Nine out of ten gamblers lose; I've run into a jerk!

Chapter 37 Love is always a feeling of indebtedness, but then again...

As a border town, Yiyang Pass was naturally equipped with war weapons such as the crossbow.

When the garrison commander Guan He received Shen Qing's plea for help, he understood the situation and promptly mustered his troops, pulling out ballistae to accompany Shen Qing to the rescue.

Upon reaching the abyss, they attached iron chains to giant arrows and launched them, embedding them into the opposite cliff face. The well-trained soldiers then slid down the iron chains one by one to the other side, where they formed ranks and charged forward.

Reaching the ambush site with reinforcements took less than half an hour, perfectly demonstrating the importance of speed in warfare.

Upon learning that Shen Qing had successfully escaped, the leader of the ambush force dared not let his guard down any longer and ordered a full-scale encirclement and killing operation, striving to kill the prince before reinforcements arrived.

Both Xuan and Qi countries value this alliance meeting highly, and the guards they sent are all elite soldiers. Even though they are outnumbered, they cannot be defeated in a short time.

In close combat, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and shouts of battle filled the air as the two sides fought fiercely.

Just as the battle reached its climax, the leader saw billowing smoke and dust in the north and knew that reinforcements from Xuan Kingdom had arrived. Realizing the situation was hopeless, he immediately ordered a retreat.

"Don't pursue a desperate enemy." Shen Che stopped Guan He, who was trying to chase after the ambush.

The valiant Guan He, cursing and swearing, rallied his troops, only to find himself empty-handed after half an hour's journey, achieving nothing without even touching the ground.

At this moment, Shen Che's clothes were disheveled, and the decorative sword at his waist had been drawn, although he was well protected in the innermost layer and had no chance to use it.

Seeing Shen Qing return with the reinforcements, he finally felt relieved and bowed to Guan He, the garrison commander of Yiyang Pass, saying, "Thank you, General Guan, for coming in time."

Guan He clasped his hands in return, saying, "This is my duty, Junior Minister, there's no need for such formalities."

Seeing that they were safe, Jingchuan and Que Shu crawled out from under the carriage, and the surrounding soldiers put down their armor to make way for them.

The nine-year-old prince had never experienced such a scene before. Que Shu was still shaken and his legs were trembling. Fortunately, he hadn't drunk any water that morning. He sighed at how dangerous the world was.

Jingchuan was already sixteen, and after the accident at Yingchoujian, he had developed some courage, so he was relatively calm.

Shen Che frowned and ordered the delegation to regroup and count the casualties on the spot. One hundred and seventy-three soldiers were buried in a foreign land, and sixty-five seriously wounded were carried back to the border city for treatment by a team of Yiyang Pass soldiers. Countless were lightly wounded, and the accompanying medics helped to apply medicine and bandage them. After that, they had to continue on their journey.

Zhu Da, the envoy from Qi, was heartbroken to see the fallen soldiers and wanted to lash out, but he couldn't shift the blame to Xuan. This place was already outside the border of Xuan and only thirty miles away from Qi.

He knew in his heart that the fact that more than 1,500 well-trained soldiers could be ambushed at such a close distance meant that the commander of Yulong Pass was probably also problematic. Even if he wasn't colluding with them, he was at least turning a blind eye.

He was furious at the endless political infighting and factionalism within the country, feeling that these soldiers had died unjustly and in vain!

For safety reasons, Shen Che and Zhu Da discussed having Guan He accompany the delegation to Yulong Pass in Qi Kingdom. They hadn't done this before, firstly because they hadn't expected the bandits to be so audacious as to ambush them thirty miles from the border of Qi Kingdom, and secondly because they didn't want to bring too many soldiers to avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings.

Right now, the safety of the two princes is more important; let's put etiquette aside for now.

Everyone had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on with the series of ambushes, but to save face for Qi Guo, they left the truth unsaid, and Zhu Da could only agree.

An hour later, the group set off again, heading towards Yulong Pass.

At this moment, Shen Che finally had time to talk to Shen Qing. He recalled that when he was exchanging pleasantries with Guan He earlier, he praised Shen Qing for her skill and courage in cutting the iron chains to block the pursuers and then swinging across to the other side.

