Yaoying came out of the hall, and Prajna quickly followed her. She glared at her, her face became stern, and she was about to blame her.

Without waiting for him to say anything, Yao Ying quickly said, "I was just pushed in by someone else."

The force of that push was quite strong, and it was obviously intentional.

Prajna was stunned.

Yao Ying pointed to the endless procession in front of the temple and asked, "Where do the worshippers come from? Have their identities been checked?"

Prajna shook her head and said, "The temple will be open for five consecutive days to pray for blessings these days. All the people in the royal court, regardless of their status, can come to the royal temple to worship. Some of these people are from the holy city, and some have come from other places. They have been waiting outside the royal temple for a few days, not eating or drinking, just to see the king's demeanor. Because there are more and more people outside, they had to let some people in first. There was no time to check them one by one, but when they entered the city, the imperial guards should have checked their identities..."

Yaoying frowned slightly. Who could have pushed her?

Prajna glanced at Yaoying, snorted, and said, "Princess, be careful in the future. It's best not to walk outside the royal temple alone. I know who pushed you."

Yao Ying asked, "Who is it?"

Prajna put her hands into her sleeves, her eyes wandered over Yaoying's face, which was still as delicate and charming as a peach blossom without makeup, and she said in a low voice: "The king is so tolerant of you, and the people in the royal court have been talking about it for a long time. The believers all say that they want to find a way to drive you out, and the person who pushed you must be one of them. You should be careful, don't think that you can do whatever you want just because the king is used to you."

Yao Ying hummed, as if thinking about something, and said, "I've remembered that. Thank you for reminding me."

Prajna blushed slightly, raised her chin, and said in a deep voice: "If I wasn't afraid that you would ruin the king's reputation, I wouldn't have reminded you!"

After saying this, he lifted his long legs and walked away with a stiff posture.

Yao Ying laughed and stood on the steps, looking around. Countless cold eyes swept over her in the crowded crowd. When she looked over, those people had already looked away and hid in the crowd.

It is easy to dodge a spear, but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark.

It seems that the push just now was a spur-of-the-moment idea of ​​someone among her followers who was hostile to her.

Yaoying exited the corridor, turned through the alley, and waited for Tanmaraka on his way back to the meditation room.

Along the way, monks, novices, and believers who were worshipping Buddha saw her, avoided her gaze, and gathered together to whisper.

Yao Ying thought about it, walked down the stone steps and walked out of the corridor.

Tanmarajiva's birthday is approaching, and the front hall of these Tenno-ji temples is crowded with people from morning till night, crowded with believers who come to worship from all over the place. Her identity is sensitive, and if she appears next to Tanmarajiva at this time, it will definitely hurt the feelings of those believers and affect her reputation.

It would be better for her to avoid appearing in Wang Temple during the Dharma Assembly.

…

Half an hour later, the blessing ceremony ended, and Tanmarajiva came out of the main hall, glancing at the corridor with his blue eyes.

The corridor was empty, the light of snow came in, and the murals on the wall were brightly colored with a picture of Buddha preaching. The Buddha was sitting cross-legged and preaching, looking dignified and majestic.

Yuan Jue looked around for a while and wondered, "Princess Wen Zhao was here just now...why is she gone?"

Tanmaraka remained silent.

I don't belong here in the first place and will leave sooner or later, so there is no such thing as "gone".

He walked into the corridor holding a gilded incense stick, and the wide flutter of his cassock brushed against the railings, sweeping off a blanket of fresh snow.

After returning to the meditation room, he still didn't see Yaoying. Yuanjue was a little worried and asked the monks, "Have you seen Princess Wen Zhao?"

The monk soldiers replied, "Princess Wen Zhao just came and brought this."

He pulled out a piece of parchment.

Yuanjue took the parchment and brought it to the long desk.

"Where is the princess?"

The monk soldier said, "The princess gave us this and seemed to say that she was going to discuss something with General Ashina."

Yuanjue frowned and turned to look at Tanmarajiva.

Tanmarajava lowered his emerald eyes slightly as he looked at the parchment. His face was calm, without a trace of emotion in his eyes.

Just when Yuanjue thought he might not have heard it, he suddenly asked, "Did you send someone to follow me?"

The monk was stunned for a moment and said, "The king has ordered that the guards dare not let the princess leave the temple alone, so they sent two people to follow her."

Tanmarajiva nodded slightly.

…

Yaoying changed into riding clothes, covered her face with a veil, and rode out of the Wangsi.

The personal guard and two guards from the center followed behind her.

She first went to see Lao Qi and instructed him on a few things. On the way back to the city, she visited Ashina Bisha and asked him to do her a small favor.

