Face of the owner of the herbal garden instantly changed with horror as he heard that some assassins had shown up. "How–How come some assassins suddenly came to my place?"

He was unaware of the identity of Ling Zhang or Yuwen Tong and just believed that the two of them were childes from some rich family, who had come to his herbal garden for fun but encountered assassins.

"Childe, may I ask what those people wanted? Money or anything else?" The owner of the herbal garden hurriedly asked another question.

Seeing his face had paled visibly with fright, Ling Zhang, though having no idea who it was that had sent the two assassins, believed that the owner of this herbal garden had nothing to do with this incident.

"Those assassins' target was me. I'm sorry for the horror I have put you through."

On hearing these words, the owner of the herbal garden heaved a sigh of relief and replied, "Childe paid a visit to my manor, so you are my guest. I should have done better with the security. Fortunately, you are unharmed, Childe. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to absolve myself from the blame."

The general storekeeper, who had been standing on the side, worried that there might be any other accidents if they stayed in this place, so he said, "How about you have some of your men escort these two honored guests back? I mean, there are too many people here and some of them might not be what they seem. If by any chance there are some other assassins among them, we might have trouble defending against them."

The owner of the herbal garden was unaware of the general storekeeper's consideration, but he was only too anxious to see these two men out of his manor, so he repeatedly inclined his head and responded, "Yeah, yeah... There are too many customers in the teahouse tonight, and we don't know for sure if any of them are assassins in disguise. For the sake of your safety, I'll have my security guards escort you back home."

Yuwen Tong observed, "There's no hurry. Let's wait for my bodyguard to return first and then make a decision. I'd appreciate it if you sent someone to the County Yamen to get some yamen runners here."

Upon saying this, he fished out an ID plate and informed the owner of the herbal garden, "In case there's anything bothering you –take this ID plate with you."

The owner of the herbal garden had a somewhat awkward expression on his face as he heard Yuwen Tong ask him to report this incident to the authorities, but when his eye fell on the ID plate in Yuwen Tong's hand, all the color drained from his face due to fright; his legs buckled and he slumped to his knees. "I let my eyes fall prey to my ignorance and failed to recognize the Grand Marshal. I deserve the death penalty for not having received Marshal with due formality!"

'Marshal?! This is Marshal Yuwen?'

All others were taken aback. Seeing the owner of the manor kneeling on the ground, they also slumped to their knees.

At this time, legs of the owner of the herbal garden were trembling violently with fear. The very thought that Marshal Yuwen had encountered assassins in his manor nearly sent him unconscious.

'The–Then the man standing beside the Marshal is Childe Ling, Marshal Yuwen's betrothed?

Though it was not the Marshal himself that those assassins tried to kill, there will still be dire consequences!'

While everybody was shuddering with fear, Yuwen Tong's voice was heard. "There's no need for such a high level of formality, and no blame attaches to the unconscious doer of wrong, but since there are assassins in this place, we shall show them no indulgence. Have this manor surrounded immediately. Make sure every inch is searched and nobody goes out of this place without being questioned first!"

"Yes, yes!" The owner of the manor didn't dare to hesitate for a single moment. He immediately had his men seal all entrances and exits of the manor and then headed for the county seat to report this incident to the county yamen himself.

Such a commotion soon came to the notice of customers in the teahouse and the inn.

All of them were frightened in the knowledge of what had just happened.

'Marshal Yuwen and Childe Ling came here to enjoy tea but nearly got hurt by some assassins?'

All entrances and exits of this manor had been sealed and an intensive search of this place was going to be carried out. Everybody had been ordered to stay where they were. Any acts of disobedience were punishable by death.

The entertainer playing qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither) in the teahouse didn't dare to perform any more. Customers were no longer in the mood for drinking tea, not to mention other things.

They all respected the Marshal, but they also feared him.

None of them had the sneaking suspicion that this whole thing was a lie. After all, news of Marshal Yuwen's presence in Tanyang had spread through the whole country.