"Third Brother, there are benefits to learning martial arts." For example, he felt very insecure just now while holding the decorative sword.

There's a strange misunderstanding here. The iron chain was broken from Qi Guo's side. In the emergency, Shen Qing didn't mention that he flew over by swinging the hilt of his sword like a bamboo dragonfly. Guan He mistakenly thought that he swung over while cutting the iron chain to block the pursuers, and then grabbed the other end of the iron chain to climb to the top of the cliff.

The pursuers certainly knew what was going on, but since they were in the middle of a fight, no one was spreading the word.

This created an information gap between the two sides. Their side only thought Shen Qing was an ordinary expert, but the enemy had already added Shen Sanlang to their list of extraordinary people and noted: "Be sure to bring a bow and arrows when pursuing him!"

With Guan He's escort, the remaining half-day journey was uneventful, and they arrived at Yulong Pass smoothly at dusk, where they handed over their travel documents for verification.

The city guard glanced at the name "Shen Qing" with an official air, but secretly made a mental note of the name.

Upon entering Yulong Pass, Shen Che felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders, his mind at ease. If anything unexpected happened to Jingchuan on Qi Kingdom's territory, Xuan Kingdom would not be held responsible.

Jingchuan felt somewhat relieved. Although it was still a ten-day or half-month journey to Qidu Baifeng City, if the forces behind his two imperial brothers were the ones who wanted to harm him, they wouldn't dare to be too blatant.

Just as they had expected, the delegation traveled smoothly within the territory of Qi. Shen Qing observed carefully and found that the appearance of Qi was similar to that of Xuan, with the same widespread suffering among the people.

That's true. The two countries are so close. If Qi Kingdom were to have even the slightest improvement in its situation, the Xuan Kingdom's royal family would be overthrown by the people.

Along the way, they passed through disaster-stricken areas, which made Shen Qing even more suspicious that this era might have just encountered abnormal weather.

Since the ambush they encountered last time, Shen Qing has preferred riding a horse when traveling. It's more maneuverable, allowing him to leisurely pass by Jingchuan's carriage.

Perhaps due to the excitement of approaching Baifeng City, Jingchuan became extremely talkative. When he saw Shen Qing riding by, he stuck his head out to chatter.

"Four years have passed. I wonder if the pear trees I planted back then have borne fruit yet?"

"Is Miaomiao getting enough to eat and wear right now?"

After much chatter, Shen Qing finally learned that Jing Chuan had a twin sister. Their story was quite cliché: their mother was a loser in the palace intrigue and couldn't endure the cold palace, so she passed away early. The two siblings relied on each other in the cold palace, barely having enough to eat or wear, living a truly miserable life.

He volunteered to be a hostage in Xuan Kingdom so that his sister could have a better life. Before he left, his sister, who was as thin as a cat, had already been taken out of the cold palace and raised by the Empress.

Jingchuan looked forward to reuniting with his sister, but was also worried about seeing her looking haggard.

Shen Qing was too lazy to listen to his sentimental talk, so she spurred her horse forward to explore the way.

The journey to Baifeng City was smoother than he had imagined, and he arrived at the city without any incidents.

There was naturally a welcoming party outside the city gate.

"Third brother!"

"I've been waiting for you to come back, brother."

"Eldest brother, second brother."

Jingchuan got out of the car and bowed to the two richly dressed young men, putting on a fake show of royal brotherhood.

"Third Brother~" a soft, sweet female voice rang out.

Jingchuan followed the sound and looked toward the carriage with its lotus-colored gauze curtains, his voice trembling with excitement: "Sister—"

A palace maid rolled up the gauze curtain and supported the hand that reached out from inside.

Shen Qing's eyes widened as she saw a ball of flesh trotting towards Jing Chuan.

Jingchuan was stunned, his eyes blurry with tears, and said, "Miaomiao, you've suffered so much."

"..."

Dude, you're talking about an orange cat!

Although love often makes one feel indebted, on the other hand, if your sister's physique doesn't suffer from this, she might develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar!