The Prince traveled by night and day, and when he was more than two hundred miles from the battlefield, he actually saw a familiar face, which came to him on horseback and brushed past him.
"Xue Yao?" The Crown Prince pulled on the reins and turned his head in surprise to see the back of that cool Xue Yao, as if it were a falling leaf about to wither, swaying on the horse.
"Xue Yao!" The Crown Prince shouted towards that back.
Instead of strangling the horse, the back figure braced itself in fear and accelerated the horse to gallop, attempting to escape from his sight.
"Stop!" The Prince, eager to learn about the situation at the front line, did not hesitate to turn around and chase after him.
He was a better rider than Xue Yao, so he rode alongside him with little effort and shouted sideways, "Xue Yao! I order you to stop your horse immediately!"
Xue Yao, who had been on the road for a day and a night without a drop of water, was already in a trance at the moment, and only felt that someone was calling out his name again, telling him to stand still.
Xue Yao thought that there were pursuers coming up, so he was so scared that he frantically beat his horse, trying to escape, and went back to the capital to find the second prince to transfer troops.
The Prince frowned and shouted sharply, "Do you hear me?"
After he shouted these words, he saw Xue Yao's head swaying near unconsciousness, and he was about to fall off his horse, a fall that would either kill or maim him.
"Xue Yao!" In the heat of the moment, the Crown Prince braced his horse's back and leapt forward, landing behind Xue Yao, wrapping his arms around his body, pulling on the reins of the horse, and then whistling to stop his own horse.
"What's wrong with you?" The Crown Prince dragged Xue Yao off his horse by the waist.
Xue Yao was in a state of insanity, struggling desperately, pulling out his sword and swinging it, but the Crown Prince pressed down on his wrist and pressed it to the ground: "Xue Yao! Don't you recognize me?"
Xue Yao was pressed to the ground and couldn't move, only his chest rising and falling fiercely.
Such a close stare allowed his blurry eyes to see the Prince's outline.
The Crown Prince realized that the ruthless and insane look on Xue Yao's face had all of a sudden become sad to the core, and Xue Yao just grinned and stared at him, a hoarse choking sound coming from his throat.
"There, it's okay." The crown prince let go of his wrist and helped him up, "Where are you going? Why does your face look so ugly?"
"Where have you been, Your Highness the Crown Prince ......? Why are you only coming back now? Why are you coming back only now!"
The Crown Prince pulled his horse and brought Xue Yao down the official road first, allowing Xue Yao to drink some water before explaining the situation.
He learned that his father's life was in danger, his fifth brother had become a hostage, his seventh brother's life and death were uncertain, and the crown prince had stiffened into a clay statue.
Xue Yao knew that he needed some time to come to terms with such a big change, but with time running out, he still reminded in a low voice, "Your Highness, you can't just go back, now that the three armies are under the control of the Third Prince, it would be best for you to bring in other troops."
The prince did not speak, closed his eyes and slowed down for a long time, his voice said in a low voice: "Lone ten thousand deaths can not be blamed."
"Your Highness, the Emperor's plan was an accident, whether you stay or not won't change the result, the problem today is the Third Prince's ambition, if you die, the Fifth Prince and Seventh Prince are truly hopeless!" Xue Yao finished with a cough, hurriedly drank a mouthful of water to suppress the cough and continued, "We have to go back to transfer troops, you can't just rush to the frontline alone!"
Prince opened his eyes and spoke in a low voice: "You don't need to rush, go down the official road to find a tavern to rest properly, the front line lone to go to the top."
"Your Highness! How can you deal with three armies by yourself!" Xue Yao's face was filled with horror.
Prince raised his hand to let him not be anxious, "Father temporarily changed the Crown Prince, but did not abolish the orphan. The second brother has expedited notification of the Governor of Hubei and Guangxi to bring troops to aid, the front line of the forbidden army by lone orders, the old three can rely on only his uncle Tong Ningzhao, lone outside the seven governors to support, within the forbidden army inside and outside, the Northwest Governor ate the leopard's guts, but also do not dare to continue to help the abusers."
*
The Seventh Prince signed a contract with five merchants.
The merchants sent him back to the capital and demanded that his family give him 2,500 taels of silver as hard-earned money.
