Chapter 662: Jointly Undertaking the Grand Enterprise, Part 2

Iron Umbrella Sect's senior disciple Zhou Yi's self-introduction, though seemingly a wild, unpredictable twist of fate, was at its core a very old-fashioned story — the kind of pledge-of-allegiance tale that plays out every day in the martial world.

The difference was, this particular pledge... was a bit heavy. For Iron Umbrella Sect to go so far as to kill people, raid a jail, and trigger a city-wide manhunt by the authorities, all to rescue Tian Da and his companion from death row — this far exceeded the weight of an ordinary pledge... Back when Instructor Lin joined the bandits, all he did was take a single head on a country road.

Now that matters had reached this point, Tian Da and his companion, having learned the full inside story, found themselves, amid their shock, in no position to make any statement.

It wasn't that Zhou Yi's story wasn't compelling. On the contrary, Tian Da and his companion had believed every word Zhou Yi said from the very first moment: this was the 17th century, where various "feudal superstition" doctrines were the mainstream scholarship, completely dominating the ideological sphere of the lower classes.

Zhou Yi's whole spiel was perfectly tailored to a native's palate. Moreover, the very fact that Tian Da was alive and safe today was the best possible endorsement of that spiel.

The problem now was that these two, Tian Da and his companion, were simply too low in rank. If they were ordinary martial heroes who had pulled off such a gallant deed, Tian Da would have sworn brotherhood with them and roped them into the cause without a second word.

But this group of Daoists and laymen from "Iron Umbrella Sect" before him was clearly a tightly organized, local martial sect that had been operating in the area for years. When it came down to it, Tian Da and his companion were merely purchasing agents sent out from the field; they had no authority to make any promises on behalf of the Li Zicheng Group to the Iron Umbrella Sect faction represented by Zhou Yi.

Cooperation between power blocs — Tian Da didn't have the rank for that.

In the end, after mulling it over for a long while and letting out a bitter laugh, Tian Da cupped his fists and spoke frankly: he was personally extremely grateful to the Daoist masters of Iron Umbrella Sect for their righteous act of rescuing his brothers from dire straits. But regarding Li Zicheng's stance, he had no right to speak on it.

However, Tian Da then did make a solemn statement: he would report the entire sequence of events, from start to finish, in detail to his own boss, and he was fully willing to do his utmost to facilitate a powerful alliance between the two sides.

"That will suffice." Daoist Zhou stroked his beard and nodded repeatedly at these words: that had been Wuhan Station's objective all along. As for the rest, that would have to wait until they met Brother Zicheng himself.

"You two rest well. If the situation hasn't changed by tomorrow, then we should strike while the iron is hot and make haste to leave the city."

"That would be excellent."

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At this point, the behind-enemy-lines infiltration work that had been underway since the very establishment of Wuhan Station could be considered to have successfully completed its first stage. Simultaneously, the second stage of the operation began seamlessly.

The next day, Tian Da and his companion, who had risen early, dressed in inconspicuous traveling clothes and exited the safe house through a hidden door. Then, under the escort of dedicated personnel, they safely left Hankou Town. At a cart inn outside the town, Tian Da saw a convoy of wagons about to depart.

Tian Da, a widely traveled man with a keen eye, took one look upon entering and immediately sensed something unusual: the wagons were uniformly new, the draft horses plump and strong, and the "hands" all exuded a tough, capable aura... everything pointed to this convoy being no ordinary outfit.

"Daoist... these wagons and horses... could it be...?"

Zhou Yi, the Daoist Zhou, now wore a bamboo hat and had changed into trim, efficient clothing, looking every inch the shopkeeper.

Seeing Tian Da's question, Zhou Yi, who had been making a final check of the axle, stood up, dusted off his hands, and then raised a single finger, speaking with a serious expression: "You two, the first and most important rule: there will be official inspections on the road. We must address each other as brothers and not expose our identities any further."

