newbobooks Chapter 214 Entering the Capital Alone
Chapter 214 Entering the Capital Alone
Ling Jiu immediately stepped forward to inquire about the details. It turned out that when Yan He and the others were stopping people, someone in the forest shot a cold arrow. Yan He went to catch that person, but he never returned.
Meng Fuqing carefully reviewed what had just happened and discovered that this group knew her itinerary and the number of people protecting her perfectly, and had made two preparations accordingly—
They were to be separated; one group was to assassinate her, and the other group was to target Yan He.
When they were in the prefectural city, Yan He was always by her side, and it was obvious to everyone that Yan He was her confidant.
The purpose of choosing Yan He as the target is self-evident.
Meng Fuqing tightened his grip on the whip handle. He heard Ling Jiu ask his men if they had searched the forest. The answer was that they had searched but hadn't found anyone, and the rest of the men were still searching in the forest.
"Did you leave any survivors?" Meng Fuqing asked.
"There is one survivor, but I just saw that he was barely breathing."
Meng Fuqing immediately said, "Take me to see him."
The three returned the way they came. There were more than a dozen corpses lying where the fight had taken place, but one person's chest was still rising and falling.
Ling Jiu stepped forward and deftly removed the poison sac from the assassin's mouth. He discovered that the assassin's head was badly injured. He checked the pulse, then turned and shook his head at Meng Fuqing with a grave expression.
Meng Fuqing took out a medicine bottle from his pocket. "You guys go into the forest and see if there are any other clues. I happen to have a medicine here that can keep someone alive."
"What if those people come back to kill us..." Ling Jiu was worried about leaving Meng Fuqing alone.
Meng Fuqing said firmly, "I can protect myself, you go first."
Ling Jiu lowered his head and agreed.
After the two left, Meng Fuqing healed his deep wounds. Seeing that his condition had improved, she used vine threads to pierce two acupoints on his body.
A short while later, the assassin's eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.
Meng Fuqing asked in a deep voice, "Who sent you?"
The assassin's lips moved slightly, as if realizing that there were no more poison sacs, then he closed his eyes again and remained silent.
Seeing this, Meng Fuqing manipulated the vines to pass under his skin.
The assassin suddenly opened his eyes, his jaw clenched, his eyes bulging as if about to burst. He had the illusion that insects were crawling under his skin, which made him feel excruciating pain and at the same time, a chilling feeling rose up in his heart.
"The Yang family of the capital!" he managed to utter, veins bulging on his face.
"Where did you take them?"
"The capital city..."
The vines traveled right up to the heart, then turned and pierced it.
Meng Fuqing stood up, found Ling Jiu, and the group rode quickly towards the prefectural city.
Midway through, she sent two people to Hanhua Village to check on the situation there.
Upon returning to the prefectural city, she immediately issued an order to impose martial law at all checkpoints in Jing'an Prefecture.
That evening, two pieces of good news arrived: everything was fine in Hanhua Village and there was a great victory at the front.
Xu Weizhi, who was usually mature and composed, could not hide the joy on his face, while Meng Fuqing sat in the study with a cold face and his eyes downcast in thought.
The door creaked open, and someone entered.
She looked up and saw Qin Su strolling leisurely to the door.
"I heard Yan He has been kidnapped? Hasn't our lord always treated her as a confidante? He must be feeling a mix of joy and sorrow right now."
The word "Lord" coming from Qin Su's mouth always seemed to carry an ambiguous meaning.
After this man pledged allegiance to her, he abandoned his ambitions and spent his days playing with cats and dogs, drinking and having fun, becoming incredibly lazy.
His inappropriate behavior prompted Xu Weizhi to file several complaints against him, but Meng Fuqing ignored them.
The more you show Qin Su that you value him, the more arrogant he will become. If you ignore him, he will eventually become restless.
She leaned back in her chair and said coldly, "Isn't Young Master Qin always well-informed? Why don't you help me out of this urgent situation?"
Qin Su bargained: "Of course, transfer me back to the army. I don't want to work under Lord Xu."
Meng Fuqing had previously handed Qin Su over to Xu Weizhi because he and his subordinates were too closely connected, and Qin Su himself seemed to be giving up.
