The three people removed their cumbersome fur robes, wearing only short fitted clothing. Hiding their bodies in a narrow alley only two feet wide, they saw several pursuers who had been on their tail until now. Only after one of their companions risked his life to lure them into another alley more than ten paces away did they turn sideways and tiptoe along the narrow alley toward the front.
Walking out of the alley, seeing the hiding place just across the street with no one around left or right, anyone would breathe a sigh of relief. Two of them somewhat impatiently stepped out of the alley, wanting to cross the long street to the hiding place. But the middle-aged man who lagged slightly behind with a scar on his face pressed his hand on the blade at his waist and said in a deep voice, “Something’s wrong. There’s the smell of blood. Let’s go!”
“Since you’ve come, why leave?” The tightly closed main gate of the hiding place silently opened at this moment. Wang Zhe and Huo Li stood inside the gate. Behind them two people lay in pools of blood, their fates unknown.
Without asking, Scarface also clearly understood these were naturally the two hidden outposts responsible for guarding this hiding place, eliminated one step ahead by these people.
Scarface was about to turn around when Han Bao and Zhang Shigui had already closed in from the end of the street. At the street entrance, two expert hands each emerged from behind large trees, holding short crossbows and staring eagerly at them.
“You three gentlemen, if you don’t want to draw Guanjiang House and Chengde Army people over, shouldn’t we go inside and sit down to talk slowly?” Wang Zhe asked.
“Who are you people?” The young man’s shoulder bore an arrow wound, but holding his blade horizontally before him, completely ignoring his shoulder injury, he exposed his fangs as it were, viciously staring at Wang Zhe and Huo Li before him like a wild beast ready to pounce and fight to the death.
“Zhao Ci, put down the blade. Go inside first.” Scarface commanded the young man at the front in a deep voice.
Hearing dense hoofbeats sounding just over a hundred paces away, Scarface knew that by now, the Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor’s office guard cavalry elite had already been dispatched to the streets. If they delayed even slightly and were spotted by guard cavalry, escaping would become difficult.
As long as this group of people weren’t in league with the Chengde Army and Guanjiang House, regardless of their background or purpose, they could only first accept being held and enter the courtyard rather than remain in a standoff outside.
Scarface could also see that besides the refined scholarly weakling at the front, the other five were all expert hands chosen from hundreds. Even if they violently resisted, before pursuers arrived, they would most likely be the ones taken down.
The three people walked into the courtyard. Han Bao and Zhang Shigui followed behind and entered, shutting the courtyard gate behind them.
Even though Han Bao and Huo Li had contacted the Liang army on the battlefield, they couldn’t possibly recognize many Liang army officers. While secretly vigilant, they both looked toward Wang Zhe, not knowing if he could identify anyone.
Wang Zhe didn’t recognize the arrow-wounded youth or Scarface either. But beside these two was a small-statured person who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old. Though their face was smeared with wall ash, somewhat filthy, the facial features gave a familiar feeling. Wang Zhe secretly thought this was probably that important figure the Liang Kingdom secret agents in Dingzhou City would sacrifice over a dozen elite expert hands to protect and help escape.
Wang Zhe stared at the youth and said, “I didn’t expect to encounter Your Highness in Dingzhou City…”
“How do you recognize me?” The youth asked in surprise. The voice was tender and clear—it was a girl disguised as a boy.
Scarface wanted to stop her but it was too late. He could only watch helplessly as the girl disguised as a boy fell for the trick and was deceived into revealing herself.
“So it’s Princess Yunhe. I was wondering which highness it might be?” Wang Zhe smiled mockingly. Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang currently had three sons and two daughters. Before his eyes, this girl disguised as a boy who by girl’s age should be fifteen or sixteen, should be Zhu Yu’s eldest daughter—also the daughter of the late Consort Rong who had died before Zhu Yu usurped the throne—Princess Yunhe, Zhu Xi.
“When did Marquis Qianyang’s people start engaging in banditry and kidnapping?” Scarface gripped the blade at his waist, staring at Wang Zhe and Huo Li, asking in a deep voice.
Seeing this person guess their identity so quickly, Wang Zhe was also secretly alarmed and asked, “May I ask how this gentleman is addressed?”
Zhang Shigui wanted to step forward to confiscate the weapons on these three. Scarface held his blade horizontally before him, viciously staring at Zhang Shigui so he didn’t dare advance. He said coldly, “I imagine Marquis Qianyang would absolutely not want your group to expose your tracks in Dingzhou City either, right?”
“Zhang Shigui, take their blades. We’ve already transmitted the message out. The remaining five worthless lives being accounted for here is nothing to regret. Exchanging for the life of a Liang Kingdom princess—it’s worth it.” At this moment Han Bao decisively ordered.
Scarface hadn’t expected the true person in charge was actually behind them. Looking at the person on the left unhesitatingly follow that person’s order and step forward, taking advantage of his momentary bewilderment to already place his hand on the blade handle.
As Scarface was about to struggle, Han Bao unhesitatingly raised his hand and shot an arrow directly at Princess Yunhe’s right arm.
“Ah!” Zhu Xi cried out in pain. In the silent night it was especially cold and clear—who knew how far it would carry.
Only then did Scarface release his grip, allowing Zhang Shigui to seize the blade, also signaling the youth called Zhao Ci to give up resistance.
Huo Li and Zhang Shigui personally first bound Scarface and the youth. Han Bao wasn’t at ease and checked Zhu Xi’s hands, seeing calluses at the webbing of her thumb and forefinger. He signaled Zhang Shigui to bind her, then extracted arrows, stopped bleeding, and bandaged her and the youth called Zhao Ci.
