“Captain Wang, you still don’t understand? Even if I stand by and leave them alone, they will no doubt come here and make trouble for me. Moreover, we’re on Zhang Chong’s opposing side, which means that this is inevitable. I value my own life. I value my family’s lives. And I also value your lives. I won’t take any rash action, which is a promise I’m making to you. Like I once said, it’s not too late for you to absent yourselves from this matter.”
“Don’t take me wrong, young master. It’s not that we’re mortally afraid of death. Since the determination of Young master is still grim, we promise we’ll stand by your side and see this through,” Wang Dashan hurriedly said after hearing Ling Zhang’s words.
“Good. Be it so, I hope you’ll never mention what you’ve just said ever again. Meanwhile, I’ve already given you two chances to choose, so I hope you’ll hang in there. Don’t let me down.”
“We understand.”
Seeing that Wang Dashan and Liu Yi had understood his words, Ling Zhang said, “Last night has been tough for both of you. Have a break this morning. Tell all our bros to have half a day off. We’ll resume the training in the afternoon.”
“Yes. Thank you for your kindness, Young master.”
After Wang Dashan and Liu Yi left, Ling Zhang went to the Green Bamboo Mansion to meet Yuwen Tong.
“Did you send someone to stalk Wang Dashan and Liu Yi last night?”
“My men have been staking out the Prefecture Encampment with them all along for the past few days. It’s just that they failed to spot my men.”
This was exactly what Ling Zhang had speculated. He didn’t feel ashamed that his guards failed to find that Yuwen Tong’s men had been stalking them all along. After all, there was such a wide gap between the strength of the two sides.
“How do you know that there are traps in the Grand Mang Mountain?” This was what confused Ling Zhang.
“All my subordinates are highly experienced veterans who have been through a lot of battles, so it’s very normal that they can detect the danger in the Grand Mang Mountain before your men do.”
“Is that so? Are you sure it was not because you scouted out that place before?” asked Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “You think I went there and scouted that place out previously?”
Ling Zhang nodded. “Not long ago, you went missing for a couple of days. And when you returned, you began to study maps and records of counties near Tanyang. You also circled Qi County in red ink on that map on the wall in your room.”
All these things were traces that Yuwen Tong had not intentionally tried to conceal. Naturally, Ling Zhang could notice them as long as he observed carefully enough, which was why Yuwen Tong was not surprised at all. He said, “That’s right. I did go to scout out the Grand Mang Mountain. And I also located their den and have a general knowledge of which area they might be hiding, but I didn’t tell them these things.”
“You know where their den is?” asked Ling Zhang, a mixture of surprise and delight on his face.
“Yeah. You want to know it?” Yuwen Tong deliberately tried to whet his appetite.
Ling Zhang nodded unhesitatingly. Of course he wanted to know it!
“It’s not that I cannot tell you, but you have to promise me that you won’t do anything rash. You must consult with me before you make any decisions.” Grabbing this opportunity, Yuwen Tong requested him to make a promise.
Ling Zhang was briefly stunned. He was somewhat unwilling to agree to this, but then he recalled that during the past few days, though not deliberately, he had scarcely made any decision without prior consultation with Yuwen Tong, so it wouldn’t really make any difference whether he agreed to this or not.
“Okay. I promise.”
Yuwen Tong gave a smile. “The den of those bandits is located in the depths of the Grand Mang Mountain. That mountain separates Tanyang and Yan Zhou. The den of those bandits is on the border between the two districts. Given the traveling speed of common Yamen runners, finding the den of those bandits alone will take them a day and a night.”
“A day and a night? How come they hide themselves so deep in the mountain?”
“Did those guys in the Grand Mang Mountain do anything else apart from raiding villages and slaughtering villagers in the past few years?” Yuwen Tong asked him instead of answering the question.
Ling Zhang did some recollecting and answered, “Very few, as far as I can recall. They do rob traders of their goods and money, but there have been very few occasions that they did that. Firstly, the Grand Mang Mountain is not close to the main road leading to Tanyang. Secondly, every time they raid somewhere, they take back huge amounts of money which is enough for them to squander for a long time.”
“The two reasons you just mentioned do sound plausible, but the most important reason is that what they really want is neither money nor killing. It is something else that they are after.”
They were after something else? Ling Zhang had an intuition that this had something to do with Zhang Chong. “What do you think it is?”
“They want to build a passage connecting Tanyang and the Yellow Sand River in Yan Zhou with their den as a hub. When it’s done, it will only take a day and a night to travel from here to Yan Zhou.”
Ling Zhang was astounded and also somewhat puzzled by the undertone contained in Yuwen Tong’s words. “Didn’t you just say that finding their den alone would take a day and a night?”
“If they take the normal route to search the mountain, yes. Outsiders have no idea that those bandits have already unblocked a secret route which allows an army to pass.”
“So those bandits in the Grand Mang Mountain have unblocked the shortest route connecting Tanyang and Yan Zhou, but for what?”
Ling Zhang was perplexed. They were just bandits. Why did they laboriously build a road? It didn’t make any sense.
Though a flash of inspiration seemed to have just crossed his mind, it was too fast and he failed to grab it.
