My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

The first list of departures and arrivals from Qingxia Guimingcang was delivered to Yong'an on the third day.

One hundred and nine people.

Thirty-eight people are willing to return to their hometowns.

Twenty-one people went to the Qingzhou relief camp.

Twenty-seven people stayed in Qingxia to work as laborers in the salt warehouses, river channels, and official granaries.

The thirteen men will formally apply for recruitment after their registration is restored.

The remaining ten people's full names cannot be recalled at the moment.

They won't leave.

He also refused to join the army.

Let's stay in Guimingcang and continue to investigate the old matters.

Ge Tong wrote a sentence after registering the information:

Those who are nameless will not be included in the army.

Those awaiting their names will be given food as if they were still alive.

The handwriting isn't very good.

That makes sense.

The number of grains harvested from the Angelica dahurica seeds.

Thirty-eight people returning home each received one shi and two dou of provisions for their journey.

Those with family members will receive an additional month's worth of food rations.

The twenty-one people who went to the Qingzhou relief camp were picked up by a car sent by Liang Su.

The twenty-seven men who remained in Qingxia were no longer given "military rations".

Payment is based on work done.

Payments are settled monthly.

Two meals a day.

Meat once every two days.

Xue Jiu used his personal funds to pay for the first month's expenses.

Upon learning this, he handed over another hidden storage location that very night.

There are 370 taels of silver inside.

Ah Liu was deeply moved when he heard this.

"Young master."

"Um."

"Meat can indeed be offered up."

"It's not meat."

"It's his money."

"So from now on, when interrogating prisoners, they'll all say they were detained from his home?"

"You can't always use the same method."

Why?

"It could easily leave Xue Jiu as the only one in the Liang dynasty with any family fortune."

Ah Liu thought it made sense.

Bai Zhi replied, "He also has two other plots of land."

Ah Liu immediately wrote it down.

I suspect that Xue Jiu's biggest mistake in his life wasn't appointing soldiers for someone else.

It was Bai Zhi who saw the tent.

The thirteen men who wanted to join the army were examined by Ge Tong himself.

The first person is Yue Da.

Yue Da, Qingzhou Saltworks.

When he handed over the uniform of the 81st Army, he couldn't bear to throw it away.

They were stacked very neatly.

Place it on the table.

Ge Tong asked, "Why did you join the army?"

"There's food."

"Anything else?"

"Can handle a knife."

"For whom?"

Yue Da thought for a moment.

"Whoever pays the soldiers' salaries will defend the city for them."

Ge Tong frowned.

This answer is not faithful enough.

But it's very real.

I asked from the side, "What if the person paying the soldiers ordered you to kill civilians?"

"Don't kill."

Why?

"I used to be just an ordinary person."

"What if I asked you to kill the rebels?"

"Let's see who it is first."

"What are you looking at?"

"Does it have a name?"

He answered slowly.

But every single sentence was something I came up with myself.

Ge Tong finally stamped the recruitment application with a provisional verification seal.

"Practice for three months first."

"Not a regular soldier."

"Why?" Yue Da asked.

"You don't know formations."

"I can draw a bow."

"In the army, it's not enough to just know how to draw a bow."

"Then why is Lord Shen in charge of the army?"

Ge Tong glanced at me.

"He didn't take charge of the army."

Yue Da then asked, "Then why does he always speak in the military?"

Ge Tong did not want to answer.

I'll say it for him:

"Because none of you check the paperwork first."

Yue Da thinks I'm swearing.

I can't find what's wrong.

After all thirteen people registered, no new bugle call was made.

Use your real name first.

They were incorporated into the Qingxia Village recruitment camp.

Each person submits three copies of the application form.

Me.

Qingxia Village.

The Censorate.

Ge Tong originally thought it was too much trouble.

Bai Zhi showed him one hundred and nine sets of fake military uniforms.

He then stopped complaining.

It's better to have trouble than for a dead person to be brought back to the military camp.

In Yong'an, after the second genuine card was placed in the slot, the mother's periods of lucidity became longer and longer.

The physician did not add any medicine.

Instead, it continued to decrease.

If the dream-locking drug is stopped too quickly, the person will have a seizure.

If the reduction is too slow, it will impair mental clarity again.

He prescribes the daily medication dosage.

Bai Zhi Ji (Notes on Angelica dahurica).

Gu Xingzhi's experience.

The princess's residence retained a deputy.

Even the moon reflected in the doorway would ask for the name of the medicine.

