After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Around noon, they unfolded a map drawn on a piece of cotton cloth and set off from Dinghui Temple. Following the checkpoints they had researched beforehand, they took detours when they encountered sentry posts to avoid being questioned. They also sent out three groups of people as scouts and headed towards Miaofeng Mountain together.

There were no extra horses, so to conserve their strength, they rested for a short while every hour, ate some dry rations, and were fed some hay. They traveled for a full six hours, bypassing the western mountains and covering more than eighty miles before finally approaching Miaofeng Mountain.

Xu Xiyin said that the location for the Heavenly Principles Sect's Xiangshan Conference would be on the west side of Miaofeng Mountain. Prince Jing was also hidden there.

Under the moonlight.

The shadows of people and horses crisscrossed on the undulating green grass by the roadside.

More than thirty people, carrying seven or eight torches, walked slowly along a dirt road leading towards Miaofeng Mountain.

A light rain fell here in the evening, making the ground a bit muddy. The scent of grass and earth mingled in the air, carried by the north wind.

The wind is quite dry.

Ning Nan's lips and cheeks were already a bit chapped. Smelling these smells, her nose twitched uncomfortably. She resisted the urge to lick her lips and rubbed her face from time to time to dispel some of the sleepiness.

After riding a horse against the wind for so long, my eyes are a bit sore and even watering in the wind, so it's not very pleasant.

Master Lu's snoring came from behind. This former commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was indeed a highly experienced old guard with extremely high skills. Wrapped in a fox fur coat, he said, "I need to recuperate," and fell asleep on horseback. Several Embroidered Uniform Guards took turns leading his horse.

No one else has the ability to fall asleep immediately.

Even with my eyes closed, even if I could avoid falling, I still couldn't fall asleep, let alone produce an enviable snoring sound like Master Lu's.

Over the course of a day and night,

The group was completely exhausted.

Moreover, many of them were injured.

Ning Nan had two knife wounds on his left hand, which were both painful and itchy, and slightly numb. He frowned, suspecting that the wounds had reopened.

"I want to go back to the South."

The young man in the Taoist robe on horseback exhaled, his expression slightly solemn.

If we want to return to Jiangnan quickly, we need to go to Miaofeng Mountain to pick up Prince Jing and his party.

Then they led their people to find a road and head south.

Miaofeng Mountain is located west of Beijing.

Tongzhou is located east of Beijing.

Shangguan Zhao, Xiuxiu, and Chen Ruhai are all in Tongzhou.

According to his previous arrangements, the more than one hundred soldiers of the mission were dispersed into smaller groups, possibly hiding in a village as bandits or river pirates.

Previously, he had published the supernatural tale "Dragon Palace Treasure" in Beijing. That night, as instructed, the two Imperial Guards who went to the mission's camp explained everything to Chen Ruhai.

Instruct Chen Ruhai to activate the trade routes set up along the way.

By spreading rumors about the evil deeds of "Eunuch Wang Bing" and fabricating stories about "someone buying a huge treasure from Wang Bing at a low price and making a fortune by reselling it," there would be no shortage of people looking for Wang Bing.

Unable to sell his wares in Nanjing, Wang Bing could only sell them to those in the north. Antique dealers would likely fill in the blanks themselves, finding a plausible excuse for the greedy eunuch. As long as the profit is large enough, it's easy to sway people's hearts.

Judging from the timing, Cui Cui's wife should have received the news in the past few days.

He inhaled a mouthful of earthy smell, which filled his lungs, and then slowly exhaled it.

Many "Great Liang merchants" were stationed along the way. After receiving Prince Jing and his group, they immediately went to the east to meet up with Xiu Xiu and the others.

From Tongzhou to Cangzhou, then to Jinan, Xuzhou, Huai'an... crossing mountains and fording rivers, this southward journey may seem difficult, but it is actually the safest.

"Young Master," Xu Xiyin glanced around at everyone, noticing their exhaustion, and said with concern, "Why don't we rest for a while?"

This place is called Zhoujialing, which is more than 20 miles away from Miaofeng Mountain.

Ning Nan squinted her sore eyes.

After traveling for a while, we were not far from leaving Beijing, but it was no longer so easy to catch up with.

Logically, we should have rushed forward as quickly as possible and reached Miaofeng Mountain under the cover of night. Otherwise, once daylight arrived, the number of sentry posts from the Northern Dynasty would increase, which would cause great trouble.

He thought for a moment.

Thinking of how exhausted everyone was, especially some of them who were seriously injured and pale-faced, and how they would be powerless against the Northern Dynasty soldiers, he agreed in a hoarse voice:

"Rest for an hour. Those who are not injured, hold on and keep watch. Those who are injured, eat and sleep as soon as possible."

"Yes!" the crowd responded in hushed tones.

Xu Xiyin waved her hand, and the group rode their horses to a grove of trees by the roadside. They dismounted, led their horses into the grove, and tied them to the trees.

Qian Sijin arranged the sentry posts.

Erlaizi blinked his sore eyes and said, "Brother Qian, why don't you Imperial Guards take a break? You've already been scouting around during the day. We have more people, I'll arrange the sentry posts."

Qian Sijin clasped his hands in gratitude and said, "Thank you very much, Brothers Erlai."

Erlaizi waved his hand and told Sanzhuang, who was already sleepy, to go to sleep under the tree.

There were still more than twenty servants left, while the Imperial Guards numbered only twelve. Some of the wounded were too injured to walk and were assigned to be spies on the spot, but whether they would survive was another matter.

Erlai arranged for ten relatively healthy men to be divided into three groups to guard the perimeter. He didn't sleep either, but sat on a rock with his knife, soaked some dry rations in cold water, and chewed them.

The others took things off their horses; those with fur coats covered themselves, while those without huddled together with others to catch a nap. In almost an instant, the forest was filled with the sound of snoring.

Some people still had dry rations stuffed in their mouths, but they had already fallen asleep.

Zhen Susu brought Ning Nan a fur coat and covered him with it. She and Xu Xiyin shared one of the coats, both of them exhausted.

Ning Nan glanced at Er Laizi outside the woods, leaned back against a tree, and lowered his eyelids.

He still kept the hairpins that Uncle Donghu had given him in his bosom, and had not yet told Erlaizi about them, nor had he told Erlaizi that his father hoped his granddaughter could be named "Li Lanzhu".

He planned to hand over the jewelry to the other party after returning to Nanjing, as if it were jewelry made by Han Donghu, who was a butcher in Nanjing, by saving up his silver.

Thinking about these things, his heart sank.

Then I tried to dispel my worries and stop thinking about how Uncle Donghu is doing now.

Through the gaps in the trees overhead, I could see a sky full of brilliant stars.

Ning Nan rested her head on the mottled tree bark and gently closed her eyes.

"stop!"

A fierce scream tore through the sky.

It was as if her eyes had just closed.

That shout woke me up.

Then came the sound of footsteps and horses' hooves.

My heart suddenly started racing.

Ning Nan opened her eyes.

A flash of light appeared in the corner of his eye.

He opened his eyes wide and saw several people running on the road outside the woods.

Seven or eight riders followed behind them, three carrying torches and the rest carrying swords, chasing after the men.

In the flickering firelight, he saw that the seven or eight riders were all wearing white armor from the Northern Dynasty with blue trim.

It was a group of Eight Banners soldiers!

"Dog slave!"

One of the riders shouted loudly.

Ning Nan moved.

A tingling sensation came over my hands and feet.

He frowned, only then realizing that he had slept for quite some time. Not only were his hands and feet numb, but the fur coat he was wearing was also covered with many leaves.