Chapter 408 Strange Assassin
Due to the special circumstances of this mission to Dai Viet, in order to ensure safety, Emperor Minh Xi specially selected a thousand elite soldiers from the imperial guards as the entourage of the delegation.
He also sent 500 secret guards to follow the delegation secretly to protect the safety of the delegation at any time to deal with various emergencies.
In addition, because the queen was too worried about her daughter's health, she specially asked Yin Xizi, who had superb medical skills, to go on the journey together.
Xia Miaoyuan rarely traveled far away, and this time, she was very happy.
Sometimes, she would ride on Maomao and follow the second prince and others in front, and sometimes when she was sleepy and tired, she would sleep in the carriage.
In order to take care of Princess Anguo, the delegation deliberately slowed down their pace, walking leisurely during the day and stopping to eat at mealtime.
At night, they would try to stay in the official post station. If there was really no official post station or inn, they would just pitch tents on the spot and spend the night.
In this way, the delegation slowly moved forward, and on the 39th day, they arrived at Shijiu Fort, a small border town in the southernmost part of Daxia.
Shijiu Fort is a very small and dilapidated city. There is not even an official post station in the city. The delegation had to book all the slightly better post stations in the city and let everyone stay there.
In Xia Miaoyuan's room.
Xia Miaoyuan curiously explored the room, looking east and west, but the room was not big and there was nothing worth seeing. She finally lay on the window and looked at the scenery boredly.
"This Shijiu Fort is very small, and the inn in the fort is so shabby. It's really hard for our little prince." Li Ma Ma complained while packing her luggage.
"If I had known this, I would have left overnight."
Although Li Ma Ma was a servant, she was used to living in the palace after all, so she seemed picky and spoiled.
Sang Qi smiled and said, "Ma Ma, you should just go with the flow. This is not like being in the palace, where everything is the best."
"When we arrived in the southern border, there were not many places to stay. If we don't stay in this inn, we can only go to the suburbs to set up tents."
"Living here is at least much better than setting up tents, right?"
After listening to this, Li Ma Ma sighed and continued to pack her luggage.
Xia Miaoyuan was used to hearing Nanny Li and Sang Qi bickering along the way, so she ignored their conversation and just looked at the street downstairs.
It was already time for the lights to be turned on, and a few stars were shining on the dark sky.
Shijiubao was a small place, and there was not much nightlife. There were not many pedestrians on the street at this hour. There were only a few small vendors who had not closed their stalls yet, hoping to make more sales.
[Eh? Isn't that Yue Haoyun?]
Xia Miaoyuan stared at a man in a moon-white robe downstairs, muttering to herself.
Yue Haoyun strolled out of the inn leisurely and walked slowly on the road.
Beside him, his confidant Xifeng followed closely.
Looking behind him, there were two followers he brought from Dai Viet.
[People from Dai Viet are generally shorter than people from Da Xia, but Yue Haoyun is very tall! He is almost as tall as my second brother. Could it be that as a prince, he ate well when he was a child?]
Xia Miaoyuan was just daydreaming when he saw Yue Haoyun stop in front of a stall selling seasonal fruits and pick some with great interest.
Xia Miaoyuan lay on the windowsill, propping up his chin with his little hand, carefully studying the fruits on the stall, [That peach looks very fresh and sweet. A bite of it will definitely fill your mouth with sweet juice. That melon looks good too.]
[And the cherries, wow, they are so big and so red, almost as big as cherries. I just wonder how they taste. 】
【Yue Haoyun, I wonder if you have prepared any for this princess since you have chosen so many? 】
Xia Miaoyuan was thinking happily, Yue Haoyun on the street had already picked out the fruits and asked the stall owner to calculate the price.
Then, he signaled Xifeng, who immediately took out a bulging purse from his waist and made a gesture to pay.
At this moment, two beggars came running over, one of them snatched the purse from Xifeng's hand, and the other beggar pulled off the jade pendant from Yue Haoyun's waist.
The two beggars looked dirty and torn, but they ran as fast as a gust of wind. The two robbed the things and ran away quickly.
"Bold beggar! You even dare to steal my wallet!" Xifeng shouted and chased after them.
"Ah, my jade pendant!" Yue Haoyun screamed when he found that the jade pendant was stolen.
"Your Highness, wait, we will get the jade pendant back!" The two followers behind him said in a deep voice, and then ran out like an arrow.
Because the incident happened so suddenly, Yue Haoyun and Xia Miaoyuan upstairs were all shocked.
"Ah! Someone stole things!" Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help but shout.
"Sang Qi! The beggar stole Prince Yue's purse and jade pendant!"
Sang Qi and Li Ma Ma heard the sound and immediately walked quickly to the window.
"What's wrong, little prince?" Sang Qi looked at Yue Haoyun downstairs and asked in confusion.
"I saw the Prince of Yue buying fruit downstairs, and two beggars ran over, snatched his wallet and jade pendant, and ran away."
"How dare the beggars in Shijiu Fort be so bold?!" Li Ma Ma exclaimed.
There are more than a thousand people in the delegation, and they will be very conspicuous wherever they go. Now, the delegation has come to Shijiu Fort and booked all the large inns in the fort. With
such a big scene, the whole Shijiu Fort knows that it is the delegation sent by the emperor to Dayue.
The delegation was sent by the emperor. The members of the delegation are either imperial guards, senior officials in the court, or the princes of Daxia, all of whom are people that ordinary people cannot afford to provoke.
Therefore, a commoner with a normal cognitive level will not provoke the members of the delegation.
These two beggars, in broad daylight, dared to steal the property of the members of the delegation. Isn't this extremely audacious?
"Your Highness, did you see clearly? Two beggars robbed Prince Yue?" Sang Qi asked.
Xia Miaoyuan hurriedly said, "Yes, two dirty and ragged beggars. And they ran very fast!"
Sang Qi frowned, "Something is wrong!"
At this time, the urgent sound of horse hooves rang out, and five horses rushed towards Yue Haoyun.
Sitting on the horses were five tall men, all with their faces covered. The five men carried a murderous aura.
Sang Qi shouted, "Not good!" and jumped out of the window.
At this time, Xia Miaoyuan realized, "Oh no, this is a trick to lure the tiger out of the mountain. I'm afraid they are here specifically to assassinate Yue Haoyun."
Thinking of this, Xia Miaoyuan ran out, shouting, "There's an assassin! There's an assassin!"
Xia Miaoyuan was a small person, and he ran and shouted in the corridor of the inn.
This alarmed many people.
In an instant, the doors of many rooms were opened, and the members of the delegation who had just laid down to rest were wearing outer robes and rubbing their sleepy eyes.
The second prince and Han Qingbo were discussing matters in the room and had not slept yet. When they heard the shouting, they hurried to open the door to check.
When Xia Miaoyuan saw that it was his beloved second brother, he immediately threw himself into his arms, and shouted breathlessly: "Go! There are assassins outside on the street trying to kill Prince Yue!"