Chapter 23: Allies

  The first light of dawn is visible, and daybreak is just before our eyes.

  Gao Yi finally returned, if he didn't come back, the tense Gao family village people might have gone crazy. Fortunately, he finally came back, although late, it's better than not coming back at all. When Ling Yun heard that Gao Yi still had the mood to ask them whether they wanted to hear good news or bad news first, she already knew that things weren't as bad as imagined. Indeed, Gao Yi's news made everyone let out a sigh of relief.

  Gao Ding's team did indeed encounter trouble, but it was okay. The new allies from Gaojiazhuang didn't betray them, and they weren't discovered by Yang Guang, the Jin king who was stationed in Yangzhou; there were just a few minor mishaps.

  Just a moment ago, Lingyun had already made up his mind to kill the official and rebel, and was prepared to risk everything to escape. But when he heard this news, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, and the little bit of determination to flee that he had just mustered up also disappeared without a trace. Who would be willing to throw away their life and shed hot blood unless absolutely necessary? Gao Shanshan also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling much better. After spending more than a year traveling south to Jiangnan, she was about to make progress on her plans, and didn't want all her previous efforts to go to waste now. In the early morning hours before dawn, Gao Shanshan had someone prepare their horses, then mounted hers herself. She wore a black silk hat with a veil that covered her face and body, looking noble and mysterious. "Yi Lang, let's go for a ride," she said with a smile. "It looks like we were worried for nothing."

  "Good." Lingyun smiled in response, knowing that he didn't have to rush and temporarily didn't need to escape. After this narrow escape, he now had a feeling of being reborn. "I'll accompany you to watch the sunrise together."

  "Ah, having been in Jiangnan for over a year, I really haven't taken the time to appreciate its scenery." At this point, Mulan and Qinglian, two maidservants, were also standing at a distance with more than ten guards holding horses, apparently waiting to follow as escorts. Seeing that the escort arrangements were in order, Lingyun nodded and mounted his horse. It was a sorrel horse, quite tall and large, but very gentle. Lingyun, like an experienced rider, easily stepped into the stirrup and onto the horse's back without any difficulty.

  Qianxue rode her white horse at a gallop, getting faster and faster, silent all the way, as if to ease the tension before. Lingyun had no choice but to follow, fortunately his riding skills were good. He followed behind her, calling out for her to slow down, but the morning wind dispersed his voice, and she didn't hear him at all. Afterwards, Lingyun also stopped speaking, silently following on horseback. They galloped along the mountain footpath, racing across the vast open plain shrouded in thick white mist. Mulan and Qinglian, two little girls, kept a distance behind with the servants, making Lingyun sigh that not only was Qianxue good at riding horses, but also the two little maids could ride big horses.

  Until they galloped to a gentle slope, the dawn broke, and Gao Qianxue stopped her horse. At this time, she was already several miles away from the temporary camp. Ling Yun followed Gao Qianxue and saw her take off her hat, revealing her white face with two red clouds on her cheeks. Her whole person was unusually spirited and refreshed. She laughed loudly and said, "It's been a long time since I've had such a wonderful horse ride! Riding like a man is really exhilarating. Yi Lang, in the past, I often wished I could be a man, so I could go out and show my face, enjoy myself, and take revenge." He didn't expect that Gao Qianxue, who usually appeared calm and restrained, would have such an uninhibited and bold side to her personality.

  Lingyun joked: "Then I won't be able to marry you, I'm not as good as Longyang."

  "If I were a man, Easy could be a woman." Lingyun's words made Yan's Shansnow smile. "I really want to just like this, just the two of us riding together forever, going far away and putting everything down."

  A faint smile played on his lips, "You can."

  Qianxue smiled faintly, with a hint of bitterness in her smile. "I'd like to, but I couldn't. Although I'm just a daughter, I'm the daughter of the Gao family and can't abandon all this."

  "It's just a light snow, but sometimes you have to let go when it's time. The state of Qi has been gone for twenty years, and the Sui dynasty has unified China for eighteen years. The people are at peace, living and working happily - isn't that good enough? Why not put down this burden and just the two of us ride horses, wield swords, and travel the world, taking in all its beauty? When we're tired from traveling, let's find a scenic spot to build a villa and live out our days in seclusion?"

  "It's really good if it's like that." Qian Xue said, "But Yi Lang, I have a responsibility on me, this is not a burden, but a responsibility."

  "Whatever." Ling Yun said in a warm voice, he also knew that this was not something that could be moved by just one or two sentences. He changed the subject and asked: "By the way, what do you plan to do now? I didn't quite catch what Gao Yi said earlier, is it true that we're going to cooperate with someone from the Chen family, while the ones who saved us are from the Xiao family?"

  "This time it was Chen Xiong who collaborated with us, and it was Xiao Shilue who saved Gao Ding."

