"What?!" Zhu Youde threw away the memorial and shouted in an octave: "Prince Yan's prison car was robbed. Isn't it about to reach the capital? Who is so bold!"
Li Renjie's body was even lower, and he was extremely frightened inside. Although the Jin Yiwei was not responsible for escorting him, if something went wrong, His Majesty would definitely be furious.
Especially for King Yan, tens of thousands of warriors on the Northwest Road sacrificed their lives for victory. They traveled through mountains and rivers all the way without incident, and were kidnapped when they were about to reach the capital. This was tantamount to rubbing the royal face on the ground.
"Who did this?!" Seeing his silence, Zhu Youde angrily yelled.
"No, I don't know..." Li Renjie's voice was trembling: "As soon as news came from the city defense camp, I went to the palace to report it, but I didn't receive the details."
"Get out of the palace!"
Zhu Youde summoned Wang Zhonghou to leave the palace secretly, and went straight to the place where the prison car was robbed - a suburb three kilometers away from Jinling City. The view was blocked by trees, and there was a fork ahead.
The criminals must have chosen this place deliberately.
The generals of the city defense camp were cleaning up the traces of the battle. Seven or eight carriages lay in ruins on the ground. The horses disappeared, probably because they were frightened and fled. The small group of soldiers responsible for escorting them were all beheaded.
"Your Majesty, no clues were found, and the handling was extremely clean. Even the traces of the escape were misleading." The general of the city defense camp pointed to the crossroads ahead and said.
Looking around, the four roads are full of messy footprints, and it is very difficult to follow the footprints. To the north is Jinling City, to the south is Zhongjiang, to the west is Yanshan Mountain, and to the east is Xingshan Mountain.
Zhu Youde fell into deep thought and chose the woods to take action. He must have been eyeing the prison car long ago. The criminals knew the location of King Yan's prison car, or estimated the time to arrive in the capital based on a certain appearance in the past...
Choose this place to stay... It's almost impossible to witness it among the trees.
He walked into the messy and broken crime scene. There were obvious signs of a fight. The slash marks on the body of the soldier responsible for the escort indicated that a fierce battle took place when the criminals appeared.
This group of warriors is an elite team of the Northwest Road. They have extremely strong fighting power and are equipped with shields. It is difficult for ordinary swords to defeat them in a short time.
But the shield actually shattered... several slashing marks far beyond those of ordinary swords were left on it.
"Block the news! Don't spread it to cause panic!"
Zhu Youde suppressed his anger, turned around and told Li Renjie extremely calmly: "Send someone to take the soldiers back to Beijing, posthumously award them with first-class military merit, posthumously confer the title of second-ninth-class peerage, and give them a generous burial!"
"Find their families, provide them with pensions and settle down for the rest of their lives. The relatives of the martyrs who died fighting for Daliang are my relatives!"
As he spoke, he clenched his fists. These people had been stationed on the Northwest Road all year round. They finally had the opportunity to return to Beijing to rest and reunite with their families. However, they were killed at the door of their home...
After taking care of the funeral, he looked at the fragments of his shield and examined them carefully, confirming that he had never seen such knife marks before, and it was definitely not a weapon commonly used by Daliang.
"Go to Shang Fang Mansion!"
……………………………………………………
Tang Huo was discussing the improvement of Suqin and Piccolo with a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and was very puzzled by His Majesty's sudden appearance.
Zhu Youde looked around Shangfang Mansion. The huge courtyard was densely packed with craftsmen. Most of the craftsmen were making new sowing tools and curved shaft plows, while others gathered in the corner to discuss drawings.
Tang Huo wanted to summon the craftsmen to meet the emperor but was rejected. Li Renjie placed the fragments of the shield on the document and lowered his voice to tell King Yan about the robbery of the prison car.
Tang Huo's expression changed drastically, he looked around and quickly covered up the strange color, and looked at the broken shield.
For a long time, he frowned, sighed and shook his head: "Your Majesty, I have never seen this before. It is probably not a weapon made by the Liang Army. It may be a weapon made privately by the people."
