Three days later, Fourth Master, Thirteenth Master, and Cui Da and Cui Er rode together to Alhatu's residence to meet him. Then they disguised themselves as ordinary merchants and set off. The three grown men sat in a spacious carriage, all silent. Cui Da and Cui Er, dressed as servants, followed behind the carriage.
As the carriage emerged from the governor's mansion, several people sitting in a nearby teahouse watched it intently, only leaving silently once the carriage disappeared into the crowd. They were all young men dressed in black robes; as soon as they left the teahouse, they donned bamboo hats and quickly rode away on horseback. However, two of them followed the carriage carrying the Fourth Prince and his entourage.
The other men rode their horses in the opposite direction, rampaging through the area and whipping pedestrians at will. Several merchants had their goods overturned by their horses' hooves.
The man in black rode his horse to the back gate of the Yangzhou prefectural governor's residence, dismounted, knocked three times, and spoke into the door before it quietly opened.
Four men in black filed in. After saying a few words to the old man who opened the door, they went inside.
Prefect Su was in his room listening to music with his seventh concubine when someone disturbed him. He looked displeased, but when the servant whispered a few words in his ear, his impatience vanished immediately!
"Let's go!" Lord Su patted the bottom of the beauty in his arms, immediately stood up, and followed the servant.
He arrived at his study, where several men in black were already standing. Upon seeing Lord Su, they clasped their hands together and said solemnly, "Lord Su, someone has their eyes on the things there. Lord Su, you must quickly find a way to delay them. We have already informed the Lord via carrier pigeon."
Lord Su's gaze turned suspicious, and he said, "That location is so well hidden, how could they possibly find it? Don't scare yourself. What did the Lord say?"
The man in black said, "We must give up if necessary. If Lord Su is exposed, you should know what to say. Put that piece of clothing we prepared beforehand over there."
Lord Su's eyes narrowed, and he had no choice but to say, "I will cooperate with your operation. What do you suggest?"
The man in black shaved Lord Su with satisfaction and said, "Lure them away. As long as Lord Su can have people do something in those mountains to distract them, like digging up ancient tombs, that's enough. All those who died in the ravines perished in ancient tombs."
Lord Su pondered for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Alright, let's do it this way. Fortunately, our people are still hiding in another place. Let's go now. I'll go with you."
In a short while, Lord Su changed his clothes, then summoned a horse from the manor. Lord Su walked in the carriage, with several men in black guarding the carriage. They quickly left from the back and headed straight out of the city.
As for the Fourth Master, the group sat in the carriage without saying much.
“These mountains are continuous and undulating, so searching for someone in them is no easy task. Fourth Prince, you should be prepared for a long-term solution,” Alhatu said.
"That depends on luck. Sometimes things that seem difficult can be solved quite quickly," Fourth Master said.
"Fourth Brother has always been lucky. This matter has affected Father Emperor's important task of procuring grain. Someone dares to defy the wind and commit this crime. They really don't respect the court at all." Thirteen seemed very excited. He had a premonition that this might be a very shocking event, and he was now involved in it.
"Where have we arrived? Have we entered the mountains?" Fourth Master heard the sound of the carriage wheels outside, which was noticeably louder than in the city and was beginning to bounce irregularly, indicating that they had entered the mountains.
"If we can't find it right away, are we going to have to spend the night in the mountains? Do we have anything prepared for the night?" Thirteen asked.
“Everything is ready. My elite guards entered two days ago,” Al-Hatu said.
"Alright, let's hope our luck improves." Fourth Master said with a slight smile.
The bustling city of Yangzhou remained the most prosperous metropolis in the Jiangnan region, and no one knew that two groups of people were advancing into the mountains behind the city.
Before sunset, Fourth Master and his party arrived at the location where the corpses had been retrieved that day. As soon as Fourth Master got off the carriage, he saw a dense mass of armor, with sapphire blue brocade inlaid in the gaps between the armor pieces. It was the people of the Blue Banner.
As soon as Al-Hatu got out of the car, the people immediately straightened their spines and silently expressed their respect for him.
"Set up camp here. Make a fire and cook a meal," he said to the soldiers.
These soldiers silently carried out his orders, without even blinking an eye, even when Al-Hatu ordered them to die.
Fourth Master and Thirteenth Master, along with Cui Da and Cui Er, walked to a mountain ridge to look out at the distant mountains.
The occasional calls of cuckoos or other animals echoed through the dark, dense forest. Without human presence, the silence was eerily profound. No one knew what had transpired in these silent mountains, or how so many corpses had appeared in this ravine.
The bodies had been secretly removed by Ahartu and kept warm with ice. However, some of their clothing and belongings were removed so that the dogs could smell them.
“I never imagined this mountain would be so beautiful at night; it doesn’t look anything special during the day,” Thirteen said, standing behind Fourth Master.
“During the day, there are obstructions, but at night only the outline of the mountains remains, so naturally one can see the true form of things!” Fourth Master said. “I went back and checked the information on these mountains. This gully is called Moon-Holding Gully. You see, the moon is now perfectly in the middle. The mountains on both sides are like two arms holding up the moon. In terms of feng shui, this is an excellent burial site. But unexpectedly, someone dumped these dead people here, disrupting the gathering of the moon's essence.”
"Fourth Brother, you even know about feng shui!" Thirteen said.
"I only know a little bit," Fourth Master said.
When the meal was ready, the Fourth Prince, along with the Thirteenth Prince and Alhatu, ate with the soldiers. They showed no airs of princes and were well-liked.
Fourth Master looked at these soldiers. They possessed a natural, chilling aura, which had gradually been formed from years of living on the edge of a knife.
After dinner, everyone began packing their belongings, preparing to camp on the spot.
The tents for Fourth Master and Thirteenth Master were naturally set up by Cui Da and Cui Er. Since Su Peisheng was not around, the two of them took on the task of serving the two masters!
At night, the mountain wind howled, and strange noises could be heard from time to time.
Fourth Master lay quietly in his tent, suddenly thinking of Lanqin, who was far away in Kyoto. He had written to her, but not frequently, and he hadn't told her about what was happening here, for fear of worrying her! But Lanqin hadn't replied to his letter, which made Fourth Master uneasy.
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