At this moment, within the Taowang Village reigned a death-like stillness. The uproarious scene of people making pottery had long since disappeared. All villagers’ faces registered apprehension and depression. They had got used to earning their living by making pottery, and everybody in this village had entered the industry and was no longer interested in farming. Even if they wanted to resume farm work, there wouldn’t be much they could do, because winter was coming, which meant they’d have to wait until next spring to plow and sow.
Without regular income, wondering when the army of the imperial court would unblock the national road leading to Jiangzhou, residents of Taowang Village had been going to Xiaofeng Village to make inquiries on a frequent basis lately, trying to find out when the army of the imperial court would attack. Unlike residents of other villages all of whom wished for a peaceful solution of the issue, people of Taowang Village were eager to see a fight break out. In addition, although pottery making had been suspended, none of the villagers had evacuated. They were all anticipating the day when the situation would take a turn for the better.
When Yao Yi and some others secretly arrived at Taowang Village, the group of men sent here to look into the matter by the Jiang family were also approaching.
Before entering the village, Yao Yi sensed a whiff of anomaly in the atmosphere in Taowang Village – the security here was too tight. Common villagers could never organize a military-grade defense, no matter how hard they tried. It had been so easy for Yao Yi and his men to enter the other villages without alarming any of the villagers on patrol, but on this occasion, Yao Yi, who hadn’t entered the village yet, perceived that there were hidden sentries posted on the periphery of the village, which was by no means something common villagers normally were capable of.
Yao Yi gestured for his men to stop, looking at Taowang Village which was not far away, a vigilant and incredulous expression in his eyes, feeling that this village was highly suspicious.
“Captain, Taowang Village is even larger than Xiaofeng Village, which makes it a lot easier to hide some men here than it is in other places. Do you think it’s possible that Shan Congyi and his men are in this village?” asked one of Yao Yi’s men.
Staring in the direction of Taowang Village, Yao Yi replied, “Given that there are so many hidden sentries posted on the periphery of this village, even if Shan Congyi and his men are not hiding in there, this place is by no means as simple as it seems. It’s not far away from the encampment of the army sent by the imperial court, so at this juncture, we must ascertain the identities of those hiding in there, no matter who they are. In a few moments, you guys are to put out feelers and see who those hidden sentries are, and how quick their reactions are.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
Yao Yi gathered his men, first instructed them to scout out the lay of the land in Taowang Village and then made a plan to put out feelers.
When Yao Yi took some men to probe the hidden sentries of Taowang Village, a horse-drawn carriage wobbled over along a country bridle path, which seemed to be from the county seat and was going into the village.
“Captain, someone’s going in there.”
Yao Yi also saw the horse-drawn carriage. He watched carefully for a while, then quietly went to check the carriage and found that there was a woman and a boy about ten years old inside. Apart from the driver, a man was also driving the carriage. There were also a couple of traveling bags in the carriage. It seemed that they were family, but there was no telling whether they were natives of Taowang Village returning from afar or out-of-towners coming here to look up their relatives.
Originally Yao Yi had wanted to sneak in, but afterward he’d found that some men were standing guard at the entrance. On top of that, there were also some hidden sentries nearby, so he kept from taking the risk and decided to stick to the plan, put out feelers to the hidden sentries and ascertain their identities first.
While they were making their move, the horse-drawn carriage gradually approached the entrance of Taowang Village.
“Stop! Identify yourselves!” yelled a villager in the distance.
“Brother Adong?” called the man sitting beside the driver. “You’re Brother Adong, right? I’m Wang Sheng. I came here with my wife and kid to look up my father-in-law.”
“Wang Sheng?” the villager guarding the entrance recognized the man sitting beside the driver. “It’s really you. Long time no see. Why did you come here at this point in time?”
The horse-drawn carriage gradually trundled close to the entrance. The man directly jumped off the carriage and walked towards the villager, flicking a glance at the other villagers on guard duty at the entrance, his ears twitching, seeming to be listen carefully to see if there were any other movements nearby. Making towards the villager he called Brother Adong, he said, “I have some free time on my hands these days, so my wife hurried me into coming here. She’s been worried about my father-in-law’s and mother-in-law’s safety. It’s been quite a while since the last time we came here, what with those rebels. Now the rebel forces have been taken care of, and things in my family are slowly getting better, so I could spare some time to return here to take a look. How have things been going in this village? And how are my parents-in-law? You guys are… Why are so many people here? Something happened in the village?”
Seeing Wang Sheng walking over, the villager called Adong first greeted him, and then, after hearing Wang Sheng’s words, sighed, “The national road leading to Jiangzhou has been blockaded, so we have nowhere to go to sell our pottery. Everybody’s having a tough time. The situation in your father-in-law’s family is not really that bad. Some families are short of money, and they haven’t smiled for quite some time.”
As regards why so many people were on guard duty at this entrance, Adong gave no explanation.
“The situation is so dire?” Wang Sheng was startled, his suspicion and vigilance building up, but on the surface he only put on a surprised face. “Then we need to go and check on my parents-in-law straight away. It’s so unfilial of us not to have come here to look them up sooner.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. You have your own life,” Adong consoled him, looking at the carriage. “Is your wife in there?”
“Yeah, and my kid, too,” replied Wang Sheng.
