Chapter 36: Ace Spy
Yao Niang chased and blocked Tang Ying for several days and finally trapped her in a corner of the Feng tribe.
"Little girl, where are you going to run?" Putting aside the gender, Yao Niang was just like a street bully who was teasing decent women.
Tang Ying would not surrender: "Aunt Yao, if you go any further, don't blame me for being rude!"
"How can you be so rude? It's just an ear piercing, right?"
"Is that piercing my ears?" Tang Ying said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "After piercing my ears, will my aunt dislike me for not dressing up properly, and take me to shave, comb my hair, and apply flowers? Then she will complain that the skin on my hands is rough and not delicate and smooth enough! After tossing my ears, face and hands, won't it be time to toss my feet? This is a step backward, abandoning our weapons, and humiliating our country! Once you get on the pirate ship, don't even think about getting off!"
"Little girl, are you saying... I'm a pirate ship?" Yao Niang gnashed her teeth and said, "Aunt, I'm so kind as to dress you up, but you don't know what's good for you!"
Tang Ying's eyes dodged left and right, and her tone softened: " Aunt Yao, I'm not saying that you are a pirate. I don't want to dress up because I'm still in mourning. What would I look like if I dressed up?"
Yao Niang : "Really?" Looking Tang Ying up and down, she saw that she was dressed in plain clothes, wearing the black narrow-sleeved official uniform of the Imperial Cavalry Division. Except for the sword at her waist, there was no other color.
"How can this be false? If you don't believe it, why don't you ask Master Fu?"
Seeing that she didn't look fake, Yao Niang couldn't help but sigh, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I thought I had found a good talent." She waved Tang Ying over and said, "Forget it, forget it. If that's the case, why don't you stay with me and learn some skills?"
Tang Ying: “…” Rather than the Shadow Department which didn’t sound like a good place, she actually wanted to go to the Inner Prison.
"What do you know?" Yao Niang probably saw Tang Ying's reluctance: "Chun Niang is rigid and has been guarding the inner prison for half her life. She is far inferior to the Shadow Department." She dragged Tang Ying back to the room and threw a pile of rags at her: "Since you don't want to dress up anyway, why don't you pretend to be a beggar?"
Tang Ying: “…”
Yao Niang ordered her subordinates to start cleaning up Tang Ying, and repeatedly reminded them: "She looks sickly, like a hungry beggar on the street. The shabbier she is, the better."
Tang Ying turned around and tried to escape by pushing the door open: "Help!" But four beautiful women under Yao Niang's command grabbed her hands and feet with a smile and dragged her back to the room.
※※※
At the same time, the second prince invited Yuan Shu to his house.
Yuan Shu had been favored since she was young, and was held in the palm of her brother's hand. When she saw the second prince standing in front of a painting of a galloping horse with his hands behind his back, she approached him and threatened him, "What are you looking at, second brother?"
It was a painting of a horse that had not yet been framed, and she also recognized the horse in the painting.
“Isn’t this the Mustang King?”
"It's now called Fu Yingjun." When the name was mentioned, the second prince couldn't help but smile a little, and then he straightened his expression: "I once told you that when you entered the Forbidden Cavalry Division, you must make friends with Chunniang and Yaoniang. Did you do it?"
Princess Yuan Shu pursed her lips, sat down, and muttered to herself, "My royal brother has never seen Chun Niang, so he doesn't know how scary her face is. Every time I see her, the hair on my body stands up, and I have nightmares when I return to the palace. And that Yao Niang, she's so coquettish, she doesn't look like a decent woman at all. I always feel like she looks at me with disrespect, how can I befriend them?"
"You don't even know how to make friends? Do you want me to teach you step by step?" Yuan Lang had never said a harsh word to his sister, but today he couldn't bear it any longer: "Think about it yourself, if you want them to be loyal to you like they are to the Grand Princess, you must have the ability, right? Sending snacks to the Phoenix Tribe all day long, is that your ability to command your subordinates?"
Yuan Shu suddenly became annoyed: "You agreed to my joining the Forbidden Cavalry Division. Now you come to scold me again!" She pouted, very unhappy.
"My agreement doesn't mean I agree with everything you do after you go in. You didn't do any of the things I asked you to do." Yuan Lang took a deep breath, calmed the restlessness in his heart, and decided not to hide it anymore and just explain it to her clearly.
