By evening, Qiuci Street was already bustling. The dancing girls, seemingly unafraid of the cold, had changed into light, sheer gauze and leaned against the railings.
When guests arrived, they would toss handkerchiefs down from upstairs. The fragrant handkerchiefs would land right on the heads of the pedestrians. When a pedestrian took the handkerchief off his head and looked up, he would see their snow-white bellies.
Chen Ji galloped out of the Longmen Inn on his horse. Seeing him, the dancing girls leaning against the railings of the buildings successively threw their handkerchiefs.
However, Zaozao's speed was too fast. Before the handkerchiefs could land, she carried Chen Ji far away. Pieces of light gauze handkerchiefs fell short, landing on the bluestone-paved road like flower petals.
The brothel madams walked out the doors, bent down to pick up the handkerchiefs one by one, and cursed, "Next time, aim properly before you throw! If you see this kind of person rushing to reincarnate again, put away your coquettish behavior!"
Chen Ji didn't know what happened behind him. He only focused on bending low and rushing on his way, a matter of exceptional urgency.
However, upon leaving Qiuci Street, the daytime street vendors had not yet packed up their stalls. The narrow streets of Guyuan city only allowed one or two people to pass through at a time; no matter how miraculous Zaozao was, she couldn't break into a run.
Riding Zaozao, Chen Ji squeezed through the flow of people, from Qiuci Street to Qiemo Street, from Gushi Street to Xuwei Alley. The blood-red setting sun gradually fell behind the city walls. By the time he arrived in front of the Regional Military Commission, the sky was already dark.
Four large basins of roaring fire burned in front of the Regional Military Commission, illuminating the three gold-stamped words "Regional Military Commission" on the lintel so that they shone brilliantly.
Dozens of armored Border Army soldiers patrolled around the commission compound. Seeing Chen Ji arrive, they raised their long halberds from a distance. "Halt and dismount!"
Chen Ji leaped down from his horse, led the reins close, and said to the Border Army armored soldiers standing guard in front of the door, "Generals, I have an urgent matter to report to His Highness the Crown Prince!"
The Border Army armored soldiers remained unmoved. One of them slowly retracted his long halberds and said with a cold, stern face, "His Highness the Crown Prince is currently discussing important matters with the generals of the Feather Forest Army. Idle personnel, avoid this place."
Chen Ji took a step forward, and several halberd-wielding armored soldiers crossed their long halberds in front of him, shouting angrily in unison: "Avoid!"
He frowned, contemplating whether he should storm his way in.
The Regional Military Commission held extraordinary significance. This was originally the location of the middle army's command banner of the Guyuan Border Army. Storming the Regional Military Commission was tantamount to colluding with the enemy and plotting rebellion. Moreover, faced with a military formation of dozens of Border Army soldiers, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to force his way in either.
Chen Ji sized up his surroundings, wondering if he could flip over the wall from the side.
While he was deep in thought, he heard someone say, "Huh, why did the Third Young Master of the Chen Family come?"
Chen Ji looked toward the source of the voice, every muscle in his body suddenly tensing up.
The newcomer was impressively the Border Army armored soldier who Zhang Xia had previously identified as the one suspected of poisoning the thirty-four lives of the Chen Family.
The scar below the other party's right cheek extended from the corner of his mouth to his earlobe, exceptionally striking.
Seeing Chen Ji's gaze, the scar-faced Border Army soldier subconsciously touched the scar and explained with a smile, "This scar was left behind during the decisive battle against the Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army at Mount Quwu in the twenty-fourth year of Jianing. Back then, Regional Commander Zhou led us to charge toward the Jing Dynasty rebels' middle army command banner. On the way, we were intercepted by an enemy officer wielding a blade. He slashed at me with one stroke. If Regional Commander Zhou hadn't pulled me back, half of my head would have been chopped off right then and there."
Chen Ji cupped his fists. "The Border Army soldiers shed their blood and lay down their lives. I admire you."
The scar-faced armored soldier waved his hand. "No need to call me General. I am merely a minor deputy general under Regional Commander Zhou; just call me Old Wu. I wonder what matter the Third Young Master Chen has? His Highness the Crown Prince is indeed discussing matters with the Feather Forest Army. If it is not an urgent matter, I can pass a message on your behalf."
