Disappeared without a trace?

Took over a hundred people and disappeared without a trace!

Lu Ziyuan suddenly turned around and coldly said, "Is there any news from the Capital City?"

Mingjian was slightly surprised, then slowly shook his head, "Only the Holy Emperor..."

Before he could finish, Lu Ziyuan raised his arm to interrupt him, his expression terrifyingly grim, "I have a premonition that something might have happened in the Capital City."

If the Holy Emperor is not among them, then who this incident refers to is self-evident.

Mingjian frowned and said, "But there has been no news from Ming Feng."

Ming Feng stayed in the Capital City, and Yun Jin did not accompany this time either. When Lu Ziyuan left, he gave Ming Feng a strict order that Yun Jin was not to move unless there was an extremely urgent matter concerning Xie Wanqing.

If something happened to Xie Wanqing, Ming Feng wouldn’t possibly fail to report back.

With Yun Jin’s speed, nonstop day and night, it would take less than three days to fly to the Northern Border.

Could the Jin Dynasty’s Crown Prince truly be so bold, leading over a hundred people deep into the Great Khan City just to capture a woman?

But if that wasn’t the case, where did the commander go in a duel between two armies?

Did something really happen in the Capital City?

Lu Ziyuan looked up at the horizon, feeling as if a giant hand tightly gripped his chest. If not for the last bit of rationality controlling him, he would have ignored everything and raced toward the Capital City.

Mingjian dared not speak for a moment. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

At this moment, a black shadow suddenly appeared on the sandy horizon, swiftly descending, landing on the city wall, and gave Lu Ziyuan a low cry.

It was Yun Jin, who had flown for several days and nights, looking utterly exhausted. Its once glossy feathers were now dull, and even its normally sharp call was listless.

Seeing his beloved pet so tired, Lu Ziyuan stood as if rooted to the spot, face pale, staring blankly at the bamboo tube on Yun Jin’s neck, making no move.

Fearing to open it, in case it contained unbearable pain.

Mingjian had never seen his master in such a vulnerable state. His expression also changed drastically, yet he steadily walked over, patted Yun Jin’s head, removed the bamboo tube, tore open the seal, and bowed to hand it to Lu Ziyuan.

......

By the end of October, in late autumn, on the Northern Border Battlefield, which had been at a stalemate for over a month, Commander Lu Ziyuan ordered a full assault on Da Jin.

In less than three days, the Great Khan’s cavalry, for the first time in nearly a hundred years, breached the Jin Dynasty’s city gates.

Although a nomadic nation, they had also built towering city walls on the Jin Dynasty’s border.

At the beginning of November, by the timeline, Commander Lu Ziyuan, who was supposed to be on the battlefield, appeared nearly a thousand miles away in Zhe State.

"Have you confirmed their whereabouts?" He dismounted, tossed the whip to the extended hand of the deputy general, and asked with a grim face while walking.

"Yes!" The deputy general said, "Jin Wuji, leading over a hundred people, though posing as merchants, clearly intended to go north, and were confirmed to travel by water today, Ming Feng has already arrived."

Jin Wuji and his party needed to cover their tracks, secretly moving, so they had to slow down, but Ming Feng was different. Taking the Jade Token and traveling under the stars and moonlight, he arrived even a day earlier than them.

Lu Ziyuan asked, "Where is he? Call him over."

A moment later, Ming Feng pushed the door in, and as soon as he stepped in, he knelt on one knee, "I deserve to die! I failed the Prince’s trust, please punish me."

Injured and having rushed for several days and nights, he looked pale and haggard.

Lu Ziyuan looked at him silently for a long time before suddenly kicking him to the ground, saying in a deep voice, "You do deserve to die! A person was entrusted to your protection, yet you let the Jin Thief abduct her!"

The kick wasn’t light, and Ming Feng spat blood but silently knelt once more.

Lu Ziyuan regained some calm, crouched down, and sternly asked, "What exactly happened? With your skill, how could Jin Wuji’s group of over a hundred manage to abduct someone in the Capital City, right under your nose?"

"They had more than a hundred people. Jin Wuji had insiders in the Capital City. At night, the Hot Spring Villa was surrounded by over two thousand." Ming Feng only now understood that those foreigners were brought by the Jin Dynasty’s Crown Prince and his personal soldiers. He calmed himself and said, "Those Han people weren’t just drifters; their movements and formations suggested they were well-trained elite soldiers."

Insiders!

More than two thousand elite soldiers!

The bamboo tube Yun Jin brought only mentioned that Xie Wanqing was abducted by foreigners, without detailing the cause and effect.

His suspicions confirmed, Lu Ziyuan clenched his jaw, "Tell me everything that’s happened to her recently as it is."

Ming Feng dared not delay and recounted every event concerning Xie Wanqing in detail from recent times.

From the day Lu Ziyuan left the Capital, Ming Feng became Xie Wanqing’s hidden guard. Although several top experts were stationed by Princess Duan Yang at the Duke Pei Mansion, they couldn’t detect his presence. It could be said that in these months, everything around Xie Wanqing was under his watchful eyes.

He continued, "Except for half a month ago when Miss Xie entered the palace without me, these are the incidents concerning Miss Xie during this period."

Lu Ziyuan listened intently, a cold curve forming on his lips, "It was the girl from the first branch of the Pei family who invited to Yin Yuan Temple?"

"Yes!" Ming Feng said, "But the visit to the Hot Spring Villa was suggested by Princess Pingning."

"No, whether or not they went to the Hot Spring Villa, they would have acted," Lu Ziyuan’s expression was inscrutable as he slowly said, "Going to the Hot Spring Villa merely changed their operation from day to night."

After all, that Miss Pei was one of the Second Prince’s concubines in her previous life.

With such merit, could she be promoted from concubine to a consort?

But the Second Prince didn’t have several thousand elite soldiers...

Lu Ziyuan pondered for a moment, "Whose family is the Crown Prince’s newly chosen main wife from?"

Having been away from the Capital for months, and unable to use the fast messaging of Yun Jin, his understanding of the Capital’s situation wasn’t as swift.

Ming Feng answered, "Originally, Consort Xian chose a girl from the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Cao family. However, the Crown Prince himself took a liking to a Yu family girl, and they got engaged a month ago."

The surname Yu was rare among the Great Khan, and the Yu family girl worthy of being the Crown Prince’s main wife could only be the daughter of the general guarding Yanyun Pass, Yu Cheng.

That made sense.

Lu Ziyuan’s expression grew increasingly cold as he slowly stood up, looking toward Xiangzhou, and after a while, a cold smile appeared on his lips.

Entraining oneself into the game, collaborating with the enemy, Yu Cheng, you deserve death.

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince, they also deserve death.

And who else might have a hand in this?

He suddenly turned toward the Capital City, his gaze deep and unfathomable.

For such an important place as the Capital City, right under one’s nose, to have a foreigner abduct the three-army commander’s treasured woman, whether the Emperor knew or not, he was not innocent.

Indeed, trash remains trash. The external enemy hasn’t been repelled yet, and all they think about is imperial power struggles.