Chapter 248 I'd rather be a villain
Feng Wei has disappeared in Northwest China.
When the messenger arrived on horseback, Feng Chuan had been missing for five days.
"What exactly happened? He had quite a few people around him, how could he suddenly disappear?" Zhao Yunjing asked anxiously, while subconsciously glancing at Li Changyi beside him.
He remembered the nightmare Li Changyi had told him about last night. At the time, he thought it was just a nightmare, but now, looking back, he feared it was a special connection between Li Changyi and Feng Wei.
Li Changyi was somewhat annoyed by this look. He frowned and said, "Brother Zhao, are you suspecting that Feng Wei's matter is related to me?"
Originally, Hu Peiran and the others hadn't thought of it that way, but Li Changyi suddenly brought it up himself, so they naturally started to think that way. For a moment, their eyes were filled with surprise and doubt as they looked at Li Changyi, which made Li Changyi even angrier.
"You both believe I harmed your classmate?" He said sternly. "In that case, our friendship as classmates is now—"
Zhao Yunjing interrupted, "Your Highness is overthinking it. We don't suspect that Feng Wei's disappearance is related to you. We just think that since you dreamed that Feng Wei was in trouble, there must be a special connection between you. So we would like to ask you to recall the details of your dream and see if you can find any clues."
"If I had been talking nonsense last night, would you have believed me?"
"letter."
Why?
“You are not only the Prince of Anding of Daliang, but also a good classmate who came from Peach Blossom County with us. You would never betray a friend for personal gain in the past, and now that you have wealth and honor, you have even less reason to do so.”
Zhao Yunjing paused for a moment, then said meaningfully, "If you have other motives, then you should make sure everyone's safety even more. We are classmates, and we are more reliable than others."
Hu Peiran seemed to understand, yet also seemed not to. He nudged He Jiu, who had the same expression on his face—confused, but seemingly understanding something important.
Li Changyi stared at Zhao Yunjing for a while, then smiled and said, "I remember Feng Wei said before we set off that if he couldn't do a good job as a promotion officer, he would abandon his literary pursuits and join the army."
The messenger glanced at Li Changyi in surprise, then quickly lowered his head, a hint of suspicion flashing through his mind.
Zhao Yunjing caught a glimpse of the messenger's movements out of the corner of his eye, turned his head and asked, "The letter didn't specify what the situation was like at the time?"
The messenger said, "At that time, Liangzhou City had a bumper autumn rice harvest. Lord Feng and Lord Tian had already left Liangzhou and were heading south according to the pre-planned route. Everything was going smoothly until half a month ago when we received a report that a mysterious group of people had appeared in Ganzhou for some unknown reason. They started burning, looting, and smashing things, causing chaos in Ganzhou. It was the behavior of bandits..."
Ganzhou suffered a severe drought this year. Although the people did not suffer a complete crop failure, many starved to death. Feng Wei originally thought that these people were bandits composed of disaster victims, so he went out to negotiate with their leader. However, the other party was not interested in his claim that spring plowing could yield a thousand catties per mu. Instead, he almost arrested Feng Wei and Tian An.
After thinking it over, Feng Wei and Tian An felt that this person's speech and behavior did not resemble those of a disaster victim or a bandit. Instead, it seemed that he had come with some greater purpose. Ganzhou was only three cities away from the border, less than two hundred miles in total. These people were very likely spies from the enemy country.
The Northwest Camp was located in Suzhou, less than 30 li from Ganzhou, so Feng Wei personally delivered a message to the Northwest Camp.
Feng Wei disappeared on his way back to Ganzhou from the Northwest Camp. Tian An witnessed him being kidnapped by a group of bandits, but Tian An felt that they were not bandits because they moved too quickly and were very orderly. They could leave as soon as they were given an order, without any hesitation.
Tian An immediately reported the news to the nearest messenger station, which delivered the message promptly. However, no new information had arrived from Ganzhou by the time the messenger set off.
"Lord Tian told the brothers at the messenger station that if there is no news of Lord Feng within five days, he will go directly to storm the Northwest Camp." The messenger said, then looked at Zhou Mujiao beside him, "Master, I'm afraid Lord Feng is being held in the Northwest Camp."
The messenger wouldn't make such a guess lightly. The fact that he dared to say this in front of Li Changyi means that the Northwest Messenger Station must have found something out, and they might have already conducted a night raid on the Northwest Camp.
Zhou Mujiao pondered for a moment, then turned to look at Li Changyi: "Your Highness, please write a letter to the Emperor regarding Feng Wei's matter. Send it to the capital with the utmost urgency. If it is delayed... trespassing into a military camp is a crime equivalent to treason, punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family."
Without hesitation, Li Changyi immediately wrote an urgent letter. Zhao Yunjing and Zhou Mujiao were not idle either; they wrote urgent letters at the same time as Li Changyi and gave them to the messengers to take away on the spot. Fearing that the messengers might change their minds or betray their mission on the way, the three of them wrote two more letters. One was sent by carrier pigeon, and the other was sent out from three directions by the three guards.
Of the nine letters, one was bound to reach the emperor.
But that's not enough. A general in the field may not obey orders. If the people in the Northwest Camp insist on taking Feng Wei's life, even if the imperial decree comes, he can execute him on the spot and then find any excuse to report back to the court.
Feng Wei was just a minor promotion officer, a newcomer to officialdom, and only a sixth-rank official. Compared to the garrison commander of the Northwest Camp, he was utterly insignificant. The emperor would never allow a mere sixth-rank official to cause the garrison commander to harbor resentment towards the court. If Feng Wei died, it would be a pointless death, and he would be tainted with a stigma.
Several former classmates felt a chill run down their spines upon thinking of this.
Li Changyi slammed his fist on the table and summoned his guards, ordering them to keep an eye on the Northwest Camp: "Once Feng Wei is discovered, rescue him by any means necessary. I will bear any consequences that may arise."
Watching the guards leave, Li Changyi turned his head and met Zhou Mujiao's gaze. He smiled and said, "Ah Jiao, you see, I can also go to great lengths for my friends."
—So, would you like to take a few more glances at me?
Zhou Mujiao nodded: "Your Highness is a true gentleman."
"I'd rather be a villain; then I wouldn't have—"
Zhou Mujiao spoke up: "Brother Zhao, the prince has already mobilized the secret guards, but they are not familiar with Ganzhou. I will write a letter to ask the brothers at the Northwest Messenger Station to do their best to assist the prince and try to rescue Feng Wei as soon as possible."
After quickly making arrangements for the follow-up matters, Zhou Mujiao seemed to remember something and looked up at Li Changyi: "What was Your Highness trying to say just now?"
Everyone looked over.
Li Changyi couldn't bring himself to poach someone from another man's side in public. He smiled and said, "What I mean is that it's probably too late to go out to sea today. The village head set off before dawn and should be back soon."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the figures of the village head and his men came into view.
Everyone was empty-handed and looked disheveled.
What's wrong?
"We've encountered river bandits." The village head was on the verge of tears. "This time, there are twice as many river bandits as usual, and they are also more ferocious than usual. They snatched our nets as soon as they came up, and we lost two boats. Liang Wu, Liang Wu is gone too."
Zhao Yunjing's handsome brows furrowed: "Next time, I will go to sea with you. I want to see just how fierce these pirates of Minzhou really are!"
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