Chapter 893: Sending Secret Reports, Dimensional Reduction Reveals Murderous Intent

A month later, three cowhide envelopes were placed on the desk in the main hall of the Xia Prefecture Governor's Office. The fire wax on the envelopes had been torn open, and the wax pieces were scattered on the desk like a few dark red blood scabs.

Chen Yan sat behind the desk, holding a silk strip pulled from the first envelope. The silk strip was less than a foot long and two fingers wide, with dense small characters written on it in Rouran script. The handwriting was crooked; it was Wurigen's handwriting.

Zhang Wenqian stood at the side of the desk, holding a bowl of freshly brewed hot tea without drinking it. The heat on the tea surface floated into a white line in front of his face.

"Pillar of State, this is the first batch of goods sent back by Wurigen this month. Ahada received it at the trading point on the outskirts of the White Wolf Tribe the day before yesterday and sent it back overnight."

Chen Yan laid the silk strip flat on the desk, pressing one end of the silk strip with his fingers, his gaze sweeping from the first line of characters downward.

"Read it to this Duke."

Zhang Wenqian pulled the silk strip from under Chen Yan's hand, leaned it under the lamp to read it once, and then opened his mouth to read, his voice suppressed so that only the two of them could hear clearly.

"The total troop deployment for Wen Ge Ti's border blockade is 9,600 people, divided into seventeen segments, with each segment stationing between 400 and 800 soldiers. The Salt River Valley entrance has the most soldiers, with 800, equipped with three crossbow carts. There are only cavalry patrols on the few small paths in the middle section of the alkali land, with twelve people per patrol team, changing shifts every two hours, with a gap of about half a quarter of an hour between shift changes."

Chen Yan's fingers tapped on the desk once.

"Continue."

Zhang Wenqian flipped to the back of the silk strip.

"The garrison in the Silver Fox Mountain area to the north is composed of able-bodied men conscripted from the Tuhai tribe and the Sele tribe. Their equipment is extremely poor, with no iron armor, only leather armor and cloth clothes. The curved blades are all old goods brought by the tribes themselves, and half of them are rusted. The morale of this batch of people is extremely low, and some people have already started to secretly run south."

Chen Yan stood up from the chair, walked to the sand table, and held a charcoal pen in his hand, starting to mark on the position representing the Rouran border on the sand table.

"Salt River Valley entrance 800 people, Silver Fox Mountain area equipment poor morale low, alkali land middle section cavalry patrol 12 people per team half-quarter-hour shift change gap."

His charcoal pen drew five or six mark points on the sand table, and a number was written beside each point.

"Zhang Wenqian, whose is the second letter?"

Zhang Wenqian picked up the second envelope from the desk and pulled out the silk strip inside.

"Ashina's. It was delivered by the west line contact person the day before yesterday, half a day later than Wurigen's."

Chen Yan returned to sit beside the desk, the charcoal pen in his hand knocking on the edge of the table.

"Read."

Zhang Wenqian unfolded the silk strip. The handwriting on it was much neater than Wurigen's, looking like it was written seriously.

"The Turkic remnants are currently scattered in three valleys in the northwest corner of the grasslands, with a total troop strength of no more than two thousand, of which only eight hundred can mount horses and fight. The grain and grass are only enough to maintain for one month. Wen Ge Ti has set up a three-thousand-person cordon line to the east of the Turkic remnants, but half of these three thousand people are conscripted from subordinate tribes, and their combat effectiveness is extremely poor."

Chen Yan's charcoal pen drew another mark on the sand table.

"The Turkic remnants' grain and grass are only enough for one month?"

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"Ashina also wrote one item, saying that there are already people within the Turkic remnants discussing whether to surrender to Wen Ge Ti to exchange for a mouthful of food. Ashina suppressed this voice this time and didn't let it spread, but he said that if there is no foreign aid, the Turkic remnants will completely scatter within two months at most."

Chen Yan threw the charcoal pen on the frame of the sand table and turned to look at Zhang Wenqian.

"What about the third letter?"

Zhang Wenqian picked up the last envelope from the desk. This envelope was twice as thick as the previous two. What was stuffed inside was not a silk strip but a thin cowhide folded several times.

"This one was added separately by Wurigen. It is not in the regular intelligence list. He asked Ahada to convey to the subordinate that this is a big gift."

Chen Yan reached out and took the thin cowhide, unfolding it and spreading it on the desk.

A map was drawn on the cowhide, using extremely fine charcoal lines to outline the complete layout of the core area of the Rouran Royal Court, including the location of Wen Ge Ti's big tent, the stationing orientation of the Left and Right Wise Kings, the coordinates of the granaries and stables, the schedule of patrol routes, and the relative distance between the tents of various generals.