At this moment, most of them had had a shrewd idea that the two visitors of great presence they had seen earlier this night had been Marshal Yuwen and Childe Ling. They also recalled that the two of them were looking for available seats at that time...

"Had I known that that man is Marshal Yuwen, I would have volunteered to serve tea for him, let alone give up my seats on the second floor!"

"Who could have imagined that Marshal Yuwen would suddenly come to this place?"

"I wonder which goddamn bastards attempted to assassinate Marshal Yuwen. They must had a really strong death wish!"

"Is it possible that they were sent here by the Wan Kingdom?!"

"My goodness! Are you saying that there are probably some assassins from the Wan Kingdom standing right here among us?"

That remark threw all customers into panic and they instantly started searching around with their eyes appraising one another, trying to find anything suspicious on others.

At this time, Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were standing in front of the teahouse. Circle upon circle, security guards of the manor, on full alert, gathered around protecting the two of them for fear that some other assassins might show up.

After subduing his urge for quite a while, Ling Zhang couldn't help but inquired of Yuwen Tong under his breath, "Do you really think that there are some assassins hiding in this herbal garden?"

Yuwen Tong replied, "No matter what, we've got to have this place searched."

"But–"

Before Ling Zhang could finish his sentence, Yuwen Tong raised his hand and gesticulated at him.

Seeing the gesture, Ling Zhang swallowed back the words that had sprung to the tip of his tongue. He conjectured that the assassins were among those who were close to them and well informed of their whereabouts. Since he had guessed this, he believed that Yuwen Tong definitely had guessed it as well. 'Why did Yuwen Tong still decide to go to so much trouble to search this herbal garden?'

And Yao Yi still had not returned. He wondered if he had caught up with the two assassins.

Finally, after nearly two hours, staff members of the county yamen, seemingly the whole yamen, arrived. After such a long run, all of them were panting heavily, faces pale.

"We're honored to kneel before you, Marshal Yuwen!" It was the registrar and the general head constable of the county yamen who had taken their men to the manor. On seeing Yuwen Tong, the two of them, bursting with anxiety, knelt down to the ground, admitted their error and asked his pardon. "Please forgive us for not having arrived sooner, Marshal."

May I ask if any harm came to Marshal? We brought a physician with us."

Yuwen Tong replied, "You may rise. There's no need for such a high level of formality.

I'm unharmed and in no need of medical treatment. Have your men start searching this place and questioning everybody right now. Find out if there are any assassins or their accomplices hiding here as soon as possible."

"Yes, Marshal!" The two men, without any delay, hurriedly took their men to search the manor and question the customers.

After a while, Yao Yi returned, empty-handed, looking somewhat weary and untidy.

Ling Zhang had an inkling that things had not gone very well.

As expected, Yao Yi informed them with a grave expression on his face, "Marshal, Childe, the two assassins split up the moment they got out of this manor. I pursued the injured one, but I had not expected that the man had a firearm on him. When I was within an inch of catching up with him, he fired on me forcing me into a halt and got away from me."

Ling Zhang had a somewhat heavy heart. 'A firearm?'

"What kind of firearm?" Yuwen Tong inquired of him.

Yao Yi hesitated, a rather awkward look on his face.

"Speak," Yuwen Tong instructed flintily.

Yao Yi lowered his voice and replied, "Judging from the power of that shot, I think it's a government-issued firearm. It looked very much like the batch of firearms that the Ministry of War delivered to our station last year."

If that was a government-issued firearm, it was undoubtedly out of the reach of common people.

Ling Zhang's heart sank as his previous conjecture occurred to him.

Yao Yi's words sent everybody else into silence.

"Marshal, it's very unlikely that any of them is still in this manor. Why bother conducting such a thorough search?" queried Yao Yi.

However, instead of giving an answer to the question, Yuwen Tong instructed, "I want you to quietly go back to the courier station immediately, have our men question all people in the courier station, especially those from the capital city. Go."

After a slight change of his expression, Yao Yi inclined his head and left straight away.

