Youzhou, inside a house that is considered grand in the region.
The Third Prince fell with a black chess piece in his right hand.
The man sitting opposite him, in his fifties and full of elegance, is none other than Mr Xu the Great.
Three years ago, the Emperor personally found him and asked him to come to Youzhou. He knew then that the Emperor wanted to establish the Third Prince as the Crown Prince, and had been teaching him to the best of his ability for the past three years or so.
He also dropped a son to cut off the Third Prince’s path.
The Third Prince gave up his piece and conceded defeat, “I am still not as good at chess as you, sir.”
“You have something on your mind.”
The Third Prince did not deny it, and was about to say something when the sound of hurried footsteps approached from afar.
Mr. Big had the good sense to rise and salute before leaving, the butler nodded slightly at him as he walked past, before walking up to the Third Prince, “My Lord, that maid has come out of the capital, shall we ……?”
The words were not finished when he was stopped by the third prince, he watched the elder gentleman walk away until he disappeared before asking, “How many people did she follow around?”
“Only five, her escorts.”
The Third Prince tapped the tabletop.
It had been over three years, he had used the cover of his identity to run to many places, but he had failed to find out Chu Yunxiao’s whereabouts, and his father was already displeased with him before he came up with such a ploy, using Song Wangyue to lure out Chu Yunxiao.
“Send thirty, no fifty men to rob and kill, remember, leave a breath.”
“Yes.”
The butler retreated.
The Third Prince grabbed a handful of pieces from the chessboard, lifted them high, loosened them one by one, and listened to them fall to the table with a tinkling, tinkling sound.
As long as he could force Chu Yunxiao out, he would be able to return to the capital and become Crown Prince without any problems.
Behind a wall, Mr. Big stood there, and when he heard the butler say that the maid, he vaguely guessed that it might be Song Wan Yue, but he didn’t hear the words that followed and couldn’t confirm them.
……
After leaving the capital, the road was fast and furious, ten days later, not to mention Song Yi and the others, even those secret guards of the second prince would be too much to bear.
“Dongjia ……”
Song Yi jerked his horse a few whips and caught up with Song Wan Yue, “Let’s find a place to rest for half a day, the horse can’t take it anymore.”
He didn’t understand why there was such a rush to get there, the emperor had only told them that Dongjia should set off earlier, it didn’t say how many days she had to get there in.
Song Wangyue slowed down and glanced at the other four, seeing that they were all exhausted too, “Alright, let’s take a good rest for a day after we pass through Youzhou.”
Song Yi wanted to ask why she had to wait until after Youzhou, but the words suddenly came to her lips as she remembered that the Third Prince had been sent here back then, and that the proprietor was afraid that the Third Prince would get wind of this and take advantage of the opportunity to retaliate against her.
“Then we can speed up and cross Youzhou in two days.”
“Then we will continue to hurry.”
Song Wangyue beat her horse, and the rest of the group followed suit, sending dust flying through the sky wherever they passed.
After a short distance, the sound of horses’ hooves came from the opposite side of the road, raising the dust even higher than here.
Song Yi and the others instantly tensed up.
This was an open area, and they had been walking for half a day without seeing a single house, and those people seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, which was very wrong.
They were fast, and in the blink of an eye they were not far from them, stopping their horses in unison and blocking their path.
Song Yi and the others stopped their horses and had a tacit agreement to protect Song Wan Yue behind them.
The two sides confronted each other without anyone speaking first.
The opposing side was dark and overwhelming, with at least fifty men.
Song Yi lowered his voice, “Master, let’s rush together and kill a way out, don’t worry about anything first.”
Song Wangyue didn’t say anything.
But the leader of the other side spoke up, “Is this person Song Wangyue?”
“That’s right.”
Song Wangyue’s voice was clear and she could not hear any fear.
No sooner had her words fallen than the men on the opposite side all rushed over, surrounding the few of them in three layers, but before they could launch their moves, the sound of poofing came from behind them. The men in front looked back and saw that their companions behind them had been cut down.
The men in front were shocked, and one of them quickly turned back to confront the Second Prince’s guards.
The leader of this robbery against Song Wangyue waved his hand again and five men leapt up, sharp blades in their hands heading straight for Song Yi’s five men.
Song Yi and his five men fought with them in a tangle.
The remaining six leapt up at the same time and attacked Song Wangyue in the middle.
Song Yi and the others were shocked and tried to save them, but they were so entangled that they could not get out of the way.
When the sharp blades reached Song Wangyue, they were about to make six holes in her, when several swords suddenly appeared on the opposite side, blocking the six men and returning the attack with a backhand.
Everything happened in a flash of lightning, and Song Yi and the five men let out a cold sweat of shock.
Song Wangyue sat on her horse without moving, her voice still crisp, but with a chill that seeped into the marrow of her bones, “Finish them all, leave no one behind!
A quarter of an hour later, the sound of clashing swords stopped and fifty bodies, still gurgling with blood, lay on the ground.
Song Wangyue didn’t even look at them, and continued to beat her horse forward.
The five of them did not even have time to wipe the blood from their swords and hurried to follow, but they could not help but turn around after walking far away, only to find that there was no one behind them, and even the horses had disappeared.
A few people were shocked and peeked at Song Wangyue, but saw that she looked calm, as if she had already known that something like this would happen, so they each pursed their lips to death and did not ask.
For the next two days, the nerves of the five were on edge, and it was only after they had passed the border of Youzhou that they relaxed.
“Let’s find a place to rest for a day before we go.”
Song Wangyue instructed.
Song Yi and the others looked at each other before shaking their heads in unison. Song Yi said, “We’ve seen the map, and we’re not that far from the border, so we might as well make an effort and rest when we get to the border.”
Although they had crossed Youzhou, if the Third Prince sent someone after them, they might as well go to the border gate in one breath.
Song Wan Yue raised her eyebrows, “Are you sure?”
The five men nodded in unison.
“Good, then let’s speed up.”
……
Five days later, the group arrived outside the border town.
Because of the speedy journey, several people had dirt on their bodies and faces, causing the soldiers guarding the city to keep looking at them.
This year, there was a lot of fighting and the soldiers were very vigilant, fearing that some spies might have infiltrated the city.
They dismounted and followed the people entering the city, and when they reached them, the guards raised their hands to block them, “What are you doing?”
When Song Yi handed over the paperwork, the soldier took a look at the large seal of the Ministry of Household Affairs on it and hastily withdrew his hand, his attitude immediately becoming enthusiastic, “I will take you all to the general’s residence.”
“Many thanks.”
The soldier waved his hand, gave his companion a word, took his horse and led the way, leading them to the General’s residence, “This is it, the General should be in the residence today.” Song Wangyue gestured and Song Yi took out a piece of silver and threw it to him, “Thank you.”
The soldier happily took it with both hands and gave the watchman another word before turning his horse around and leaving.