After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

I thought that even though we didn't find the thieves' hideout, at least we caught so many thieves, which was enough to do justice to our elder brother.

Unexpectedly, the Embroidered Uniform Guard brought them some earth-shattering news from the city.

My older brother is missing!

At the time, he, Dahei, and Xingge'er thought they had misheard.

Xu Cheng, whom he had met before, said urgently that Young Master Ning was indeed missing, and that the scholar Feng Yu who took Young Master Ning away by impersonation was very likely a member of the Heavenly Principle Sect.

Dahei immediately turned around, separated the thieves they had caught, and told them directly about Feng Yu and that his elder brother had been arrested. Sure enough, a few people showed excited expressions, though they were fleeting. But that was enough. It was the Heavenly Principle Sect!

Li Erlai's eyes were tired. He let out a deep breath. Those scoundrels from the Heavenly Principle Sect deserve to die.

At this time.

A series of "woof woof woof" sounds came from behind.

Li Erlai looked up and saw a tall man riding a white horse coming down the path, followed by more than ten men dressed as guards.

These people were all guards of the Tang Prince's Mansion, riding horses behind Dahei. On one of the horses, a guard was holding a large black dog, which was the black greyhound named Jinbao.

"Big Black Brother!" Er Lai stood up.

Big Black glanced at the four corpses on the ground and the bloodstains in the room, said nothing, looked away, and asked Er Lai directly:

"Lai Zi, where is Commander Shangguan?"

Before Erlai could answer, Chen Bao replied, "Brother Dahei, Commander Shangguan led his men to search along the official road first. Our men examined the footprints and found that this group came from the official road to the west."

Dahei grunted in response. Seeing that Erlaizi didn't say much to him, he knew that the interrogation wasn't going well, so he didn't ask any questions.

He glanced around a few times, his gaze settling on a tree about seven or eight zhang away, and called out, "Xing-ge'er!"

The child sitting behind the tree seemed not to have heard, and was covering his head with his hands, staring at the stacks of papers on his lap.

After Dahei called out a few more times, Li Xing finally reacted. His eyes were bloodshot. He folded up the stacks of papers his older brother had given him, exclaimed "Hey!", jumped up, and ran towards Dahei.

Dahei said, "We can rule out Yangdu and Baixiang Village."

Li Xing quickly pulled out a piece of paper, frowned slightly, and said, "If we exclude Yangdu and Baixiang Village, then we still have Baiyu Village, Qiudongdu, Xiaoshidu, Wangjiashang Village, Huiyanji, Wangjiaxia Village, Shitouji... about eleven places."

He took a breath and looked at Dahei and Erlai with concern, saying, "If they're not in any of these eleven places, then it means those thieves are in some place that's not marked on the map, or..." Li Xing's face turned pale and he said, "Brother, you're wrong."

The twelve-year-old boy's eyes were slightly red, and his face was filled with fear.

The older brother originally thought that the bamboo stick would tie him up and take him away, so he handed over some things he had packed himself, saying that the thieves should be hiding not on land, but by the water, so that it would be easier for them to escape.

To make crossing the river easier, the ferry crossings they chose should be in these places, but they could be anywhere. The elder brother couldn't say for sure which one it was. He just wrote down the locations of these places and some terrain features found on the map and handed them to him, saying that in the process of tracking Zhang Zhuzi, they could try to eliminate them one by one... When he received these papers, he felt a great deal of pressure.

When the eldest brother wasn't caught by Zhang Zhuzi and the others, the pressure on his shoulders eased, and he almost grinned from ear to ear. He thought that even if he couldn't find him later, it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, it was just the Prince of Xin and the ministers of the Eastern Palace who were missing. What did it have to do with them?

Unexpectedly, today he received news that his older brother had been arrested by the same gang of thieves, and the pressure on his shoulders suddenly increased.

Li Xing sighed and said, "My brother said that the gang of thieves was very powerful. He investigated all night and there were two questions he couldn't figure out... One of them was where the gang of thieves were hiding... My brother thought they were hiding in one of these places to make it easier to cross the river."

Zheng Ming, the head guard of the Tang Prince's Palace, asked, "Could it be in a village on land? Or in a mountain?"

He had just led the guards of the Tang Prince's Mansion to the two closest places with this big black brother to search carefully, but they found no clues. There were more than a dozen other places, which were far apart. Moreover, the river was very long, and even the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Brave Guard would have difficulty searching them all.

Li Xing shook his head, pulled out a piece of paper, and waved it:

"My elder brother said that given the thorough search of the city by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Brave Guard, all the main roads outside should have been blocked. If they are inland, they will inevitably be exposed, so they must be in places near water."

