Horses traveled through the forest. Duozhu had grown up on horseback. Although she wasn’t as familiar with the terrain as others, her skills were exceptional. She quickly caught up to the front. Surrounded by towering trees, she tried her best to look up but couldn’t see the green pine with the red silk on the mountainside.

However, she couldn’t worry about that now. The people behind her were in close pursuit. She squeezed her horse’s belly forcefully and headed up the mountain.

Zhao Wan refused to give in, her gaze fixed firmly on the red figure ahead.

She hadn’t noticed that not far behind her was Gu Yi, who had been following her all along.

With Duozhu leading in front, the three riders gradually pulled away from the others, heading deeper into the forest.

Duozhu looked back, giving a triumphant glance at Zhao Wan, who was struggling to keep up. Then she cracked her whip again, making her horse gallop even faster.

The two in front had already deviated from the agreed-upon location of the green pine, but Zhao Wan still relentlessly pursued Duozhu.

The female protagonist was, by nature, indeed a stubborn and competitive person.

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings came from the forest. Gu Yi looked up and saw black dots flashing through the green foliage in the distance.

She quickly squeezed her horse’s belly and chased after them.

Zhao Wan noticed that Duozhu suddenly lowered her body, and her heart sank. Several black-feathered arrows shot out from the forest, aiming directly at the horses’ heads. Two slightly lower arrows quickly hit her horse’s legs.

Zhao Wan’s horse suddenly collapsed, but her feet were still tightly bound to the stirrups’ leather straps, making it impossible to free herself immediately. Breaking out in a cold sweat, she hurriedly bent down to undo one side of the stirrup.

The sound of hoofbeats rang in her ears. She suddenly felt one foot lighten. Glancing sideways, she saw that Gu Yi had somehow caught up and had quickly undone her other stirrup.

Zhao Wan was greatly startled, but she didn’t dare stop her movements. After several tugs, her fingers bleeding, she finally broke the leather strap, urgently pushed away the other stirrup, and dismounted. “What are you doing here?”

Gu Yi pulled tight on the reins, moved her embroidered boot to reveal an empty stirrup. “Get on!”

Zhao Wan didn’t dare delay. She stepped on the empty stirrup and mounted the horse, sitting behind Gu Yi.

Just as Gu Yi was about to turn the horse around, a huge black eagle swooped down from the forest, heading straight for her head. Startled, she trembled and sharply pulled the reins to dodge it.

At that moment, several men in black jumped out from the forest, their bows and crossbows all aimed at Gu Yi’s horse.

Zhao Wan, who had just settled behind her, cried out in alarm, “Dantat people! It’s a trap!”

Sister, I know!

Zhao Wan’s alarmed cry was too loud, ringing in Gu Yi’s ears and making them buzz. The white horse beneath them was shot in the belly and let out a long neigh. Gu Yi had no choice but to nimbly dismount, pull Zhao Wan along, and run in the opposite direction.

However, one of the men lunged forward and agilely caught hold of Gu Yi’s sleeve.

Gu Yi immediately released Zhao Wan and pushed her forward.

Zhao Wan turned back, looking at her in shock. She froze for a moment, her eyes clearly showing disbelief.

Run already!

Within moments, Zhao Wan was also captured. Two cloth pads were immediately placed over their mouths and noses.

Before losing consciousness, Gu Yi thought she saw Duozhu on horseback, smiling contemptuously at her.

*

On the field, the polo match finally reached its second half.

At this point, the Great Mu was narrowly leading by two goals, but the Dantat riders showed no signs of fatigue. Xiaoyan glanced at the Dantat seating area. Hamu’er, who had been sitting in the shade of the canopy earlier, had disappeared at some point.

His brow furrowed slightly. Then he heard a sudden burst of excited cheers from the women on the other side of the wooden fence.

Xiao Lü, beside him, raised an eyebrow and looked, laughing, “It seems the wife of the Minister of War has obtained the red silk from the horse race.”

Xiaoyan looked in that direction. There were few horses on the field, as most people had not yet returned.

But Duozhu was not there.

He looked up at the dense forest on the mountain. Although there were no birds startled into flight, the strange feeling in his heart intensified.

Xiaoyan slowly tightened his grip on the reins and turned to look at two black-clad guards sitting on horseback at the edge of the field.

They immediately understood and rode over. “What are Your Majesty’s orders?”

“Go quickly to check the horse race path.” He paused. “If you see Concubine Rou, bring her down immediately.”

The two men galloped away, and half an hour passed.

Xiaoyan remained on the field, his anxiety growing. Gu Yi had been practicing horse riding in the palace for several months. Her riding skills were acceptable, but he had an indistinct layer of worry in his heart.