As Zhu Yu’s daughter, Princess Yunhe lurking in Dingzhou City with Liang army secret agents obviously couldn’t be throwing some petty tantrum. When they had earlier hidden in the tree crown watching them flee Guanjiang House, Princess Yunhe had also been quite agile, not slowing down the others’ speed at all. This showed that under Zhu Yu’s supervision, she had practiced martial arts achieving quite extraordinary skills.
Han Bao didn’t want to relax vigilance because of Princess Yunhe’s special status, leaving them an opportunity to exploit. This was precisely what Huo Li and Wang Zhe always subconsciously wanted to maintain—the bearing of aristocratic family sons—which fell short.
At this moment the entire city was under martial law. Streets and alleys were everywhere filled with Wude Army soldiers. They couldn’t go out.
Zhang Shigui led people to drag the two corpses back into the house and clean up the remaining blood. Han Bao, Wang Zhe, and Huo Li held lamps to interrogate the three:
“City-wide searches are about to begin. You escaped from Guanjiang House and walked this way. Presumably you have means to escape or respond to searches. At this time you surely don’t still have anything to hide, do you?”
“In this residence, besides a secret chamber hidden under piled straw in the rear courtyard woodshed, the house owner also lurked into Dingzhou City three years ago. Originally there was no fear of being seen through, but the house owner has been killed by you. Now if we hide in the secret chamber but can’t leave someone outside, whether this will arouse suspicion depends only on heaven’s will.” Scarface sighed lightly.
Huo Li took one person to the rear courtyard to check the secret chamber’s situation. Wang Zhe continued with considerable emotion, “You sent so many people to lurk here three years ago. Was it that you were already worried Wang Yuankui would one day be forced by circumstances to collude with the Mongol Uighurs?”
Scarface coldly didn’t respond. Wang Zhe detected a trace of disdain hidden between his brows and eyes, then smiled, “Even if you long ago detected that Guanjiang House were the Mongol Uighurs’ running dogs, you didn’t expect that Prince He Zhu Rang would at this time send people to Dingzhou to meet with the Mongol Uighurs. What use was it? You still suffered utter defeat, didn’t you?”
Scarface remained relatively composed, but the youth called Zhao Ci couldn’t control his face revealing alarm, allowing Wang Zhe, Han Bao and their group to confirm their previous speculation was correct.
“Who did Zhu Rang send over? Did Princess Yunhe accidentally encounter that person face-to-face and get recognized, causing your entire footing to fall into chaos?” Wang Zhe pressed with step-by-step questioning.
He specialized in civil affairs with extremely strong verbal skills and keen observation of expressions—far stronger than Han Bao and Huo Li. Naturally interrogation and inquiry matters were his responsibility.
Hearing Wang Zhe speak to this point, Scarface knew that even if he remained silent, it held no meaning. He said, “I am Shen Peng, Staff Officer Regional Defense Command Vice Commander of Great Liang’s Chengtian Bureau. Since you are Marquis Qianyang’s people, you should know my Emperor extremely dotes on Princess Yunhe. If you are rushing to Tangyi to report, considering us two as burdens, feel free to kill us and bury us in the secret chamber. But please treat Princess Yunhe well. When the time comes, my Emperor will surely ransom her with great wealth…”
Shen Peng didn’t know what status these people before him held in the Tangyi army, but he knew that those capable of penetrating a thousand miles into enemy territory to gather intelligence were no soft touches.
Moreover everyone had their heads tied to their waistbands. Any slight carelessness meant death. Shen Peng believed that if necessary—these people would surely rush to sneak back to Tangyi to report, and circumstances made it extremely necessary—and having already obtained the intelligence they wanted, they would unhesitatingly dispose of burdens. He would do the same if their positions were reversed.
He now didn’t hope that he and Zhao Ci could preserve their lives, only hoping Princess Yunhe could escape disaster. He thought that as long as these people found a way to bring Princess Yunhe to Tangyi, he believed Marquis Qianyang wouldn’t make things difficult for a woman. At worst His Majesty would symbolically pay some ransom.
“Oh, so it’s Great Liang Chengtian Bureau Eastern Capital Court’s Great Chief Monk Manager Shen. If you don’t cause trouble on the road and aren’t a burden, everyone needn’t cross blades. If you really cause trouble, don’t blame us for handing you over to save our lives. I imagine the Great Chief also understands that whether the Mongol Uighurs or Guanjiang House, at this time they won’t be eager to make enemies with our Great Chu…” Wang Zhe hadn’t expected to catch two big fish at once. He couldn’t help wanting to laugh heartily and celebrate properly.
Over the past year, Wang Tang and Huo Li served as staff officers beside Han Qian. Wang Yan served in the Administrative Bureau. Wang Zhe and Huo Xiao served in the Administrative Bureau. The two had essentially sorted through all of the Tangyi army’s confidential documents. Wang Zhe naturally knew of Liang Kingdom Chengtian Bureau Staff Officer Regional Defense Command Vice Commander Shen Peng. His position in Liang Kingdom was comparable to Guo Que and Xi Fa’er’s status in the Military Intelligence Staff Bureau. He just hadn’t expected that today in Dingzhou City, Shen Peng would fall into their hands.
“You’re not rushing back to Tangyi to report?” Shen Peng slightly furrowed his brows, somewhat confused as he glanced toward Han Bao, Huo Li and the others. He thought if these people weren’t panicking and rushing on their journey, they had many options to bring them along without exposing flaws along the way. But what he didn’t understand was that what happened tonight in Dingzhou City was destined to completely throw the Central Plains situation into chaos. How could these people before him not rush to transmit the news back to Tangyi?
At this moment several “coo coo” bird calls came from the inner room. Shen Peng instantly thought of something, staring at Wang Zhe and asking, “You’ve truly successfully trained birds that can transmit messages?”
“Chief Shen also has deep research into bird message transmission?” Wang Zhe asked with a smile.