After listening to her words, Zhou Youchen looked at her for a moment, and said with a gloomy face: "After Prince Rong died, I gave the only remaining military power in his hands to the old marquis. He shouldn't be disrespectful to me! ”

Because of the Meng family, Zhou Youchen has always been very important to the old marquis. Although he is now too old to lead his troops to the battle, his prestige in Beijing is quite high and his influence is not small.

Meng Xilan pondered for a moment before saying, "The concubine doesn't believe that the old marquis has the intention to rebel, and besides, his relationship with his father has always been very good. ”

Zhou Youchen knew that she would not be suspicious of anyone easily, so she only said, "What do you want me to do?" ”

Meng Xilan held his hand and shook his head: "The concubine has no intention of letting the emperor do anything. The concubine just wanted to wait and see what happened, and if she could, the concubine wanted to go out of the palace and meet her father. ”

The harem is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the court. Therefore, she did not have many opportunities to meet her father and brother. If I summon my father into the palace alone, I am afraid that it will cause people to talk about it again.

Zhou Youchen's gaze softened and nodded: "Of course." ”

Meng Xilan pursed her lips and smiled, got up and saluted: "Today, the concubine's body is inconvenient, please go to Liu Meiren's place to rest." She is pregnant, and she needs someone to accompany her the most. ”

Zhou Youchen's expression changed slightly when he heard this. He took her hand and looked down, "Does she need me?" Don't you need me? ”

They hadn't made out in a long time.

Meng Xilan's eyebrows curled: "Of course the concubines need the emperor." It's just that Sister Liu is pregnant for the first time, so everything needs to be careful. ”

She had his child in her womb, and he always had to go and see it.

Zhou Youchen still has some concerns in his heart. He patted her on the shoulder and said, "I'll come to see you tomorrow." ”

Zhou Youchen got up and went elsewhere, while Meng Xilan slept alone.

That night, she didn't sleep well, and woke up twice halfway through, and then she didn't feel sleepy again.

Jade came over to accompany her: "Niangniang, are you okay?" Do you want the slave to pour you a cup of tea? ”

Meng Xilan shook her head silently, looked at the sky that was lit up a little bit outside the window, and got up to dress up.

The green curtain carriage drove out of the palace gate slowly, and Meng Xilan was closing her eyes to recuperate, but saw the carriage suddenly stop.

Jade lifted the curtain and looked at it, and only said: "Niangniang, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come down." ”

Meng Xilan's eyebrows moved, and she didn't know why Changsheng suddenly appeared.

Changsheng rode a white horse, dressed in civilian clothes, came to the carriage, and saluted: "The son asks the queen mother to say goodbye." ”

Meng Xilan lifted the curtain to look at him: "Why are you here?" ”

Changsheng replied loudly: "Erchen wants to follow the queen mother to the Meng Mansion together. ”

He went to Cining Palace early in the morning to ask for peace, only to know that the queen mother was going out of the palace. He took a leave of absence with his father for half a day, and wanted to follow his mother out of the palace and return to the house to visit.

Meng Xilan disagreed: "I'm out of the palace to do business, so don't go with me." ”

"Queen Mother, Erchen is going, Erchen hasn't seen his grandfather and uncles for a long time." Changsheng's tone was a little eager, and he had to go.

Meng Xilan stared at him, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Then you can come along." ”

Changsheng smiled when he heard this: "The son is outside, riding a horse with him, and please don't worry about the queen mother." ”

He was not accustomed to riding in a carriage and preferred to stay on horseback.

Meng Xilan was still faintly worried, and hurriedly ordered to send more guards to follow him. Meng Qingyun and Meng Qingrong then arrived and accompanied the crown prince out of the palace.

The city is full of people, and it is not very safe to travel. Fortunately, this operation was very low-key, and not many people knew about it beforehand.

The streets of the capital are bustling and lively, with people coming and going.

Changsheng rode in front, and the Meng brothers followed, and the handsome and majestic appearance of the three attracted the attention of many passers-by.

Meng Xilan sat in the car, and she could hear the whispers of the people outside.

She lifted the corner of the curtain and looked at the crowd that was gradually surging outside, and couldn't help frowning slightly, and a hint of foreboding suddenly appeared in her heart.

There are too many people, and this is too ostentatious.

Jade saw that Niangniang's eyebrows were frowning, so she said, "Niangniang, what's wrong with you?" ”

Meng Xilan instructed: "Let the groom hurry up, if there are many people, you can take a detour." Also, let them keep an eye on the people around them. ”

Jade knew the severity, and hurriedly agreed, and told Haruko outside.

Koharuko jumped lightly and jumped out of the carriage to explain.

Meng Xilan was still looking out the window, her heart full of vigilance.

However, at this moment, the two brothers Meng Qingyun and Meng Qingrong also noticed something unusual.

The crown prince was in front, and they followed. Meng Qingyun's eyes kept looking at the crowd, always on guard.

It's not the first time he's escorted the prince out of the palace.

The people who poured up, in his opinion, came a little abruptly.

He carefully looked at the crowd, and suddenly realized that these ordinary people who came to watch the excitement were actually suspected of being disguised.

"Second brother, look to the left."

Meng Qingyun had doubts in his heart, and he said to Meng Qingrong beside him: "Look at it, are there something wrong with those people dressed up as farmers?" ”

Meng Qingrong also knew the proportion, clenched the reins, and swept his eyes to the side pretending to be unintentional.

