They drove the carriage quickly towards the city, leaving the vast night outside behind.
Chu Xinian sat in the carriage and couldn't help falling into deep thought. He discovered another tampered plot: in the original novel of "Qianqiu Fenghou", the former queen clearly died of illness, causing the prince to lose the discipline of his biological mother and become increasingly naughty. How come it became that he was strangled to death by the emperor
Return to the Minister of War Qin Daoyan.
I actually thought of him as Chu Xinian at the beginning, because this character only appears in the middle and late stages of the original novel, and he doesn't have many scenes.
Qin Daoyan was an ambitious man. Later, when his power grew, he once secretly communicated with foreign countries and betrayed the country. As a result, he was discovered by the King of Jin, who reported it to the Emperor of Yan and sentenced him to beheading. The King of Jin also made a great contribution because of this.
Qin Daoyan has numerous adopted sons, among whom there is a man who is good at using two swords, named Qin Shuang. He is good at martial arts and specializes in assassinating dissidents for Qin Daoyan. He can be said to be a trusted and capable person.
When Chu Xinian saw the sword wound on the corpse, the first person he thought of was "Qin Shuang". He followed the clues and guessed that the mastermind behind the scenes could be none other than Qin Daoyan.
Jiu Niang's letter is extremely important. If what she said is true, Qin Daoyan must have a huge assassin organization in his hands. This case will be easy to solve.
But if they could gather enough evidence and bring down Qin Daoyan, not only would they be able to eliminate an old enemy for Xie Jingyuan, but they would also be able to allow the prince to gain a great merit in front of the Emperor of Yan.
Chu Xinian still needs to think carefully about how to investigate this case.
The prince was driving the carriage outside, cracking his whip. There was no other way. Chu Xinian couldn't drive, and Xie Jingyuan was a sickly person who had just been frozen to death in the well. He was the only person who could be used.
The prince felt very unbalanced and turned his head to look into the carriage: "You two bastards, how dare you let me drive?"
Xie Jingyuan silently sharpened the tip of his shoe, resisting the urge to kick him off, and frowned, "Do you want to walk back to the capital?"
This is a mountain road with rugged terrain. If someone who is not familiar with driving comes here, they might even drive the car into a ditch.
The prince snorted coldly, obviously very angry, and the horse's butt was almost swollen from being beaten by him.
Chu Xinian always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't find any clues. However, his keen sense made him aware of the approaching danger. At this moment, Xie Jingyuan seemed to have discovered something, and suddenly frowned and said: "Just a moment-"
The prince stopped the carriage and asked, "What happened again?"
A gust of wind blew, and the forest rustled. Some gravel fell from the valley and landed directly on the top of the carriage.
Xie Jingyuan closed his eyes and remained silent, his ears slightly lowered, as if he was listening to something. After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes and suddenly pulled Chu Xinian out of the carriage at lightning speed, and also knocked the prince to the ground, rolling to the side.
"boom!"
As soon as they left the carriage, a man in black jumped down from the treetops, two long swords flashing cold light, piercing straight into the carriage from the roof, and the sword energy split the carriage into pieces. If Xie Jingyuan had dodged a little slower, he would have been stabbed through by now.
Chu Xinian was pulled by Xie Jingyuan and fell off the carriage unexpectedly, rolling several times on the gravel road before stopping. He sat up with stars in his eyes, and saw a man in black standing not far away, staring at them with a pair of ruthless eyes, holding a long sword in each hand, and the bloodstains on them were clearly visible under the moonlight.
Qin Shuang!
Chu Xinian's pupils shrank slightly when he saw this. He never expected this character to appear like this. He slowly got up from the ground, secretly estimating the chances of victory for both sides.
The prince's head was hit hard. He covered his head and frowned as he stood up. He was also stunned by the scene in front of him. After reacting, he sneered and turned to thank Jingyuan and Chu Xinian and said, "Let's go together!"
He just didn't believe it. How could one not beat another
Xie Jingyuan's face was gloomy, and he only said two words coldly: "Shut up!"
If Xie Jingyuan was in his prime, it would be no problem for him to kill Qin Shuang. But now the poison in his body has not been cleared, and he has no weapon. It is already difficult for him to protect himself, not to mention that he has to protect Chu Xinian and the prince, so his chances of winning are reduced again and again.
Qin Shuang was obviously afraid of Xie Jingyuan, so he hesitated. He silently drew his sword and blended into the darkness: "Hand over the letter, and I may spare your life."
