The next morning, Ji Fengyao had just gotten up when she received a secret letter delivered by someone sent by Xiong Yingxiang.

Xiong Yingxiang was quite a character. Although he came from a poor family, he had mastered the art of bureaucracy. He turned a perfectly good confidential letter into a three-page eulogy.

For several whole pages, the entire text was filled with praises of "the Ninth Princess Consort's wisdom and martial prowess" and "the Ninth Princess Consort's uncanny foresight."

Ji Fengyao felt dizzy reading it and almost burned the letter. She flipped directly to the very last page, where Xiong Yingxiang had finally written a proper sentence:

At the fourth watch of the night, a man in black came and threatened to bribe him with six million taels of silver. I refused and hope you will give me your instructions.

Ji Fengyao replied with eight words: "The trial will begin tomorrow; the next one will be simplified."

Shang Xiye glanced at the eight words under the little bandit's hand, a smile playing on his lips:

His wife is quite decisive and efficient when it comes to important matters, which he appreciates.

After having breakfast, the two left the mansion together.

Yu Ying was already waiting at the door.

Seeing Shang Xiye and Ji Fengyao come out together, she was clearly somewhat surprised: "Your Highness...?"

"Yes, Your Highness will come with us to visit your mother today; that way, if she cannot be saved, she can leave in peace," Ji Fengyao explained with a faint smile, and boarded the carriage with Shang Xiye.

Shang Xiye didn't even glance at Yu Ying once from beginning to end.

Yu Ying, left behind, glanced at the carriage they had "carefully" prepared and gritted her teeth in resentment.

Because they needed to lead the way, Yu Ying's carriage was in front, followed by Shang Xiye and Ji Fengyao's carriage.

Songjiazhuang is located on the east side of Kyoto, about five miles from the east gate. Most of the journey follows the river, with only two sections requiring climbing up the mountainside, winding through the mountains and forests.

Shang Xiye took out a map of Kyoto from a hidden compartment and pointed to two mountain peaks outside the East Gate with his fair and slender fingers: "If they are going to make a move, it will definitely be on the mountainside of these two places."

Ji Fengyao glanced at the extremely rudimentary topographical map and sighed helplessly, "Which of these two places has a cliff or a deep pool?"

"Here, here there is a section of road more than ten meters long that runs along a cliff, and there is a deep pool below the cliff," Shang Xiye actually pointed out a place to her.

"Then they probably made their move here," Ji Fengyao said, stretching lazily.

"How did the princess know?" Shang Xiye asked curiously.

"It's all a routine, you don't understand," Yao Fengyao waved her hand dismissively, looking profound and unfathomable.

Isn't that how it's written in TV dramas and novels on Earth?

Every time the protagonists are attacked, there is a cliff, and nine times out of ten there is a deep pool below the cliff. Even if the protagonists are nine lives, they will not die from the bottomless cliff. Then the protagonists will miraculously return and start to level up and fight monsters in a awesome way.

Shang Xiye: "..."

Silently instructing Wu Shang, who was secretly following them, to be on the lookout in another dense forest, to flank them from the outside and coordinate an attack from within.

As for the second section of the cliffside road, that place was too dangerous, and he would not give the enemy a chance to appear!

At this point, there were indeed people lying in ambush on both of these roads.

But following closely behind Wu Shang and the others was another group of people dressed in black and masked, armed with poisoned knives, bows and arrows, and this group was the largest in number.

In Qiwu Palace, Empress Chen Ziyun was playing chess with Jiang Zhenning. On the chessboard, Chen Ziyun's white pieces had surrounded a large area of ​​Jiang Zhenning's black pieces, layer upon layer, with only one gap remaining.

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; little did it know that behind the oriole was an even fiercer eagle. Your Majesty's strategy is truly brilliant; this servant has lost." Seeing that the game had progressed to this point, Jiang Zhenning simply threw down his pieces and conceded defeat.