RPAGF Chapter 349 Princess Chang's Rebellion 10
Chapter 349 Princess Chang's Rebellion 10
Inside the princess's residence, Rongrong frantically floated onto Ji Xiaosong's shoulder: "Ah Song! Something terrible has happened! The emperor is sending troops to surround the residence!"
Ji Xiaosong paused slightly as the ink spread a dark color on the rice paper.
She chuckled softly, "You're quick."
"What should we do?" Rongrong jumped anxiously on her shoulder. "If we're surrounded by the Imperial Guards, we won't be able to move!"
Ji Xiaosong put down her pen and gently stroked the velvet with her fingertips: "What's the rush? Let him go his own way, we'll go ours."
She lightly tapped the table with her fingertips, and an invisible ripple instantly spread throughout the entire princess's residence.
"receive."
With a soft shout, the entire princess's mansion twisted like an ink painting, and every brick, tile, blade of grass and tree turned into streams of light and disappeared into her physical space.
In the blink of an eye, the once magnificent mansion vanished into thin air, leaving only a flat open space.
Although Ji Xiaosong has lost her cultivation, her physical body space is inseparable from her and is not bound by it.
"Walk."
The fluffy cloud instantly transformed into a three-zhang-sized cloud, and Ji Xiaosong leaped onto it.
More than twenty guards and trusted maids were also taken into the space, leaving only a few puppets as decoys wandering in the open.
"Ah Song, where are we going?" Rongrong stretched out her cloud-like hairs in the night breeze.
Ji Xiaosong stood on a cloud, his black robes fluttering in the wind: "Northern Border."
*
On the corner tower of the palace, the commander of the imperial guards on night duty suddenly rubbed his eyes: "Strange, why is it so dark over at the princess's residence?"
The lieutenant looked up and was immediately horrified: "Where is the mansion?!"
When the imperial guards arrived, they found only an empty courtyard with several "servants" looking around blankly: "His Highness said he wanted to rest and told us to guard the gate..."
"The gate of the mansion? Where is there a gate of the mansion?!"
The imperial guards were greatly alarmed and hurriedly returned to the palace to report to the emperor.
*
"absurd!"
Inside the imperial study, the emperor overturned his desk, scattering writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones all over the floor.
The Imperial Guard commander, kneeling on the ground, had his forehead pressed against the ground, his back soaked with cold sweat.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger! When we arrived, the Princess's residence had indeed... had indeed vanished into thin air..."
The emperor grabbed the commander by the collar, his eyes bloodshot: "An entire mansion, hundreds of people, just vanished like that? Do you take me for a three-year-old child?!"
"Your Majesty, you are wise!" The commander trembled as he pulled something from his robes. "This...this was found at the original site of the Princess's residence..."
A delicate jade hairpin lay quietly in the commander's palm; it was the golden phoenix hairpin that Ji Xiaosong had broken that day!
The emperor was struck dumb, and staggered back two steps.
The head steward quickly tried to help him up, but he pushed him away.
"Investigate! Investigate for me!" The emperor's voice was terribly hoarse. "Order all prefectures to arrest the Princess on sight! Live or dead!"
*
Ji Xiaosong left the imperial city and headed north, arriving at the northern border in less than half an hour.
"Ah Song, what are you planning to do next?"
“I can’t continue to be friends with this younger brother of the original owner. He treats me like this because of his unborn child whose gender is still unknown. If I become useless in the future, won’t he kill me at will? I can’t let my life be in someone else’s hands, so I plan to rebel.”
"Rebel? Then we won't complete the mission?"
"Of course I have to complete it. When I become empress, I'll need an heir, won't I? In this life, if I become empress, I might accumulate even more merit. After all, I can live a long time if I want to."
"So, which man are you planning to find to be the father of your child?"
"We'll see. At worst, we can choose a consort after I become empress."
"Where should we choose as our first base?"
“Look, isn’t that unclaimed land next to the North perfect? The world is so big, why do I have to go and fight with that emperor’s brother for territory? I can take other people’s land or unclaimed land. If the emperor’s brother ever misbehaves and tries to beat me, I can just take his land as well.”
"No man's land?"
The fluff floated high above, overlooking the land.
"Ah Song... that's just a desert, with a few large plains and hills. In winter, the whole place freezes over. Can you really develop a successful business in a place like that?"
"What's there to be afraid of? I'm good at growing anything. Besides, isn't this plain area perfect for farming? Even if it freezes in winter, it means the soil is fertile. I just need to solve the problem of keeping the plants warm in winter, and the mortality rate will drop."
"But there are very few people here. Where are we going to find our people?"
"Ying State, right now Ying State is suffering from floods in the south and drought in the north, there are tons of refugees, I just need to go there and pick people up. Pick one up and put them in my space to raise for a year or two, so that their health will improve and they can come out and build the country properly."
Dust swirled along the official road of Ying State.
A group of ragged refugees were struggling to move forward. Among them were elderly people leaning on tree branches, women holding crying babies, and many more emaciated children.
"Mom, I'm hungry..." A little girl, about five or six years old, tugged at her mother's clothes, her voice so weak it was almost inaudible.
The woman wiped away her tears and pulled half a blackened steamed bun from her bosom: "My dear, just bear with it a little longer. I heard there are kind people in the north giving out porridge..."
Suddenly, the clear sound of bells came from afar.
The refugees looked up and saw a simple blue cloth carriage slowly approaching, with copper bells hanging in front of it jingling in the wind.
The carriage stopped beside the group of refugees. The curtain was lifted, revealing a gentle and beautiful face—it was Ji Xiaosong in disguise.
“This lady,” she said softly, her voice quite different from her usual coldness, “did you flee from famine in the south?”
The woman hurriedly pulled the child down to her knees: "Replying to Miss, we came from Qingzhou, where there's a locust plague..."
Ji Xiaosong's gaze swept over the group of refugees, and he secretly counted them. Not bad, there were quite a few of them.
"What a coincidence," she said with a friendly smile. "My husband owns an estate up north and is short-handed. Room and board are provided, plus a monthly salary. Would you like to come with me?"
The refugees looked at each other, their eyes filled with both longing and wariness.
"Miss," an old man asked tremblingly, "where is your esteemed estate? Why... why have you taken us in...?"
“Uncle, there’s no need to worry.” Ji Xiaosong gestured to the maid to bring out a food box. “Eat something first, and we can talk on the way.”
The steaming hot buns and meat soup lowered the refugees' guard. As they wolfed down the food, Ji Xiaosong subtly moved her fingertips, and a wisp of colorless and odorless soothing smoke quietly dissipated.
In a short while, the refugees fell into a deep sleep.
"Collect." Ji Xiaosong said softly, and the twenty-seven people disappeared instantly, moved into her own space.
Inside the space, a completely different scene unfolds.
When the refugees awoke, they found themselves lying on clean, warm beds, surrounded by neat bamboo houses, with vast expanses of lush green farmland in the distance.
"This is..." The old woman was so shocked she couldn't speak.
"Are you all awake?" A kind-looking "old steward" came forward. He was actually Ji Xiaosong's bodyguard in disguise. "This is Qingyun Manor. My master is kind-hearted and takes in people in distress."
In the days that followed, the refugees were taught farming, weaving, and other skills.
Time flows differently inside the space than outside. Only an hour has passed, yet they have already regained their rosy complexions and learned a whole set of skills.
On the morning of the fourth day, the "old steward" gathered everyone together: "The master said that those who wish to stay can be given land and houses; those who want to leave will be given five taels of silver."
Everyone knelt down in unison: "We are willing to follow our benefactor!"