arrival
When Xiao Wan'er was packing her luggage in the house, there was a knock on the door. She looked up and saw Pei Yingguan holding a thick coat.
"It's bitterly cold in the north, so bring some warm clothes, Junior Sister." He put the clothes next to her bag.
Xiao Wan'er smiled speechlessly: "Brother, have you ever seen a Transcendent Realm cultivator who is afraid of the cold?"
Pei Yingguan seemed to be suddenly frozen in place, and after a long while he shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"I always forget."
Xiao Wan'er picked out a piece of clothing from among the thick clothes and put it into her bag. As she packed, she asked Pei Yingguan, "Brother, do you know why the King of Linzi insisted that I go to Shoujiang City?"
"Isn't it to intimidate the Turks?" Pei Yingguan had an expression that said, "You still need to ask such a question." Seeing this, Xiao Wan'er stopped and continued to ask him what he was thinking.
Officials assigned to the city of surrender were gradually selected, and Xiao Wan'er's departure date for Chang'an drew near. Once the list of dispatches was finalized, the emperor issued an edict promoting Xiao Wan'er to deputy commander of the Shenlong Guard, concurrently serving as captain of Team A-1, and elevating her to the rank of Fourth-rank County Lady. This made Xiao Wan'er the highest-ranking official on the list.
The night before Xiao Wan'er left Chang'an, Pei Yingguan came to see her.
"Junior sister, can you spar with me?"
Xiao Wan'er naturally had no objection. She suppressed her cultivation to the Dao Entry Realm, raised her hands, made hand gestures, and began to fight with Pei Yingguan.
The light of magic and the light of swords intertwined in the courtyard. Seeing this, the servants often sent by Shangguan Wan'er outside the courtyard left silently.
After fighting for about a moment, Pei Yingguan stopped his attack and retracted his sword.
"Junior sister is truly powerful, and I, senior brother, can only sigh in admiration."
Xiao Wan'er also put away her magic, released the suppression of her cultivation, and said to him with a smile, "Thank you."
On the morning of the second day, Xiao Wan'er boarded a carriage with the other officials sent to Shousu City. She sat in the front carriage, and as the convoy was about to depart, a young palace maid hurried over.
She was sweating all over and was out of breath. Before she could say anything, she stuffed a letter into Xiao Wan'er's hand.
After panting for a while, she spoke incoherently, "Empress Zhaorong asked me to give the letter to you, my Lord."
With a loud "Let's go," the convoy set off before she could continue. Exhausted, she couldn't catch up with the ever-speeding convoy and could only watch helplessly as the carriage carrying Xiao Wan'er disappeared from her sight.
She sat there for a long time before finally resting up and, with her last bit of strength, returned to Daming Palace. Shangguan Wan'er's expression shifted after hearing her reply.
"Forget it, let's just go with the flow."
In the swaying carriage, Xiao Wan'er opened the letter Shangguan Wan'er had written her. The letter was filled with words, describing various events, both large and small, that had occurred between Xiao Wan'er's leave from Chang'an and her return, with a particular focus on Princess Anle's academic performance.
"Given Princess Anle's current learning ability and style of doing things, if Your Majesty were to allow her to seize power, it would be a misfortune for the Tang Dynasty."
Xiao Wan'er read the letter and wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from her forehead. What had this princess done during her absence from Chang'an to deserve such a comment from Shangguan Wan'er?
She suppressed her doubts and continued reading, but Shangguan Wan'er had already changed the subject.
"It's only been a few days since I returned to Chang'an, but I've been ordered to leave again. I've sent people to invite you to my place several times these days, but unfortunately you were always busy, so we never got together. Let's write to each other again when you arrive in Monan."
Xiao Wan'er only realized something was amiss when she read the letter. Since returning to Chang'an, she'd been feeling a faint sense of disharmony, unable to articulate its source. Now, she finally understood. Although her time in Chang'an was brief, given her close friendship with Shangguan Wan'er, she was sure Shangguan Wan'er would have invited her to a small gathering upon her return. But this time, from the moment she returned to Chang'an to leave, she hadn't even seen Shangguan Wan'er.
What’s even more terrifying is that it was not until she left Chang’an and saw the letter Shangguan Wan’er wrote to her that she realized the abnormality.
Having cultivated to this level, being completely unaware of the problem itself is a problem. Xiao Wan'er immediately took out the tortoise shell and began divination in the carriage. After a long moment, she let out a deep breath.
"Li Longji, what exactly do you want to do?"
The Prince of Linzi, who was far away in Chang'an, naturally couldn't answer her. She could only sit in the carriage and travel to the south of the desert with her colleagues. Fortunately, the journey was relatively peaceful until they were almost at the destination, when they encountered a wave of ambushes.
It was late at night. Xiao Wan'er, meditating in the carriage, sensed the enemy's presence from afar and was about to attack when she discovered that the people inside were all ordinary people. She put aside her intention to attack and poked her head out of the carriage.
"Enemy attack!"
Her voice was infused with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, spreading extremely widely and penetrating more powerfully, directly waking up all the guards guarding the convoy.
The immortal had warned them of an enemy attack. Even though they couldn't see them, the guards braced themselves, drew their weapons, and prepared to meet the enemy. After forming a formation and waiting for a while, the enemy did indeed attack. The attackers, dressed in Turkic attire and armed with swords, rode on horses and charged directly at the convoy.
"Go!" The leading military officer led the guards to resist the Turkic attackers.
