Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 205 Clear Road
A whooshing sound, carrying the scent of blood, swept in!
Leading the group was Yu Qianshan, the head of the Eastern Palace Guards.

He swung his sword to cleave the oncoming curved blade, stood in front of Wen Jia, and gave a deep command.

"Quickly! Escort the princess away!"

Wen Jia grabbed Yu Qianshan's blood-stained wristband, tears streaming down her face.

"General... Niu Niu is in their hands! You must save Niu Niu! Please, I beg you, save her!"

Yu Qianshan, his silver armor stained with blood, swung his sword and ripped open the mask of an assassin.

"Princess, please excuse us for now. Your young master is not here."

Wen Jia's face was streaked with tears and completely pale.

The night wind swirled with the stench of blood, making one want to vomit, and the sounds of fighting rose and fell in the darkness.

With Dongxu's help, she weakly climbed into the carriage.

Gazing at the vast darkness of night, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and trembled as she cried out.

"Niu Niu...where are you...Mother has come looking for you..."

The piercing cries were shattered by the night wind.

As the carriage curtains billowed, she saw Yu Qianshan plunge his sword fiercely into the shoulder of a warrior.

Before long, the sounds of fighting inside the earth god temple subsided.

Yu Qianshan's sword was pressed against the throat of a dying assassin, his boot sole stomping on the bone of the man's hand holding the knife, his voice as cold as ice.

"Speak! Who instructed you to spread false information?"

The assassin's throat bobbed violently, coughing up a mouthful of bloody foam, revealing two rows of bloodstained teeth.

"If you have the guts... if you have the guts, then kill me..."

"Unfortunately, I will not let you die a quick death. The Crown Prince has many ways to make you wish you were dead."

The assassin trembled violently, his pupils contracting as if he were witnessing the most terrifying sight in the world.

Yu Qianshan sneered, bent down to have someone pull him up, slowly released his hand, and stuffed a letter bearing the emblem of the Eastern Palace into his hand.

"I will spare your life and present this letter to your commander."

The man scrambled and stumbled as he mounted his horse and fled in a sorry state into the night...
-
On Suzaku Street, Li Huan arrived with his men, and the Xiz assassins hastily retreated.

"Chase--"

At his command, his guards immediately scattered and gave chase.

Li Huan picked up a wolf-headed scimitar left behind by an assassin, his face grave.

"It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. When the enemy is in the dark and we are in the open, it's truly impossible to defend against them."

Xiang Yang approached and reported, "Your Highness, these assassins came from the west of the city..."

At this moment, a Siz envoy squeezed out from the crowd, adjusted his gold-rimmed felt hat, staggered forward, placed his hand on his left chest, and nodded in greeting.

"I am Erqi, the Chief Secretary of the Left Tent of Xiz. I pay my respects to Your Highness Prince Duan and thank you for saving my life."

Li Huan returned the greeting and said, "The envoy must have been startled. May I ask what brings you here?"

Erqi said, "Your Highness, we are on the orders of the High Priest, carrying spices, dried meat, furs, and other specialties of Xiz, and are on our way to the residence of Princess Huguo to pay our respects to Her Highness..."

As he spoke, he pointed to several leather trunks scattered beside the carriage.

Li Huan sighed upon hearing this, "Your Excellency has traveled a long way and must be weary. My Fifth Princess is still in mourning and is deeply saddened, spending her days in melancholy. Since you are from the maternal family of Consort Wan, a visit now would alleviate some of the Princess's grief. I will immediately send men to escort you to the Princess's residence..."

While Wenjia was in mourning for her mother, Niu Niu went missing again.

Li Huan couldn't help but sigh when he talked about it.

Erqi's eyes welled up with tears, he pressed his hand to the totem on his heart, and bowed sadly.

"Thank you for your trouble, Your Highness..."

"Report——!"

As the two were talking, a guard suddenly pushed through the crowd of onlookers, knelt down, and loudly reported:
"Your Highness! The Princess Protector has been... abducted by the Xiz assassins at the Earth God Temple in the west of the city..."

