Due to the special circumstances of this mission to Dai Viet, in order to ensure safety, Emperor Minh Xi specially selected a thousand elite soldiers from the imperial guards to serve as the entourage of the delegation.
He also sent 500 secret guards to follow the delegation secretly and protect their safety at any time to deal with various emergencies.
In addition, because the queen was too worried about her daughter's health, she specially asked Yin Xizi, who had superb medical skills, to go on the journey together.
Xia Miaoyuan rarely travels far, so this time, she was very happy.
Sometimes, she would ride on Maomao and follow the Second Prince and his men in front. Sometimes, when she was sleepy or tired, she would curl up in the carriage and take a nap.
In order to take care of Princess Anguo, the delegation deliberately slowed down their pace, walking leisurely during the day and stopping to eat at mealtime.
At night, they would try to stay in a government post. If there was no government post or inn, they would just pitch a tent where they were and spend the night.
In this way, the delegation moved forward slowly, and on the thirty-ninth day, they arrived at Shijiu Fort, a small border town in the southernmost part of Daxia.
Shijiu Fort was a very small and dilapidated city. There was not even an official post station in the city. The delegation had no choice but to book all the slightly better post stations in the city and let everyone stay there.
In Xia Miaoyuan's room.
Xia Miaoyuan explored the room curiously, looking here and there, but the room was not big and there was nothing worth seeing. She finally lay down by the window out of boredom and looked at the scenery.
"This Shijiu Fort is very small, and the inn inside is so shabby. It's really hard for our little prince." Nanny Li complained while packing her luggage.
"If I had known this would happen, I would have set off overnight."
Although Nanny Li was a servant, she was used to living in the palace after all, and seemed picky and pampered.
Sang Qi chuckled and said, "Mammy, just go with the flow. This isn't like being in the palace, where everything is the best."
"We've arrived in the southern border, and there aren't many places to stay. If we don't stay in this kind of inn, we can only set up tents in the suburbs."
"Living here is at least much better than setting up a tent, right?"
After hearing this, Nanny Li sighed and continued to pack her luggage.
Xia Miaoyuan was used to hearing Li Ma and Sang Qi bickering along the way, so she completely ignored their conversation and just focused on observing the street downstairs.
It was already time for lighting, and a few stars were streaking across the dark sky.
Shijiubao is a small place with no nightlife, so there are few pedestrians on the street at this hour. There are only a few small vendors here and there who have not yet closed their stalls and are eagerly hoping to make more sales.
[Eh? Isn't that Yue Haoyun?]
Xia Miaoyuan stared at a man in a moon-white robe downstairs and muttered to himself.
I saw Yue Haoyun leisurely strolling out of the inn and walking slowly on the road.
Beside him, his trusted confidant Xifeng followed closely.
Looking behind him, he saw two followers he brought from Dai Viet.
The people of Dayue are generally shorter than those of Daxia, but Yue Haoyun is incredibly tall! He's almost as tall as my second brother. Could it be that as a prince, he had good food as a child?
Xia Miaoyuan was daydreaming when he saw Yue Haoyun stop in front of a stall selling seasonal fruits and start picking them with great interest.
Xia Miaoyuan leaned on the windowsill, her chin resting on her small hand, carefully examining the fruit on the stall. "That peach looks fresh and sweet. A bite will surely fill your mouth with sweet juice. That melon looks good too."
[And those cherries, wow, they're so big and red, almost as big as cherries. I wonder what they taste like.]
"Yue Haoyun, I wonder if you've prepared any for me since you've chosen so many?"
Xia Miaoyuan was thinking happily when Yue Haoyun on the street had already picked out the fruits and asked the stall owner to calculate the price.
Then he signaled to Xifeng, who immediately took out a bulging purse from his waist and pretended to pay.
At this moment, two beggars came running over. One beggar snatched the purse from Xifeng's hand, and the other beggar pulled off the jade pendant from Yue Haoyun's waist.
The two beggars looked dirty and ragged, but they ran as fast as the wind. They grabbed the things and ran away quickly.
"You bold beggar! You even dare to steal my purse!" Xifeng shouted and chased after him.
"Ah, my jade pendant!" Yue Haoyun screamed when he found that the jade pendant had been stolen.
"Your Highness, wait a minute. Let's get the jade pendant back!" The two followers behind him said in a deep voice, and then ran out like an arrow.
Because the incident happened so suddenly, Yue Haoyun and Xia Miaoyuan upstairs were both shocked.
"Ah! Someone is stealing things!" Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help but shout.
"Sang Qi! The beggar stole Prince Yue's purse and jade pendant!"
Upon hearing the sound, Sang Qi and Nanny Li immediately walked quickly to the window.
"What's wrong, little prince?" Sang Qi looked at Yue Haoyun downstairs and asked in confusion.
"I saw Prince Yue buying fruit downstairs when two beggars ran over, snatched his purse and jade pendant, and ran away."
"How could this beggar from Shijiu Fort be so bold?!" exclaimed Nanny Li.
The delegation numbered over a thousand people, and they stood out wherever they went. Now, the delegation had arrived at Shijiu Fort and had booked all the large inns there.
With such a grand ceremony, the entire Shijiu Fort knew that the delegation sent by the emperor to Dai Viet had arrived.
The delegation was sent by the emperor. The members of the delegation were either imperial guards, high-ranking officials in the court, or the prince of Daxia, all of whom were people that ordinary people could not afford to offend.
Therefore, a commoner with a normal level of cognition would not provoke the members of the delegation in the slightest.
These two beggars dared to steal the belongings of the delegation members in broad daylight. How audacious!
"Your Highness, did you see clearly? It was two beggars who robbed Prince Yue?" Sang Qi asked.
Xia Miaoyuan said hurriedly: "Yes, two dirty and ragged beggars. And they ran very fast!"
Sang Qi frowned, "Something's wrong!"
At this moment, the urgent sound of horse hooves rang out, and five horses galloped towards Yue Haoyun.
Sitting on the horses were five tall men, all masked, with murderous intent.
Sang Qi shouted, "Oh no!" and jumped out of the window.
At this moment, Xia Miaoyuan finally realized, "Oh no, this is a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. I'm afraid they came here specifically to assassinate Yue Haoyun."
Thinking of this, Xia Miaoyuan ran out, shouting as he ran: "There's an assassin! There's an assassin!"
Xia Miaoyuan was a small kid, running and shouting in the corridor of the inn.
This alarmed many people.
In an instant, the doors of many rooms opened, and the members of the delegation who had just lay down to rest put on their outer robes casually and rubbed their sleepy eyes.
The second prince and Han Qingbo were discussing matters in the room and had not yet gone to bed. When they heard the shouting, they hurriedly opened the door to check.
When Xia Miaoyuan saw that it was his beloved second brother, he immediately threw himself into his arms, shouting breathlessly, "Hurry! There are assassins trying to kill Prince Yue on the street!"
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