

Liang Zhishi had long known that Xiao Yan looked exactly like the emperor, but it seemed that the emperor he had met in the past two days was too timid. When he saw the heroic Xiao Yan, he was subconsciously stunned.

He didn't know the details of the surrendered minister, so he deliberately avoided her for a while, and then lowered his voice to say to Xiao Yan: "The emperor was brought all the way to Guanzhong, and he was quite frightened. What exactly does the captain want to do..."

The latter did not answer, but said calmly: "Just stand guard outside the door."

Then he pushed the door open and walked in.

Liang Zhi frowned a little, then looked at the surrendered minister standing with his hands behind his back in the courtyard, and asked Yu Youshu in a low voice: "Who is she?"

"I don't know either." Yu Youshu hesitated and said, "But since it was brought by Tian Anxing, it should be trustworthy."

Liang Zhi paced back and forth, but felt something was strange.

"You stay here, I'll go find Old Duan and ask him."

He left after he finished speaking. Yu Youshu felt a little strange because of him. She glanced at the surrendered minister who looked quite coquettish, and wondered about Xiao Yan's plan.

……

In the side room, a thin young man was reading a collection of poems to pass the time.

Xiao Yan suddenly pushed the door open and came in, which startled him subconsciously.

But it seemed that the experiences of these days made him calm down immediately and he tried his best to maintain some dignity.

But when he saw the person's face clearly, his majesty disappeared in an instant.

Xiao Yan stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the thin boy, and did not speak for a long time.

The young man knew him, and felt a little uneasy, so he asked, "Qing, are you Xiao Yan?"

"Yes."

"I heard from them that it was you who placed me... placed me with Aong?"

Xiao Yan thought about it and decided that the "Aweng" he was referring to should be the old senior from Yanzhou.

"Correct."

The young man felt that Xiao Yan was a little cold and indifferent, not as respectful as those people had been to him in the past few days, so his voice trembled a little: "Then can I still go back to my grandfather?"

"You don't like staying in Luoyang?" Xiao Yan paced gently and said, "Here, you can truly enjoy the treatment of the emperor."

"I still like Aung's place, over there..." The young man was a little timid, and hesitated for a long time before whispering: "Over there, no one regards me as the Son of Heaven."

Xiao Yan stopped and looked up at him.

After a long time, he smiled softly.

"You, want freedom?"

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(End of this chapter)