Chapter 723: 469. The sky falls, and the minister holds it (5k)_3
The bad news is that it’s not too far from Luo Mountain.
Zhao Douan bought a carriage at a premium in the town and acquired some food, then chose the shortest official road to leave Jianning Prefecture and fled.
"Your Majesty, look, this is our current position on the map. The fact that this town hasn’t heard news of the rebel army indicates they haven’t completely controlled this territory... This is good news for us."
Zhao Douan acted as the driver, wearing a straw hat, and while driving the carriage, he handed a scroll of the map into the carriage for the Empress.
In a feudal dynasty, maps are confidential, especially large regional maps, which very few officials have access to.
Fortunately, when Zhao Douan traveled south, he obtained several maps to familiarize himself with the world, which proved to be of great use now.
Xu Zhenguan lay weakly in the jolting, leaky carriage, holding the map for a while, then looked up and said, "You want to leave Jiancheng Road as fast as possible before they have a chance to block us? Head north to the Huai River?"
Zhao Douan nodded, "Prince Jing has occupied this area for years. Once he raises an army, court officials, tied up with the sealing ceremony at Luo Mountain, will leave their government offices, unable to effectively counteract. The entire Jiancheng Road might fall in mere days. After that, Prince Jing will surely march his army north, heading for the Capital as swiftly as possible...
The Huai River... Prince Huaian, wealthy beyond measure, but lacking troops. If my guess is correct, he will likely pretend not to see the rebel army and will not take major action to stop them...
Prince Jing’s rebel army will soon enter Huai River, but it takes time for the army to mobilize and to digest the conquered land...
Moreover, once they enter Huai River, will Mu Prince in the southwest Yunfu Road and Prince Chen in the east Marine Road let Prince Jing rampage north unchecked? They will certainly create obstacles.
This would give us a window of time to escape.
If we can escape this encirclement before Prince Jing blocks Jiancheng Road and enter Huai River, the pressure will greatly decrease... Heh, if Prince Huaian shuts his doors and plays turtle, he certainly won’t come for us either."
Xu Zhenguan glanced at him, once again admiring Zhao Douan’s composed mind in a crisis. She put away the map and gazed worriedly outside:
"Traveling the official road in the carriage is still too conspicuous."
Zhao Douan didn’t respond.
He didn’t want to, but the Empress was gravely injured. Although he could carry her across mountains and rugged paths, it would slow them down significantly.
But right now, what the Empress lacks most is time!
The sooner they return to the Capital, the better their chances of stabilizing the situation!
If they chose safety, taking only remote, dense forests, by the time they return to the Capital, it might have already been breached.
Xu Zhenguan understood this, so she closed her eyes, focusing on her breath to slowly heal, attempting to expel the Hand Force of Xuan Yin bit by bit.
Throughout the journey, the two pushed onward, hardly pausing for a moment’s rest.
Once night fell, they didn’t dare enter towns or light fires. If not for the horse needing fodder and rest, Zhao Douan wished to continue 24 hours a day.
Even so, he was essentially exhausting the horse’s life forces to journey on.
...
"Whoa!"
Zhao Douan suddenly pulled tightly on the reins, causing Xu Zhenguan, who had been meditating in the carriage, to open her eyes and ask, "What’s wrong?"
Zhao Douan leaned near the curtain, holding the whip, his expression heavy: "Something’s wrong, the official road ahead is blocked."
He had just turned a bend with the carriage and saw scattered travelers and carriages of merchants queuing and blocking the path ahead.
At the forefront, the road was blocked with barricades, and a team of fierce, menacing soldiers were inspecting the travelers along the way.
"Although we’re near a county town, we weren’t heading towards it, so logically, there shouldn’t be a checkpoint here," Zhao Douan said, his expression unpleasant. His heart sank when he saw that the soldiers were particularly "attentive" to young women.
Has Prince Jing moved this swiftly? How much time has passed?
"Can we avoid it?" Xu Zhenguan frowned from inside the carriage, asking.
Zhao Douan shook his head, "Detouring would be far. We can’t afford to waste time, looks like we’ll have to force our way through."
Xu Zhenguan pondered, "But that might alarm them to our presence."
A group of ordinary soldiers would be easily killed by Zhao Douan’s martial might.
But the problem was, the nearby rebel forces would quickly notice the "disappearance" of this group, thereby realizing their presence here.
Killing them would alert the enemy, revealing their position... but avoiding them isn’t possible... Zhao Douan furrowed his brow, contemplating what means could break the blockade.
Not just this checkpoint, since even such a remote place had the road blocked, there would surely be more ahead...
He instinctively rummaged through the many options in his mind and suddenly said, "I have a way to deceive them..."
He reached into his coat and produced a palm-sized scroll, the Void Illusion Scroll.
He had always used this Suppressing Object as storage, but he hadn’t forgotten that it could record real scenes as paintings, thereby setting up a false illusion realm.
If used wisely, fooling these ordinary soldiers without killing them shouldn’t be difficult.
"However... I’m not a magician, nor is Your Majesty, we can’t use mana to drive this object, at most a few uses, then it must enter a ’cooldown’ period... And the closer we get to the Jiancheng Road border, the more checkpoints there will surely be. If we’re in a time crunch, we’ll still be exposed later..."
Is that so... Xu Zhenguan was momentarily stunned, also finding it tricky, but Zhenbao was decisive and immediately said, "Then let’s charge through, not waste the power of the Suppressing Object. It takes time for the rebel army to react and send powerful interceptors."
Zhao Douan frowned; it seemed to be the only plan. However... An idea suddenly flashed across his mind, and his lips curled into a smile, "Seems like that’s our only option, but I thought of a way to buy us more time."
"What?" Xu Zhenguan asked curiously.
And by then, seeing the suspicious carriage remain motionless, a few armed soldiers approached cautiously, shouting loudly, "People in the carriage, come out for inspection!"
Zhao Douan stared at the approaching group of rebels, a Golden Crow Flying Dagger whistled from his sleeve, and a golden line swept through the air.
Seven or eight arrogant rebels almost simultaneously had a thin red line appear on their necks, before collapsing dead.
Zhao Douan shook off the blood drops from the dagger with a twist of his wrist, lips curling, "Give the pursuers some confusion."
...
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