After passing Youyun Pass and walking for dozens of miles, you will reach the endless grassland outside the Great Wall.
In the midsummer grassland, the sky is blue, the grass is abundant, and the wind carries the charming scent of green grass. The cattle, sheep and dome tents near and far are like pearls scattered on the grassland, harmonious and beautiful.
Xie Nanjia was riding on a tall and strong chestnut horse, and behind him sat Mu Yuan, who was even stronger than the horse.
Mu Yuan used Yun Shu to force back Cheng Zhiye and Huangfu's troops, and took her across Youyun Pass in a swagger, and threatened Cheng Zhiye not to follow him. If he found anyone following him, he would chop off one of Yun Shu's hands, and he would chop off one hand every time he found someone, until Yun Shu was chopped into a human pig.
Cheng Zhiye had no choice but to let them go and stayed inside the pass with Huangfu to wait for Zhao Jingyu to arrive before thinking of a solution.
The carriage was damaged, and Mu Yuan was worried about letting Xie Nanjia ride alone, so he forced her to ride with him.
Xie Nanjia had strongly objected at first, so Mu Yuan pointed at Yunshu, who was tied up and hung on the horse's back after being knocked unconscious, and asked her if she wanted to try that too.
Xie Nanjia immediately said she didn't want to try: "I'm not opposed to riding with you, but I'm mainly worried that the horse can't handle it."
Mu Yuan: "… The Han Chinese have a saying that those who know the current situation are heroes. You are a hero among heroes."
Xie Nanjia smiled slightly: "Thank you for the compliment."
The grassland is very large and sparsely populated. There was not a single person to be seen for a long time, let alone a teahouse or inn to rest. There was nothing except the occasional big tree.
The sun was shining brightly, and Xie Nanjia soon couldn't stand it anymore. She protested to Mu Yuan and demanded that he get her a carriage no matter what.
Mu Yuan thought she was too troublesome and was always afraid that she was up to something bad. Looking at her sunburned face, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he took off his outer robe and put it on her head, and promised her that he would get her a carriage when they reached the next city.
It is called a city, but in fact it is equivalent to a more prosperous market town inside the Great Wall. Xie Nanjia sat in the inn which was said to be the largest in the city, drinking tea and resting, waiting for Mu Yuan to help her find a carriage.
After her repeated requests, Mu Yuan agreed to let Yun Shu come over for tea.
When Yun Shu was brought here, he was completely exhausted and dying.
Xie Nanjia's hands were tied, so she couldn't take care of her, so she asked the accompanying maid to feed her water and wipe her face with cold water. After a long time, Yun Shu slowly recovered and looked at Xie Nanjia, crying with grievance.
"Stop crying. Tears are also water. You never know when you will get to drink them next time. Don't waste them." Xie Nanjia advised her half-jokingly.
Yunshu stopped crying and choked up, asking the maid to feed her another bowl.
After she calmed down a little, Xie Nanjia asked her how she was kidnapped by Mu Yuan.
Yun Shu said that after hearing the news of Xie Nanjia's disappearance, he went to the street to look for her. Unfortunately, he ran into Mu Yuan, who knocked him unconscious and took him away. When he woke up again, he was already far away from the capital.
"Why would he tie you up? Was it just because you had a conflict with him?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"Probably not." Yun Shu said, "He heard that I brought half a jade with me when I came to the capital, and asked me where the jade was. I was afraid that he would harm you, so I told Brother Xiaoguai that it was there."
"He wants jade?" Xie Nanjia suddenly became interested. "Did he say what the jade is used for?"
"No, he didn't say it, but he obviously wanted to get the jade, so I guess it must not be an ordinary jade." Yun Shu said, "I thought the jade was the engagement token between me and Brother Xiaoguai, but I didn't expect it to have other uses."
Xie Nanjia fell silent, not knowing what he was thinking.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Yun Shu continued, "You may not know yet, your former crown prince is also missing."
Former crown prince
Song Jingxing
Xie Nanjia was shocked and looked at Yun Shu fiercely: "When did it happen? How did he disappear?"
“Just around the same time as you,” Yun Shu said, “It is said that he escaped during the enthronement ceremony. I don’t know the details.”
Xie Nanjia was so shocked that he couldn't even remain calm.
She didn't expect that things would happen so coincidentally. At the same time she was kidnapped, Song Jingxing also escaped from prison. So, Zhao Jingyu must be very worried. She actually knew nothing and was only thinking about Zhao Jingyu coming to save her.