Chen Ji shook his head. "I apologize. I must report this matter to His Highness face-to-face. I must enter and meet His Highness today."
Old Wu was put in a difficult spot. "But General Li Xuan specifically ordered that idle personnel are not allowed to enter the Regional Military Commission. Right now, even our Border Army armored soldiers cannot enter and can only stand guard outside."
Chen Ji's heart sank. Not letting him see the Crown Prince?
Could this Old Wu really be the Jing Dynasty spy who poisoned the thirty-four lives of the Chen Family, wanting to put the Crown Prince under house arrest in the Regional Military Commission and isolate him from the outside world?
He glanced at the sky; there wasn't much time left.
Chen Ji probed, "Old Wu, you are also aware of my history with Regional Commander Zhou. Please accommodate me. I truly have an urgent matter to report to His Highness..."
Old Wu interrupted, "Is it truly extremely urgent?"
Chen Ji observed the other party's complexion. "Extremely urgent. It concerns the safety of Guyuan!"
Old Wu thought for a moment and waved his hand at the armored soldiers in front of the door. "Let him pass."
Receiving the order, the Border Army armored soldiers raised their long halberds perfectly aligned, no longer holding a stance of drawn swords and bent bows.
Chen Ji was startled. They just let him pass like that?
Old Wu signaled the Border Army armored soldiers to push open the main gates of the Regional Military Commission and said reluctantly, "Since it is an urgent matter, I will make an exception for you this once. Actually, it's not that our Border Army wants to stop you... Young Master Chen, you will understand in a moment."
...
...
Before the main doors even fully opened, Chen Ji had already stepped over the threshold and walked inside with huge strides.
But just as he rounded the spirit wall, he was intercepted by a Feather Forest Army soldier.
The Feather Forest Army soldier frowned at Old Wu behind Chen Ji and reprimanded, "Weren't you ordered? The Regional Military Commission is now the Crown Prince's temporary residence. Without the permission of our Feather Forest Army, no one is allowed to enter! How exactly are you performing your duties?"
Chen Ji subconsciously turned his head to look at Old Wu. So it wasn't the Border Army intentionally making things difficult for him; rather, the Feather Forest Army had taken control of the entire Regional Military Commission, forbidding outsiders from entering and depriving the Border Army of the authority to let people in.
At this time, Old Wu frowned. "Third Young Master Chen is a relative of Lord Chen. What's wrong with us letting him in? This Regional Military Commission belonged to our Guyuan Border Army to begin with! General Hu only moved out of the Regional Military Commission to show respect to the Crown Prince. Do you really take this as your territory?"
Chen Ji stepped between the two of them and mediated amicably, "Two Generals, appease your anger. This matter started because of me; if you want to blame someone, blame me. It's just that I now have an exceptionally urgent matter to report to His Highness the Crown Prince, and it cannot be delayed."
"What exceptionally urgent matter could you possibly have?" The Feather Forest Army soldier cast a sidelong glance at Chen Ji. "Didn't you all flee earlier? What are you doing coming back now? What, seeing that the Jing Dynasty army didn't come to besiege the city today, you're not afraid of being implicated by us anymore? His Highness the Crown Prince is discussing important matters and it's inconvenient for him to see you. Go back; the Regional Military Commission is not a place you should come to."
Ignoring how the Feather Forest Army soldier was slandering him behind his back, Chen Ji's footsteps never stopped as he walked inward.
The Feather Forest Army soldier drew the long sword at his waist and blocked Chen Ji. "Halt! Didn't you hear this lord talking to you?"
However, Chen Ji still didn't stop. Just as the tip of the sword was about to press against his chest, he slightly turned his body to dodge and brushed past the Feather Forest Army soldier.
The Feather Forest Army soldier flew into a sudden rage. "Grandson, this lord told you to halt!"
As he spoke, he turned around and threw a kick at Chen Ji's right hip.
Chen Ji caught his ankle, casually flicked his wrist, and the Feather Forest Army soldier was sent stumbling away like a spinning top.
By the time the Feather Forest Army soldier stood firm, Chen Ji's figure was no longer in front of him. He abruptly turned around, just in time to see Chen Ji storming toward the depths of the Regional Military Commission.
The Feather Forest Army soldier was about to give chase, but Old Wu grabbed his wrist and said to Chen Ji, "Go quickly!"
The Feather Forest Army soldier struggled a few times but forcefully failed to break free of Old Wu's iron grip. He immediately roared angrily, "Assassins! Catch the assassin!"
As soon as these words came out, a single stone stirred up a thousand waves.
Dense footsteps and the sound of armor rubbing against each other rang out. Feather Forest Army soldiers converged from the rooms and corridors in all directions.
Seeing more and more Feather Forest Army soldiers blocking his path, in the next moment, Chen Ji leaped onto the connecting corridor, stepping on the gray roof tiles as he sprinted wildly toward the White Tiger Hall.
Chen Ji ran on the roof eaves above, while the Feather Forest Army soldiers ran parallel to him beneath.
One of the Feather Forest Army soldiers shouted angrily, "Send me up!"
In a flash, a colleague in front of him crouched down. When his black official boots stepped onto his colleague's shoulders, the colleague below abruptly stood up, sending him up into mid-air.
The Feather Forest Army soldier drew his sword from its sheath in mid-air, the white cloak on his back fluttering. "Die!"
A snow-bright sword light slashed down, horizontally blocking Chen Ji's path.
Chen Ji abruptly halted his footsteps, crushing five or six gray tiles to brake his momentum. The sword light slashed down past the tip of his nose, missing by just a hair's breadth.
The Feather Forest Army soldier's heart jumped in surprise. He hadn't expected Chen Ji to be able to dodge this sword strike.
At this time, taking advantage of the moment the Feather Forest Army soldier's strength was exhausted from the strike, Chen Ji grabbed his wrist, swung him around in a full circle, and tossed him back into the pile of people below, smashing the Feather Forest Army soldiers until they were turned on their backs.
By the time the Feather Forest Army soldiers helped their fallen colleague up, Chen Ji had already closed in on the White Tiger Hall of the Regional Military Commission!
From a distance, Chen Ji saw the Crown Prince sitting at the head of the head table in the hall. Li Xuan and Chen Liqin sat on his left and right respectively, discussing some unknown matter.
Feather Forest Army soldiers roared angrily behind him, "Assassins! Protect His Highness!"
The people in the hall were alarmed by the voices and turned to look toward the roof one by one, yet they couldn't see clearly in the dark night.
Li Xuan immediately stood up, resting his hand on the long sword at his waist as he walked out of the White Tiger Hall. "Protect His Highness!"
Qi Zhenzhuo led over twenty Feather Forest Army soldiers to form a military formation in front of the hall, successively drawing their long swords. "Kill!"
Chen Ji leaped down from the roof. Looking at the Feather Forest Army formation, he didn't dare to force his way through.
The military formation, refined through a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements, linked the Qi mechanisms of these twenty-plus Feather Forest Army soldiers together. They covered their colleagues' flaws with each other, making the formation perfectly airtight.
Chen Ji didn't look at the forest-like long swords. He walked forward step by step, projecting his gaze past the Feather Forest Army toward the White Tiger Hall. "Your Highness, the commoner Chen Ji has an urgent matter to report!"
Upon hearing these words, Chen Liqin stood up abruptly and looked outside. Lifting the hem of his official robe, he took a few quick steps, stood on the stairs, and angrily rebuked, "Chen Ji, what nonsense are you making here? What crime should you be charged with for disturbing His Highness!"
However, Chen Ji ignored him and only continued to shout loudly, "This commoner discovered a piece of information in the marketplace: someone is secretly seeking out night soil collectors to gather Golden Juice, numbering as many as a dozen large vats. This commoner suspects that Jing Dynasty spies want to contaminate the well water in the city, acting as insiders for the Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army besieging the city!"
What was the first thing to be cut off during a siege in this era? Water sources, supplies!
There were armies that would bury the corpses of cattle and sheep upstream of a river, polluting an entire city's river water in just seven days. There were also those who would throw poisons into wells, destroying a city's water source.
But what was the most convenient substance for contamination? It wasn't poison, it was feces.
Using arsenic naturally had a faster toxic effect. But if one wanted a dosage strong enough to cripple someone with poison, at least two to three kilograms of arsenic had to be thrown into a single well. And the cost of extracting arsenic-based drugs like this was extremely high, creating a huge commotion, making it very difficult to cover the more than a hundred water wells in Guyuan city.
