Luo Zhao looked at it, folded it up, and said, "That’ll do. It’s just that this way, it will take some time, and I’ll have to trouble you both to stay for two more days."
Lian Yi’s face darkened, "Liang Zhi’s men have already started searching. How can we delay for two days? Are you doing this on purpose?"
Luo Zhao stood up, "If the General doesn’t trust me, why come to me?"
Lian Yi’s expression changed instantly, but Lian Yang held him back.
Lian Yang remained calm and said, "As long as General Luo has a way to divert Liang Zhi, it doesn’t matter if we stay two more days."
"That’s refreshing to hear!"
After saying this, Luo Zhao gestured with his hand, "Then, both of you, calm down and have some tea. I’ll go and make arrangements for verification."
Lian Yi kept his body tense, and only when Luo Zhao was out of sight did he withdraw his ominous gaze and look at Lian Yang, "This guy is too cunning. Who knows if there will be any trouble."
Lian Yang lifted his chin, "Can’t you send someone to keep an eye on him?"
Lian Yi nodded, took out a black jade tube from his chest, inserted a silver tube with engraved characters into it, then went to the window and blew it hard. The tiny tube shot out like a needle and flew into the woods outside the distant barracks.
Returning to the table, Lian Yi added, "It’s lucky our master didn’t bring the Tiger Talisman, otherwise, if this Luo were unreliable, he might have seized our master here on the spot."
"The Tiger Talisman is the crucial key to our country’s revival plan, naturally it can’t be carried around. But your concern is also valid." Lian Yang looked deeply in the direction where Luo Zhao had left. "Although we have evidence of Luo’s past misconduct proving him greedy and petty, thus useful to us, it’s a critical juncture now. Until he opens the checkpoint for us, we can’t fully trust him."
As he spoke, he twisted open the face of the ring on his finger, sprinkled some powder into the boiling teapot before him, then handed it over and said, "In this cold weather, take it to General Luo’s room to warm up for him to warm himself when he returns."
...
Liang Zhi and Cheng Chili were brought over by the orders of Pei Zhan.
In recent days, Pei Zhan had been in the camp planning strategies with Gao Changyuan, but they had yet to come up with a clear plan. When asked multiple times, they only said to follow orders, leaving Liang Zhi and the others at a loss.
Later, they finally received an order to search along the eastern and western routes, which seemed like a futile task, didn’t it?
The entire area of the camp had been searched, and if anything was found, success would have happened long ago.
But military orders had to be followed.
After searching for several days, they bypassed two mountain tops and reached the area of Yangjiao Pass. This place was also connected to a postal road, and there was a post station nearby.
Liang Zhi thought for a moment, then waved in the cold wind, "Divide into five teams, one in each direction, and one more team to check the postal road."
This area was mostly barren land, with only a few sparse trees, making it impossible to hide for long. Only the postal road was busy, and there were many people staying at the post station, potentially offering clues.
After sending the men off, he dismounted and began searching. Before he had covered two miles, a pair from the team sent to the postal road returned: "General! We found a suspicious person on the postal road, holding a paper with a strange pattern, questioning merchants from Dongzi! We’ve brought the person back, just behind us!"
Liang Zhi straightened up and saw soldiers escorting a person towards him.
When the person reached them, the soldiers pushed him to the ground and handed over the paper: "Please take a look, General!"
The paper bore a complicated crescent-shaped design. Liang Zhi scrutinized it closely, frowning after a few glances, "This is something from Dongzi, where did it come from?!"
The person lying on the ground peeked at him but refused to speak.
Liang Zhi kicked him, then bent down to pull his hair up.
The person’s head was forced up, but even frightened to the point of being deathly pale, he still could not make a sound.
Liang Zhi, agitated, grabbed his mouth. Seeing the severed tongue inside, he was taken aback!
He asked the soldiers beside him, "Where did you find him?"
"Inside the post station. He was gesturing non-stop with passing merchants, and since everyone he approached was from Dongzi, we found it strange and brought him along."
Liang Zhi’s brow furrowed even tighter, glancing twice in the direction of the Yangjiao Pass Guard Station, then slowly looked downwards, tucking the drawing into his chest. Straightening up, he ordered, "Take him back!"