Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 160 - Righteous People

Princess Yina is the niece of Wakhan Khan and the wife of Yuchi Bodhidharma.

The previous night, Sultan Gu, Yao Ying, and Yuan Jue had left the royal temple separately. Yuan Jue had brought out an attendant from Gaochang and had planned to interrogate him thoroughly once they found a safe place. Unfortunately, they were unlucky and couldn't escape before the lockdown, so they had to return to the royal temple to seek refuge.

The attendant was afraid that Yuanjue would kill him to keep the secret, so he cried and swore that Yuchi Damo would never dare to set a trap to harm others.

Yuanjue felt that the servant was noisy, so he knocked him unconscious. He put on his clothes and went to the king's temple to inquire about the situation. At noon today, the people from the Royal Temple have withdrawn to the palace, and the inside and outer three floors of the palace are guarded by Lady Yina's personal soldiers. Only then did Yuanjue find an opportunity to escape from the royal temple.

Upon hearing this, Yao Ying furrowed her brows lightly.

As soon as she arrived in Gaochang, she went to the market specifically to inquire about the information from the well-informed Hu merchants. They told her that there was tension between the relationship of Yuchi Damo and Lady Yina.

~~~~~~~~~~
The Northern Rong cavalry were good at plundering and attacking, but not at defending a city, let alone governing a region. Due to the special geographical location of Gaochang, Wakhan khan believed that after attacking Gaochang, he must send troops to guard it. Instead of going through this trouble, it was better to control Gaochang through marriage, extracting high taxes from Gaochang to support the Northern Rong royal court. Thus, he sent 20,000 troops to besiege Gaochang, forcing Yuchi Damo to marry Princess Yina.

At that time, Yuchi Damo was already married to a lady from a distinguished noble family, and the couple deeply respected and loved each other. In contrast, Lady Yinna was older than him and had previously married several Turkic nobles. With the Northern Rong army pressing on the border, he had to divorce his first wife and marry Lady Yina.

It is said that on their wedding night, Yuchi Damo had told those around him, 'Today's humiliation will be repaid in the future!"

Lady Yina, relying on her status as the princess of Northern Rong, was domineering, arrogant and indulgent, allowing her subordinates to plunder the rare treasures obtained from merchants. The powerful slaves she brought oppressed the people of Gaochang, causing the royal family of Gaochang to fall into chaos and causing resentment among the people.

The couple was at war with each other. Princess Yina once mocked Yuchi Bodhidharma in public for being cowardly and useless and a defeated general underling of Wakhan Khan. There were even attendants who had seen Yuchi Damo leaving her room angrily with several scratches on his face.

Yaoying asked Yuanjue: "What is the situation in the palace now? Why did Princess Yina send troops to guard the palace?"

Yuanjue said: "The guards of the palace are all her personal soldiers. My subordinates speculate that Yuchi Bodhidharma may be under house arrest."

Yaoying frowned more and more: "Could it be that Princess Yina discover us?"

Yuanjue shook his head and whispered, " My subordinate questioned the servants, and he said that Princess Yina and Yuchi Damo had been arguing frequently over the past year. Yuchi Damo had a son and a daughter with his previous wife and Princess Yina wanted to send the children to the Northern Rong court as hostages, but Yuchi Damo refused.

Not long ago, Princess Yina sent the siblings away without telling Yuchi Damo, which made him furious. He caught up with them and brought them back to the palace. He had a big fight with Princess Yina, calling her a snake and a venomous woman. Princess Yina was so angry that she beat a slave girl to death."