Zhao Shi said, "Some villagers said they saw several men with big swords on the mountain. They looked fierce and ferocious, like bandits, so they came to report it."

The fifth prince took a look at Yan Shiyue's expression and asked, "Who saw it? When? How many people? What were they doing?"

Zhao Shi scratched his head, not knowing which question to answer first.

Yan Shiyue could no longer bear it: "Can there be someone who is more insightful? What's the point of asking ten questions and not being able to answer one?"

Can this guy be a general? Well, his limbs look quite developed... but he's a little too honest!

The fifth prince comforted her: "I will ask you questions, you can have some tea and take a rest, don't worry."

He asked patiently and finally got the matter clear.

After he left, Yan Shiyue asked, "What does your Highness think?"

Prince Chun looked at her.

In fact, he was a little confused. He thought to himself, aren't we here for the murder of Prince Yu's brother? The order he received was to protect her. He really didn't know why she came. It couldn't be that she was really here to suppress bandits? That would be too ridiculous, right?

...

...

Prince Chun said, "I think this is not a year of famine, and there is no war, so it is unlikely that bandits would gather together. If they really did, they would be robbing people and robbing money. It is impossible that we would only see a few people every time, so I think this is just groundless speculation and don't need to pay too much attention to it."

Yan Shiyue nodded, and then asked the Fifth Prince: "Little Fifth Brother?"

The fifth prince said, "This is a dangerous place. When the villagers see people walking together, they mistake them for bandits and treat them as if they were facing a great enemy. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the imperial court to come up empty-handed every time they clear out the place."

Yan Shiyue thought that she was indeed an outlier, and her ideas were completely different from theirs.

She said, "I want to go and take a look. Do you want to go?"

Of course they have to go, but Prince Chun doesn't want to go. Does he dare?

So the next day, they went to take a look.

Tianbao Mountain is quite large. Yan Shiyue rode his horse around the front and back of the mountain and made a careful circle. When he saw something wrong, he dismounted and took a closer look.

Jia and a few others followed from a distance, the Fifth Prince followed closely, and Prince Chun also followed very closely.

The three of them walked around the area, including visiting nearby towns and villages, and it took them a whole day.

When she returned to the inn she had booked temporarily, it was already dark. When she came out of the shower, Prince Chun had already drawn the map. Yan Shiyue was immediately very satisfied and said, "Your Majesty is thoughtful."

"I dare not." Prince Chun knew that he had finally won the favor of this person, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Yan Shiyue asked: "What do you think now?"

Prince Chun said: "This humble official... just speaks nonsense."

She nodded.

As they were talking, the meal arrived. The Fifth Prince had just finished his bath and came in hurriedly. The three of them ate while they talked.

Prince Chun said, "Look at the road behind the mountain. It's covered with grass and doesn't look like a road that has been walked on for years. The imperial army would not come here occasionally, so it wouldn't look like this. There are also faint wheel tracks... It doesn't look too old."

He glanced at her carefully: "It can't be possible that there is something hidden in this mountain?"

Yan Shiyue was eating and glanced at the fifth prince.

The fifth prince put down his chopsticks and said, "I think so too. In Changpo Town, I think the way those people looked at me was a little strange. They seemed very alert and defensive."

Yan Shiyue hummed.

She thought about it carefully, "I have a guess. I think it's possible that there is indeed a place to hide on this mountain, and then someone discovered it at some point, and then these people hid here... In order to ensure safety, they made up rumors of ghosts so that the villagers dare not go there, and then they cry thief, report it every now and then, making these soldiers go in vain. In the long run, the soldiers will not take reports of banditry seriously."

This is the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Prince Chun thought for a moment, then stood up and said in surprise: "If this is true...then these people are very ambitious! They are definitely not ordinary bandits!"

Yan Shiyue comforted him: "Don't be nervous, I get it."

Prince Chun had no choice but to sit down. He had never been to a battlefield in his life and felt nervous!

After dinner, Yan Shiyue asked someone to send out an eagle message, asking the imperial guards of the capital to send a hundred fire-breathing gourds.

She called Zhao Kuangyin again and asked him to bring his men and find an excuse to sneak into Changpo Town and ask around. If things were really as she guessed, there might be their people in those towns, so they must be careful.

Then he called in the shadow guards and asked them to go to the shops in the surrounding towns at night, mainly the rice and flour shops, to see if there was anything wrong with their account books, such as large quantities of goods sold, and whether they could make a copy.

Then she said, "I will go up the mountain to take a look tomorrow, so you don't have to go."

"No!" said the Fifth Prince, "I will go with you."

"No need," Yan Shiyue said, "You look so dazed and you're in the way."

"I don't care!" The fifth prince said coquettishly: "I want to follow you, Yue'er..." He pulled her sleeve: "Didn't you say you would protect me? You can't leave me alone, I won't agree!"

Yan Shiyue couldn't resist it.

She had no choice but to say, "Be good, I have something else for you to do."

Prince Chun watched silently.

Then he said solemnly: "I am ordered by the Emperor to protect the Prime Minister. No matter what the Prime Minister says, I will go!"

Yan Shiyue raised her eyebrows.

She thought about it and said, "Okay."

Fortunately, the next day was the Qiqiao Festival. They first went to a famous local cloth shop and bought a set of clothes for the Qiqiao Festival, as well as silk threads to hang around their waists and ears, and then went back. After a while, the carriage came out and the Fifth Prince had also changed his clothes. He rode a horse beside them, chatting and laughing with the people in the carriage from time to time. The group went to the Temple of the Needle Goddess.

At the back door, two people came out quietly.

Yan Shiyue had already changed into a cloth dress, painted her face yellow, and thickened her eyebrows, looking like an ordinary country girl.

Prince Chun's beard was slightly trimmed and shaved, making it a little sparse. Wrinkles appeared on his face, and he looked twenty years older in an instant.

The two of them slowly climbed up Tianbao Mountain.

Yan Shiyue talked to Prince Chun from time to time: "Grandpa! What does this Jin Kuilian look like?"

"The leaves are octagonal and the seeds are purple."

"Grandpa, slow down, don't fall!"

Every time Prince Chun heard her call him Grandpa, his heart would tremble. He just hoped that the emperor would never know this...

But he really admired her ability. She had only been there for two days and hadn't spoken much to anyone, but she spoke with a local accent. He didn't know if it was authentic, but he couldn't hear any Chang'an accent at all.

Moreover, she knew that this might be a bandit's lair, so how could she dare to come here like this? Her shadow guards and dragon guards actually refused to follow her when she told them not to?

Nothing will happen, right?

As soon as the thought came to my mind, a strong feeling of being watched arose.

The next moment, a voice said coldly: "Don't pretend, I know you are Empress Fu!"