My wife has a secret

Chapter 195 Going to the Capital

The other townspeople had never seen such a scene before. In their world, that man was the best in martial arts.

Although this man is a deserter, his boxing and kicking skills are unmatched.

Who would have thought that when we really met an enemy, we would not have the energy to resist at all.

The townspeople who had just shown their ferocious looks began to think of retreating, but Yang Xianning had no intention of letting them go. She picked up the farm tools next to her with her bare hands and threw them out. The other party was pulled by the huge force and fell towards the roof.

With a loud bang, the man's back broke the beam and he vomited blood.

"Don't even think about running away! This woman has no intention of letting us go!"

A townsman saw that every move of this woman was fatal, and seemed to realize something. He shouted at the top of his voice for people to turn back, hoping to use attacks from all directions to make the opponent reveal a flaw.

The result is predictable. Yang Xianning took advantage of the gaps before and after these people's attacks and shuttled through the crowd like a carp.

Every time she swung the dagger, someone's life would be taken.

Xu Qing, who was standing on the stairs, thought that this was Yang Xianning's battlefield alone, but two or three townspeople below saw that the situation was not right and tried to attack him.

The narrow staircase made it difficult for long weapons to be used, not to mention that these townspeople had no idea about coordination and tactics, and they just rushed up with sharp farm tools.

Xu Qing followed the instructions given by the female knight and deliberately let these people walk to a close position. Then he lowered his head and took a step forward, using the advantage of the short knife to stab and kick the oncoming enemies.

The townspeople who had no swords to protect themselves were naturally powerless to resist. In addition, the knife in Xu Qing's hand had been carefully polished, so he became a ruthless character who could stand alone against ten thousand men.

Gradually, more than half of the hundreds of attacking townspeople were killed or injured, and there were wailing sounds everywhere. The entire hall was filled with blood and corpses.

The remaining people also completely lost their fighting spirit and scrambled to get out of the door and ran outside.

In their eyes, Yang Xianning has completely turned into a devil.

Clever Chen Laosan hid outside the house and watched the situation. Being suspicious by nature, he did not follow the group into the house at the beginning because he felt that the woman was not someone who could be solved.

Hearing the screams coming from the house one after another and seeing familiar townspeople running out, he immediately realized that his guess had come true and wanted to escape among the crowd.

But when he dodged into an alley and was about to escape with his hidden belongings, he suddenly saw a familiar figure.

"Lady...Lady, it's Chen Laosan who didn't recognize the real man. Please let me go..."

……

The battle of Liangjiaqu ended quickly. In less than an hour, the people here lost their fighting spirit and allowed Xu Qing and his group to walk freely in the town.

Xu Qing didn't want to waste too much time in this dark town, so he blocked the children's eyes and left the inn, then burned it down with fire.

While it was still daylight, the four of them headed out towards the north of the town and continued on their way to Shangjing City.

They thought that after completing the last bit of the journey, they would be able to enter Beijing smoothly, but who would have thought that they would be stopped by a checkpoint set up by the government halfway.

Not only they were stopped, but also the caravans and travelers entering Beijing from this route.

"General, can I ask...why can't we enter the city?"

While the caravan was resting on the side of the road, a merchant came up to the blue-robed and leather-armored officer with two pieces of silver, stuffed them into his pockets and asked, "We all took this road before. Is there a war ahead?"

The Liao and Jin countries fought frequently, conflicts often broke out in several border cities, and soldiers sometimes blocked the road.

But this is the heartland of Liao, and they have never heard of anything happening here.

The officer took the silver change, gave a piece to his colleague next to him, and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

Being on duty was not a big deal, so he did not hold back and told the whole story.

"It's not a war. There's a new emperor ascending the throne in the southern Qi State. Did you know?"

"Yes, I heard that the empress who ascended the throne was very beautiful, only about thirty years old...she was in her prime."

Merchants need to gather information and make profits, so he knew some rumors about the State of Qi.

During Qi's ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and coronation ceremonies, the new emperor would appear before the people so that people could get a glimpse of his true appearance.

The news of the empress's stunning beauty spread and became extremely famous in several countries.

"Hey, it looks like you have some connections."

The soldier patted the merchant on the shoulder and smiled, "Yes, women can fight in the palace, but they can't sit firmly on the throne of the emperor. Besides, our Liao Kingdom was at war with the Jin Kingdom, and didn't we win a great victory some time ago? The empress wants to send more gifts to maintain relations with our Liao Kingdom."

