Qin Yining could draw some conclusions from the conversation between her pursuers yesterday.
One: Their accents gave away that they were from the north, from Great Zhou.
Two: They were following the orders of a marquis to kill the Qins.
Three: Theyâd stayed behind to conduct a thorough search and probably couldnât complete their mission if they didnât kill anyone surnamed Qin.
Four: Their martial arts was on a level that enabled them to go toe-to-toe, but nothing more, when they fought the Valiant Tiger escorts.
So therein lay the question. Which army commanded these men with rigorous coordination and advance martial arts skills?
And who was the marquis whoâd ordered the death of the Qins?
Which marquis in Great Zhou had the ability to lead three hundred adept soldiers to ambush them?
Qin Yining didnât think for a second that the Zhou emperor had sent the attackers. He needed the surrendered Yan officials to be a counterweight to the two forces at court. If he didnât want them, he couldâve refused the surrender to begin with. There was no need to send out men to intercept them halfway.
Therefore, the âmarquisâ behind the operation this time must be someone in high authority, wielding authority over troops, and had done this behind his liegeâs back.
The answer was jumping up and down in Qin Yiningâs mind. Could it really be the Marquis of Northern Stability, the sworn brother of Pang Xiao and the Zhou emperor?
Wasnât he supposed to be stationed on the Tatar border with his Dragon Riders? What was he doing here at this time?
And if the assassins were targeting only the Qins, why had they killed so many innocents at the front of the caravan?
If they werenât targeting the Qins, how would one explain the conversation sheâd overheard?
The myriad of thoughts scattered in her mind wasnât something that could be sorted through quickly. But of one thing she was certain, and that was she needed to hide carefully over the next few days. She couldnât descend the mountain no matter what.
The assassins had their marching orders. Their mission wasnât complete if they didnât go back with a head, so theyâd show up again sooner or latter. There was only one of her. She couldnât fight them, so she had to hide.
Thankfully, she could draw on her experience surviving in the wilderness. Though it was the barren season of winter, she was confident that sheâd be able to survive.
Pleasant joy thrummed through her when she thought of how dejected and anguished Lian Shengjie must be at the moment.
Lian Shengjie was the imperial representative overseeing the surrender. Since he was heading back to the capital with the Commandery Prince of Yan and a large cohort of surrendered officials, he naturally had to protect them well.
Now that such a tragedy had occurred on the road, imperial wrath would be mighty. Most importantly, it was a tremendous loss of face for that old fart.
It wasnât the first day that Lian Shengjie had been at odds with Pang Xiao. He was the secret envoy behind her being kidnapped and used as bait. When that plan had failed, heâd brazenly sauntered in to seize Pang Xiaoâs opportunity of honor and glory.
Thereâd been a hundred Valiant Tigers left behind for him, but heâd managed to fall to bandits halfway along the way and lose so many of Great Zhouâs new subjects.
He wouldnât be able to explain himself to the emperor even if he had ten mouths to speak with.