006

At 5 PM that day, in the prisoner-of-war area of ​​the military camp.

"ah--"

"Go to hell!"

The interrogating soldier lashed out with his whip, and the bound prisoner cried out and cursed, but few of those present could understand his fragmented words.

Song Ling stood not far away, silently flipping through the somewhat old book in her hands, while Yu Baizhou stood behind her, his brow twitching slightly with each page she turned.

"When the governor of Yunzhou came just now, how did you handle him, General?"

"What can we do?" Yu Baizhou looked away. "It's just the same old excuses."

"I've invited the governor to a banquet. What do you think?" he asked her, seemingly unconcerned.

"good."

that's all?

When he looked at her again, he saw that she had already handed the book to the soldier who was questioning him. "Go through all the punishments listed here. Let us see just how tough this warrior who keeps calling himself the King of Wuqi really is."

“Enough is enough,” Yu Baizhou stepped forward and pulled her back. “In war between two countries, prisoners of war are not killed.”

"When did I say I wanted to take his life?" Amidst the agonizing screams and groans of pain around her, Song Ling's composure was excessive, making her appear all the more cruel and heartless.

"It's nothing more than asking this warrior to open his mouth. The general has been on the battlefield so many times, let alone feel pity for this matter."

General Yu certainly didn't have her quick wit. Even though he had been on countless battlefields, his skill lay in swift and decisive action. Unlike her, whose dozens of pages of books contained methods of torture he had never seen before; even the imperial prison in the capital might not have been as ruthless as her methods.

What's more, not only did she interrogate the prisoners, but she also tied up the other dozen or so prisoners and watched them from a distance, which was simply killing them and destroying their spirit.

After only a few tortures, the bound Southern Barbarian chieftain was already a bloody mess and gasping for breath.

The stench of blood filled the small space, which was then mixed with a foul odor, causing some of the prisoners to lose control of their bladders in fear.

"Seven, Wu," Song Ling gently smoothed the sleeve at his wrist, "see which of these 'warriors' are unwell, take them away for a proper check-up, so as not to offend the general's eyes here."

"yes!"

Those people didn't struggle at all, perhaps they were so frightened that their legs went weak and they wished they could disappear from this place in an instant.

Yu Baizhou frowned more and more as he looked at her, already pondering how to drive this woman out of the military camp. But such a person was ruthless and dangerous; if she became his adversary, she would be a hidden danger.

"Has the general had dinner yet? Why don't we have it together?"

"No need." His tone was curt.

But in the end, he still followed her to the camp, simply because she said it was "about the soldiers in the camp," and he could not refuse.

No general could be as frustrated as him, pleading and begging but unable to get a single grain of rice, and the food in the camp was only enough to last less than a month.

An army marches on its stomach. If the Southern Barbarians were to launch a war at this time, the Southern Barbarians would be short of resources and would undoubtedly be defeated.

Although it was called dinner, it was really nothing more than a bowl of boiled vegetables with a few pieces of dried flatbread; meat was a rare treat. In these famine years, this was considered a decent meal in the military camp.

As Yu Baizhou munched on his pancake, he subconsciously glanced at her. He saw that she was eating slowly and deliberately, without a trace of dissatisfaction in her brows. On the contrary, she was reading a book with great interest.

What books are you reading?

Before she could get a reply, Qi Man rushed in, "Girl, the person has confessed!"

Yu Baizhou threw the pancake down and immediately stood up, asking with a surprised tone, "Did the leader confess?"

"No, it's those few who were scared out of their wits." Qi Man presented several sheets of paper. "We didn't interrogate them much before they all confessed. We've compiled the information they gave us into a single document."

"Your initial target wasn't the leader, but these people?" General Yu suddenly realized something and looked at her in surprise.

“No,” Song Ling put down the book. “My initial goal was the leader.”

She looked up at him slightly, her confident aura no less than his, a large man standing there stiffly.

"With this information, General, you can interrogate the leader and find out the location of the Southern Barbarian's spy."

"Aren't the heads of you intellectuals all made of ropes, all twisted and convoluted?"

Rope? Song Ling simply handed him the book in her hand, "Perhaps one day, the general will be able to do the same."

General Yu looked at the book that had been stuffed into his arms. The cover clearly read "Military Strategy," and it was much more complicated than the military books he usually read. Flipping through the dense text gave him a headache.

Looking up, he realized that the two people inside the tent had already left.

Scholars are such a hassle. When General Yu returned to his tent, he threw the book on the small table and said, "What the hell am I supposed to read!"

Just a few quarters of an hour later, as Song Ling had expected, she managed to extract information about the enemy's inner circle from the leader.

Back in his tent, General Yu picked up the book again, looking dejected. He wanted to see if there was something wrong with the book.

***

"General, we will arrive at the Ji residence in less than a quarter of an hour."

The scouts returned to report.

"Okay, let's get back to the team."

Yu Baizhou led more than ten soldiers on horseback forward, and passersby avoided them when they saw their extraordinary appearance.

Shannan Prefecture is the largest of the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang, but it is also the most impoverished. Even now, once inside the inner city, there is little sign of prosperity; the people on the streets hurry about, all looking pale and emaciated.

"The horse is startled! Get out of the way!"

A horse-drawn carriage suddenly rushed out from around the corner. The horse was foaming at the mouth and rampaging wildly, knocking over many tents. It looked like it was about to trample an old man who was stunned by the shock.

"Watch out!"

A faint gasp came from inside the carriage, but it was drowned out by the screams and panic outside.