The businessman slapped his head and suddenly realized.

"I understand! The empress wanted to find a backer and set her sights on our Liao Dynasty. What a good plan."

"That's right. The gifts and money sent by the Qi State delegation are huge...so our emperor ordered us to patrol the roads and prohibit all personnel and convoys from entering the city through the south gate of Shangjing for the next three days."

The merchant asked anxiously, "Sir, the things in my caravan are all mountain products from various restaurants in Shangjing City. They will be stale after two days."

"The South Gate is sealed, and the West Gate is also under strict inspection. You should go around to the East Gate to enter the city."

For the sake of the two pieces of silver, the officers and soldiers showed the merchant a clear way out.

The latter understood what he meant, thanked him twice, and retreated the same way he came.

When he arrived at the camp where the caravan was staying, he began to call the guards and grooms who were resting and ordered everyone to rush to the east gate.

"Tomorrow! You must get into the city before midnight! And hand over the goods in the cart to Shopkeeper Ma on time."

"Boss, we should go through the east gate. We won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Nonsense, how could I not know that? If we fail to complete this order and lose money... no one will have a good life!"

Seeing how sternly the boss spoke, everyone in the caravan dared not utter a word of complaint.

They had all signed indentures with the merchant companies. If the caravan were to suffer a loss, they would have to sell themselves into slavery to pay the compensation.

But the life in Liao Kingdom was getting harder and harder every year, so it was a good thing to have a job.

"Where are you from?"

When the businessman turned around, he suddenly saw Xu Qing walking towards him. From his appearance, he looked very young, and his expression was somewhat immature.

"Master, my wife and I wanted to go to Beijing to make a living, but who would have thought that the South Gate was closed. If the two of us go through the East Gate, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time and waste several days' rations."

Xu Qing overheard the conversation between the merchants and the soldiers, and originally wanted to sneak out and meet the Qi delegation.

But there was a sentry every ten steps along the way, and the envoys brought gold and silver with them, so the officers and soldiers on duty did not want to make any mistakes.

In addition, no one knew who was the leader of the delegation. If his identity was exposed, it would probably cause trouble for his aunt.

So he wanted to follow the caravan's carriage and enter the city from the east.

The merchant was profit-conscious and frowned as he asked, "Can you and your wife drive a bullock cart?"

"meeting."

"Then come on, take the middle car and I'll take you to the city."

When the businessman heard that someone was willing to drive for free, he blinked and pretended to be reluctant to agree.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing immediately went to the other side to find the heroine and the children to get in the car.

…In the midst of the flower-filled convoy, a carriage with a strong ancient charm slowly approached.

The carriage was decorated with gold and silver threads and inlaid with jasper, which sparkled brightly in the sun. The shaft was inlaid with exquisite dragon and phoenix patterns, symbolizing the noble status of the owner.

The people sitting in the car were the father and daughter of the Shen family.

"Why do you need such a luxurious carriage when you are on a diplomatic mission to Liao?"

Shen Shuangxu watched his father pouring tea and hot water in the carriage, and the whole table did not shake at all. He immediately realized that this exquisite carriage should be the vehicle used by the empress when she ascended the throne. It was a luxurious carriage that was built with precious wood and constructed by skilled craftsmen.

You spent a lot of money to make it, why don’t you keep it for yourself?
But after only a moment, Shen Shuangxu realized the good intentions of the empress, looked at the gauze screen behind her father's seat, and asked, "Is there a secret door here?"

"Yes."

This was the first time the father and daughter had met since Shen Shuangxu joined the diplomatic convoy.

Shen Nianyan glanced at his intelligent daughter and smiled with relief.

"This car is a secret tool to take your husband back to avoid the Liao Kingdom's search... But Daddy is a little confused. This is obviously your first time in a car. How could the mechanism here not be hidden from you?"

The craftsman who built the empress's car would naturally not make it public.

Shen Shuangxu seemed calm, and said in a more indifferent tone: "When I got on the car just now, I estimated the circumference of the car. I just found out that it was wrong, so I simply compared it."

"Yes, Not Bad."

After Shen Nianyan finished praising, he continued to ask: "Then according to your opinion, should we sign the peace treaty of the Liao Kingdom this time or not?"

The conditions offered by the empress were generous, but they were actually emptying the national treasury in order to gain the opportunity to go on a diplomatic mission to the capital.

