Chapter 287: Longyan Battle Record (Ten)

Early the next morning, Guan Gong sought out the Steward, then lied that his mother was ill and asked for three days' leave.

After agreeing to hand over one-third of this month's wages to the Steward, Guan Gong managed to get away. He changed into a pair of thick-soled cloth shoes he normally couldn't bear to wear, packed some dry rations, slung a bundle over his shoulder, and headed straight for the county seat.

Ningyang County seat was the former Shuangyang Town of Longyan County, and compared to later generations' "county-level" places, it had the same flavor — its economic scale and environment were both rundown.

Guan Gong was tall and long-legged; it took him only half an hour to reach the county seat. After this, he spent a few copper coins to hitch a ride on a donkey cart heading to Longyan.

After gnawing some dry rations on the road, Guan Gong arrived outside Longyan County seat by nightfall.

At this point, he found himself unable to move his feet: outside the county seat's Nanmen, a great lamp as bright as the sun hung from a tall wooden pole, illuminating the surroundings like broad daylight.

Over a hundred civilian laborers were chanting work songs as they carried large blocks of rock in an endless stream toward the riverbank. Beside the pier, there were also iron beasts rumbling away — enormous iron drums, inside which mortar was being stirred by iron hands, while the laborers queued up to carry the mortar away.

At the edge of the bright lamplight, quite a few idle onlookers had gathered. The utterly astonished Guan Gong hurried over at once, and before long, he had figured out one thing: everything before his eyes had been brought by those Green Jacket Official Troops.

After taking in this scene that left him speechless, Guan Gong gained a bit more confidence in this mission. Next, he went to the Rear Palace, and after observing for over an hour, he began looking for a place to spend the night.

The county outskirts were already far more prosperous than he remembered. Not only had several more inns and shack-style eateries appeared, but the large communal sheds specifically for laborers to overnight in had also multiplied.

Given Guan Gong's nature, sleeping in a communal bunk was naturally the most economical. But considering the letter on his person, he gritted his teeth and took out one of the pieces of broken silver Biyu had given him, renting a private room at an inn.

Early the next morning, at a shack-style eatery, he got the information he wanted: the nearby Chen Family Fortified Village had indeed been broken by the Green Jacket Official Troops.

After listening to the diners' animated, froth-spraying explanations, Guan Gong went out, used a straw hat to shade his brows and eyes, and then began snooping wildly all over the county seat.

By suppertime, he had gathered more than enough information about the Transmigrators. This information was all too easy to collect, because certain people had already turned this tranquil place upside down — everyone was talking about their monstrous deeds and inexhaustible wealth.

That very night, Guan Gong, now fully resolved, charged toward the Rear Palace gate. When the sentry at the gate stopped this tall fellow wearing a straw hat and hunched over, barreling straight inside, Guan Gong began to explain: "Vice Lord, Vice Lord, I have secret military intelligence to report to General Daren!"

To Guan Gong's surprise, the Squad Leader in charge immediately led him inside the second gate upon hearing this, as if he received a hundred-odd informants every day.

The Squad Leader ordered a sentry to search Guan Gong while he went in to report. Not long after, Guan Gong met the General himself in a side room just inside the second gate.

The six-foot-tall General Daren was very easy to identify. As for the man beside him waving a fan and wearing his hair in a topknot, that was surely the Adviser without a doubt — did one even need to ask?

So Guan Gong knelt on the ground and began kowtowing: "Commoner Guan San — Guan Gong's original name — pays respects to General Daren."

"Mm, good, good, rise." The amiable General Daren very adeptly helped the commoner up from the ground, then, with a spring-breeze warmth, had someone pour tea for Guan Gong, and gently explained and promised him: First, no matter who or what power Guan Gong intended to inform on, this side would guarantee his safety; as a tainted witness, he could go live in a large coastal city afterward.

Second, this brother here has surely seen the construction site outside Nanmen, so it's common knowledge that this side is not short on silver. As long as Guan Gong could provide useful information, depending on its importance, a reward silver of two was certain.

The amiable tone and the targeted phrasing dispelled Guan Gong's last trace of doubt. The next moment, he drew that letter from his waistband.

The first moment the Adviser beside the General opened the letter, what met his eyes was a stroke of delicate, graceful handwriting. After reading the contents without a change in expression, Ding Liqiu nodded inwardly. Next, he signaled an officer sitting to one side to begin recording, then started to question Guan Gong.

It took roughly one hour for Ding Liqiu to extract everything Guan Gong knew about the Lin Family Tulou Cluster and Lin Shiwan's Bandit Gang — things having come this far, Guan Gong naturally held nothing back, except, of course, regarding Biyu.

In fact, Biyu was already exposed: among the Lin Family clan, the females who could neatly write out their own full name were one and only one, let alone write a letter.

After everything was finished, Ding Liqiu and Wei Yuan exchanged a glance. After nodding, Ding Liqiu first let out a hearty laugh, then extended a palm with five fingers spread: "Brother Guan San, this information of yours, in my view, is worth 500 taels of silver. Additionally, once this bandit suppression campaign is accomplished, the person who wrote this letter may also select jewelry worth 500 taels from the Lin Family's floating wealth."

