The first thought in Ji Gang’s mind was: It’s over. I’ve lost Hu Shanwei, and Mu Chun will beat me to death.

Ji Gang desperately tried to calm himself down and analyze the current situation with his limited wisdom:

Yesterday the entire inn had been searched, especially this room where Liu Siyan had stayed. Even the floorboards and walls had been pried open, but no secret passages or hidden layers were found.

The bedding was cold, which meant Hu Shanwei had been gone for at least half an hour.

Looking at the chair beside the bed, it was empty.

Last night when he came in to blow out the candle, Hu Shanwei’s cotton coat had clearly been folded neatly and placed on this chair.

Looking at Hu Shanwei’s leather boots by the bed – the ones gifted by Empress Ma – they were also missing.

The teapot and cups in the room were arranged orderly with no signs of a struggle…

Hu Shanwei hadn’t pulled the rope. She had put on clothes and shoes, and had even tidied the bed a little, smoothing out the blankets.

There were only three possibilities: first, someone had threatened Hu Shanwei with a weapon, forcing her to comply obediently. Second, she knew the person and was willing to go with them. Third, she had discovered something and, given the circumstances at the time, couldn’t alert others, so she went alone to pursue the clues…

Which one was it? Ji Gang fell into deep thought. The first seemed unlikely – given Hu Shanwei’s character, she dared even contradict the Imperial Noble Consort at the time. She couldn’t possibly have offered no resistance at all. Moreover, she was very cunning. Even if she truly couldn’t resist at all at that moment, with her wisdom, she should have left some clues…

Ji Gang lifted the blankets and even poured out the water from the hot water bottle in the bedding to see if there was anything inside.

At this moment, the post master and Commander Lu arrived upon hearing the news. Ji Gang was squinting with one eye open and one closed, checking if there were any foreign objects hidden in the flower vase.

“Commander Ji! What should we do now?” The post master was scared out of his wits.

Commander Lu also showed urgent concern: “Last night our five hundred manor troops camped outside. Just now I assembled and counted the men – not a single one of our troops is missing, nothing abnormal. Commander Ji, do you want to count the Embroidered Uniform Guards? With eight hundred men protecting Bureau Chief Hu, unless the bandits grew wings, how could they have spirited away Bureau Chief Hu without anyone knowing?”

“I’ve already sent someone to assemble and count. The report just came back – not one is missing either.” Ji Gang put down the empty flower vase and asked Commander Lu, “You’ve been searching the mountains these past days without catching a single bandit. How can you be so certain just now that bandits must have abducted Bureau Chief Hu?”

Commander Lu’s expression didn’t change: “Perhaps the bandits have secret chambers in the mountains, or they came from the city at night. Apart from the bandits of the eighteen strongholds, I really can’t think of anyone else who would harm Bureau Chief Hu.”

Ji Gang pondered for a moment and asked, “In the middle of the night, we were all sleeping soundly – it was the perfect time for sneak attacks or theft. But the bandits don’t want money, weapons, or horses, and can’t be bothered to take the lives of us court officials. Why would they go to such trouble to abduct a female official?”

The post master offered his counsel from the side: “Perhaps they thought Bureau Chief Hu was beautiful and abducted her to be a bandit chief’s wife?”

“Speaking such slander against a female official’s reputation – are you tired of living?” Ji Gang’s gaze turned cold as he drew his blade and placed it against the post master’s neck, cutting deep enough to draw a line of fresh blood.

“This is Xi’an Prefecture, not the capital! The Embroidered Uniform Guard mustn’t act so lawlessly!” Commander Lu’s pupils contracted as he drew his sword almost simultaneously, pointing it directly at Ji Gang.

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard is conducting an investigation – who dares obstruct us!” Ji Gang’s subordinates drew their embroidered spring sabers, flanking Commander Lu from left and right like scissors at his neck.

Prince Qin’s manor troops poured in through both the main door and windows, shouting loudly: “Release Commander Lu!”

Thus, the post station that had been all harmony between host and guest yesterday immediately turned to bitter enmity today, with swords drawn!

Where had Sister Shanwei gone?

Let’s say that last night at midnight, Hu Shanwei was sleeping soundly while hugging her warm hot water bottle, not even dreaming.

“Bureau Chief Hu, wake up.”

A voice sounded by her ear – from the voice, it was a man.

Hu Shanwei woke up but deliberately kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep. Her right hand, concealed under the blankets, reached toward the rope under her pillow, groping left and right, but couldn’t find it.

“Bureau Chief Hu, is this what you’re looking for?”

Hu Shanwei opened her eyes. A thin figure stood by the bed, holding a rope in his hand.

Just as Hu Shanwei was about to cry for help, the person covered her mouth and brought his face close: “It’s me, Shi Baihu from the Eagle Guard, a trusted aide of Master Mu.”

One of the eight bandit hundred-household commanders that Mu Chun had recruited from Jiangxi’s Strange Stone Ridge, they had become Mu Chun’s first group of trusted followers. Hu Shanwei had met them all.

