Using a Foolish Princess to Conceal Poison and Kill a Prince-These Japanese Raiders Had Quite a Bag of Tricks

Kim Seon-a paused for a moment, glanced at the hilt of the knife, and still bit her lip, stubbornly remaining silent.

"That was just a coincidence! They've followed me for three years; they would never collude with the Japanese!"

Gu Moran was too lazy to waste words with her, and gestured with his lip towards Tuoba Mang beside him:

"Take off the leader's boots."

Tuoba Mang walked over, grabbed the captain's ankle with his large, fan-like hand, and ripped off his Goryeo boots and cotton socks with a tearing sound.

In the firelight, a thick, yellowish-white callus was visible between the big toe and second toe of that foot.

" Goryeo wear cloth boots."

Gu Moran put his arm around Kim Seon-a's shoulder, forcefully pulled her up from the ground, and held her close to his chest, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Only Japanese people who wear wooden clogs year-round will develop these calluses between their toes."

"Seon-a, if your eyes really aren't working properly, I'll go back to my room tonight and give them a good treatment."

The shogunate spy on the ground, disguised as Goryeo captain, realized his identity had been exposed. He tilted his head and bit open the poison sac hidden in his collar, black blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

Kim Seon-a's expression changed drastically. She broke free from Gu Moran's hand, trying to stop the man from swallowing the poison.

"You're not allowed to die! Tell me who sent you!"

The spy rolled his eyes upwards, and his hands, which were bound behind his back, suddenly broke free of the ropes. A three-inch-long dagger slid out of his sleeve, and he stabbed it towards Kim Seon-a's fair throat!

Gu Moran was prepared and grabbed Kim Seon-a by the back of her collar with his left hand, pulling her sharply backward.

With a soft thud, the tip of the dagger grazed the back of her raised right hand, leaving a two-inch-long gash that gushed blood.

The spy tried to pounce again, but Tuoba Mang charged forward with a large iron hammer and smashed it into his kneecap.

With a snap, the kneecap shattered into pieces.

Tuoba Mang stepped on the spy's chest, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a neatly folded piece of oiled paper, which he handed to Gu Moran.

"Your Highness, we found this thing during the search. It looks like a waterway map of the Dazaifu (Imperial Secretariat)!"

The spy twitched twice, then died from the poison.

Kim Seon-a stood there, clutching her bleeding right hand. Blood dripped from her pale fingers onto the bluestone slab, and she remained silent for a long time.

After a while, she suddenly let go, picked up her sword with her right hand, and walked to the other Goryeo who was paralyzed with fear on the ground.

A flash of sword light, and a head flew off, spraying blood all over the wall.

Kim Seon-a walked back, head bowed, and said, " Seon-a is blind and almost harmed the prince's army."

From this day forward, these three thousand Goryeo sailors will all obey the laws of the Great Yan Army; I will no longer interfere.

Gu Moran glanced at the tiger tally, but instead of reaching for it, he grabbed her bleeding right hand and turned to shout at Shen Ling'er:

" Ling'er, come here and bandage it. If we wait any longer, the Princess's hands will be scarred from touching me."

Shen Ling'er rolled her eyes at him, opened her medicine box, stepped forward, used strong liquor to clean Kim Seon-a's wounds, and carefully wrapped them with white gauze.

Gu Moran tucked the map of the Dazaifu's Waterways into his robes and turned to instruct Pu Yunshan:

There must be a secret passage leading out of the city beneath this warehouse.

"You pick twenty clever scouts, and together with Yun Shuyue, we'll sneak south along the secret passage and find out what those bastards at the Dazaifu are up to."

At the same time, fifty miles away, in the Dazaifu government office.

The Kyushu Tandai Shōni Sukemoto of the Kyushu sat in the main seat, listening to the report from the escaped messenger.

Upon learning that the Great Yan army had indeed stopped at Tsukushi City for the sake of beautiful women and a million taels of silver, he immediately clapped his hands and laughed.

A scruffy-bearded military officer stepped forward from the hall, hands on his sword, and pleaded for command:

"Master Tanti!

Since Gu Moran is infatuated with women and has halted his advance, this humble general is willing to lead three thousand elite soldiers to attack Tsukushi under cover of night and burn these Great Yan Pigs to death with oil!

Shōni Sukemoto's smile vanished, and he grabbed his iron-bone fan, slamming it down on the general's helmet.

"Idiot!

The Great Yan people had ironclad ships and Subduing Fire Thunder; Kuki Yoshitaka and Shimazu Yoshihiro each sent 20,000 men into their ranks.

Are you trying to kill yourself by sending three thousand men into a direct confrontation?

Since they are lustful and greedy, I will use women and money to completely blind Gu Moran!

After speaking, Shōni Sukemoto got up and walked towards the side hall in the back.

Side hall.

Nineteen-year-old Princess Takaichi Nanako was squatting on the ground catching a fluttering moth.

She wore an elaborate and gorgeous royal twelve-layered kimono, her long hair flowing over her shoulders, and she was as delicate as a porcelain doll.

A silly grin hung on his face, and a little glistening drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.

Shōni Sukemoto picked up a bowl of sweet soup mixed with datura juice from the maid's plate, squatted down, and held it to her lips like coaxing a three-year-old child:

"Your Highness, please drink this bowl of sweet soup."

"If you see that Prince Great Yan in black tomorrow, and you take off all your clothes and rush up to hug him, your father will buy you a hundred butterflies."

When Takaichi Nanako heard about the butterfly, she clapped her hands and giggled, then took the jade bowl and gulped it down in one go.

Shōni Sukemoto nodded in satisfaction, snapped his fingers at the maid, and then walked out.

Two maids stepped forward and quickly stripped Takaichi Nanako of her clothes, dressing her in a semi-transparent red gauze undergarment soaked in a potent aphrodisiac, and then putting a loose twelve-layered kimono over it.

Upon hearing that the maid had finished her task, Shōni Sukemoto's smile vanished completely. He coldly ordered the craftsmen and ninja leader in the courtyard:

"They stuffed poison pills into the axle compartment of the oxcart used for escorting the bride!"

Then select another thirty Iga who are proficient in bone-shrinking techniques, each carrying two poisoned blowguns and a short sword, and stuff them all into the thirty camphor wood chests that are part of the dowry!

Once Nanako has killed Gu Moran, then you can make your move!

At 3:45 AM, all thirty large chests were nailed shut and loaded onto an oxcart.

Shōni Sukemoto glanced at the night sky to the north, then led ten thousand elite troops from the Dazaifu, along with the real gold and silver from the treasury, and quietly withdrew from the south gate of the Dazaifu to Iwami Silver Mine. He left only two thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled men on the city wall, planting many flags to create a diversion.

The following morning, a thick fog rose Tsukushi City.

The sound of cow hooves splashing through the water came from the depths of the mist.

The lead eight-bearer gilded oxcart slowly came to a stop in front of the drawbridge Tsukushi City.

A crack appeared in the red carriage curtain, and a small hand covered in white powder and with bright red nail polish reached out and grabbed the tip of the iron spear of the Great Yan sentry guarding the gate.