The trusted aide furrowed his brow slightly and listened for a moment, then softly said, "Your Highness, it seems like there’s the sound of horse hooves approaching."

"Oh?"

Yu Wenye’s eyes darkened, and with a wave of his hand, everyone immediately hid behind the trees. Soon enough, a rider galloped in from the path, casually making their way into the forest, letting out a low whistle. Upon hearing the familiar sound, Shantong’er and the others breathed a sigh of relief, quickly approached the person, exchanged a few words, and brought the person over.

It was one of Yu Wenye’s personal soldiers left behind in Qi County.

At this moment, the soldier appeared anxious and breathless as he stepped forward, bowing in respect before him: "Greetings, Prince Qin."

"No need for formalities."

Yu Wenye simply raised his hand slightly to let him rise, then frowned and asked, "Why have you come?"

The personal soldier’s face paled, and after exchanging a glance with Yu Wenye, he immediately lowered his head, his voice trembling: "I, I have come to deliver a message to Your Highness and also to... confess my guilt."

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing the words "confess my guilt," Yu Wenye’s brow furrowed even tighter.

He took a step forward, looking down at the personal soldier, "What has happened? Speak!"

The final word came as a low command, causing the personal soldier to shudder, and with a thud, he knelt to the ground, kowtowing: "Forgive me, Your Highness, we failed in safeguarding the Princess."

"What?!"

Yu Wenye’s eyes widened suddenly, and the people around were also shocked, especially Shantong’er, whose face changed color: "What did you say? Sister Ruyi, she—"

Yu Wenye’s expression turned grave as he asked, "What exactly happened? Explain clearly!"

The personal soldier said, "We, we were originally guarding the Princess at the county government, but unexpectedly, the Princess knocked out the maid delivering her meals, disguised as the maid, and fled; after we discovered it, we hurriedly followed but still couldn’t catch up, and the Princess had exited the city."

Yu Wenye’s gaze flickered slightly.

Under the dim sky, his eyes darkened after a brief flicker, and he said, "She left the city, could she be heading to Changchun Palace?"

His voice turned icy with the last few words, and there was a hint of imperceptible helplessness. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The personal soldier shuddered again.

Seeing this, Yu Wenye sensed something amiss, his gaze immediately turned cold once more as he stared at the personal soldier, "Hmm?"

The personal soldier scarcely dared to lift his head to look at him, only gritting his teeth and bracing himself to say, "We pursued out of the city, and originally, originally we were about to catch up to the Princess, but unexpectedly, a troop suddenly appeared and abducted the Princess."

"What!?"

This time, even Shen Tu Tai and Shantong’er couldn’t restrain themselves and exclaimed in shock.

Yu Wenye’s breath caught sharply.

He immediately asked, "Who was it?"

The personal soldier replied, "That group, judging by their attire, seemed like—people of the Western Turks. The leader wore a wolf-head mask."

Upon hearing this, Yu Wenye froze for a moment.

Standing beside him, an equally tense Shen Tu Tai furrowed his thick brows, a hint of astonishment and unease showing on his tiger-like fierce face as he turned to Yu Wenye, softly saying, "Your Highness, that, that is—"

Before joining Luocao Wanggang Village, he had served in the army for several years and had even clashed with the Western Turks, so he knew some identities of the enemy’s commanders and generals.

And in the Western Turks, there was only one who wore a wolf-head mask—

"Ashina Zhuxie."

Yu Wenye’s deep voice resounded, at the same time, his gaze turned chillingly sharp: "The Crown Prince of the Western Turks."

"...!"

Upon hearing this name, everyone drew a breath of cold air.

Ashina Zhuxie, the eldest son of the Western Turkic Khan Ashina Shali, known as Prince Zhuxie, was ruthless in nature, skilled in strategy and decision-making, commanding a force of formidable Heavy Cavalry, invincible in battle. Ashina Shali’s ability to quell rebellion and reunify the Western Turks was largely due to this son and his Heavy Cavalry.

However, Ashina Zhuxie’s origins were rather extraordinary.

To the Central Plains Dynasty, the Turks were grassland tribes, and before splitting into eastern and western factions, they were only known as Turks. But in reality, the Turks also had various internal tribes, and the Ashina tribe was the most powerful royal lineage. All Turkic Khans throughout history were from this family. Besides Ashina, there were other powerful tribes within the Turks, such as the Shelitu Li Tribe, Sunon Tribe, Zhishi, and others.

Among them was the Zhuxie Tribe.

This tribe bore the surname "Zhuxie," skilled in iron forging and Heavy Armor creation, making them a highly formidable tribe within the Turks. However, they never bowed to the Ashina tribe, and this made the reunification of the Western Turks difficult after their division.