Chapter 69 Ucho's Twenty-Second Time!

Chapter 69

Those on the riverbank watched as an astonishingly large ship passed by, then broke into pieces and sank completely into the moat. The sound it made startled the people on the bank, who rushed to the river to investigate.

Jiang You roared, "Quick, go save them!"

Small boats rushed toward the eye of the storm, countless people jumped into the water and swam across, while others pulled large nets downstream, trying to find General Yan and the Crown Prince of Northern Yan who had been in trouble.

Ye Xiren looked at the chaotic river surface and the corpses that had been pulled from the water, and fell silent for a moment.

She knew that Yan Danqing was not truly dead yet, and everything could start over. She was just a little confused. Yan Danqing had once said that if he and Chizhan Lance both died, the outcome between Daliang and Beiyan would be fifty-fifty.

However, Ye Xiren had read Yan Wan's notes and knew clearly that if they both died, the outcome would be 50% likely to be the defeat of the Great Liang. The influence of Chizhan Lance on the Northern Yan army was far beyond imagination.

Now there's only one chance left... If Chi Zhanlan Ce dies and Yan Danqing lives, can they win in the current situation?

Ye Xiren snapped out of her reverie, her hand tightly gripping the note hidden in her sleeve. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again, her gaze crystal clear.

"Prime Minister Jiang, how did you know this was a trap? What did you find out?"

Jiang You's eyes were bloodshot. He turned around and met Ye Xiren's dark and clear eyes. His thoughts, which had collapsed because of the deaths of Yan Danqing and Chizhan Lance, seemed to be gently stirred by something, and he gradually calmed down.

He exhaled, gripped his attendant's arm, and slowly replied, "I got the answer from Zhang Yuanmou..."

He told Ye Xiren everything he knew.

Although he himself did not understand what use it would be to tell a little girl in such a situation, he still told her all the clues without reservation.

Sure enough, this deal was a trap from beginning to end!

When did Chi Zhanlan set this up? From the time he was imprisoned until last night when he entered and left the palace and made the transaction, there was absolutely no possibility that he could have sent a message out. So, all the traps set inside those large ships loaded with river sand were arranged by him in advance.

Could Chi Zhanlan Ce have prepared for this much before even arriving in the capital?

“There’s someone else…” Ye Xiren didn’t believe that Chizhan Lance could have foreseen this. “The one who set up the trap is someone else, the same person who instigated the riots among the refugees, all to kill Yan Danqing and save Chizhan Lance.”

Jiang You was about to ask a question.

At this moment, Yan Shuang approached, slightly out of breath, and took out a secret letter from her sleeve, handing it to her, "General Yan asked me to pass on a message to you along with this."

What's wrong with her brain?

Not only did she forget to send the message, but she also forgot the secret letter. She only caught up with Ye Er-guniang after she left, but unexpectedly, she heard the bad news again. Yan Shuang's eyes turned red.

Ye Xiren took it and opened it.

He glanced at it and quickly read through the contents.

[Xixi, Chizhan Lance suddenly asked for food supplies in exchange for a chance to live. I suspect he has ulterior motives, but since food supplies are at stake, I'm willing to take the risk and investigate for any clues. Also, the people hidden in the shadows by Northern Yan always make me uneasy. If we can't find them, even if Chizhan Lance dies, I'm still worried that all our efforts will be in vain.]

Therefore, I agreed to the deal. If I survive the deal, everything is fine. If I die, it's absolutely impossible that Chi Zhanlan Ce is behind this scheme. That person has made his move again, leaving a trace behind, trading my death for clues about supplies and a more deeply hidden spy in Northern Yan... Xixi, the rest is up to you.

Ye Xiren tucked the secret letter and note together into her sleeve, lowering her eyes to see those same two words:

"rest assured."

Jiang You looked puzzled.

A secret letter from Yan Danqing? Did he know he was going to be in trouble and leave a secret letter beforehand? What did it say?

Before she could ask, Ye Xiren looked up at him again, "Prime Minister Jiang, why did you have Lu Qian frame the Ye family with military maps on the second day of the third month?"

The question came as a surprise. Jiang You was taken aback, thinking she was being questioned, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

“I don’t mean anything by this. This matter is very important to me, and I need an answer. How did you know the whereabouts of the military map?” Ye Xiren asked.