Yuwen Tong continued, “The Yellow Sand River which flows through Yan Zhou also flows past the capital city. It’s only a four-hour journey from the capital city to the nearest crossing point on the bank of Yellow Sand River. And the Yellow Sand River flows downstream almost all the way from Yan Zhou to the capital city, and it takes only a day and a night, if the water speed is fast, to get to the capital city. In other words, it takes seven full days to travel from Tanyang to the capital city by the original route even if the horse is fast, but by this elaborately designed route, armies in Tanyang can get to the capital city in two days and nights.”
Ling Zhang gasped in shock. Now he thoroughly understood!
“Zhang Chong has indeed been conspiring for a long time! No wonder bandits in the Grand Mang Mountain are the most difficult to deal with. Zhang Chong launches an attack on them each and every year but has never shaken the foundations of that gang.”
“Year. All other bandit gangs are nothing but guises. The one in the Grand Mang Mountain is what really matters.”
Ling Zhang couldn’t help wondering, ‘In my last life, after both my family and Lu family were eliminated by Zhang Chong, Tao Feng was single-handed and helpless, and the whole Tanyang fell into Zhang Chong’s hands. At that time Yuwen Tong never came to Tanyang, and nobody knew about Zhang Chong’s intrigues. Did Zhang Chong really mount a military coup in the end?’
“If the existence of this route comes to the knowledge of the emperor, even beheading Zhang Chong ten times won’t be enough to atone for his crime.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Will everything not be over if we go straight to the capital city and expose him?”
Ling Zhang couldn’t understand how Yuwen Tong managed to stay here and forbear to do this. As long as he went to the emperor and made an accusation, wouldn’t Zhang Chong be beheaded right away?
“The emperor has a very suspicious mind. He won’t entirely believe it if there’s nothing else apart from my words. He will merely send someone here to verify my story. And once he sends people to Tanyang to investigate, Imperial Concubine Shu and the Sixth Prince will surely be alerted. In that case, all they need to do is destroy that route or covertly adopt some other countermeasures, and then I’ll be the one who suffer losses in the end. Many things are not as simple as you think they are. Therefore, apart from this route, we need more proof that Zhang Chong is planning a revolt to alarm the emperor who will then order Zhang Chong’s immediate execution.”
“This matter concerns a revolt and a prince’s personal ambition of usurping the throne. Even I have to wait until the time is a-hundred-percent ripe to deal the enemy a lethal blow. Otherwise there’s a high risk of failing on the eve of complete success.”
After hearing Yuwen Tong’s remarks, Ling Zhang gradually regained his composure. Now he understood why Yuwen Tong had just now asked him to promise that he would consult with him before taking any action.
“I get it.”
“Rest assured. I said half a month. It will be no longer than that. As long as you do it my way standing by for the next half a month, everything will turn out as you hope.”
Yuwen Tong’s words oozing with confidence and composure affected Ling Zhang, who began to calm down pondering over what else he could do.
“About that person you mentioned who’s good at forging account books, when will he arrive?” Ling Zhang asked him.
“If his horse is fast, he should arrive in the afternoon.”
“One of my uncle’s subordinates has already gained trust of the director of Jia family who’s responsible for keeping the account book. That person has access to the account book. If necessary, I can mention this to my uncle and have that person cooperate with you.”
Yuwen Tong lifted his eyebrows. “Good.”
That director had been under surveillance of his men all along, so naturally he was well informed of what that director did every day, but his men really didn’t find out which person was planted there by Ling Zhaowen.
While Ling Zhang was elaborately preparing lunch for him in the kitchen, Yuwen Tong summoned Yao Yi.
“Do you know whom that director of Jia family relatively trusts more?”
“That director is also a very discreet man. Speaking of people he trusts, there’s a servant of his who once saved his life. Apart from that man, there’s nobody that he places relatively more trust in, none that I could tell.”
Yuwen Tong gave an inexplicable smile. “Either Ling Zhaowen was so visionary that he planted that servant around the director long ago, or you and your men omitted to notice.”
Yao Yi was taken aback by this remark. “That servant has been working for the director since childhood. As regards other people… I’ll go and have some men investigate into this again right now!”
Yuwen Tong flicked an apathetic glance at him. “You have only half a day.”
“I take my leave.” Yao Yi immediately turned around and left in such haste that his figure disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Yuwen Tong’s face darkened. He felt that ever since they came to Tanyang, in the absence of the serious atmosphere of the army, Yao Yi had become a little slack, that it was time to remind him of the discipline.
Yao Yi, who had quickly started to recheck the director’s interpersonal relationship, abruptly gave a violent sneeze which caused a shiver of his whole body.
Ling Zhang had solicitously prepared lunch for Yuwen Tong two days in a row. Naturally, news of this matter soon spread to Ling Xingzhong and others. Even Ling Maomao got wind of it. He unhappily pouted his mouth and said, “My elder brother has never done that even for me.”
Fu Caiwei poked him in the forehead with her forefinger. “What are you talking about? Your elder brother has always favored you the most.”
“But there are many dishes that I like as well, and elder brother never prepared any of them for me. I’d like to have them, too,” said Ling Maomao.
“You’re still young. You can’t have all those dishes all at once. Otherwise you’ll end up suffering from over-nutrition. Your elder brother has prepared a lot of other dishes for you before,” said Fu Caiwei.
Ling Maomao snorted and unhappily ran outside. “No. I want to go and see!”
“Stop, Maomao! Don’t disturb your elder brother and Lord Yuwen. You hear me? Come back!” Fu Caiwei hurriedly called.
But Ling Maomao rapidly ran away, having no intention whatsoever to obediently stay.