Although the polo match had not yet ended, Xiaoyan tore off the black band from his forehead and turned his horse toward the edge of the field.

He couldn’t wait any longer. Just as he rode to the foot of the slope, he saw the two guards from earlier galloping down, their faces pale.

Xiaoyan’s heart suddenly sank. The two men dismounted before him, knelt, and reported, “Your Majesty, we searched several rounds and did not see Concubine Rou on the forest path. We went further, almost to the mountaintop, and found the corpses of two horses. Judging from the horseshoe prints, they were the imperial horses brought from the palace today.”

“Seal off the field, gather men to search the mountain with me. Also, send people back to the capital and order the Imperial Guards to secure all checkpoints outside the Southern Park.” Xiaoyan closed his eyes, the knuckles gripping his reins making a slight sound as he slowly continued, “Question each member of the Dantat embassy on the field. Those who refuse to speak, kill them all.”

“We obey Your Majesty’s decree.” The two guards quickly got up from the ground and went to carry out their orders.

Xiaoyan looked at the forest on the mountain and took out a bamboo whistle from the brocade pouch at his waist, blowing it gently.

Inaudible to human ears, but audible to eagles.

He waited for a quarter of an hour, then heard an eagle’s cry from the sky.

A black shadow with a white head spread its wings, circling above the mountaintop.

Hamu’er, riding on horseback, had just emerged from the other side of the mountain through a valley. Naturally, he also heard the familiar eagle’s cry in the sky.

Duozhu exclaimed in alarm, “Are there eagle trainers here too? Will they track us by the eagle scent?”

Hamu’er looked at the unconscious figures supported on the two other horses. Neither of the two women looked like eagle trainers, so they shouldn’t have eagle scent on them.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s hurry. Once we’re outside the Southern Park, we’ll head south.”

They wouldn’t go north. First, they needed to head south to make a detour and shake off any pursuers.

*

Gu Yi awoke with a parched mouth. She found herself in a cramped space, with the sound of rolling wheels beneath her and wooden boards shaking all around.

Once bitten, twice shy—needless to say, she was in a carriage again.

She tried to move her limbs, only to discover that she had been tied up like a rice dumpling, unable to move.

There was no light in the carriage. It was nighttime. She lay on her side on the carriage floor. Blinking her eyes, she gradually adjusted to the darkness and made out the figure opposite her.

Zhao Wan.

Seeing Gu Yi stir, Zhao Wan asked softly, “Are you awake?”

Gu Yi opened her mouth, “Ah.” But her voice was very hoarse.

Zhao Wan sighed faintly, “You’re finally awake. If you hadn’t woken up soon, I would have thought you were about to die.”

“Was I unconscious for long?”

Zhao Wan nodded, “Three days.”

Gu Yi’s throat felt like it was on fire. “Is there any water?”

Zhao Wan shook her head, “No, but when the carriage stops, someone might come.”

Gu Yi swallowed nonexistent saliva in her mouth. “Where are we now?”

Zhao Wan shook her head again, her voice dejected, “I don’t know.”

To conserve her energy, Gu Yi stopped talking.

According to the book’s plot, the Dantat battle was the final campaign of the storyline.

In the original book, Zhao Wan was captured at the Southern Park after being seriously injured. Her stirrups weren’t unfastened in time, and she was dragged several meters by her horse, severely injured by the rocks in the forest. It wasn’t until she reached Dantat territory that Zhao Wan could catch her breath, and her injuries healed, allowing her to regain her strength.

After the Southern Park incident, Xiaoyan, citing Dantat’s disloyalty, sent troops northward. The two armies fought outside Diecheng.

The Dantat commander Naguo offered Zhao Wan as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Xiaoyan, asking him to come alone.

Xiaoyan went to the appointment but killed Naguo with an arrow.

Having lost their commander, the Dantat retreated step by step, eventually submitting at Xiaoyan’s feet.

The endpoint of the plot.

Seeing that Gu Yi wasn’t speaking, Zhao Wan endured for a long time before finally asking, “Why did you try to save me?”

Gu Yi sighed, “I just wanted to save you, so I did.”

Zhao Wan didn’t believe it in her heart, but she couldn’t think of any other reason. However, her inner torment was real—guilt and resentment suppressed her. In the entire palace, the last person she wanted to be indebted to was Gu Yi.

The sound of hoofbeats gradually subsided. The carriage curtain was pulled back, and Hamu’er stood outside, glancing in. Seeing Gu Yi’s eyes open, he laughed coldly, “Concubine Rou is awake.”

Gu Yi tried hard to look outside, but most of the faint firelight outside was blocked by Hamu’er’s body. She could see what appeared to be some tall trees, and if she listened carefully, there was the faint sound of flowing water around them.

