To the First Emperor of Qin: The state has decreed this!

Zong Yu stopped in his tracks, his eyes filled with malice. "Also, arrange for people to spread the news of the kidnapping of Zhang Fan, the Imperial Envoy of Qin, throughout the entire Shangdang Prefecture! The sooner the better, the bigger the commotion the better!"

"Don't let the news spread to Xianyang too quickly!"

The confidant hesitated for a moment, then said with slight hesitation, "Master, if this is publicized now, what will happen to Zhang Fan's situation..."

"What I want is to thoroughly muddy the waters!"

Zong Yu snorted coldly, interrupting his subordinate, his smile growing even more sinister:

"Let's expose the kidnapping of the imperial envoy to the heavens. Let's see how Ji Honglou handles it. I want to see if they dare to actually kill him in this situation!"

"Let's see, which side is Ji Honglou really on?"

"Also, send the special envoy of the Court of Justice to investigate and suppress Ji Honglou!"

……

Meanwhile, outside the city gate of Changzi County.

Several horse-drawn carriages loaded with heavy goods approached from afar, raising a cloud of dust, and finally stopped at the city gate.

"Stop! Routine customs document check!"

The soldiers guarding the city strode forward, their long spears crossed, and stopped the convoy.

Seeing this, a middle-aged manager quickly stepped out from the caravan.

With a broad smile, he approached the centurion, and with a flick of his sleeve, a heavy string of copper coins silently fell into the centurion's hand.

"Sir, it's not easy for you to travel all this way to do business, and the cart is full of rough goods. You've had a long journey, so please do us a favor and pay for this tea!"

The steward bowed obsequiously as he spoke.

His heavily accented Jiangdong dialect sounded particularly out of place at the northern city gate.

The centurion subtly squeezed the copper coin in his hand, his stern expression instantly transforming into a smile.

He glanced at the document casually, then waved his hand and said loudly:

"Alright, that's fine, everyone's had a tough time, let them through!"

"Thank you, sir!"

The manager thanked him repeatedly, then told the workers to crack their whips and drive the carriage slowly into Changzi County.

Once the convoy had completely disappeared into the city streets, the centurion's smile vanished abruptly, and his eyes sharpened.

He turned his head and lowered his voice to command one of his subordinates beside him:

"Send a few clever men to follow them closely and keep a close eye on this group of merchants from Jiangdong. See where they settle down and who they meet with."

"Yes!" the subordinate clasped his hands in a fist salute.

The centurion casually tossed the string of copper coins into the pouch at his waist and added in a cold voice, "Immediately take a shortcut to report to the magistrate that the fish from Jiangdong have already entered the city!"

Before long, the caravan slowly drove into Changzi County along the main street.

As the noise from the city gate gradually faded away, and after confirming that there was no more blatant inspection around, the fawning expression on the face of the middle-aged steward vanished instantly.

Instead, there was an extremely gloomy and solemn atmosphere.

He slowed his pace, falling slightly behind by half a body length, and retreated to the side of a young man dressed in coarse linen clothes, looking like an ordinary worker, in the center of the caravan.

The middle-aged steward bowed slightly, using the carriage as cover, and respectfully gave a salute, lowering his voice as he said:

"Young master, we've come in."

The seemingly unremarkable young man slightly raised his head, gently removed the straw hat from his head, revealing a cold and stern face.

Those eyes held a sharpness beyond their years.

This person was a key member of the younger generation of the Xiang clan in Jiangdong.

Item it!

Xiang calmly surveyed the unfamiliar streets around him and gave the order in a deep voice:

"Let's find a secluded inn to set up camp first. Tell the brothers to hide their weapons, keep a low profile, and no one is to leave the inn without my orders!"

"Here you go!"

The middle-aged manager respectfully obeyed, but a hint of worry still lingered between his brows. He couldn't help but ask in a low voice:

"Young master, the coal we need to transport is clearly located in the mines outside Changzi County. We can simply meet up and transfer the coal outside the city. Right now, there are undercurrents running deep within this city, and the imperial envoy from Qin is also here. Why should we risk exposure and insist on personally wading into these troubled waters?"

Xiang snorted coldly, his gaze sweeping over the bustling crowd and lingering on the direction deep within Changzi County.

"You think I want to go to the city?"

A chilling glint flashed in Xiang's eyes as he gritted his teeth and said...

"The coal is indeed outside the city, but the 'key target' my uncle entrusted to us is now hiding right inside the city!"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. For that person, we have no choice but to take this risk!"

Before long, Xiang and his men found a relatively secluded inn in the west of the city and checked in.

To avoid attracting attention, Xiang only brought his middle-aged manager and two attendants to eat in a corner of the lobby on the first floor of the inn, while the rest of the people rested in the guest rooms upstairs in batches.

It was lunchtime, and the lobby was a mixed bag, filled with merchants from all over the country and local idlers.

"Hey! Did you hear? Something terrible has happened!"

A weasel-faced man at the next table suddenly lowered his voice, yet couldn't contain his excitement, and said, "Last night, Imperial Envoy Zhang Fan was kidnapped at the Prefect's residence!"

"What? Kidnapping the imperial envoy? That's a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family!" The person at the table gasped in shock.

Hearing this, Xiang, who was sitting in the corner, paused slightly in the hand holding his teacup, and then a barely perceptible sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

That's for sure!

Xiang was secretly pleased with himself.

So what if he was an imperial envoy of the Qin Dynasty?

Offending the wrong person inevitably leads to certain death. It seems the plan my uncle arranged has successfully come to fruition.

However, the conversation at the next table made Xiang's cold smile freeze instantly.

"That's right! And I heard that the kidnappers didn't even leave the city; they're hiding right here in Changzi County!"

"Really? Weren't the city gates sealed a long time ago?"

"Absolutely true! I also heard that it was done by several notorious bandits who could fly and disappear at will; they simply stuffed the imperial envoy into a sack and carried him away!"

"Your news is outdated! My second uncle works in the government office, and it's said he was captured by a fox spirit in disguise—a beautiful skeleton—and used for sexual exploitation!"

"Nonsense! It was clearly the imperial envoy who uncovered the corrupt official's accounts, and the local thugs chopped him into pieces and sank him into the river outside the city..."

The discussions in the lobby grew louder and more outrageous, with all sorts of bizarre versions emerging one after another.

"Pfft! Cough cough cough!"

Xiang almost spat out the mouthful of tea he had just drunk, choking and coughing repeatedly.

He abruptly put down his teacup, his eyes widening as he listened to the jumbled rumors around him, completely bewildered.

What kind of notorious thief?

What kind of fox spirit sexual cultivation?

What do you mean by dismembering into eight pieces?

Xiang's brows furrowed into a tight knot, his mind buzzing.

What kind of bizarre news is this?

Before his departure, his uncle Xiang Liang had clearly hinted in a secret letter that the Xiang family had long planned to take action against this Qin imperial envoy, and that Zhang Fan had been secretly taken to Jiangdong and placed under house arrest by his spies.

But what's going on now?