I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 207 Caught
A hundred miles outside Tianqi City, on the official road.

A carriage was slowly driving towards the southwest.

In the carriage, a handsome young man sat cross-legged and slowly opened his eyes.

"How about it?"

Chu Zhao sighed silently: "It's okay, but it will take a long time to recover to the peak."

The repressive force that Li Changsheng left in his body was too strong. If it were not for the extremely magical Heaven and Earth Furnace Sutra that he practiced, he would have remained in the Great Free and Easy Realm for the rest of his life unless Li Changsheng took action himself.

For now, he can only grind the tofu slowly with water. According to his estimation, it will take one or two years.

"It's good that you're okay." Yu Shengmo breathed a sigh of relief: "You were too impulsive when you entered Tianqi this time."

Chu Zhao was too lazy to refute anything, and asked in confusion: "Speaking of which, where did Beili get so many experts? There are more than 20 people in the Free and Easy Heaven Realm in Tianqi City alone, and there are also several people who are half-step into the Divine Wandering. I am surprised that Beili has so many experts. How did our Western Chu, as well as your Nanjue and Beique dare to besiege Beili back then?"

Yu Shengmo rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not from the imperial court, how would I know?"

Zhao An at the side gave a bitter smile and explained, "Your Majesty, we in Western Chu were not weak in the past. Just look at Tianwai Tian and you will know that we also had several masters in the Free and Easy Heaven Realm. If the Sword Immortal had not died and the Confucian Immortal had not been seriously injured, they would have been in the same Divine Wandering Mysterious Realm as Li Changsheng and Xie Zhize."

It seems to be the case. Xi Chu is not without experts, but some are dead or disabled.

Apart from anything else, if Zhao An had not been seriously injured, he should now be a half-step divine wandering master like Zhuo Qing.

Nanjue itself is a dynasty only slightly weaker than Beili. Together with Beique, it will not be at a disadvantage at least in terms of masters.

That is to say, Li Changsheng was too powerful, and Beili and the Zhuge family helped him, otherwise Xichu and Beique might not have been defeated in the battle that year.

Just as he was thinking about it, Gu Chen suddenly asked, "Have you ever been in a spiritual journey? Can you feel how strong Li Changsheng is?"

Chu Zhao thought for a moment and smiled bitterly, "He is unfathomable. After entering the trance, he still gives me the same feeling as a mountain, unshakable. That means he has no intention of killing me, otherwise he would not be able to leave Tianqi this time."

Zhao An couldn't help but be surprised: "Is Li Changsheng really that powerful?"

"His cultivation should have transcended the realm of divine wandering, and all of his cultivation techniques are top-notch in the world."

As Chu Zhao spoke, he noticed that everyone in the carriage had a serious look on their faces, so he smiled and said, "But you don't have to worry too much. The skills I practice are stronger than his. Give me ten years, and he may not be my opponent."

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and then a noise was heard outside the carriage.

"Your Majesty, it's someone from Shadow Tower."

Chu Zhao hummed, "Let him in."

After a moment, a young man in a black robe got into the carriage.

"Your Majesty, news has just come from Yuelu City. Seven days ago, Your Majesty took the initiative to launch a war against Beili, and now she has captured two cities."

"Who are you talking about?" Chu Zhao seemed not to hear clearly.

"Empress, gather the army and start a war against Beili."

After hearing it clearly this time, Chu Zhao was shocked and asked, "You said Yueyao took the initiative to start the war?!"

It's no wonder that he was surprised. He wouldn't be surprised if anyone in Yuelu City took the initiative to start a war, but Yueyao...she had been persuading him not to start a war.

Who could have thought that Yueyao would actually take the initiative to start a war.

The black-robed man hummed, "It seems that the queen thought you died in Tianqi and wanted to avenge you."

Chu Zhao was stunned for a moment, but soon figured out the reason. He didn't say anything, but took out the secret scrolls he had collected.

"Sort these things out and spread them out."

"What are these?" asked Zhao An on the side.

"The secret scroll I found in Apocalypse City."

Chu Zhao replied, and ordered: "In addition to the things recorded in the secret scroll, it is said that Xiao Chongjing wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to kill me to get rid of the only grandson of the Zhenxi Marquis Mansion and cut off the incense of the Zhenxi Marquis Mansion, but was rescued by Langya King Xiao Ruofeng and the Eight Princes of Beili.

Let's make a good story about how Xiao Chongjing was ungrateful, cruel, and ruthless. Oh, and also tell about how the great general Ye Yu of Beili was framed for treason and his entire family was killed."

At this point, Chu Zhao paused and said, "Well, let's say Xiao Chongjing promised Qing Wang Xiao Xie that as long as he successfully framed Ye Yu, he would let Qing Wang succeed to the throne. But later he went back on his word and planned to pass the throne to Langya Wang. Langya Wang is both civil and military, affectionate and righteous, and is the next emperor of Beili.