As the prime minister of the previous dynasty, he has been diligently leading the six ministries. If he really signs the contract, he will probably be nailed to the pillar of shame by the domestic literati and face countless insults.

But if this matter is ruined, it would be against the imperial order and would cause the dissatisfaction of the empress.

"The Liao Kingdom is too ambitious. Sending these money and cloth to them will undoubtedly help them to commit atrocities and will only arouse their greed... These money and cloth should be kept around the embassy and used to negotiate terms. They must not be given to them."

Shen Nianyan was slightly startled, and asked in confusion: "Why would the Liao emperor give up the meat at his fingertips?"

"Money can deceive people, and inferior cloth can be passed off as good."

Hearing Shen Shuangxu's implicit expression, Shen Nianyan nodded slightly, as if he understood something.

……

The freight carriage traveled for a day and a night and finally arrived at Shangjing City on the second day.

Nearing the East City Gate, the caravan stopped two miles away and dropped them off on the road.

Because the city inspection in Shangjing City is strict, the city gate must strictly check the number of people and the details of entry into the capital on the pass documents.

After walking for two cups of tea, Xu Qing and his companions lined up in the team entering the city.

Although the city wall of Shangjing City is not as new as the capital of Qi State and is repaired and maintained by craftsmen every year, it is more than ten meters high and stands tall, giving people a sense of solidity and grandeur.

The road was crisscrossed with blue bricks, and the vermilion city gate was painted with new paint.

"Enter one by one, don't crowd!"

The city guard was checking the documents impatiently, but when he saw Yang Xianning's beauty from afar, his expression suddenly changed.

They have long found ways to pass the time in this boring life day after day, year after year.

That is to tease the pretty women in the queue and extort money from those who do not have complete documents.

Generally, only rich people rode in carriages, and most of the people queuing to enter the city were ordinary people who did not dare to go against him.

But before he could open his mouth, he saw the woman's companion step forward and hand him the pass.

"Humph."

The city guard took it with dissatisfaction and looked at it very carefully.

He wanted to find some flaws in this thing so as to make things difficult for the man and his wife.

But who would have thought that it would be fine if he didn't look at it, but he was shocked when he looked at it, because he actually saw the seal of an important person on the document.

"Did you see it wrong?"

He held up the document and stared at the sun for a while.

Gradually, he looked stunned, as if he knew the identities of the group of people.

Thinking of the seriousness of the matter, the city guards hurriedly left a few people behind and reported to the city defense officer.

Xu Qing and Yang Xianning looked at each other, somewhat puzzled by this man's behavior.

But after a while, they found that this small pass was even more exaggerated than they had imagined.

The man who hurried down from the city wall was wearing the armor of a third-rank military commander.

"Is this the city guard of Shangjing City?"

The official positions and clothing systems of Liao and Jin were modeled after those of Qi. Except for some specific optimizations for the people of the same ethnic group, most of the positions were the same as those of Qi.

Therefore, Xu Qing was able to infer the other party's rank based on the patterns on the official uniforms and military generals' armor.

"You two! Thank you for your hard work!"

A third-rank official was actually smiling in a fawning manner at two human traffickers. Xu Qing felt a little uncomfortable.

If this happened in the State of Qi, these people wouldn't even be qualified to enter the official residence in the capital.

"It's a long journey, please follow me, both of you."

The city guard said this with a smile, and ordered his men to open the fence on the side, allowing Xu Qing and the other three to take a shortcut into the city.

Not only that, he also took the initiative to walk in front and lead the way.

Xu Qing originally wanted to refuse, but the other party's reaction after seeing the pass document meant that he must be aware of the identity and purpose of these human traffickers.

If I reject the other party rashly, it will definitely arouse his suspicion.

The city guard led the way and smiled as he turned back to say, "It must be hard to work for that person. The master has specifically instructed that these lambs should be treated properly."

The actions of this third-rank general made Xu Qing feel increasingly uneasy.

Because the tone of his conversation was not only not arrogant, but it sounded like he was flattering himself, as if he felt like he was some kind of important person.

But when he and the female hero attacked the two human traffickers, there was no resistance at all. Their martial arts skills were not high, and their swords were not sharp... Come to think of it, the city defender should not be interested in the skills of human traffickers.

But it was the girls they brought with them.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing deliberately took a step forward and asked in a low voice, "Oh? Are these lambs so important?"

"Don't be ridiculous. The master has been waiting for so long, but only the two of you brought the sheep back."

(End of this chapter)