Shen Yi lowered his voice: "The barbarians have made their move sooner than we thought?"

This sentence was short and low, but the 'half-deaf' Shiliu heard it without missing a word: "There were barbarian spies on board. The people on the returning ship were not ours."

Shen Shiliu spoke while moving into his inner chamber without delay. He raised his hand and cut the bed in half. There was nothing under it.

However, a set of dark iron armor was actually hidden under the wooden board.

Shen Shiliu's hands dexterously opened the dark hidden space on the chest of the steel armor and retrieved a Black Iron emblem, its cold material cast a blue glint over his fingers.

He promptly turned his back, and though it was usually strengthless, it now resembled an iron spear.

The wind blowing outside the wide-open door disturbed his thin, light white robes and only brushed past his shoulder as if intimidated by his killing intent.

Shiliu: "Ji Ping."

'Ji Ping' was the name of Shen Yi that had never been called in front of outsiders before. On usual days, the two often bickered over mundane household matters as close as real brothers. Yet, at this moment, Shen Yi took a step back and quickly moved into a kneeling position:

"Your subordinate is present."

"Since they came so soon, we can take advantage of the confusion and conveniently haul in this net - I am entrusting His Highness the Fourth Prince to you. First, escort him out of the town."

Shen Yi: "Roger."

Shen Shiliu quickly grabbed an outer coat and the sword at his bedside, then immediately turned to leave.

https://www.northwestflower.net/sha-po-lang/prologue/iv

On this day, a veteran with the surname Wang was in charge of the city's defense. He had wasted half of his life here in Yanhui Town. He liked to drink in his downtime, and he would start boasting and telling fibs whenever he'd had a little too much. He would always say that he used to follow the Old Marquis on the Northern Expedition in the past.

No one could find out whether his words were true or not, but it was not impossible. The Old Marquis was still human. He still needed to eat, and of course, he would require a servant to take care of his meals.

But no matter how careless he was, Old Wang would never dare to drink on the day of the return of the Giant Kite. Each of the officers must be lined up in turn, and everyone was afraid of being embarrassed.

Unfortunately, what you feared was what you got.

Old Wang looked up at the alarm whistle ascending to the sky and roared hysterically: "Which little bastard's piss does not look at the date and demands to get crazily drunk to molest your wife? Who released the whistle? Do you think this old man is just for show?"