Chapter 15 — Receiving Seven Envelopes for Help, I Alone Stormed into the Royal Palace

He took off a jet black token from his waist and threw it at me. I raised my hand to receive it. The order card is heavy. On it was engraved only one word: The Emperor said:

"With this thing, you can mobilize the horses of the Kinh Ky region. All the gates along the way are not allowed to block it."

“In addition, I allow you to make your own decisions.”

I raised my eyebrows slightly.

“Even hitting people?”

He replied coldly:

“Even cutting down generals.”

The main hall fell into silence again. I tightened the command post.

“Please rest assured, Your Majesty.”

“God only cuts those who deserve to be cut.”

The Emperor looked at me.

“There's one more thing.”

“We must return alive.”

I burst out laughing.

“If I don't come back…”

“Who else will replace my brother to calculate the remaining debt?”

When I stepped out of Tho An palace, the sky had just dawned. The morning light outside the palace wall was as cold as silver white. My brother chased me all the way to the palace gate. This time, he didn't stop me anymore. Just quietly put a piece of peace jade into my hand. It is a broken piece of jade that has been reassembled. The cracks are still intact. The joints are also very clumsy. I bowed my head and looked for a moment.

“Did you put it together yourself?”

The brother nodded.

“Last night, I asked my grandmother to find the broken pieces of jade.”

"When the Thai doctor bandaged your wound, you personally glued it together little by little."

“I'll take it with me.”

“Don't say bad things.”

I held that piece of jade tightly in the palm of my hand.

“Waiting for you to come back.”

The brother nodded. Tears fell to the ground.

“Brother and mother will be at home waiting for you.”

I turned around and jumped on the horse's back. The sound of horse hooves trampling through the thin layer of fog in front of the imperial city gate. Behind, the royal citadel stands as tall as a mountain. But I know... My brother crawled out of the foot of that mountain himself. It's our turn to go to the border. Split the remaining mountain in half. Less than ten miles out of the capital, I changed to the third horse. The order card given by the Emperor is indeed very useful. Along the way, as soon as the service stations saw the orders, they immediately changed horses, no one dared to ask another word. Everyone's eyes looking at me are very strange. Perhaps some rumors in the palace have already spread outside. A lieutenant at the border first whipped the Emperor, then was sent to fight the enemy. How does it sound... It's not like something a normal person can do. Even I don't see the same. But things have come to this. In the afternoon, on the official road, we met Han Chieu who was chasing us. He was riding a black horse, with two bags of water, a bag of medicine, and a short sword hanging on his back. As soon as he saw me, he immediately restrained himself and opened his mouth to scold me.

“Tham Thanh Duong, you don't need your life anymore, right?”

I glanced at him.

“What are you doing here?”

Han Chieu was so angry that his face turned blue.

“From the moment you left the barracks and ran away, I knew something would definitely happen to the capital.”

"I chased him to the middle of the street, and then I heard someone whipping the Emperor right in the palace."

“I just guessed... knew for sure it was you.”

I calmly replied:

“Pretty accurate guess.”

He almost fell off the horse's back.

“You... you really whip?”

I quietly said "yes". Han Chieu was silent for a long time. Then, he raised his hand to hold his forehead.

“I shouldn't have stuffed you with dry food the other day.”

"If we don't have dry food, we'll still whip."

He put his hand down and sighed softly.

“My brother where?"

“Reconciled.”

“Returned to the Tham family to recuperate.”

Han Chieu breathed a sigh of relief.

“That's fine then.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to suddenly remember something and his face immediately turned pale.

“That's not right.”

“Your brother can be saved.”

“What about you?”

“The crime of injuring the king is enough to kill you eight times over.”

I raised my hand to touch the token in my chest.

“You can't die yet.”

“Bac Dich has arrived.”

Han Chieu immediately withdrew his joking expression.

“Which set is it?”

“The three sets have movement together.”

“Almost thirty miles outside Lang Nha pass.”

Han Chieu cursed loudly.

“They chose the right time.”

I look at him.

“Do you also think it's too accurate?”

Han Chieu paused. I said slowly:

"The border war has just subsided, the main force of Tran Bac camp is dividing troops to guard three places."

“I just left the camp two days ago and the capital received an urgent military alert.”

"Bac Dich was at that moment approaching the Lang Nha pass gate."

"It feels like they know very clearly who is still in Tran Bac camp now, who is still there, and who has left."

Han Chieu's face darkened.

“Do you suspect someone leaked the information?”

“There is no doubt.”

“Yes, definitely.”

Han Chieu lowered his voice.

“People in the scriptures?”

I don't answer. Each face in the palace flashed through my mind one after another. Truong Lac did not understand military affairs. The Queen Mother will also not personally get involved in the border affairs. But besides them... There are people who don't want Truong Lac to collapse, for fear that it will lead to more old debts being exposed. Some people don't want me to return to the capital alive to continue investigating. This knife from Bac Dich... Came at just the right time. It was so timely that... It was as if someone had already hung my life outside the gate.