Li Huan was greatly alarmed and hurriedly issued an order.

"Prepare the horses! Let's head to the west of the city!"

"Send word to intercept all carriages and horses leaving the city!"
-
An abandoned kiln at the foot of the northern slope.

The torchlight cast a crimson glow on the broken pottery shards.

Yu Qianshan walked towards the kiln entrance, his footsteps crunching over the sawdust.

Behind him was a group of guards pushing paulownia wood crates on flatbed carts, still bearing the wax markings from the day the Siz caravan loaded its goods.

Murgi, the commander of the Siz Wolf Guard, stood at the entrance of the carbonized kiln, the curved sword at his waist reflecting the firelight.

"Stop whoever comes!"

Yu Qianshan stopped in his tracks, stood firmly, and shouted loudly in the night.

"I have brought everything you asked for. But where are the men I requested?"

Murgi gave a cold smile and raised his hand to whistle.

A burly man dragged a bulging snakeskin bag out of the kiln and walked to Murji's side.

The blood seeping from the bag's opening meandered into a dark red trail on the bluestone slab, a shocking sight.

Murgi spat out a mouthful of saliva in a hoarse voice.

"Leave the gunpowder, and you can take your people away."

Yu Qianshan scoffed lightly, the tip of his boot grinding against a shard of pottery.

"If it's a dead body, I won't be able to explain myself when I get back."

“Of course it’s alive.” Murgi raised an eyebrow and kicked the snakeskin bag with his boot.

The sounds of struggling and muffled whimpers immediately came from inside the bag. The little bundle curled up looked to be no bigger than a five or six-year-old child.

Murgi said, "The man is here. I want to check out the goods too."

Yu Qianshan raised his hand to signal, and the soldiers opened the lids of the boxes one by one.

A dark yellow powder, tinged with a cold, bluish-gray hue, seeped from the gaps in the box lid.

It is the unique color of gunpowder.

Murgi squinted, intending to step forward to inspect the goods, but saw Yu Qianshan suddenly snatch the torch from the servant's hand, approach the gunpowder box, and speak coldly.

"Release them first!"

Murgi's face darkened. After a moment's hesitation, he waved his hand, "Fine, that's fair."

Upon hearing the noise, two burly men grabbed the rope at the top of the bag and threw it forcefully to Yu Qianshan.

Yu Qianshan glanced at him, then bent down and cut open the bag.

However, what poked its head out was not Niu Niu, but a monkey with its limbs bound and its mouth stuffed with burlap.

"You're asking for death!" Yu Qianshan's eyes widened in anger, his hand on the hilt of his knife, about to lash out, when Murji had already thrown three bone-piercing nails out of his sleeve, aiming straight for his face!
Yu Qianshan spun around to avoid it, when suddenly he heard a dense sound of tiles shattering coming from all around the abandoned kiln site—

Dozens of masked assassins burst down from the top, wielding curved blades and roaring as they charged forward.

Clearly, an ambush had been planned.

Murgi's blade gleamed coldly. "You chose the path to hell when there was one, so kill them!"

Seeing that the other side had a large number of people and was powerful, Yu Qianshan made a decisive decision.

"withdraw!"

Amidst the flashing swords and clashing blades, the Eastern Palace Guards fought and retreated, quickly withdrawing to the outside of the kiln.

Seeing Yu Qianshan leap onto his warhorse, Murgi raised his hand to stop the assassins who were about to charge out.

"Don't pursue a cornered enemy; quickly seize the gunpowder!"

"Yes!"

The assassins pushed the flatbed wooden cart into the kiln. One of the guards peeled back the top layer of gunpowder and found that there was oil paper in between.

Beneath the oiled paper was yellow sand!

"Commander Murgi, the gunpowder has been switched."

Murgi stepped forward and used his waist knife to stab the stuffing inside the box.

Each box was filled to the brim with yellow sand.

"not good!"