Tian Da immediately caught on at these words and gave his own forehead a hard slap: "That was careless of me, Lao Tian. Daoist... Brother Zhou, rest assured, Tian Da will cause no more trouble."

"Mm." Satisfied with Tian Da's quick reaction, Zhou Yi nodded approvingly and reached out to pat the already tied-down sacks on the wagon: "Brother Tian guessed correctly. These several wagons carry the army provisions being transported to General Li, a greeting gift from my Iron Umbrella Sect."

At this, Zhou Yi added flatly: "All top-grade wheat kernels, total weight five thousand six hundred jin."

"Ah!"

Even though Tian Da had already guessed as much, tears still nearly streamed down his face... To think that his brothers had come to Wuhan to buy grain, and in the end, not only did they fail to buy any, but they lost lives, landed in jail, and nearly got all their heads lopped off.

He never expected such a complete reversal of fortune. Today, without spending a single sliver of silver, someone was actually rushing to deliver so much grain and fodder to him.

At that moment, Tian Da finally made up his mind. He let out a long breath and said in a deep voice: "Brother Zhou, to tell you the truth, the silver for buying grain is buried back in Xiaogan. Once we reach that area, I will go dig it up myself and give it to you, brother."

"You really did bury the silver? Haha!"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this news, Zhou Yi merely laughed once, then waved his hand in refusal: "Brother Tian, the most urgent matter right now is to meet General Li and discuss the grand enterprise. Everything else is a minor detail."

"On this journey, our top priority is to follow the rules and carefully conceal our tracks. Digging up silver, with outsiders from the escort agency around, will have to be skipped this time. We can discuss it when we have leisure."

Tian Da stared at Zhou Yi in disbelief, stunned. Finally, he bent at the waist, cupped his hands, and bowed in complete submission, the last trace of doubt in his heart vanishing: "Lao Tian was thinking too small. We'll do as Brother Zhou says."

After they had coordinated everything clearly, a loud crack of a horsewhip rang out, and the grain transport convoy set off.

This convoy had long been prepared by Wuhan Station. There were eight wagons in total. Seven were fully loaded with grain, and the remaining one was a baggage wagon with a canvas cover, also serving as a rest area for the sick and wounded.

Apart from Tian Da and his companion, the dozen or so remaining "hands" responsible for escort duty were all active special agents of Wuhan Station.

Among them, Zhou Yi was the convoy's plenipotentiary commander. The second-in-command was Fang Yanxiao, the Station Chief of Xinyang Station, who had just rushed back the day before yesterday.

According to the plan, the convoy's first-stage mission was to hurry to Xinyang. Once they reached Xinyang, Zhou Yi would switch to light cavalry with Tian Da and head north to search for the Chuang Camp.

After that, it would all depend on Daoist Zhou's personal performance within the Chuang Camp... Nan Wang's current status was already that of a Dayuan, a high-ranking official presiding over a region within the Imperial Intelligence System. He could no longer risk his own safety to go undercover and infiltrate the Chuang Camp.

Therefore, the core special agent responsible for permanently stationing in the Chuang Camp and "guiding" the peasant army's work this time was the Imperial Intelligence elite, Nan Wang's prized disciple, codenamed "Buddha Shrine" — Zhou Yi.

After the convoy left the cart inn, it traveled north for a short distance. At a crossroads, it rendezvoused with the armed escorts who had long been waiting there.

The escorts numbered ten in total, all seasoned hands dispatched by Zhenyuan Escort Agency, the contracted partner of Ke Bo Pavilion. The lead escort among them was the junior fellow disciple of Zhenyuan's Chief Escort, also of Shaolin lay disciple origin.

Here, one could see the far-sightedness of Nan Wang's earlier decision to contract the escort agency: in this era, Shaolin Monastery was a bona fide major landlord of the Central Plains, with countless temple estate fields and 2,000 meat-eating, staff-wielding enforcers... temple monks under its banner, a force few on either side of the law could afford to provoke.

