Who says the prince is weak and can't take care of himself?

Five days later, Tang Ling finally walked out of the Prince of Chu's Mansion and left Yongcheng.

Compared to the past, the long street was still bustling with people, but this time Tang Ling was sitting in a spacious and cushioned carriage instead of a prison cart, and this was all thanks to King Chu Qi Xiao.

Tang Ling and Qing Lan were riding in a carriage, with Ye Huai, who was dressed as the coachman, driving the carriage, while Qi Xiao rode a tall black horse in front of the carriage, accompanied by Zong Sheng.

As a vassal king, Qi Xiao could not bring many soldiers with him even if he was summoned to the capital. Tang Ling should have been safe with the Tiger Power Army escorting her, but something had already happened once, so Su Qin did not dare to be careless and agreed to Qi Xiao's request to bring an extra thirty soldiers with him.

Su Qin was no fool. After an ambush at Tiger's Mouth Gorge, Qi Xiao suddenly appeared and lent them his hunting dogs to help them find someone, a favor Su Qin had no choice but to accept. If the first incident was a coincidence, then Qi Xiao's subsequent abduction of Tang Ling from the street and her subsequent stay at the Prince of Chu's mansion to recuperate couldn't be explained by coincidence. A few days later, the Emperor's decree arrived, granting Qi Xiao permission to return to the capital, and Su Qin finally understood Qi Xiao's motives. He was annoyed by Qi Xiao's exploitation, but he could say nothing, so he turned a blind eye. He would never care for Qi Xiao's status as a prince during this journey. Their journey to the capital had been delayed by ten days due to Tang Ling's illness, and he was determined to catch up.

As soon as they left the gate of Yongcheng, Su Qin ordered a quick march and everyone had to run.

As the wheels rolled on, Yue Zhilin finally saw Tang Ling, Su Qin, and Qi Xiao off. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Dealing with Qi Xiao on a regular basis was exhausting enough. Su Qin had Lu Fangjin and the Tiger Power Army at his side, while Tang Ling had the entire Zhou Kingdom at his disposal. They'd almost gotten into trouble in his Fuzhou prefecture. Yue Zhilin burned incense and prayed to the Buddha, hoping for a quick departure so he could focus on investigating the Qi spy.

Following Qi Xiao's lead, Yue Zhilin indeed uncovered some clues. Various signs indicated that these spies had been infiltrating Dachen for quite some time, lurking in Yuanzhou Prefecture. Whether they had infiltrated other prefectures was unclear, but he was fortunate to be able to control Fuzhou Prefecture alone; matters in Yuanzhou would have to be investigated by others. Yue Zhilin had received a secret letter from the emperor, secretly decreeing a thorough investigation of Fuzhou. Perhaps the emperor had already dispatched personnel from Yuanzhou, or perhaps not. That was beyond his purview.

It is no easy task to investigate Fuzhou Prefecture.

As the dust settled and the carriages receded into the distance, Yue Zhilin couldn't help but sigh again. Qi Xiao finally got his wish and was granted an imperial decree to enter the capital, finally freeing him from all the hassles. Secretly, Yue Zhilin thought, there wasn't much to do in Yuanjing. Wouldn't it be nice for Qi Xiao to be a carefree prince in Yongcheng? If he insisted on going back, who could have foreseen the dangers? After all, Qi Xiao was still young, so why would he bother? Because Qi Xiao had helped him, Yue Zhilin didn't want him to die.

"Hey……"

"What's wrong, sir?"

"It's okay, go back."

***

After traveling non-stop for eight days, the group finally arrived at the bank of Qinjiang River. There were two routes in front of Su Qin. One was to take a boat across Qinjiang River back to Yuanjing. The weather was good recently and the Qinjiang River was calm. It would take fifteen days by boat to reach Qihuai and another three days to reach Yuanjing. The other was to take the land route, passing through Wu'an Prefecture and Guhan Prefecture for twenty days, crossing Hanyang Mountain, passing Shangyu Prefecture and then entering Yuanjing. The fastest way to reach the destination was one and a half months.

Originally, Su Qin didn't have to make a choice. Going by water was the fastest and most convenient way. There weren't many of them, so a large boat would be enough. But after passing through Tiger's Mouth Gorge, Su Qin had to think carefully again. If someone wanted Tang Ling's life and secretly cut open the boat, they would have nowhere to escape.

Although they did not encounter any ambushes or dangers after leaving Yongcheng, Su Qin had been marching for many years. If he was an assassin, he would have chosen to act on the Qinjiang boat. Once they got on the boat, they would be trapped.

But if they abandoned the ship and took the land route, there were many mountain roads and dense forests along the way to Guhan and Hanyang, which were very suitable for ambushes. Some places were even more dangerous than Hukou Gorge. It was really easy to enter the mountains but difficult to exit. Even if they took the official road, there were places that were difficult to guard against, and it would take twice as long. Su Qin was afraid that the night would be too long and he would have too many dreams. Even the Huwei Army, which had been fighting for years, might not be able to be vigilant for more than forty days without any negligence.

Su Qin was faced with two options, and he couldn't come up with a comprehensive solution. They were staying at the post station in Lanquan Town today. After days of hard work, everyone needed to rest up. They would set out early tomorrow morning, and Su Qin had to make a decision and arrange the itinerary before sunset.

"General Su, why do you look so gloomy? It's a nice day today." Qi Xiao walked over to Su Qin and asked, "Are we going by boat or by land?"

Su Qin glanced at Qi Xiao and didn't answer.

"Why hasn't General Su made up his mind yet?"

Su Qin felt uncomfortable when he saw Qi Xiao's playful smile and wanted to beat him up.

"Your Highness must be tired from the long journey. Although this place is not as good as Yongcheng and has its shortcomings, it is better than sleeping in the open air. Your Highness should cherish it. We have only been walking for eight days and we still have a long way to go."

"So, you're going by land?"

"Your Highness, don't worry about this. I will definitely send you back to Yuanjing safely."

Qi Xiao laughed: "Why should I worry? General Su should be relieved."

"I have nothing to worry about." Su Qin said and was about to leave.

Qi Xiao chuckled and shook his head, then took two steps closer to Su Qin and patted him on the shoulder: "General Su, let's go by water. I've already made arrangements."

"Arrange?" Su Qin frowned. "What did you arrange?"

"The boat is ready at the Blue Spring Wharf, and I've arranged all the boatmen. There's nothing to go wrong."

As soon as the imperial edict arrived, ordering Qi Xiao to return to Yuanjing with the Huwei Army, Qi Xiao sent Bai Xiqiao ahead. To be on the safe side, Bai Xiqiao rode quickly to Zhanzhou Wharf, another pier along the Qin River, to hire a boat, then return to Lanquan to dock and await Qi Xiao's arrival. If anyone with ulterior motives wanted to tamper with their boat, they would never have imagined that not only were they not using official boats, nor were they being arranged by Su Qin's men, but Qi Xiao had even gone to such a long detour to hire a boat from Zhanzhou Wharf.

"you……?"

"General Su can send someone to check it out tonight to be on the safe side. If General Su is still worried, he can use the official ship as bait and sail ahead of us." Qi Xiao raised his hand and handed Su Qin a waist badge from the Prince of Chu's Palace.

Su Qin looked at Qi Xiao and hesitated for a moment, then took the badge.

Qi Xiao smiled at Su Qin and left.

Su Qin looked at Qi Xiao's back, pondered silently for a moment, raised his hand to call his confidant, gave him the badge, and gave instructions to prepare the boat at the dock.