He realized something was wrong, grabbed his knife, and rushed towards the cave where Niu Niu was being held—

But there were four guards lying haphazardly in pools of blood, the iron locks were broken, the wooden door was wide open, and the inside was already empty!
He had just dispatched all the assassins inside and outside the kiln to surround and kill Yu Qianshan.

The security here is weak, and Niu Niu has been kidnapped!

"We've been tricked! They've used a diversionary tactic! Chase them, hurry, chase them—"

He roared and brandished his knife, chasing after Yu Qianshan in the direction he had gone like a madman.

Suddenly, a loud "boom" was heard!
A tinderbox was tossed precisely onto the yellow sand pile.

The sound of the explosion shattered the sky.

Tiles from the top of the kiln fell like raindrops.

"Commander Murgi, there are thunderbolts buried under the yellow sand."

You dare to mess with me!

Murgi covered his head and hid behind the ruins, watching helplessly as the horses' hooves disappeared into the thick smoke.

Suddenly, he regained consciousness.

"No! Someone else has kidnapped the child!"
-
On the departing official road, Yu Qianshan, beaming with pride, took off his helmet, holding a waist tag cast with the Xiz totem in his hand, his smile so wide it was almost blinding.

"Brothers, well done! When we get back, we'll definitely get a generous reward from His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The guards raised their swords and shouted in unison in the night.

The autumn wind howled as it swept across the barren grass.

At this moment, at the bend of the mountain path, in a blue-draped carriage with its curtains drawn, the real Niu Niu was sleeping soundly in Yao Guang's arms, clutching half a piece of osmanthus cake.

On the kang table in front of her, a small gold skull bearing the mark of the old mausoleum gleamed faintly.

Yao Guang tossed the skull into the air and caught it steadily, looking rather pleased with himself.

"As expected of me, the title of 'Master Thief' is well-deserved!"

The servant in the blue robe beside her smiled slightly and wiped the crumbs from Niu Niu's mouth.

"Seventh Master is skilled and capable; you may report back to the imperial envoy now."
-
The candlelight in Tanqiu Courtyard flickered until late into the night.

Xue Sui sat in front of the carved wooden lattice window, his fingertips holding a half-read medical book.

Lingyu cooed softly, pacing in front of her, occasionally spreading its tail feathers to brush against her hand holding the scroll. As if sensing its owner's unease, it obediently jumped onto her shoulder and gently nuzzled her earlobe with its beak.

Xue Sui chuckled and gently stroked the pigeon's feathers.

"Silly boy, I'm alright..."

"Lingyu, are you hungry? Let me get you some supper."

A person and a pigeon quietly keep each other company in the candlelight.

The waiting time was extremely long...

As dusk seeped through the window paper and the new moon hung on the eaves, the hurried footsteps of Jinshu finally echoed from under the eaves.

She lifted the curtain and entered, her face beaming with joy: "Miss, there's news from Seventh Master..."

Xue Sui quickly stood up and asked, "How is it?"

Jinshu curtsied, approached, and lowered her voice, "It's already done."

Xue Sui's heart, which had been hanging in suspense all night, finally settled down.

Jinshu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "However, it is inconvenient for Seventh Prince to personally escort Niu Niu back to the Princess's residence. We plan to hand her over to the Eastern Palace spies, and once we have cleared the way, we will send her back to the capital through various channels."

“That’s a safer approach.” Xue Sui nodded.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "I wonder how things are on the Crown Prince's side..."

Before the words were finished, a pigeon flapped its wings and swooped down, landing on the bamboo pigeon stand. It shook its tail feathers, then hopped to Lingyu's side and gently pecked at her neck feathers with its beak, seemingly affectionate.

Two pigeons touched heads together, making soft cooing sounds, as if they were wishing each other peace.

Xue Sui's gaze sharpened slightly, and he quickly stepped forward to take the letter tube.

The letter wasn't written in Li Zhao's handwriting, but it carried a familiar scent.

Once it's done, don't worry about it.

Li Zhao: Stay safe and don't worry about me.

Reader: She wasn't asking about you, she was asking if things were done properly...