In the blink of an eye, Yu Baizhou spurred his horse forward, straddling the mad horse just as it was about to pass the carriage. He drew his dagger and stabbed it fiercely, and within moments the mad horse collapsed to the ground.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Yu Baizhou dismounted and helped the old man who had almost been knocked down. He gave him some money before walking to the carriage and bowing respectfully.

"In this urgent situation, we have no choice but to kill this horse. May I ask how much this horse cost? I will compensate you in full."

“No need…” A pair of thin, bony hands lifted the curtain, revealing a handsome young man with a pale face and a melancholy expression.

Yu Baizhou instantly thought of that Miss Song, who was about the same age and looked just as sickly. However, that girl's eyes never showed such melancholy and a sense of death.

"Thank you for your help, chivalrous sir," the young master instructed his servant, "Go and settle the compensation matters."

"yes."

The servant seemed to be used to doing this kind of thing. He gave a lot of money to the injured or damaged people, and the matter was dropped.

"Since you have saved our lives, we hope you will not find this silver too much."

Yu Baizhou shook his head slightly and pushed the bag of silver back, "No need."

"Now that the matter is resolved, I have other important business to attend to, so I'll take my leave!" With that, he mounted his horse and led his men away at full speed.

But the world is so small that the two groups unexpectedly met again at the gate of the Ji residence.

The head of the Ji family was already waiting at the door, but unexpectedly his wife suddenly rushed out from behind the door and ran to the sickly boy without any regard for her manners.

"My son... is something wrong?" Her eyes were red as she carefully examined him for a long time before finally putting her mind at ease. "I told you you can't go out. From now on, it's safer for you to stay in the yard... Do you understand?"

Seeing him looking off to the side, Madam Ji patted him again, "Did you remember?"

"Okay, I got it." He snapped out of his reverie, lowered his gaze, and stopped talking.

Ji Yunchen, the head of the Ji family, had already learned from the servants who returned to report that his son had been rescued by a group of men. Seeing the surprise in his son's eyes just now, he knew in his heart that General Yu, who had come to visit, was his son's savior.

"General Yu, I have long admired your name!"

Ji Yunchen hurriedly went down the steps to greet him, and said gratefully, "I just heard the news. Thank you, General Yu, for saving my son."

“No need,” Yu Baizhou helped him up by the arm. “It was just a small favor. Your son is blessed with good fortune and reacted quickly. I was only doing my bit.”

Unexpectedly, the head of the Ji family suddenly became worried. "General Yu, you may not know, but my son's fortune... well, let's not talk about it. General Yu, please, let's go inside and talk!"

His current polite demeanor is quite different from the way he had kept the door tightly shut when he personally begged for grain.

Recalling what Miss Song said about the current head of the Ji family being a young man of exceptional talent and renowned throughout the southern region, Yu Baizhou felt increasingly unconvinced.

The head of the Ji family is clearly just like those scholar-officials, with a cunning and scheming heart. If it weren't for sending a letter to the governor of Shannan Prefecture yesterday and the coincidence of saving his young master, he would probably still be turned away today.

Suddenly recalling Miss Song's seemingly random remark about "favorable timing, advantageous location, and harmonious relationships," Yu Baizhou was startled. Could it be that the girl was truly skilled in divination? Had she actually foreseen all of this?

*

"What did Lord Lin say?"

After leaving the main hall under a pretext, Ji Yunchen walked to a corner of the corridor outside the hall and asked his trusted confidant, who had just returned from the governor's mansion in Shannan Prefecture, in a low voice.

The confidant took out a letter from his bosom and replied in a low voice, "Lord Lin has given his permission. If the marriage goes through, it will be entirely beneficial to our Shannan Prefecture, and it will only require the expenditure of some provisions."

Ji Yunchen frowned slightly; an army of 100,000 could not be dealt with with just a little food.

He was powerless to change what Governor Kelin had already decided, and now he had no choice but to comply.

The two thought they were well hidden, but little did they know that Yu Baizhou inside the door had an amazing hearing since childhood, and in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had already overheard almost the entire content of their conversation.

Seeing the head of the household return and bow in agreement, Yu Baizhou was certain that the first step in seizing the grain was about to be completed.

An hour later, with Ji Yunchen insisting on seeing them off, the two were almost at the gate of the mansion.

"General Yu."

Looking to the side, it turned out to be the young master they had saved earlier that day. He was now wearing a heavy gray cloak, and his spirit seemed to have diminished even more than when they first met.

"Thank you very much for saving me today, General."

Ji Yunchen: "This is my son, Jing Si."

Yu Baizhou: "Young master, there's no need for such formalities."

Ji Yunchen seemed dissatisfied with the boy's performance and his face immediately turned serious. "Don't linger outside for too long."

"yes."

His tone was submissive, like a pushover.

Yu Baizhou neither knew nor wanted to meddle in other people's family affairs. He simply clasped his hands in a gesture of farewell and said, "Lord Ji, there's no need to see me off any further. I'll have to trouble you to take care of the banquet arrangements."

"Of course." He smiled kindly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Heaven knows how much trouble Lord Lin had thrown at him.

Originally, the Ji family never participated in power struggles, but now it seems they have no choice but to get involved in this turbulent current and be forced to compete.

It really is a matter of timing and fate.

After a moment of reflection, she looked at the little boy who hadn't left and a hint of helplessness flashed in her eyes, but her tone remained firm: "Go back to the courtyard and don't go out for the next few days."

They didn't notice that the light in the boy's eyes was slowly fading.

"yes……"