Zhang Wenqian leaned over to take a look and took a breath.

"This is the internal military defense map of the Royal Court?"

Chen Yan's finger pressed lightly on the position of Wen Ge Ti's big tent on the map. When he pressed down, his fingernail left a shallow crescent mark on the cowhide surface.

"This dog Wurigen, after being scared once, is quite dedicated when doing things."

He rolled up the cowhide map from the desk and stuffed it into the secret pocket inside his sleeve.

"Store this map in the secret file. Send a specialist to copy three copies. Send one to the South Valley for Ye Zhuxi, keep one in the Mingjing Si warehouse, and this Duke will keep the original copy himself."

Zhang Wenqian reached out to take it, but Chen Yan shook his head.

"The original copy is not for you. It is enough for you to take the copy."

Zhang Wenqian's hand withdrew, not asking more.

Chen Yan sat in the chair for two breaths, his gaze falling back onto those new marks on the sand table.

"The Salt River Valley entrance has 800 people and crossbow carts. The loss of charging from the front is too great, but the cavalry patrol gap in the middle section of the alkali land, the half-quarter-hour gap, is enough for a small tribe to drill through the blockade line with cattle and horses."

Zhang Wenqian picked up the words beside him.

"Pillar of State, the Sele tribe, the Tuhai tribe, and the Puchang tribe agreed to move south last month. The hidden agents of the Mingjing Si reported that they have already started packing tents and livestock, but they have been afraid to move because they don't know how the patrols on the border line go."

Chen Yan stood up from the chair, walked to the sand table, and held the charcoal pen in his hand again, drawing three dashed lines between those patrol mark points in the middle section of the alkali land.

"Send this intelligence about the patrol gap to the head of the Sele tribe. Tell him that there is a blind spot between the fourth and fifth segments of the middle section of the alkali land. When changing shifts, pass through that position. The half-quarter-hour gap is enough for three hundred people to pass through the blockade line with cattle and horses."

Zhang Wenqian's eyeballs turned around on those three dashed lines.

"Pillar of State, will giving the intelligence directly to them expose Wurigen's line?"

Chen Yan put down the charcoal pen and turned to look at Zhang Wenqian.

"You package the intelligence as having been scouted by the Mingjing Si itself. The head of the Sele tribe doesn't need to know where the news came from; he only needs to know which way to go to survive."

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"Subordinate understands. I will have the hidden agents send the route map tomorrow."

Chen Yan walked to the fire basin and stretched his hand to roast it above the flames. His fingertips were baked red by the heat.

"Zhang Wenqian, this Duke asks you, how much is Wurigen's intelligence this month worth?"

Zhang Wenqian thought about it.

"Border troop deployment map plus Royal Court internal military defense map, if sold to Qi State spies on the black market, it is worth at least five thousand warhorses."

Chen Yan took his hand back from above the fire basin and rubbed his fingers in his sleeves.

"This Duke gives him five hundred jin of fine salt, thirty bolts of Shu brocade, and two hundred jin of iron ingots every month, which is less than two hundred guan converted into money, yet he sends this Duke things worth five thousand horses."

The corners of his mouth tilted to the side.

"This business is done well."

Zhang Wenqian rubbed his hands by his side.

"Pillar of State, there is one more thing that must be reported to you."

Chen Yan looked at him.

"Wurigen added a sentence at the end of the silk strip, saying that his father, the Right Wise King, made a request to Wen Ge Ti last month, wanting to take back the pasture east of the White Wolf Tribe that Batu had occupied for three years. Wen Ge Ti didn't agree. After returning, the Right Wise King smashed three bowls in the tent."

Chen Yan's fingers stopped in his sleeves.

"The Right Wise King's temper is starting to come up?"

Zhang Wenqian took out the paper with Batu's information from his bosom and unfolded it to look.

"It matches the words leaked when Wurigen got drunk last time. The contradiction between the Right Wise King and Batu is deepening. Wen Ge Ti suppressing it and not caring is equivalent to offending both sides at the same time."

Chen Yan stood by the fire basin for three breaths, his gaze falling on the tip of the jumping flames.

"Don't rush to pry this crack. Let it grow itself. When it grows wide enough, this Duke will drive in a wedge."

He turned and walked back behind the desk to sit down, took out a thin booklet from the secret drawer, opened a blank page, picked up a pen, and wrote a few lines on it.

