After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 658 Arrival
Haijiao was shocked by the news of the death of the third Hu prince, but he quickly regained his composure.

With such big news, he would be able to find out the inside story sooner or later, so there was no need to rush.

He chatted with Tu Jinbao for a while, and then Tu's personal soldiers came to urge Tu Jinbao to go back. Although the latter felt a little impatient, he still cooperated and said goodbye to Hai Jiao, repeatedly asking him to make amends to Hai Chang'an on his behalf, and then left reluctantly.

After seeing off Tu Jinbao, Hai Jiao first went to the second courtyard to take a look. His second uncle Hai Changan had gone out with his wife and children and was not at home at the moment, so the message would have to wait until the evening. He took another look at the main courtyard, thinking that it was meaningless to tell his younger sister about this now, so he should find out the details first, and then turned around and went to Xie Wenzai.

Xie Wenzai had been invited by the people from the Zhenguo Mansion, but Cao Gengyun and Lu Bainian were still there, and the latter was teaching Jin Jiashu and Wu Ke. Cao Gengyun came out to see Haijiao and whispered to him, "Do you want to stay and listen? Don't neglect your studies just because the Wei School is on vacation."

Hai Jiao smiled bitterly and said, "Let's talk about it another day. Grandpa Cao, what's the news about the death of the third prince of the Hu people?"

"Oh, him..." Cao Gengyun curled his lips. "I heard from the people in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion that he seemed to have been assassinated in the capital of the Hu people. The assassin was said to be a slave who was tortured too badly by him, so he killed his master, but who would believe it? Anyway, the murderer died on the spot, and there is no evidence. Can't people say anything? Now the Queen Mother of the Hu people and Uncle Wang have completely fallen out and have already started a war. This is a matter of autumn, but the news has just been passed back. At this moment, the Hu country is fighting fiercely, and even the trade route has been cut off. The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion invited Lao Xie to come over early in the morning to discuss the next countermeasures, for fear that the civil strife of the Hu people will spread to the border town of our Great Chu, and that the defeated soldiers and rioters will run over and cause trouble on the border."

Since the Chu and Hu countries stopped fighting and negotiated, the Chu and the Hu people stopped fighting, but the situation of the spies was not much better. The endless internal disputes in the Hu country hindered the trade routes in the Western Regions, and those spies who used the identity of merchants to cover themselves up were naturally affected. Sometimes they got the news from the Hu country, and it took a long time for it to be passed back to the border generals of the Chu. It took even longer for the intelligence to be passed from the border town to the rear. If not, the third prince of the Hu people would have been assassinated in the autumn, and the news would not have reached Chang'an City only today.

That was all Cao Gengyun knew. Hai Jiao thanked him and immediately returned home, planning to tell his younger sister, and then went to the Zhenguo Mansion to find Zhou Yijun and the others for information.

After hearing what he said, Haitang got up and went back to the backyard to comb her hair and change her clothes. She put on a large cloak, a Guanyin hood she had made herself, and wrapped three new Guanyin hoods of the same style but different colors in a cloth bag, picked up her horse whip, and came out to meet her brother.

Haijiao looked surprised: "Little sister, are you going with me?"

Haitang nodded: "I said I was going to give New Year gifts to Zhou Xuejun, Zhou Huajun and Wu Qiong. After entering the Zhenguo Mansion, we will go our separate ways. You go find your friends, and I will go to Zhou Xuejun to ask. The little girl is very concerned about the affairs of the court and the military situation on the border. I can get some inside information from her."

Hai Jiao thought it was nothing, and there would be no danger in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, so he agreed. The brother and sister left the yard, said hello to the housekeeper Cui Bo in the front yard, and then led the horses out to prepare for the trip.

It was snowing outside. Haitang got on her horse and saw that there were no pedestrians on the road. She whispered to Haijiao, "The Hu people are in turmoil. Except for the border, there may be some unrest. Can we inland areas have a few years of peace?"

"That's true, but the border is peaceful and there won't be a major war in the next few years, which means the Sun family might take ruthless action against the border troops." Haijiao paused, "But the Sun family is now busy fighting for power in the court, so they may not be able to spare the time to deal with the Zhou family."

