After beating the two eunuchs to death, the Ninth Princess did not set off immediately. Instead, she waited one day.
She wanted to see whether Qing Xinyao would receive an imperial edict. If he did, she wanted to know what it said.
That way, she could at least be prepared.
Unfortunately, after waiting a full day, no edict arrived.
“Wuyang, Tubo has just suffered a defeat. They could seek revenge at any moment. With both you and Sir away, Xichuan still needs my brother to hold the fort. His Majesty may not issue a decree to move him.”
Qing Mulan said, “You should return to the capital. The sooner you go back, the sooner you can resolve the problem.”
“Yes,” Qing Xinyao nodded. “Moreover, if they truly intend to target me, with you here, they certainly will not act rashly.”
“That makes sense,” the Ninth Princess nodded helplessly. “By the way, has word been sent to Sir?”
“It has. We have already informed him of the situation here. But the weather has been too poor lately. Whether Sir receives the message en route depends on heaven.”
Qing Mulan said helplessly, “However, I also sent word to Jiangnan. Even if he misses it on the way, he will know once he arrives in Jiangnan.”
Pigeon post relies on the pigeons’ powerful homing ability and strong instinct to return to their nest. Remember http:// in one second.
For example, if a pigeon was raised from young in a coop in Xichuan, and Jin Feng took it with him when leaving Xichuan, then in Jiangnan, if there was a matter, a note could be tied to the pigeon’s leg. The pigeon would fly back to Xichuan from Jiangnan on its own.
But Jin Feng was currently drifting downstream, constantly on the move. He could only send pigeons out with messages, not receive them.
So Qing Mulan could only release pigeons to a Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce station along Jin Feng’s route.
When Jin Feng passed that station, he would receive the message.
But with the recent extremely harsh weather, Qing Mulan did not know if the pigeons could reach their destinations on time.
“As long as the message was sent, whether it is received is up to fate.”
The Ninth Princess said, “Actually, these matters are originally ours. Sir is only here to help. We cannot rely on him for everything.”
Hearing the Ninth Princess say this, Qing Mulan suddenly paused.
Yes, she did not know since when, but she had grown accustomed to depending on Jin Feng for everything.
In her heart, as long as Jin Feng was there, no matter how big the problem, it was not a problem.
After lunch, the Ninth Princess had Qin’er prepare the mounted team and left Xichuan City.
To hurry on the road as quickly as possible, she did not prepare a comfortable carriage. Instead, she chose to ride horses.
It was the fastest method: one rider with three horses.
“Let us hope His Majesty sends no more edicts.”
Qing Xinyao watched the Ninth Princess and her party depart into the cold wind, praying silently.
Unfortunately, heaven did not hear his prayer. The morning after the Ninth Princess left, another two eunuchs bearing an imperial edict indeed entered Xichuan City.
Perhaps learning from the previous example, the eunuchs and attendants who came this time were all covered in mud, their faces frostbitten.
For a moment, Qing Xinyao could not tell whether they had truly hurried on the road or were putting on a bitter ploy.
But these thoughts only flashed through Qing Xinyao’s mind.
Compared to the eunuchs’ condition, Qing Xinyao was far more concerned with what their edict said.
Qing Xinyao had long known it would not be good news, yet he had not expected it to be this severe.
Though he was not directly stripped of his official hat and reduced to commoner status, all authority as provincial governor was revoked. He was also confined to the Qing residence, awaiting court disposition.
The position of provincial governor was temporarily vacant. The court would subsequently send someone to take over.
Until that person arrived, the eunuch would temporarily act in the governor’s position.
After hearing the edict, Qing Xinyao’s face was full of disbelief.
He truly could not imagine the emperor issuing such an absurd decree.
According to the edict, he had effectively been stripped of his post!
So-called stripping of post was the feudal era equivalent of shuanggui for high officials.
And the one temporarily acting in his place was actually a eunuch!