Song Jingxing's escape was not just to avoid exile, he was definitely going to rebel.
At such a critical moment, her father, brother, and Zhao Jingyu all ran out to find her. What should Beijing do
Especially Zhao Jingyu, what if Song Jingxing finds out his whereabouts and brings people to ambush him
The more Xie Nanjia thought about it, the more restless she became. She began to regret leaving a letter for Zhao Jingyu asking him to come to Yudu.
Mu Yuan wanted the jade, so who knows if he was deliberately using her to lure Zhao Jingyu into a trap.
In this case, are her previous guesses about Mu Yuan still correct
Mu Yuan never fell for her trick. Was it because she made a mistake in judgment
No, no, no, judging from Mu Yuan's expression at the time, she couldn't have made a mistake in her judgment. At most, she overlooked something and didn't think it through. For example, she didn't know that Song Jingxing had escaped, so she didn't combine the two things...
"What are you thinking about?" Mu Yuan's voice rang out, and his tall figure cast a shadow in front of her.
Xie Nanjia was startled and raised her head suddenly. When she met his bright eyes, her opinion of him changed again.
This person has a rough appearance, but you would never expect that he is so treacherous inside. He is really good at using his appearance to deceive people.
"What's wrong?" Mu Yuan wiped his face casually, "Is there something on my face?"
"Yes." Xie Nanjia said.
"What?" Mu Yuan wiped his face again.
"Treacherous!" said Xie Nanjia.
Mu Yuan was slightly stunned, then laughed out loud: "Shouldn't the word treacherous be used to describe you, Miss Xiu'er?"
Xie Nanjia didn't argue with him about this. She took advantage of his unpreparedness and suddenly asked, "Does Song Jingxing's escape from prison have anything to do with you?"
Mu Yuan's smile suddenly stopped and he turned to look at Yun Shu.
Yun Shu shuddered under his stare and lowered her head deeply.
"Take her away!" Mu Yuan ordered.
The men came over, carried Yunshu and left.
"What are you doing? Did I get it right?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"What did you say?" Mu Yuan said, "You think too much. I'm just afraid that she will affect your mood."
"My mood?" Xie Nanjia laughed. "How can I be in a good mood as a hostage?"
Mu Yuan didn't seem to want to say more, pointing to the carriage road outside the door: "The carriage has been prepared for you, hurry up and get going!"
Xie Nanjia looked in the direction of his hand: "Can Miss Yunshu sit with me?"
"No." Mu Yuan rejected her without a second thought, carried her out the door, stuffed her into the carriage, and ordered the driver to set off.
"You don't want to sit down either?" Xie Nanjia asked.
Mu Yuan climbed onto the horse and shouted, "I won't give you a chance to get any information from you."
"..." Xie Nanjia sat back in the car disappointedly. She really wanted to continue to trick Mu Yuan, but this man was too alert and did not fall for her trick.
The team left the city and continued to move north. Until dark, they did not encounter any towns. There were only herdsmen's tents along the way, sometimes more than a dozen in one, sometimes three or five in one, making the grassland look particularly empty.
After nightfall, the temperature dropped sharply. Even in the middle of summer, it was so cold that we needed to cover ourselves with a blanket.
Xie Nanjia was wrapped in a blanket that he got from somewhere, and thought to himself that it was no wonder that these countries outside the Great Wall were always ambitious to invade the Central Plains. Compared with the prosperity of the Central Plains, this place was indeed too desolate.
This is the case in the summer, and the environment is even worse in the cold winter. The survival of the herdsmen becomes a problem, so they will do whatever it takes to plunder the Han people at the border.
This time, since Mu Yuan dared to openly provoke Da Zhou, he should have been prepared for a war between the two countries. What made them confident of defeating Da Zhou
Xie Nanjia thought about it and there was only one possibility: they found strong enough reinforcements or allied with neighboring countries.
So, did Song Jingxing, who escaped from prison, also reach some kind of cooperation with them
Is it possible that King Yuze agreed to rescue Song Jingxing, and Song Jingxing used his understanding of Da Zhou to help King Yuze attack Da Zhou, and after the conquest, both sides shared the fruits of victory.
The more Xie Nanjia thought about it, the more he felt that this possibility was very high. He just didn't know if Zhao Jingyu and the others had thought of this.
If things were really as she thought, and Mu Yuan brought her back to Yuze, was it to present her to King Yuze, or to give her to Song Jingxing as a token of his sincerity in cooperation
Is it possible that Song Jingxing himself has already arrived in Yudu and is discussing sending troops with King Yuze
Thinking of this, Xie Nanjia couldn't wait to reach Yudu and meet King Yuze. As long as she met King Yuze, she would be able to confirm whether her guess was correct.
However, Yu Ze's territory was much larger than she had imagined. After two days and nights of trekking, the team finally reached Yu Ze's capital, Yudu.
After seeing two or three cities along the way, Xie Nanjia thought that Yudu was at most a market town slightly larger than those cities. But when she actually arrived there, she found that she was wrong again. Yudu was actually an extremely prosperous metropolis, which was like a miracle in this barren land.
Mu Yuan sensed her surprise from her shocked look, and with a proud look on his face, he asked Xie Nanjia with a smile: "How is our capital? Is it beautiful and prosperous?"
"Yes." Xie Nanjia said sincerely, "I didn't expect there was such a shining pearl in the heart of the grassland."
Mu Yuan was very happy to hear this, and praised Xie Nanjia for her ability to speak. He kindly reminded Xie Nanjia: "My father likes to hear others flatter him. When you meet him later, you must follow his words and find ways to make him happy, so that he won't embarrass you."
Xie Nanjia was surprised and asked him with a smile: "Why do you want to help me?"
"Because I love you and don't want you to be embarrassed." Mu Yuan said.
Xie Nanjia: “…”
Are all people on the grassland so straightforward
When they arrived at the Yuze Palace, Mu Yuan first took Xie Nanjia to his own palace, ordered the maid to bathe and change her clothes, and then went to pay a visit to King Yuze.
There were no Han clothes here, so the maid changed Xie Nanjia into a cross-collared long gown commonly worn by noble women of Yuze Kingdom. The gown dragged on the ground and had slits on both sides. She tied a long brocade belt around her waist. Her hair was tied up high and pinned with a gorgeous peacock headdress, giving her a very exotic look.
After dressing up, the maid led her to the front hall and handed her over to Mu Yuan who was waiting there.
Mu Yuan was mesmerized at first sight. He circled around Xie Nanjia twice and exclaimed, "She is so beautiful. She is exactly the Yanshi of my dreams."
"What does rouge mean?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"What the Queen meant." Mu Yuan said.
Xie Nanjia: "… Then why didn't you hide me, but took me to your father?"
The smile on Mu Yuan's face suddenly disappeared, and he led her to King Yuze's palace in silence.
The palace was heavily guarded. Rows of burly guards stood on both sides of the palace with spears in hand. Their bronze faces showed ferocity, and the timid would tremble at the sight of them.
Xie Nanjia followed Mu Yuan up the stairs, secretly estimating the possibility of escaping from these people, and then concluded with frustration that the possibility was zero.
As soon as he entered the palace, he saw a middle-aged man with a rough appearance, a majestic expression, and wearing a gold-woven flying dragon robe sitting on the high throne. His eyes were exactly the same as Mu Yuan's, and they were rolling around like copper bells.
Mu Yuan took a step forward, knelt on one knee, and saluted the man with his arms folded: "Father, thanks to the protection of the gods, I have completed the mission you entrusted me with and returned safely from the Great Zhou."
King Yuze bowed his head, raised his palm upwards, and ordered Mu Yuan to stand up. He spoke in a voice as loud as a bell: "My son, you have worked hard. Father will reward you greatly." Then he turned his gaze to Xie Nanjia, "Is she the legendary girl with the Phoenix destiny?"
"Yes, father." Mu Yuan stood up and introduced Xie Nanjia, "Miss Xiu'er, this is my father, the Khan of our Yuze Kingdom."
Xie Nanjia nodded slightly, stepped forward, bowed deeply, and said in a crisp voice: "Greetings to the Khan, long greetings to the Khan."
King Yuze's face darkened, and he was very unhappy: "Why don't you kneel when you see me?"
Xie Nanjia straightened her back and said solemnly, "Yuze is a vassal state of our Great Zhou, and the Khan is a minister of our Great Zhou. As the Crown Princess of the Great Zhou, you should come to pay respect to me. Blessing you is already a great honor, but you come to find fault with me instead. What's the reason?"
Mu Yuanwan had never expected her to say such a thing. He gasped in fear. Just as he was about to open his mouth to smooth things over for her, King Yu Ze was already furious. He slapped the table with his huge palm, and the jade carved table broke.
"Someone, drag this rude woman out and chop her into pieces!" King Yuze shouted.
The ferocious guards outside the hall came in, carried Xie Nanjia on the left and right, and walked out.
(End of this chapter)