"Your Majesty has your Majesty's difficulties." Qin Zhao unfolded the imperial edict and read the few lines again, "This spring there has been floods in the south and drought in the north, and the treasury is empty. There are 80,000 defenders in the north, against 300,000... Yujing is settling the score."
"Then we just watch them rush to the foot of Dragon Vein?!"
Qin Zhao rolled up the imperial edict very slowly.
"The imperial edict says," he raised his eyes and looked at the dark night sky in the north, "that you must not take the initiative to engage in battle. It did not say... You must not be forced to fight back."
Wei Changfeng was stunned.
Qin Zhao had already turned around: "Call three hundred personal guards, with light armor and no flags. Now."
"Where to go?"
"Forbidden way." Qin Zhao untied his cloak, revealing the black armor underneath, "If the wolves want to enter the dragon vein, they must know where the door is. Let's go and 'help' them explore the way."
The "forbidden road" in the Dragon Vein Mountains is thirty miles west from Tiemenguan Pass.
In name, it is a "sacrificial passage" and is not allowed to enter except during the grand ceremony. But Qin Zhao, as the guardian, has temporary survey rights - as long as he does not go deep into the core area.
Three hundred personal guards wrapped their horseshoes with cloth and ran quickly, reaching the entrance at the darkest moment before dawn.
It is a thin line of sky between two cliffs, only wide enough for two horses to walk side by side. There is a huge ancient seal carved on the cliff: "Zhenyue Anjiang". The red paint has long since peeled off, revealing the true color of the stone.