There is also the story of how the two major killer organizations under Xiao Chongjing, the Shadow Sect and the Xiaolong Guard, assassinated ministers of the Beili court, hunted down the remnants of the Xichu and Beique, and massacred the people of Beili.

Next, Shadow Tower doesn’t need to do anything else but to do one thing, which is to do everything in its power to clean up that old bastard Xiao Chongjing.”

The black-robed man put away the secret scroll and nodded, saying, "I understand."

Chu Zhao turned to look at Zhao An and said, "By the way, after the news is released, Zhao Dajian, you should find a chance to kill a few of the powerful people in Beili who hold heavy troops. By doing this on two fronts, the whole Beili will naturally be in a state of panic and everyone will be in danger."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand!"

Zhao An was very familiar with the idea that it was the Shadow Sect or the Xiaolong Guard who did it, after all, he had done it a lot over the years.

"Go ahead." Chu Zhao waved his hand and shouted to Wu Zuoshi who was driving, "Speed ​​up and rush back to Yuelu City at full speed."

Seven days later.

Yunlin City, a small city on the southwest road.

Outside the city, there is a small village with dozens of farm families.

More than ten years ago, when Beili destroyed Xichu and Beique, some wounded soldiers were settled here. As their relatives gathered here, they settled down here and formed a village named Taiping Village.

Even though more than ten years had passed and he had been injured, they were soldiers from the battlefield after all, so the people of Taiping Village were very tough.

It is precisely because of the tough character of the people that they can be relatively safe in the current environment of refugees everywhere.

However, peace of mind cannot fill your stomach.

With the successive defeats in the wars in the south, the number of refugees continued to increase, the price of food changed every day, and the government's grain collection made the already poor village even worse.

As the village chief, Li Erhu's hair has turned white from worry.

"Head, we don't have much food left at home. Why don't we flee? If we don't, we will starve to death before the Western Chu people come to attack us."

A villager looked at Li Erhu with a sad face.

Li Erhu looked up and glanced at the people in the village. Seeing that they were all skinny and pale from hunger, he shook his head and sighed, "I still have some food at home. Those who don't have any food can take some back from my house. I'll go to the city to check the situation."

"Chief, there are quite a few people in your family. If you give it to us, what will your family eat?"

"Yes, your stored food is not enough for everyone to survive the winter."

"The day before yesterday, Er Gouzi saw refugees in the haystack. I think someone wants to take over our village. Why don't we run away too?"

"That damn refugee is tired of living, and dares to set his sights on us. Let's kill him."

"There have been more and more refugees in recent days. How many of us are there?"

"What are you afraid of? The worst that can happen is that you won't live anymore."

"Okay, stop talking. I'm going to go to the city to check out the situation."

Seeing everyone talking at once and becoming more and more excited, Li Erhu quickly interrupted them loudly.

At this time, a skinny, ragged young man came running from a distance, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, gesticulating and shouting, "There's... there's... help!"

"Ok?"

The villagers looked in the direction of the sound, all with confusion on their faces.

Li Erhu frowned and said in a deep voice, "What do you mean there is hope? Er Gouzi, straighten your tongue and speak."

The young man named Er Gouzi panted and said, "Village head, I just heard from Mr. Xu that the city has started to distribute grain."

"Mr. Xu!"

Li Erhu seemed to have a lot of complaints about Mr. Xu, and angrily said, "Who told you to talk to him? Didn't I tell you to avoid him when you see him?"

"I, I..." Ergou scratched his head, standing there at a loss. The other villagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

This Mr. Xu’s name is Xu Mu.

He came to the village six years ago. When he first arrived, except for the old village chief who has passed away, everyone else disliked him because he was from Beique.

The old village head, Li Erhu's father, had studied for two years in his early years and understood more things than ordinary people. After knowing that Xu Mu was a scholar, he originally planned to set up a village school and invite Xu Mu to teach.

But what is reading and writing? Who among the ordinary people would learn this?

There were scholars in the village before, but they lived in poverty. They managed to marry, but they divorced because they were too poor. The scholar eventually starved to death.

Not to mention, this Mr. Xu is not from Beili.

Therefore, it was opposed from the very beginning by young people led by Li Erhu.

First of all, in their opinion, studying is useless.

Besides, the people of Beique are the enemies of the people of Beili. Letting their enemies educate the next generation, wouldn’t that be a disaster for Beili?

If his father had not insisted on keeping him, Li Erhu would have driven Xu Mu out of the village long ago.

Six years later, Xu Mu has been integrated into the village, but he can only live at the entrance of the village. Most of the time, he is in the city writing letters for others. He doesn't interact much with the villagers. The villagers don't dare to talk to him much, for fear that the head of the village, Li Erhu, will get angry.

Now Ergou said that grain was distributed in the city, and that Xu Mu told him the news. Some villagers who had a good impression of Xu Mu began to become interested.

A villager bravely said, "Head, I saw Mr. Xu enter the city yesterday. I think the news is true. Why don't we go into the city and take a look?"

Li Erhu did not answer, but asked: "Where is Xu Muren?"

