Ning Yao and Ning Ze listened as Su Rong and Fen Ling blatantly discussed such secretive matters in front of them. For a time, the sound of their chopsticks and swallowing became faint. Particularly Ning Ze, who choked, hardly daring to breathe.
What had they heard?
Did they just hear that she was planning to go to Jibei to deal with Zhang Ping?
Zhang Ping, the Pingxi General?
The son-in-law of the second Prince?
Ning Ze pondered, it seemed there was nothing wrong with dealing with him, as they were allied with the Crown Prince. Now that the Crown Prince had been toppled, it seemed natural to deal with the second Prince next.
Upon hearing this, Fen Ling chuckled sarcastically, saying to Su Rong, "You guessed it correctly. The troops in Heyun County, including two thousand county soldiers and two hundred residence soldiers, have all been mobilized by the county commander, Jia Wei, with the intention of annihilating us. I never expected that the second Prince’s influence had spread to Heyun County."
Su Rong said, "Precisely because of this, the situation in Nanping is not optimistic. Maybe it’s not just in Nanping. There could be forces in other places that are against the Eastern Palace. Let’s go to Nanping first to help Zhou Gu and Ning Chi. Then we can go to Jibei."
"Alright, I’ll follow your plan." Fen Ling grinned, "Sister, are you sure you’re not doing this for young master Zhou?"
Su Rong glared at him, "I am considering the overall situation."
Fen Ling nodded, "Alright, alright, you are considering the overall situation."
He smacked his lips and added, "Even if you’re not doing this for him, he’s probably overjoyed. He just went to Nanping, and you are following him there. He is probably overjoyed."
He could already envision the look on Zhou Gu’s delighted face.
Su Rong ignored him and continued eating her meal.
Ning Ze looked at Fen Ling in utter shock, "You, you, you just said. Going to Nanping, to help Zhou Gu and... and Ning Chi? My elder brother?"
"You heard correctly. The son of the Marquis of Nanping has already declared loyalty to the Crown Prince from the Eastern Palace." Fen Ling looked at him with a silly expression, "Otherwise, do you think we saved you out of kindness? Of course, it’s for you to be handed over to Ning Chi to deal with personally."
Ning Ze turned pale, "I... I’ve already told you, he didn’t suffer any losses at my hands all these years. The one who suffered in silence was me."
"What does that have to do with me? I can’t get involved in the affairs between you brothers." Fen Ling shrugged, "Just prepare yourself, beg your elder brother to spare you."
Ning Ze was nearly on the verge of tears, "Would he spare me?"
Fen Ling took a sip of his alcohol. Looking at Ning Ze’s ash-gray face, he said without words, "Seeing your flustered state, he probably won’t even bother to lay a finger on you. If you kneel down and beg him, he might be too lazy to make a move and will just let you go."
Ning Ze thought that made sense and nodded, "Alright, I’ll beg him."
Kneeling and begging, crying and begging, he would do whatever it took at this point.
Fen Ling: "..."
It was his first time seeing someone so spineless.
After supper, everyone, being tired, retired early.
However, the soldiers guarding the entrance of the canyon had no idea that Su Rong and her companions had taken a detour, climbing over mountains and passing through the outer river on an ice road, thus bypassing Heyun County.
A troop of two thousand five hundred soldiers had been keeping watch for three days and hadn’t seen a single figure of Su Rong and her party. The freezing cold was unbearable. The soldiers were cold and hungry, nearly reaching their limits.
The deputy envoy of Heyun County couldn’t stand it any longer, so he ordered a soldier close to him, "Go out and scout, see what’s going on and why they have not arrived yet?"
The new recruit, leading a few men, left the mouth of the canyon and set off in the direction from which Su Rong and crew were expected.
The five-man team had just gone ten miles when they were killed by Fen Ling’s hidden scout who had been left behind. Then, they efficiently disposed of the bodies.
