Around halfway to the capital from where they embarked, Qing Xue judged that it was time to set the ball rolling.
Escorts and captives alike had settled into a routine. No one was so on guard that they’d notice anyone trying to disrupt the status quo. The imperial soldiers certainly wouldn’t expect it from their own commanding officer.
Working on his own, Qing Xue admitted to himself that what he had planned was indeed difficult to pull off. When he’d been assigned men, a part of him was afraid that at least one of his friends would be included among them as his junior officer—but another part was hopeful that he’d have someone to ask for help should he have no choice but to need it.
In the end, he was relieved that they were all excluded. The whole reason he could risk doing this was
