Since ancient times, benevolent, righteous, and wise men have been compared to heaven and earth.
For thousands of years in Chizhou, anyone who founded a nation and became king had to accept the three imperial seals: the Divine Seal, the National Seal, and the Secret Seal. If any one of these seals were lost, it would mean the Mandate of Heaven was no longer in place, a sign of inevitable overthrow. And now, the Su family, who founded the Tiancheng Dynasty, has indeed lost one of these three seals: the Secret Seal.
The Su family, formerly ministers of the previous dynasty, Niehyun, stole the throne from the former emperor, the Qiu family, after a rebellion. They renamed Ledu to Quecheng and the kingdom Tiancheng. But it was a stolen kingdom, and when Emperor Niehyun fell, he fought tooth and nail to send the three imperial seals away, shattering the Su family's hopes of ruling the country.
The Su family killed the old queen and did not hesitate to use a large number of troops to chase the martial arts master who hid the jade seal. After three days and three nights, they had intercepted two jade seals, and the escort of the last one was the fallen princess Qiu Feiyu.
Qiu Feiyu rode a steed, a Qicong bred in the Secret Ancient Mountain Pass. It could travel a thousand miles a day and was known for its ability to navigate steep and treacherous terrain. The Tiancheng troops pursued him for over a month before cornering him at the edge of the swamps north of Huozhou. Rumor has it that Qiu Feiyu, refusing to surrender, fled with his horse into the deep swamps of Baiyao Pass, carrying the final imperial seal and sinking into the cold, muddy waters. Since then, the seal has been lost throughout the land of Chizhou.
After the Su family took over the country, they followed a good policy and deliberately downplayed the fact that the jade seal was missing. They claimed that the secret seal had been returned long ago, and that Qiu Feiyu committed suicide at Baiyao Pass out of shame and anger after losing the jade seal.
However, there are many suspicious points. For example, Qiu Feiyu's body has never been found, and the army of 100 soldiers that pursued Qiu Feiyu was disbanded after returning to the court. Some soldiers were demobilized and returned to their fields, but died shortly thereafter. Moreover, the emperor never produced these three jade seals during the founding of Tiancheng or various celestial ceremonies.
All the former people in the former Chen Palace have dispersed. Nearly a hundred years have passed, and there are only a few people who have seen the secret seal, let alone where the jade seal is.
From then on, Su's throne of Tiancheng was firmly in place. Just when everyone was about to forget about the missing jade seal, a major event occurred in the dynasty.
The former Chief Censor Bai Heliu colluded with the enemy and betrayed his country, and fled to the southern region of Bijiang with an army of 100,000.
This is the Yu'an Rebellion.
How can a civil servant rebel?
This has always been a mystery.
The alchemists said: "Heaven will not kill Bai, it is destined." This means that the fact that Bai was able to betray the country under the emperor's nose and take away the army to establish his own territory was probably intentional by heaven.
The common people chatted about it casually, but didn't take it to heart. However, the confrontation between Bijiang and Tiancheng had intensified in recent years, and it seemed that war was about to come again soon. The common people in the state were in danger and were carefully watching for signs of trouble from all sides.
The matter of the secret seal has not yet caused a stir in the city, but Xiao Nanhui knows that this is just the beginning of the storm.
In the past, when she sneaked out of the mansion, she usually went with Shrike. Over time, the two of them developed a good skill for avoiding Dujuan and Uncle Chen. They were lightly equipped, and with two fast horses, they would be free to enter the rivers and lakes once they left Quecheng.
When she was in the Marquis' Mansion, she could use the power of the cuckoo to suppress the shrike everywhere, but outside the Marquis' Mansion, the shrike was the king of the world.
Although the shrike is small, it is extremely ferocious when fighting.
She is different from Xiao Nanhui. Xiao Nanhui learned kung fu from Xiao Zhun and studied kung fu for killing enemies on the battlefield. He has little experience in the martial arts world. Although his kung fu is advanced, he is easily at a disadvantage. However, Bo Laozi was born in Andaoyuan and specialized in assassination and hidden weapons. At the age of fourteen, she was already ranked on the list of martial arts masters. However, God was jealous of her talent, and her height has not grown since she was fourteen. The head of Andaoyuan eventually passed on the famous Dou's swordsmanship to others.
Because of this incident, Shrike was resentful for a long time and even vowed never to enter the world of martial arts again.
Of course, the Shrike's oath is the least trustworthy.
Like a bird used to flying in the wild, even though it complained about the hardships of hunger and cold, deep down it couldn't stand the luxurious clothes and delicious food in a cage. So when Xiao Nanhui mentioned the trip to Huozhou, she pretended to be hesitant for a while before agreeing.
She spent three days secretly preparing, left the letter, and rushed out of the city gate at the last moment before the hour of You. This way, if anyone wanted to chase her, they would have to wait until the next morning when the city gate opened again.
They rode at full speed all the way towards the northeast, facing the rising sun. It took them more than ten days to reach the border of Huozhou.
The sun vanished as soon as we entered Huozhou. The weather had been unfavorable recently, and the entire state was shrouded in a massive dark cloud. While the temperature wasn't as low as midwinter, the air was damp and cold due to the continuous rain. The ground was covered in mud, soaking shoes and boots with a single careless touch. The bone-chilling cold was no less intense than in winter.
The horses' hooves were constantly covered in a layer of damp, cold mud, causing them to slip as they traveled. Over the next few days, Jixiang looked at Xiao Nanhui with resentment in his eyes.
Although Shrike was small, he loved to ride a tall horse. The horse had a resounding and powerful name, Huaqiu, and the hair on its buttocks was swirl-shaped, so that from behind it looked like a blooming chrysanthemum.
If you want to go to Huozhou, you must pass through Daxu Ferry.
Yueyuan was a small town near the Dafeng Ferry. It was bustling with people passing through on their way to Murhe. Inns and restaurants lit charcoal fires at their doors to lure travelers in to soothe their frozen bodies.
Xiao Nanhui and Shrike led their horses from house to house, asking only to be told they were fully booked. The blame lay with the unusual weather; even though it was spring, freezing rain continued. The newly melted ice from the upper reaches of the Hun River was swept downstream by the rising water. The current was strong and swift, and even the largest ice chunks would carve holes in the boats. No boatmen dared to cross the river at this hour, and no boat had left Daxu Ferry for ten days.
Merchants and travelers rushing to the other side gathered in several small villages and towns near the ferry. The inns were already overcrowded, and many owners raised their prices, but the guest rooms in the town were still in short supply.
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