The Imperial Censors wrote that the Barbarians had violated the contract and were provoking the Xuanyuan dynasty. They should fight back to show the power of the dynasty.

Emperor Akinori Zhaoshen appointed the Crown Prince as the Northern General, commanding fifty thousand elite soldiers in the Northern Camp.

He also ordered Marquis Zhenyuan, who was guarding the northern border, to cooperate with the army and attack the Barbarians.

After the court session, the Emperor gave the Crown Prince some final instructions. "When you reach the northern border, don't attack immediately. You must investigate the situation.

The Barbarians are cunning by nature. You must be careful. Your uncle will also provide you with support.

Although the Xuanyuan dynasty has the advantage in terms of military strength, you must remember not to underestimate the enemy. "

"Yes.

I will remember. "Xuanyuan Hancheng replied.

"Have you arranged for the imperial physicians to accompany the army?

You must take care of your body. Don't delay the expedition. "The Emperor was still very concerned about the Crown Prince's health.

"Father, please rest assured. Everything has been arranged.

I also ask father to take care of your body. It is unfilial of me to always make father worry. "Xuanyuan Hancheng knelt down and kowtowed to his father.

"Alright, you may rise.

Go and say goodbye to your mother. She is also very worried about you. "The Emperor helped the Crown Prince up.

"Yes.

I will take my leave. "

At midnight, several figures flashed into the courtyard of the Imperial Censor. Xuanyuan Hancheng familiarly came to the door of Lin Jiabao's room. He gently opened the door and left a few Shadow Guards to guard the courtyard.

In the room, his darling was sleeping soundly on the bed. The moonlight shone in through the window.

Looking at Lin Jiabao bathed in the moonlight, his sleeping face was so innocent and adorable.

Every time he saw him, all the tiredness and worries of the day would vanish.

Lin Jiabao was sleeping soundly. His lips were pursed, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, as if he was having a beautiful dream.

Xuanyuan Hancheng bent down and lowered his head to kiss the space between his eyebrows, leaving a few light kisses on his little face.

Xuanyuan Hancheng kissed from the little dimple to the lips. He was afraid of waking him up, so he didn't dare to go deeper. He only used his lips and tongue to gently lick his baby's lips.

"Mmm mmm …" Lin Jiabao seemed to feel the harassment on his lips. He turned his head to the side and continued to dream.

Xuanyuan Hancheng looked at Lin Jiabao's exposed neck. Under the moonlight, it looked pale, but it was still very attractive.

Xuanyuan Hancheng couldn't restrain himself and gently nibbled on her tender neck.

Suddenly, a soft sound came from outside the door. Xuanyuan Hancheng covered Lin Jiabao with a quilt and walked out quietly.

"Mama Lin, it's you …" Xuanyuan Hancheng looked at Lin Jiabao's door and motioned for Mama Lin to follow him to the courtyard.

"Your Highness, Anzhu is still young. He's only 13 years old. You …" Mama Lin woke up in the middle of the night and saw Lin Jiabao's door open slightly. She also saw the Crown Prince kissing Anzhu.

It wasn't the first time she saw the Crown Prince in the courtyard in the middle of the night.

She was shocked at the beginning, but now she was used to it and was very calm.

Mama Lin knew that the Crown Prince had special feelings for Lin Anzhu, but she didn't know why he cared so much about this little Anzhu.

But after spending half a year with Lin Anzhu, she also liked this hardworking and well-behaved child.

So she couldn't help but mention it.

"Mama Lin, I'm leaving tomorrow. I hope you can take care of Anzhu." Xuanyuan Hancheng said with satisfaction when he heard Mama Lin protecting Lin Jiabao.

"Yes, Your Highness.

Don't worry, Your Highness. There won't be any mishaps. "Mama Lin promised.

The next day, Xuanyuan Hancheng rode his horse and left the imperial city with 50,000 soldiers under the witness of all the officials and generals.

When the army left the capital, Xuanyuan Hancheng looked deeply in the direction of the imperial palace.

His family, his treasures, and his responsibilities were there.

In this battle, he could only win, not lose!

In the fifth month of the fifth year of the Yuntai Empire, the Xuanyuan Empire won the war against the Barbarians in the north.

Xuanyuan Hancheng sat in a large tent in the Barbarian Kingdom's imperial city. His heart was filled with emotions.

In the past nine months, he had experienced the baptism of war. His personality had become more introverted, making it difficult for others to guess his thoughts.

This expedition didn't go well at first. When Xuanyuan Hancheng brought the army to the border city, it was already winter.