This Shi Baihu was a famous thief from Jiangxi, skilled at picking locks and breaking into buildings.

Hu Shanwei pushed away his hand and whispered, “What are you here for?”

Shi Baihu said, “The eight of us were ordered by Master Mu to follow the troops from a distance and protect Bureau Chief Hu.”

Hu Shanwei felt warmth in her heart – Mu Chun did care about her. Though she thought this in her heart, she said aloud, “I have three hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards with me. Mu Chun’s efforts are unnecessary.”

With the current situation unclear, Hu Shanwei didn’t want to drag Mu Chun into this muddy water.

Shi Baihu pointed to his own nose: “If I can sneak in, what about the bad people? Bureau Chief Hu, quickly put on your clothes and come with me.”

Hu Shanwei refused: “I’ve traveled far to find the whereabouts of Liu Siyan’s group.”

Shi Baihu stamped his feet anxiously: “There’s no time to explain. We’re looking for you in the middle of the night because we’ve made a discovery, so we’re taking the risk to infiltrate here.”

Hu Shanwei said, “What did you discover? I’ll go call Ji Gang immediately.”

“No.” Shi Baihu whispered, “There’s a mole among the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and there are problems with the five hundred manor troops camped outside. Ji Gang probably can’t be trusted either. The task of us eight is to protect your safety. If you come out with me, everything will become clear.”

If it were Mu Chun, Hu Shanwei would have followed, but with Shi Baihu…

Hu Shanwei said, “Fine, it’s cold outside. I need to wear a fur hat.”

Fan Gongzheng had given her a white fox fur snow hat that could even cover her ears – very warm. This hat was sitting on the bedside table.

Hu Shanwei picked up the hat with her left hand while her right hand, concealed by her sleeve, reached for the rope on the bed curtain and pulled hard.

Ji Gang didn’t come – the rope had broken.

The break was clean – Shi Baihu had already cut the rope.

Just as Hu Shanwei was about to shout, someone covered her mouth and nose from behind. She smelled a strange floral fragrance and fainted.

Shi Baihu applied false whiskers to his face. A large man dressed in Embroidered Uniform Guard clothing sprinkled some alcohol on Hu Shanwei, also draped an Embroidered Uniform Guard robe on her, put a large hat on her head, and together with Shi Baihu, they supported her between them and strutted out boldly.

From the surface, it looked like two Embroidered Uniform Guards supporting a colleague reeking of alcohol who had drunk too much. The night patrol didn’t notice anything suspicious at all.

At the back courtyard’s small gate, accomplices were already waiting to pick the lock. They placed the unconscious Hu Shanwei into a large bamboo basket used by the kitchen for vegetables and disappeared into the dark night carrying her.

When Hu Shanwei woke up, she found herself in a cave halfway up a mountain, wrapped in a thick wolf skin mattress that was very warm. Mu Chun’s eight bandit hundred-household commanders smiled obsequiously at her: “Bureau Chief Hu has awakened?”

Hu Shanwei felt chilled to the bone: “What do you want to do?”

Shi Baihu quickly apologized, saying, “The situation was urgent, so we used the backup plan – we drugged you and forcibly carried you out. Bureau Chief Hu, you were already surrounded by bandits without realizing it.”

Hu Shanwei thought Shi Baihu was talking nonsense: “What bandits? The post master said the bandits from the eighteen strongholds had all fled without exception.”

Shi Baihu and the other seven said together: “They were lying to you! They are all bandits!”

“The post master, servants, Hundred-household Commander Lu, and the so-called five hundred Prince Qin manor troops are all bandits!”

“Everything down the mountain is an illusion – only the post station building is real…”

It turned out that Shi Baihu and the others, following Mu Chun’s orders, had disguised themselves as small merchants and secretly followed the troops to protect Hu Shanwei, traveling all the way to Zhouzhi County.

The small merchant caravan had encountered Prince Qin’s manor troops who were “searching the mountains” on the road and felt something was wrong.

First, this group of manor troops showed no interest whatsoever in merchants with obvious foreign accents. They didn’t stop the carts to check household registrations and travel permits – they just glanced once, then continued searching for something at the foot of the mountain, and they were even leading hunting dogs.

Everyone felt strange. They emptied their water gourds, then carrying the gourds and using the excuse of looking for a water source, they approached this group of manor troops flying Prince Qin’s banner and asked where they could find water.

Some manor troops showed fierce looks in their eyes, and some even half-drew their swords. The leader, who looked like an officer, gave them a meaningful glance and pointed west, saying, “Go forward about half a li, and there’s a hidden spring seeping from a rock crevice.”

Shi Baihu thanked them and left with the water gourd.

After walking about ten steps, Shi Baihu vaguely heard someone behind them say, “It’s a fat sheep from out of town with quite a bit of water. How about we…”

That person didn’t continue speaking – probably someone gave them a meaningful look.

In the bandit trade, there were commonly used code words. Throughout the Chinese lands, there were various local dialects, but all under one Chinese civilization, some code words were universal.

For example, “fat sheep” referred to wealthy merchants, rich people.

