Chapter 616 Princess Pingyang

"Master, someone is here." Li Chunfeng heard footsteps coming from the trees not far behind him and said softly. He temporarily suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind and turned around to meet them.

A moment later, Li Chunfeng brought a few people back, "Master, the princess wants to know about Feige's situation?" Since Li Xiuning had already left before Li Yuan became king, Li Xiuning's title of Princess Pingyang was only added after Xia Xian's reunion. However, Li Chunfeng, who had always been polite, changed his words to call her the princess. Even though he already knew that her father, King Tang, had already ended his journey and fled to the deep mountains and forests, after all, Li Yuan is still the King of Tang, so he still called her the princess.

Yuan Tiangang turned around and turned away from the dangerous cliff. His face was as dull as before, "Let's go over to see the princess together."

The two of them returned to the mountains and forests one after another. Although Yuan Tiangang held the official position of Li Tang like Li Chunfeng, he was still wearing a Taoist uniform. The life of escape in the mountains for many days made him look thinner, who was originally a little thin. The Taoist robe has been stained and damaged in many places. The beard on his chin may not have been repaired for a long time, and it was a lot of messy, making him look like he was in his forties or fifties, but he was more like a master than the previous image.

"See the princess, let the princess wait for a long time." Yuan Tiangang stepped forward and bowed.

Li Xiuning came with a small team of guards. The guards were all wearing light armor, standing neatly and solemnly, all of whom were strong women. Li Xiuning was also wearing a red leather armor under the moonlight. Under the long red silk cloak was his slender and tall body. Her tightly tied hair was like a handsome man. She had a faint smile on her face, pressing the long sword around her waist, and stepped forward to help her.

"Sir, I want to ask if a pigeon is back?" Although Li Xiuning smiled, the worry and anxiety in her words still exposed her mood at this moment. The Taoist arts of Master and Apprentice Yuan Tiangang are very famous, especially Yuan Tiangang's astrological prediction technique is even more famous. After entering Hedong, Li Yuan appointed him as the Volcano Order, specializing in astronomy, astrological signs, and prediction. This time he went to the army to fight, and he was also responsible for observing astrological signs, predicting the weather, and in charge of the transmission of pigeons.

Li Xiuning sent a letter to Chen Pojun when she heard about it. She originally thought she could meet Chen Kefu immediately. However, she later learned that her father was defeated by Fenhe. Although she hated her father and brothers to treat her like that, when her father was really in desperate situation, she still resolutely took all the people in the mountain village to rescue her. However, although she rescued her father and brothers from Yang Ming's siege that day, she is still trapped in the mountains.

After a long time, she became more and more worried about Chen Kefu's coming, worried that Chen Kefu sent someone to hear him, but could not find her. However, after retreating into Zhongtiao Mountain, they could only rely on the dense forest to survive, and it was impossible to go out. The only one who could contact the outside world was the few pigeons brought in the army. However, the pigeons had already been released with the letter, but no pigeons had returned to this day, which made her feel more and more uneasy.

Li Chunfeng shook his head and said sorry, "Prince, you haven't returned yet. Maybe the weather is too cold now, and they may fly back with good news in a few days." His words made Li Xiuning's smile no longer maintain, and her brows frowned. She lost her smile, as if she was Zhongtiao Mountain at this time. Zhongtiao Mountain is a continuous mountain range in the southeast of the east. It is parallel to the Yellow River to the south until it is connected to Wangwu Mountain in the east. It is endlessly surrounded by deep mountains and dense forests, wet, cold and dark, and is occupied by various beasts all year round. Walking in the forest, sometimes you can't see a trace of sunlight all day long. Although the Li Tang soldiers retreated into the mountains were able to survive on this mountain, no one liked this mountain.

"Princess, you should rest so late. Maybe after dawn, we will set off again." Yuan Tiangang looked at the princess with a worried face and said quietly. Although the mountains were high and dense, they could help hide their whereabouts, Yang Ming did not plan to let them go. Many soldiers followed their steps and entered the deep mountains to find them. They basically never stayed in the same place for two days, and had to leave after one night at most. On several occasions, they even had to escape from Yang Ming's search for soldiers several times, and they had to flee overnight.

"I just had a nightmare and dreamed that my father and Shimin were chased by a lion." Li Xiuning frowned and said uneasy, "It was a golden lion, and it seemed that he was chasing Shimin and the others in this mountain. It was about to eat them."

Yuan Tiangang's heart moved, thinking of the astrological signs he had observed before and his predictions. He thought of the rumors that when Chen Pojun first conquered Liaodong, his sign on the military flag was a golden lion.

"That's just a dream, princess. Although Zhongtiao Mountain is a deep mountain and has tigers, leopards and wolves, this lion is not a thing from the Central Plains, but a species that only exists in the western country. Only in the royal garden of our Central Plains, can a few lions raised by the vassal states to pay tribute. They are either in Chang'an, Xijing or Luoyang, and how can they appear in Zhongtiao Mountain?" He showed a faint smile and tried to dissipate her uneasy feeling, "So, this is just a dream, don't worry."

Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng accompanied Li Xiuning to the camp slowly, comforting her all the way. Looking at the heroic Li Xiuning, Yuan Tiangang also sighed secretly, who could have thought that Miss Li's family, who was extremely wealthy in the world, had become a female copycat leader before. Thinking of her previous experiences, he couldn't help but sigh that in the troubled times, even if she was a rich and noble family, she was not stable.

The Ma Jun from the Li family, now Ma Sanbao, a general under Li Xiuning's troops, has come in, "Princess, please forgive me for disturbing me."

"Sanbao, why are you here?" Li Xiuning looked at the loyal retainer and asked in surprise.

"Prince, the Duke of Qin has just returned. I heard that he brought a team of strangers to him. Now many people in the camp are talking about this. After the young man found out, he hurried over to report it."

"Erlang is back? He also brought a team of strangers back? He just came back. So where is he now?"

"I have already gone to the tent of the Tang King. The Tang King has summoned all the civil and military ministers and is discussing overnight."

If it were before, whenever there was something, my father would definitely ask her to participate in the discussion, attend the audience, and provide advice. "Why didn't my father send me someone to notify me? Erlang is back now, there must be something important." Li Xiuning was a little anxious. She turned around and bowed to Yuan Tiangang and the others, "Sir, I want to see my father immediately, so I will say goodbye. I have disturbed me just now."

After Li Xiuning said that, she turned around and ran towards Li Yuan's tent like a gust of wind. Ma Sanbao and several other female guards trotted along the way.

The Tang army's camp was located on a halfway up the mountain in Zhongtiao Mountain, where dense forests were covered with thick forests, which could hide their whereabouts very well. The tent of his father Li Yuan was in a natural stone cave. In this biting cold February, the dry cave was like a palace jade. Sitting in a cave that could accommodate hundreds of people, several fires were created, and it immediately became as warm as spring.

Li Xiuning led the guards to the cave, and along the way, he could see the entire camp clearly. A large area of ​​open space had already been cut out in the dense forest, and the Tang army and her women's soldiers who fled here were stationed left and right. They fled in a panic, without any logistics supplies or a tent. At this time, they took materials on the spot and cut down trees to build small wooden houses.

It was already dawn, and the hazy morning light could be seen through the tops of the woods. In the camp, thousands of soldiers who were worried and afraid had survived a long cold night. In the morning mist of the camp, the soldiers had already gotten up. Many soldiers were arranged to hunt, and many soldiers were cutting wooden guns and wooden arrows with knives to make up for the lack of weapons. The remaining soldiers were standing in the camp under the supervision of some lower-level officers, archers were shooting at the target with the order of "Bring an arrow! Pull a bow! Let it go!". The sound of arrows was whistling, like a group of birds spreading their wings. Soldiers holding spears were patrolling around the camp, peeking out through the gaps between trees in the forest. The campfire smoke curled, and the morning mist was hazy. Thousands of soldiers were sitting under broken flags and eating various animal meat breakfasts.

After crossing this simple camp, there is the horse house on the other side. Under the row of branches, the horse houses were thousands of horses owned by this remaining soldiers of less than 3,000 people. It was with these horses that they could escape from Yang Hsiao's siege. However, when they escaped into the mountains, people could hunt, but precious war horses could not adapt to this kind of life. Without the fine horse materials, it would take a short time. These war horses were already thin and long, and there was no trace of the glory of a magical horse.

Li Shimin's mount, Telle Piao, is a Thousand-mile horse that can travel thousands of miles a day. It was originally a Turkic tribute BMW obtained by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. In the Battle of Yanmen, Yang Guang rewarded Li Shimin. He once rode Tel Piao to the enemy's formation, fought for dozens of rounds day and night, fought eight tough battles in a row, and made great achievements. Li Shimin cherished this horse very much, and once wrote: "Respond to the sky, and the reputation of the half-man; destroy the enemy in natural dangers, and take advantage of the dangers. This is a good sixteen-character phrase.

However, the Teller's Thousand-Mile Horse, which was supposed to be slightly white in the yellow hair, only saw the dry and dull yellow hair, its body was covered with mud, and even the horse's hair was extremely messy. Standing there, his eyes were extremely chewing on a bunch of dead grass, and he was powerless. He was mixed among the thin war horses and was actually lost in the crowd, and he could no longer see the kind of magical horse flying with a flying color.

Li Yuan, who was guarding dozens of steps away from the stone cave, recognized Li Xiuning's identity at a glance, without any stopping. He bowed and let them pass.

Walking thirty steps ahead of the stone cave, Li Xiuning turned around and said to Ma Sanbao and his personal guards: "You are here to wait for me, I will go in by myself." Walking all the way to the stone cave, Li Xiuning kept guessing who the stranger Shimin brought back was.

When she was about ten steps away from the stone cave, she heard the sound of her boots stepping on the stone. She looked up and saw that her second brother Shimin had just walked out of the stone cave.


Chapter completed!