Two thousand five hundred taels of silver was not a lot in the seventh prince's opinion, the set of headgear that father rewarded mother consort was more than this price.
The merchants have given His Highness a reward of two thousand five hundred silver pieces for "sending charcoal in the snow."
The best talker among these five is the goatee, who has been asking the seventh prince all the way: "Is the little prince still hungry? I still have cured meat here, how about charging you only two taels of silver for a catty, it's more filling than grass carp!"
The Seventh Prince was a little heartbroken.
The man who had just tried to beat up the Seventh Prince had the most explosive temper, and everyone called him Liu Sanhu.
He couldn't stand the fact that the leader and the goatee were calling the boy "little lord" and didn't feel the need to be so polite to the young man in distress.
Seeing the young master's fine skin and tender flesh, the family will surely treat him as a treasure and naturally spend money to ransom him, so why should they lower their voices to him?
Don't rich people usually boss them around?
Now that they're in their territory, why should they still have to stoop to the level of these rich people?
Liu Sanhu asked the Seventh Prince without any good humor, "Kid, what's your name?"
The Seventh Prince had grown accustomed to his impudent manner, and felt that the mode of getting along among the common people might be so informal.
Father said that being in the royal family, one should also know how to have fun with the people, so the Seventh Prince held back his little temper and reluctantly replied amiably, "Old Seven."
"Who the hell asked you to rank!" Liu Sanhu hahaed, "Asking what your name is understand?"
The Seventh Prince turned his head and looked at him somberly.
Liu Sanhu was chilled by the child's gaze, inexplicably he withdrew his scorn, awkwardly cleared his throat, came back to his senses, and worried that the other brothers would find out that he had been shocked by a child, he was suddenly furious, and rebuked even more rudely, "What are you looking at! Asking what your name is!"
"Lu Qian." The Seventh Prince replied in a low voice.
"Lu Qian? What a good name! The man is as good as his name!" The goatee cheerfully put his arm around the boy's shoulder, "Your family must be a big family in the capital, right? Your father wouldn't be an official, would he?"
"No."
"That's okay." The goatee laughed, "If you were an official, we wouldn't dare to ask your father for money, haha!"
This group of merchants is taking the waterway mountain road, although it is more detour than the official road, but this way instead will not be caught by the pursuers of the three emperors.
The Seventh Prince calculated the time it would take to get out of the Silan Desert and decided to buy cured meat and water from Goat Beard every three days, and as long as he got out of the desert, he would be able to feed himself with hunting and wild fruits.
The next day, the group made do with a night in a cave.
In the middle of the night, the Seventh Prince felt a man sit up beside him, crawl over to his side, and stare at him.
The Seventh Prince wasn't too wary and didn't feel that the other party would harm him, but since he wasn't used to taking the initiative to greet people, he remained motionless and waited for the other party to speak first.
The other party thought he was asleep and immediately gave a "hiss" signal to some of his brothers.
"How many tickets are left in his pocket?" It was Liu Sanhu's voice.
"There are at least seven or eight more, and they're not fifty taels, I saw a one hundred taels silver note with my own eyes!" Goatee's voice.
"I'll just go touch it and count it!" Liu Sanhu said.
"Slow down." The leader said, "He doesn't have more than a few hundred taels on him at most, don't think about it, we can't piss this kid off, the 2,500 taels reward is the big deal."
Liu Sanhu anxiously said: "What's the point of pissing him off! His parents don't want him anymore? He still has to send money to redeem him!"
The leader said: "We send people back that is a favor, a breakup is not good to hear, the capital that area has a lot of people, God knows what his parents, annoyed this little doll, back to us to sue the government, is not in vain to cause trouble?"
Goatee said: "Tiger master you don't want to be anxious, or so, let's take a detour, take him in the desert for a few more days to delay, to earn his silver tickets, and then lead him to the inn, then he will have to rely on us to feed and drink, and no one will force him to, but also owes us a favor!"
The other two men immediately whispered and laughed strangely, "It's still Old Ke who has a good brain!"
The Seventh Prince's gloomy little face was hidden in the silent darkness of the night.
This night, he suddenly didn't like the people at all.
Early the next morning, five traders with their wagons were ready to trek around the desert as planned.
