The First Lackey Under The Empress

What did Xu Zhenguan prepare for Zhao Du'an's trip?

Besides the authority to mobilize troops, he also had the power to dispatch the royal Jianghu Shadow Guards from Linfeng.

This was not contradictory.

After all, strictly speaking, the royal Shadow Guards, like the Jing Wang's secret agents stationed in the capital, were also under the command of the military.

Therefore, when Zhao Du'an encountered the princess's forceful joining of the mission, the method he used to transmit the news back to the Empress in the rear was through the Shadow Guards' channels.

Similarly, Xu Junling did not know that before Zhao entered "Taicang Prefecture City," he not only openly mobilized cavalry from the garrison, but also secretly dispatched a team of Shadow Guards to enter the prefecture city together.

They communicated using a set of three identical yellow paper talismans that could transmit messages.

However, the range of communication for the yellow paper was limited.

Therefore, when the secret agents moved away from Taicang Prefecture City, they needed relay stations along the way, combined with military-trained pigeons to enhance the communication distance.

"Flutter flutter..."

A gray pigeon flapped its wings, emitting a "coo coo coo" sound, its bright red claws constantly stepping on an exceptionally fair hand.

In this ordinary residential courtyard.

A sickly youth dressed as a scholar looked helpless, scattering the prepared grain on the ground, and the pigeons immediately fluttered over to peck at it.

The scholar, who looked somewhat weak with exceptionally fair hands, sat on a stone bench and unfolded the paper strip to read it.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside the courtyard, gradually slowing down.

The scholar, a royal Shadow Guard, raised his head and skillfully stuffed the paper roll into his mouth, wetting it with saliva.

Footsteps approached.

Then, the dilapidated courtyard door was pushed open by a hand.

With a creak, a woman dressed as a Jianghu traveler, covered in dust, appeared at the courtyard entrance.

She held the reins in one hand, wore a bamboo hat, carried a sword on her back, and her face was covered with a large bronze mask, with two sharp eyes peering out from the empty mask.

"It's you."

The sickly scholar, looking unwell, coughed a few times, seemingly wanting to spit out the paper ball.

The masked woman stepped into the dilapidated courtyard, walked to the table, and tossed him a water bag from her waist:

"If you can't swallow it, drink some water to help it go down."

The weak scholar said helplessly:

"If you can't take care of people, you don't have to... Huh, why are you suddenly back? Did you discover something?"

"Yes."

The masked woman sat down casually at the stone table, reached into her bosom, and took out a palm-sized jade mirror, with the four ancient characters "Wind and Moon Treasure Mirror" engraved on the back.

It was the trophy that Zhao Du'an had seized from the remnants of the Kuangfu Society.

She also took out a wrinkled piece of paper, spread it out, and pressed it on the table. It was a portrait of the missing County Magistrate Wang Chusheng.

"I found this person. As for the other, Song the Investigation Commissioner, I haven't found him yet."

The "Scholar," one of the top Shadow Guards in Linfeng, who excelled at intelligence work, perked up and asked:

"Where is he?"

"The mirror shows that he is hiding in a mountain Taoist temple with a white archway."

The scholar's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and laughed:

"White Cloud Temple, it must be there. As Zhao anticipated, this thief is either dead, or if he's not dead, he wouldn't have escaped too far, but he's much closer than I expected.

Heh heh, Zhao's mirror is good, but even with the infusion of magic power, it can't be activated all the time.

He's not in the prefecture city, he's not in the county town, and we don't know which direction he went, so we had to guess and use a clumsy method to search the area piece by piece with the mirror.

The news you brought is really timely. Zhao just sent a message asking about this."

The masked woman didn't show much emotion and asked calmly:

"When do we take action?"

The scholar pondered for a moment:

"The sooner the better. But to be absolutely sure, we have to gather the others here."

The masked woman shook her head:

"It will be too late when they arrive. I am enough."

As she spoke, she stood up and walked out of the courtyard. The scholar did not stop her.

The masked woman stepped onto her horse and went straight out of the town, continuing southeast.

Because the road was difficult, it was not until dusk that she finally arrived at the foot of a secluded and deserted mountain.

She left her horse and tied it at the foot of the mountain.

The Shadow Guard, wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a long sword, walked up the winding stone steps, passed through the white archway, and a small Taoist temple appeared on the mountainside.

On the plaque, the three characters "White Cloud Temple" were extremely eye-catching in the setting sun.

The masked woman knocked on the door of the Taoist temple.