"Starting this month, increase Wurigen's remuneration by 10%. Increase the fine salt from five hundred jin to five hundred and fifty jin, and give five more bolts of Shu brocade. When Ahada conveys the words, tell him that Da Zhou is very satisfied with his performance and hopes to see more news about the private movements of the generals around the Royal Court next month."

Zhang Wenqian took the booklet and looked at it.

"The Pillar of State wants to urge him to dig deeper?"

Chen Yan put the pen on the inkstone.

"Not urge, but feed. Dogs get bones after doing things. Only after giving bones will it work harder to rake the things the master wants next time."

Zhang Wenqian closed the booklet and tucked it under his arm.

"Subordinate will arrange for people to prepare the goods for this month today and have Ahada take them in three days."

Chen Yan picked up the bowl of tea on the corner of the desk that was no longer hot and took a sip.

"Additionally, Ashina's side also needs to increase the weight. He said the Turkic remnants' grain and grass are only enough for one month. This Duke will continue his life."

Zhang Wenqian's footsteps stopped in front of the curtain.

"The Pillar of State wants to send grain to the Turkic remnants?"

Chen Yan put the tea bowl steady.

"Send five hundred piculs of millet and one hundred jin of salt. Send it in through Ashina's line. Let Ashina use this batch of grain to buy people's hearts among the Turkic remnants. Tell him that as long as he can stabilize those two thousand people and not let them scatter, Da Zhou's grain will continue to be sent."

Zhang Wenqian's eyebrows twisted.

"Pillar of State, what is the purpose of raising the Turkic remnants?"

Chen Yan turned the tea bowl half a circle, and the bottom of the bowl drew a tide mark on the desk surface.

"To make Wen Ge Ti never dare to withdraw the three thousand garrison troops in the Northwest direction."

Zhang Wenqian's eyebrows relaxed.

"Subordinate understands. As long as the Turkic remnants are alive for one day, Wen Ge Ti has to assign three thousand people to watch them. These three thousand people will never return to his fist."

Chen Yan's hand lifted from the tea bowl and waved toward the direction of the curtain.

"Go handle it. Prepare all the goods for the east and west lines within three days and send them out."

Zhang Wenqian lifted the curtain and walked out.

Chen Yan sat alone in the main hall, his fingers tapping silently on the desk surface, the rhythm neither fast nor slow, as if counting something invisible.

His gaze swept across those mark points on the sand table, finally stopping at the blind spot between the fourth and fifth segments of the middle section of the alkali land where he had drawn dashed lines.

Three nights later, the Sele tribe's six hundred-plus people drove more than one thousand cattle and sheep and three hundred horses, moving along the gap marked by the Mingjing Si in the middle section of the alkali land under the moonless sky, like a silent river drilling through the gap of the Rouran blockade line.

During the half-quarter-hour gap of the cavalry patrol shift change, the old, weak, women, and children of the Sele tribe and the livestock passed through one after another. The horses' hooves were all wrapped in cloth, the cattle's mouths were tied with ropes, and even the children were stuffed with a ball of wool in their mouths to prevent them from making sounds.

Three days after the Sele tribe left, the Tuhai tribe also left, walking the same road and using the same gap.

The Puchang tribe was the last to leave. When they left, the cavalry patrols in the middle section of the alkali land had already discovered that the camps of the first two tribes were empty and started to strengthen patrols, but the head of the Puchang tribe, Morigen, obtained an updated patrol schedule from the Mingjing Si hidden agents, which was 30% more accurate than the original intelligence. That updated intelligence came from the urgent silk strip sent back by Wurigen for the second time.

The three tribes' 1,700-plus people plus tens of thousands of livestock all passed through Rouran's blockade line within half a month and entered the resettlement camp designated by the Xia Prefecture Governor's Office.

Wen Ge Ti's blockade order was like waste paper.

And in the Royal Court's big tent, when Batu reported the news of the three tribes running away to Wen Ge Ti, Wen Ge Ti threw the bowl of mare's milk wine in front of him along with the bowl onto the tent wall. The porcelain bowl shattered, and the milky white wine liquid flowed down from the tent wall and soaked into the carpet.

What he didn't know was that the location and time of every flaw in that blockade line were sold to Da Zhou by his own nephew using a silk strip.

Wen Ge Ti sat in the big tent and cursed for half an hour, from cursing the head of the Sele tribe to cursing the conscripted able-bodied men in Silver Fox Mountain who ate for free, from cursing the disloyalty of various subordinate tribes, and finally cursing the hairy child in Da Zhou who opened a trade fair in Xia Prefecture.

