Chapter 1 — The Street They Live in Nhan Hoi Quan

The Queen escaped from the palace for the seventh time, taking me with her to Nhan Hoi Quan. She knelt under the city gate, grabbed my skirt and cried. "Ah Yeu, as long as you open the door and take me out of the gate, Tieu Tan will never find me again." In my previous life, I believed. Three days later, the emperor led the Huyen Giap army to attack Truong. He said that Nhan Hoi Quan harbored the queen, and the whole city was full of bandits. Before the citadel was destroyed, the queen finally stepped out of the secret passage, blocking the crowd. "Don't cry anymore, I'll follow you home." The tyrant dropped the blood-stained sword and hugged her. The historian wrote that the empress went through life and death and finally resolved the misunderstanding. No one wrote that my father was hung on the castle wall for seven days. No one wrote that the thirty thousand people of Nhan Hoi Quan became the backdrop for them to reconnect with their old love. When she opened her eyes again, the queen's hand was resting on the city gate mechanism. I swung my knife and cut the rope. The heavy gate thundered down. Co Ting Loan suddenly turned her head. "A Yeu, what are you doing?" I took out from my chest seven secret letters sealed with phoenix seals, one by one, pasting them on the city wall. "Your highness did not come here to run away to save her life." "You came to mark on behalf of Your Majesty—" "The next citadel needs to be massacred." There was an immediate silence under the city wall. The soldiers guarding the gate simultaneously looked towards Co Thinh Loan. Tears were still hanging on her face, but her lips were a bit white. "A Yeu, what are you talking about? Where did these letters come from?" "From the double compartment in your lady's saddle." I pulled out my dagger and stuck the last envelope in the slot. The wind picked up a corner of the paper. The phoenix seal is bright red, and the lower right corner also has an orchid-shaped flower that Co Thinh Loan often uses. In my previous life, when I escorted her through the secret passage, I saw with my own eyes that she hid these letters in her saddle. I once asked, she said it was a farewell letter written to Tieu Tan. I still feel sad for her. After that, Huyen Giap's army entered the citadel, I was crushed under a pile of corpses, and I heard the eunuch next to Tieu Tan read one of those letters. "The general in charge of Nhan Hoi Quan, Luc Kieu, had a strong temper and refused to engage in battle. The food stored in the manor was enough to last for three months, and the southwest secret passage could let a hundred people pass through." Every word was personally written by Co Thinh Loan. "If your majesty, If you feel unjust, you can open it up in front of everyone." We take a step back. “I just found out that there are quite a few literate people in the city.” Co Thinh Loan did not move. She tightened her cloak, her knuckles turning white to blue. The goalkeeper's principal, Tran Tinh, stepped up and stared at the envelopes: "Lady Luc, this matter has to do with the queen, you can't decide based on just a few pieces of paper." "So I never said I wanted to condemn you." I sheathed my dagger and turned my head to look at Co Thinh Loan. "I just refused to open the gate." Co Thinh Loan's eyelashes trembled slightly. She quickly shed tears again. "A Yeu, I know your resentment towards me came too suddenly, but I really have nowhere to go. Tieu Tan is crazy, he wants to oust the crown prince, wants to kill my entire mother clan, and even wants to lock me in Phuong Nghi Palace for life." She reached out to pull me. "We grew up together since childhood, you know best what kind of person I am. If I really want to harm Nhan Hoi Quan, Why do we need to lead two maids and brave the wind and snow to this place? "I looked behind her. The two maids bowed their heads, each holding an unattractive wooden box in their arms. In his previous life, after the citadel was destroyed, Tieu Tan took out from those two boxes a map of the military defense around Nhan Hoi Quan. At that time, Co Thinh Loan cried and said she did not know what was in the box. My father's tongue was cut out, he couldn't even refute it. “Open up.” I said. Two palace maids