"The imperial court isn't going to sit idly by. They'll definitely blockade the river immediately to prevent them from returning north. Given the speed of the Yongwei Battalion's blockade and the time their warships spend patrolling the river, they can only cross the river by seizing some gaps. If they cross at a crossing where the current is too strong, they'll be spotted by the patrolling warships. If the crossing is too gentle, it'll definitely be heavily guarded. So... these are the places they can reach..."

Dahei frowned and thought for a moment: "We can rule out Wangjia Upper Village and Wangjia Lower Village. We just went to Baixiang Village, and the Yongwei Camp has already been there. The local Baojia system has been mobilized, and the village head and lizheng are organizing people to search the mountains. There's no reason not to go to those two places."

"We can't rule out Baiyu Village. The village was wiped out by the Tartars about ten years ago, and there's no one there now. There are no militia members to search the mountains, and the Yongwei Battalion and Jinyiwei might not have searched everything. We still have to take Jinbao there to take a look."

Erlai frowned, ran to his horse, took a book from his bag, ran back, turned to a certain page, and said:

"In this book, 'The Waterways of the Yangtze River in the Year of Jimao,' it mentions the place called Shitouji. It says that the ferry crossing there used to be very prosperous, but because the Yangtze River breached its banks one year, the opposite bank of Shitouji became a shallow shoal. If there were many people, they would definitely have to use large boats, not small boats, otherwise the chances of being discovered by patrol boats would be very high... The fishermen at Shitouji could use them, but the large boats could not."

Everyone immediately nodded.

Dahei carefully flipped through the few sheets of paper his elder brother had left behind, comparing the terrain and ferry crossing details. Finding that the others couldn't be ruled out, he put them away and said, "Let's go to the nearest one first, one by one. Let's not be idle."

Both Erlai and Li Xing were already extremely anxious, and now they both nodded.

Without further ado, Dahei mounted his horse, pulled Li Xing onto it, and sat behind him. Erlai and the other servants also mounted their horses.

Zheng Ming followed Liu Zhengyang's instructions to listen to Young Master Ning. Since Young Master Ning was not present, but these people were deeply trusted by him, he naturally followed along.

Chen Bao needed to take a few men to wait here for Shangguan Xiu to return. Shangguan Qianhu had said that when he was not around, they would listen to Dahei. Seeing that Brother Dahei said so, Chen Bao had the other Jinyi Captains mount their horses and carry Jinbao with them.

The group, carrying torches, galloped toward the nearest White Fishing Village, their hooves thundering.

……

……

"sister in law!"

A thunderous voice rang out from the voice of the tall man with a copper hammer at his waist.

Everyone on horseback was stunned.

To prevent others from spying, the entire long street was sealed off, so the person who was able to get here must undoubtedly be a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

However... everyone frowned. Who was this "sister-in-law" calling?

Isn't this low-ranking officer afraid of disturbing His Majesty with his recklessness?

Many of the elite soldiers drawn from various regions on horseback looked dissatisfied and intended to spur their horses forward to order the man to move aside.

In the crowd, Shang Jiuyang frowned. At first glance, he felt that the person in front of him looked familiar. After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly realized and remembered.

This person seems to be a servant in the Ning family. Qian Sijin mentioned that this person was learning martial arts on Qingliang Mountain.

Unexpectedly, in just a few days, this person had changed into a flying fish robe. Shang Jiuyang sneered.

He had just mounted his horse and hadn't gone to the back yet. He was close to His Majesty, and the people behind him were only startled by the man's loud voice. But he could see clearly that the man's gaze... was clearly directed at Prince Xin!

Calling someone "Sister-in-law of Prince Xin"? That's just asking for trouble. Even if it's a mistake, it's still a breach of etiquette... Shang Jiuyang's lips curled into a smile.

That brute kicked him that day; before he leaves, he can arrange for someone to beat the brute with a board to avenge that kick.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw His Majesty on horseback suddenly smile, and Shang Jiuyang's breath caught in his throat.

The next moment, as if he never dreamed, he heard His Majesty say softly:

"Three strong men."

Shang Jiuyang was dumbfounded.

Apart from Yan Yuqing, Liu Xinghan, and a few others, everyone around was stunned and opened their mouths. What was going on? Did His Majesty know this brute?

"Sister-in-law!" San Zhuang stared dumbfounded at his sister-in-law, who was leading the way with great poise, and stammered, "What are you doing...?"

"I'll go pick up your older brother," Zhu Cui said with a smile.

immediately.

Her gaze sharpened, and she turned around, her eyes sweeping across the faces of her subordinates from left to right. She slightly raised her chin and said, "Call me General."

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Although they didn't understand the meaning, they instinctively shouted in unison, "General!"

The sound was deafening, rolling like thunder. Many timid horses seemed startled, raising their hooves and neighing in fright!

Seeing this, San Zhuang opened his mouth wide, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest in fright.

"sister in law……"

He stared at the woman on horseback, speechless, for a few breaths before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"How impressive!"