The remaining nine bodies were found ten miles ahead. They were buried in the same way, with pits dug, signboards erected, and people bowed.
When Xuan Tianming's team moved forward again, Feng Yuheng faced the wind and tears burst out.
Xuan Tianming rode his horse alongside her, stretched out his hand and wiped her eyes, saying loudly: "Don't cry! Remember the hatred, those who offend me must be repaid double!"
Another day and night passed, and all the horses were cleared out after passing through villages and towns. Xuan Tianming was so angry that he laughed. He sat in front of a tea stall beside the official road, chewing a cake and said, "I thought he was so capable, but he can only slow us down."
Feng Yuheng had a gloomy face. After finishing the last bite of the biscuit, she began to clean her bow. The bow had been kept in the space. It was not Hou Yi's bow, but it was also given to her by Xuan Tianming when they were in the camp. It had good toughness and moderate weight.
The fact that Zirui was captured had been weighing on her mind, and she was occasionally choking. Her hand that was wiping the bow moved subconsciously, and the last scene before the death of those secret guards repeatedly appeared in front of her eyes. Although she had not seen it with her own eyes, she knew too much about the tracking arrow technique. She knew that apart from the pain of death, the fear and despair of being tracked were the most deadly. Those men obviously had the best and most powerful Qinggong, but the arrows behind them were getting closer and closer and they could not be shaken off. She could empathize with them because she had received relevant psychological training when she was learning the tracking arrow technique.
Feng Yuheng stared at the horses that were eating grass. Some of the horses' shoes were about to fall off, and some of the horses were lame, but they had no other horses to change, so they could only grit their teeth and continue riding on the horses until the horses fell down and could no longer move. She was only angry that she didn't know about the crossing in advance, otherwise she would have driven an off-road vehicle to the pharmacy to prepare.
Unfortunately, there are not so many "knowing earlier"! She poured some more tea for Xuan Tianming, sighed softly, and whispered: "I always feel that this matter is not that simple. Why did Qian Zhou kidnap Zi Rui? Is it just to deal with me? Delay the progress of steelmaking? But the new steel no longer needs me to watch it every day. Even without me, Da Shun can already have steel tools now."
Xuan Tianming frowned and said, "National hatred is one thing, and family hatred is also included. They are determined to settle the accounts of Ru Jia and those Qian Zhou people with us. However, the other party has such a precise grasp of Zi Rui's whereabouts, and they were able to clear out the horses along the way so cleanly. It should not be done by just a group of sharpshooters. There must be helpers to support them."
She thought for a moment, and then said, "Feng Jinyuan has Qianzhou secret guards around him, but their number should not be large. Now it seems that there must be a lot of Qianzhou people hiding in Dashun."
Xuan Tianming snorted coldly and said, "It is also possible that they are not from Qianzhou. After all, Dashun has been very strict in guarding the border for nearly a hundred years. It is not easy for them to sneak into the country."
"Huh?" She was stunned for a moment, then reacted, "You mean... the Northern Realm? The Duanmu family?"
Xuan Tianming nodded and was about to continue speaking when he saw a fast horse suddenly rushing towards this side from the northward extending side of the official road. The horse's hooves kicked up clouds of dust, startling the birds in the woods on both sides and causing them to fly away.
Huang Quan had sharp eyes and recognized the identity of the man on horseback at a glance. He pointed at the man and said urgently, "It's a policeman! He is a policeman from the post station!"
When she called out, Ban Zou rushed forward without saying a word and stopped the man and the horse.
The officer on horseback was startled and blurted out, "How dare you! I am the imperial messenger, delivering a message eight hundred miles to the capital city in an emergency. No one can stop me!" This man was quite courageous, and was good at martial arts. He could easily stop a message eight hundred miles away in an emergency by himself. An ordinary person would have been frightened, but he still had the consciousness to give his name, and even turned his head to look at the tea stall where Xuan Tianming and the others were.
The couple who ran the tea stall had already hid away out of fear. The man glanced around and quickly looked back, finally landing on Xuan Tianming.
"You are..." He was obviously startled, then asked in surprise: "Ninth Prince?"
"Hey!" Huang Quan asked him, "Do you recognize our prince?"
The officer struggled to get out of Ban Zou's hand, but failed. He said helplessly, "Since you are with His Highness the Ninth Prince, there is no need to hold on to me. I am really a messenger appointed by the court. I have never seen His Highness the Ninth Prince, but I know the mask and the purple lotus between his eyebrows."
Xuan Tianming waved his hand at Ban Zou, signaling him to let him go, and Ban Zou loosened his hand. As soon as he loosened his hand, the official immediately rushed in front of Xuan Tianming, knelt down without saying a word, and then stared at Xuan Tianming's face and looked at him carefully.
Wang Chuan looked at the man's cautious expression and knew that he must have something important to do. If it wasn't extremely urgent, it would be impossible to send it at an expedited rate of 800 miles. When she thought of this, she said to the official, "Don't worry, the person in front of you is undoubtedly the Ninth Prince of Dashun, and the one next to His Highness is Princess Ji'an."
