Chapter 96: Journeying Through the Snow

  A woman with a tall and slender figure, wearing a red jacket and half-body leather armor, with a sword at her waist and a bow on her shoulder, walked to her side. She looked far away in the direction of the two people walking, her eyebrows slightly furrowed: "Strange, if they are mountain hunters, why don't I see their hunting bows? If they are setting traps to catch beasts, looking at their direction, it's an empty mountain valley, and it doesn't seem like that either."

  She hesitated for a moment, turned her head and ordered: "Send a few people to keep an eye on them, see where they come from and what they want to do. If there's any suspicion, take them down immediately."

  "Roger that"

  A big man wearing a white robe, with a white cloak draped over it, and a narrow-edged single knife hanging from his waist, responded with a loud "yes" and immediately rushed quickly in the direction of Xia Chuo and Ximen Qing.

  The girl who was dressed up like a little white rabbit excitedly jumped up: "Sister, could they be spies from Bei Yuan?"

  The woman smiled and patted her head: "Don't know yet, have to check. Logically speaking, if it's a Northern Yuan spy, there's no reason for them to sneak around here. I'm worried that someone who committed a crime might be hiding in the mountains, which would put the mountain dwellers in harm's way. Since we've seen this, let's investigate and verify."

  "Uh-huh," the little girl nodded heavily, grasping the short knife at her waist that looked like a toy: "If they're really fugitives with crimes on their heads, let me go catch them, I've learned some martial arts too."

  "Haha, the young lady's martial arts skills are naturally good, but if there really is some minor pest, it wouldn't be necessary for the young lady to take action."

  With the sound, a Taoist priest in black appeared at the top of the mountain. The mountain wind blew his whiskers under his chin. In the cold weather, he was still wearing very thin clothes, but he stood firmly there, like an old tree that had taken root, without moving or showing any sign of coldness.

  The little girl turned her head and said: "Is Master Daoyan afraid that I won't be able to beat them?"

  The woman beside him laughed and said, "Master says that to kill a chicken, one doesn't need to use an ox knife. With so many guards around, not using them, but instead asking you to catch the thief, after you go out, your brother-in-law will definitely scold them."

  It turned out that these people were Xu Fei and her younger sister Xu Man Er as well as Dao Yan and the monks.

  Xu Da, the founding general of the Ming Dynasty, had four sons and four daughters. His eldest daughter is the current Yan Wangfei, and his eldest son Xu Hui Zu inherited the title of Guo Gong. The second son Tian Fu died young, the third son Zeng Shou was the left army commander, and the fourth son Rong Xiu was the hereditary commander. The second daughter was the King of Dai's consort, the third daughter was the King of An's consort, and the fourth daughter is Xu Man Er.

  Originally, Prince of Yan Zhu Di was also supposed to come together with them today to relax and hunt, but just before departure, he suddenly received a report from the imperial court saying that the emperor's body was not good. Prince of Yan Zhu Di had long known that his father's health had been deteriorating over the years, but this news was not widely spread, now it was written in the report, indicating that the situation was even more serious. Zhu Di was very worried and hurriedly wrote a memorial to offer his condolences and asked for an edict to return to Beijing to pay his respects, so he didn't have time to go hunting, and let the princess accompany Zhan Er instead.

  The attendants were all elite iron guards trained by Zhu Di himself, but he was still worried about letting his two daughters go to the mountains and forests, so he also asked the abbot of Qing Shou Temple, Dao Yan, to accompany them. Dao Yan had been following Zhu Di since Zhu Yuanzhang selected virtuous monks as lecturers for his sons, and over ten years, they had become close friends. This monk was not only knowledgeable about ancient and modern times but also skilled in martial arts, so having him accompany the princesses made Zhu Di feel more at ease than if he were to go himself.

  Those who went to pursue Xia Jun and Ximen Qing were four guards of the Yan Wang, all of whom were elite soldiers selected from among tens of thousands, known for their caution in action and alertness as individuals, with extraordinary martial skills. They were extremely familiar with mountainous and forested terrain as a battleground, and this time they moved at an incredible speed, wearing white uniforms that blended in with the snow, making it impossible to detect any trace of them. By the time the four guards approached, Xia Jun and Ximen Qing still had no inkling of their presence.

  "This road is really hard to walk."

  Xia Liu rolled and crawled all the way down the mountain, then stood up and said.

  Ximen Qing patted the snow on his body and said, "Where is the road here? Fortunately, the snow is thick, and we can still slide down. If it were in summer or autumn, those dense shrubs and wild grasses, as well as various beasts and snakes, would make it impossible to come down."

  "Indeed, when standing on the mountain, it doesn't seem so difficult to traverse. But once you're actually walking through it, you realize how hard every step is. Building a pass in such a treacherous place, with rolling logs and stone, fire, oil, and sharp arrows... truly one man can hold off ten thousand. And yet, the nomads still manage to break through the pass from time to time. This shows that natural barriers are not enough to rely on. In the end, it all comes down to human effort."

  Xiaojing's sigh was actually thinking of the repeated invasions of the Central Plains by the grassland nations since Qin and Han, but Ximen Qing thought he was referring to the Northern Yuan army, and couldn't help but laugh: "Dangerous passes are not reliable, but if you want to talk about people, those barbarians aren't that fierce, they've already been intimidated by our emperor. Killing all the million troops in Jiangnan, with precious swords and bloody gall... how impressive."