Jiang You met her eyes, remained silent for a moment, and, recalling everything that had happened before, finally let down his guard and answered honestly:

“I found out that the military map was in the Guanyin statue in your Ye family’s Buddhist hall, so I told Lu Qian to find a way to expose this matter and get rid of Ye Pei.”

"How did you find out?"

"I can't remember." Jiang You frowned again after saying that. It was really strange. How could he not remember something so important?

Ye Xiren's eyes were red, and her lips moved slightly. Yan Wan had existed, and her traces were everywhere!

Back then, Yan Wan asked Jiang You to give the military map to her grandmother, Zhao Lanjun. Even though Jiang You had forgotten Yan Wan, and even after the reunion, he still remembered the existence of the military map, and remembered this important item left by Yan Wan...

However, fate played a cruel trick on him. The impression left by Jiang You later made the military map "evidence" used to frame the Ye family.

Under Jiang You's questioning gaze, Ye Xiren's expression hardened, and she said solemnly, "Prime Minister Jiang, the Northern Yan delegation has two people in charge when they enter the capital. One is Chi Zhanlan Ce, the one in charge, but the one in the secret is manipulating the peasant uprising and plotting to kill General Yan. We must find him today."

"Let's go!" Jiang You said without hesitation, gesturing for Ye Xiren to follow.

The two left in a hurry.

Yan Shuang: "And here?"

Ye Xiren: "Let him die first."

Yan Shuang: "?"

What does it mean to die "first"? Does it mean one can live "later"?

Jiang You left his personal attendants behind and instructed them: "Continue the search. No matter if they are dead or alive, you must find General Yan and Chizhan Lance and bring them to the palace."

After saying that, he and Ye Xiren got into the carriage and drove away from the waterway.

-

Grain merchant Peng Jin was at home embracing his newly acquired concubine, her body soft and fragrant, their passion palpable. The food and wine on the table remained untouched, the entire table left untouched.

The concubine nudged him and whispered, "It's time to get up and eat, or it will get cold."

Peng Jin waved his hand casually, not caring at all, "If it gets cold, we'll just bring out another table. No matter how chaotic things are outside, our family will never lack food."

The concubine, a poor refugee, had lingering sorrow in her eyes. "Master, haven't you heard the news outside? I heard that General Yan and the Crown Prince of Northern Yan are both in trouble. If the peace talks fail, the two countries will go to war. If Great Liang loses, we..."

Peng Jin hugged her, squinted his eyes and smiled:

"Don't worry about the master's affairs. If the Great Liang loses, even if everyone else suffers, it won't be my Peng family!"

Just as Peng Jin finished speaking, the door was kicked open, and Zheng Wenjue barged in with his men, his eyes cold and sinister.

"What are you doing?" Peng Jin's composure vanished, and he hurriedly got up.

Someone wanted to leave quietly.

Zheng Wenjue raised his hand, and his subordinates immediately seized the man. His eyes grew even colder, and he said, word by word, "Tonight, not a single member of the Peng family will leave to inform the Northern Yan people!"

at the same time.

Ye Changming kicked open the Zhou family's door and shouted sternly, "Take them down! Don't let a single one escape!"

After dark, the Imperial Guards, the Southern Capital Prefecture, and the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, like birds of prey in the night, moved out at the same time, their footsteps echoing in every corner of the Southern Capital, swooping down on the major grain merchants on the list!

Everything is proceeding rapidly.

Royal Palace

Liang Yue sat on the soft couch above, with Ye Xiren and Jiang You on his left and right below him. He issued orders one after another, and soon people came to reply.

Inside the small study, all the information converged in this one place, integrating the clues.

Zheng Wenjue said solemnly, "We have captured all the grain merchants who have defected to Northern Yan, and the grain has been recovered and is being counted."

Then, Bai Chengguang strode in, his face still covered in blood. After bowing respectfully, he immediately said:

"The investigation revealed that these grain merchants were sending messages to the Northern Yan people through an inconspicuous bookstore. They had already sent someone to notify Lord Ye to arrest the people, and the large boats loaded with river sand on the Hushui River were prepared by them."

