After scouting the area for a while, one of them whispered, "The soldiers will change shifts soon. Let’s wait here."
His two companions nodded in agreement, and the three of them hid in a dark, secluded corner near the city wall.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a group of soldiers approached from the direction of the barracks.
Seeing this, the leader nudged his companions and whispered, "Wake up! They are changing shifts now!"
The other two opened their eyes and looked toward the city gate.
As the previous soldiers marched away and the new group reported to their captain, the leader’s eyes flickered. In a low voice, he ordered, "Let’s go!"
With that, the three of them sneaked out from the dark corner. Taking advantage of the moment while the soldiers were away, they rushed toward the side gate.
Before coming, they had investigated the soldiers’ patrol schedule and the surrounding area. After two days of observation, they had accidentally discovered a small hole near the side gate.
It would have been difficult for a healthy adult man to pass through, but with their thin bodies, it wouldn’t be a problem for the three of them to squeeze through.
Arriving at the hole, the leader said, "I will go first."
The other two nodded and scanned the surroundings vigilantly while the leader crawled inside.
Just as half of his body had entered the hole, one of his men noticed that the soldiers had returned to their posts.
"Big Brother, hurry up! The soldiers have started their patrol again!" he said anxiously.
Hearing this, the leader sped up his crawl. However, the city wall of Xiqian City was no ordinary wall.
Since the wall served as a vital defense, it had been built incredibly thick. The base of Xiqian City’s wall measured 20 meters in thickness, narrowing slightly to 16 meters at the top, with watchtowers stationed at every corner.
To crawl through the entire length of the wall would take the leader at least half the time it takes to burn an incense stick.
As he sweated profusely inside the tunnel, the patrol soldiers drew nearer to the hole’s location.
Watching them approach, the two men waiting at the entrance grew anxious.
One of them squatted down and peered into the hole. Couldn’t see anything because of the darkness inside the hole, he asked in a low voice, "Big Brother, can you make it through?"
The leader’s breathing had grown heavy as the oxygen in the narrow tunnel thinned, but he still responded, "Not yet. Just wait for my signal."
Hearing this, the man turned to his companion. "Second Brother, what should we do now?"
The second man stared at the hole for a moment, then glanced at the approaching soldiers. After a brief silence, he clenched his fists and said, "You stay here. I will lure the soldiers away."
The first man shook his head and rejected the idea, "No! I’m the fastest runner of the three of us. Second Brother, you stay. I will go."
Before the second brother could stop him, he dashed off in the opposite direction. The moment he stepped out of the dark corner, one of the patrol soldiers spotted him.
The moment the soldier shouted this, the other soldiers raised their weapons, scanning the area cautiously.
Clenching his teeth, the man turned and rushed in the opposite direction.
"Stop right there!" the soldiers shouted, chasing after him.
Seeing his third brother sacrifice himself to buy them time, the second man clenched his fists and urged, "Big Brother, hurry up!"
Inside the tunnel, the leader was stuck. The hole ahead was too narrow to crawl through, and he couldn’t move backward. Panic slowly took over as he struggled, unable to breathe properly.
As his fear and anxiety increased, his breathing quickened, and soon he grew dizzy from lack of oxygen.
Unaware of the leader’s condition, the second man waiting outside could only continue urging him.
Meanwhile, the soldiers had already caught the third man and dragged him back to the city wall. Dragging him toward Xue Ruhong, they kicked his legs and forced him to kneel before Xue Ruhong.
Clasping his fists, one of the soldiers reported, "General Xue, we just arrested a suspicious person near the side gate."
Hearing this, Xue Ruhong stepped forward and pulled down the black cloth covering half the man’s face.
Frowning at the man’s ordinary appearance, Xue Ruhong asked, "Have you interrogated him yet?"
"Not yet," the soldier replied.
Xue Ruhong turned to look over the city wall. After a brief pause, he said, "Search his body."
Following the order, the soldier searched the man and found several wooden pieces hidden inside his inner clothes. He then handed them to Xue Ruhong and stepped aside.
Upon seeing the carvings on the wooden pieces, Xue Ruhong’s expression darkened. Looking coldly at the man, he said, "He is a spy from the Yuezhi Tribe. There must be more inside the city."
At those words, the man’s expression froze for a brief second before he quickly lowered his head—but it was too late.
Noticing the change in his expression, Xue Ruhong became certain there were more spies and ordered, "Search the entire city and the walls. Arrest anyone suspicious."
Then, turning to the man, he said coldly, "Throw him into the dungeon for further interrogation."
"Yes, General." With that, the soldiers dragged the man away and began a thorough search of Xiqiang City.
By the time the first sunlight broke through the eastern horizon, the other two men had already been captured and thrown into the dungeon.
After hours of torture, the three spies could no longer endure it and attempted to commit suicide by biting down on the poison hidden in their teeth. Unfortunately for them, the interrogators reacted quickly and broke their jaws before they could crush the poisons.
Losing their only means of escape from the torture, the spies finally spilled the information.
When the sky brightened, Tan Pengtai brought their confessions and the carved wooden pieces and went to find Feng Xiyan.