The weather in the north was extremely cold. The soldiers from the capital couldn't adapt and fell sick.

Fortunately, the army had prepared enough medicine, so there weren't any casualties.

The Barbarians knew that Xuanyuan Empire's army was coming and knew that there was a great disparity between the two sides.

The Barbarians didn't dare to face them head-on. They often ambushed them on the way or attacked them at night.

Although they were defeated, there were still many casualties, which gave the soldiers a headache.

The war was in a stalemate until spring. Xuanyuan Hancheng lured part of the enemy's main forces and ambushed them. This caused the Barbarians to suffer great losses.

Xuanyuan Hancheng chased them down. After a few battles, he reached the Barbarian Kingdom's imperial city.

Because his uncle, Marquis Zhengyuan, was overseeing the rear, the provisions and supplies were kept up.

After two more battles, Xuanyuan Hancheng's army successfully broke into the Barbarian Kingdom's imperial city.

"Your Highness, Marquis Zhengyuan requests an audience." The guard outside the tent came in to report.

"Invite Marquis Zhengyuan in."

Xuanyuan Hancheng's voice just fell when he saw a sturdy middle-aged man wearing armor come in.

"Your Highness, you just gave the order to exterminate the Barbarians … this … should we consider it and wait for the Emperor's reply?"

Marquis Zhengyuan Wang Zhen was Empress's brother. He also admired the Crown Prince's wise decision and outstanding ability in this battle.

But there was a disagreement on the issue of how to deal with the prisoners of war.

"No need, I have already sent a memorial to Imperial Father."

Xuanyuan Hancheng understood Marquis Zhengyuan's idea. After all, in this life, Imperial Father and Imperial Brother didn't die because of the Barbarians. It seemed too cruel for him to exterminate the Barbarians.

"But, Your Highness, this is not good for your reputation!

Men, women, old, and young in the Barbarians must be executed … or just exterminate their imperial family and make the rest slaves. "

"Uncle, don't persuade me, I have already made up my mind.

The Barbarians have always been a cunning and tenacious people. If we don't exterminate them, they will become slaves. Those who are not of our race must have different intentions.

Must be executed!

Speaking of cruelty, which village didn't have the elderly, women, and children in the villages they slaughtered?

This time, by hardening my heart, not only will I get rid of future hidden dangers, but I can also serve as a deterrent to other small tribes. This is the best decision.

I don't care about my reputation.

I think Imperial Father will also agree with me. "Xuanyuan Hancheng said.

"That's the only way." Marquis Zhengyuan also knew that the Crown Prince's analysis was correct. Alas!

But in this way, the Crown Prince was afraid that he would bear the evil reputation of being cruel and heartless.

In the fifth month of the fifth year of Yuntai, the Crown Prince ordered the extermination of the Barbarians' imperial city. No matter men, women, old, or young, all were to be executed.

The entire city was filled with blood, a total of more than 20,000 people were all strangled to death.

There were no more Barbarians in the world.

When the Emperor received the news, Xuanyuan Hancheng was already on his way back with the army.

The Crown Prince's extermination of the Barbarians caused a big commotion in the imperial court.

The Imperial Censors wrote letters saying that the Crown Prince's method was too cruel and damaged the benevolence and righteousness of the Xuanyuan dynasty.

There were even some who said that the Crown Prince's meritorious service overshadowed the Emperor's. Without the Emperor's permission, he made the order without authorization and should be severely punished.

These were all suppressed by the Emperor. Alas!

Thinking that the Crown Prince was only 19 years old, after all, he was young and impetuous and didn't know how to take the long view, this time the way he dealt with it was simple and crude, the effect was too much.

Under the pressure of the imperial court, the Emperor had no choice but to cancel the ceremony of going out of the city to personally welcome the Crown Prince.

After the Crown Prince returned to the palace, the Emperor asked him to reflect for half a month and exempted him from the imperial court as a warning.

In the imperial study, the Emperor Akinori Zhaoshen was lecturing the Crown Prince.

"In this half a month, you should have a good rest.

Next time, you are not allowed to do this. You are the future Crown Prince.

A Crown Prince with a cruel reputation, what will the court think of you?

Alas!

Forget it, forget it. You are still young. Go back and think about it.

There are many things you need to pay attention to. Going too far is as bad as falling short. "The Emperor had always thought that his second son was more impulsive. He didn't expect his eldest son to be the same.

Alas!

There was no hurry. His body was still strong and he could still teach for a few more years. The Crown Prince was already doing very well.

"Yes.