"I have repeatedly told you to be good friends with Chun Niang and Yao Niang, especially Yao Niang, but you never took my words to heart. But do you know who Yao Niang is?"
"Isn't she Chunniang's deputy? She looks like she can't even interrogate a prisoner. I think she's just eating for free in the Imperial Cavalry Department."
Yuan Lang had a slight headache: "Is the Forbidden Cavalry Department a place to keep idle people?" He took a deep breath and decided to wake up his sister: "Yao Niang is the head of the Shadow Department, did you know that?"
"Shadow Division?" Princess Yuan Shu seemed to have heard a joke: "Brother, who fooled you? The Forbidden Cavalry Division has always only had the Phoenix Division and the Phoenix Division. When did the Shadow Division appear?"
"On the surface, the Imperial Cavalry Department only has the Phoenix Department and the Huang Department, but in reality, there is also the Shadow Department. The Shadow Department has two directors, one is responsible for the Shadow Guards, and the other is responsible for training spies. They are sent to various places to collect intelligence. They also send good-looking female spies to the mansions of various princes. It is best if they can stay with the princes to monitor their movements. And Yao Niang is the director in charge of training spies."
He would not have known these things if he had not reached the top later.
In his previous life, when he had just established his government, he rescued a girl named Hongxiang who was being bullied by several thugs on a snowy night.
Hong Xiangsheng was beautiful and delicate. When she first met him, she was still wrapped in white linen. It was said that she had just buried her parents and her life was lonely and pitiful... Anyway, she stayed in the mansion later, pouring tea and water, grinding ink and fanning herself every day Unconsciously, the two of them gradually became close friends.
Perhaps the young man's ambition was gradually growing at that time, but he could not find anyone to confide in in this mansion, so Hongxiang gradually became his confidant, often looking at him with admiring eyes, as if he was her god and her master.
It’s not that he doesn’t understand love, he just uses it in the wrong way.
The night before he led his troops to Baicheng, Hongxiang gave herself to him. It was a beautiful dream that had accompanied her for four years and that he had often thought about day and night.
Young people’s love is so deep that it can only accommodate one person.
Later, the Miss Tang, who was taken care of meticulously, granted marriage by the emperor, and married into the palace in a red dress, was just a stepping stone for him to climb to the center of power.
It was only after he got hold of the sharp knife of the Forbidden Cavalry Division that he knew Hongxiang's background.
She was an ace spy trained by Yao Niang from the Shadow Department and was just a chess piece casually thrown out by the late emperor to pave the way for the crown prince.
Once you are in the game, who isn’t a chess piece?
However, when the chess piece turns the tables and becomes the chess player, it may not be willing to see the stupid things it has done in the past.
Everyone in the palace said that Hongxiang, the most favored girl in the prince's mansion, might become a royal concubine, or even a queen with the emperor's favor. Perhaps even Hongxiang herself thought so, but her life was ended by a cup of poisoned wine on the anniversary of Empress Yuan's death.
Empress Yuan, surnamed Tang, was posthumously named Empress Renxiao Chengming Qishengwen on the day Yuan Lang ascended the throne.
These things were buried deep in Yuan Lang's heart and he could not tell others.
Yuan Shu was frightened by his words: "Royal brother, you didn't lie to me, did you?" Even though she was slow-witted, she could sense the chill at this moment: "You mean... there are many spies in the Shadow Department? Are there any in the Royal Brother's house? Are there any around Mother?"
She had enjoyed boundless wealth since she was a child, and even the emperor doted on her like a treasure. How could she have imagined that behind such a kind smile there lay countless surveillance and distrust?
"Why did my father do this?" After saying this, she even felt that her words were so stupid that she couldn't bear to look at them directly. There was a brazier in the study, but she felt cold: "Royal brother, what should I do now? I haven't even heard of the Shadow Department. My father has never thought of letting me take charge of the Phoenix Department. Does my aunt know about this?"
The eldest princess Yuan Heng has been in charge of the Phoenix Department for many years on behalf of the Queen. Yao Niang is one of her subordinates. How could she not know about it?
The more Yuan Shu thought about it, the more frightened she became. She wished she could throw this hot potato of the Phoenix Tribe away immediately .
She only wanted to see Fu Chen when she was free, but she never thought about monitoring others, including her mother and brother. This was... too scary.