For example, “water” – water governed wealth position, meaning money.

Shi Baihu was a recruited bandit from Jiangxi. Hearing this familiar jargon, he immediately realized this group weren’t soldiers but local bandits from Xi’an.

A gang of bandits disguised as Prince Qin’s manor troops, flying the prince’s banner!

To avoid alerting them, Shi Baihu didn’t stop but continued to the hidden spring to fill the water gourd before returning to the merchant caravan to report this matter.

If the manor troops were fake, could the people at the post station not know?

Impossible. So the people at the post station should also be bandits in disguise. The real servants and post master had perhaps already been kidnapped by bandits, or even murdered!

Ji Gang’s three hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards were well-equipped, each carrying matchlock guns. The bandits didn’t dare act rashly. At night, they gave the post station to the Embroidered Uniform Guards to sleep in and camped outside in the bitter cold – this was to surround them, not from hospitality.

So Shi Baihu and the others disguised themselves as Embroidered Uniform Guards at night, infiltrated the post station, and rescued Hu Shanwei.

Hu Shanwei was half-believing and asked, “Where’s the proof? Just because of the code words ‘fat sheep’ and ‘water,’ you’re certain they’re bandits from the eighteen strongholds? Also, why didn’t you tell Ji Gang so he could be on guard? Why did you have to sneakily drug me and carry me away alone?”

“The proof is the intuition of being bandits ourselves. We’re as keen to our own kind as hunting dogs.” Shi Baihu gave a mocking smile toward the distant post station and said:

“We eight brothers were recruited into the Embroidered Uniform Guard. From Commander Mao at the top down to the lowest Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers, everyone looks down on us. If Master Mu weren’t protecting us, we brothers would have long since become disheartened and returned to Jiangxi to resume our old profession. Only Master Mu treats us as hundred-household commanders and constantly encourages us to improve. We only listen to Master Mu’s instructions. He wants us to protect you, and we’d risk our lives to complete the mission. As for Ji Gang and the three hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards…”

Shi Baihu helplessly spread his hands: “We don’t care about their safety at all. If we had told Ji Gang last night, the Embroidered Uniform Guards would certainly have taken action. If that aroused suspicion from the bandits disguised as manor troops, we couldn’t have saved you.”

“You are our only objective.”

Just as he finished speaking, a gunshot rang out from the direction of the post station!

Hu Shanwei hurried out of the cave to look.

Meanwhile, at Zhouzhi County post station.

The gunshot from outside broke the standoff in the guest room. Just as Ji Gang was about to kill the post master, Commander Lu, who had been pointing his sword at Ji Gang, sheathed his weapon and ordered all his subordinates to put down their weapons and not harm anyone.

Ji Gang was baffled. Commander Lu let go, and with a clang, swords and sabers fell to the ground. He raised both hands above his head and said, “Commander Ji, could we sit down and talk? Please release the post master first.”

Ji Gang refused to let go and asked, “Where is Bureau Chief Hu? Where have you hidden her? If you dare harm a single hair on her head, I swear, regardless of whether Prince Qin protects you or not, you’ll go to the imperial prison and your entire clan will be exterminated!”

Commander Lu smiled bitterly: “I really don’t know. I also don’t understand why two female officials have had incidents one after another in my territory. But I swear, even if we eighteen strongholds had eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard, we wouldn’t dare rob your Embroidered Uniform Guards, let alone intercept twenty carts of gifts for His Majesty. We simply cannot digest such things.”

“After all, we’re just bandits, not devils. We usually ask passing wealthy merchants for some toll money to get by with difficulty, and never disturb common people or officials. We didn’t rob Liu Siyan’s group, and we don’t know why they mysteriously disappeared in our territory. We believe someone is deliberately framing us. So we turned the nearby mountain forests, even our own strongholds, upside down to prove our innocence, but we found nothing.”

“Yesterday morning, before you arrived, we had just kidnapped the entire post station and combed through it as well. We also interrogated the post master and servants. They all said they had received Liu Siyan’s group – they weren’t deliberately framing us. They checked the travel permits, examined their identification badges, and registered them, but they couldn’t describe their specific appearances clearly. So we suspect that group on the return journey wasn’t Liu Siyan’s group at all. Someone had intercepted them early, stripped their clothes, taken their badges and permits, then registered at this post station to confuse the trail and direct the blame to our eighteen strongholds.”

Ji Gang was greatly shocked and after a long while said, “Your five hundred men are all bandits from the eighteen strongholds?”

The post master used a handkerchief to stop the bleeding from the sword wound on his neck: “The servants and I are all bandits. The real post master, servants, cooks and others are all… being entertained at the eighteen strongholds.”

Ji Gang thought: So I slept a whole night in a bandit den! And I slept damn well too!

“Commander Lu” bowed to Ji Gang: “This humble commoner Chen Xuan, chief of the eighteen strongholds, greets Commander Ji. I beseech Commander Ji to spare the eighteen strongholds. We’re willing to cooperate with Commander Ji to investigate the truth and find the real culprit.”