Lure the snake out of its hole
The short man nodded. "When I followed the military advisor into the Restoration Society, he said that restoring Dan Kingdom wasn't a conspiracy or rebellion, but rather gathering people like you and me whose families were originally descendants of Dan officials to do something big. We weren't enemies of Qi Kingdom, but only wanted to not bring shame to our ancestral bloodline. The military advisor also promised to lead us to a good life. I didn't expect that after coming to this southern border, everything changed. I think the southern people the military advisor followed seemed to be enemies of the court. Now we're standing on the opposite side of the court by following the military advisor. Now we've inexplicably accepted stolen money of unknown origin and have become rebels. If you and I return to Qi Kingdom in the future, how will we cope with ourselves and live a peaceful life? What about your mother, my Ah Xiang, and my little tiger?"
The tall man was at a loss, feeling anxious. The shorter man said to him, "Now that things have come to this, it's too late to back down. Since we've been branded a traitor, we might as well commit treason. We just have to go all out. I just hope the military advisor can win this battle so we can survive in the future. Otherwise, not only will the military advisor be in danger, but we, the little minions, won't be able to escape even if we want to."
The tall man thought for a long moment, then spat and said, "I'll go all out! This traitor, I'm going to kill him." Perhaps out of nervousness and panic, he stood up and said, "I'm going to go relieve myself. Wait for me, and then we'll go back to camp together."
The short one nodded, and finally spat out the food in his mouth on the ground, "What a shit, it's so disgusting!" He frowned and spat in annoyance.
The tall man staggered into the woods, found a place with deep grass to relieve himself, and walked back whistling. Suddenly, someone covered his mouth and hit the artery on the back of his neck. He felt his head heavy, his whole body limp, he lost consciousness, and fell on someone.
Shangguan Yichen knocked the tall man to the ground, and Zhong Yujing came up and hid beside the tall man to hold him down.
Seeing that the tall man showed no sign of waking up, Shangguan Yichen turned silently behind the short man and, taking advantage of his unpreparedness, first reached out from behind to cover the short man's mouth, and then slapped him on the neck. The short man then closed his eyes and fell to the ground.
Shangguan Yichen took off the outer clothes of the two men respectively, and went deep into the forest with Zhong Yujing, and changed their clothes. When they came out again, they became Qi people, one tall and one short, wearing Nansai costumes.
Zhong Yujing and Shangguan Yichen smiled at each other and entered the Setufang military camp.
Shangguan Yichen stood beside Zhong Yujing, his expression normal. He whispered, "Just be natural. Treat them as your own family."
Zhong Yujing nodded and walked as usual. Seeing that passers-by did not look at them strangely, and some even nodded to them as a gesture of goodwill, she became more bold and at ease.
Suddenly, one person in front of him said to another, "The young prince has rested and will go to see the military advisor immediately."
Shangguan Yichen glanced at Zhong Yujing, and they both slowed down their pace, pretending to be unintentional as they followed the two people in front of them. When they reached a tent, one of them said to the other, "This is the military advisor's tent."
The other person bowed and said, "Thank you very much."
The other party also bowed and then left.
Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing took advantage of the situation and hid by the window of the tent under the cover of darkness.
It didn't take long for the man who had asked for directions to lead Yifei to the military advisor's tent, and left after Yifei entered.
Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing were lying outside the window, and saw Yifei take off his cloak and put it on the chair. A man walked out from the inner room of the tent. He had a fair face and looked like a scholar, but his eyebrows were thick and inverted, which made it seem that there was a hint of murderous intent between his brows. He turned around and bowed to Yifei, and there was a very obvious red mole at the end of his right eye.
"Your Highness has come to the camp in person, and I am sorry for not welcoming you in person. I beg your forgiveness for any impoliteness," said the military advisor humbly.
Yi Fei also bowed, "Sir, your words are very important. All the strategies for the campaign need to rely on your careful consideration. Naturally, you have a lot of things to do every day. I will not be bound by red tape. At present, everything is the most important thing for the war."
The military advisor said, "Your Highness is right. I will do my best to help Chief Setu win this battle, which will also give Your Highness peace of mind."
After the two men exchanged greetings, they both sat down and a soldier served them tea.
Yi Fei took a sip of tea, raised his eyes and said to the military advisor, "Last time after returning to the court, I reported the battle situation to my father. This time, I heard that our soldiers were seriously injured and the army was short of supplies, so I was ordered to deliver the military food and supplies here. I have placed them in a safe place according to your instructions."
The military advisor raised the teacup to his lips, blew on the floating tea leaves in the cup, and said, "Young Prince, have you forgotten to deliver one thing?"
Yi Fei raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Of course I want to give it to you, sir, but not at this time."
The military advisor gently moved the teacup that was brought to his lips, raised his eyes through the steam rising from the cup and looked at Yifei, and said in confusion.
Yi Fei added, "If you do your utmost to help Saitu conquer Nansai, my father will be relieved of his worries and will naturally give you what you want."
The military advisor took a sip of tea, skimmed off the foam with the lid, and said casually, "In the past, I used to trade to make a living. I still remember that the rules of the merchant were to pay first and then buy goods. When sending people to do work, you also had to pay a partial deposit as a contract. Why do the young prince and the prince do the opposite? They don't pay a penny, but still want people to do the whole work? Could it be that the way of politics and the way of business are different, and I haven't grasped the deeper meaning of this."
Yi Fei fiddled with the clothes in front of him and said slowly, "Sir, you are wrong. As for the deposit, my father and I have already paid it in advance, and it has not been interrupted for several years. My father is thoughtful and has even considered the needs of you and Setu. If you go back on your word and refuse to act according to the agreement, you will be violating the contract. If you are unkind and don't get what you want, don't blame me and your son for being disloyal."