suddenly raised his head. Co Thinh Loan stood in front of them. "Inside are just my clothes." "You ran away to save your life but also brought two boxes of clothes with you, truly more sophisticated than the people on our border." I gave Tran Tinh a look. Tran Tinh hesitated for a moment then led the people forward. Co Thinh Loan suddenly knelt down. "Captain Tran Hieu, if you don't believe me, just tie me up. But my maids are innocent, they followed me and suffered all along the way, don't scare them." She knelt quickly and strongly. There were people around who took in a cold breath. The Queen with her golden body openly knelt before a Border Principal. Tran Tinh's face changed and he quickly backed away: "If you do this, your life will be ruined." Co Thinh Loan took advantage of the situation and grabbed the hem of his shirt. "Then please open the city gate and take me out of the gate. I'm gone, His Majesty will of course not make things difficult for you." Familiar words fell on my ears, my palms were cold. In her previous life, she also said the same thing. Therefore, Father ordered three hundred cavalry to escort her. Three hundred people left Nhan Hoi Quan, less than ten miles away, and were shot and killed by the Huyen Giap army. Co Thinh Loan returned unscathed to Tieu Tan's side. She knelt on the battlefield and begged on our behalf, but Tieu Tan piled three hundred heads outside the city gate, saying that was the price Nhan Hoi Quan had to pay for kidnapping the queen. "Lieutenant Tran Hieu." I raised my voice. "The third article in the border law, people with unknown status who want to enter the mandarin must check their route and luggage. Royal family members are no exception." Tran Tinh's hand stopped in mid-air. The soldiers guarding Nhan Hoi Quan all know this law. That is the law engraved by my father himself in front of the military camp gate. Co Thinh Loan slowly let go of Tran Tinh's shirt and raised her head to look at me. "Ah Yeu, do you suspect I'm fake?" "Of course it's true." I squatted in front of her, helping her fix the phoenix tree that was blown askew by the wind. "Because it's real, we have to investigate even more." Her pupils shrank slightly. I didn't give her a chance to speak anymore. "Open the box." The palace maid hugged the wooden box tightly, her face full of panic. Tran Tinh regained consciousness and raised his hand. The soldier grabbed the wooden box. The lock of the box was broken by the back of the knife. In the first box there were indeed clothes. Under the precious floral decorations are thirty small silver fire signal tubes. Tran Tinh picked up one, unscrewed the bottom cap, and his face immediately darkened. Inside was hidden a piece of black fuse. “Fire signal.” His voice was dry. It is a specialized item for border reconnaissance. Different colored flames represent different armies. The second wooden box was opened, the inside was covered with a thick layer of pearls. Tran Tinh pushed the pearls aside, revealing the bottom of the box. On the bottom plate engraved with the topography of Nhan Hoi Quan, the food warehouse, the weapons warehouse, the well and the southwest secret passage are all clearly marked. Co Ting Loan staggered a step. "I don't know." She turned her head to look at the two maids. "Who put it in?" The palace maid knelt down with a thud, crying until her whole body trembled. "Please spare my life, the servants also don't know." "Who took care of the luggage along the way?" I asked. The palace maid on the left opened her mouth. Co Thinh Loan suddenly hugged her chest and her body fell limp. Tran Tinh instinctively reached out to support her. I took a step faster and grabbed her wrist. Pulse is fast but not chaotic. Pretending to be a bit too hasty. "The wind at the city gate is strong, the lady is not feeling well, first go to the enemy castle to rest." I called two female soldiers over. "Watch her carefully. What she touched, what she said, must be recorded." Co Ting Loan suddenly opened her eyes. "A Yeu, you want to imprison me?" "You're joking." I helped her stand steady, lowering my voice. "Every time you hide from the palace, there will be people from the entire city.

“Every time you escape from the palace, someone from an entire city will die. "This time, don't you dare go anywhere." She stared at me, her tears slowly stopped. On the face that had been familiar to me for more than ten years, for the first time, a trace of coldness appeared. "Ah Yeu." She said softly. "You will regret it." I looked at the vast snow field outside the city. In my previous life, Nhan Hoi Quan's blood mixed with the snow, until the following spring, the river protecting the city was still there. red. "I regretted it once." I turned around and told Tran Tinh. "Block the city gate, extinguish the guiding torches outside. All those entering the palace today must be re-checked." "Again, send a cavalry team, follow the path the queen came to search." Tran Tinh looked at the secret letters on the wall, then looked at Co Thinh Loan being led away by female soldiers. "Lady Luc, yesterday the general led people to Bac Linh. There are currently only two thousand soldiers guarding the citadel. If she really left a signal on the road..." "Tieu Tan already knew she was here." I raised my hand and stretched the green flag on the highest point of the city wall. "At most three days, he will come." Tran Tinh's face suddenly changed. In the distance, a gray-feathered eagle pierced the wind and snow, circling in the sky of Nhan Hoi Quan. On its claws was tied the black string used by the Huyen Giap army. It flew twice and then turned to the southeast. Tran Tinh Looking in the direction of the eagle's disappearance, my throat moved. "There's no time to block it anymore." I pulled out my bow and arrow, aiming at the eagle that was about to turn into a black dot. The gray eagle fell from the air. The soldier ran to pick it up and poured out a thin piece of paper from the bamboo tube. "Phoenix enters the sky." Below is the seal of Co Thinh Loan. The ink has not yet completely dried Thinh Loan was arranged at the enemy castle in the east. It was said that there were twelve soldiers standing guard outside the door, and the windows were also closed with wooden bars. She even ordered the palace maids to make hot tea and invite me in to talk about the past. When I pushed the door in, she was sitting next to a pot of coal warming her hands. She took off the old robe she wore when she fled, and changed into a pure white dress. She had no phoenix hair in her hair wood, looking like the orphan girl who lived in the Luc Palace many years ago. "I remember before you were most afraid of the cold." She poured me a cup of tea. "Every winter you crawled under my blanket." I refused. Co Ting Loan held the tea cup and smiled bitterly. "Now you don't even dare to drink the tea I poured?" "I'm afraid that the lady will slip and poison Nhan Hoi Quan's well water." Her hand stopped. A moment later, she poured it put the tea in my cup, drank it all in one gulp. "Is that okay?" "It can prove that the tea is not poisonous, it cannot prove anything else." I sat down opposite her, put the piece of paper from the eagle's paw on the table. "Explain." Co Thinh Loan bowed her head and took a look. "This is indeed my seal." "The writing is also yours." "The writing can be imitated." "The messenger falcon recognizes smells. Birds are trained in the palace to only chase specially made scents. You still have it on the cuff of your shirt." I reached out to pick up her cloak and hung it on the back of the chair. The lining had a very faint scent of cinnamon flowers. It was the scent that Tieu Tan specially ordered someone to prepare for her. In her past life, every time Co Thinh Loan ran away, Huyen Giap Quan was able to quickly catch up with her. She said that Tieu Tan had placed his eyes and ears next to her. Now that she thinks about it, her eyes and ears are herself. Co Thinh Loan was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked: "Ah Yeu, where do you know these things from?" "You should answer my question." "If I speak, I will also be forced to the end, so what?"