They had stopped, seemingly to let the horses drink.

Hamu’er suddenly reached in and, like grabbing a sack, seized the rope around Gu Yi’s waist and dragged her toward the curtain.

Just as Gu Yi was about to scream, she saw him take down the water bag from his waist and pour a few mouthfuls into her mouth.

Gu Yi cherished this opportunity and drank several more mouthfuls. Hamu’er then stuffed a dry piece of flatbread into her mouth.

Although it tasted dry and was as hard as a rock, Gu Yi still chewed it in small bites.

The curtain was lowered again.

Seeing Gu Yi eating with an easy mind and showing no fear earlier, Zhao Wan couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid?”

“I am,” she answered after slowly swallowing the dry bread.

But what she feared more was the despair of not being able to survive even if she managed to last until the end of the plot.

Zhao Wan fell silent upon hearing this.

They were now hostages, their lives temporarily safe. But if war broke out, it would be hard to say. Moreover, there were two of them.

*

Xiaoyan led troops to search the Southern Park forest for a day and a night, combing through it inch by inch. Eventually, they found hoof prints in the valley on the north side of the slope.

Hamu’er had likely planned this from the beginning, using people as hostages—his true nature was hard to change. However, taking both Zhao Wan and Gu Yi was not a good strategy. The more people, the more encumbered he would be, making it harder for him to escape.

Xiaoyan couldn’t figure out why Hamu’er had captured two people. However, at this moment, regret suddenly arose in him. Gu Yi’s rank was below Zhao Wan’s, and fear was born from this in his heart. If Hamu’er was pushed to desperation, to escape, he might choose to eliminate the one he deemed useless between the two.

Xiaoyan rarely regretted anything. Since his ascension to the throne, he had been calculating, consolidating military power, and repeatedly suppressing the Dantat. His intention had always been to use force to make them submit completely, settling the matter once and for all. But now he regretted it.

Yet regret was useless.

The only plan now was to fight.

*

On the fifteenth day of the sixth month, the Emperor personally led the expedition, appointing Yu Dai and Zhou Lang as commanders, and sent troops northward to attack the Dantat. Within a month, Zhou Lang brought fifty thousand troops from the Southern Desert Camp and stationed them a hundred miles outside Diecheng, waiting for the main army.

The Dantat Lord led his younger son, Naguo, with one hundred thousand troops to Diecheng to meet the enemy.

The hottest weather had already passed, but Gu Yi could still smell the slightly sour odor of sweat emanating from her body. To be precise, she hadn’t bathed for ten days.

Hamu’er had been racing north with them at lightning speed. For some reason, he had abandoned his original strategy of taking a detour south. Previously, he had avoided passing through towns, choosing winding paths through secluded old forests. But now, with yellow sand swirling outside and endless desert as far as the eye could see, they had entered the sparsely populated Northern Desert. Hamu’er pressed on day and night without rest.

The carriage was extremely bumpy due to its speed. But Gu Yi had already progressed from her initial motion sickness to being completely at ease. In just a few months of tempering, she was no longer the delicate lady who needed to suck on sour plums when riding in a carriage. As for Zhao Wan, who shared the ride, though she had vomited all the bitter water in her stomach and her face looked pale, she had also persevered.

Both of them had survived intact to the Northern Desert, and Gu Yi knew there was some luck involved.

The more urgent their journey, the more frantically they traveled northward, like the wind. The supplies accompanying the carriages and horses diminished daily, and many necessary items were abandoned.

Lighter meant faster. If there were one less person in the slowest carriage, the carriage could move even faster.

Unfortunately, people were not objects that could be easily discarded. If their traces were exposed because of this, the losses would outweigh the gains.

About half a month ago, when Gu Yi woke up in shock one night, she discovered that the carriage had stopped at some point, and Hamu’er was standing straight outside the curtain, looking at her.

Both inside and outside the carriage were pitch black. Gu Yi couldn’t see his face clearly, but she instinctively felt that Hamu’er’s gaze was on her, and he had developed the intention to kill.

A layer of cold sweat immediately formed on her back, but she dared not move, nor did she dare to beg for mercy.

Zhao Wan was already asleep beside her.

She opened her eyes wide, looking at Hamu’er.

Hamu’er was probably looking at her too.

Perhaps it was a moment, or maybe the time it took for an incense stick to burn—Gu Yi couldn’t remember clearly.

Suddenly, Hamu’er lowered the curtain, and the carriage continued on its way.

She didn’t know exactly what reason had spared her from disaster. However, she thought, if she hadn’t woken up at that time, she might have already returned to June 15th.