Chapter 423: On the Trail (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Outside Dengzhou's East Gate, a bustling settlement had now sprung up. The large garrison and military colony households brought steady consumption, and as a commercial hub radiating across the entire Deng–Lai region, merchants spotted the opportunities here. Many traveling merchants from Jiangnan bought houses and set up businesses in Dengzhou, with shops of every kind lining the streets in rows — much like many other cities in the Great Ming at this time, street after street had formed outside the city walls.

Today, however, it was a different kind of bustle. The streets were packed with people, who hurled stones and clods of earth toward the middle of the road. Walking in the center were many men with shaved heads — all Jianzhou bandit captives from the Battle of Lüshun. Those with hair were Mongols.

Curses and shouts filled the streets. After word of the great victory at Lüshun arrived, all of Dengzhou erupted in celebration, and many colony households set off firecrackers on their own. The routine prisoner parade excited the common folk even more; here they could fully display their righteous indignation, and without any danger.

As the prisoners advanced, the crowd surged into a broad street, packing it so tightly that not a crack was left. This street was ordinarily called Master Street, because many of the houses on it belonged to Dengzhou garrison officials. With strong purchasing power, it drew many hawkers and peddlers, but the moment the prisoner parade arrived, the peddlers, afraid the crowd would collapse their stalls or start looting, hurriedly packed up and hid in the alleyways.

Once the crowd had gone, the street was a wreck, littered everywhere with discarded vegetable leaves and clods of earth. The peddlers who worked the street emerged from the various alleys and set up their stalls again. Some cursed under their breath; though annoyed by the parade, they still chattered excitedly, all talking about the Lüshun affair, some boasting to each other about how many fried dough balls they had thrown. A few of the peddlers, even as they talked, kept glancing out of the corners of their eyes at the main gate across the way and at the mouth of the side alley. On that gate across the street, two large characters read "Chen Residence."

A beggar came slowly from the distance, begging all the way until he finally reached the entrance of that house across the street. The beggar stood for a moment in front of the gatehouse, holding out a chipped and broken ceramic bowl and begging the gatekeeper for food. The gatekeeper cursed at him a couple of times, but the beggar did not leave; he set down his bowl, struck his bamboo clappers, and even began singing a lotus-blossom chant.

With a look of disgust, the gatekeeper rummaged around inside for a moment and tossed out half a coarse-grain flatbread. The beggar hastily picked it up, bobbed and bowed in thanks, and limped on his way.

Dengzhou had its fair share of beggars. Some were unwilling to enter the military colony forts and simply drifted along in Dengzhou city; others teamed up with local toughs to do mischief. But they dared not go into the Dengzhou garrison's territory. Inside Dengzhou proper there were imperial government offices, which made it easier to scrape by than in the countryside, so there were quite a few beggars around Dengzhou.

From across the way, a pair of eyes swept quickly over the beggar, then turned back to chatting with the other peddlers. In the gaps between jokes and talk, that gaze moved through the crowd, but detected nothing out of the ordinary.

The beggar was slowly moving off into the distance. Pretending to be chatting and laughing, the peddler said in a low voice to the man beside him, "How many beggars came by yesterday?"

"Three. None were given food, but… no accomplices were spotted around him. Should we send someone to follow and take a look?"

As the peddler shifted about, he took another chance to observe the beggar for a moment, then turned back to the man beside him and said, "This beggar may be suspicious. Though he's hunched over, his legs move with strength when he walks, and his lower body is solid and steady. He doesn't look short of food or drink. Have Team Two tail that beggar."

The peddler then moved over to a few other stall vendors and plunged into a heated discussion about the Battle of Lüshun. The man who had received the order pretended to be tidying his goods; as he picked up his wares, he made a few brief hand signals. Twenty paces diagonally across, a peasant selling salted fish immediately rose and fell in behind the beggar. The man passing the order watched the other passersby on the road, especially checking whether anyone nearby got up to follow the peasant. He spotted nothing unusual. Only when the peasant was about to vanish into the crowd did the signalman make another gesture, and a peasant selling persimmons rose, hoisted his shoulder pole, and ambled forward.

The two men followed behind, one in front and one behind, neither hurried nor slow. Both were dark-skinned, dressed in ordinary coarse cloth clothes, and walked steadily with their loads, their shoulders and backs slightly stooped — just like seasoned farmers. Their features were utterly unremarkable; thrown among the colony households, they would not be recognized at all.

The beggar begged all along the way, moving very slowly. Whenever he stopped to beg at a doorway, he took the chance to turn and look around. Though his movements were very discreet, to the two scouts' eyes they were all the more unusual. The scouts did not stop; the one in front kept walking and waited on the street ahead at a pre-estimated spot. When the beggar passed by, they would swap positions between the two of them.

