Return of the Swallow

Li Qitian lowered his eyes suspiciously and looked at the people in front of him. He knew that these people were probably talking nonsense because they wanted to shirk responsibility.

Seeing that the emperor was silent, the spies were frightened and hurriedly complemented each other.

"Your Majesty, we will never dare to deceive Your Majesty. This matter is absolutely serious! Those people at that time were not weak in martial arts, but they did not wear weapons."

"Exactly. It can be seen that those people are secretly protecting Princess Zhongshun, but they are not familiar with each other and the people in Prince Zhongshun's palace."

"I suspect that the other party is most likely arranged by another party. Xu is someone who is familiar with Prince Zhongshun!"

They all knew that the emperor was the most suspicious. As long as Pang Xiao might be colluding with someone or someone might be secretly spying on the throne, the emperor would no longer pay attention to them.

Sure enough, Li Qitian lowered his eyes and thought deeply, feeling surprised and uncertain in his heart.

Who in the current government would collude with Pang Xiao?

Thinking about it this way, didn't all those generals call Pang Xiao "Prince God of War" in private? Their worship of Pang Xiao is almost blind. There were quarrels in the court over matters related to Pang Xiao, not just once or twice, but why did he just ignore them?

It would be fine if these people were just secretly colluding with Pang Xiao, but what if they were bewitched by Pang Xiao and join forces to cause trouble?

Nowadays, external and internal troubles have just begun to resolve. If Pang Xiao gets the help of these people, wouldn't he take the opportunity to do a "big thing"?

Li Qitian was worried, "Where are those people in the Pang family now?"

"Back to the Holy Spirit, I have sent the person to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment according to your previous instructions."

"Think about it carefully, what are the characteristics of the people you just mentioned?"

Everyone's hearts were raised again.

They were talking about this to attract Li Qitian's attention and stop him from paying attention to the chaos caused by their return to Beijing. However, they thought that they would cause another trouble for themselves.

The spies were afraid that they would be punished by the emperor if they couldn't answer, so they immediately racked their brains to recall the situation at that time.

In this way, it really reminded them of something.

"That's right! Your Majesty,

The clothes of those people were those of the common people of the Zhou Dynasty, but they seemed to be wearing Tatar cowhide boots! "

After being reminded like this, a few more people who had fought with that group of people that day remembered some details and nodded with certainty: "Yes, Your Majesty, those people did wear Tatar cowhide and cotton boots. That kind of cowhide is not Dazhou's." It can exist, but it is a specialty of the Tatar grasslands, so they must have been sneaked in by the Tatars!"

Li Qitian's eyes darkened and he said word by word: "Tatar, Tatar?!"

"Yes!" Everyone lowered their heads and responded in a deep voice.

Li Qitian paced with his hands behind his back and smiled sarcastically for a moment: "It's really interesting. I thought Prince Zhongshun was someone who wanted to fight the Tatars and even resisted the decree. I didn't expect that he would be so sanctimonious and pretend to be a Tatar fighter. A hero, but secretly colluding with the Tatars!”

Everyone was a little panicked when they heard this, because they knew the consequences of letting Li Qitian cause such a misunderstanding.

It’s just that that group of people did wear cowhide boots of unique Tatar style and material. This is also an indisputable fact. Although the spies were loyal to Li Qitian, they admired Pang Xiao very much in their hearts. If they said that Pang Xiao colluded with the Tatars, wouldn't the country be destroyed?

"Come here! Give me the imperial decree and urgently summon Prince Zhongshun back to the capital to report on his duties!"

"According to the order!" Everyone saluted in unison.

The spies breathed a sigh of relief and were about to retreat when Li Qitian said: "In addition, keep an eye on the Qin family and his party. Take Pang Zhixi's children out alone. I will go back and ask in person whether they are secretly with the Tatars." What a deal!”

"Yes!" Everyone saluted again.

%%

The dungeon in the dead of winter was even more gloomy than usual. There was a rotten and moldy smell in the air. The small window at the end of the corridor didn't let in much light at all. A wooden grille as thick as a bowl separated Qin Yining from the rest of the people.

Bingtang, Jiyun, and Ziyuan were all locked up with the wet nurse and the children. The guards were trapped in zongzi and locked up in the farthest position from them on the opposite side. Only the silhouette of a person could be seen vaguely.

The wet nurse was holding Brother Xuan and Sister Yun and coaxing them softly, finally coaxing the children to sleep.

Qin Yining leaned against the wall weakly, with his hands tied behind his back. His long hair was messy, his cheeks were dirty, and the corners of his lips were stained with blood. He watched the children fall asleep with a pair of bright eyes, and then quietly breathed a sigh of relief, showing A bit tired.

"Princess, how are you?" Bingtang grasped the wooden fence with both hands, stretched her neck and looked in the direction of Qin Yining, who was across the cell.

Qin Yining shook his head, leaning on the moldy straw behind his back, and said weakly: "It's okay, I'm fine. You guys are taking good care of the children."

Jiyun and Bingtang both nodded.

The wet nurse also hugged the young master and the young lady tightly in her arms, "Don't worry, princess, you saved the lives of my whole family. Even if I risk my life, I won't let the young master and the young lady make any mistakes." .”

