Lingering, half a month passed.

On the official road outside the capital, the women and children were crying, and Chen Chao's heart was broken.

"I assure you that as soon as the northern expedition to Goguryeo is over, I will immediately go south to accompany you, and take the sea route, the sea route is fast."

Song Qingwan took a deep breath, wiped the red eyes that had just cried, looked at Chen Chao and said, "Xiangye, in fact, we don't want to cause you too much trouble, but my father and mother, as well as Yue'er's father and mother, are in the south, and the south has just been plundered, so we really can't rest assured of them...... I also promised Xiangye that along the way, I would take good care of Yue'er and a few children and come back as soon as possible. ”

"Hmm." Chen Chao nodded, stretched out his hand and touched Song Qingwan's hair, "Go early and come back early." ”

Song Qingwan picked up the children into the carriage one by one, originally there were only three children to go, but her son Chen Xuance's "little daughter-in-law" Fang Ruoxue heard that she was going to go far away, so she went home and discussed it with her grandfather Fang Xiu.

The little girl is a native of Beijing, and she hasn't been out of the country yet, so she should go to play, and she will go with her.

Bringing one more is not much, bringing one less is not too much, so Fang Ruoxue is also brought.

The team of the southbound relatives this time is a combination of Song Qingwan and Murong Yue, the two Xiangfu ladies and four children, and the guards are Long Wuwei led by Hou Ji, and some good players selected from the army, of course, there is also a master specially hired by the Chen Dynasty - Jiang Linglong!

"Come here."

Chen Chao beckoned to Murong Yue on the side of the road, held her little face and kissed her, "Come back early." ”

was kissed by Chen Chao in front of so many people, and although Murong Yue was very open on the bed, he still blushed at this moment.

Her rosy lips were close to Chen Chao's ear, and she whispered, "I'll come back early, I haven't given you a son yet......"

Chen Chao nodded and put her in the carriage.

After a few people got into the carriage, Chen Chao came to Hou Ji's side and reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

There was no need to say much between the master and servant, Chen Chao gave him a look, and Hou Ji knew what he meant.

Hou Ji stretched out his hand and patted his chest vigorously, grinning confidently: "Xiangye, don't worry, with my Hou Ji here, no one can hurt Madame." ”

Chen Chao nodded and went to the convoy behind him again.

"Do you really want to go back?"

"Hmm."

"Be careful."

"I will."

Chen Chao and Lingke were talking through the car window, and Lingke was able to persuade Chu Zhong, the king of Qi, to go back to Jinling with her to save Empress Xiao, which Chen Chao never expected.

After all, Empress Xiao had already sent a letter to Chu Zhong, asking Chu Zhong to stay in the capital of Daji and take care of their daughter Lingke.

Jinling is the Longtan Tiger's Den.

After going back, there is more luck and less luck.

But these days, Lingke saw that he couldn't convince Chu Yunmei to help, so he tried to convince him that Chu Zhong would follow Lingke south and return to Jinling to rescue the imprisoned Empress Xiao.

Chen Chao came to the side of a horse in the back, Chu Zhong changed into civilian clothes that were easy to ride a horse, and was personally arranging the saddle, behind him were the dead soldiers he had cultivated in Daji over the years, all of them were good hands.

Seeing the arrival of the Chen Dynasty, Chu Zhong stopped what he was doing, looked at him, and said:

"If the prime minister comes to persuade me not to go back, I will not be excused."

Chen Chao shook his head and pulled him to a less crowded place.

Looks like he has something important to tell him.

In a remote and uncrowded place, deliberately avoiding everyone's attention, Chen Chao took out a cloth bag containing a square box, the box was opened, and a delicate carved dragon jade seal attracted Chu Zhong's attention.

"What is this?"

"The jade seal that was stolen from your Chu State many years ago!" Chen Chao handed the jade seal to Chu Zhong, Chu Zhong carefully held it with both hands, looked at it carefully, and listened to Chen Chao say slowly: "My eldest brother is a member of the Ning family in Yunzhou, the Ning family's light achievements are unparalleled in the world, many years ago, Ning Baiying and several good hands in the rivers and lakes designed to enter the palace, and took advantage of the negligence of the guards in the palace to steal the jade seal of the Chu State. ”

Chu Zhong nodded.

He knew it.

After the jade seal was stolen, there is still no new jade seal in the Chu State.

Since the day the jade seal was lost, the Chu Emperor has offered a large reward for the whereabouts of the jade seal on the rivers and lakes, but there has been no news so far, what Chu Zhong did not expect was that the jade seal of Chu State actually fell into the hands of the Chen Dynasty.

Chu Zhong carefully looked at the jade seal in his hand.

The jade seal in his hand is not perfect.

One corner was missing, as if it had fallen to the ground and been knocked off.

This made Chu Zhong even more sure that the piece in his hand was the real jade seal.

This knocked off corner was knocked off when he entered the palace when he was a child, and he went to the imperial study to play and accidentally knocked off the jade seal.

"Why did the prime minister return my jade seal?" Chu Zhong was puzzled.

"It's not to return, but to give you the confidence to go back!" Chen Chao looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention, his voice became a little quieter, "Yunmei has already told me everything about you and Empress Xiao, Lingke is the daughter of you and Empress Xiao." ”

Chu Zhong was stunned.

I didn't expect Chu Yunmei to even tell Chen Chao about this kind of thing.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head, "It seems that my eldest niece is already the prime minister's woman." ”

Chen Chao did not deny it.

pulled the topic back and said: "The reason why I tell you this is not to make you feel that I, Chen Chao, have held the handle of you and Empress Xiao, and make you jealous of me, on the contrary, I want to help you, more precisely, to help Lingke, if Empress Xiao dies, she must be very sad." ”

"yes, she must be very sad......"

Chu Zhong held the jade seal and glanced at Lingke's carriage.

It was his own daughter, but he couldn't recognize her.

"Time is urgent, I'll make a long story short, Chu Zhong, you should know your eldest brother better than me, Emperor Chu's personality, he imprisoned Empress Xiao but didn't kill him, just so that Lingke could bring the Yanyu Order back, so as to master the entire Yanyu Building."

"It's hard for you to go back and save her this time...... With the Smoke and Rain Order in Lingke's hands alone, and those Qi Wangfu henchmen in Jinling, it is impossible to compete with your eldest brother, you need more manpower! ”

"You take the jade seal back, and you can go to see the old prime minister of your dynasty Xu Zhenghou in private, although this old prime minister has not been to the court for many years and has no real power, but in the Chu State, he is the only person who can compete with the Chu Emperor."

"I see." Chu Zhong put the jade seal back into the box and pushed it back into Chen Chao's hand, "Do you want me to force the palace to rebel in the name of King Qi and the old prime minister?" ”

"I, Chu Zhong, am a Chu person, how can I do such a thing? Shu Chuzhong couldn't do anything. ”

"You misunderstood, not for you to rebel." With an extremely tough attitude, Chen Chao handed over the jade seal to Chu Zhong, and said before leaving: "Back to Jinling, what to do is your business, whether to rebel or not is also your business, give you the jade seal, just to save Empress Xiao to add firewood." ”

……

Soon after, the convoy left the capital and set out for the south.

Chen Chao stood on the official road, looking into the distance, until he couldn't see the shadow of the carriage for a long time, and then reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

At dusk, the Chen dynasty went to the garrison of the victorious army and issued an order.

From tonight, the Northern Expedition officially set off, and the countdown to the fall of Goguryeo began.