When they were halfway to the Chunsheng Gate, the beggar suddenly turned around. His face was smeared black all over, and he stared foolishly at the faces of passersby. The fruit farmer following about ten paces behind him showed no alarm whatsoever; instead, he put on a look of disgust and detoured a few steps to the side — his reaction was perfectly appropriate. Several nearby pedestrians reacted almost the same way. The beggar did not grow suspicious; he immediately pretended to have lost something, looked this way and that on the ground, then scratched his head and continued in his original direction.

At the moment the beggar turned around, the fish peddler farther back paid no attention to the beggar at all; instead, he rapidly scanned the surrounding crowd. This kind of maneuver usually had a cover man, who would use the beggar's sudden change to observe whether anyone behind showed an abnormal reaction — though, of course, while they were observing, they might also expose themselves.

A tea drinker in the teahouse on the north side of the street caught the fruit farmer's attention. The fruit farmer noticed that the man's gaze was fixed on a spot twenty paces behind the beggar, his eyes sweeping over the passersby all along the way. A cold gleam flashed in the fruit farmer's eyes, then quickly reverted to a wooden expression as he walked naturally past with his load.

This discovery excited him somewhat. The presence of a cover man meant the beggar was indeed suspicious, and it could further be inferred that the Deputy Director of the Commerce Division in that residence was suspicious — perhaps he was the person they were looking for. This operation was personally overseen by Zhou Shifa, and the entire bureau, from top to bottom, was strung taut. The mid-level intelligence officers all knew the reason; the lower ranks only knew their own assignments, but the orders from above were crystal clear: keep a tight watch on the target. Any slip or omission would be punished by the harshest military law.

The Intelligence Bureau had an annual budget of two hundred thousand taels — enough to support an army of ten thousand, and more than Liu Minyou's education budget. Both the military and the civil affairs department grumbled about it. The only ones who supported them were the trading company and the bank. Although the Intelligence Bureau had rendered considerable merit in Chen Xin's eyes, most of it could not see the light of day, so very little could be openly cited. If a problem arose, however, it would be seized upon and made into a major issue. Zhou Shifa had a forceful personality, and this was something he absolutely could not accept. For this reason, Dengzhou's counter-espionage had always been the Intelligence Bureau's trademark, and they had consistently done it well. This time, having such a large mole was a lapse the Intelligence Bureau could be charged with.

So pressure was intense from top to bottom, and the rewards offered were high. Because this operation was aimed at an internal traitor and the target was unclear, Zhou Shifa did not even use the local Dengzhou toughs and street gangs. The Intelligence Bureau's elite were deployed in full force. Apart from Qin Rong, who had just gone to Linqing and was not present, even Wu Jianzhong had been recalled from Qingzhoufu. Zhang Dong, who had just returned to Dengzhou, was also ordered to take no rest and immediately throw himself into the mole-hunt operation.

False information had been released in succession through Liu Minyou's civil affairs meetings over a period of five days, with several hundred people mobilized each day. A mountain of intelligence was collected and countless people were tailed, but as of today there had still been no useful news. Today's discovery, however, was enough to confirm Chen Jingdan's suspicion. The wide dragnet could now shift to focused surveillance, saving a great deal of manpower.

The beggar walked and stopped, still begging door to door, using the opportunities of begging to pause and observe his surroundings. He stopped again in front of a household, bobbing and bowing as he begged. The peddler selling dried salted fish was right behind him. The beggar had clearly begun to notice him somewhat, because he had seen the peddler at least twice, so the dried-fish peddler simply walked on past. As he passed behind the beggar, he sensed the beggar turn his head slightly, tracking his movements. The peddler headed directly south into an alley. The beggar breathed a sigh of relief. This time he did not persist in getting anything, and amid the gatekeeper's curses and shouts, he continued on his way.

After entering the alley, the peddler set down his load. He flipped off the dried fish on top and grabbed a winnowing basket. His bamboo basket had two layers; the bottom was hollow and held fine clothing material. He swiftly tore off his headscarf, changed clothes, and put on a waist sash and a scent sachet, transforming in an instant into a well-dressed traveling merchant. Without even glancing at the bamboo basket, he got his bearings, abandoned the dried fish, and left. He sprinted through the small alley, estimated that he had gotten ahead, and stopped at another alley mouth. A moment later, the beggar's figure passed by outside the alley mouth ahead. The peddler adjusted his breathing, altered his walking posture, and strolled out of the alley mouth, once again falling in behind the beggar.

When the other peddler saw this, he promptly turned into a small alley and emerged a moment later dressed as a porter, his load reduced to a single shoulder pole. Simple clothing alterations were a common technique in shadowing and counter-shadowing, and the Intelligence Bureau's agents trained in them regularly. It seemed simple, but on the intricate and complex streets, it could play a major role. An enemy's observation on the street often did not focus on facial features; what easily formed an impression were build, clothing, hat, luggage, and walking posture. By simply and specifically modifying these few items, using the most ordinary styles possible and avoiding distinctive features, it became very difficult for the enemy to recognize you again.