Qin Yining smiled bitterly, and the broken corner of his lip was torn, and a trace of blood dripped, "What have I done? The prince and I did what we should do when we went to provide disaster relief, but now we have burdened you. If you don't choose You came to the house to be wet nurses, and you won’t be prisoners today. After all, it was me who brought you down."

"Princess, don't say that!"

"Yes, Princess! If we hadn't come to the palace to be a wet nurse that day, we wouldn't have been able to survive at home! The Princess saved our family's lives and gave us errands so that we could have money to support the family. We are grateful to the Princess for not having time yet. , The princess is kind and will never treat her servants harshly. We follow the princess to eat well and wear good clothes. When there is no reason to enjoy the blessings, we continue with a shy face. Now that we have suffered a disaster and it is your fault, then what kind of people have we become!"

The other wet nurse was the stupidest, but she nodded in agreement.

These two women in their prime have endured a lot of hardships in life, and they both look like they are almost forty years old, but the sincere smiles on their faces make them look gentler and more beautiful.

Qin Yining felt a lot more at ease and said with a smile: "It is a blessing for the prince and I to have your help. If I can escape with my life in the future, I will thank you all the more."

Everyone shook their heads, "Don't worry, Princess, you and the prince will be fine."

But despite saying this, everyone felt uncomfortable.

Because along the way they saw with their own eyes how the emperor treated the families of the heroes, and they also knew how the emperor summoned the prince back to the capital after the Tatars were expelled.

These things are connected together, but anyone with a little bit of brains can understand the cause and effect.

Isn’t it that the emperor is afraid of the heroes?

They don't have much contact with the prince, but since they followed the princess and took care of the young master and the young lady, they have been under the princess's care. Such a good woman has been hampered by such things.

How ironic is it that men are fighting outside and defending their home and country through life and death, while women and children are imprisoned and have an unpredictable future?

Qin Yining closed her eyes tiredly, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to sleep for a while.

At this moment, there was the sound of opening and the sound of chains sliding from the end of the corridor.

Then the iron door creaked open, and a burst of cluttered footsteps came in, echoing in the long and dark corridor.

The group of people walked quickly through the corridor and headed towards the innermost side.

Xie Yue and the others couldn't help but stand up and look inside one by one. However, they were in jail and couldn't use the strength, so they could only sit next to each other, crane their necks and try their best to look in the direction of Qin Yining.

Under the leadership of the jailer, the spy quickly came to stand in front of Qin Yining's cell. When the jailer opened Qin Yining's cell, he waved casually to the jailer.

The jailer stepped back and stood in the corner.

Qin Yining narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in front of him through his broken hair. He recognized that this was the person who had called the shots when they came back. Even the arrogant Gyeonggi Guards paid some respect to this person. I guess he was Li Qitian. confidant.

When the other party didn't speak, Qin Yining didn't speak either, sitting quietly and waiting.

The spy laughed and said, "It is said that Princess Zhongshun, Princess Qin, comes from a famous family. She is the daughter of Zhipan An and is the most beautiful woman in the capital. Now it seems that this is indeed the case."

His voice was not high, but the prison of the Ministry of Punishment was only so large, and the prison was relatively empty. The surrounding walls caused a lot of echo, and these frivolous words were immediately heard clearly by everyone.

"Be impudent! Don't be rude to the princess!"

"Thief, you have the ability to come at us!"

Xie Yue and others were furious, but their bodies were tightly bound and they couldn't do anything. They could only stare and yell and worry.

Qin Yining was very calm and still looked at the visitor with neither humility nor arrogance.

The spy smiled and said: "I have never seen a woman like you. She is obviously a weak girl, but she has a strong body. I have been beaten with whips and sticks all the way, but you have not been able to subdue her."

He pushed the door open and entered the cell, squatted down in front of Qin Yining, lifted up her long messy hair with one hand, and looked at the star-filled eyes and the face that was still delicate and beautiful even if it was dirty, his voice was a little intoxicated.

"If you had been willing to make good use of your appearance, why would you have suffered so much along the way?" His finger stretched out to a whip mark on Qin Yining's neck.

Qin Yining tilted her head and avoided his hand, "Are you here under an order? What is the Lord's order?"

One sentence made the spy's hand stop in mid-air and slowly lowered it.

He shook his head and sneered: "You are really a spoiler. Yes, I am here on orders. You probably don't want to know the Holy One's orders."

Qin Yining pursed her pale lips, but there was still no blood on her lips. The blood streaks at the corners of her lips made her cheeks extremely pale.

The spy sighed and said: "The Holy One asked me to take away your two children. If you are willing to agree to my request and let me kiss you, I will treat your two children well. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that Can they live to see the Holy One? Huh?"

As he spoke, he raised his hand again and approached Qin Yining.

Qin Yining, on the other hand, had wide-eyed eyes and clenched her teeth.

Everyone is a knife and a fish, and since she was captured, she knew that Sister Yun and Brother Xuan would definitely be taken away. If they were used as hostages, Li Qitian would definitely think that she was not as important as the two children.

But when this moment really came, how could she let it go!