Dugu Jingyao is reborn as Li Chu's beloved

Chapter 397 Preparations before the Incident

On the second day after leaving Chang'an, Dugu Xin, Dugu Moyan, Liu Jingyue, Zhishu and Shili were replaced by someone to continue heading south to Yunnan.

They disguised themselves and headed back. Dugu Xin and Dugu Moyan went to two military camps respectively, while Liu Jingyue was picked up by someone arranged by Dugu Jingyao and sent back to Dugu Jingyao's private residence in Chang'an. Everything went on in an orderly manner.

In the An Mansion, they have been constantly investigating the military strength of the military camp and the surrounding counties day and night for the past few days. Although the Dugu family army has come in large numbers, they cannot enter the camp outside the capital.

An Lushan had already been dismissed from office, and Shi Siming was already dead in the eyes of outsiders, let alone being mentioned. Moreover, after the incident at court, those who had been involved with Shi Siming dared not mention it again, for fear of being implicated.

Therefore, they could only send their secret guards to secretly investigate the situation in the camp outside the capital.

When they found out, they reported back to An Lushan: "Master, we can only sneak in and cannot go deep into the area, but I estimate the approximate number of people to be around 60,000 to 70,000."

An Lushan and Shi Siming both frowned when they heard this. An Lushan said impatiently, "I understand. You can go down first." The man then bowed and left, then closed the door.

Shi Siming asked in confusion, "The court doesn't seem to have recruited soldiers recently, so how come there are so many more people?"

An Lushan also noticed something was wrong: "Could it be that the emperor and his men have noticed that I am planning to rebel?"

Shi Siming also agreed: "Brother An is right. It may be that the things that happened in the Shen Mansion a few days ago were exposed..."

An Lushan immediately shook his head and said, "No, they don't have any evidence. Otherwise, they would have tried me just like they tried you and Zhang in the court before!"

Shi Siming disagreed. He said, "Brother An, this is wrong. Perhaps it is because they do not have any concrete evidence that they mobilized troops in advance just in case."

An Lushan said, "If that's the case, if we wait any longer, the Emperor and his men will have more places to call for reinforcements. Although the Dugu family army won't be able to arrive in a short time, there are still many places with troops stationed nearby."

Shi Siming said, "If that's the case, then we should first capture those surrounding areas where the troops have been evacuated."

An Lushan thought for a moment and said, "No, Ah Shi, our military strength is limited. We can't waste it on these unnecessary things. It would be best if we could directly attack Changlong and replace the emperor directly. Then the rest of the land will be ours, right?"

Shi Siming agreed. After all, they only had 80,000 troops, while the main camp outside the capital alone had 60,000 to 70,000. Unless they were confident they could capture the surrounding counties without a single blow, waiting to capture those empty counties would be a waste of time and effort. Furthermore, they would then have to recruit young men from those counties, who were untrained. How could they possibly resist a regular army?

Shi Siming understood and said to An Lushan, "Brother An, you make sense. According to our spies, there are only about a thousand soldiers left in the surrounding counties. Unless we can recruit them without wasting any manpower, that would only add a few thousand soldiers, which wouldn't necessarily be much of a help. So, let's find a day nearby and prepare to take action!"

The two men reached an agreement and worked out a strategy for sending troops overnight.

In Prince Guangping's mansion, Li Chu was playing chess with Dugu Jingyao in Wangyue Pavilion.

Li Chu was about to make his move when Dugu Jingyao mentioned it, "I didn't expect An Lushan to be so patient. It's been ten days and he hasn't made a move yet. Maybe we were wrong."

After Li Chu made his move, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, there should be no problem. According to reports from surrounding counties and prefectures, some people have already investigated their garrison camps, which means they are about to take action." Then he signaled Dugu Jingyao's turn.

Dugu Jingyao thought for a while, made a move, and then sat up straight, shrugged, and said, "I hope everything goes well!"

Li Chu was about to continue playing, but after observing the situation for a while, he put the chess piece back into the chess basket and said in a somewhat discouraged tone, "Okay, I lose."

Dugu Jingyao laughed and said, "Hehe, Donglang, your chess skills still need to be improved."