There were three reasons given for stripping his post.
The first was that he bore responsibility for the Ninth Princess encountering river bandits on the Jialing River.
The second was failing to assist the Ninth Princess in smoothly completing her marriage alliance.
The third was privately starting hostilities, destroying friendly relations with Tubo.
The first reason could barely be justified. After all, the Jialing River was within his jurisdiction.
Though it had little to do with Qing Xinyao, had not the old Guangyuan prefect and the previous Jinchuan county magistrate also been implicated?
But the latter two were pure nonsense.
Especially the third.
For decades, there had been constant friction between Tubo and Da Kang. Even a blind man could see that war between the two sides was inevitable.
How had relations been friendly?
But in feudal times, imperial power was supreme.
Whatever the emperor said was truth. No matter how unwilling, Qing Xinyao could only obediently accept the decree and hand over the governor’s seal.
After the eunuch took the seal, his first order was to seal off the Qing residence.
Qing Xinyao found it somewhat hard to accept this outcome. Holding the edict, he returned to the inner courtyard in a daze and encountered Qing Mulan.
“Brother, what does the edict say?”
Seeing Qing Xinyao’s expression was off, Qing Mulan asked worriedly.
Qing Xinyao did not reply. He directly handed over the edict.
Qing Mulan had limited mobility, so A Mei stepped forward, took the edict, unfolded it, and held it before Qing Mulan’s eyes.
“This… this is too absurd! To actually let a castrated man temporarily act as Xichuan provincial governor?”
Qing Mulan was even more shocked than Qing Xinyao. “Has His Majesty gone ma…”
“Watch your words!” Qing Xinyao said in a low voice. “The Qing residence has now been sealed by the castrates. Be careful what you say from now on!”
“A Mei, immediately send word to Wuyang and Sir!”
Qing Mulan instinctively lowered her voice, instructing A Mei to send messages.
“Yes!” A Mei turned and left.
Soon, several pigeons took flight from the Qing residence.
But who knew that, just as they reached the edge of the courtyard, they were shot down by arrows.
“The castrates bully us too much!”
Upon hearing the news, Qing Mulan was so angry she nearly leapt from her soft bench.
The other side was giving the Qing residence no chance whatsoever to pass messages.
“Now we can only hope Wuyang returns to the capital quickly.”
Qing Xinyao returned to his quarters dispirited.
But his luck lately had been truly poor. Yesterday he prayed the emperor would send no edict, and today an edict arrived.
Now he had just prayed for the Ninth Princess to reach the capital soon, and snowflakes began drifting from the sky.
Dozens of li away, the Ninth Princess frowned and reined in her warhorse.
The mountain path was already narrow. Now covered in accumulated snow, it was impossible to see clearly where the road was and where the pits were.
Even with the Ninth Princess using one rider with three horses, in one day they had only travelled a few dozen li.
“Your Highness, the snow is too heavy. We cannot see the road clearly. Let us find a place to rest and wait for the snow to stop before continuing?”
Qin’er rode forward and shouted loudly.
There was no choice. The wind was too strong, and the Ninth Princess wore a thick hat. If her voice was soft, the Ninth Princess could not hear.
The Ninth Princess shook her head, her face full of determination. “We have no time to rest. Continue forward!”
Seeing the Ninth Princess’s resolute attitude, Qin’er could only have Qin Ming send more men ahead to probe the path.
The Ninth Princess’s mounted team pressed on through the wind and snow with difficulty. Meanwhile, Jin Feng’s boat team drifted downstream at great speed.
Although, because the cargo ships were large and affected by accumulated snow, they could not achieve the “thousand li to Jiangling in one day”, drifting several hundred li in a day was still possible.
However, because of this, he missed Qing Mulan’s pigeon messages and went straight to Jiangnan.
“Sir, Madam Xiaobei was ambushed right up ahead!”
Yuan Caiwei pointed forward as she spoke.
