Chapter 866 Now that you are here, don’t leave
Dan Zhu sneered: "Haven't you been deceiving the queen all along?"
She pulled the thing around her injured wrist and pulled out a thin thread-like object from between her fingers. It reflected a cold light under the moonlight, as if it could take a person's life with just a slight touch.
"You hid in the capital as a Beiling spy, plotting everything. Now you've been outmaneuvered by the Empress. It's your own fault. Why blame others?"
"you!"
Mingke was furious.
The cloaked man on the opposite side hissed, "You useless piece of shit! The person you brought out personally turned out to be fake! I should have killed you straight away!"
He swung his sword and spoke with anger instead of indifference:
"Why are you still talking nonsense with her? I'm afraid this is all a setup. You and I are both being plotted against. Why don't you kill her?!"
Mingke naturally realized that she had fallen into a trap and had fallen into someone else's trap from the moment she left the palace.
Seeing the people on the opposite side rushing towards Danzhu, she pretended to go forward to help, but after taking only two steps, she suddenly turned around and approached the cliff. Song Tangning had tricked her, but she also did not trust the people on the opposite side. Now that she had lost the means to protect herself, she naturally would not stay here and wait for death.
She had just realized that there was a river below the cliff. Although jumping down was dangerous, there might still be a way to survive. However, Ming Ke had just reached the edge of the cliff and saw the surging river water below, and before she could jump down, several sounds of breaking through the air made her expression change drastically.
She hurriedly took a few steps back to the side, and saw several crossbow arrows nailed directly to the place where she had just stood, and screams came from behind her.
"Damn it, not only did you catch the wrong guy, but you also brought his tail with you!!"
The cloaked man cursed loudly.
Mingke turned his head hurriedly and saw that not only did they fail to kill Danzhu, but all the people who came forward with him were injured by arrows.
Several people who were standing before were lying on the ground without a sound, and faint screams were heard from the woods not far away. A moment later, clusters of flames rose in the originally dark forest. Under the moonlight, the flames were like long dragons, almost surrounding them, spreading all the way from where they were, from the depths of the forest to the foot of the mountain.
"Since you're here, don't leave."
Looking at Geng Ji who came out of the woods and spoke.
Mingke's face turned pale.
The man in the cloak was also stiff.
…
In the firelight, the sound of armor clashing was heard everywhere. Even though they fought desperately, Ming Ke and others could not hold on for long before they were captured by Yu Yanfeng and his men.
After all the people hiding in the woods were killed, Mingke and the man in the cloak were escorted to the foot of the mountain, where a luxurious carriage was already parked on the side of the road.
The two men were escorted and staggered to the front of the carriage. When they were kicked on the knees and fell to their knees, the curtain of the carriage was lifted, revealing Tang Ning wrapped in a cloak that was intact.
"Your Majesty, all the rebels on the mountain have been killed, and Ming Ke and the other two have been captured."
"Is Danzhu okay?"
"Miss Danzhu is fine, she just suffered some minor injuries. Doctor Sun has already bandaged her."
Tang Ning finally relaxed, looked outside, and asked, "Where's the person we let go?"
Geng Ji said, "I have followed the Empress' orders and sent people to secretly escort him and other Beiling spies to the northwest. I will ensure they arrive safely in Fengcheng."
Tang Ning instructed: "Don't let them get too comfortable on the way, or they'll become suspicious."
Geng Ji said, "I understand."
Mingke knelt on the ground listening to the conversation between the two, his face pale.
She was not naive enough to think that Song Tangning would really send someone to "escort" her. The fact that she said this already showed that she already knew why they were doing what they were doing tonight.
She didn't try so hard to snatch the Dragon Jade Order, but Song Tangning deliberately found an opportunity to "give" it to her.
Tonight's event was a setup that had been set up long ago. No, everything that had happened in the capital recently was a setup, just to make her people excited and think that they had succeeded, and willingly send the news of the Dragon Jade Order and even the chaos in the capital of Wei to Beiling.
Song Tangning already knew her identity.
Ming Ke looked at the people in the carriage with a pale face: "Impossible... How on earth did you find out my identity? I believe I have never revealed any flaws. How could you know my identity and use it to set up a trap?"
She did not interact with her clan members, did not meet with court officials, and she had never even set foot in the Wei court.
Even though the Cui family was in such chaos at the time, and the capital was in turmoil when Xiao Yan seized the throne, she never took any action. Like any other clan woman with a little courage, she secretly surrendered and stayed in the Cui family, never overstepping the boundaries.
She had always been hiding in the background, and the few times she sent messages back to Beiling were all through the hands of others. She thought she was clean and had no flaws.
Why did Song Tangning suspect her?
Tang Ning looked at her face quietly, seeing the look of disbelief on her face, and said slowly.
"You were indeed hiding very well. His Majesty initially sent people to dig up everything in the capital. Later, I tried every possible way to track down Beiling's spies in the court, but I could never find any trace of them."
"Your Majesty and I set up a trap before, and we finally tracked it down to the Second Madam of the Fan family. But she was just a pawn you placed outside. You have always been hiding behind it and never showed up. Even though I tried to lure you into the trap several times, you never took the bait."
"Until Duan Zhiru and his two companions returned to the capital and suddenly colluded with Prince Hui, I discovered something. Coincidentally, Wang Yuzhen came to the palace to testify against her father. I even thought for a moment that the spy from Beiling was the daughter of the Wang family, and that the Wang family was Xiahou Ling's most deeply embedded spies in the capital. Wang Yuzhen deliberately sacrificed Wang Huailu to gain my trust. What a pity..."
"What a pity?" Ming Ke asked anxiously.
Tang Ning lowered his eyes to look at her: "It's a pity that you are too impatient."
Ming Ke looked up and met Tang Ning's eyes, and suddenly remembered that she had taken the initiative to enter the palace to find Tang Ning and wanted to ask the Bai family for help. She was not a fool. Since she knew that today's incident was a trap, and with Tang Ning's words, she knew where she was wrong after thinking carefully.
She opened her mouth with some difficulty: "Is it because of... the Bai family?"
Tang Ning nodded. "The rivalry between me and the noble families was intentional. I retreated and showed weakness. Even the sudden sinking of the official ship heading south was all because of Wang Huailu and his daughter. My goal was originally to target them, but who would have thought that you would suddenly enter the palace and drag your mother's family into this mess?"
"Although you appear to be forcing me to agree to let the Bai family join forces only on the condition that I issue an edict to confer the title of king and noble, and even act as if you are greedy for profit, you want me to believe that you are just like when you gave Your Majesty the iron ore before, hoping to make a small investment for a big future for you, your son, and the Bai family. But you are too impatient."
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