The two men alternated cover and followed all the way to the Chunsheng Gate. The beggar abruptly changed direction several times along the way. The two scouts, rich in experience, did not give themselves away, but they still appeared in front of the beggar twice. If they continued to tail him, they might arouse his alertness.

The Chunsheng city gate was somewhat crowded. Today was market day at the Mifen Bridge, and many people were entering the city. Judging by the beggar's direction of travel, the merchant predicted he was going to enter the city. He quickened his pace and squeezed ahead, entering the city before the beggar. Right inside the gate were several brokerages. The merchant sidled up to one of the brokers and began talking with him warmly.

"Brother Peng, are you free this evening? There's a new courtesan at Mianchun Tower in the west city, I hear…" The merchant leaned in with a grin. "Beggar, black clothes, short stick. Urgent matter. Keep a dead watch on him."

The broker leered. "Then we must go together. I'll come find you later."

The merchant cupped his hands, took his leave, and headed directly north. The several brokers chatted and laughed among themselves until the beggar entered their field of vision.

At present, each of Dengzhou's four gates had an Intelligence Bureau mobile team stationed there, and mobile teams were also on standby at places like the Bell Tower and Grass Bridge inside the city — all for this operation. The Intelligence Bureau completed the handoff at the city gate. The porter behind them pointed out the cover man, and several people in different attire took turns tailing the beggar and the tea drinker.

Although the beggar had not spotted anyone, he seemed to sense a hint of something amiss. He was extremely cautious. After crossing Mifen Bridge, the beggar first walked north for one block, then west for one block, then turned around and headed south past Bell Tower Street. The secret agents behind him constantly swapped positions; they could not lose the beggar, yet at the same time they had to pretend to be different identities, doing things that fit those identities, all while constantly scanning the street crowds for suspicious figures — carrying out a high-stress mission while having to appear perfectly natural and at ease.

The mobile team captain in charge of coordination was even more tense. He had to constantly judge the beggar's and the tea drinker's actual intentions based on the situation, and then redeploy personnel from other groups to pre-positioned relay points. The target was extremely cautious; the route he walked was very likely a feint and could change direction at any moment. If manpower was not shifted appropriately, familiar faces might appear repeatedly and be spotted by the target.

As the beggar wandered aimlessly through the city, the captain's brain cells were being rapidly depleted. Many teams came up empty, but the number of teams converging to reinforce was also increasing. The captain kept a clear head, fully leveraging their numerical advantage by continuously shifting people who had already seen the beggar to various key intersections nearby, combining stakeouts with pursuit.

The Intelligence Bureau's elite were all concentrated on a single beggar inside Dengzhou city. Though they still did not know exactly who this beggar was, everyone was certain that this aimless beggar was definitely suspicious — otherwise, no beggar would waste energy so pointlessly.

The beggar made a full circuit and finally arrived near the Chaotian Gate in the south city. This street had few people on it. To avoid being conspicuous, many of the tailing teams had to widen their distance. The beggar walked slowly along the street. There was one team ahead of him and one behind, two people per team. The mobile team captain demonstrated solid expertise; he knew the streets of Dengzhou city like the back of his hand. Based on the beggar's direction, he had estimated the beggar would come here, because along this street there were many compound walls and far fewer shop fronts, and pedestrians were sparse — ideal for checking whether one was being followed.

Of course, the beggar did not notice the team ahead of him. His attention was all spent on watching his rear. Two people who had newly appeared on the road were clearly paying attention to the beggar's arrival. The tailing team behind quickly spotted these two cover men, immediately abandoned the target, and walked right past the beggar while chatting casually.

A veteran agent farther back slowly closed in, but the distance was still considerable, and no flaw was visible. The beggar seemed to relax as well; he stopped in place to catch his breath and rest for a moment, then walked a few dozen paces south. Along the way, the two cover men closed in near him, and then the beggar suddenly turned west into an alley. The two cover men followed him in, and one of them blocked the alley mouth, keeping an eye on the pedestrians on the street behind.

The veteran agent who had just caught up groaned inwardly. There was only this one alley mouth nearby. The team ahead would need fifty or sixty paces to reach the next alley mouth, and unfortunately, under that man's watchful gaze, none of them could speed up to pursue. The beggar had used this alley to buy time. To the west was another street, and there were alleys there too. If the beggar shook off pursuit during this interval and continued using the alleys, he would very likely escape.

Suddenly, a shout from a team member behind reached his ears: "You scoundrel, pay me back my money!"

The veteran agent breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and roared back, "Screw your mother! You sleeping with my concubine long ago settled that debt."

The two men swiftly rushed together and began brawling. The people around them all gathered to watch the excitement. The gaze of the man at the alley mouth was also drawn over. In the other direction from him, the two agents from the team that had been walking ahead were now sprinting at full speed toward the next alley mouth. (To be continued…)

ps: Requesting monthly tickets.