The seven people from Xianwu Island, plus Xingxing and two female guards, spent over two hundred taels of silver. The group of secret guards paid for their own entry into the city, and with over a hundred people, it cost them over a thousand taels. Zhang Xiantao and her three companions, plus Zhao Mingyue and her two companions, also spent over a hundred taels of silver.
"The officials in Xiyancheng are really making a lot of money. The people in this city must be living quite well. Outside, people are suffering from natural disasters and have no way to survive, but they not only stay out of it, but also take the opportunity to make money. They are really shrewd." Zhang Xiantao muttered to herself with her eyes narrowed as she sat in the carriage.
Before long, the group entered the city. They looked around the streets and saw that Xiyan City was just a small border town and could hardly be called prosperous. However, it was orderly, with few pedestrians on the streets and the vendors' cries were also very faint.
“Why do I feel a sense of desolation? I heard that if we go forward for another ten days or half a month, there will be a vast grassland and then a desert. Oh dear, isn’t this place very close to the border?” Zhang Xiantao suddenly realized.
However, her father and brother guarded the northern border, which was not the same as the northwestern border. She wondered if she should go to the northern border to see her father, but if she did, her father would definitely send someone to escort her back to the capital.
She didn't want to go back to Beijing so soon; she had finally gotten out of the city, so she wanted to travel around and see as much as possible.
Zhu Lin led his men to an inn to stay in, leaving the task of gathering information to the guards, which made things much easier.
"Why do I feel like someone is watching us?" Zhu Qingruo frowned, glancing back frequently from the corner of her eye.
“Your feeling is right. Someone has been watching us since we entered the city. I’ve already sent my guards to investigate, and we’ll find out who it is soon,” Zhu Changge replied in a low voice.
“I bet it was the officials from Xiyancheng who did this. They’re like local tyrants in Xiyancheng, so they’re definitely being careful. They’re afraid that some unauthorized people might have infiltrated.” Zhu Qingruo was quite certain of this.
Zhu Changge agreed with her guess and voiced her doubts, "Speaking of which, the imperial envoy should have arrived in Xiyan City long ago. Logically, the area outside the city shouldn't be in such chaos. Why is there no sign of anything being done? The imperial envoy is the emperor's confidant..."
The west was severely affected by the disaster. Even if they were worried that letting refugees in would cause unrest, they should at least have offered porridge outside the city to appease the people, instead of sending troops to forcibly suppress them and blatantly extorting money from them.
“That’s right, Senior Sister, we almost forgot about the Imperial Envoy. He also brought five hundred elite soldiers with him. What are they doing now?” Zhu Qingruo asked with a puzzled look.
Xingxing listened for a moment, her little face serious. She said, "Father said that the imperial envoy sent this time was his trusted minister and would never collude with local officials behind his back. Now things are going strangely. The soldiers guarding the city are acting arrogantly and recklessly. There must be something fishy going on."
"Don't panic. So many people have gone out to gather information. We'll soon find out what happened in the city." Zhu Lin tapped the table lightly with her fingers, a vague guess forming in her mind.
Zhang Xiantao listened intently to their conversation, not daring to utter a single word. Not to mention the others, even she herself had a vague feeling that something was amiss in the city since entering it, as if something big was about to happen.
Because the entrance fee to the city was too expensive, very few people entered the city, resulting in a small number of guests staying at the inn. Apart from Zhu Lin and his group, the only other guests at this inn were people who had entered the city before and had not yet left.
Zhu Qiuyu inquired and found out that those people were also refugees. The fact that they could enter the city meant that their families were well-off and could afford to pay money and stay in inns.
Well, the inns in the city aren't cheap either; they prey on these fleeing refugees who have money to stay in inns in the city.
Even the food is ridiculously expensive. Xingxing said with a tense face, "I think the food in the inn is just so-so. It's not as good as what Xiaohuan and Xiaoyuan make. We have plenty of food and dried meat. Why don't we just borrow the inn's kitchen and cook for ourselves? That way we won't have to spend so much money."
Xiaoyuan said in a muffled voice, "I did want to borrow the kitchen to cook, but the shopkeeper said it would cost one hundred taels of silver a day to borrow the kitchen, and that the pots, pans, firewood, and bowls would all be charged."
They're just trying to fleece the sheep. This is their territory, and they're sure that people coming to the city won't dare to cause trouble. Even if they did, they probably wouldn't be afraid. Since the shopkeepers dare to do this, they must have something to rely on.
After a quick meal, the group hurried back to their guest rooms.
Not long after, the guards who had gone out to gather information quietly sneaked into the room where Xingxing and Zhu Changge were staying. Zhu Lin was worried about Xingxing staying in a room alone, even though she had two female guards with her. Originally, she wanted both of her senior sisters to share a room with Xingxing, but it would be too crowded for three people to share a bed, so she had no choice but to let Zhu Changge share a room with Xingxing.
The guard, dressed in tattered clothes like a refugee, immediately knelt and bowed upon entering, saying, "Greetings, Princess. I have already obtained information about the Imperial Envoy."
"Get up, tell me what happened." Xingxing had been sitting in the room waiting for a while.
"The Imperial Envoy and his five hundred soldiers have been imprisoned by the Prefect of Xiyan City. This was done very discreetly, and the local officials kept the news under wraps. Outsiders are unaware of it. It took us a lot of effort to find the Imperial Envoy in the prison."
However, the secret guards only confirmed that the imperial envoy and five hundred soldiers were imprisoned, but they did not find an opportunity to speak with the imperial envoy, so what exactly happened is still unknown.
"This is outrageous! The officials in Xiyancheng are incredibly audacious, daring to detain even an imperial envoy. I think they're plotting a rebellion!" Xingxing slammed her hand on the table in anger, her little hand hitting the surface so hard that her palm went numb.
At this moment, Zhu Lin knocked on the door and came in. He had overheard their entire conversation in the next room, so there was no doubt that the prefect of Xiyan City was clearly planning a rebellion.
Seeing the imperial envoy is like seeing the emperor himself. Who would dare to imprison the imperial envoy in the imperial prison so easily? Only someone with rebellious intentions would dare to do such a thing.
"Do you have any way to rescue the Imperial Envoy tonight? We also need to bring those five hundred soldiers out with us. They all know kung fu, so it shouldn't be too difficult to bring them out, right?" Xingxing asked hesitantly, vaguely sensing that things weren't so simple.
Zhu Lin lowered his eyes, sat down beside Xingxing, and slowly analyzed, "The imperial envoy and his entourage weren't just one or two people. How could they have let themselves be imprisoned without resistance? I suspect they fell into a trap. For example, the prefect might have tampered with the food and drink when he invited them to drink. The imperial envoy and his entourage weren't on guard, so they were all drugged."
Otherwise, if the other side wanted to take action, a conflict would definitely break out, and a fight would have occurred. The imperial court's side would certainly have suffered heavy losses, imprisoned and likely mistreated by the jailers. We wouldn't be rescuing runaway soldiers then, but rather a group of wounded soldiers who had endured immense physical pain.
Xingxing gasped. She also felt that the imperial envoy and his entourage must have suffered greatly, so they had to plan carefully before rescuing them and not act impulsively.
"Brother Phosphorus, do you have any good ideas?" Xingxing looked at the boy expectantly, hoping he could give her a reliable suggestion.
If Zhu Lin has any better ideas, just use the old trick: break into the prefect's residence at night, kidnap the prefect and his family, and exchange them for the imperial envoy.
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