“Last night, several people from Northern Yan wearing cloaks came to their home and demanded that they prepare these things immediately, or they would report their collusion with Chizhan Lance to the court, using this as a threat.”

Ye Xiren hurriedly asked, "What time is it?"

"Midnight".

Ye Xiren's eyes darkened. It seemed that after failing to abduct her, she immediately prepared a new trap, working with Chi Zhanlan to lure Yan Danqing into it.

Last night, they "invited" her, just as expected, to kill Yan Danqing.

Liang Yue then asked, "Do you know who they are from Northern Yan?"

“They don’t know.” Bai Chengguang shook his head, his eyes serious. “Those people were wearing cloaks, and one of them was clearly the leader. They were not young. A grain merchant recalled that he vaguely heard someone address that person as ‘sir’ in the Northern Yan language.”

"Sir?" Jiang You frowned.

Who could it be?

Ye Xiren turned her head and asked, "Who in Northern Yan would be called 'Master'?"

Jiang You seemed to know what she was thinking and denied it: "The Northern Yan Society will call all those with wisdom and high status 'sir,' but it's just a title and can't be used to identify them."

Ye Xiren's eyes showed disappointment.

Then she asked, "How do you say 'sir' in Northern Yan language?"

Liang Yue answered her with two strange pronunciations.

In recent years, the war between Daliang and Northern Yan has been ongoing. At that time, he was still the Prince Yu and could only worry anxiously in the south. In order to understand the situation in Northern Yan, he specially learned the Northern Yan language, so there was no need to ask others to translate for him.

Ye Xiren frowned even more. For some reason, she felt that these two syllables were very familiar, as if she had heard them somewhere before...

Ye Pei and Ye Changming quickly entered, bowed, and shared the latest news:

"The bookstore staff have all been captured. We tracked down the Northern Yan people. They wanted to leave the city, but General Yan ordered the city gates to be sealed early this morning. They then tried to leave through the Hushui River ferry, but the Imperial Guards have been guarding the dock for a long time. Commander Ying has gone to arrest them."

Jiang You let out a breath.

Finally, we have some clues.

However, Ying Changping, his face covered in soot and his hair singed, entered with a disheveled expression, knelt on the ground, and gritted his teeth:

"They were too late; they burned themselves to death!"

When he led his men into the fire, all they dragged out were charred corpses. In particular, the "leader" they were looking for was covered in lamp oil and burned beyond recognition.

Everyone gasped in shock.

To avoid being caught, she cruelly burned herself.

Ye Pei immediately stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with urgency, and said, "Your Majesty, this man is busy burning himself; he must be someone of great importance in Northern Yan. We might very well know him!"

He chose to burn himself because he was afraid they would recognize him; he took such a ruthless step. This person's identity is very important.

Bai Chengguang clenched his fists, his eyes heavy: "Now that they're all dead, what way do we have to find out that person's identity? There are quite a few important people in Northern Yan."

The crowd was at a loss for a solution.

At this moment, the Imperial City Guard entered, their eyes even more somber, their voices hoarse: "We found the bodies of General Yan and Chi Zhanlan Ce downstream..."

Jiang You's vision went black.

If they are corpses, then it means they are all dead!

The room fell silent for a moment. Although it wasn't large, it felt as if you couldn't hear the breathing of the person next to you for a moment. All you could hear was your own rapidly beating heart and the overwhelming despair.

The candlelight flickered, casting a bleak, hopeless glow on everyone's faces.

Yan Danqing is dead, Chi Zhanlan Ce is dead, and now that they've found the military rations, do they have a chance of winning?

No, everyone knows the truth.

Jiang You turned around with difficulty, about to suggest preparing for war as soon as possible to catch Northern Yan off guard, when Ye Xiren interrupted him:

"Your Majesty, I would like to know who are the most important people in Northern Yan."

She was clearly not saddened by Yan Danqing's death; instead, she frowned, as if lost in her own thoughts, or perhaps she had found a clue but had not yet been able to fully unravel the mystery.

Liu Duoxi immediately looked at the Emperor, who nodded.

They have no other choice now. Ye Xiren is Yan Danqing's fiancée and has even saved the Ye family and Yan Danqing before. No one will look down on her. Let's see what she's going to do.