The deputy envoy waited for over an hour. The people he had sent out hadn’t returned, so he sent another group.
Another hour passed, and neither of the two groups of people had returned.
The deputy envoy frowned and dispatched a third group of scouts. This time, he sent more people, a hundred in total.
Half a day later, none of the three groups had returned.
The deputy envoy’s face changed. The whereabouts of over a hundred soldiers were unknown. He had heard no news, and his patience ran out. Waving his hand, he led all the soldiers out of the canyon mouth.
Outside the canyon entrance, there were traces of soldiers’ movements. Ten miles out, there were clear signs of fighting.
The deputy envoy scowled and ordered, "Search!"
The soldiers, rather than acting individually, moved in formations of three hundred, scouring ten miles around. However, they found nothing.
The deputy envoy’s face was extremely grim, "The second Prince said that Su Rong was very cunning and he was indeed right. We don’t know where she’s hiding."
An aide whispered, "Sir, what should we do? Should we continue the search? Or return to the mouth of the canyon to keep guard?"
The deputy envoy gritted his teeth, "Search!"
The second Prince had ordered them to kill Su Rong. More than a hundred and twenty soldiers had been lost without a trace. The deputy envoy didn’t want to abort the search out of anger. Besides, they had already been on guard for three and a half days.
The aide nodded.
Thus the two thousand five hundred soldiers began to spread out from the canyon’s entrance to continue the search.
After searching for thirty miles without seeing any trace of Su Rong, they came across the commanders of Linyang County, along with a team of soldiers, rushing towards them from the opposite direction. Seeing the deputy envoy of Heyun County leading his troops, they immediately shouted, "I heard reports that Deputy Envoy Zhang Yu of Heyun County was privately mobilizing soldiers and crossing into Linyang County. I didn’t believe it at first, but now I see it with my own eyes. Truly, you have malicious intent."
The face of Zhang Yu, the deputy envoy, turned white instantly. He thought to himself, "This is bad," realising that he had been so addled by the cold wind that he’d forgotten the order the county commander had given him when dispatching him: he absolutely must not pass the mouth of the canyon and trespass into Linyang County. This was a violation of the law. Mobilizing the army and privately crossing the border without an imperial edict was a serious crime.
Without a word more, he immediately turned his horse around, waving his hand and ordering, "Retreat quickly!"
More than two thousand soldiers immediately turned to retreat with him.
The commander of Linyang County sneered coldly, held up a token, and loudly declared, "I have the Crown Prince’s Token here. Zhang Yu, dismount quickly while I draft the impeachment papers to report your crimes to the Emperor."
Zhang Yu didn’t heed the commander’s words and spurred his horse onwards.
The Linyang County’s commander said, "Zhang Yu, if you resist arrest, don’t blame me for being ruthless." After he finished speaking, he shouted, "Men, capture Zhang Yu!"
Zhang Yu thought to himself that he absolutely could not be captured today. As long as he escaped from this situation, he could deny everything afterwards.
But just as he had galloped a mile, he saw a group of dozens of people dressed in black blocking his retreat. One of them, a highly skilled martial artist, intercepted him as he approached. Before Zhang Yu could react, this man had already jumped onto his horse and held a sword to his neck.
Zhang Yu shivered and nearly fell off his horse.
The man held him down firmly and said in a wooden voice, "Zhang Yu, you are under arrest for the illegal mobilization of troops and will be sent back to the Imperial court for the Emperor’s judgement!"
Zhang Yu turned pale, thinking to himself that it was all over.
The saying goes "capture the thief first, capture the king." With Zhang Yu captured, the army of two thousand soldiers was headless and stood frozen in place, no longer daring to move.
Sun Chun, the commander of Linyang County, sneered coldly, "Zhang Yu, are you tired of living that you would dare to mobilize soldiers privately and infringe on my territory?"
Zhang Yu was at a loss for words. With the Prince’s token in hand, he knew he was done for.
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