Su Luofeng, one of the deputy generals of the Northern Expedition Army. Though he couldn’t be considered part of the General’s trusted inner circle, over these years of following the General in battle and fighting courageously against enemies, he had long become a brother who shared life and death with them.

Even now, Shao Liang still couldn’t understand why Su Luofeng had used the token representing the General’s identity to deceive him that day, leading the escort party protecting the General’s wife onto another route, then allowing the Northern Qi soldiers who had already lain in ambush to capture the General’s wife.

“This is treason!” Shao Liang raised his hand and slapped himself, not daring to look into Shao Mingyuan’s eyes. “General, it’s all my fault for being a bastard. If I hadn’t fallen for the trick, Madam wouldn’t have—”

Others only saw the glory of the General’s great victory and enfeoffment as Marquis, but only those closest to him could see the General’s pain.

The General very much hoped for the war to end so he could live an ordinary life with his wife, didn’t he?

He would never forget how, during every brief respite when fighting slowed, the General would sit down and, accompanied by the icicles hanging from the Northern Territory eaves and the endless expanse of pristine white snow outside the window, write family letters stroke by stroke.

Unfortunately, though letter after letter was sent out, the General never received any reply.

The General’s wife must surely resent the General in her heart.

So when he suddenly received news that the General’s wife had already traveled north and was about to arrive, he had voluntarily requested to go meet her.

He wanted to speak well of the General in front of Madam, hoping she could forgive the General for being unable to return home during their two years of marriage.

But in the end—

Shao Liang slowly knelt, his voice hoarse: “General, it’s all my fault—”

Shao Mingyuan bent down to help him up, and only after a long while said: “It’s not your fault. There’s a saying about there being thieves for a thousand days, but no way to guard against thieves for a thousand days. Su Luofeng showed no abnormalities for many years, yet he had a forged token on him, which shows his premeditation went back a long time.”

Shao Mingyuan closed his eyes, and scenes of his interactions with Su Luofeng flashed through his mind.

In the snowy ground, Su Luofeng had supported his injured self and walked through the entire night until they finally returned safely to camp; during fierce battles, Su Luofeng had leaped up to block a fatal attack for a comrade; by the campfire, Su Luofeng’s expression had been gentle as he read a letter by firelight…

Shao Mingyuan suddenly opened his eyes.

“Shao Liang, tomorrow you will go to Beiding City to continue the investigation. Check the brothels and pleasure boats in Beiding City to see if there are any girls Su Luofeng was familiar with.”

“General?” Shao Liang was quite surprised.

Shao Mingyuan’s brow carried undisguisable exhaustion, but his eyes were bright as snow. His voice low and hoarse, he explained to Shao Liang: “I once saw Su Luofeng reading a letter. At the time, he said it was a family letter. Since he’s an orphan, where would a family letter come from? Nine times out of ten, that letter was from a lover, or even—”

Shao Mingyuan paused, then continued: “Or even possibly using a brothel woman as a cover to pass along some kind of message.”

Even now, Shao Mingyuan still didn’t believe Su Luofeng’s case was as simple as collaborating with the enemy.

Su Luofeng had campaigned under his command for several years and should understand his character well.

In that situation, aside from personally shooting his wife, on one hand not letting the Northern Qi army’s threat affect the Great Liang army’s morale, and on the other hand not letting his wife suffer endless humiliation before dying miserably, there simply wouldn’t have been any other choice.

So Su Luofeng’s lying dormant for many years just for this one act was very much worth pondering.

Shao Mingyuan strode to the desk.

A rough map was spread on the table.

“Come look at this.”

Shao Zhi and Shao Liang gathered around.

Shao Mingyuan pointed at the map: “Shao Liang, you were deceived by Su Luofeng into returning to camp just before the party was about to reach this mountain fork. After reaching the mountain fork, Su Luofeng led the party, who were unfamiliar with the Northern Territory terrain, to turn toward this location, where they then encountered the ambush. Those Northern Qi soldiers had a clear objective—after capturing… after capturing Madam, they quickly retreated. Apart from Su Luofeng and some of the soldiers he brought suffering casualties, everyone else was mostly unharmed.”