My brother has always been attentive and sharp-eyed. Sure enough, those people dressed up as farmers looked like there were some problems.

People who have been in the fields all the year round and cultivate are certainly sturdy, but they should not be so strong. Moreover, the clothes of several of them, which were significantly smaller, highlighted the muscular muscles of their arms.

Meng Qingrong looked at it silently, and then said, "Brother, they really don't look right. ”

Meng Qingyun couldn't help but sink in his heart when he saw that his younger brother had the same thoughts as himself.

His hand subconsciously touched the saber at his waist, followed a slight speed to the prince's side, and reminded him in a low voice: "Your Highness, be careful, there is something strange in the crowd." ”

Although Changsheng had been on guard for a long time in his heart, when he heard this, he still couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly.

He turned his eyes to look at Meng Qingyun, his face tense and slightly nervous.

While his brother stepped forward to protect the prince, Meng Qingrong had already given the guards around him a look.

Suddenly, everyone was alert. However, things always happen in a split second.

I don't know who it was, but a shout broke out in the crowd: "This is the prince!" This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! ”

With this shout, the surrounding crowd suddenly became agitated.

"Huh? It's the Prince! ”

"Look, everyone!"

Meng Xilan heard the movement outside, and her heart suddenly chuckled.

Meng Qingyun reacted quickly, pulled out the long sword in his hand, and pointed directly at everyone: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here, why don't you kneel down and salute quickly." ”

The matter has come to this point, and the only way to control the people around you is to do it.

The people on both sides, when they saw the true face of the prince, were stunned, and knelt down to salute.

However, the people dressed as peasant households were motionless.

They stood there, slowly lowering the bamboo basket behind them, and reaching out to touch inside.

Meng Qingyun shouted, "Who are you?" ”

Those people should not have been, but they just looked up at the sides of the street and whistled loudly.

This must be some kind of code!

"Protect the prince, protect the mother!"

The crowd reacted quickly, but suddenly, long arrows were shooting from nowhere on both sides of the street.

The arrow easily penetrated Meng Qingyun's shoulder, causing him a pain.

He hurriedly turned over and dismounted, and at the same time did not forget to drag Changsheng off his horse and cover him behind him.

"Your Highness, watch behind you."

He never expected that there would be an ambush here, and besides, there were archers.

The long arrows rained down and hurt countless people. The people were confused and shouted. For a while, the scene on the street became more chaotic.

Meng Xilan was trapped in the carriage and was almost injured by the arrow.

The guards surrounded the outside with a human wall to protect the mother.

Those disguised as peasant households, armed with long swords and broadswords, went on a rampage.

Meng Qingyun held the bleeding shoulder, desperately covering His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. And Changsheng also came back to his senses, he has always been good at bows and arrows, but this time he went out of the palace and did not wear a bow and arrows.

He didn't dare to be passive and blindly dodged. He saw that a long arrow had been shot on the carriage in which the queen mother was riding, and immediately went around the vicinity of the carriage and shouted: "The queen mother, the queen mother! ”

Meng Xilan heard her son's voice and breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

"Changsheng, I ......" She was just about to answer, but the jade in front of her suddenly stiffened, and her eyes widened.

Meng Xilan stared at her, only to see blood on the corner of her mouth.

"Niangniang......" As soon as she opened her mouth to say a word, the whole person fell softly.

Meng Xilan lowered her eyes and was surprised to see that she had an arrow stuck in her back.

She was shot by an arrow!

Meng Xilan subconsciously hugged her body, and before she could react, another arrow shot over.

Meng Xilan was slightly startled, she could even hear the sound of arrows piercing Jade's body, piercing her flesh, piercing her internal organs, and piercing her bones.

The target of those archers seems to be this carriage.

Changsheng couldn't watch his mother being used as a target, so he reached out to push away the injured guards, removed the curtain, and looked in.

Meng Xilan was still holding Jade's body, she knew that she was out of breath, she was shocked, but she still didn't forget to use her body to protect herself.

The moment she saw Changsheng, Meng Xilan panicked again.

"Changsheng hurry up and hide!"

If he had been shot, it would have been too dangerous.

Changsheng didn't listen to her, stretched out his hand and said, "No, the son wants to be with the queen mother." ”

Meng Xilan was anxious, so she had no choice but to push away Jade's body and crawl towards him.

Changsheng grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her out of the carriage. The guards once again surrounded the human wall, enclosing the two of them in it, moving slowly.

Meng Qingyun and Meng Qingrong also ran all the way, Meng Xilan looked at the shoulder on his hand, and couldn't help but exclaim: "Brother Yun." ”

Meng Qingyun endured the pain and shook her head at her: "Auntie, I'm fine......"

"Take it up to the second floor, take down all those archers who are in ambush!"

After a while, due to the timely reaction, the archers on the second floor had been controlled by the Ouchi guards who rushed up, but they refused to surrender one by one, and after glancing at each other, they bit the poison in their mouths, and would rather die than be captured.

The same is true of those disguised martial artists, who immediately committed suicide by poisoning themselves as soon as they saw that they had fallen behind.

Meng Qingrong's eyes were sharp, and he directly reached out to clamp the chin of a person, and pulled out a poison wrapped in oiled paper from his mouth. "Plug his mouth with a cotton cloth, don't let him die."

If there is no living mouth, then it is impossible to track down who is the mastermind behind this assassination.