This son understands. "

In the following period of time, the news of the Crown Prince's cruelty spread throughout the entire Xuanyuan Empire.

Under the spreading of the news, the content of the news became more and more intense.

The Crown Prince ordered the burial of 100,000 prisoners of war alive, the Crown Prince liked to torture and kill children, and even said that the Crown Prince liked to eat human flesh, and other news came out.

The common people's ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood was poor, so they only listened and believed.

They were even more interested in the imperial family's affairs. The more they tried to prevent the news from spreading, the more curious they became.

In the Yongshou Palace, the Empress had just asked Mama Zhou to punish a few palace maids and eunuchs for spreading rumors. She was sulking.

"Mother Empress, don't be angry. It's not worth it if you hurt your body." Xuanyuan Hancheng comforted her from the side.

"The matter this time wasn't that serious. It was because the Xue family added fuel to the fire. That's why it became like this."

"It's this Xue family again. However, your Imperial Father said that they won't be able to jump around for much longer." Empress thought of the Crown Princess who was said to be bedridden, but had actually "died of illness." She felt very relieved.

"This son also wants to thank Mother Empress. This time, when I was away on the campaign, I cleaned up everything in the palace.

Mother Empress, thank you for your hard work. "

Xuanyuan Hancheng didn't bring Yuan Fu with him on this campaign. Instead, he left him in the palace to help his Imperial Mother clean up the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

Taking advantage of his absence from the palace, many of the spies let down their guard.

Now, these spies have been cleaned up. The people around the Crown Princess were also secretly captured. After finding out how they contacted Prince Li, they were all killed.

Now, the people who contacted Prince Li were Xuanyuan Hancheng's Shadow Guard. Prince Li didn't notice anything strange.

"There's no need to thank Mother Empress." Empress patted the Crown Prince's shoulder.

Empress said that she wasn't worried. However, when she thought of the impact of the rumors on the Crown Prince, she couldn't help but feel worried.

At night, the Emperor came to the Yongshou Palace and saw Empress sitting by the bed with a frown.

"Your Majesty, look at the rumors.

Originally, I was planning to help Cheng 'er find a concubine when he returned from the campaign.

Now that rumors are flying everywhere, I'm afraid that the ministers also have thoughts in their hearts.

It's hard to find a candidate. "Empress complained to the Emperor.

"Don't worry, Zitong. We are already working on it.

In fact, rumors come and go quickly.

As long as there is new news, the old ones will slowly fade away.

Cheng 'er's body still needs to be nursed back to health. There's no rush. "

"That's how it is. However, Cheng 'er's reputation needs to be improved."

Empress thought for a while and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Your Majesty, you see, the Mid-Autumn Festival is in three months.

What if we issue an imperial decree to let the palace servants reunite with their families during the Mid-Autumn Festival? This will be an unprecedented grace. This can also be considered as accumulating blessings for Cheng 'er. "

"This idea is not bad. The regulations need to be more careful.

The place where the palace servants meet with their families and the time of the meeting must be arranged.

When the palace servants leave the palace, they need to be searched. We also need to send more imperial bodyguards. We can't let someone take advantage of this loophole. "The Emperor thought a lot." Alright, tomorrow we will have people arrange it.

Don't think too much. Let's arrange it early. "

In the Imperial Pastry Room, Lin Jiabao was kneading dough as he listened to Yu Ling and Yu Long's conversation. "I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince is the reincarnation of a killing star. The killing intent on his body is very strong."

"Yu Ling, do you want to die!

His Highness the Crown Prince is a wise and powerful general, a great hero. "Yu Long angrily retorted when he heard Yu Ling talk about the Crown Prince like this.

"Sisters, don't say anymore. It won't be good if Mama Lin comes over and hears it." Lin Jiabao advised.

"Humph!" Yu Long coldly snorted.

Mama Lin came back with a face full of smiles. Yu Shuang, who came back with her, also couldn't hide his excitement. "There's good news, great news!"

Yu Ling was the most excited. He hurriedly surrounded her and asked, "What good news?

What good news? "

Mama Lin announced with a smile, "This year, His Highness the Crown Prince defeated the barbarians. In order to celebrate, Empress Empress has issued an imperial decree.

During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the palace servants will be able to reunite with their families! "

"Really?

'Really?'

Everyone can reunite with their families. Can I also reunite with my family? "

"Everyone can. When the time comes, the palace will arrange it in batches. Everyone will have two hours to reunite with their families.

The announcement has already been posted. "

"That's great!

