The desert wind was billowing with dust, and the entire view was filled with the desolate yellow. The setting sun was right between a few green cacti on the sand dune, looking like a delicate, quiet, desolate, and lonely Chinese ink painting.
Sobude ran over from afar, holding a vulture in his hand, and shouted, "General! A letter from the Crown Prince!"
Sheng Jiangli was lying on the soft sand, with his hands behind his head. Hearing this, he lazily got up, took the secret letter from Sobude, and unfolded it.
The wind blew, and the yellow sand hit Sheng Jiangli's handsome face. Even his long eyelashes were covered with dust.
Sobude couldn't help but ask, "What does the Crown Prince want to do this time?"
Sheng Jiangli folded the letter. The setting sun shone on his clear eyebrows and sharp outline. Even the dazzling light couldn't hide his sharp edges.
"The Prince of Yan has been summoned to the capital. The Crown Prince wants me to assassinate him on the way."
"What? Ask the general to assassinate the Prince of Yan?" Sobude was greatly surprised. "I heard that the Crown Prince had already sent someone to lurk beside the Prince of Yan and wait for an opportunity to assassinate him. Why does he ask you to do it again?"
Sheng Jiangli smiled and dusted off the sand on his body. "Maybe that assassin is useless, and the Crown Prince has lost his patience. Or maybe he wants me to add fuel to the fire..."
Sobude's gaze fell on his left shoulder, full of worry. "The Prince of Yan is highly skilled in martial arts. Your shoulder injury hasn't healed yet. It's very unlikely that you'll succeed if you go to assassinate him now!"
Speaking of the shoulder injury, Sheng Jiangli pressed his still-aching shoulder and couldn't help but grin and show a smile:
"He's really ruthless! That arrow almost killed me."
Thinking of how he had been stuck in the desert sand for a month doing nothing, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He wondered if this arrow he had deliberately taken had made Shu'er and the Prince of Yan fall out.
At the thought of Caiyu, Sheng Jiangli's eyes lit up. "The Prince of Yan has left the capital. Isn't Caiyu left alone in Yanjing?"
Was his chance coming?
Unexpectedly, Sobude gave him a sympathetic look and said, "I heard that the Prince of Yan set off yesterday and took that girl named Caiyu with him to the capital. General, do you think the oasis in the Gobi Desert is green?"
Sheng Jiangli: ...
He suddenly turned around and strode towards the tent. "Pack up! Set off with me! Win back my woman!"
On the third day of the third lunar month.
In Pengcheng.
A group of light cavalry appeared on the official road. All of the more than a dozen people were dusty.
The leading man's clear eyebrows and eyes concealed a sharp edge.
The petals of the flowering pear trees on the ramp were fluttering in the wind. The wildflowers by the roadside were blown up by the wind and landed on his temples, gently softening the iron-blooded look in his eyes.
He was truly a man of noble character and outstanding appearance.
Ji Qian rode on the side of Song Yinghuai's horse and sighed. "Your Highness, we've encountered three assassinations on this journey. We're exhausted, and several brothers are injured and haven't been properly treated. There are still more than a thousand miles to go..."
He glanced worriedly at the carriage behind the horse team and whispered, "I don't know if Miss Caiyu can hold on."
No one knew who sent the assassins in the fight eight days ago. Their combat power was completely different from the previous two groups.
Caiyu's carriage was scattered, and it almost rolled down the hillside.
Fortunately, Caiyu remained calm in the face of danger. She grabbed the leading assassin and rolled down the hill together, using him as a cushion.
The little girl was extremely fierce. As soon as she rolled down the hill, she took out her Yaojiu dagger and stabbed randomly.
She even chased the dizzy assassin away.
However... after all, she was a woman. She was injured all over when she rolled down the hill. Fortunately, she had a cushion, so she wasn't in any life-threatening danger, but she sprained her muscles and bones.
It was really a blessing in disguise.
Song Yinghuai tightened his fingers on the reins slightly, paused for a moment, and said:
"Since she insisted on coming, she has to bear the consequences of the dangers on this journey."
Having said that, he still turned his horse around, came to the carriage, and knocked on the door.
