“Sir really knows how to joke. Lian Yu is too cautious in his actions. Taking someone from his side is not an easy matter.” The black shadow laughed and said, “These days in the military camp, your subordinate has never seen Li Huaisu. I truly don’t know where he has hidden her.”

Quan Feitong put down the scroll in his hands, the smile in his eyes turning slightly cold: “You’re unwilling to handle affairs for me while making excuses for your intelligence failure this time?”

“Your subordinate wouldn’t dare.” The black shadow lowered his head: “This man Lian Yu… your subordinate dares say that his plans are known in full only to himself, plus one or two people who need to participate. But you have no idea who those participants are, just like this time… Lian Jie and Lian Qin. Others, I’m afraid, can only know the parts they participate in. Your subordinate observed that this battle deployment wasn’t known to Xiao’an, Yan Da, or those important court ministers. Even Murong Ding and other generals were probably only informed of the later battle plans by people he had arranged when they charged into the sea of fire. At that time, the orders Lian Qin’s personal soldiers received weren’t to set fires at all, but to evacuate all soldiers from camp, then put in dummies, then set the fires. All of us were led by Lian Qin to the very back where Lian Jie’s personal soldiers were imprisoned. The fire was so intense we couldn’t see clearly – we were deceived by Lian Yu and Lian Qin working together.”

Quan Feitong clicked his tongue twice, closed his book and asked casually: “Good analysis, but why do I feel your words still mean – not getting accurate battle intelligence shows his capability, not your fault, isn’t that right?”

“Your subordinate only hopes sir will be doubly vigilant of this person. And… truly cannot take on the Li Huaisu task. This man Lian Yu is so deep – he knows sir must have placed people by his side. Though he still doesn’t know who, your subordinate fears that if this matter isn’t handled well, it will expose everything. If it’s anything else, sir may command freely, and your subordinate will certainly brave fire and water—”

Before he finished speaking, Quan Feitong suddenly clapped his hands lightly. Soon, a guard lifted the tent flap and entered.

The black shadow saw what he held in his hands, his eyes changing slightly, but then his voice was calm: “Your subordinate understands. Your subordinate’s failures must not be overlooked by sir.”

He walked over and took what the guard held – it was a whip covered with barbs, those barbs sharp and gleaming, emanating a chilling cold light that made one’s blood run cold!

The black shadow drew the sword from his waist, furrowed his brows, then turned the blade on himself, stabbing fiercely into his own shoulder. Blood splattered from the sword he pulled out. Without another word, he knelt in a spot. The guard said nothing and raised the whip to lash his body.

The force was vicious, cracking loudly!

Wherever the whip struck, clothes were completely torn, tearing strips of flesh and blood. When the whip occasionally caught his shoulder wound, the sight was unbearable. The man was also stubborn – though sweating like rain from pain, he didn’t make a single sound.

After thirty lashes, the black shadow’s body had no intact skin left. Quan Feitong supported his cheek with his hand, watching with interest from his desk. Just as the guard’s whip was about to fall again, he spoke indifferently: “Enough. In normal times, what you’d receive would be far more than this, but we can’t break you completely – as you said, exposing everything would be bad.”

“Thank you, sir.” The black shadow gritted his teeth against the pain and immediately replied.

“Mm,” Quan Feitong looked at him. “Your previous report that Huo Chang’an definitely hasn’t returned – how reliable is this news? You must verify it clearly again. This minister has gained the advantage, and the situation ahead is undoubtedly still favorable to me, but I must ensure no accidents occur.”

“This news is reliable.” The black shadow stepped forward, lowering his voice: “Huo Chang’an went to sea to seek medicine for Wei Wuyan. The reason he went to sea was that he had no other options. The news about the antidote was conveyed by Wuqing…”

“Wuqing conveyed Leng Xue’s message? That’s strange!” Quan Feitong suddenly laughed, glancing at him with an odd look.

“You… didn’t?” He asked a puzzling question.

The black shadow said indifferently: “No.”

Quan Feitong picked up the writing brush from the table and played with it lightly: “This person Wuqing – this minister really didn’t misjudge him. Very interesting. He might give Lian Yu an unexpected gift.”

“Whose man is this young fellow really – Prince Jin’s party, or perhaps that old fox Wei’s subordinate?” He pondered briefly and asked: “Since war has begun, has this Wuqing sent any messages?”

The black shadow nodded: “He sent a message through someone. Lian Yu told him to hold position for now.”

“Good, I’ll wait and watch the show.” Quan Feitong touched his nose with a slight smile, pointing at the guard: “Follow him down to get clean clothes and return. I’ll tentatively believe you about this Huo Chang’an news. You must find ways to notify me of any movements in Lian Yu’s camp.”

“Yes, your subordinate understands.”

The black shadow followed the guard out. Suddenly a voice came from behind again.

“You’ve received your punishment, but I didn’t say you needn’t handle the Li Huaisu matter. You need to hurry on this. Do you know? What I gave you before… is both antidote and poison.”

The black shadow’s spine trembled slightly. After a long moment, he answered in a deep voice: “Your subordinate understands.”

Seeing him leave, Quan Feitong suddenly picked up his brush and wrote a few characters on paper.

The characters were vigorous and flowing – exactly “Li Huaisu” three characters.

