The King Knows His Way Chapter 2

The An-ǔ Kingdom is located in the northwest border, and its ruler is named Shada. Like other nomadic peoples, the tribesmen live wherever there is water and grass, and have no fixed territory, but they have a cavalry that cannot be underestimated. When Liam first ascended the throne, the tribes in Mobei had been restless and restless, and the people on the border suffered greatly. At that time, the main force of the court was tied up by the Japanese bandits in the southeast, and they had no choice but to send envoys to the An-ǔ Kingdom secretly to persuade Shada to send troops together with the General Zhenxi, and only then did they temporarily suppress the unrest in Mobei and keep it quiet for two years.

It is for this reason that Chu has always regarded An-ǔ as an ally. The dead man in the alley was Shada's younger brother, named Guli. He originally led his troops to pay tribute to Chu, but later saw that the royal city was prosperous and it happened to be the New Year, so he stayed for a while longer and planned to return to the northwest after the snow in the mountains melted, but he didn't expect to die here.

The matter was of great importance, so everyone did not dare to slack off. They hurriedly carried the body and rushed towards the palace.

Outside the bedroom, Eunuch Sixi was dozing off against the door. When he heard someone coming, he quickly opened his eyes, and it turned out to be Lord Li from the Ministry of War.

"Eunuch, where is the emperor?" Lord Li is over 70 years old and becomes out of breath after walking a few steps.

"It hasn't been long since I fell asleep, and you come here now. Could something big have happened?" Eunuch Si Xi was also startled.

"That's right." Lord Li said anxiously, "It's urgent and I don't care about etiquette. Please, eunuch, pass on the message for me as soon as possible."

"What's the matter, my dear?" Before Eunuch Sixi could answer, Liam pushed the door open and walked out.

"Your Majesty." Lord Li stepped forward. "Just now, the commander of the imperial guards came to me and said that a body was found in the alley behind Fuyun Gate. It was the young prince of An-ǔ Kingdom, who was stabbed in the heart from behind."

"Gu Li?" Liam frowned.

"It is absolutely true." Lord Li said, "I have ordered the news to be kept secret. The body is temporarily placed in an empty house next to the hunting grounds."

"Let's go take a look first." Liam walked down the stairs. Si Xi hurriedly took out the cloak from the hall and trotted over to put it on his shoulders.

How come something went wrong again out of the blue?

In the Southwest Palace, Logan was drinking alone under the moon, with a blunt sword placed on the stone table in front of him, flashing a faint white light.

A nimble figure jumped down from the wall and was obviously startled when he saw someone in the yard.

"Where did you go again?" Logan put down his wine glass.

"You are sitting here in the middle of the night, not sleeping? Are you going to see a ghost?" Riley Duan breathed a sigh of relief, "You think you are my master again."

"Master passed away three years ago." Logan reminded him.

"You never know. What if he's alive again? He's very familiar with reincarnation." Riley took off seven or eight small bamboo baskets from her waist. They were filled with larvae of various colors. Their buzzing sound made people's heads ache.

"Three-eyed blood?" Logan picked one up casually, "I'm lucky."

"Hey, I waited for almost half a month to catch this one." Riley said alertly, "You have to find it yourself."

"You're overthinking it. I'm not in the mood to compete with you for the insects and Gu." Logan shook his head, "Go back and pack your bags."

"Where are you sending me again?" Riley widened her eyes.

"I'm going to the capital of Chu." Logan said.

Riley took two steps back: "If you want to go, go ahead. What does it have to do with me?"

Logan replied: "Because you are useful."

Riley: ...

"If I leave you alone in the palace, I guess the house will be gone by the time I come back." Logan said, "It will either be blown away by you or by the enemy."

Riley was frustrated and sat down on the stone bench: "You just use me."

"How can you be taking advantage of me?" Logan said, "I've told you to control your temper and avoid driving away so many teachers. Others have already taken the imperial examination at the age of fourteen. It's ok that you can't recite poems or compose couplets, but you can't even speak. It's heartbreaking to think about it."

Riley covered her ears with both hands, trying to pretend she was not hearing anything, but her eyes were drawn to the blunt sword on the table: "What is this?"

"I don't know." Logan shook his head, "Just dug it out from the ground."

"Did you go to dig up someone's ancestral grave?" Riley asked suspiciously.

"My master left it to me before he died," Logan said, "and he told me to dig it out tonight."

"You've probably been tricked again." Riley picked up the bamboo basket on the table and didn't even bother to look at the sword.

Logan agreed: "I think so too."

When I was eight years old, he took me to the mountains and picked a bunch of poisonous flowers. He said that if I put them in my room, my strength would increase. As a result, the next day, I saw double, and I walked with my head heavy and almost fell into the water. Since then, even a fool can learn from it. I have never accepted a gift from my master again. This is the second thing.

Riley yawned and went back to sleep.

Logan raised his head and drank the last glass of wine, then returned to his bedroom with the blunt sword.

Three days later at midnight, Riley looked at the two horses in front of him and asked, "Are you and I the only ones who can sneak out of the palace like this?"

Logan nodded: "Of course, do we need to celebrate with drums and gongs?"

