Bai Qi smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, Your Highness. This time we have hired the best assassins in the martial arts world, and they have never failed."
"That's good." Situ Zhao's eyes were arrogant. "When this is over, I will definitely reward my cousin."
"Your Highness, you don't have to be polite. We are all family. It doesn't matter whether you thank me or not." Bai Qi waved his hand and said modestly.
Situ Yao was unaware of the plot in the capital. They were discussing with the governor how to force the spy out.
The prefect followed Situ Yao's instructions and observed the situation for a whole day, but no one showed any signs of abnormality. The next day, he arrived at the mansion with a bitter face and asked, "Master, are you sure there's a spy?"
"I didn't notice anything wrong with anyone." The prefect was unwilling to believe that his subordinates would collude with the bandits.
Su Mengyan and Situ Yao exchanged a glance. Seeing that he remained silent, she took the initiative to speak, "I have a way to make the spy show himself."
"But there's a prerequisite: we can't alert the enemy and let him find out." Su Mengyan looked around and finally set her sights on the governor. "I guess the spy hasn't noticed we're looking for him yet?"
The prefect quickly shook his head, "Don't worry, sir. I have been keeping this a secret from everyone until the truth is revealed."
"That's good." Su Mengyan said with a smile.
"What solution have you come up with?" Situ Yao urged her.
"Since we don't know who it is, as long as he shows up, we will know, right?" Su Mengyan kept it a secret and didn't say it directly.
"It's not that easy. He has been hiding for so long and he won't come out for a while." The prefect didn't take Su Mengyan's words to heart.
"We can lure the snake out of its hole." When Su Mengyan said this, Situ Yao quickly guessed what she was going to do and curled his lips slightly, "You're right, we can let him come out on his own."
"Isn't he going to Luohe Mountain to report the news? Then let him go."
The prefect suddenly realized and finally understood what they were going to do.
And in order to ensure that no one was alerted, only the three of them knew about this.
Soon after returning, the prefect told everyone that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who had settled in Heyang City, would help them wipe out the bandits in Luohe Mountain.
As soon as he finished speaking, some officials were happy, while others were worried.
"Sir, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not bring many personal guards this time. Can they really help us get rid of the bandits in Luohe Mountain?" This was a worry.
Some were delighted and immediately interrupted him, saying, "I heard that the Crown Prince is a man of both civil and military talents. Although his actions were somewhat reckless in dealing with the plague in Chu City, the greatest contributor was actually His Highness. It's just that the Emperor was afraid that his son would overshadow him, so he deliberately downplayed His Highness's contributions."
"Be careful with your words!" The prefect saw that he was becoming more and more outrageous and spoke out to stop him.
The official responded with a smile on his face, and after a while continued, "With Your Highness here, it will definitely be resolved. There is nothing to worry about." This was a person who blindly worshipped Situ Yao.
The governor had almost finished his observations, cleared his throat, and said, "With Your Highness here, we are indeed fully confident, so I will mobilize 500 men and head to Luohe Mountain tomorrow."
"Isn't this too hasty?" The person who spoke was Lin Xixing, the captain in charge of the Heyang City troops. He had been sitting in a corner, silent during the heated discussion, but unexpectedly, he spoke up to stop the discussion.
However, he was a military officer and usually spoke little, so the governor did not suspect anything, thinking that he was worried about his brothers, and comforted him, "Captain Lin, don't worry. With His Highness here, everyone will be brought back."
"And I heard there are only a few hundred bandits in Luohe Mountain. It's just that they are so good at hiding that we have never been able to catch them." The governor said with a smile, "This time, we will bring our men to surround the entire Luohe Mountain and see where they can hide."
"How did you know the exact number of bandits?" Captain Lin asked curiously, "We've been searching for so many years, but there's not a single clue."
"This is also what His Highness found." The governor said nothing more, looking at Lin Xixing in confusion. "Captain Lin seems to have a lot of questions today?"
Lin Xixing laughed innocently, "I'm just worried that my brothers haven't really faced the enemy in a while, and I'm worried that they'll embarrass you in front of His Highness."
"No problem." The governor waved his hand. "I have faith in Captain Lin's ability."
The next day, Situ Yao changed into black clothes, and Su Mengyan also changed into men's clothes. Only Cui Mixue appeared in front of everyone with her skirt fluttering, which stunned the soldiers.
Lin Xixing, in particular, frowned slightly, expressing his dissatisfaction with Situ Yao bringing female relatives. However, due to his status, he did not dare to express his dissatisfaction.
"Sir, everything is ready." The prefect walked along, and after Situ Yao nodded, he said, "Let's go."
Situ Yao's personal guards hid in the dark, monitoring these five hundred people. Anyone who sneaked out would be caught immediately.
It takes two days to travel from Heyang City to Luohe Mountain, and nothing happened on the first day.
Su Mengyan and Situ Yao whispered, "No one has gone out from here, so what about the people who stayed in the city?" There were also people left in the city to monitor them.
Situ Yao shook his head and said, "No movement yet." The guards had a special way of transmitting information. Qing Feng did not receive any signal, which meant that no one took any action.
"In half a day, we'll be nearing Luohe Mountain. By then, we'll be discovered by the bandits on the mountain. How can we report the news?" Su Mengyan was puzzled. "Could it be that we were wrong before, and there are no spies at all?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she shook her head to deny it. If there was no spy, it would not be possible for it to be such a coincidence every time and to always hide before the government officials arrived.
"Wait a little longer." Situ Yao's eyes were deep. "If there really is a spy, he will definitely take action tonight."
In order to create an opportunity for the spies, Situ Yao went out and ordered, "Everyone rest here for a day, and make arrangements after the spies return."
"Sir, the five hundred of us here will make us too conspicuous and easily be discovered. We might as well travel overnight and catch them off guard." Lin Xixing became increasingly dissatisfied with Situ Yao's actions, and this time he made a straightforward rebuttal.
The governor glared at him, "How dare you! Get out of here!"
Lin Xixing stood there without moving, wanting Situ Yao to give him a reasonable explanation.
"Are you teaching me how to do things?" Situ Yao sneered, his intimidation evident without even getting angry.
Lin Xixing finally wanted to back down, "I dare not. You must have your considerations in doing this, young master."
"But I feel that the people under me are too lax. Can they really wipe out the bandits?" Lin Xixing raised the question.
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