Zhu Youde remained calm, but felt disappointed. Tang Huo inspected all the military products in the country in order to improve weapons, but he didn't even know about it.
Could it be that it was the remnants of King Yan who were hiding among the people?
At the moment of doubt, a person standing behind Tang Huo suddenly said: "Sir, I recognize this kind of trace!"
The person who spoke had thick eyebrows and big eyes, a slender face, thick hair, and a strong body, but he spoke an unfluent Daliang dialect: "These are the marks left by saber chops in the Western Regions."
"Western Region saber?!" Zhu Youde was shocked, frowning, and looked at the man in confusion: "A product from the Western Region?"
The man with thick eyebrows and big eyes nodded affirmatively, with resentment flashing in his eyes: "This is a unique blade from the Western Region, specially designed to break armor. I have seen the saber with my own eyes and will never admit it."
"Are you from the Western Region?" As soon as Zhu Youde finished speaking, Li Renjie's short blade was placed on the man's neck.
Upon seeing this, Tang Huo hurriedly leaned over and explained: "Your Majesty, his name is Anima. It is true that he is from the Western Region, but he hates the Western Region."
As he spoke, he looked at Anima, whose body was trembling and his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and motioned for him to explain.
After reacting, Anima performed the standard Daliang etiquette: "Dear Your Majesty Daliang, I am from the Yuezhi, not from the Western Regions. It was just that the Yuezhi was forcibly annexed by the Western Regions not long ago. I escaped to Daliang by luck, and Sansheng was lucky enough to meet the Tang Dynasty.
grown ups."
"Master Tang sympathized with the misery of the common people and was good at crafting utensils, so he allowed me to stay in Shang Fang Mansion."
Tang Huo added: "He will be responsible for improving the Suqin and Piccolo that His Majesty sent this morning..."
Zhu Youde hesitated for a moment and waved his hand, indicating to Li Renjie to put away the blade: "What do you mean by seeing the saber with your own eyes?"
"The Yuezhi and the Western Regions have never been defeated in the long-term confrontation. The reason is that they have a tough shield. However, the Western Regions recently encountered a powerful enemy, and the cavalry regiments were equipped with sabers."
"This knife is extremely sharp and light, specially designed to break shields... The Yuezhi suffered a disastrous defeat. In the Yuezhi, Cao Min was the minor official responsible for obtaining the artifacts. He was hunted down and fled all the way to Jinling City in Daliang."
Hearing this, Zhu Youde's mind was shocked. No wonder he dared to attack after being defeated in the Western Regions - Daliang was also good at using shields!
But he hid it in his heart, hugging Anima cheerfully on the outside, and asked others to prepare the meal.
In the dining hall, Anima looked at the wild Emperor Liang in front of him, his eyes widening to the point that his three views were overturned.
It was rumored that the emperor was irritable and fatuous, and would be beheaded if he disagreed. But at this time, Zhu Youde hugged Anima, ate meat and drank wine, and from time to time asked about the situation of the Yueshi and the Western Regions.
"Anima, since you have come to Daliang, there is no need to be afraid, I will protect you!"
"It's a good time to stay in Shang Fang Mansion and help Mr. Tang build things. Once the Western Region is wiped out, I will send you back to help the Yuezhi restore the country!"
"After a while, think about what the saber looks like and draw a drawing for me to see."
"Come, drink..."
Within half an hour, Anima and Zhu Youde started talking about each other as brothers, and they didn't end until they were drunk.
Li Renjie helped Zhu Youde, who was drunk, to leave. Anima was supported by Tang Huo and became excited. As she staggered towards the inner room, she shouted to Tang Huo: "The world has deceived me. His Majesty is obviously very close to the people. Why is he so faint?"
Yes, where did it happen?"
"In contrast, the king of the Western Region is a tyrant who slaughters my people..."
Tang Huo just chuckled, admiring His Majesty's resourcefulness in his heart, but just a few kilograms of mutton and a few glasses of strong wine made Anima surrender, and took away a lot of information about the Yueshi and the Western Regions.