Shao Zhi and Shao Liang nodded repeatedly.

Hearing Shao Mingyuan’s voice was hoarse, Shao Liang poured a cup of tea and handed it to him: “General, have some tea first.”

Shao Mingyuan took the tea and drained it in one gulp, then casually set the teacup aside and pointed to a spot on the map: “But later, scouts sent to investigate discovered that on the party’s original necessary route, here, there were also barbarians lying in ambush.”

“Could it be that the barbarians wanted to ensure nothing could go wrong?” Shao Liang asked.

“I had the same thought at first, but later felt something was off. From the traces at the ambush site, the scouts estimated that the number of barbarians was far fewer than the soldiers you brought. If Su Luofeng hadn’t been there and you had taken the planned route, even encountering this group of barbarians wouldn’t have been cause for concern.”

At the time, he had received word that his mother, pitying Lady Qiao for being alone for two years, was sending her north to be reunited with him. Even more unexpected was that when he received the message, Lady Qiao was already nearly there. It was precisely during the most critical time of battle between the two armies. For Lady Qiao’s safety, he had specifically ordered his most trusted subordinate, Shao Liang, to go meet her, even letting him take away an escort team of several hundred men, never expecting Su Luofeng’s betrayal.

“What do you think is the most likely explanation for this situation?”

Shao Liang and Shao Zhi looked at each other.

“I’ve thought long and hard, and I believe there’s one possibility for two groups of barbarians appearing—the ones tipping them off weren’t the same group, and the barbarians who received the information didn’t belong to the same leader either!”

The Northern Qi barbarians were similarly divided into factions, so it was very possible for situations where they didn’t know about each other to occur while competing for merit.

“What? There was someone else besides Su Luofeng?”

Shao Mingyuan’s expression was cold and stern, his eyes piercing: “Only this way can we explain why the barbarians ambushing the original route were fewer in number than the escort team Shao Liang brought. Because the other group providing information misjudged the escort team’s numbers. They initially didn’t expect I would send so many people to meet Lady Qiao! Or even… didn’t expect I would send anyone to meet her at all!”

The timing of Lady Qiao’s arrival in the Northern Territory was truly too delicate, right when both armies were going all out and could barely spare any troops.

Among those who accompanied Madam from the capital north were the Marquis’s residence guards, some of the Yulin Army, and people from the Yuanwei Escort Agency. Shao Zhi, you quietly seek out those people and ask if Su Luofeng showed any abnormalities after taking over the party.”

Shao Zhi’s heart sank.

The General’s meaning was that besides Su Luofeng, there was another group making the move, and they very likely came from…

Shao Mingyuan raised his hand and gently rubbed his temples, showing a faint, weary smile: “You two go investigate separately. Before the truth is clear, there’s no need for wild suspicions.”

Although the suspicions in his heart had already grown like wild grass, entangling him with heart-piercing pain, he still wanted a clear answer.

“Yes.” Shao Zhi and Shao Liang clasped their fists together.

Shao Mingyuan leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he saw Shao Zhi and Shao Liang still standing before him with expressions of wanting to speak but stopping themselves, so he asked: “Is there something else?”

Shao Zhi gave Shao Liang a meaningful look.

Shao Liang shook his head, indicating for him to speak.

Shao Mingyuan frowned slightly: “After returning to the capital, how did you two become so wishy-washy? Whatever it is, just say it.”

Having stained his hands with countless blood, and the last blood stained being his wife’s hot blood, what else was there could he bear?

Shao Zhi was pushed forward and secretly drew in a breath before finally speaking: “General, you probably don’t know yet that there was a great fire at the Qiao family in Jia Feng, and only Young Master Qiao and his youngest sister escaped—”

A light cracking sound came as Shao Mingyuan directly snapped the chair’s armrest.