The small courtyard was quiet, and Dali Maya was also taken away, leaving only Xiang Zhu and her maid in the house.

  "Milady, wouldn't it be too risky to send that person away now? This time, we've already exposed the Holy Sect's information at the government office. If we mobilize people to take him out of the pass again, won't we be discovered?" The maid asked respectfully, standing beside milady.

  "The exposure was long expected, and it's impossible to have no losses in a raid. But surprisingly, we lost so many soldiers from the Holy Church. Hei Fu is really despicable! Fortunately, we knew about the Ming army's escort team and defense layout, or our losses would have been even greater. Just thinking about this makes me furious. Win Er, go add twenty more lashes to Hei Fu later, let him remember his lesson, so he won't always look down on others."

  The lady grew angrier and angrier, while the poor team leader was suddenly given twenty lashes from heaven.

  "As for this matter, since it's what others have requested of us, we must see it through. Otherwise, how can we demonstrate our sincerity? Besides, sending one person off at the border is hardly a significant affair. My disciples are spread throughout the land and numerous in number; escorting one person is still an easy task."

  "Yes, but I noticed that Yuan seems to have other ideas, however, we must be on guard against him going back on his word later."

  "You, you, worrying about this and that all day long. Madam, will I make any mistakes? When the time is ripe, he won't be able to control himself. Even if he wants to turn against me, he'll have to see if he has the ability." The madam stretched out a finger and tapped the maid's forehead, saying confidently...

  The matter has taken a turn for the worse, with Da Li being kidnapped and Tang Yun having no choice but to send out notifications to various places. One letter was sent to General Fu Youde of the Southern Expedition, while another was directly presented to the imperial court. Both letters highlighted the White Lotus incident as the main concern, making the kidnapping of war prisoners seem insignificant in comparison. That one white lotus flower is what's truly causing worry.

  "Pass down the order, we can set off immediately and hurry to the capital. This place is remote and it's best not to stir up more trouble."

  Under Tang Yun's command, the army had to set off again in the heavy rain. Now they couldn't care about anything else. The sooner they could deliver these captured supplies and prisoners to their destination, the better. Otherwise, if another prisoner was hijacked, Tang Yun's position as commander would be really hard to keep.

  Tens of thousands of people set off in a mighty torrent, carriages and horses advancing in an endless stream. The guards on either side grew increasingly vigilant, their eyes fixed intently on the surroundings, not even letting a single fly escape.

  They didn't want to be broken through the defense line again, what a shameful thing it was. Not to mention being punished with military sticks, just the fact that tens of thousands of troops were raided by hundreds of people and war prisoners were taken away from their barracks was enough to shame these soldiers. If this matter got out, who knows how many jokes they would have to endure, and even their master, King Yan, would be affected and lose face.

  So for the honor of Yanshan's middle guard, to save their own face, all the soldiers and guards of the entire middle guard changed their previous relaxed and scattered habits, with three shifts changing guard every day, strictly guarding the transportation of materials, even in the woods. With a slight movement, they would draw their bows and wait for the opportunity to strike, within half a day, the whole team seemed to have transformed into a different mold.

  This tense and solemn situation continued until they entered the territory of Ying Tian Prefecture, and it wasn't until the army fully entered the jurisdiction of the capital that the soldiers slightly let out a breath. The Imperial Guards in the capital were not to be underestimated; although many had been deployed south for the campaign, those who remained were all seasoned veterans who had fought in many battles. No force had ever dared to cause trouble near Ying Tian before.

  Just as the troops were ordered to camp on the spot, the emperor's order also arrived. The official document of the officer who had just cleared up the supplies had just left, and the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict from the palace came to Tang Yun's account.

  "Pass on the imperial edict, ordering Tang Yun, the commander of the Imperial Guard in Yan Mountain, to immediately set out for Beiping after handing over the captured bandits. Meanwhile, during the inspection period, the Inspectorate will be responsible for investigating the White Lotus affair, and Commander Tang must fully cooperate and not obstruct."

  The emperor's decree was both clear and hidden. Openly, it was read out to everyone that he would soon return to the north. Secretly, an imperial eunuch was ordered to pass on a decree to Tang Yun alone, instructing him to cooperate with the inspectors from the capital to thoroughly investigate the White Lotus Sect. The emperor clearly attached greater importance to this white lotus flower.

  "Zhang, have you heard the news? We'll be able to return to Beiping soon. It's been more than four months since we left, it's really unbearable."

  "No way, I think you're not thinking of home, are you thinking of that girl again?" Zhang Feng joked with a smile. The romantic affairs of Liu Zi were often used to tease him in the camp, and as soon as they mentioned Xiaodie, Liu Zi would definitely blush and shut up, unable to say a word. This was also a good way for everyone to deal with Liu Zi's chatterbox nature.

  At this time, Liu Zi saw that even Zhang Dage, whom he had always respected and admired, was teasing him in the same way. He immediately blushed bright red and ran away, not knowing what to do. Usually, Liu Zi was very thick-skinned, but at times like these, he would become shy and embarrassed, his face turning as thin as a piece of silk that could be seen through with just one touch.

  "Hahaha……" The kind laughter of everyone echoed around, no one discriminated against the sixth son for taking a liking to a courtesan, these soldiers didn't care about such things, people who lived by their wits wouldn't pay attention to worldly opinions, if they liked someone then they liked them, what was wrong with a courtesan? Marrying her and having her live a stable life as a farmer's wife wasn't a bad thing.

  Everyone was thinking that this time when they returned to Beiping, they would go and propose a marriage for Liu Zi, the ransom for that little butterfly girl wasn't much, everyone chipped in and it would be easy to come up with, at that time they would send Liu Zi and her together to the bridal chamber, this was also a bit of kindness from these sworn brothers.

  "Ma Cheng, Ma Qi, Wang Ping, Xu Zheng, Xu Wei, you five come out and follow me!"

  While everyone was setting up camp, Wang Zhen pointed out five people with a serious face. Zhang Feng went forward in doubt and asked: "Sir, what's going on? Did my brothers commit a crime or cause trouble, why call them?"

  "Don't ask any more questions, maybe you'll be going over there soon. Don't worry, it's not a big deal, just some people from upstairs coming to ask them a few things. I guarantee they'll be back soon." Wang Zhen whispered to Zhang Feng.

  Jian Zhan saw that Yan also had no choice but to give up, but he still couldn't understand how his own brother was suddenly called away. From what Wang Baihu said, it seemed like an order from above, but who exactly was "above"? Was it the superior of their guard unit or someone else? None of this was clear. For now, all they could do was wait for the five of them to return and ask what had happened.

  The five people who were called away by Wang Zhen were taken to five different tents, each with a table in front of them and two people, one holding a pen ready to record and the other sipping tea waiting for questioning... Latest chapter please follow WeChat account: rdww444

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