  Xia Fu smiled and said: "Brother Xi Men is again speaking nonsense, this is a border town, it's not Jiangnan."

  Ximen Qing burst out laughing and said: "This is just your ignorance, don't you know that this poem was written by the current emperor?"

  Xia Yu was startled: "The current emperor?"

  Ximen Qing said, "Not bad, killing all the soldiers in Jiangnan, with a precious sword at his waist. The mountain monk doesn't know the heroic Han, only asking repeatedly for his name. Although it doesn't rhyme, it's majestic and powerful. This is a poem written by the emperor when he was on a campaign in Jiangnan, passing by a temple to stay overnight, and the monk kept asking him for his name. It is said that after the emperor ascended to the throne, he remembered this incident and went back to the temple to visit, only to find that the poem had been erased with white powder, which made him very displeased."

  In the temple, a clever monk replied, "I dare not leave the imperial poem, for fear of offending the gods. So I lightly washed it with holy water, and still there is dragon light shining on the Dipper." The emperor was delighted by this response, his anger immediately turned to joy.

  Xia Liu heard it was interesting and laughed: "Among the monks, there are indeed hidden dragons and crouching tigers. This monk is not bad."

  Ximen Qing said: "If you say that the first strange person among monks, then it must be the current emperor. Don't forget, the emperor was also a monk in his previous life."

  Two people walked forward while talking, trudging through knee-deep snow in the flat mountain valley. Ximen Qing said: "Not bad, indeed there is a river below, which has completely frozen over and can hold vehicles. How about we choose this place?"

  Xia Fu looked around and said, "Not bad, this place is spacious enough. Three sides are mountains that block the wind and snow, and there are large trees on the slope, making it easy to gather firewood for warmth. With over a hundred carts and several hundred people, we can hide here. And this location is not far from Lulong Pass..."

  Ximen Qing said: "Alright then, let's take a break and then leave from the valley entrance, head towards Lulong Pass to scout out the route and memorize it."

  "Good"

  Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly pressed the hilt of his waist knife tightly, slightly arched his body and vigilantly looked around.

  Ximen Qing, seeing this, didn't dare to be slow, and quickly gripped his sword tightly, lowering his body to ask: "What did you discover?"

  Xia Liu looked around for a while, the mountain valley was quiet, with only the occasional whirlwind blowing up a piece of flying snow, fluttering and fluttering. Xia Liu slowly straightened his waist and said, "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but just now I had a feeling that someone was watching me."

  Ximen Qing let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "I thought I was going to be eaten by wolves. Let's go, over there is a fallen tree, let's sit for a while, rest our necks and then leave the valley. As the saying goes, 'a horse dies looking at a mountain', don't think it's close just because you can see it, we'll have to wander around for a while before reaching Lulong Valley."

  Two people walked while Xia Yu said, "No need to rush, anyway we won't return to the city before the transaction. Looking at the sky it's getting dark, if we can't make it in time let's go back to the village where we borrowed a place to stay and come again early tomorrow morning. Then notify the cargo vehicles to gather here. Our agreed transaction time is the day after tomorrow, right? We'll make it."

  Two people walked to the side of a large fallen tree, swept away the snow and sat on the branches, took out dried meat and hot wine from their bosom, gnawed on the dried meat to fill their belly, and drank the hot wine to warm themselves.

  In the place where they had just stood, after a long, long time, a pile of snow moved slightly, and then a figure as white as snow quietly slid backwards, getting faster and faster, soon disappearing behind a rocky outcropping.

  Behind the rock were three people, and as soon as he appeared, one of them asked: "Old Yan, how's it going? Did you hear anything?"

  That man stood up from the ground, patted the snow off his body, removed the white cloth covering his face, and said in a low voice: "It doesn't seem like a good route. I vaguely heard them say that this place is both sheltered from the wind and snow, and has an open terrain, where several hundred horses and men can hide. They also mentioned Lu Long Pass, which is quite suspicious. I originally wanted to get closer to listen more carefully, but one of them was very vigilant, so I was afraid of being discovered and had to hide motionless. I didn't hear anything else."

  A few people whispered among themselves for a while, and one of them said: "Since that's the case, let's just capture them and take them to the princess to deal with."

  Another person said, "It's not possible now. We don't know their identities, backgrounds, or purposes. All we can confirm is that they're not ordinary mountain villagers or hunters, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're outlaws. What if we catch the wrong people..."

  A person beside him sneered: "Brother, in this icy and snowy place, sneaking around to find a hiding spot, what good can come of it?"

  The oldest of them, seemingly the leader of the four guards, pondered for a moment before saying: "Indeed suspicious, but can't be certain. The princess is here to hunt, if we mistakenly offend her and dampen her mood, it wouldn't be good either. Moreover, the governance of Beiping Prefecture has its own Buzhengshi, criminal law has its own Tixian Anchasishi, and military affairs have their own Dujianhuishishi. Since it's not wartime, it's not suitable for the prince to overstep his authority and interfere with local matters. If we really arrest the wrong person, spreading the news would harm the prince's reputation. You keep an eye on them, I'll go report to the princess and let her decide."

  The other three nodded in agreement, but this person's face changed and said: "Bad, they want to leave"

  The three of them looked up and saw the two men standing up from behind a big tree, already chatting and laughing as they walked away. They couldn't help but change color: "What to do?"

  The leader hesitated for a moment before making a decisive decision: "Take them down"