Seeing Dugu Jingyao so arrogant, Li Chu walked up to her. Dugu Jingyao suddenly realized something and wanted to run away but it was too late. Li Chu pressed her down on the chaise longue.

Dugu Jingyao then pleaded softly, "Donglang, I was wrong. Please let me go, okay~"

Li Chu didn't care about that and just leaned close to Dugu Jingyao's ear and whispered, "Do you know how to beg for mercy now?"

Dugu Jingyao nodded frantically, and Li Chu kissed her lips until they were a little swollen. Only then did he vent his anger and let Dugu Jingyao go.

He just left a kiss on her forehead and said, "Okay, we should wash up."

After saying that, he stood up and asked someone to come in to help them wash up. After washing up, they went to bed. Li Chu wanted to do something else, but Dugu Jingyao yawned and said, "Donglang, let's not do it today. I'm so sleepy."

Seeing that Dugu Jingyao's eyelids started to droop after she had just washed up, Li Chu said, "Since you are sleepy, Yao, don't do anything and just go to sleep." The two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.

In Linglong Pavilion, when Cui Caiping received the letter sent by Mrs. Han Guo, her only hope was gone.

Because Lady Han Guo's letter said, "Ping'er, we need to find another way to deal with this matter. The matter of the contraceptive soup has already been clearly discussed with the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess, and it cannot be changed."

However, after learning about this, Cui Caiping became completely depressed, which frightened Lianxin and Moxin. Cui Caiping could not easily leave the house, so they had to take the message back to the Cui Mansion.

Lady Han Guo was very worried when she learned about Cui Caiping's recent situation, so she sent another letter, saying, "Don't worry, Ping'er. Although the emperor can't agree, he can work on you and Li Chu, or even prevent Dugu Jingyao from having children. It is said that they have agreed that if Dugu Jingyao fails to give birth to a legitimate son within three years, she will stop giving you the contraceptive soup. If you can seize the opportunity, your mother will help you find a prescription that can help you have a son, and you can become the mother of the eldest son."

Cui Caiping finally had some light in her eyes after hearing this. She didn't want to be depressed all day after hearing the news, and she didn't want to compete for Li Chu's favor.

Now she seemed to have found her train of thought, muttering quietly, "Yes, mother is right. I can't give up. Since they have a three-year deadline, I will find a way to prevent Dugu Jingyao from giving birth to a legitimate son within these three years, or even if she does, she won't be able to raise him. Then, as long as I can work hard to win Li Chu's favor, I will have the chance to have a son, and that way I can have a more important place in Li Chu's heart."

But how could she prevent Dugu Jingyao from getting pregnant? Or maybe she didn't prevent Dugu Jingyao from getting pregnant at all, and just wait and see whether it was a boy or a girl. If it was a boy, and he died young, she would still have a chance, right?

Cui Caiping suddenly thought, "I'm so stupid! Isn't there someone else in the palace? Zheng Wan is close to the princess and seems innocent. But Li Wanqing is different. Her father, Li Mi, is someone the emperor relies on. She's being treated so unfairly. If I can win her over, wouldn't that be twice the result with half the effort?"

Cui Caiping then called Mo Xin in and said, "Mo Xin, go find out what Li Wanqing and Li Liangdi like to do."

Mo Xin couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be that their wife wants to please Li Liang Di? Why did she suddenly think of asking this?"

However, she had no room for rebuttal, so she could only agree and then go out to find out what was going on.

It was not until late at night that she learned about Li Wanqing's preferences. Since she could not directly ask Cuizhu and Wutong, who were beside her, she could only ask the second-class maid in her courtyard, and learn as much as she could.

At first, she didn't ask, but in the end, she had to pay some money before the maid was willing to tell her. She told her some of the clothing colors, utensils, and food that Li Wanqing liked.

Mo Xin then returned to Linglong Pavilion with satisfaction and reported what he had learned to Cui Caiping.

Cui Caiping understood roughly what she had said and nodded. "Forget about the food and clothes. Go prepare some tea and jewelry according to Li Liang Di's preferences. We'll go see Li Liang Di tomorrow."

Mo Xin agreed, and then retreated at Cui Caiping's signal.