Obviously, this statement cannot be believed.
Chu Xinian keenly caught the key words: "Maybe?"
The prince was quite royal at the critical moment. At least he was scared to death and sneered, "You dare to come and take my life? You are a cowardly person!"
Qin Shuang frowned slightly when he heard him call himself "Gu", and he was obviously still considering whether to kill the prince. Looking around, Chu Xinian was the easiest to deal with among these people. He thrust his sword and attacked Chu Xinian without warning.
“Go!”
Xie Jingyuan's eyes were stern, and he pushed Chu Xinian aside and went straight for him. He leaped up, dodged the sword, and struck Qin Shuang's wrist with a strange and exquisite gesture, snatching the long sword from his hand while he was numb.
Chu Xinian was stunned for a moment when he thought of Xie Jingyuan standing in front of him. Then he quickly untied the sachet around his waist, poured all the contents into his palm, and crushed them with force.
The prince wanted to help, but he couldn't get in at all. Seeing Chu Xinian standing next to him, he was angry and annoyed: "Chu Xinian, you are more useless than me!"
It seems that the prince himself has a clear understanding.
Chu Xinian knew that the more critical the moment, the more he couldn't panic. He rubbed the thing in his palm into powder, frowned and looked at the field, only to see Qin Shuang and Xie Jingyuan fighting with their swords. The moves were so fast that even the afterimages could not be seen clearly, and the fallen leaves and gravel around were all injured by the sword energy.
Although it was difficult to determine the winner, if the fight dragged on any longer, Xie Jingyuan would probably be exhausted and lose.
The prince picked up a stone from the nearby cliff, stood at a distance, and smashed Qin Shuang's head directly at him, but the sword hit Fang's shoulder and shattered it into pieces.
Xie Jingyuan frowned and glanced at him: "Take Chu Xinian away!"
The prince was furious: "You can let me go if you want, why do you want to take him with you! He is just a spy!"
However, both he and Chu Xinian wanted to leave.
Gradually, Xie Jingyuan began to lose his strength, and his attack speed visibly slowed down. Qin Shuang was obviously struggling, with cold sweat on his forehead. He clenched his sword and was about to deal a fatal blow to Xie Jingyuan, but suddenly a very calm voice rang in his ears: "Do you want Jiu Niang's letter?"
Qin Shuang looked over subconsciously, and saw Chu Xinian standing not far away, with his left hand behind his back, holding a bloodstained envelope in his right hand, and smiled to himself: "I'll give you the letter, how about you let us go?"
Qin Shuang thought that Xie Jingyuan was really difficult to deal with. It didn't matter whether to kill these people or not. The important thing was to get the letter first, and it wouldn't be too late to kill them afterwards. Upon hearing this, he immediately stopped fighting, withdrew from the battle circle, and walked towards Chu Xinian step by step.
Xie Jingyuan's face was as pale as paper. He swallowed the sweet taste in his throat expressionlessly and barely supported his body with the sword. He frowned and looked at Chu Xinian, but Fang gave him a comforting look.
Qin Shuang was still alert. He stopped at a distance from Chu Xi and said coldly, "Throw the letter over here. If you dare to play tricks, I won't let you go!"
"I don't know martial arts, so what tricks can I play?"
Chu Xinian smiled slightly, folded the letter in half, and threw it directly at Qin Shuang.
Qin Shuang quickly caught it, lowered his head and opened the envelope, only to find it was empty. He glared at Chu Xinian angrily: "How dare you play tricks on me!"
Seeing this, Xie Jingyuan was about to take action, but unexpectedly, Chu Xinian suddenly sprinkled a handful of red powder on Qin Shuang. Qin Shuang screamed in pain, covered his eyes with his hands, and staggered back a long distance.
Chu Xinian spoke quickly: "Xie Jingyuan, spare his life!"
The implication is that as long as you don't die, anything is fine.
Xie Jingyuan quickly understood what he meant, narrowed his eyes, and took advantage of Qin Shuang's defense to throw the long sword in his hand, piercing directly into Fang's left shoulder. The force was so fierce that it penetrated the rocks and nailed Qin Shuang to the mountain wall.
"ah!"
Qin Shuang raised his head in pain and let out a scream. He felt a burning pain in his eyes and an unbearable sting in his left shoulder. He swung his right sword recklessly, but Xie Jingyuan twisted it back, breaking his joints and his jaw. He whimpered and couldn't even speak.
The fighting finally stopped.