As soon as she mentioned Princess Ji'an, the man immediately exclaimed "Ah", then turned to look at Feng Yuheng. He couldn't help but be overjoyed after seeing her: "That's right! Although I have known about the Ninth Prince's mask and the purple lotus between his eyebrows for a long time, they are only legends. I have never seen them with my own eyes. But I know the princess. At that time, the princess was still the county lord. When the winter disaster hit the capital, you gave out warm tea at the door of Baicao Hall, and I even asked for a bowl."
Wangchuan said again: "Now that the identity has been confirmed, then tell me quickly, what is the matter with this 800-mile rush?"
The official sighed and said, "I am a messenger stationed in Yuzhou. This urgent message of 800 miles came from the Northern Territory and was circulated in Yuzhou. The people in the posthouse over there risked their lives to send it, and they have a message. If the content of this urgent report cannot be reported to the emperor in person, then we must find a way to find the Ninth Prince or the Seventh Prince. If that doesn't work, then go find Princess Ji'an. Your Highness..." The man stared at Xuan Tianming with a bitter face and said, "The three provinces in the Northern Territory... have rebelled."
"What?" Feng Yuheng asked subconsciously, and then looked at Xuan Tianming, "So fast?"
Xuan Tianming frowned, and it was obvious that this news was also very unexpected to him. The official continued, "The three provinces of the Northern Border surrendered to Qian Zhou under the leadership of the governor Duanmu Anguo. Qian Zhou promised to set up the three provinces as Fan, and the Duanmu family would be the hereditary rulers. At the same time, Qian Zhou no longer paid tribute to the Dashun court and began to station troops in a planned manner. People at the post station said that the Northern Border surrendered to Qian Zhou at least two months ago, but the news has been blocked, but Qian Zhou has let in a lot of people. They sent letters to the capital several times, but they were all robbed and killed on the way." He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I am lucky to meet His Highness and the county lady here. I am lucky to have fulfilled my mission." As he spoke, he handed a secret letter sealed with wax in his arms to Tianming.
Xuan Tianming took the letter, opened it and read it, then handed it to Feng Yuheng. After reading it, both of them fell into deep thought.
The content of the letter was exactly the same as what the official said. The Duanmu family rebelled and tried their best to block the news. At present, there were countless Qianzhou spies released into Dashun. Since the surrender to Qianzhou happened a few months ago, it means that the plan should have started before the third brother Xuan Tianye got into trouble. The Duanmu family was really ambitious.
"You continue to go to the capital." Xuan Tianming ordered the official, and at the same time took off one of his jade pendants, "Take this into the palace and tell the emperor that you have seen me. I am going north now, so the emperor does not need to worry."
The official knew that the matter was urgent, so he didn't delay any longer, and hurriedly drank a sip of tea before getting on his horse and continuing on his way. Feng Yuheng also stood up, and glanced at the tired horses that were still eating grass, feeling a little distressed.
"How far can we ride?" she asked Xuan Tianming, "What will we do if we don't have a horse by then?"
Xuan Tianming calculated the distance and said to her, "From here to Xiaozhou, it will take at most one day. Those people can clear the horses in small villages and towns, but they will never be able to clear the entire Xiaozhou. As long as we can reach Xiaozhou, we still have hope."
Ban Zou also nodded and said, "We can run as far as we can. If the horses can't run any more, we can run by ourselves. Master, don't worry. There are so many brothers, and one of them can carry you for a distance."
"Okay." Feng Yuheng didn't hesitate any more and said simply, "Then let's get going quickly and go as far as we can."
At nightfall that day, all seventeen horses fell to the ground and could not get up. Looking at the horses that had worked so hard to carry them all the way, Feng Yuheng's nose began to ache again. However, Xuan Tianming made a quick decision to carry her on his back and told everyone: "Abandon the horses!" Then he jumped up first, displayed his Qinggong skills and continued on his way.
Feng Yuheng still couldn't relax. Although she had made great progress compared to when she first came last year, and jumping over the beams was no problem for her, she couldn't do things like this that required light skills. She could only cling to Xuan Tianming's back and let him carry her, feeling the strong wind blowing past her ears, and the hatred in her heart surged again.
She leaned over to Xuan Tianming's ear and whispered, "I must save Zirui and ensure his safety. Xuan Tianming, if I lose Zirui again, my mother will never be able to forgive me."
Xuan Tianming was stunned. He wanted to ask what had you done wrong that you had to be forgiven? But he swallowed the words back. He could see Feng Yuheng's love for Yao. Although the mother was not very popular, Feng Yuheng had to call her mother after all. Whatever, she liked it, he would fulfill it.
“Don’t worry.” Xuan Tianming said, “We will chase the people wherever they are taken, even if it means going deep into the heart of Qianzhou, where there are many dangers and dangers. Your husband will go with you!”
At daybreak, the group of seventeen people finally stood outside the city of Xiaozhou. This was the first large province that they passed through on their way north from the capital. Although Xiaozhou was not as prosperous as the capital, it seemed to be more lively because it was not as strictly controlled as the capital.
After Xuan Tianming and his companions entered the city, they immediately looked for a horse farm. As expected, the enemies in front did not dare to attack Dasheng. The horse resources in Xiaozhou City were sufficient and of excellent quality, enough for them to choose from.
But just as everyone was concentrating on choosing horses, the owner of the stable stared at Feng Yuheng for a long time, and finally mustered up the courage to walk forward and asked tentatively: "Excuse me, young lady, is your surname Feng?"
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