Adong walked up to the carriage, sized up the driver first and then inquired, “Is this driver the same one who took you here the last time?”
Wang Sheng said, “Yeah. It’s a long trip. I was worried that my wife and my son would tire out if we walked here, so I rented a carriage.”
Adong inclined his head and lifted the carriage curtain. The woman and the boy poked their heads out and greeted Adong.
“What a coincidence, Brother Adong. We’re going into the village. Why are you out here?” asked the woman.
The boy, after meekly calling the man “Uncle”, kept silent.
Adong’s eyes swept around the carriage. His countenance softened considerably as he saw that the woman and the boy were the only passengers.
“There’s nothing for me to do in the village, so I figured I might as well come out here for a walk.” Adong’s face creased into a smile.
The woman looked incredulously at him. “Brother Adong, haven’t your family always been making pottery? How come you’re having nothing to do?”
“Alas, don’t get me started. All pottery making has been suspended. You know, the national road has been blockaded, and everybody in our village is eagerly anticipating the day when the blockade would be lifted. Forget about it. It’s a long story. Just go inside with Wang Sheng to see your parents. I’m sure they’ll be very happy to see your whole family coming here to look them up,” said Adong.
The woman asked no more questions and began to urge her husband to drive the carriage into the village straight away.
“Okay, okay,” Wang Sheng answered and then said to Adong in a seemingly casual tone, “Brother Adong, are you standing guard here because you’re afraid the rebel forces might force their way out of Jiangzhou? I heard that people in Xiaofeng Village are also in fear. If that’s really the case, I think maybe I should take my parents-in-law to the county seat to live with me.”
Adong, who had lowered his guard and thus didn’t suspect anything after hearing Wang Sheng’s words, sighed, “Well, that’s half the reason, I think. Currently, our village… Never mind. It’s no good telling you more details. If you really worry about them so much, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take your father-in-law’s family into the county seat and have them stay there for some time.”
Wang Sheng looked at him, bemusement written all over his face, but seeing Adong was unwilling to disclose anything else, he didn’t persist with his questioning, got onto the carriage and had the driver drive it into the village.
…
Distantly, Yao Yi had heard every word of the conversation and come to know that the passengers didn’t live in Taowang Village, that they were from the county seat. He could also tell from Adong’s words and bearing that residents of this village were uncommonly watchful.
Although residents of Xiaofeng Village were also vigilant, they were only wary of strangers, mainly wary of potential rebels from Jiangzhou.
But Taowang Village was a certain distance away from Xiaofeng Village. Moreover, it was just one horse-drawn carriage, and it couldn’t possibly pose a major threat to anybody, but that man named Adong had still scrupulously examined the carriage before letting them through, which showed that the security here and the security of Xiaofeng Village were not at the same level.
There was indeed something unusual going on in this village.
On top of that, these villagers were aware of it and were voluntarily guarding it.
Yao Yi’s brow corrugated in a slight frown. If it was Shan Congyi and his men who were in there, things would be rather tricky. For some unknown reason, these villagers had been brainwashed by Shan Congyi.
An hour later, all men that had been sent to put out feelers returned.
“Captain, those hidden sentries are from the Wan Kingdom! I’m a hundred percent sure of it, because there’s no way I would forget their behavior and habits!”
“Yeah. And there’s a certain regularity in the distribution of their posts. It’s actually a simple martial formation. Check this out, Captain.”
One of the men drew a sketch map of Taowang Village on the ground, marking every hidden sentry post. Combined, these sentry posts were indeed a martial formation, one that soldiers of the Wan Kingdom were good at.
“Shan Congyi sure as hell is hiding in this village!”
After pondering for a brief moment, Yao Yi looked in the direction of Taowang Village, carefully thinking back to that horse-drawn carriage and the conversation between the two men named Wang Sheng and Adong respectively, perceiving a whiff of something special.
Wang Sheng had seemed to be sounding Adong out while saying those words… If that was true, who else was also secretly investigating this matter?
Currently, there were only four forces in this small county: an army of the imperial court, locals, Ling Zhang’s team, and Shan Congyi’s team.
Yao Yi gave it some thought and then said, “I want seven of you to stay here staking out this village. One of you are to go back to the county seat to report this to Childe Ling. I’ll wait and see if I could get a chance to sneak into the village after nightfall.”
“Yes, Captain. Please be careful.”
Yao Yi nodded, looked up at the color of the sky to gauge the time and then instructed his men to do what they were told right away. He himself meticulously studied the sketch map on the ground for a while and then erased it and patiently waited for night to fall.
…
After dark, Ling Zhang met the man who’d been assigned to come back to report to him. Now that some secret sentry posts of the Wan Kingdom had been found, there was no way Shan Congyi could escape.
“Good. Taowang Village… Shan Congyi is indeed hiding nearby. I want you to send the General Zhongwu a message and fill him in on our progress.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
After the man left, Ling Zhang summoned Jiang Yu and asked him whether anybody working for the Jiang family had traced it to Taowang Village.
Jiang Yu had his bodyguard pay a visit to that cloth store. After some time, the latter returned, bringing back a message. “Young Master, they’ve indeed had some people go to Taowang Village to investigate. The people they sent there were the same ones Guard Yao found in that horse-drawn carriage.”