"He told me the news and then packed up and went into the city," Ergou replied.

As he was talking, another young man ran over here, shouting anxiously as he ran: "Oh no, oh no, the officials are here again."

Why say it again?

Because since the war broke out in Yuelu City, the officials have gone to the countryside to collect grain many times, otherwise they would not have been able to survive this winter.

In an instant, everyone scattered like birds and beasts, running madly towards their homes.

Li Erhu followed the young man with a serious look on his face and ran towards the village entrance.

"Brother Zhao, why are you here again? There is really no food in the village."

The leading officer immediately kicked him and cursed, "Stop fooling me. I don't know who you are, but we are not here to collect grain today."

"Then what are you doing?"

"conscription."

"It's better to collect grain." Li Erhu said with a wry smile.

The official surnamed Zhao sighed, "There is nothing we can do. The Western Chu people have already occupied Kaiyang City. They have sent a group of troops to our Yunlin City. The court asked us to hold them off until the Lingnan Zhenchu ​​Army can send troops to come. As for the defense force in our city, you know that the city lord can only recruit soldiers for now."

"Losing again?" the young man asked in surprise.

When this was mentioned, the official surnamed Zhao became furious.

"That's right, damn, those people are such rubbish!"

Back then, it took them only half a year to conquer Western Chu, but now the Western Chu army has captured twelve cities in just half a month.

Although the Western Chu people in Yuelu City suddenly launched a war and caught the Beili people off guard, some cities even openly rebelled and surrendered.

For example: When Western Chu had just occupied Kaiyang City, the head of the Yan family openly rebelled, allowing the Western Chu people to occupy Kaiyang City unscathed.

But even so, it was hard to accept that twelve cities were captured in just half a month, especially for these old soldiers who had participated in the war to destroy Chu.

Apart from waste, he could find other words to describe the army at the front that was resisting Western Chu.

"I heard that the people of Western Chu are a little different now. They seem to have some artillery, which is a siege weapon. Are we going to delay it until the main army arrives?" Li Erhu said with a worried look on his face.

The officer thought for a moment and replied, "According to the spies' report, there are not many troops heading towards us, only about a thousand, and they don't have any artillery with them, so it shouldn't be a big problem. Besides, the city lord also has other ways to delay them."

"any solution?"

"You'll find out once you get to the city. Let's go and call everyone into the city."

On the other side, in Yunlin City.

A middle-aged man was strolling in the city with a young man. Not far from them, officials were distributing grain and porridge.

The ground was full of refugees, and there was no order at all. They were crowded in front of the straw huts where porridge and food were distributed, and it was impossible to tell who was in which order.

Moreover, according to Chu Zhao's observation, many people joined the queue to get porridge after receiving the food.

The key point is that although they look ragged, they are actually quite sturdy. They may not be fair, but they are definitely not dark. It is obvious that they are not refugees or farmers fleeing the war.

"It seems that no matter what era it is, there will always be only a small group of poor people who can truly receive relief, while most of those who receive relief are wealthy people who have enough food and drink at home." Chu Zhao sighed.

A middle-aged man in a loose robe nodded in agreement: "Sir, most of them are servants of the wealthy families in the city, and some are even from the city lord's mansion."

If people from Taiping Village outside the city were here, they would be able to recognize that the middle-aged man who was speaking was Xu Mu from the village.

"How's the situation outside the city?"

"The city guards are arresting people everywhere."

"Isn't it conscription?"

Xu Mu shook his head, then nodded: "They are recruiting soldiers, but they are also arresting people, arresting people from Western Chu."

As he was speaking, a group of soldiers came over here.

Just as the two sides passed each other, the leading captain suddenly stopped.

"You look unfamiliar. It seems that you are not from Yunlin City."

"Yes, we are merchants who came here, but we didn't expect to encounter Yunlin City's martial law. We are allowed to enter but not leave, so we can only stay in the city."

"Trader?"

The captain looked at the two men carefully, and finally his eyes fell on Chu Zhao. He laughed and said, "Judging from the way you are dressed, I think your family is very wealthy."

"A little bit of money."

"Now that the remnants of Western Chu are invading, I wonder if you are willing to help us defend the city?"

Chu Zhao's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he smiled playfully, "What if I don't want to?"

The captain's face darkened instantly, and he sneered, "Sir, have you ever heard of losing money to avoid disaster?"

Chu Zhao spread his hands: "I don't have any money."

"It seems like you are going to drink a forfeit if you don't accept my toast." The captain snorted coldly and waved his hand: "Come here, arrest these two people."

"Why did you arrest us?" Xu Mu roared.

The captain smiled and said, "Because you are spies sent by Western Chu."

"we are not."

"Whether it's true or not, I have the final say. What are you still standing there for? Arrest him and take him away!"

Since Chu Zhao did not resist, Xu Mu naturally couldn't resist either.

Thus, the new emperor of Western Chu, who had stirred up trouble in Tianqi City, was easily captured by a team of patrolling soldiers.

(End of this chapter)