The Seventh Prince pulled out a silver ticket and took two hundred and fifty taels, handing it to Goat Beard: "Buy ten pounds of cured meat and three bags of water."
Goatee's eyes lit up, had thought that it would take a few more steps before this young master could not help but be hungry, did not expect an open door to a big business early in the morning!
He couldn't help but joyfully unload a parcel from his van, lifting ten pounds of cured meat and handing it to the Seventh Prince, not forgetting to sigh, "Hey, I also only have this meat left, I actually don't want to sell it, and I can't starve you a little doll."
The Seventh Prince didn't say anything, lifting the cured meat he cupped his fists at the five merchants and said, "Gentlemen, this is goodbye."
The five men froze in their tracks, and when they looked back, the young lord was already carrying the meat and water bags, heading east.
It's amazing! This hairy kid actually recognizes directions!
"Stop!" Liu Sanhu stormed out, arrow-stepping after him.
But just as he finished yelling, the kid turned around with an expressionless face and stared at him with an "asshole" look on his face.
Behind the ground leader rushed to catch up to stop Liu Sanhu, to the child with a smile: "Little brother why suddenly want to go on their own? We all agreed to escort you back to the capital."
"No need." Lu Qian raised his hand and flashed out the cured meat and water bag, "Master has them for escort."
Liu Sanhu was about to have a fit, but was stopped by the leader, who still had a kind face and said, "This is a turn of the other cheek, little brother, dry food and water in the desert are life-saving things, and we're willing to sell them to you because you signed a contract with us, and now that you're going to leave after you've taken your food and drink, the contract doesn't count anymore?"
Lu Qian said expressionlessly, "See you at the gates of the capital, the silver will not be spared."
Goatee caught up and said: "Empty words have no proof! You just pat your ass and leave, the capital is so big, where can we find you! I can't! Give me back my cured meat and water! I'm not selling!"
With a muffled "thud", Lu Qian dropped the food in his hand at his feet, stared at the five people in front of him, and slowly unlocked the long knife at his waist.
Liu Sanhu immediately laughed coldly: "What? You still want to make a move? You're not afraid of tigers! Toast to coaxing a penalty wine! If I don't beat you up today and call you grandpa, my surname is not Liu."
"Stop!" The leader still do not want to break up, let the people pull away Liu Sanhu, still gentle to go up to negotiate with the boy: "Little brother do not be angry, we are really out of good intentions, to put it mildly, if we did not give you a mouthful of water and a fish yesterday, you are now thirsty and starved to death in the desert! We met each other, we saved your life, you money us so big favor, can't turn against each other, right?"
Lu Qian did not reply, his gaze coldly staring at the leader.
He was naturally lacking in emotional logic, and all his actions were purpose-oriented, favoring the emotionally oriented personality of the young companion he grew up with.
So over the years, Lu Qian, consciously or unconsciously, was trying to memorize the logic of other people's feelings, which would enable him to get praise for his behavioral performance from his little companion, who would breastfeed him by hand when she was happy.
Just because Lu Qian likes that feeling doesn't mean he can understand and execute certain things on an emotional level.
In his world, there was no regard for human logic; these five men had been found by him yesterday, and if they had refused to trade fish and water with him at that time, he would have seized them instead of dying of thirst and starvation in the desert.
What the chief said was, in his case, an illogical assumption.
The chieftain had always felt that the boy's demeanor was different from the norm, and at first thought that the boy might be a bit of a fool, but it was only at this moment that he realized that the boy had bought almost just enough cured meat and water to get him out of this desert.
And the boy had an uncanny sense of direction, unlike them, the border traders, who had taken twenty or thirty years of experience to master the experience.
The boy's sense of direction was more akin to that of the wolves in this desert, as if it came from the instincts of the beasts of prey.
This layer of weirdness and unusualness caused the leader to develop a secret fear of the boy, and negotiated with a smile, "Little brother, I can see that you are not a backstabber, and since we have already signed the contract, we might as well go together for peace of mind."
Lu Qian watched him in silence for a moment, then suddenly hung his long knife back to his waist side, stooped to pick up the meat and water, turned and continued his steps in the direction he had chosen, leaving the chief with only one word-
"Keep up, Master has no time to delay you."