Empress Cao said, "Everyone thought that Murong Jie couldn't escape since he came to Beimo, and they also thought that he didn't want to escape. Unexpectedly, he left as soon as he said he would. Now the people know that the miracle doctor has come to Dazhou, and everyone is looking forward to it, waiting for this miracle doctor to go to the epidemic area. Your Majesty, what do you think we should do?"
Empress Cao actually hoped that the emperor would withdraw his order and temporarily suspend the attack on the Great Zhou. Foreign wars, civil unrest, natural disasters, and plagues, all these unfortunate things fell on the land of the Northern Desert. Those who suffered were not those in high positions, but the poor and innocent people.
In this situation, if we send troops to invade again, the people will probably really riot.
However, the emperor obviously wanted to determine the battle situation as soon as possible, so he thought for a moment and asked, "What suggestions does the queen have?"
"I have thought of a way to allow the emperor to send troops to attack the Great Zhou without letting the people accuse you of ignoring the plague and seeking war."
"Speak quickly!" The emperor's eyes lit up.
Empress Cao smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, please immediately spread the news that Murong Jie stole my Northern Desert's Holy Sword and fled back to the Great Zhou. Then send people to investigate the whole city, chase him out of the city, and post wanted notices along the way."
The emperor laughed out loud after hearing this and said, "The queen is truly my right-hand man."
The queen stood up with a smile on her face, "I am the emperor's first wife, and everything I think about is for the emperor."
"Well said." The emperor laughed arrogantly, "Murong Jie, do you think you can embarrass me by escaping? I want to attack Beimo, why do I need an excuse?"
The Holy Sword was a sword left behind by the ancestors of Beimo when they gained control of the world. It was later revered as a sacred object. There were even hermits among the people who said that this Holy Sword had killed countless enemy soldiers and was full of blood, so it had spirituality and could protect Beimo from being defeated forever.
Therefore, the people believed that the Holy Sword was the invincible weapon of the Northern Desert. If the Holy Sword was lost, the Northern Desert would be in danger of destruction.
If the news that Murong Jie stole the Northern Desert Holy Sword were to spread, I'm afraid that if the people of Northern Desert saw Murong Jie, they would skin him alive and eat him.
The next day, the whole city was searching for Murong Jie.
As the loss of the holy sword was a matter of great importance, the emperor ordered the Ministry of Justice to report the entire matter and announce it to the public.
The government office's bulletin board reported that the holy sword had been stolen. A guard saw with his own eyes that it was the regent from the Great Zhou who stole it at around 11 p.m. on the eighth day of the first lunar month.
That is, around midnight last night, the Ministry of Justice did not convict Murong Jie of any crime, only saying that a guard saw him.
As soon as the news spread, the people of Beimo were furious and unanimously agreed that war should be started and the hypocritical country of Da Zhou should not be tolerated.
The people of Beimo were very angry about being deceived, especially since Murong Jie and Xia Zian came under the pretext of curing the plague for the people. That sounded great, but their real purpose was to steal the holy sword. Even Prince Qi, who had proposed to invite Xia Zian over, was resentful of them.
Prince Qi gained the support of the people through untold hardships. He did many things for Beimo, all of which were thankless tasks. It was in return that he gained his current reputation and made the people listen to his national policy of stopping the war and focusing on developing the domestic economy and agriculture.
But he never imagined that because of this incident, the reputation he had accumulated over twenty years would be destroyed in one day.
Prince Qi was devastated. The emperor's previous attitude had already made him uncomfortable, and now with this incident, people were complaining about him. In fact, in the capital, no one was talking about the plague anymore, only the case of the theft of the holy sword.
Although the notice issued by the Ministry of Justice did not specify Murong Jie as the mastermind of the theft, who in the capital would believe that he was innocent
In a rage, Prince Qi took people to look for Murong Jie everywhere.
Of course, he didn't believe that Murong Jie would steal the holy sword, but he was a little angry. Before, he went to Da Zhou and had a good talk with Murong Jie about discussing a ceasefire. But now, he just encountered a small obstacle and he left with his men without even saying goodbye.
All his life, he had been engaged in peaceful work. This job was not easy to do and he had suffered some grievances. He had suffered these grievances in the Great Zhou. Why couldn't Murong Jie suffer some grievances when he came to the Northern Desert
Now such impulsive behavior has angered the people of Beimo. How can this war stop? I am afraid that there will never be peace between the two countries.
He spent his whole life trying to prevent war, but all his efforts were in vain.
The emperor sent out a large number of imperial guards to search for Murong Jie, because he unexpectedly discovered that since the news of the theft of the holy sword spread, the people's attention was no longer on the plague.
Therefore, he sent out a large number of imperial guards to make the matter as big as possible.
If they want to make a big deal, they have to send people into the epidemic area and use the incident of Murong Jie stealing the holy sword to divert the attention of the fact that there is no miracle doctor to treat the epidemic.
The one who led the imperial guards was Empress Cao's younger brother, Cao Guojiu.
Cao Guojiu used to be under the command of Qin Zhou's father. Later, the Queen ordered him to be transferred back to the capital to take charge of the imperial guards, and at the same time command the patrols and city gate guards in the capital, which was equivalent to handing over the security of the entire capital to him for management.
Because military generals have a very high status in Beimo, a strange phenomenon occurs in the capital of Beimo: that is, whether it is the Minister of Justice or the prime minister, when they see the commander of the imperial guards, they will bow and salute with great respect.
This led to Cao Guojiu's increasingly arrogant character.
His sister is the queen, his nephew is the crown prince, and he himself is the commander of the imperial guards. In the Northern Desert, apart from Qin Zhou, who else can reach his level
Prince Qi disliked Uncle Cao very much and had impeached him many times during the morning court session, saying that he was ambitious, eccentric, overbearing and cruel. However, due to the presence of Empress Cao, these impeachments fell on deaf ears.
However, this caused Uncle Cao to be extremely dissatisfied with Prince Qi.
Murong Jie was brought here by Prince Qi, so Cao Guojiu naturally seized this opportunity for revenge. It would be best to catch Murong Jie, and then beat him up and make him point out that it was Prince Qi who ordered him to do this. That would be the best thing.
His only worry was that Murong Jie had already left Beimo, which would mean he had missed a good opportunity.
That day, he brought his men to Ancheng.
Ancheng is the county under the feet of the emperor. The reason why it is called Ancheng is that there were more than 100,000 troops stationed here to defend the capital. As long as the city is there, the capital will be safe, so it is called Ancheng.
Ancheng is very large, facing the capital city to the east. As it is a suburb outside the capital city, it has a large area of arable land and many villages. After the earthquake, many houses in the villages were damaged, and the first batch of people sent by the court were left in Muzhai.
Muzhai is a village in Ancheng. It is a very large village with about seven or eight thousand people. Muzhai is the largest village in Beimo.
The location of Muzhai is close to the west, close to the border of Qicheng. After crossing a mountain, you will reach the territory of Qicheng.
The mountains and houses in the area near Muzhai in Qicheng all belong to the Qin family.
Therefore, in the past thirty years, there have been several beautiful love stories, such as the handsome young man from Muzhai marrying the unruly young lady from the Qin family.
Or, the overbearing young master of the Qin family married the naive young girl from the farming family of Muzhai. After several marriages, the villagers of Muzhai were also promoted by the Qin family. They started to plant fruit trees and became rich.
(End of this chapter)