If feces were used to cause bacterial contamination, not only did it save time, effort, and money, but even the E. coli bacteria in feces could survive for five to ten minutes in water at one hundred degrees Celsius. Even if temporarily inactivated by high temperatures, once the water temperature dropped, the microorganisms would rapidly multiply again, causing people to fall ill.
Therefore, when defending a city, if the defenders boiled feces into 'Golden Juice' and poured it down from the city walls, any besieging armored soldiers scalded by it would invariably suffer festering wounds that could not heal.
Extremely vicious.
Extremely disgusting.
A Feather Forest Army soldier looked coldly and sternly at Chen Ji. "What nonsense are you babbling? Hearing some unverified rumors from the marketplace and you dare come disturb His Highness? What crime is this! Furthermore, do you take the Guyuan Border Army for fools? Every well in this city is guarded by two armored soldiers. How could the Jing Dynasty rebels pollute the well water?"
Chen Ji retorted, "Since Jing Dynasty rebels made this preparation, they definitely have practitioners to coordinate. Is the Border Army capable of dispatching hundreds of practitioners to guard the water wells?"
Qi Zhenzhuo sneered, "This is the White Tiger Hall, not a place for a child like you to boast and empty talk!"
While they were arguing, the Crown Prince slowly walked out of the White Tiger Hall. Li Xuan wanted to drape a pristine white fox-fur coat over him, but the Crown Prince raised his hand to stop him.
The moment the Crown Prince walked out of the White Tiger Hall, Chen Ji vaguely felt the space between his eyebrows twitching, as if a wisp of killing intent in the side wing had locked onto him, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
He didn't look toward the side wing, but he was alarmed and doubtful in his heart. Could it be that there was a practitioner hiding in the side wing guarding the Crown Prince? Who was it?
A death warrior of the Eastern Palace?
At this time, the Crown Prince stood on the stairs, sizing up the unflinching Chen Ji before the military formation. A strange look flashed through his eyes.
He comforted in a gentle voice, "I know Third Young Master Chen also has good intentions, and I believe your explanation. If Jing Dynasty rebels truly have practitioners plotting this matter, I'm afraid the Border Army armored soldiers guarding the water wells will be hard-pressed to stop them. It's just that... this is the Border Army's responsibility to begin with, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to overstep my authority."
Chen Ji replied calmly, "Your Highness received an imperial edict to come investigate the case of killing civilians for merit, yet there has been no progress for a long time. If the Border Army has already murdered the petty official who wrote the memorial to the throne to silence him, this matter is likely to become an unsolved case. When the time comes, if Your Highness does not establish extraordinary merit, how will you return to the royal court, and how will His Majesty view you? Now that there's a clue about Jing Dynasty spies, why not give it a try?"
A trace of panic flashed through Chen Liqin's eyes. "Shut up! Is this a matter a person like you can comment on?"
After saying that, he hurriedly cupped his hands to the Crown Prince. "Your Highness, do not listen to his wild and nonsensical words. You will definitely be able to find out the truth behind the case of killing civilians for merit."
However, the Crown Prince remained silent, lost in deep thought.
The space before the White Tiger Hall quieted down. The Crown Prince stared at how Chen Ji stood tall and immovable like a mountain before the Feather Forest Army below the stone steps. He suddenly asked, "You have a history with Deputy Regional Commander Zhou, why didn't you go tell him?"
Chen Ji had his own reasons, but he couldn't state them openly... He cupped his hands to the Crown Prince. "The Chen Family are officials of the Eastern Palace. When encountering matters, we should naturally report to the Crown Prince, not anyone else."
The Crown Prince smiled faintly. He turned his head and ordered Li Xuan, "General Li, prepare the horses. We will go and see if the information this little brother spoke of is true or not."
Li Xuan asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, you believe what he said?"
The Crown Prince gave a grunt of affirmation. "I believe eighty percent of it. If it were merely catching at shadows, he wouldn't risk such danger to force his way into the White Tiger Hall. Moreover, so many of you couldn't stop him, allowing him to force his way right in front of me. Doesn't that prove his ability?"
A look of shame appeared on Li Xuan's face.
He turned his head, took a deep look at Chen Ji, and then led the Feather Forest Army as they walked outside. "Prepare the horses!"