She knew the late empress's old prescription.

On two occasions, it was directly pointed out that the dosage used by Physician Song was too high.

Physician Song was very unhappy.

"They taught me how to use the medicine through the door."

"What's wrong?"

I asked.

"She's right."

He was even more unhappy.

The stone gate remains closed.

The two cards were only unlocked twice.

We are still missing four items: medicine, clothing, doors, and food.

The blue token held by Lan Yue belongs to the clothing category.

But her cards were taken by the Wang family when she went missing nine years ago.

Luo Qingniang only had half a card left after casting.

It is not one of the six genuine cards.

Of the six cards Wang Song confessed to, at least one had been in Qingxia.

We searched the Shen residence, the old post station, and the Lanyi Room, but couldn't find it.

After Lan Yue woke up, she said that Chun Lan had brought a clothing token with her when she came to the old post station.

After Chunlan died, the plaque disappeared.

It might be taken by Du Heng.

It is also possible that he was brought into the capital by someone who later assumed the identity of Du Heng.

In other words, at least one of the remaining four cards is in Beijing.

Pei Shen might know the address.

Wei Zhi might know about the medicine card.

Behind the Wang family's grain deeds, there may be hidden grain tokens.

Each road eventually leads back to the capital.

Xiao Lingyi had already left two days earlier.

However, no new urgent reports came from the capital.

This is not normal.

The military post station kept daily records of horse changes.

The secret agents within the inner guards that Gu Xingzhi arranged should reply after she enters the city.

But on the afternoon of the third day, only an empty box was returned.

The box belongs to the princess's residence.

The wax seal is intact.

There was no letter inside.

There is only a section of red line.

The red line of the double moon.

It was cut off from the side label.

Gu Xingzhi has read it.

"His Highness is issuing a warning."

"What police?"

"She cannot use the Princess's Palace token."

"The matchmaking process is being watched."

Where are they?

"We have entered the capital."

"Sure?"

"There are records at the city gate."

"Who performed the test?"

"Chen Ping."

It's Chen Ping again.

Now, all the procedures in the capital proving that Xiao Lingyi has safely entered the city have gone through Chen Ping.

True city gate seal.

The real princess's carriage.

True roster of attendants.

But Chen Ping himself might be a person who wears a pseudonym.

I got up immediately.

"Go back to Beijing."

The Song physician blocked the entrance to the stone steps.

"What's inside the door?"

"You guard it."

"Where is Wang Heng?"

"Gu Xingzhi's signature."

Gu Xingzhi said, "I will go back to the capital with you."

"You stay."

"reason."

"Yong'an has two genuine tokens, two former witnesses, and Wang Heng."

"The capital city is short of people."

"This is where the shortage is even greater."

He looked at me.

"Yan Xiaoyi is like you?"

"Fine."

"Angelica dahurica?"

"So be it."

Bai Zhi looked up from behind the curtain.

I didn't agree.

"You need to dismantle the identities of the forty-one former military officers in the capital."

"Will food and lodging on the road be reimbursed by the government?"

Report.

"A private room?"

Report.

"Ah Liu won't ride in the same car as me."

Ah Liu immediately said, "Miss Bai, I don't want to ride in the same carriage as the tents either."

Bai Zhi nodded.

"Then you ride a horse."

Ah Liu's face fell.

He can't ride.

At least I won't ride fast.

In the end, it was still in the same cart with the tents and boxes.

The mother heard the noise from inside the stone gate.

"An'er".

"I am here."

"Are you leaving?"

"Go back to Beijing."

"Is something wrong with the emperor?"

"possible."

There was a moment of silence behind the door.

"Go."

"The door won't open?"

"The cards are incomplete."

"It cannot be opened."

She spoke very calmly.

The person who was imprisoned for eleven years is more compliant with the rules of opening the door than I am.

I pressed myself against the stone gate.

"daughter."

"Um."

"My father ordered me to kill the emperor."

"Know."

I was taken aback.

How did you know?

"He said it before."

"When?"

Eleven years ago.

How old was I then?

"So I cursed at him."

The father's order to kill the emperor did not come out of nowhere.

He had already considered this idea after the imperial tent was sealed off in the fourteenth year of Chengxi.

Eleven years ago, I was still young.

He waited for me to grow up.

When I can get to Beijing.

I need to be able to act like a person from Southwest China, and also pretend to be an ordinary scholar.

Finally, hand me the knife.