Although Zhenyuan Escort Agency had its headquarters in Wuhan, it had close ties with Shaolin Monastery. Within Henan territory, wherever the Zhenyuan Banner flew, whether it was the outlaw fraternity or official Patrol Inspectors, they all had to show it some degree of respect.

In this way, the safety of Wuhan Station's various future transport activities within Henan territory was greatly increased.

After the convoy and the escorts met, the two groups merged into one. Immediately, the escort agency's outriders moved ahead, carrying the banner and began clearing the way. The rest formed a standard marching formation with the wagons in the center and the escorts on the perimeter, and began their journey.

By this time, as the wheels turned at a leisurely pace, Zhou Yi finally had a moment to sit down and discuss certain matters in detail with Tian Da, who was concealed inside the baggage wagon.

And Tian Da, having let down his guard, now held nothing back, telling Zhou Yi everything he knew about the inner workings of the Chuang Camp.

First, Zhou Yi learned Tian Da's real name: Tian Wangshan. His companion Tian San's real name was Tian Wanglin. Both were natives of Mizhi, Shaanxi, and were kinsmen of the same clan.

Among the information Tian Da revealed next, the most crucial piece was that the very person who had sent their brothers out to purchase grain was precisely the Chuang Camp general Tian Jianxiu, as the Intelligence Bureau headquarters had previously "deduced."

Tian Jianxiu, a native of Suide, Shaanxi, was one of the earliest old brothers who had followed Li Zicheng in building the cause, nicknamed "Locking Sky Kite."

Tian Jianxiu was magnanimous and kind-hearted, able to win the hearts of the masses, and deeply trusted by Li Zicheng. He was Li Zicheng's right-hand man, known as "Deputy Lord Tian."

Hearing this, Zhou Yi nodded repeatedly to himself: "The intelligence that headquarters provided back then was truly accurate... Across a thousand mountains and miles, headquarters even knew these internal details of the Chuang Camp... It seems quite a few colleagues are laying the groundwork in secret up north."

In fact, the so-called "intelligence passed down from headquarters" was plainly historical data the Transmigrators had brought from later generations.

And with this data in hand, the General Bureau had deduced many things before the operation even began: during this time period, and even into the later stages, the logistics of Li Zicheng's forces were managed by Tian Jianxiu most of the time.

From this, one could see that although Tian Jianxiu's name wasn't widely known, he was precisely the person Li Zicheng trusted most — those charging at the front aren't necessarily one's own people; the one managing the private coffers is the true confidant.

With this data, the General Bureau easily deduced that the person within the Chuang Camp with the authority to send Tian Da and the others out with a large sum of silver to buy grain was, in all likelihood, Tian Jianxiu.

This was why, when Xiao Guan had visited the prison back then, the first thing he did was utter those three words: "Deputy Lord Tian."

The facts proved the General Bureau's deduction correct. The moment Tian Da heard the three words "Deputy Lord Tian," he had quickly concluded that the visitor was one of their own.

During the course of Zhou Yi and Tian Da's secret talk, the convoy had unknowingly advanced over twenty li.

At this point, the convoy needed to stop at a roadside post station or cart inn to rest and water the horses.

The person responsible for this task was an armed escort from Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

These armed escorts ran the Henan route year-round; they were all old hands. Where to rest along the road, where the greenwood strongholds lay — the escorts knew it all inside out. So on the matter of the convoy's movements, Zhou Yi had given orders beforehand: the escorts would have command the entire way. Unless absolutely necessary, the special agents disguised as hired hands were forbidden to use force and expose their identities.

They pressed on arduously like this, jolting and bumping along the crude official road. By the end of the first day, the convoy had covered barely forty li before stopping to rest.

Fortunately, the personnel in Zhou Yi's convoy were all crack hands, and every cart, harness, and nag was top-grade kit. So after the first day of settling in and breaking things in, from the second day onward the convoy began to pick up speed, covering at least fifty or sixty li each day.

Traveling at such a high speed, the convoy arrived under the walls of Xinyang at dusk on the fifth day.