The infantry was no match for the cavalry, but fortunately the number of guards on the convoy was far greater than the number of Turks who came to attack. After paying a certain price, the attackers were finally wiped out.
Xiao Wan'er dismounted from the carriage and approached the body of the leading attacker. While his spirit was still fresh in her grasp, she used her magic to gather it and then searched it. After reviewing the important memories, she casually flung the spirit away.
"We can't stay here for long. We will advance at full speed day and night for the rest of the journey."
The immortal had spoken, and the leading military officer dared not disobey. The surviving guards didn't even have time to rest, ordering the driver to travel day and night, eventually reaching Shousu City at the fastest speed.
When the convoy arrived, the three surrender cities had already been built. They stopped in front of Zhong Shoujiang City, where Zhang Renyuan personally led a group to greet them. Xiao Wan'er, the head of the dispatched officials, exchanged a few words with Zhang Renyuan before accompanying him into Zhong Shoujiang City.
The three cities were each over 400 miles apart, with desert to the north. West Shoujiang City faced Lingwu to the south, Middle Shoujiang City faced Shuofang to the south, and East Shoujiang City faced Yulin to the south, all strategic locations. Xiao Wan'er gazed at the newly built city, sighing deeply.
"Master Zhang truly impressed me by building three cities in just two months."
"Your Excellency, I am so kind," Zhang Renyuan said as he led Xiao Wan'er to a row of houses. "These are the houses I've prepared for the officials who are here. Since the Three Cities are newly built, the official housing is very simple. I hope Your Excellency will not mind."
Xiao Wan'er walked into one of the houses and took a quick look. Each official had only one small room, which only served the most basic functions, with no other amenities.
However, it is not easy to have these official residences in a short period of time.
Xiao Wan'er clasped her fists towards Zhang Renyuan and said, "Your Excellency, these official residences have been of great help to us. How could I possibly despise them?"
The officials from Chang'an received locks and keys on the spot and were assigned an official residence. The officials sent to the other two cities were also divided into teams and escorted by local soldiers to the east and west cities.
Only after she finished packing did Xiao Wan'er finally have time to carefully observe the surrendered city. She sat cross-legged on her bed, seemingly resting, but her mental power had already spread out, encompassing not only the entire city but also reaching northward, reaching into the boundless desert. Her consciousness also encompassed the east and west gates, allowing her to observe everything outside the city.
After observing the entire Zhongshoujiang City inside and out, Xiao Wan'er was absolutely certain that she had been tricked by Prince Linzi.
There wasn't a single cultivator in the entire Zhong Shoujiang City, and no trace of spiritual energy remained in the northern desert. The Prince of Linzi had repeatedly claimed that two teams of Dragon Guards would be deployed to guard the Three Shoujiang Cities, but in reality, not a single cultivator was needed!
"This brat! What on earth is he going to do?" Xiao Wan'er couldn't bear it any longer, so she set up a divination formation inside the house and used all her strength to divine his purpose and next actions.
Just as Liuyun's divination had indicated, the Prince of Linzi himself was linked to the fate of the Tang Dynasty, making divination extremely difficult. Despite her best efforts, Xiao Wan'er could only divine the surface. She looked at the results, feeling somewhat absurd.
"He's actually afraid of me?"
A dignified prince actually harbored fear of Xiao Wan'er, and deliberately transferred her away from Chang'an just to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
But this method was undoubtedly effective. The Emperor and Empress had already changed Princess Anle's martial arts master. After his extended absence from Chang'an, the Emperor would no longer think of Xiao Wan'er as the first person to respond to any important matters requiring the intervention of the Divine Dragon Guards. If this continued, Xiao Wan'er would be forgotten by the most powerful people in Chang'an.
Xiao Wan'er sighed and pulled out the puppet bird given to her by Team A from her personal space. She prepared her brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, spread out a piece of letter paper, wrote a few words on it, and then sealed it. She wrote another letter, sandwiched the letter and the letter together, and ordered the puppet bird to drop them off at the post station.
The memorial was written according to custom, reporting the attack on the way to Shoujiang City and what he saw and heard in Zhongshoujiang City, as well as greetings and thoughts for the emperor. The letter was written specifically for Shangguan Wan'er and contained only two sentences.
"My sister suddenly had a feeling and started a divination. She did get something. I hope you will be careful with King Linzi."
The puppet bird flapped its wings and flew away, carrying the letter. Xiao Wan'er watched it fly away through the window. By the time she finished her work, it was already evening, and the sky was filled with sunset clouds outside the window, but she still had a bad feeling in her heart.
But she had too little time to think, as the servants from Zhang Renyuan's mansion had already come.
"Deputy Commander Xiao, my master invites you to a gathering at his residence."
When Xiao Wan'er arrived at Zhang Renyuan's residence, she discovered that all the officials sent to Zhongshoucheng had been invited. The servants led them into the main hall of the main house, where a banquet had already been arranged.
It is normal to hold a banquet for the new subordinates, but this banquet hall is obviously arranged temporarily and is not usually used for banquets. It can be seen that even for the highest officials in the Three Surrender Cities, the conditions are still relatively simple.
Soon after the guests took their seats, the host followed suit. Without any long speeches or musicians, the waiters simply served the dishes, and everyone began to eat. The food was equally simple, far inferior to the large and small banquets in Chang'an, but at least it was filling.
After everyone had eaten most of their meal, the host spoke a few dry official words and the banquet ended. When Xiao Wan'er left the Zhang Mansion, it was still far before curfew.
The night wind was blowing, making her feel a little depressed.
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