Nango.

Feng Yang leaned against the stone wall of the herb shop and watched as three ragged men ran down the street. Although their steps may seem uneven, the way they move has the precision of a soldier. Feng Yang concluded that they must be survivors of the shantytown of Garden Square who had escaped from the massacre.

At least for a while. As Feng Yang watched, he saw three soldiers wearing the logo of the City Defense Division coming from around the corner, with swords in their hands, apparently chasing. As the two fugitives passed by the herbalist, two men wearing the black cloak and short tunic that were standard in the General's Mansion floated out of the alley. One of them drew his sword from his waist, and the other crouched down in the street, aiming with a crossbow.

One of the rebels screamed and fell to the snow, the spikes of a crossbow protruding from his chest. The second rebel hesitated and lingered for a moment on his fallen friend. Just as he hesitated, three soldiers from the City Defense Division came up to him, one on each side of him, and one on his flank.

The only weapon of the soldier who was surrounded was a short knife, but the soldier used it fiercely, first cutting off the arm of one of the city defense soldiers, then slashing the shoulder of another enemy, and then the swordsman of the General's Mansion rushed from behind and pierced him. The wounded rebels collapsed in the snow and fell on the bodies of their slain comrades.

Feng Yang cautiously crawled back into a dark side street. It wasn't the violence that held him back, as countless scenes had unfolded in the southern castle in the weeks following the massacre. Some of the petitioners outside the city escaped and hid in the city after the camp was destroyed. The plague broke out in impoverished areas, and entire huts were looted, with plenty of room for desperate people to hide.

The guards and city guards of the General's Palace worked tirelessly to eradicate the rebels, and when they found their prey, street fighting became routine. Even with poor equipment and almost always outnumbered, the rebels refused to surrender.

The actions of the Imperial army during this period completely shattered the last remaining illusion that courage and bravery were qualities unique to the aristocratic class. Nevertheless, he was impressed by the stubborn determination of the peasants under Zheng Hongchang's command. In the face of inevitable death, they refuse to give up their honor, they refuse to admit the crime that has been imposed,

He frowned at the thought of this. What he witnessed was a bad omen for his comrades. He had wanted to get wormwood and other healing herb rhizomes from the herbalist to treat Helan Sheng's wounds. But the sudden appearance of the swordsman under Han Cheng's lurking command made him understand how stupid this idea was.

Han Cheng knew that some of the fish that had slipped through the net had escaped their trap, and they also knew that some of the forbidden soldiers would be injured. Naturally, they would monitor any place that might provide aid to the injured. Feng Yang realized that he owed the hapless rebels, and if it weren't for them, he would have walked straight into the ambush that had been set up so long.

Han Cheng crept along the narrow streets, his eyes fixed on every shadow, looking for enemies. He quickly distanced himself from the herbalist. After a lifetime of training and fighting, playing as a hunted animal was a unique experience for the knight, who vowed to make Han Sung pay.

A barren street without snow marks another entrance to the labyrinth of sewers and underground culverts in the south. The heat inside the arched tunnel is enough to melt the snow that falls on the stone cover like a hatch.

Feng Yang crouched down the street, looking around to make sure no one spotted him. Due to the rapid spread of the plague, the population was in panic and there were almost no people on the streets, but he remained cautious. It was only when he was sure that he was alone that he lifted the stone cover and jumped into the pitch darkness.

As he enters the damp sewers, a simple rush lamp illuminates the way for him. Feng Yang walked along the ledge adjacent to the sewage stream below the street, pressing a perfume-coated cloth against his nose. He takes some solace from the nasty surroundings around him. No one wants to think about the sewers and wipe those disgusting pipes out of their minds. They were deliberately forgotten by most of the inhabitants of the Southern Imperial Castle, creating a perfect path for those who did not want to be seen.

The swollen rats bounced away under the flickering lights of the Janissaries, and when the rodents decided to swim away from the glare lights, water splashed from the culvert. Disgusted by the lurking vermin, anger welled up in his stomach. Nango's rats have grown bigger and braver this winter, sneaking into plague-stricken houses and gnawing on the corpses of the dead. The priests of the temple even hired rat catchers to guard the morgue to ensure that the fingers and toes of the dead were preserved.

The thought of the creeping beasts waiting in the dark, waiting for their time like vultures, and then swarming on a man, ripped him to the bone, made Feng Yang's heart uneasy. If only they could get the title of Hadeshound, for only those things in the underground would love this poisonous scavenger, and there is nothing more disgusting in the world than a mouse.

The forbidden army couldn't help but shudder when he saw dozens of small eyes with green light shining in the darkness ahead. The broken wall was like a landmark, a signpost to him, letting him know that he was near his hiding place, but he could never get used to swarms of rats nesting among the broken bricks and rubble.

As he approached, the eyes immediately retracted and slipped back into their holes. As he approached the wall, the only trace of the rat was a scaly tail disappearing into the gap between the two stones. Feng Yang still shuddered, he didn't need to see the pests to know they were there.