Now that it's been cold for so long, and most of Qin Su's men have gone to Zhannan with Xie Jin, it's not impossible to transfer them back.
"Sure, I happen to have something to tell you."
She shared her thoughts, but before she could finish speaking, Qin Su strode over and said, "Meng Fuqing, are you crazy? Everyone in the world knows that you, Meng Fuqing, have occupied Jing'an Prefecture."
"It's precisely because of your notorious reputation that the world is in complete chaos. The imperial court sees you as a thorn in their side and wishes they could get rid of you as soon as possible. Are you offering yourself up to be killed?"
Meng Fuqing raised an eyebrow slightly, a cold smile appearing on his lips, more arrogant than ever before: "Who kills whom is still uncertain."
Conquering the world little by little is too slow. She originally wanted to wait until Xie Jin conquered Zhan Nan and had more food and troops before speeding up the process.
But there were people who were even more anxious than her.
The good news came just as she wanted. She, Meng Fuqing, was already special enough in the eyes of the world. What difference would it make if she became even more special?
Qin Su really couldn't understand where Meng Fuqing got his confidence from. "Who can you kill by yourself? Meng Fuqing, there are few people in this world who can make me, Qin Su, willingly submit. I still want to see how you get to that position. Before that, don't mess things up and kill yourself."
"Mind your own business. Even if you die, I won't die," Meng Fuqing said. "Before General Xie returns to the city, you should arrange for Lu Zhi and Niu Er to take men and wipe out that bandit gang on Duyun Mountain, fifty miles northwest of Jing'an Prefecture. It would be best to spare their lives and recruit them into the army."
You'd better keep my trip to the capital a secret and don't tell anyone.
"Is this because you arranged for someone to impersonate you to avoid being discovered?" Qin Su asked thoughtfully. "What about Xie Jin? Didn't you tell him? What if he mistakes you for someone else? Wouldn't that be bad?"
"I will take care of things on his end; you don't need to worry about it."
Qin Su stared at her intently, then suddenly smiled, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will obey."
After Qin Su left, Meng Fuqing went back to the backyard to rest, only to see Meng Linlang and Huai Xu standing together at her door—Huai Xu was Zhao'er, whom Meng Fuqing had renamed.
“Cousin,” Meng Linlang stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “Is there any news about Sister Yan He?”
Meng Fuqing shook his head. "Is there anything else you want to say?"
Meng Linlang bit her lip. "If my cousin has no one to rely on, Linlang is literate and can help her."
"No need." Meng Fuqing opened the door and walked straight in. "Stay in the backyard and don't bother me unless it's important."
Meng Linlang nodded, not discouraged at all. Since arriving in the prefectural city, she had stopped having nightmares.
In her heart right now, if those strange dreams were evil spirits, then Meng Fuqing was the holy light that drove them away.
"Huai Xu, please take good care of your cousin," she instructed.
Huai Xu bowed and said yes.
In reality, after Huai Xu came to Meng Fuqing's side, she found that she could hardly see Meng Fuqing during the day, and at night, she could not enter the bedroom without Meng Fuqing's permission.
Feeling uneasy about the leisurely nature of her job, she could only try to learn how to cook delicious food from the cook and make it for Meng Fuqing.
In the early hours of the morning, two figures slipped through the window and into Meng Fuqing's room.
Meng Fuqing, who was breathing in and out, opened his eyes. Standing next to Ling Jiu was a person wearing a veil.
Ling Jiu introduced, "This person is Wei Miao, who transported grain out of the city before."
Wei Miao removed her veil, revealing a face that looked exactly like Meng Fuqing's.
She knelt down and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Lord Meng."
Meng Fuqing scrutinized Wei Miao for a moment, only to find that the person in front of her, after disguising herself as her, was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Get up, no need for formalities." Meng Fuqing got off the bed. "I suppose Ling Jiu has already told you, so I won't go into details. Just give these things to Lord Xu, and he won't bother you so often."
"I've already made arrangements at the military camp. You just need to show up at the government office every day. If anything unexpected happens, Ling Jiu will cover for you."
What she handed over were the notes she had taken during her patrol. The handwriting was small, allowing Lord Xu to study them carefully.
Wei Miao accepted the stack of papers handed to her by Meng Fuqing with both hands. "Rest assured, sir, Wei Miao will do her best."