Xie Jingyuan leaned against the mountain wall, slowly slid down to sit on the ground, frowned and tried to calm the surging blood in his body.
Chu Xinian patted the remaining powder in his hand, his expression still calm, making it impossible to tell whether he was panicking or not.
The prince didn't understand what happened. The battle ended inexplicably? He looked at Chu Xinian with doubtful eyes, smelled the pungent smell in the air, and held back a sneeze: "What did you do?"
"What?" Chu Xinian said, "I sprinkled some chili powder."
The last time he checked the source of the poison in the General's Mansion, he saw chili peppers drying in the back kitchen yard, so he grabbed some and put them in the sachet, just in case. After all, in this era where even the flying flowers and leaves can kill people, martial arts are really dangerous, and chili peppers, a stimulating substance, can in some sense replace anti-wolf spray.
Look, it comes in handy today.
The prince sighed, as if he was truly getting to know Chu Xinian for the first time: "You are so insidious..."
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."
Chu Xinian accepted this comment. After he finished speaking, he walked towards Xie Jingyuan, leaned over and put Fang's arm on his shoulder, then helped him up and asked in a low voice: "Can you still walk?"
When Xie Jingyuan spoke, he always felt like he would vomit blood. He hadn't been so embarrassed in years, and nodded with a gloomy face.
Chu Xinian didn't believe it, so he pinched his wrist and checked his pulse, only to find that his breathing was disordered and quite bad.
“Don’t lie.”
After Chu Xinian finished speaking, he looked at Xie Jingyuan deeply, then turned around without saying a word, squatted in front of him, and motioned for him to come up: "Come on, I'll carry you."
Xie Jingyuan glanced at his back, but hesitated.
Chu Xinian turned around, his voice was still gentle, but he did not allow for rebuttal: "Come up, don't make me say it a second time."
Xie Jingyuan then lay on his back. Feeling the warmth of Chu Xinian's back, he couldn't help but close his eyes, always feeling something strange in his heart.
Some distance from the city gate, the carriage broke down and the horse ran away, so they had to walk the rest of the way.
When the prince saw Chu Xinian carrying Xie Jingyuan on his back, he subconsciously asked, "What should I do?"
Xie Jingyuan looked at him fiercely: "Do you have long legs?"
The prince choked and pointed at Qin Shuang and asked, "What should we do with him?"
Chu Xinian said: "Take him with you, he is a witness."
Xie Jingyuan sneered coldly: "If you are not afraid of death, let him carry you."
The prince cursed in his heart. He saw the vines on the side wrapped around Qin Shuang several times, tying him up tightly. He held the other end of the rope in his hand and kicked him in the butt like walking a dog: "Hurry up and leave!"
Chu Xinian carried Xie Jingyuan on his back and walked very steadily in the darkness. He heard the prince's cursing voice from time to time behind him, and he held back a smile, thinking of the King of Jin's expedition to Shuofang.
"General, do you know that killing people is not necessarily the best way?" Chu Xinian's voice was clearer than the moonlight, as if he could see through many things.
Xie Jingyuan lowered his eyes and glanced at his neck: "If I don't kill anyone, what should I do?"
"Praise him as high as possible. This way, even if we don't take any action, the superiors will suppress him to death." Chu Xinian seemed to be reminding someone, but also seemed to be saying everything.
The Emperor of Yan was always suspicious, and military power and the throne were the most untouchable things. Back then, the Xie family was feared by the emperor because of their great prestige in the army, let alone the Prince of Jin, who was qualified to succeed the throne.
The Emperor of Yan could tolerate an outstanding son, but he would not tolerate a son with great power. If the Prince of Jin was able to thrive in the army, the Emperor would naturally do so without the Crown Prince's intervention.
The prince walked behind them and listened to their words. He looked up at Chu Xinian thoughtfully and spoke. After a while, he finally spoke, but he cursed with disdain: "You little spy."
After he finished speaking, he took Qin Shuang's hand and followed them, walking side by side. Chu Xinian warned, "Don't confuse me. I won't be fooled by you."
They were close to each other, and Xie Jingyuan pushed the prince away, his disdain evident in his words: "If you don't speak, people will think you are dumb."
The prince felt that his friend had changed, and had become different from before. He slowly twisted the vine in his hand a few times, thinking about what had happened in the past few days, as if he understood something, but also seemed to understand nothing.
The prince asked directly, somewhat unconvinced: "Xie Jingyuan, why do you always protect him?"
The hand that was pinching the vine pointed right at Chu Xinian.
Chu Xinian paused.