Continuing on his way, after a few hundred steps of the broken wall, he stopped, turned left, and walked along a narrow brick tunnel. When the dwarves first built sewers for Emperor Wu, they dug many natural caves and passages under the city. Instead of bypassing these cracks, the dwarfs integrated them directly into the building, leaving behind the occasional crossing tunnels leading to the main culvert.

Over time, many of the ancient tunnels were destroyed as the cellars and vaults of the city above became larger and larger. Normally, these openings are sealed again, but sometimes, when it serves the purpose of the builder's funders, these hidden tunnels are allowed to remain connected.

After the massacre, there was such a cellar in the shelter where Feng Yang had withdrawn. For many years, he enjoyed the company of Lady Arcadia, a charming beauty beloved by Prince Gallo Vechi, who came from the Holy Land further south of Daliang. The expenses of the luxurious estate where she lived were also maintained by the prince's generosity. Lady Arcadia was happy to repay her generosity, though Prince Gallo Vecchi, who was magnanimous and did not mind that she had her own entanglements outside of their affair.

(The holy land here is considered to be a sale, and then a chapter will be written as a separate story)

Feng Yang had to take a deep breath to pass through the narrow crack that led to the noblewoman's cellar. And the fact that he was able to squeeze a big man like He Lansheng through such a dense passage still amazed him.

A torch was lit in a stone-walled cellar. Feng Yang saw one of Lady Arcadia's servants, an old squire named Gurryth. Gurreth bowed to Wind, then motioned for him to lie down next to the mattress, and began to apply something to Windwind's injured hand. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at this, he didn't know that Gurreth knew a little medicine, and it was even more strange that Lady Arcadia hadn't mentioned such an important thing.

Then he suddenly had a terrible thought. Perhaps out of pity, the noblewoman sent Gurreth to a herbalist or a barber. If she had done so, there might have been a large crowd surrounding the manor by now.

"Why are you elongating your face?"

Feng Yang turned to face the person who spoke, his hand hanging to his sword. He didn't notice the people sitting in the shadow of the wine rack. He was about to let out a scolding sound when one of them leaned forward into the light. When he recognized a knight, the emir of the Mainlander among Xue Ju's bannermen, he relaxed his grip on the sword. The man beside him was another knight, a gray-haired veteran named Karid.

As the most prosperous city in the whole East, Nanyu attracts people from all over the world, compared to these farmers in the south of Daliang, professional soldiers such as Emir and Kalid are more suitable for the position of forbidden army, and the holy religion in the south also deeply influences these people from foreign countries, and with the influence of ritual culture, these Westerners are even more loyal than the local soldiers.

Feng Yang jumped over to the knights and hugged them warmly with his arms. "How did you two guys escape from Han Cheng's dog?"

Hearing this, the emir grinned. "Karid's horse leaped over the enemy, and the enemy's arrows were as if blind, and none of them hit the lucky fellow, you see, I will say that his horse has some Pegasus blood."

"This idiot wants to fight his way out." Listening to the words of the emir, Kalid grumbled angrily. "He looks like a hedgehog stuck in armor with an arrow! Eventually, he also realizes that the enemy army will keep shooting at him until one of their arrows kills him. ”

"So I turned my horse's head and rushed straight through a wall," the emir continued. "My horse crashed through most of a kitchen, a living room, and a vestibule. There was a small group of city guards waiting over there, but when I rushed in through the wall next to me, they were startled until I was all gone, and they were still standing there with their mouths wide open!"

Feng Yang is also very helpless for this mid lane knight who lacks tendons, but at least the result is good. "God, it's great to see you two, but how did you find us?"

"You owe it to your lady," Khalid said. "Did you know that the castle has been occupied by the King of the South?" Feng Yang nodded, realizing that the fortress should have been occupied by the Empire's troops just a few hours after the massacre. "Since there was no castle to lean on, a few of us decided to try Prince Gallo Vic's estate."

"There are ten of us living with Prince Gallo Vechi, there is a doctor, a doctor named Wang Ming, who was involved in this massacre, and he is also the one who has been taking care of Zheng Hongchang."

"Zheng Hongchang is in a terrible situation right now," Kalid interjected. "If it weren't for Wang Ming, he would have died a long time ago."

"It's the medicine and herbs that Wang Ming gave us." Emir said.

"Then we all owe him a great favor," Feng Yang also felt heartily grateful for the actions of this doctor he had never met.

The emir shook his head and said, "This kind doctor doesn't seem to care much about our gratitude. In fact, he was very eager to leave Nanyu, and he said that as long as Zheng Hongchang was out of danger, he would go. ”

Karid glared at the emir disapprovingly, and said, "I think it's the conversation that annoys him, not the people who accompany him."

"What do you mean?" Emir asked in an unkind tone.

"The Lord will be taken captive by them." The emir's voice suddenly plummeted, so low that only the two people nearby could hear it. "Xiao Guang ordered him to be executed in a few days, and they are now locking the Lord in the Holy Court of the Speechless."

"Go on! Tell him the rest! Karid urged.

Ignoring the noisy fellow, the emir put a rare smile on his face, and continued, "Prince Gallo Vecchio has a plan.........