The Young Swordsman of Dalu

Inside the large tent, Bulu Khan sat majestically in the center, General Hulun sat to one side, and the leaders of various tribes were also seated inside.

"Khan! The man has been brought!" a soldier announced as he entered the tent.

"Bring him in for questioning!" said Nabru Khan.

Two soldiers from the Western Regions carried a bag and threw it into the tent. The bag moved around, clearly indicating that there was a person inside. Wen Fei and Li Wei looked on curiously. The soldiers opened the bag, and Kemir's head appeared inside.

“It’s Camille!” Wenfei said.

Camille's mouth was gagged with a wad of cloth, and his hands were tied. He saw that the faces of the people inside the tent had changed.

"Let him speak!" said Nabru Khan.

The soldier pulled the cloth out of Camille's mouth, and Camille quickly knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly: "Khan! I haven't done anything wrong, have I? Why have you brought me here?"

“What did you do yourself, Kemir? Don’t you know?” General Hulun asked.

"General Hulun! You can't wrongly accuse an innocent person for no reason!" Kemir was still trying to argue.

"Kamir! Look who this is!" General Hulun winked at a soldier beside him, who opened the curtain and a man entered. This man was none other than Yuchi Liang, who had been imprisoned.

Yuchi Liang entered the main tent and saw Camille kneeling on the ground. He walked up to Camille, pointed at him, and began to curse: "Camille! You heartless traitor, I will cut you into a thousand pieces!"

"Your Highness, calm down!" General Hulun said.

“Uncle!” Li Wei walked up to Yu Chi Liang.

"Child! I'm so happy to see your uncle!" Yu Chi Liang smiled.

"Yuchi Liang, is there anything you would like to say?" Nabru Khan asked.

"Khan! I have been wronged! That bastard Kemir and the people of the Northern Desert tribes plotted against me, making me their scapegoat. That despicable Kemir colluded with the Northern Desert tribes to kill my fellow countrymen in the Western Regions, steal our cattle, sheep, women, children, and our prosperous grasslands. Khan, he is a sinner of our Western Regions. Even killing him would not be enough to quell our hatred!" Yuchi Liang felt that even tearing Kemir to pieces would not be enough to quell his hatred.

"Kamir, is everything Yuchi Liang said true?" Nabru Khan asked.

When Kemir saw Yuchi Liang, he became afraid, fearing that his plot would be exposed.

“My esteemed Khan! Yuchi Liang is lying! You must not believe him! He is the one who gave the Western Regions defense map to the northern tribes. He is the one who betrayed the Western Regions!” Kemir argued.

"Khan! I have never seen the defense plans before. It was an official in the northern desert of Buke City who showed them to me. I wonder how our defense plans ended up in their hands?" Yuchi Liang said.

Wenfei listened to their heated debate from the side. He knew that Kemir was determined to frame Yuchi Liang to the end, and he had to find a way to expose Kemir's conspiracy.

"Khan! News has arrived from the front; let's pause the interrogation for now," said General Helian Fang of the Left Route.

"Take them both away and interrogate them later!" General Hulun said.

Wen Fei pulled Li Wei away from the main tent, and Li Wei said anxiously, "Why did you pull me out?"

“They have important matters to discuss, and it’s not appropriate for us outsiders to be there,” Wenfei said.

"But my uncle hasn't been cleared of suspicion yet!" Li Wei said, crying.

"We don't care about this short time. We should find some evidence to prove that Prince Yuchi is innocent," Wenfei said.

"Where can we find the evidence?" Li Wei asked.

"To Book City! Let's hurry!" Wenfei said, leading two horses.

Wenfei and Li Wei arrived in Book City quickly. They went to the restaurant that Yuchi Liang had mentioned and found a place to sit down.

"Waiter! Bring me a pot of tea!" Wenfei said.

Their tea arrived quickly. Wenfei looked around the restaurant and asked the waiter, "Waiter, do you usually have many out-of-town customers?"

"Sir, is this your first time in Book City? We have many guests from all over the country. Not counting our own people, there are people from the northern deserts, and even further afield, there are people from the Northern Dynasties and the Great Lu Kingdom!" the waiter said proudly.

"So many! That's great! Are most of them here to do business?" Wenfei asked.

The waiter, alert, probed for a moment, then leaned down and whispered in Wenfei's ear, "Most of them are just using business as a pretext. I can tell they're all here to sell information."

"Ah! It can be like that?" Wenfei pretended to be surprised.

"Don't make a fuss, or you might lose your life without even knowing it. We're just turning a blind eye as long as there's money to be made. We're not officials, and besides, there are plenty of officials here trading information," the waiter said.

"Your shop is truly a blessed place! I'll be a regular customer from now on," Wenfei said, pulling a silver ingot from his sleeve.

"You can come anytime!" the waiter said with a smile as he took the money.

"Brother Er, I'd like to ask you about someone else," Wen Fei said, pressing his advantage.

"Who is it? Just someone I know," the waiter said.

"Have you heard of Kemir?" Wenfei asked.

"Kemir! A famous merchant from the Western Regions, his business has even reached the northern deserts, who doesn't know him!" the waiter said.

"Has he had any contact with officials in the northern desert before?" Wen Fei asked.

"To do business with the Northern Desert, you first have to get past the officials there. Kemir knows a lot of officials in the Northern Desert. One day I saw him by chance..." The waiter looked around warily, then whispered in Wenfei's ear, "I saw him give a blueprint to a Northern Desert official. The official was overjoyed to receive the blueprint and immediately agreed to let Kemir handle all of their Northern Desert business from now on."

"Brother, do you see what kind of blueprint that is?" Wenfei asked excitedly, glancing at Li Wei.

"I didn't see the words at the beginning clearly, but I did see the words 'defense map' at the end," the waiter said.

"Great! Brother waiter! Thank you so much!" Wenfei said excitedly, grabbing the waiter's hand.

The waiter was completely bewildered, which puzzled him.

Why are you so agitated, sir?

"Brother Er, would you like to come with me to the royal court?" Wen Fei asked.

The waiter, thinking he had made a mistake by talking too much, quickly said, "Sir, I was just being nosy! I was just talking nonsense, please don't take it seriously!"

"Brother, we need you!" Wenfei looked at the waiter sincerely.

Wenfei explained the whole story to the waiter. The waiter couldn't believe that Kemir would use this incident to frame Prince Yuchi of the Western Regions. Prince Yuchi was like a god in the hearts of the merchants of the Western Regions. Yuchi Liang usually cared a lot about their business and often went down to the countryside to see the people's conditions and understand their situation. When necessary, Yuchi Liang would help them solve their problems. Therefore, Yuchi Liang had a high status in the minds of the merchants.

Immediately, the waiter asked the shop owner for leave to go to the royal court to testify for Yuchi Liang. When the shop owner heard that Kemir had framed Prince Yuchi, he also felt indignant on Yuchi Liang's behalf and immediately agreed to let the waiter go to the royal court with Wen Fei and the others.