He didn't know that the hairy child was currently sitting in the main hall of the Governor's Office, holding the third intelligence silk strip sent back from the grasslands. On the silk strip was a map of the location of the three new patrol posts added around Wen Ge Ti's big tent.

After Chen Yan finished reading the silk strip, he handed it to Zhang Wenqian beside him and said a sentence.

"Wen Ge Ti added three posts at night, which means he is starting to not sleep peacefully."

He stood up from the chair, walked to the sand table, and drew a line on the row of marks representing the Rouran blockade line, crossing out three points.

"Three tribes have come over. There are three segments of troop sources missing on Wen Ge Ti's blockade line. He either has to draw people from other places to fill these three segments, or leave the mouths of these three segments open."

Zhang Wenqian followed him and looked at the sand table.

"Pillar of State, where will Wen Ge Ti draw people from?"

Chen Yan's finger drew a line from south to north on the sand table.

"He can only draw from the mobile forces of the Royal Court headquarters, but half of his headquarters people have already been divided to watch the Turkic remnants. If he draws again, the side will be empty."

His finger pointed at the position of the Royal Court.

"He won't draw. He will leave those three mouths open and then send cavalry patrols to strengthen patrols to compensate, but strengthening patrols means his people are more tired, and being more tired means it is easier to make mistakes."

Chen Yan's hand withdrew from the sand table.

"This Duke's intelligence will be updated continuously. Every new flaw in his blockade line will appear on this Duke's desk within three days, and then be sent to the head of the next tribe who wants to move south."

He turned to look at Zhang Wenqian. The light of the fire basin in the main hall pulled his shadow on the wall behind him very long.

"This is called one-way transparency. Wen Ge Ti is a blind man, and this Duke can see every step of his."

Zhang Wenqian folded the silk strip and tucked it into his bosom, asking the last question.

"Pillar of State, Wurigen's intelligence mentioned that the Royal Court received a new batch of 3,000 warhorses conscripted from various tribes in the east last month, which were registered in the Royal Court's horse register, but Wurigen said that 500 of them were intercepted by the Right Wise King in the name of white disaster loss. In fact, those 500 horses are already being raised in the Right Wise King's private pasture."

Chen Yan walked back behind the desk and sat down, his fingers tapping on the desk surface twice.

"The Right Wise King started privately swallowing the Royal Court's horses?"

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"Wurigen said his father asked him to handle it. He picked 300 good ones from the 500 intercepted and sent them to the trade fair through Ahada's caravan next month to pay off the debt."

Chen Yan picked up the tea bowl, the bowl edge stopping for a moment by his lips.

"The Right Wise King is using Wen Ge Ti's horses to pay off his son's debt to Da Zhou."

He took a sip of tea and placed the bowl on the table.

"Good, continue."

Zhang Wenqian's voice carried an irrepressible excitement.

"Pillar of State, this means the Right Wise King has already been dragged into the water by his son. Wurigen being an inner ghost alone and the entire Right Wise King lineage being an inner ghost are two different things."

Chen Yan leaned against the back of the chair, both hands crossed in front of him.

"This is not two things; this is one thing. From the day Wurigen signed that contract, the Right Wise King lineage was already on this Duke's ship, only Wurigen didn't know it at the time. Now he knows."

His gaze passed through the crack in the main hall curtain and landed on the tender buds on the branches of the old locust tree outside.

"Zhang Wenqian, go give Wurigen a word."

"Pillar of State, please speak."

"Tell him, this Duke accepts the three hundred horses, but this Duke wants more."

Chen Yan's fingers tapped the last sound on the desk.

"Tell him, Da Zhou has no malice toward Rouran. Da Zhou is just doing business. If the Right Wise King is willing to be a long-term friend with Da Zhou, Da Zhou is willing to help the Right Wise King solve the matter of Batu's pasture at an appropriate time."

Zhang Wenqian's eyeballs brightened for a moment under the lamp.

"Is the Pillar of State trying to pull the Right Wise King in too?"

Chen Yan stood up, walked to the curtain, and lifted a corner to look at the spring light in the courtyard outside.

"It's not pulling; he will walk over himself. His son has already paved the way for him."

The curtain fell from his hand, blocking the light outside.

And in the eastern part of the grasslands at this moment, another storm manipulated by Da Zhou from behind the scenes was approaching the three small tribes that had just been drained of able-bodied men by the conscription order.

Qifugu's five hundred black-armored cavalry had already lined up in the night, their horses' mouths stuffed with cloth balls, and the horizontal blades' edges could not even see a trace of reflection under the moonless sky. ===== CHAPTER 894 =====