He stared at them for a while, crumpled the paper, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it several times.

“Don’t let me drag you out,” he said.

At this time, Chao Huang’s voice came from outside the tent: “Big Brother, finished talking with that spy? Zhaoting and I have arrived.”

He kicked the paper ball into a corner, cleared his throat and said: “Come in.”

Chao and Li quickly entered. Chao Huang held a map in his hands. Quan Feitong invited them to sit, then asked: “How is my big brother’s condition?”

Li Zhaoting smiled: “Lord Qiu is furious, currently complaining with Grand Dowager Consort Ai. Zhaoting guessed big brother’s thoughts and told Lord Qiu that this Seventh Prince can’t think straight, but big brother isn’t angry, so he shouldn’t take it to heart either. As long as the person is alive, we’ll eventually push him to the throne. Whether he wants to be emperor or not, he’ll have to be.”

“Mm,” Quan Feitong nodded. “Lian Jie must be pushed forward anyway – it’s fulfilling the late emperor’s wishes. Besides, he’s not needed to actually govern. Good, since you’ve appeased my big brother, I needn’t make that trip, saving me considerable trouble.”

Li Zhaoting helped Chao Huang spread out the map while asking: “Did the spy bring big brother any new information?”

“Nothing,” Quan Feitong narrowed his eyes, a mysterious light in them. “But speaking of my spy, Zhaoting, when I find the right opportunity, I’ll introduce you to him. You two will definitely get along.”

Li Zhaoting felt slightly strange, uncertain what Quan Feitong meant, but he said nothing and just nodded pleasantly, saying “good.”

Quan Feitong said no more, reaching out to tap three places on the map: “Everything deployed properly?”

What he pointed to wasn’t the capital region, but border cities.

Xiangbi, Xianping, Jicheng.

These were the locations of the border armies of the Chao, Mu, and Wei factions. All three places were in Great Zhou’s northwest region, with Xiang furthest north, Xian in the middle, and Ji below.

Therefore, that day, the “nomads'” first “attack” naturally targeted Chao’s army’s first checkpoint at Xiangping.

“Our forty thousand troops still disguised as patients remain stationed at Xiangbi, with another hundred thousand outside the border, together with Wei’s troops and the nomads. When Murong’s border army receives Lian Yu’s orders, they’ll definitely take the direct route from Xianyang back to the capital for support, having no time to attack our troops at Xiang. When Wei Chenghui leads his army to Jicheng and gathers all forces there to rush to Xiangbi together, our hundred thousand troops outside the border will have already quietly bypassed Xiangbi and reached the city ‘Sui’ on the necessary route from Xianyang to the capital to set up ambush.”

“Now, Murong’s army has just begun their return journey to the capital after receiving Lian Yu’s orders. Traveling along the way, they’ll inevitably be weary. My hundred thousand troops lie in wait at ‘Sui’ with fresh energy, while forty thousand troops catch up from behind to attack, forming a front-and-rear pincer movement.”

“On the surface, we appear to have only one hundred forty thousand troops, but among Lian Yu’s two hundred thousand forces, seventy thousand are Liu Shouping’s former subordinates. Several deputy generals commanding forty thousand of these troops have been secretly persuaded to surrender due to General Liu’s execution. Adding the ten thousand former Liu army veterans we recruited from among demobilized soldiers, now assembled at Sui, we command one hundred ninety thousand troops in total. Lian Yu has only one hundred thirty thousand. We already have a great numerical advantage.”

Chao Huang spoke indifferently, but his eyes gleamed fiercely. This battle was personally arranged by Quan Feitong and him beforehand – it was a crucial engagement. If they won this battle, the capital would be impossible to defend!

Li Zhaoting pointed to Xianyang’s location on the map: “Even if Lian Yu can anticipate our front-and-rear pincer attack and tries to defend, he can only defend against this portion of our forces. But he’ll be like a turtle in a jar, surrounded on all sides, just like us in this battle – no matter how he moves, he can’t escape. Moreover, what he can’t defend against will be the former General Liu’s subordinates in his own army. When those forty thousand troops suddenly rebel, with front, middle, and rear forces acting together, his forces will rapidly collapse. These one hundred thirty thousand men will never make it back to the capital. Master, though we suffered defeat now, as long as we wait patiently for news of the border army’s destruction, once his morale collapses, we’ll immediately engage and deal his capital forces a heavy blow. He’ll have no power to recover!”

Quan Feitong slowly closed the map.

Although Lian Yu had won the battle, Suzhen’s group still left the palace at dusk the next day according to the original plan.

Suzhen hadn’t expected that this secret passage was actually dug beneath the old residence where Lian Yu had lived with his birth mother in childhood, which was also where she had investigated the case that day.

Lian Yu ordered Bai Hu to lead people to dig open the cellar. This long tunnel led directly outside the palace.

After packing their belongings, just as Ming Yanchu and Xiao Zhou were about to escort Suzhen out, an attendant brought people requesting an audience, saying His Majesty’s edict had arrived.

Seeing them, the messenger smiled slightly and said: “Conveying His Majesty’s oral decree: Judicial Official Li is to meet His Majesty in the capital’s outskirts.”

“Oh, so your master has finally changed his mind?” Suzhen said through gritted teeth in a low voice.