When Su Rong set foot in Nanchu, she took control of thirty thousand troops stationed at the Nanchu border. She brought with her fifty thousand troops. Now, Jiang Zhu and others, with their two hundred and eighty thousand troops, naturally couldn’t move fast.
An army on the move, given its vast size, always had to proceed with caution, making its march slow.
Ning Ze was anxious, but he knew that Jiang Zhu made sense and had to drop the issue, urging him to speed up the troops.
Dawei’s secret agents, with Xie Yuan, moved from Nanchu Capital to the border of Dawei without interference from the fully mobilized Nangong Family, and thus had an extremely smooth journey.
Dawei’s secret agents weren’t worried about anyone other than the Nangong family stopping them. As long as the Nangong Family didn’t intervene, they could safely transport Xie Yuan to Dawei.
After all, in the eyes of Dawei’s secret agents, even though the Nangong Family was in decline in the current situation in Nanchu, they still couldn’t be underestimated. As long as the Nangong Family didn’t dare to take action, no one else could hinder them.
Although they knew that Su Rong was coming to Nanchu with three hundred thousand troops, the thousands of miles from the border of Nanchu to the border of Dawei were too great a distance, even for her to chase them, who were heading straight for the border of Dawei from Nanchu’s capital.
Therefore, Dawei’s secret agents, with Xie Yuan, proceeded without any worry.
However, they did not tarry. They journeyed day and night with men from the Nangong family following them. In the eyes of Dawei’s secret agents, with men from the Nangong family acting as bodyguards, no one could snatch Xie Yuan away, so there was no need to worry at all.
To avoid being discovered by Dawei’s secret agents and the men from the Nangong family, Wanniang, with her men, stayed a great distance behind. She anxiously reported their route while waiting for a chance to rescue Xie Yuan.
After seven or eight days of travel without finding an opportunity, Wanniang became desperate. If they continued like this, they would successfully take Xie Yuan to the border of Dawei, making it as hard as reaching for the sky to rescue him.
Wanniang gritted her teeth, thinking that if it came to the worst, she and her men would fight to the death, but she knew in her heart that they would not succeed. It would be a senseless sacrifice.
But she still remembered the words from their mistress, from when they were young, telling each of them that their lives were precious and to cherish them. Until they all came of age, she forbade anyone from leaving Jiangning County, whether to seek the truth about their identity or to expand their power.
Before sending them to Nanchu, she repeatedly instructed them not to take their lives for granted, even in desperate situations, to think thrice before acting, not to risk too much for too little.
Struggling alone, Wanniang finally decided to call all of her people together to discuss what to do.
These orphans from Jiangning County were raised by Su Rong. However, when they were young, Su Rong could only seek Xie Yuan’s help due to her limitations. After Xie Yuan agreed to help, he took over most of the responsibilities and did so for many years. Although their mistress was Su Rong, they respected and were grateful to Xie Yuan. How could they bear to watch him be taken to Dawei without doing anything?
Therefore, in the end, everyone unanimously decided to risk their lives to rescue Xie Yuan, even if contrary to their mistress’s orders. They would rather exchange their lives for Xie Yuan’s life.
In their hearts, they all felt that Xie Yuan’s contribution to their mistress was far greater and more valuable, both practically and emotionally, than all of theirs combined.
With her eyes welling up, Wanniang patted everyone on the shoulder and said, "Let’s do it this way. We all do our best, risk our lives, and make sure to rescue Master Xie."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Thus, Wanniang decided to take action at midnight and checked all the hidden weapons and poison on everyone. She soon assigned tasks, who would break through, who would cover, who would rescue the person, who would take the person away, where to go to dodge the pursuit of Dawei’s secret agents and Nangong’s people, and so on.
After the arrangement, they could only act at midnight.
An hour before midnight, when everyone was nervously preparing to go all out, a falcon silently landed, delivering a letter.
When Wanniang received the letter, she was overjoyed and immediately ordered everyone to cancel the plan.
Jubilantly, she told everyone, "The mistress has sent a letter. His Majesty the king has trained fifty thousand troops in the West Ridge. We only need to take this handwritten letter from His Majesty to Cheng Yun in the West Ridge, and he would deploy the troops to intercept Dawei’s secret agents for us."
Everyone was also surprised and delighted at the news.
So, Wanniang arranged for people to continue tracking Dawei’s secret agents, while she immediately set off for the West Ridge.
Wanniang moved fast, and they were not far from the West Ridge. So, she managed to avoid the members of the Nangong family and arrive at the West Ridge after a day and night.
The Chixi Valley in West Ridge was a naturally secluded valley entrance with rugged terrain and infrequent wild animal appearances. The nearby villagers avoided it at all costs. Due to its unique landscape and desolate surroundings, it was difficult to discover the fifty thousand troops stationed there without an intentional search deep into the mountains.
The Ye Xiang Residence had control over Guyuan County, which was where the troops were hidden. It was a location chosen to house troops after much deliberation by Ye Xiang and the King of Nanchu.
For five years, the hidden place remained undiscovered, and neither Nangong Yin nor the Nangong Family Clan had any idea.
Wanniang, following the precise location, made her way into Chixia Valley. As soon as she stepped into the valley, she was discovered by those standing guard. A signal was sounded, and a group of men in black immediately surrounded Wanniang’s group.
"What is your purpose? This area is off-limits," one of the men said.
Wanniang thought to herself, no wonder this private army hadn’t been discovered for five years. Everyone who entered was trapped and could not leave.
She took out the letter and said to the leader of the group, "I’m here on the king’s orders, to see Cheng Yun."
The leader of the troops examined Wanniang closely and then extended a hand, "Hand it over."
Wanniang refrained, insisting, "I want to see Cheng Yun. I will only hand over this letter when I see him in person."
The man responded, "I am Cheng Yun."
Wanniang looked at him, "Proof."
The man displayed a token that represented his identity in front of Wanniang.
Wanniang hesitated for a moment. Was this man really Cheng Yun, the commander of the fifty thousand troops, standing guard at the mountain entrance? Why? Doubt filled her as she looked at Cheng Yun.
Cheng Yun, revealing his stern countenance, said, "Show me His Majesty’s letter for verification."
Wanniang retorted, "First, give me your token. After I have checked it thoroughly and confirmed that you are Cheng Yun, I will give you the letter."
Cheng Yun paused for a moment, nodded, and threw his token to Wanniang.
She caught it, opened the letter case, compared it with Cheng’s token, which was an exact match, and handed the token back to Cheng Yun. She then handed him the letter case.
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