"I thought the King of Chu knew about this." Riley said tactfully.

Logan shook her head: "Except you, no one else will know about this."

Riley: ...

The King of Southwest secretly went to the State of Chu, which was a capital crime.

Although I know he won't take it seriously, but... why would I go to Chu State for no reason?

"Gee!" Logan whipped his horse and galloped towards the north.

The black horse's hooves were as fast as the wind, crushing the stars along the way.

The dew that had accumulated overnight fell from the roof, splashing on the ground, bringing the chill of spring.

In the royal city, the breakfast stall owners also set out benches, tables and chairs. They will continue to sell mutton soup to dispel the cold for a few more days in this weather, and then it will be time to switch to steamed buns, porridge and flatbreads. After all, the weather is getting warmer.

"Ten bowls of mutton soup and twenty large pancakes." A team of officers and soldiers sat down, looking like they had been busy all night.

"Okay, wait a moment." The boss was very quick and brought up the mutton soup pancakes in a moment. He was obviously familiar with everyone and asked with a smile, "Why do you seem to be busy recently? Commander Zhang was on patrol yesterday morning, so he came to my place for breakfast."

"Nothing serious, just a routine patrol." The leading soldier said a few perfunctory words, then lowered his head to drink soup and eat cakes. Seeing this, the boss also kept silent and did not talk to him again. But he began to feel uneasy. Looking at the situation, could something really happen?

Inside the palace, Liam still had a splitting headache after drinking the medicine.

Although people have been investigating openly and covertly in the past few days, no useful clues have been obtained. After eating roast duck at Tongfulou that day, Guli went to the teahouse to listen to some folk songs, and then left satisfied. He even gave a lot of silver to Qin Niang. It seemed that there was nothing unusual, and everyone thought he had returned home alone. Unexpectedly, after only a few hours, he was found dead in the alley by the night watchman.

"Your Majesty." The official in charge of investigating the case was named Cai Jin. "There are already some rumors in the city. In my humble opinion, it is better to inform the Kingdom of An-ǔ as soon as possible. Delaying any longer will be useless."

Liam sat on the dragon chair, his brows furrowed for a long time.

Although the northwest border seems to have calmed down in the past two years, the root cause of the conflict has never been eliminated. The reason why the various tribes have remained inactive is, firstly, they are afraid of the military strength of the court, and secondly, because they have the assistance of the An-ǔ Kingdom. Now that Guli has died tragically in the capital of Chu, and Shada has always had a hot-tempered and impulsive temper, if he is provoked by someone, I am afraid there will be endless hidden dangers.

"Your Majesty." Seeing that he remained silent, Cai Jin had to remind him again in a low voice.

"I will personally write a letter and send someone to deliver it to the Kingdom of An-ǔ the day after tomorrow." After deep thought, Liam finally spoke and asked, "Adrian should be back by now, right?"

"Your Majesty, General Shen will arrive at the royal city in about seven days." Cai Jin said, "If we ride fast, we can arrive in five days."

Liam nodded and waved his hand for him to retreat first.

The territory of Chu State is vast, and the further north you go, the colder it gets. When Riley first left the southwest, she was still wearing thin clothes, but a few days later she changed into a thick padded jacket. She even refused to leave the brazier for dinner at night, and wished she could get into bed and never come out, but Logan dragged her all the way out of the inn.

"Where are you going again?" Riley asked.

"As a guest." Logan replied.

"Are you a thief?" Riley exposed him.

Logan brought him to land steadily on the roof of a house.

Riley yawned continuously.

"Go get something for me." Logan said.

"Steal it if you want, why take it?" Riley pouted, "What is it?"

"Do you see the tower in front?" Logan said, "There is a secret room on the top floor. I want that pearl."

"Let's make it clear first. I'll just steal this one. I still need to sleep in the second half of the night." Riley brushed the dust off her clothes.

Logan nodded.

Riley stood up, stretched her wrists, and disappeared into the night in a moment.

Logan touched his chin and followed him silently.

The pagoda was very old and there were pieces of debris falling everywhere. Riley was disgusted as soon as he entered. After he had gone through numerous difficulties and dangers to avoid the traps and got the pearl with a head full of dust, he was almost furious and cursed at the ancestors of the Duan family.

"Very good." After turning back, Logan was still waiting for him there.

"Here, your broken beads." Riley said as if she was throwing a cockroach. "It's so dirty."

"Do you know what this is?" Logan shook the box in his hand.

"How would I know? I don't want to know." Riley pulled his sleeve and wiped his hands, "Let's go back."

"That tower is the Nine Mysteries." Logan continued.

"I don't care if it's nine or... nine mysteries?" Riley opened his eyes wide, "mechanism tower?"

Logan nodded.

"The Nine Mysterious Machines that are full of hidden weapons? Is it this broken tower?" Riley confirmed again, "Is this bead the Burning Star in the legend?"

Logan still nodded.

Riley took a deep breath, then became furious: "So you're just going to let me go?"

Many heroes had died in there, and even their helmets and armor were shot through. No wonder when I entered just now, the whole room was filled with dead bodies and skeletons.

Can it be more reliable?