"The most important person in Northern Yan is not the King of Northern Yan, but Chizhan Lanze. In the year that Chizhan Lanze was made crown prince, the King of Northern Yan said in person that the accumulation of Northern Yan over the past few centuries was all in Chizhan Lanze alone. He is the hope for the future of Northern Yan. With him, Northern Yan is destined to become better and better every day and become the most powerful country on this land!"

He was right. Northern Yan was actually a barbaric country in the past. In winter, most people couldn't even get enough to eat. They always harassed the borders of Daliang. For generations, Northern Yan had not had any capable figures to rewrite its history.

However, after Chizhan Lance became the crown prince, he continued to develop and strengthen Northern Yan. Unfortunately, Emperor Xianzong was incompetent at that time and did nothing to stop the increasingly powerful tiger next door...

Later, the Northern Yan grew stronger, and Chi Zhanlan led his troops to invade Daliang.

Ye Xiren glanced out the window. The bright moon hung high in the sky. Time was ticking by, and it was almost midnight. They didn't have much time left. She closed her eyes, strained her ears, and whispered:

"Could you please repeat the name in the Northern Yan dialect?"

Liang Yue read out the "Red Cup Orchid Strategy" in the Northern Yan dialect.

Ye Xiren kept her eyes closed. Due to tension and anxiety, she clenched her sleeves tightly, feeling the stiff texture of the notes and secret letters inside, trying to concentrate and recall.

What exactly is this familiar thing?

The candlelight flickered, casting a dim light on her closed face, her eyelids casting shadows, and the red ribbon on her head fell down to her chest.

Liu Duoxi continued writing down the second name, introducing: "The second most important figure in Northern Yan is naturally the King of Northern Yan, Chizhan Henu."

Liang Yue pronounced the name "Chizhan Henu" in the Northern Yan language. Ye Xiren's ears twitched, but she remained silent.

"Chizhan Henu doted on Chizhan Lance the most. It is said that Chizhan Lance practically grew up on his neck. Northern Yan did not have a formal court assembly. It was only later, when Chizhan Lance reformed Northern Yan according to the Central Plains system, that the royal court held court every day."

"At the first court assembly, Chizhan Henu directly sat on the dragon throne with Chizhan Lance in his arms. In recent years, the Crown Prince has almost always been in charge of the government, and Chizhan Henu is very proud."

Therefore, Chizhan Lance's personal adventure into Nandu could not have been forced by Beiyan. For Chizhan Henu, even binding the Beiyan prince together was not as important as his precious eldest son.

Liu Duoxi wrote down the third name:

"The third most important person in Northern Yan is not the second prince of Northern Yan, Chizhan Chengye, but the Grand Preceptor of Northern Yan. In Northern Yan, the Grand Preceptor Wu Qiao is second only to the King of Northern Yan. He presides over sacrifices and prayers. The people of Northern Yan believe that he can communicate with the gods of heaven and earth. His decisions can even influence the King of Northern Yan. It was also he and Chizhan Henu who together made Chizhan Lance a 'holy son' and united the hearts of the people of Northern Yan."

The Northern Yan were, after all, a nomadic people, and the troops under the king's command each had their own agendas, making it difficult for them to be completely subservient to one person.

It was Chi Zhanlan Ce, this "holy son," who united everyone's hearts, so that when attacking Daliang, the entire Northern Yan was united as one. Even after several years of fighting, these barbaric Northern Yan people still supported him without saying a word.

Liang Yue pronounced "Wu Qiao" as the name of the Northern Yan state.

"The fourth is Chizhan Chengye, the second prince of Northern Yan. With his elder brother preceding him, and the other princes of Northern Yan being of mediocre ability, he..."

Ye Xiren stopped listening to him and suddenly opened her eyes, looking at Liang Yue: "Your Majesty, may I repeat Wu Qiao's name again?"

Liang Yue read it aloud again.

Ye Xiren stood up abruptly, her eyes shining brightly.

-----------------------

Author's note: See you tomorrow!

I revised the previous chapter again. It's okay if you don't understand the loop logic, especially the time overlap part, because Xixi doesn't know it yet either... I'll tell you later. That's the end of the story!