The seventh Prince was missing, his fate unknown.
The Imperial court's army was heading south, with the three princes following. This was a stance to start a massacre in the Jiangnan area.
This time, there was no need for the Yuan family to spread any news. The villagers along the Qingyuan river had already started to leave their homes on their own accord to avoid being implicated.
A large number of people had left the Qingyuan river. Under such circumstances, the Yuan family's departure was not conspicuous at all. However, the Yuan family's escape felt much more orderly than the villagers'.
In the dense forest up in the mountains, the Yuan family's shelter, wooden houses had already been built. Not only the wooden houses, also the newly cultivated wasteland had been planted with vegetables.
Besides that, the Yuan family had also fenced up a large plot of land in the forest to rear chickens.
They had to make long-term plans as no one knew how long this war would last. Yuan Yin Di had planned long-term in case the war went on for several years or even more than ten years.
If it lasted that long, even if the outside of the mountain was filled with corpses, the Yuan family would still be able to live in the mountains with relish.
The shelter that Yuan Yin Di had chosen was not far from a stream so that water wouldn't be an issue for them.
In addition, he also arranged a second emergency shelter in case the first shelter got discovered.
...
Just as Yuan Yin Di had predicted, a war broke out outside the mountains just as the Yuan family fled to the mountains to hide.
Although Great Yin did not fall apart, the Jiangnan region was filled with smoke.
The Bei Li imperial court also seized this rare opportunity to launch a fierce attack on Great Yin, forcing Great Yin's army to retreat. But just as the Bei Li imperial court's army arrived at the Yin capital, Great Yin's army suddenly appeared.
Half of the three hundred thousand elite troops of the Bei Li imperial court were lost in just one night.
Great Yin's army came out together, and the situation reversed. In just a month, they drove the army of Bei Li out of Great Yin's territory and took back all their lost lands.
Without external threats, the rebellion in the Jiangnan region was quickly seized.
For half a year, Great Yin had experienced a phoenix's nirvana, which was a life-or-death experience. And the one who made all of this happen was the eighth prince!
However, after saving Great Yin, the eighth prince accidentally fell off a boat on the Qingyuan river and disappeared after the victory of the war.
The imperial court had sent many people and almost turned the banks of Qingyuan river upside down, but they still could not find where the eighth prince was.
The emperor eventually had to announce the death of the eighth prince and posthumously crowned him as crown prince. He was pronounced dead as the heir to the throne.
With the external problems resolved and the internal problems cleared, Great Yin regained its vitality. At this time, it was already cold winter month, and snow was flying everywhere.
The Yuan family, who was hiding in the mountains, had received first-hand news from Yuan Zhao Di, who had gone out to scout for information. However, they did not choose to return to Lin He village immediately. Instead, they planned to spend the new year in the mountains before going out.
Many of the villagers had chosen to go home for the winter. It wasn't that the Yuan family didn't want to return to Lin He village. It's just that even though the chaos in Jiangnan had stopped, the missing eighth prince's body was still nowhere to be found.
Even if the emperor had announced the other party's death, no one knew if the search had stopped or if there were still people searching in the dark.
If it was true that there are still people searching out there, they might be implicated. For safety's sake, it was better to continue hiding in the mountains.
In any case, it was winter everywhere.