When Bisha helped her get her dowry back from the Northern Rong, she thought that eggs should not be placed in the same basket, so she sent several personal soldiers to Samakan, India, and Tubo with different caravans, in order to send a message and leave a way out, and also to find out the situation.

Now the caravans were returning one after another, some bringing back what she wanted, while others turned back halfway and returned empty-handed.

Yaoying couldn't help but think of Zhang Jiu and his men who had set out from Gaochang. She wondered where they were and whether they had broken through the blockade of the Northern Rong. The royal court also had a scout force dedicated to gathering information, and she wanted to ask Bi Su about it.

Bisha was not in the mansion, but went to the martial arts arena.

His personal soldiers said, "Every year around the king's birthday, the king will go to the military parade grounds for a review. At that time, a grand martial arts competition will be held and all the people in the city can go and watch. This year, the generals will also participate in the martial arts competition, so these days the generals often go to the martial arts field to practice martial arts with others."

After the turmoil, the royal court needed a grand military parade and martial arts competition to stabilize people's hearts.

Yao Ying asked the guards to lead the way and turned back to the martial arts arena.

The martial arts arena was located near Shayuan outside the city. The venue was spacious and conveniently located, with seats available outside.

When Yao Ying arrived at the martial arts arena, it was bustling with activity and the sound of horses' horses' thundering. A horse-riding and archery competition was taking place. Noble men and women in gorgeous clothes were sitting on a high platform, staring intently at the two horses at the front of the arena with great interest.

The guards told Yao Ying that according to custom, the tribes and small states that came to pay tribute would also send warriors to participate in the competition. In order to avoid damaging the relationship, some warriors would privately spar with each other a few days before the official competition to test each other's strength.

Yao Ying stood on the stage and looked towards the training ground.

The competition was in full swing. There was a row of targets on the south side. A dozen men dressed as cavalrymen were riding black horses, holding longbows in their hands, and galloping around the parade ground like wind and lightning. When they were a hundred steps away from the targets, they raised their arms, put their arrows on them, and shot rapidly, with every arrow hitting the center of the bull's eye.

There was thunderous applause outside the venue.

After a while, the soldiers raised the flag and sang the result of the competition loudly. Two men with broad shoulders and strong bodies rode forward. The other soldiers who lost the competition left the parade ground, and the two men slowly retreated to the sides of the parade ground. After a while, the soldiers removed the target, leaving only a long pole. Someone blew the horn, and with a deep and heavy roar, two horses simultaneously spread their hooves and galloped wildly. The two men on the horseback were not afraid of falling off the horseback. They stretched out their long arms, bent their bows, drew their arrows, and shot them in a string.

The arrows shot from the galloping horses were as powerful as a rainbow across the sun, and the whole field was filled with the sound of thunder. The arrows were nailed straight onto the long poles, and the poles trembled.

The two are tied again.

Men and women on the sidelines cheered in unison.

Yao Ying recognized one of the men in the audience as Bi Suo and secretly admired him.

With a whistle, the horn sounded again. The two men galloped on their horses and put their arrows on their bows again. The man who was competing with Bisa suddenly paused and waited for Bisa to shoot an arrow before he let go of the bowstring. With a whoosh, the arrow flew out as fast as lightning and hit the arrow that Bisa had shot first. The two feathered arrows fell to the ground.

There was an uproar outside the venue.

Without waiting for everyone to react, the man nocked the arrow again, pulled the bow with full force, and shot an arrow steadily into the long pole.

With a bang, the long pole fell to the ground.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to determine the winner.

Offstage, Bisha laughed several times, bowed to the opponent who shot down his arrow, and said, "What great arm strength!"

His opponent took off his mask, revealing a young face with strong features and heroic spirit, and there was an unconcealable smugness in his brown eyes.

"The one who won the general battle is Mo Biduo." said the guard beside Yao Ying.

Although Bisha lost the game, he did not show any unhappiness on his face. He left the field with Mobiduo. Seeing Yaoying waiting at the sidelines, he rode his horse to meet her.

Yaoying told him that she wanted his help.

Bi Suo said, "I have noticed this. The Northern Rong have moved their camp to Oruduo, and the most elite cavalry are moving westward. The eastern territories should have relaxed their guard. There is no news about Zhang Jiu and his men for the time being."

Yao Ying counted the days and said, "It's good that there is no news. The chaos in the Northern Rong has hurt their vitality. Maybe they took advantage of the chaos to cross the Northern Rong border."

Bisha looked at her and comforted her, saying, "They are brave and fearless, and they will be safe."

Yao Ying nodded, "I hope they can turn the bad situation into good fortune."

