The flood in Cangzhou was extremely fierce. Naturally, the secret chamber of the Chen Mansion couldn't escape the soaking. Since there was no place for the items in the chamber to flow, they drifted everywhere with the water. So when the flood receded, they were all piled up in the corner of the chamber.
Those items were covered with sand and mud. Despite this, Xiao Wuchen could immediately recognize that among them, a jade pendant was the personal item of Xiao Jingcheng!
It was a coiled dragon jade pendant that Xiao Jingcheng often wore. It could almost be regarded as a symbol of Xiao Jingcheng's identity.
The appearance of this jade pendant here just proved that everything Xiao Jingcheng had said before was true - he was really hidden in the Chen Mansion, waiting for Xiao Yixuan's arrival.
If so, there must be a lot of connections between this Master Chen and Xiao Yixuan. Thinking of this, he covered his nose with a handkerchief, endured the stench everywhere, and used a wooden stick to rummage through the items in the secret chamber.
While rummaging, he dug out a batch of horses carved from yellow jade from the sand in the corner.
The jade horse was broken into three pieces. Even so, one could tell that the quality of the yellow jade was top - notch, and the carving craftsmanship was among the best in the entire Sheng Kingdom.
At the sight of this horse, Xiao Wuchen gasped.
He was not unfamiliar with this horse either, but it was not Xiao Yixuan's thing. Instead, it was - a birthday gift that a certain minister had given to their father the emperor in the past!
The fact that the birthday gift belonging to their father appeared here, what did it mean?
Xiao Yixuan would never be so bold as to secretly steal the jade horse from their father's study and give it to Master Chen. Then, this jade horse could only be a reward from their father to Master Chen through Xiao Yixuan's hand.
He originally thought that all this was Xiao Yixuan's doing, that Xiao Yixuan had designed it to seize the position of crown prince. But what if he and Xiao Jingcheng were both wrong, and all this was, was ordered by their father?
On the day after parting with Jiang Mian and the others, Xiao Wuchen sent people to secretly go to Tianyuan County to investigate. Naturally, he also learned the news that Xiao Tianye had used the flood in Cangzhou as an excuse to launch a campaign against Xiao Tianchi.
At first, when he learned all this, Xiao Wuchen was undoubtedly shocked.
He didn't know whether the flood in Cangzhou was a natural disaster or man - made. But the reason why Dongli Town was completely flooded was because someone had blown up the Jinning Canal! That person was undoubtedly Xiao Yixuan. What did this have to do with Uncle Xiao Tianye?
What shocked him even more was not just this.
He didn't expect that Xiao Tianye could gather troops so quickly after fleeing south. He set Cangzhou City as the "capital" with the Xijiang River as the boundary. He even issued an imperial edict to appoint Xiao Yixuan as the crown prince and ordered him to lead the troops in Cangzhou, Ningzhou, Qingzhou and other places, and fully block the checkpoints along the Xijiang River to compete with Xiao Tianchi who occupied the capital in the north.
From that moment on, he had a vague guess in his heart. Now that he saw this broken jade horse in Master Chen's mansion, the answer was almost out.
Perhaps, the one who wanted Xiao Jingcheng's life was never Xiao Yixuan, but their father!
He still remembered that after Xiao Jingcheng's accident, there were two people who had volunteered to go south to investigate during the morning court. One was their uncle Xiao Tianchi, and the other was Xiao Yixuan. Before setting off, Xiao Yixuan had been called into the imperial study by their father, and the father and son had a private conversation for two hours.
No one knew what the two of them had said, and Xiao Yixuan had never revealed a single word to him.
Thinking about it now, perhaps what the two of them had talked about in the imperial study that day was how to - kill Xiao Jingcheng.
Thinking of this, Xiao Wuchen's fingers trembled uncontrollably.
That was the child born to the legitimate wife, Queen Shen, and was also the child who had been established as the crown prince since their father ascended the throne. Even though their father had been indifferent to the crown prince in the past, which had given them other princes some ideas, he was still their father's own flesh and blood after all.
If their father couldn't even tolerate the child born to his first wife, then what could he, a prince born to a palace maid, expect in terms of being valued?
There was a hasty sound of footsteps behind him. Captain Cui's voice rang out behind him, "Your Highness!"
Xiao Wuchen quickly composed his expression on his face, got up and walked out of the secret chamber. Noticing the anxiety between Captain Cui's eyebrows, Xiao Wuchen frowned and asked, "What happened? Why do you look so flustered?"
Captain Cui lowered his voice and said, "The scout reported that a troop of soldiers is coming towards Dongli Town. There is a character 'Zheng' printed on their flags."
Xiao Yixuan's courtesy name was Xunzheng. This troop of soldiers was exactly under Xiao Yixuan's command.
Were they here to investigate and see if Xiao Jingcheng and he had died in this flood?
"How far is their distance from Dongli Town?" Xiao Wuchen asked.
Captain Cui said, "According to their marching speed, it will be less than two hours."
Xiao Wuchen's face was cold. He gently rubbed the coiled dragon jade pendant in his hand and said, "Give the order to immediately gather all the able - bodied men in the town and hide in the secret passages in the town. Only leave the women, children, the disabled and the elderly in the town. Don't show up until you get the signal."
Captain Cui replied, "Yes!"
He quickly ran out of the Chen Mansion and immediately passed on Xiao Wuchen's order. The soldiers dispersed. Holding gongs in their hands, they beat the gongs while shouting to gather the men in the town.
After this disaster - hiding experience, the people in Dongli Town were extremely united and highly efficient. As soon as they got the news, without even asking why, they immediately put down their work and hid in the secret passage where Jiang Mian had transferred Xiao Jingcheng's body before.
This secret passage was dug by Master Chen and could lead to the back mountain of Dongli Town. It was no problem to hide in the mountain for two or three days.
When the Cangzhou troops with the "Zheng" - flag arrived in Dongli Town, only women and the disabled elderly were left in the town. Coupled with the sand and mud that had not been removed in time in the corner and the crooked and rotten wood, the whole town looked lifeless.
"Commander Yu, it seems that only the old, weak, sick and disabled are left in Dongli Town." The scout said. "Shall we still go into the town to investigate?"
Remembering Xiao Yixuan's instructions, Yu Si narrowed his eyes and said, "Naturally. His Highness the Crown Prince once stayed here for a while. He specifically told us to come and see the situation. If we can help, we should lend a hand. You don't want His Highness the Crown Prince to gain a reputation for being heartless, do you?"
"Let's go. Enter the town."
With a wave of his hand, these soldiers swaggered into the gate of Dongli Town.
Soon, they met the first family.
Most of the house of this family had collapsed. When the Cangzhou troops came, an old man with gray hair was sitting on a wooden ladder repairing the roof, while an old woman of about the same age was mending clothes beside him.
Hearing the sound of armor rubbing and horseshoes trampling, the two of them looked up at them and then coldly lowered their heads and continued their work.
Yu Si remained calm and led the soldiers deeper into the town. They didn't stop until they came to the outside of Huichuntang.