Use a substitute on your wedding night to scatter the ashes of your entire family

Empress Shu interrupted Ou Jianglin and said, "Listen to me. Your Majesty only knows one side of the story. You cannot tell anyone, including the emperor, about sending Jiu'er to Northern Jin."

She couldn't trust this man. Just because Concubine Chen made love with him in bed, he could get everything out of her and sell out her and her son.

If she had a choice, she would rather never know this heartless man.

He clenched his fists: "But, Madam, what will you do? What about the prince?"

"You don't need to worry about these things. Just protect him for me." She put the child in his hands, took a step back, and knelt down to him. "Jiang Lin, I ask you to keep him safe!"

He knelt down, holding the child, and kowtowed three times to the Queen: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will protect His Highness the Ninth Prince regardless of life or death, and keep him safe for the rest of his life! Even if I die, I will never let anything happen to His Highness the Ninth Prince."

Then she held the child and never looked back.

Later he learned that the queen had used a trick to escape, allowing him to leave the city smoothly.

On the day when the Ninth Prince turned 100 days old, he, his good friend General Liang's daughter-in-law, and his sister-in-law, went to the Huguo Temple to burn incense, holding the "child" in their arms.

Huguo Temple is a national temple of Daliang with a lot of worshippers. In order not to disturb the common people, the three of them only brought their personal maids and two wet nurses, and disguised themselves as wives of ordinary people.

On the way, the three children fell asleep, so they handed the children to their wet nurse and took them back to the meditation room to rest, and then went to burn incense.

However, when the three of them returned to the meditation room after burning incense, they found that the children's nanny had been killed and the three children were missing.

The spearhead was directed at Concubine Chen.

Although Concubine Chen denied it, the incident became a big deal and Emperor Liang had no choice but to hand the case over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard for investigation.

The Jinyiwei investigated for half a year but could not find out the truth.

Emperor Liang felt guilty and heartbroken over the loss of his young son, but he continued to favor Concubine Chen.

After hearing the news, Ou Jianglin breathed a sigh of relief.

But he is a cautious person and is the head of the Northern Jin intelligence network, so he cannot always stay by the side of the Ninth Prince.

When the three secret guards left, they took their wives and children with them.

Every once in a while, he would avoid everyone and go see the Ninth Prince.

The Ninth Prince is growing better and better, he is white and plump, and very lovable.

He could roll over at three months old, sit independently at five months old, and crawl at less than eight months old. He could crawl very quickly, swinging his two short legs, and was a good candidate for martial arts.

If he could grow up safely and return to the prince, he would definitely be the prince's most capable assistant.

When he was just one year old, the Ninth Prince could walk, unsteadily, and babbling something.

He started to read and write at the age of three, composed poems at the age of five, and could write articles at the age of eight. He was the one that the teacher often praised.

Among the six children of similar age, none of them learned as fast as him, especially Liang Tianyou. He was scolded by the teacher every day, but he was not convinced and would even look for the Ninth Prince to fight.

Shu Wenbo would stand between them and mediate, saying nice things to one and to that.

As for the two of them, after a fight, they became good brothers again in a short while.

Several secret guards disguised themselves as foreign teachers. One taught them to read, one taught them martial arts, and another told them stories about the battlefield.

At that time, they did not have the names they have now, but took the surnames of the people who adopted them, such as Wang Dagou, Chen Erdan, and Xie Sanmao.

However, all this beauty came to an abrupt end when I was ten years old.

That year, there was war and chaos outside Northern Jin.

On the northwest border, Li's army fought with Northern Qi for several months without stopping.

On the southwestern border, the Xia army invaded repeatedly. General He and his men from the He family were stationed at the border, and a war was about to break out.

On the southeastern border, the State of Zhao was eyeing the border covetously with hundreds of thousands of troops approaching.

Northern Jin was like a piece of fat meat, surrounded by vicious tigers on all sides.

Only in the east can we coexist peacefully with Daliang.

In the Northern Jin Dynasty, natural disasters and man-made calamities continued unabated. In one place, there was a severe drought, and in another place, there was a flood.

On one hand, there were wars everywhere, on the other hand, there were constant natural disasters, and because of the corrupt officials in the Northern Jin court, the treasury was empty and the people were living in misery.

The man sitting on the dragon throne of Northern Jin was ignorant of the sufferings of the people. Whenever the Ministry of Revenue complained to him that the treasury had no money, he would issue an order to increase taxes and levies, and impose all kinds of harsh levies and taxes, which made the people feel suffocated and miserable.

They were forced to sell their children, and they were so hungry that they even exchanged their own children for food.

Strangely, during that period, children under ten years old were particularly easy to sell, especially boys. As soon as someone said they wanted to sell their child, someone would come forward immediately.

He realized something was wrong and immediately went to the village, repeatedly instructing the three secret guards to protect the Ninth Prince and others.

However, not long after he returned to Shengjing City, suddenly within a few days, five or six important strongholds of Daliang in Northern Jin were uprooted. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, but the situation with Daliang also became tense.

If the people in the court of Northern Jin knew that their Ninth Prince was in Northern Jin, the consequences would be disastrous.

So, during that period of time, he cut off contact with the three secret guards.

These secret strongholds were never intended to provoke war, but out of fear that Northern Jin would one day use military force against Daliang, so someone needed to secretly watch Northern Jin's every move.

They also had no spies in the court of Northern Jin.

As the head of the intelligence network planted by Daliang in Northern Jin, he was extremely busy. He worked day and night to recapture the remaining strongholds, preserve his strength, and root out the traitors, while at the same time hiding his own and others' whereabouts.

By the time everything was settled, it was two months later. He went to the village and what did he see!

The scene was devastated and the muddy river was filled with dead bodies.

He saw the three secret guards, but unfortunately they were already three cold corpses, thrown into a pit and ready to be burned.

He was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He grabbed the fellow villager who was carrying the body and pointed at the house that was washed away by the flood. His voice was trembling: "Fellow villager, where is the family?"

The fellow's eyes were lifeless. He waved his hands and uttered a few words: "Dead, all dead."

"Impossible. They have a 10-year-old child. And this family, this family, where are these children?"

"If they are all dead, there will be no children. After a disaster, there will be a pandemic. Even the adults are almost dead. How can the children survive?"

It turned out that after the great epidemic, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, the dog emperor of Northern Jin ordered the blockade of the entire village, and the secret guards could not deliver the message. And because he was worried that the Ninth Prince would be exposed, he cut off contact with the secret guards early.

Of the hundreds of people in the entire village, only less than twenty were left.

The bodies waiting to be burned piled up like mountains.

But, if he's alive, I want to see him in person; if he's dead, I want to see his body.

He frantically dug among the dead bodies for three days and three nights without eating a single grain of rice. He dug for three days, but there was still no trace of those children.

His subordinates advised him countless times, but he wouldn't listen. He had only one thought in mind: he had to find that person!

Or, find their cold dead bodies.