The military advisor put down his teacup, his face cold. When he looked up at Yifei again, he had lost all his scholarly elegance. His eyebrows were raised, his eyes were sinister, and he said in a deep voice, "Your Highness will never get what you want!"
Yi Fei was also irritated and slammed the table angrily, "What, you want to break the contract?"
The military advisor said gloomily, "My men have been waiting for just that. Now that the prince won't give it to them, how can they risk their lives? There's no such thing as a free job, and no such thing as a free person!"
Yi Fei sat down angrily, pondered for a moment, and then said, "I'll give you three points first to shut them up, and we can deal with the rest later!"
The military advisor glared at him, his eyes fixed on him. "Seven points! Not one less!"
Yi Fei stood up angrily, pointing at the military advisor and saying, "You are so brave, Wang Qiang! You have the guts to challenge and bargain with me!"
Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing, who were standing outside the window, were both shocked. They looked at each other and mouthed, "He's Wang Qiang!"
Wang Qiang suddenly laughed, fiddling with the teacup on the table, and said, "It doesn't matter if the prince and the young prince don't agree. You'll never see that batch of military supplies again."
Yi Fei was furious and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Wang Qiang sneered, "Don't bother me, little prince."
Yi Fei angrily said, "How dare you embezzle the military supplies provided by the court?!"
Wang Qiang sneered again, "Imperial Court supply? Misappropriated? Does His Majesty know about this batch of military supplies?" He suddenly slammed the table and stood up. "If His Majesty doesn't know, where did these supplies come from? And who is misappropriating them? Who exactly is embezzling national treasury funds to purchase military supplies?"
Yi Fei was so angry that he was shaking. He pointed at Wang Qiang and said, "You, you, Wang Qiang, give me back the military supplies!"
Wang Qiang laughed sinisterly again, squinting his eyes at Yi Fei and said, "Young Prince, it's not right to ask for something back after you've given it to someone. How rude!"
Yifei stepped forward and grabbed Wang Qiang's collar, looked at him fiercely and asked, "Where did you put them?"
Wang Qiang smiled calmly and said, "No matter where I put it, it won't be where His Majesty wants it to be."
Yi Fei only regretted that he was in the camp at the moment and could not kill Wang Qiang with one sword, so he pushed him away. Wang Qiang was pushed down on the chair with a gloomy smile on his face.
Yifei grabbed the wind cloak, opened the curtain and strode away.
Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing slowly backed out from behind the window. It was already late at night, and most of the camp had gone back to their tents to rest. They cautiously tried to leave the camp, but encountered patrolling soldiers at the entrance. Seeing that they were still awake, they approached with spears raised and asked, "What are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night?"
Shangguan Yichen laughed and said, "My stomach hurt in the middle of the night, so I wanted to go to the bathroom." He patted Zhong Yujing's shoulder and said, "Ask my brother to accompany me."
The patrolling soldier scanned the two of them several times and pointed his spear at the woods ahead, "Go ahead. Come back quickly after you've freed them. Don't delay."
Shangguan Yichen laughed heartily and patted the soldier on the shoulder, "Thank you, brother. It's a cold night, thank you for your hard work!"
The soldier forced a smile and said, "It's my turn to keep watch. There's nothing I can do about it." He yawned and felt even colder. He wrapped his clothes tightly around himself, took his spear, and headed to the other side.
After entering the woods, Shangguan Yichen took Zhong Yujing to retrieve his clothes in the forest, found Ben Lei, got on his horse again, and headed towards the ferry crossing at the Nansai border.
"I have a plan. I can make them fight among themselves. Once they lose their composure, they might reveal their weaknesses, allowing us to find the whereabouts of supplies and rations." Shangguan Yichen said behind Zhong Yujing.
"What's the plan?" Zhong Yujing asked.
"Burn down the place where they camped." Shangguan Yichen said as if he was telling something interesting.
Zhong Yujing's curiosity was aroused.
They passed through the miasma forest, took off the masks on their faces, and found the location where Wang Qiang and his group were stationed at the edge of the woods next to the ferry. Shangguan Yichen took out his clothes from the package on Benlei's back, took out the fire starter he carried with him from his clothes, asked Zhong Yujing to retreat behind him, and set fire to all the grass in the four corners of the station. There was already lush vegetation there, and after a few flames, the whole place started to spread like wildfire.
Shangguan Yichen led Zhong Yujing and Ben Lei to retreat to the woods they had been watching before. From afar, they saw that the fire behind them had burned to the same height as the trees in the woods, and even the lake was reflected in a red color.
Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing changed their clothes in the forest. The two sets of Nansai costumes were placed on the grass nearby. Shangguan Yichen took out an object shaped like a fire starter from the Nansai man's clothes.
"What is this?" Zhong Yujing asked him.
Shangguan Yichen threw the object in his hand into the air, caught it steadily when it fell, and said while playing with it, "Cloud Piercing Arrow, I felt it on the patrol soldier when I came out of the Setu military camp just now." He winked at Zhong Yujing.
Zhong Yujing recalled how he had just tricked the patrol soldiers and smiled at him, "Your Highness's acting skills are still as brilliant as ever. He has mastered the essence of the art. It turns out that he's also very good at stealing things."
Shangguan Yichen was not annoyed, but proud, "This is called all is fair in war." After that, he raised the cloud-piercing arrow in his hand, pointed it towards the sky and pressed the mechanism towards the Setu military camp. A brilliant red light instantly shot up into the sky, and brilliant fireworks exploded in the sky. The entire night sky was instantly illuminated. The fireworks and the blazing fire echoed in the distance, making it impossible for people to spend the night in peace.
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