Upon hearing the word "jewelry," Guan Gong knew Biyu was already exposed. Yet this no longer mattered; the illicit couple had long since thrown caution to the wind.

He raised his head to glance at the General sitting to one side, and finding Daren smiling and nodding, Guan Gong dropped to his knees with a "thud" and kowtowed repeatedly: "Commoner thanks Daren for his grace."

After receiving a few pieces of broken silver and a black ebony waist token carved by an industrial machine tool, a certain person quietly slipped out of the Rear Palace under cover of night and returned to his inn to sleep.

He certainly couldn't be rewarded with large ingots of silver at this moment; if discovered upon his return, the "crime of possessing huge assets of unknown origin" would not be so easy to explain, especially now, with the storm gathering over the Lin Family Fortress.

After Guan Gong left, Wei Yuan and Ding Liqiu returned to the inner courtyard Command Post.

The Command Post's main hall was now brilliantly lit. The long tables pushed together were piled with various materials and equipment; on the walls hung large-scale maps of Western Fujian and the Longyan surrounding area; the ticking of telegraphs echoed through the space, creating an atmosphere of tense solemnity.

"It seems Hulu Valley is the key point." After entering, Ding Liqiu walked to the wall, stared at the map for a few moments, then turned his head and said to Wei Yuan.

"Mm, since intelligence from several sources all mentions this place, then Hulu Valley must have something going on."

At this, Wei Yuan raised his hand to check his watch: "Fortunately, Commander Du arrives tonight. Looks like we'll be able to figure out what medicine is being sold in this gourd tomorrow."

The ancients' daily schedule was regular. By the time the moon was high in the sky, all the lights at Nanmen Dock had already been extinguished. The masters had shown mercy today — not only letting everyone off work an hour early, but also slaughtering an extra pig for dinner. So the people, well-fed and content with wages tucked at their waists, were now blissfully snoring away in the work sheds.

At exactly 11 o'clock at night, from the boats moored farthest from the dock, a string of dark figures emerged one after another from under the black canopies.

And at the same time, some Overseers around the dock also began patrolling everywhere as if facing a great enemy — the patrol positions just happened to isolate these dark figures from other areas. In this way, the dark figures quickly left the Pier District and entered the Rear Palace through a side gate.

"Commander Du, you've had a hard journey! The brothers have been waiting eagerly for you." Wei Yuan, already waiting at the side gate, grasped the hand of Special Forces Deputy Commander Du Dewei firmly.

Du Dewei, of balanced build, who had "in his previous life" served as a mercenary in the South American Guerrillas, was a person of relatively easygoing nature — at least compared to Special Operations Team boss Qian Tieshan, Du Dewei's aggressiveness was far less pronounced.

"Heh heh, got tired of waiting, huh? No problem, let the team members rest. We'll set out before dawn tomorrow."

"Eat first. Everything's prepared — stewed beef. Sleep after eating."

After these brief pleasantries, the nine special operations team members, wearing jungle camouflage and equipped with various special-operations weapons, were led to the Mess Hall to eat.

Du Dewei, meanwhile, went to the Command Post together with Wei Yuan and Ding Liqiu.

Next came the combat intelligence briefing, with Wei Yuan taking the lead. After listening to the briefing, Du Dewei pulled up a map from the PDA he carried, looked it over for a while, and said: "The situation's about the same as when I set out. But this Hulu Valley that suddenly appeared — is there anything special about it?"

Wei Yuan nodded: "That's exactly the place we need you to focus on investigating."

"Oh, seems like you're falling a bit behind on intelligence gathering?"

Wei Yuan and Ding Liqiu exchanged a glance, then smiled wryly at Du Dewei: "Old Du, you don't know, but these past few days, people from all sides have been pouring in nonstop. Our intelligence analysis workload is extremely heavy right now."

"Real ones, fake ones, our own people, bandit gang moles, and god knows how many enemies coming to turn informant — I tell you, the situation is complex." Ding Liqiu now picked up the thread: "There's a lot of chaotic intelligence coming in from various channels, so the current top priority is intelligence analysis and personnel background checks."

"That's also why we need you to conduct on-the-ground reconnaissance — a lot of intelligence needs the information you provide for comparison and verification." Wei Yuan now said with a serious expression: "I can't move right now; the moment I do, the bandit gang will know. Besides, these firearm soldiers don't have the skill for jungle terrain reconnaissance."

"Alright, alright! Understood, understood." Du Dewei now stood up and said: "Gentlemen, please rest assured. Tomorrow I'll lead the team to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the target area, including the detailed terrain around Duima Ridge — I'll send it all back to you in succession."

"Then we're counting on you!"

What the Transmigrators currently had in hand were only digital maps brought from later generations.

Although the precision of these maps was sufficient for the 17th century, they weren't accurate — several hundred years of time, seas turning into mulberry fields; most of those highways and towns of later generations were still wilderness and jungle now. All digital maps could only serve as reference; they had to be re-scouted and surveyed before the troops could use them, especially in a region with such extremely high forest coverage as Longyan.

And so, in the early morning of the next day, in the darkness before dawn, the Red Spear Camp's true trump card — Du Dewei's 10-man tactical squad — vanished into the boundless sea of forests of Western Fujian.