The door was opened by a young Taoist priest, who was startled by her appearance:

"This female warrior, who are you looking for?"

The masked woman said, "Wang Chusheng."

The young Taoist priest looked blank:

"There is no such person practicing in the temple. Hey, hey, hey... why are you barging in?!"

The masked woman brushed past the Taoist priest and barged straight into the Taoist temple, where she was immediately met with a cold light like a poisonous snake, darting out from a dark corner!

However, she seemed to have anticipated it, sneered, and dodged sideways.

The fine cold light brushed past her, the sword's edge still stained with a ghostly green.

"Clang--"

The masked woman bent her knees and sank, taking advantage of the situation to draw out the long sword behind her back, the sword light flashing, and the majestic aura exploded like thunder.

A moment later, a warrior's corpse had fallen to the ground.

She twisted her wrist, and the blood on the tip of the sword spurted onto the ground, piercing a touch of red.

The Taoist priest's shrill cry came from behind, and the royal Shadow Guard strode into the厢房 behind the Taoist temple.

She saw a stout middle-aged man dressed as a Taoist priest, wearing a small hat, with a face matching the portrait, looking panicked and about to flee from the back door.

The masked woman threw her sword, and with a wail, it was nailed to the back door, the hilt still trembling!

The missing Taicang County Magistrate Wang Chusheng turned pale and collapsed.

A moment later, the masked woman walked out of the White Cloud Temple, carrying the bound Wang Chusheng in one hand.

Just as crows flew by, the sky darkened.

"Who are you?!"

Wang Chusheng suppressed his fear and asked in a trembling voice.

The masked woman ignored him and walked to the foot of the mountain, where she saw the scholar who had been waiting there.

"Cough cough," the scholar smiled, glanced at the county magistrate:

"Verification is correct. Interrogation will be conducted first, but according to Zhao's latest instructions, I'm afraid we have to wait a while before sending him to the Imperial Envoy."

"Wait for what?" the masked woman asked suspiciously.

The scholar folded his sleeves and looked at the sunset on the Western Mountains:

"Who knows what the big shots in the court are thinking? Perhaps waiting for an opportunity."

......

......

Taicang Prefecture City.

After the three ministers were suspended from their duties, the unrest in the city was not obvious that night.

However, in the following days, the atmosphere in the prefecture city became increasingly uneasy, as if brewing a storm.

Zhao Du'an returned to the post station and began to pretend to be working, investigating some clues left by Wang Chusheng, as well as some clues in the evidence provided by Song the Investigation Commissioner.

As if he had entered a state of work.

On the other hand, a message began to spread quietly in the prefecture city, roughly saying:

The Imperial Envoy couldn't find Wang Chusheng, and in order to gain merit and report to His Majesty, he was preparing to drag down the officials who had dealings with Wang Chusheng and define them as accomplices.

Engaging in large-scale "implication."

This news spread like wildfire, and almost instantly, the officials at all levels in Taicang Prefecture sank in their hearts.

As Sun Xiaozhun said, officialdom and harmony are unspoken rules.

Wang Chusheng, as the head of a county, had a very high status in the local area.

Moreover, he also served as the Mining Supervisor, and the power in his hands was even more extraordinary than that of ordinary county magistrates.

During his tenure, countless colleagues had dealt with him.

Welcoming and sending off, some gray transactions were always inevitable.

If only the "mining silver" was investigated, it would be fine, these officials at all levels rarely participated.

But if the Imperial Envoy intended to engage in implication, no one would not be afraid.

Unfortunately, Zhao Du'an had a criminal record in the capital, and some people with ulterior motives began to publicize his glorious deeds of arresting more than fifty Beijing officials in one fell swoop to exchange for credit.

For a time, under the blessing of the "King Yama Zhao" reputation, everyone was in danger.

Not only officials, but also many gentry, wealthy households, merchants... were also the same.

In just two or three days, the entire prefecture city fell into great unease.

On the third day, there was even a phenomenon of the people going to the yamen and the post station in an organized manner to petition and shout grievances for Prefect Sun and others, and it became more and more intense.

Inside the post station.

"Lord Zhao, you can still sit still," Xu Junling said with her skirt fluttering as she walked into the inner courtyard of the post station.

"Listen, there are so many people outside making noise, petitioning, tsk tsk, those soldiers in your hands are useless, aren't you sending them out to suppress them?"

Zhao Du'an, dressed in casual clothes, held a book in his hands and leisurely read. Hearing this, he raised his head and smiled:

"The western mountains face the morning, bringing refreshing air, not envying the beauty of day and night."