Empress Empress, please have mercy! "

Everyone was very excited and happy when they heard this. They had been away from home for many years and there was no better news than being able to reunite with their families.

For a while, this good news spread throughout the palace and the palace servants rushed to tell each other.

They all thanked the emperor, Empress Empress, and His Highness the Crown Prince for their benevolence.

Like this, the rumors about His Highness the Crown Prince gradually died down.

Afterwards, there were rumors about the Xue family's romantic affairs, which diverted the people's attention.

Ever since Lin Jiabao received this good news, he had been in a state of excitement.

At night, he would toss and turn in bed, thinking about this and that.

He didn't know if the Lin Family Village would receive the news and if his parents would come to see him.

It would take more than half a month to travel from the Lin Family Village to the capital. It was such a long journey. Would there be any dangers along the way?

Wouldn't it cost a lot to travel for half a month?

Would there be enough money at home?

The more Lin Jiabao thought about it, the more he couldn't fall asleep. He got up and went out the door to Mama Lin's room next door.

He knocked on the door, "Mama Lin, are you asleep?"

"Anzhu, what is it? You're not asleep yet?" Mama Lin opened the door and saw Lin Anzhu, "Come in quickly."

"What is it?

Tell Mama. "Mama Lin looked at Lin Jiabao's worried expression and asked with concern.

After living in the palace for nearly two years, Lin Jiabao had long regarded Mama Lin as his elder.

He told Mama Lin all of his worries.

"Mama, what do you think I should do?"

"Don't worry. Let Mama help you think about it." Mama Lin was born from Empress's maternal family. Her home was in the capital, so she didn't have Lin Jiabao's worries.

"How about this? You can write a letter home and bring some money back with you.

Mama has a close eunuch in the imperial kitchen who can help me send it to the relay station. "Mama Lin thought about it.

"That's great. Mama, can you really help me send a letter home?" Lin Jiabao was a little worried.

"It's fine. The palace servants all ask the purchasing department for help.

It's fine as long as you don't bring anything out that you shouldn't. Otherwise, if it's discovered at the palace gates, everyone will be in trouble.

That's why the purchasing department usually only helps people they know. "

"Thank you so much, Mama. I'll go back and write it now." Lin Jiabao quickly went back.

Lin Jiabao spent most of the night writing in his room. He also put his monthly allowance and reward money into a pouch that his older sister had embroidered for him. After thinking about it, he also put in the money that his family had given him when he first entered the palace.

He didn't have much use for money in the palace, but he definitely needed it more at home.

The next morning, Lin Jiabao gave Mama Lin the bundle that he had prepared. He also asked for some words that he didn't know how to write and had Mama Lin help him fill in the blanks.

After finishing all of this, Lin Jiabao finally felt relieved. He began to count the days until the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived.

Mama Lin didn't give the bundle to the purchasing department. Instead, she gave it to His Highness the Crown Prince's Shadow Guard.

That night, Lin Jiabao's bundle was placed on Xuanyuan Hancheng's desk.

Xuanyuan Hancheng opened the letter and smiled when he saw it.

The first piece of paper didn't look like a letter, but rather a drawing.

There was a drawing of a small person making a pastry. Lin Jiabao drew it very carefully. Even the patterns on the pastry were exactly the same.

In the blank space, he wrote, "Father, Mother, Eldest Sister, Eldest Brother-in-law, Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Second Sister, Younger Brother, Younger Sister, I miss you all!"

There were more words on the second piece of paper. Some of them were written by Mama Lin on his behalf.

Xuanyuan Hancheng thought that in the future, he should let his darling learn how to write. Seeing that his darling was very talented in drawing, he could let his darling learn from him in the future.

Lin Jiabao wrote that he was doing very well in the palace. Now, he was making pastries in Her Highness the Empress's Imperial Dessert Room.

The mama in the palace was very good to him. The older sister in the palace also took good care of him.

He told his family to rest assured that he was doing well. He just missed them very much.

He had already learned how to make many pastries. He wanted to open a pastry shop when he left the palace in the future and be self-sufficient.

In the end, he also asked his family to come visit him during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Xuanyuan Hancheng's face darkened when he finished reading the letter.

His darling had already made plans for his life after leaving the palace … That wouldn't do!

Xuanyuan Hancheng thought about how Lin Jiabao was already 14 years old. Although he was still a little young.

He would keep him by his side for one or two years. Then, he would be able to eat him.

He couldn't wait …

Xuanyuan Hancheng ordered the Shadow Guard to send Lin Jiabao's letter to the relay station in Pei County as soon as possible.

He secretly planned in his heart …