The mother asked, "What will you answer?"

"I won't listen."

A very soft laugh came from behind the door.

"it is good."

"What if the emperor truly deserves to die?"

"Open the account."

"Who will make the judgment?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Think about it slowly."

"He might not be able to wait."

"The living can't afford to wait."

said the mother.

"So save them first."

"Save them first, then interrogate them."

This is the same sentence she gave me: "I should first bring the person outside the door to life."

I asked, "What if Father tries to take the cards?"

"Let him come."

"You want to see him?"

There was a long silence behind the door.

"The accounts must always be reconciled."

"People still need to be seen."

"Will you forgive him?"

"Won't."

He answered very quickly.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Father might not dare to come."

"He dares to fight."

The mother said, "He might not dare to see me."

This assessment is also quite accurate.

Before I left Shimen, I left my mother's original letter in the outer box.

I didn't bring it.

She is still alive.

This letter was no longer just a suicide note.

Once the door opens, she can decide for herself whether or not to take it back.

Outside the Yong'an city gate, the carriages and horses for returning to the capital were already prepared.

Gu Xingzhi left behind twenty bodyguards.

Ge Tong left behind ten Qingxia garrison soldiers, who were then assigned to guard the gates of the three sides.

Lin Huan continued to oversee the restoration of household registration.

Liang Su sent a letter from Qingzhou.

The letter read:

Of the 798 people in Qingzhou, 413 have already expressed their willingness to reveal their former names.

The rest are still observing.

The relief camp's high walls were demolished starting with the north wall, which was three zhang (approximately 10 meters) thick.

Do not seal the door.

We will not force them to stay.

He finally changed his approach from controlling the accounts to saving lives to letting people choose for themselves.

This step is not quick.

But at least the wall was actually torn down.

The first batch of names for the Qingxia Guiming Granary was also sent along with the letter.

Cao Shun returned to Qingfeng.

Yue Da was left to recruit soldiers.

Chen Erniu went to Nanxian County, Qingzhou to find his family.

Lu Changgui chose to stay in Qingxia to guard the granary.

The old man, who only remembered the bridge and the well but couldn't recall his name, wrote a temporary name for himself in the register:

People by the bridge.

There is no accurate method for using Angelica dahurica.

Change it to:

Name pending verification.

I claim that I used to live near the bridge.

After looking at it, Ah Liu asked, "Isn't it better to call him 'the person by the bridge'?"

Bai Zhi said, "Today, I'm calling for the people by the bridge."

"Tomorrow someone will build a bridge to prove that he belongs elsewhere."

Names cannot be given casually.

Old stories shouldn't be overlooked.

I sealed the list of those who would stay and those who would leave inside the car.

The original document was not taken away.

The original document remains in Qingxia.

The capital city only includes instances.

I no longer like to put all the evidence on myself.

It's not that I'm afraid the car will overturn.

Of course, I'm also afraid.

What I fear even more is that if something happens to me, the accountant will die with me.

The caravan had just traveled ten miles from Yong'an when a courier came charging from ahead.

The mouth of the horse was full of white foam.

The knights traveled day and night from the direction of the capital.

What he handed over was not a letter.

It is a record of physical examination at the palace gate.

This morning at dawn, a palace attendant was found by the well in the West Garden.

A voice-locking drug is hidden under the tongue.

His hands were bound.

He carried a badge indicating that he was Wei Zhi's personal attendant.

His face, age, and old injuries all matched those of Wei Zhi.

The person is still alive.

But last night at midnight, another Wei Zhi entered Changning Palace with the same eunuch token.

And by imperial decree, the guards of the Medicine Wall were transferred away.

The last line of the examination record at the palace gate was added by Xiao Lingyi herself.

The characters are heavy.

Shen An.

There are two Wei Zhis in the capital.

I closed the medical record.

Ah Liu's face turned pale.

"Young master."

"Um."

Which one is real?

"have no idea."

"What should we do then?"

I looked toward the official road to the north.

Don't believe either of them yet.

"Ask them first."

"Where did you go during those two hours in the fourteenth year of Chengxi?"

The wheels rolled over the dust.

The old warehouse in Yong'an is getting further and further away.

The two genuine tokens remained at the stone gate.

Wang Heng was left in the new prison on the ground.

The 109 men of Qingxia are no longer an unknown army.

Meanwhile, in the capital, an old man who had been missing for eleven years finally returned, dressed in Wei Zhi's clothes.