The two talked for a while and then went back to the city together. Just as they entered the city gate, they heard the sound of hooves in front of them. A fast horse came galloping and stopped in front of them.

The rider dismounted and gestured to Yaoying and Bisu. It turned out that it was Yuanjue who came looking for them.

"General, the king orders you to go to the royal temple immediately."

After Yuanjue finished speaking, he glanced at Yaoying.

"The king said that if Princess Wen Zhao is here, please come with her."

Bi Suo and Yao Ying hurried back to the royal temple.

The entrance to the Wang Temple was still bustling with people. The two men avoided the crowd, entered the temple from the corner gate, and walked together into the corridor leading to the meditation room.

There were two footsteps, one in front and one behind, one quick and one slow.

They came back together.

Bi Suo had long arms and legs and walked very fast. When he was almost at the meditation room, he deliberately slowed down and stopped to wait for Yao Ying.

Yao Ying smiled at him.

The two of them walked up the stone steps side by side.

Deep in the corridor, Tanmarajiva stood at the steps with her eyelids lowered, and suddenly stopped stroking the eagle.

The eagle immediately let out a cry of dissatisfaction.

Tanmarajiva ignored it, withdrew his hand, waved the sleeves of his cassock, turned to face the courtyard, and signaled Bishuo to come forward and look at the information that Cangying had just sent back.

Seeing this, Yao Ying knew she should avoid it, so she left the corridor, took off her veil, and took out some dried meat to feed the eagle.

The eagle glanced at her, flapped its wings, and flew to the railing in front of her.

After reading the letter, Bi Suo frowned. He saw Yao Ying retreating from the corner of his eye. He nodded secretly in his heart, took two steps forward, and whispered, "The Northern Rong are quietly mobilizing troops. Are they unable to hold back and want to attack us?"

Tanmo Luojia nodded and said calmly: "I have already issued orders to strengthen vigilance everywhere. A battle between the Royal Court and the Northern Rong is inevitable."

Bi Su nodded, looking solemn.

The royal court has been through an internal turmoil and people are restless. This battle may be difficult to fight.

However, in every battle with the Northern Rong in these years, has the royal court ever been sure of victory? Every time Wakhan Khan led his troops to attack the royal court, the nobles were so scared that their legs went limp. They were either busy moving their property out of the city to avoid disaster, or they knelt and cried and begged Tanmo Luojia to come out of the city and surrender. They always held back. Now that they are no longer a hindrance, Luojia can focus on fighting the enemy without distraction.

The uneasiness in Bisha's heart soon faded away. She remembered something, raised her eyes, and asked softly, "King, who will lead the troops this time?"

Tanmarajiva stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the snow in front of the courtyard, and said, "You should be the vanguard."

Bishuo understood, sighed secretly, and nodded in agreement.

If he is the vanguard, the commander-in-chief will naturally be the Regent Sultan Kublai.

The two discussed some matters regarding sending out troops. Tanmarajiva stopped and looked outside the corridor.

Bisha stretched her neck and followed his line of sight, her brows twitching.

Yaoying was standing in front of the railing, leaning over to talk to the eagle, with a smile on her face. The brilliance of the white snow in the courtyard seemed to be concentrated on her, her skin was whiter than snow, and her face was clear and beautiful.

She noticed the gazes of the two men in the corridor, stood up, and blinked at Tanmaraka as a question.

Tanmaraka nodded his chin slightly.

Yaoying walked into the corridor.

Biso handed her the information, and she read through it quickly one by one.

Tanmo Luojia said: "Haitu Aling is still alive and still trusted by Wakhan Khan."

Yao Ying nodded.

Bi Suo had been looking at her, and seeing her calm reaction, she showed a little surprise, "Princess, have you guessed it a long time ago?"

Yao Ying smiled and said, "It's not that easy for Haidu A Ling to lose power. General, don't worry about me. I don't expect to get rid of him by sowing discord a few times."

She had been dealing with Li Xuanzhen for several years. She could remain calm even when facing an opponent who could turn any danger into safety and was as if assisted by God. The fact that Haidu Aling was still highly valued by the Wakhan Khan could not break her will.

Yao Ying raised her head, met Bi Suo's sympathetic gaze, and said, "Haidu Aling is the best warrior in Beirong. If we want to defeat him completely, we can only do it on the battlefield."

Haidu Aling is very tough. If we cannot kill him in one try, we will try again a second time and a third time.

Bi Suo's heart was shocked. She stared at Yao Ying for a long time, then smiled and nodded.

Yao Ying looked at Tanmo Luojia and asked, "Master, did you ask me to come here to tell me this?"

Tanmarajiva walked down the stone steps and motioned Yaoying to follow him.