Caiyu was sitting in the carriage, holding a small piece of torn cloth in a daze.
This torn cloth was what she had torn off when she grabbed the leader of the assassins and rolled down the hill eight days ago.
There was an embroidery on it. It didn't look like the embroidery work in the Central Plains, but rather like the pattern from the Western Regions.
And it was extremely familiar.
When Sheng Jiangli first entered the mansion, the corner of the indigo robe he put on her seemed to have a similar pattern embroidered on it.
Caiyu frowned in confusion.
Brother A'li... Has he entered the pass again?
Did he come to assassinate Song Yinghuai?
What did that mean?
It meant that the Crown Prince no longer trusted her. The Crown Prince had started to let others take over the task of taking Song Yinghuai's life!
As everyone knew, Song Yinghuai was the God of War of the Great Ye. He was highly skilled in martial arts, and many people had failed in their direct assassination attempts.
Everyone knew that assassinating Song Yinghuai was extremely difficult, so the Crown Prince didn't plan to implement such a crude and reckless plan at first, for fear of alerting the enemy.
However, now that the Crown Prince's power had been taken away, the people and the court were complaining about the Crown Prince's atrocities. Even some court officials had started to impeach and submit memorials, asking the Emperor to replace the Crown Prince.
Song Yinghuai was on the move in the border area and was about to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. If he made great achievements, no one could be sure whether the position of the Crown Prince would change.
So the Crown Prince was cornered and started to do anything to achieve his goal. He started to implement any method that could kill Song Yinghuai.
There was a knock on the door outside the carriage. Caiyu quickly put away the torn cloth and lifted the curtain to show a slightly pale face:
"Your Highness, this servant is here."
Ji Qian and the others lowered their heads and snickered.
They had never seen a servant sitting in a carriage while the master protected her.
Song Yinghuai glanced at her and said in a deep voice, "It's only thirty miles to Pengcheng. We'll stay in the city tonight. Can you still hold on?"
Caiyu nodded. "This servant can hold on. Your Highness can just continue on the journey. It doesn't matter if we don't rest. This servant doesn't want to delay Your Highness's schedule."
She was really a sensible servant!
Ji Qian and the others showed admiration in their eyes.
They had all seen it in the past month. Although Caiyu looked delicate, she was actually the toughest girl they had ever seen.
She never complained about the hardships on the journey. She ate whatever they ate.
They were used to living in the open, and when the situation was favorable, they would travel day and night. She also endured and traveled with them.
During the three assassinations on the way, she was extremely calm. Although her martial arts skills were mediocre, she was very smart and didn't cause any trouble to everyone.
She was better than countless women in the world!
They almost thought that this girl came from a military family, but they didn't expect that she was actually the daughter of a small escort.
Song Yinghuai was silent for a moment and said, "Forty miles outside Pengcheng tomorrow, there's a small path leading to the capital. There are less than twenty days left until the day the Emperor requires us to arrive in the capital. I need to hurry on my way first."
Once they entered Pengcheng, they were already in the territory of Gusu. Caiyu wasn't worried that Song Yinghuai would send her back to Yanjing.
She said very understandingly, "This servant understands. The imperial edict cannot be disobeyed. Your Highness can just lead the people and go first. You don't need to worry about this servant."
Song Yinghuai nodded. "I'll leave Han Fen and fifteen personal guards for you. I'll just go first with Lord Ji and the others."
"This servant doesn't need anyone to protect me." Caiyu said. "There are dangers everywhere on the way. After Your Highness leaves, no one will make things difficult for this servant. It's more important for Your Highness to protect yourself."
Song Yinghuai's eyes were deep.
This girl was still too naive.
The assassins who came last time escaped. They had witnessed with their own eyes that he had protected everyone around the carriage. Anyone with a brain could guess that there was someone he wanted to protect in the carriage.
If he didn't leave any guards, was he waiting for the assassins to easily capture Caiyu and use her to threaten him?
When Song Yinghuai rode away, he left a sentence "We'll discuss it later."
Caiyu retracted her head into the carriage and fell into deep thought.
The problems that Song Yinghuai had considered were not something she hadn't thought about...