Ling Zhang, who had had a vague idea what it was about, queried Yuwen Tong, "Did you send for these yamen runners in order to lull those assassins into believing you would be occupied searching the manor so that they would let their guard down and return?"

Yuwen Tong flicked an approving glance at him. "That's only half of the reason. The other half is that it would be more favourable for your safety if this goes public."

Ling Zhang generally came to understand what was going on. "Then is it necessary for us to send someone to the courier station to inform them?"

"It'll be more convenient for Yao Yi and others to conduct the inquiry if we don't."

Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head.

...

Yuwen Tong quietly returned to the courier station and informed Xie Shi and others of what had happened in the herbal garden. Having been working under Yuwen Tong for years, they instantly came to understand what Yuwen Tong intended to do and took immediate action.

Wang Dashan and his men were alarmed. They were the first ones to be checked out. Of course, the inquiry concerning them was aimed at finding out whether any of them were impostors in disguise.

"What's going on?" Wang Dashan and others were not fools. They immediately came to realized that something had happened and couldn't help but go anxious.

After confirming that none of Wang Dashan's men were impostors, Yao Yi replied, "Marshal and Childe Ling were attacked by some assassins in the herbal garden."

"What?!" This news brought Qiu Bing to an instant jump. "Are young master and the Marshal okay? Why did you come back instead of staying there protecting them? Where are the assassins? Shouldn't we be on our way there at this moment?"

Xie Shi flicked a cold glance at Qiu Bing, which gave Qiu Bing an intense feeling of constriction in the heart and immediately calmed Qiu Bing down, as if somebody had just poured a bucket of cold water right over his head.

"The Marshal and Childe Ling are okay. They are searching the manor. We have to check out people in this place."

'Check out people in this place? What is this supposed to mean?'

Before Wang Dashan and his men could raise any questions, Yao Yi gave a general explanation of why they were taking this course of action.

"Don't you make any rash decisions. If anybody ruins the plan, I'll report to Childe Ling and have that person return to Tanyang," remarked Yao Yi in a serious tone of voice.

Since even Qiu Bing, who was the most impulsive of them, had calmed down, all others stayed composed and nodded solemnly.

"Go and question the supervisor and waiters of this courier station, all of them." Yao Yi looked at Wang Dashan.

Wang Dashan inclined his head in the knowledge that this matter must be handled properly. "All right. Consider it done."

"Remember, be quiet. Don't alarm anybody," Yao Yi exhorted.

"Okay!" replied Wang Dashan.

Yao Yi said to Xie Shi and others, "We'll handle the rest of them."

Xie Shi and others nodded.

The staff members of the courier station numbered around twenty, including grooms working in the stable, chefs working in the kitchen and menials. First Wang Dashan and his men went to the supervisor, forced him into handing over the register of names of all staff members of the courier station, questioned him about the backgrounds of all of them and then verified them one by one.

Yao Yi and other bodyguards directly swooped on the rooms of palace guards.

"What are you doing?!" On being raided, those palace guards were stunned at first and then went annoyed.

"Hunting for assassins under orders of the Marshal," replied Yao Yi in a flinty tone of voice, his eyes sweeping through everybody in the room. All palace guards were staying in a separate building, which had already been surrounded.

"Assassins? What are you talking about? Why did we not hear anything about this?" Zhao Pingchuan, a commander of palace guards, asked after walking out, a cold look on his face.

"All people in this building are palace guards. There are no assassins here," said another man aloud in an unfriendly tone of voice. "Why don't you just go and hunt the assassins instead of messing around in our place?!"

"Even Yuwen Tong himself has no right to come here and search our rooms this way. We're immediately affiliated to His Majesty! You are just Yuwen Tong's bodyguards. This doing of yours is beyond the pale!" yelled Commander Zhao with an attempt to scare Yao Yi and others into leaving.

Were Yao Yi scared into leaving, he wouldn't be Yao Yi any longer.

In his eyes, even Dai Cheng didn't really carry much weight, not to mention palace guards.

"Search the room."

Zhang Liu and some others immediately walked out from behind him.