  "Chen Xiong, Xiao Shi Lue?" Looking at Gao Qianxue's serious expression, Ling Yun estimated that these two guys were not ordinary. Moreover, just by hearing their surnames, he could guess some things. The Jiangnan aristocracy originally had Wang and Xie as the largest door thresholds. However, after the Hou Jing rebellion in Southern Liang, it can be said that it had a devastating impact on those large families in Jiangnan. Until the Sui dynasty destroyed the Chen dynasty of Southern China, the major families in Jiangnan were mainly represented by Gu, Lu, Zhu, Zhang, Shen, Yu, and He. The Liu, Xiao, and Chen clans were once the imperial family of the Southern Dynasty and still retained strong power. Now that Gao Qianxue had actually contacted the Chen clan, it was highly likely to be one of the branches of the Southern Chen dynasty. Although the Chen tribe was relocated to Guanzhong after the fall of the Southern Chen, he believed that there would always be some fish that slipped through the net. As for this Xiao Shi Lue who suddenly intervened, although he had never heard of the name, he estimated that it was also a branch of the Xiao clan. Otherwise, how many ordinary people dared to intervene in such matters?

  "What's the relationship between Chen Xiong and Xiao Shilue?" To rebel, of course, one must widely recruit allies, but rebelling is a dangerous matter that risks one's head, so choosing allies must also be done with caution. Otherwise, if the other party betrays them, it may lead to their downfall.

  The sun rises in the east, and the red sun will dye the eastern sky red. The golden morning sun pierces through the clouds and mist, entering the hazy white fog of dawn. A vast expanse of wilderness unfolds before the two people, and in front of them is the rolling Yangtze River flowing eastward. Gao Shanshu points to that mountain and river scenery and says to Ling Yun, "This place used to be owned by the Chen Xiong family!"

  Lingyun furrowed his brow, just as he had expected. "You actually found a member of the Southern Chen imperial family to conspire with you?"

  If from a certain perspective, the Chen family as the old master of Southern Chen still has high prestige among the landlords in Jiangnan. However, things can't be seen from just one side. Looking back at the time when Sui destroyed Southern Chen, within a year, there were hardly any major battles fought, not even a decisive battle, and it was already annihilated by the Sui army. It can even be said that the downfall of Southern Chen was due to both the suppression of the Sui army's 500,000-strong army advancing from all sides, as well as the incompetence of Chen Shubao, but another important reason for this failure was that at that time, the aristocratic families in Jiangdong took a bystander attitude towards this war. No one supported Southern Chen and resisted Northern Zhou together. Although they later rebelled against the Sui dynasty after the downfall of Southern Chen, it was not to restore Southern Chen, but simply because the Sui dynasty had harmed their interests too much after taking over Southern Chen. From here, we can see that although the Chen family was the old master of Jiangdong, their prestige in Jiangdong was not great. Moreover, if he remembered correctly, from Chen Shubao to Chen Shuda and Chen Shushen, these princes and princesses were all exiled to Guanzhong. Except for Chen Shubao who spent his days drinking and chatting with Sui's ruler Yang Jian in Daxing City, the rest of the Chen family members did not live well, most of them were demoted to various places in Guanzhong, many people could only make a living by selling wine and farming, their lives were very hard.

  Qianxue is looking for this group of people to be allies, and even wants to rebel against the Sui Dynasty. Isn't this a bit like having teammates who are as stupid as pigs? The more I look at it, the more ominous the prospects seem.

  "Chen Xiong is the son of Wu Xing Wang Chen Yin, the former crown prince of Southern Chen." Finally, Gao Qianxue added another sentence, "He is Chen Yin's illegitimate son, and his mother was a singer in Jiankang."

  Upon hearing this, Lingyun was at a loss for words and could only rub his forehead, feeling a wave of headache. Damn it, the name Chen Xiong sounded so majestic, but who would have thought that he was just an illegitimate son born out of wedlock to a songstress? He didn't even have a legitimate status in the Chen family. Although Chen Yin had treated them relatively well when he was still the crown prince and hadn't taken them into the palace, he had given them a large amount of land and property. But damn it, every big family had a bunch of illegitimate children like this. If you wanted to borrow the influence of the Chen clan, you couldn't find someone like him. He was young and an illegitimate son with no name or status; apart from having some money, he probably had nothing else.

  After a detailed introduction to Chen Xiong's relationship, he was even more speechless. This Chen Xiong, Chen Ge, his mother was just a songstress in Jiankang City. His father, Chen Yin, had been a crown prince before, but Chen Yin's mother was only an ordinary palace maid. Moreover, she died in childbirth when giving birth to him. It was only because he was the first son of Chen Shubao that his grandfather, Emperor Chen Xuan, treated him as the legitimate heir. His father, Chen Shubao's, wife, Crown Prince Consort Shen, had no children and raised him as her own son. Later, when Chen Shubao ascended to the throne, Chen Yin was established as the crown prince due to his status as the eldest son. However, Empress Shen did not gain power, and Chen Shubao liked Zhang Lihua the most, so he deposed Chen Yin, who had no maternal family influence, and established Zhang Lihua's son, Chen Shen, as the new crown prince. Fortunately, Chen Shubao liked literature, so after being deposed, he was still given the title of Duke of Wu Xing and did not suffer the same fate as those crown princes in the Northern Dynasties who lost power struggles and were either imprisoned or killed.

  But doesn't this just show that Chen Xiong is a person of no value?

  "Chen Xiong is indeed not an ideal collaborator." Gao Qianxue seemed to have seen Ling Yun's imagination, and smiled as she explained: "Although Chen Xiong's father was the deposed crown prince of Southern Chen, Chen Yin, what we value more is that Chen Yin was personally raised by Empress Shen herself."