"At the same time, the Zhou family, who don't have to worry about the border war for the time being, can also free up their hands and turn their attention to the capital." Haitang lowered her voice a little, "Since you want to fight for the merit of following the dragon again, naturally you need people to contribute."

Haijiao pursed his lips. Even though the emperor seems old and in poor health now, and everyone thinks he may die at any time, he can actually hold on for several more years. If the Zhou family takes action too early and gets rid of the Sun family too quickly, it may not be a good thing for him. What if the emperor no longer has a big worry and starts to be suspicious of the Zhou family? But if the Zhou and Sun families are evenly matched and the situation is deadlocked, or even if the emperor and the Zhou family are at a disadvantage, and the Sun faction has the upper hand, the political situation in the court is prone to change. Have the Zhenguogong and his son and Uncle Xie thought about this? Does he need to remind him more? And how should he start?

Tu Rong is the emperor's confidant, but now he is far away in Chang'an, unlike in his previous life when he always stayed by the emperor's side and served as his arm. Will this matter affect the political situation?

It should be more beneficial to the emperor if Tao Yue joins the cabinet early, right?
Haijiao's mind was filled with various thoughts, and he took a few deep breaths and told himself to calm down as soon as possible, otherwise when he met Zhou Yijun later, he would not even be able to think of how to ask for information.

At this moment, Haitang suddenly said, "Isn't that Grandpa Zhuang's house over there? Why do so many people seem to have come to his door? There are cars and horses..."

Haijiao was stunned for a moment, and followed his younger sister's gaze. As expected, the direction of Zhuang Shitong's house was diagonally in front of him. The alleyway beside his house was blocked by carriages and horses. At first glance, there were probably more than ten carriages. Looking closely at the driver and the male and female servants who got off the carriage, they seemed to have white cloth tied around their waists, as if they were in mourning. From hundreds of meters away, Haijiao and Haitang could see that the door of Zhuang's house was open, and faint cries could be heard.

The Hai brother and sister looked at each other, immediately changed their original plan, turned their horses around, and ran towards the direction of the banker.

Not far from the door of the village, they met the steward of the old county magistrate Geng Zehuai. He had just received news from the Geng family and came to inquire about the news on the orders of his master.

Haijiao had accompanied Xie Wenzai to visit the old County Magistrate Geng several times and had become familiar with the housekeeper. Now he shamelessly went over to inquire and learned a shocking news.

Zhuang Shitong's daughter-in-law suddenly passed away in Datong last month, and his son fell ill, but his granddaughter packed her luggage overnight, took the family's trusted servants, and quickly left Datong. She used the excuse of going out of the city to attend her mother's funeral, but in fact, she had just buried her mother's coffin and immediately rushed to Chang'an with people. It was very cold weather, with wind and snow. Zhuang Shitong's son was ill, and the whole team relied on the support of the granddaughter. The group managed to reach Chang'an City. Now that they finally saw Zhuang Shitong, they could no longer hold back their grievances and cried.

Geng Zehuai's housekeeper just got the inside story from the servants of the Zhuang family, and sighed: "Who would have thought that the brother of the cousin's mother's family would have such evil intentions? He wanted to take advantage of my sister and brother-in-law's family, thinking that Master Zhuang was far away and would not care about the family. The cousin was angered to death by her brother, and the cousin was so angry that he vomited blood and fell ill. Fortunately, their sister acted decisively and immediately escaped under the pretext of attending the funeral of her deceased mother, otherwise who knows what shameful means her uncle's family would use to harm people! But now that the cousin and his daughter have the support of Master Zhuang, they don't have to worry about other people's calculations anymore."

Haijiao listened and felt a little happy in his heart.

Zhuang Minyi is here! She came to Chang'an! She escaped her uncle's scheme!

Haijiao was excited, but he heard Haitang whispering in his ear: "Hurry home and tell them the news. Let the grandfathers take you to apologize to Grandpa Zhuang!"

Haijiao came to his senses, hurriedly turned his horse around, and galloped towards his home.

(End of this chapter)