Princess of the Jurchen Empire 3

 Spy

 Irina Mutovchiskaya

 If the Mongol army overtook the fugitives, then the Mongols would have acted simply, they would have destroyed adults and children.  Why look for a princess, doubt the choice, if you can solve the problem simply - destroy everyone!  For a spy who walked among his compatriots, it was important to prevent such an outcome.  Still, people he had known since childhood were walking with him now.  Yes, and to be honest, the spy doubted that if the Mongol army overtook a handful of fugitives, he would be left alive.  If the spy could figure out which of the children was the princess, then the problem would be solved.  Somewhere at rest, the spy would have quietly killed the princess, and left a signal flag and the princess's breastplate in a tree, indicating that the chase could be abandoned because the princess of the Jurchen Empire was now dead.  But the spy, no matter how hard he tried, could not figure out which of the children was the princess.  The children were in a terrible state, dirty, ragged, hungry, they wandered after adults. A distinctive feature of the boys of the Jurchen Empire was always long hair gathered in a bun, but before fleeing, the shaman ordered the parents to shave all the children baldly. Nobody dared to disobey, and now it was  it is not immediately clear whether the spy is facing a girl or a boy.  First of all, the spy's suspicion fell on the giant Wang Li.  The giant was carrying eight children in four knapsacks.  It was announced to people that these eight children could not walk on their own, they were so weak and sick that a soldier of the Jurchen army, the giant Wang Li, took care of them.  Spy, I won’t reveal his name to you yet, I won’t even tell you his gender, because, as you understand, not only a man, but also a woman could be a spy, I understood that the princess could be not only in the giant’s knapsack, she could  to be among those children who, with their last strength, were now following adults.  When the children were weak, they were picked up, but not for long.  Adults - women, old men and women, also walked at the limit of their strength.