"How dare you! Yao Yi, does it really not concern you that His Majesty will get angry and vent his anger on your Marshal after being informed of this?!" thundered Zhao Pingchuan.

"We are just searching this courier station in an effort to hunt for the assassins. Why are you getting so excited about it? Is it because you are really harboring any assassins here?" Yao Yi fixed him with a suspicious gaze and then seemed to start pondering over something.

Zhao Pingchuan was sent at a loss for words. "You..."

While they were talking, Zhang Liu and some others had already started searching the room. They also checked faces and backs of those palace guards to see if they were in disguise and whether they had any injuries in their backs.

"What are you doing? Just search the room if you want. Get your hands off me!" A man restrained was infuriated.

At this time, Zhao Pingchuan finally noticed what was happening. "Stop!"

He was just about to walk over to free his subordinate when Zhang Liu and some others turned around and blocked his path.

Seeing this, other palace guards stood behind Zhao Pingchuan, confronting Zhang Liu and some other bodyguards.

"Let go of him," instructed Zhao Pingchuan through gritted teeth. "You are going too far. If I stand by and watch you do this today, how are we supposed to show our faces in the future?!"

"Humph! I think you are just trying to hide something from us. As far as I can tell, the assassins are standing right here among you. That's why you are so nervous and scared," observed Zhang Liu.

"What did you just say?!" Someone whipped out his saber.

"You want a fight? Okay. Let's do it. We can conveniently find out which one of you is injured during the process. It'll save me checking you one by one," Zhang Liu sneered.

"Commander Zhao, you were supposed to depart for the capital city immediately after Gonggong Zhang delivered all the imperial edicts. Why did you linger in Tanyang for such a long time and choose to leave on the same day we departed for the capital city? Even we won't be able to believe you if you tell us that none of you have been entertaining ulterior motives."

"Tell me about it. The reason why they waited so many days to depart for the capital city with the Marshal was that they were scheming an assassination."

"They definitely harbor evil intentions, which is why they don't even dare to let us search them."

"I think we might as well just skip the search, directly inform the Marshal that the assassins are right among these people, and let the Marshal mete out penalties to them. Since they attempted to assassinate the Marshal, His Majesty won't lay blame on the Marshal even if he directly executes them right here."

As Zhang Liu and some others kept talking non-stop, all the palace guards were further infuriated. They whipped out their sabers and decided to fight to the death.

"Yao Yi, exactly why are you doing this? Why are you so insistent on crossing us and framing us?!" Zhao Pingchuan looked at Yao Yi.

Yao Yi replied, "Framing you? That's not necessarily true."

"Yao Yi! We are palace guards. You will not act with such unruliness in our place!"

"Palace guards? As palace guards, if you refuse to be cooperative when suspected of shielding assassins, will it not be synonymous with trying to bring disgrace on His Majesty? If news of this matter spreads out, what will our people think of him?"

"You think we are afraid of you? Why should we care what others will thin–"

"Enough! Shut your mouths! All of you!" Zhao Pingchuan flintily stared at Yao Yi for quite a while and then instructed, "Let them search."

"Commander?!"

"Shut up. Any uncooperative behavior will be regarded as a sign of having a guilty conscience." Zhao Pingchuan turned around, looked at those behind him and deterred them from making any further remarks.

Then he said to Yao Yi, "But if you fail to find anything, you must give us an explanation we deem acceptable!"

Yao Yi responded blandly, "Of course."

After disarming the Palace Guards, Zhang Liu and some others started searching them.

After quite some time, all palace guards in the room were searched but nothing suspicious was found.

Seeing this, someone immediately sneered, "What did we tell you? Kneel down and kow–"

"What's the hurry? I remember that you guys number thirty, but I'm counting only fifteen in this room. Where are the other fifteen men?" asked Zhang Liu in a cold tone of voice.

"You..."

Zhao Pingchuan raised his hand and instructed with subdued anger, "Let them finish the search!"

His face and back had also been checked, which was why he was consumed with anger.

Yao Yi winked at Zhang Liu, who inclined his head and brought some men upstairs.