It takes five days to travel from Huizhou to Wuzhou via the official road. On the third day, Zhang Yuankai, who had stayed on the steep cliff in Wuzhou, quietly appeared at the escort agency.

He sat in Shen Yu'an's carriage, looking at Shen Yu'an's snow-white cloak, and couldn't help but tease, "Our young master Wen is so lucky, sitting in a carriage in this freezing weather. Poor us guards, we can only ride on horseback, our thighs are getting chafed raw."

Shen Yu'an rolled her eyes at him, annoyed: "This good fortune is for you, do you want it or not?"

He was a military general who would rather have his thighs chafed raw on horseback than sit in a carriage all the time, feeling that if he sat any longer, his body would rot away.

Fortunately, this only happened once, and next time Young Master Wen won't need to go out to buy salt at all.

He stretched out his long legs and lightly touched Zhang Yuankai with his toes: "You came here because you found something over there?"

Just then, Qi Chenglang pushed open the carriage door and sat down: "What did you find?"

When it came to serious matters, Zhang Yuankai's expression turned serious: "Our guess was right, the King of Chu did indeed send people to ambush us here."

Qi Chenglang and Shen Yu'an exchanged a glance, then carefully examined Zhang Yuankai: "Is there anything else you've discovered?"

If it was just an ambush by the King of Chu's men, Zhang Yuankai and the others could have easily dealt with it. Why bother making this special trip?

Zhang Yuankai nodded: "Because I discovered that these people who were lying in ambush were well-trained and did not seem to be ordinary personal guards."

The personal guards in the fiefdoms served more as a deterrent and to protect the prince's safety. Their skills were far inferior to those of the Imperial Guards, let alone their ability to learn military strategy.

But when they fought those people, Zhang Yuankai realized that they had underestimated the King of Chu!

Zhang Yuankai continued, "These people are very skilled in combat, knowing when to advance and retreat. They are definitely not just simple personal guards."

“There’s more.” Zhang Yuankai took out an arrow from his pocket and handed it over. “Look at this arrow. Although it doesn’t have the Ministry of War’s mark on it, the texture and design are the same as the new weapons the Ministry of War has produced this year.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Chenglang and Shen Yu'an's expressions became even more serious.

Qi Chenglang took the arrowhead and examined it carefully. He gasped and said, "Is someone in the Ministry of War secretly providing weapons to the Prince of Chu?"

A prince hoarding weapons is not a good thing!

He whispered, "Have you caught anyone?"

Zhang Yuankai shook his head: "After only a short while of fighting, the other side realized that we were not easy to deal with. Some of them withdrew, and others committed suicide."

It was very common for Zhang Yuankai to commit suicide after a mission failure, but this method was usually used by officials and their families to control their assassins.

It's very contradictory and illogical that this happened to those people.

Some of the evacuees must have gone back to report the situation.

Zhang Yuankai and the others didn't plan to give chase, since the King of Chu wouldn't abandon his pursuit just because of one victory.

Qi Chenglang doesn't like to use his brain, but that doesn't mean he's brainless.

With Xie Changshi and the other brilliant strategists absent, his mind raced. He stared at the arrow in his hand for a long time, pondering Zhang Yuankai's words about how these people were skilled in both advance and retreat and how they fought effectively. Suddenly, he said, "Is it possible that these assassins, who don't seem like assassins, actually come from the military camp?"

Zhang Yuankai and Shen Yu'an both looked up in shock, but neither of them uttered a word of rebuttal.

Zhang Yuankai, in particular, had dealt with those people before and knew better how likely those words were to be true.

The biggest difference between soldiers who have served in the military and on the battlefield and ordinary guards is that the techniques soldiers practice are not fancy at all; they are for killing the enemy, and every move is meant to take a life.

He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I knew it! I always thought it was strange, but now I understand. That's what made me feel conflicted!"

If that's the case, then the reasons why these people committed suicide become clear!

Shen Yu'an then added, "If it's someone from the military, in Jiangnan, the most likely candidate is the navy."

Navy?

Qi Chenglang felt that today's news was more shocking than the last. He swallowed hard and whispered, "The Jiangnan navy has 100,000 men. If they are all..."

Among the southern garrisons, apart from those stationed along the South Vietnamese border, only the Jiangnan Navy was the largest.

Zhang Yuankai couldn't help but think further: "If our guess is correct, the Jiangnan navy couldn't possibly only be 100,000 strong!"

He pointed to the arrowhead: "I am more inclined to believe that these weapons were privately manufactured by the King of Chu."

Shen Yu'an nodded: "Weapons are manufactured by the Ministry of Works and then enter the Ministry of War. There is also the Military Supervision Office involved. If the Ministry of War really gave them directly, it can only mean that the people in the Ministry of Works, the Military Supervision Office, and the Ministry of War are in cahoots with the King of Chu."

However, the Military Supervisory Office is different from the Ministry of Revenue. Those who can make decisions are all the Emperor's men, and there is absolutely no way they could secretly collude with the Prince of Chu.

Qi Chenglang said in a low voice, "Since the weapons weren't stolen by people from the Ministry of War, then it must be people from the Ministry of Works who colluded with the King of Chu and provided the weapon blueprints."

This did provide them with a new perspective.

The expressions of the group grew increasingly grave. Zhang Yuankai simply put away the arrowhead: "I will write a letter to the Emperor and send someone to the capital with the letter and the arrowhead."

They sensed that the road ahead would be even more dangerous, so they wanted to tell the Emperor about it as soon as possible.

The speculation that the Jiangnan navy was all aligned with the King of Chu was particularly alarming.

Qi Chenglang nodded at first, then suddenly cried out in his heart, "Oh no!"

He now understood what his older brother had meant by his earlier hesitation!

It's likely that his elder brother also noticed something amiss with the Jiangnan navy, which is why he kept reminding him that the return journey would be even more dangerous.

However, compared to the danger he was in the open, it was clear that his older brother was the one truly in the center of danger.

Qi Chenglang wished he could gallop back to Huizhou right now, grab his elder brother, and leave.

But he knew he couldn't!

Qi Chenglang clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his forehead. After a while, he suddenly buried his head in his hands and hugged it tightly.

He was filled with regret now, wondering why he hadn't spoken to his older brother properly earlier...

Zhang Yuankai patted him on the back: "Don't overthink it. Since His Majesty sent the young master here, he must have made thorough preparations!"

But in this world, there is no such thing as perfect preparation!

Just as Qi Chenglang was about to speak, he noticed that the carriage had suddenly stopped. The lead镖师 (bodyguard/escort) suddenly raised his broadsword. Before he could say a word, the person opposite him attacked.

Zhang Yuankai looked out the car window and realized that it had gotten dark without him noticing.

This time, the other party didn't seem to have any intention of hiding anything at all, and took action directly on the official road!

Qi Chenglang was seething with anger. He put on his mask, drew his long sword, and charged out...