Chapter 1250

"Useless!"

"You couldn't even catch a woman, what else are you good for!"

"A sack of wine and a bag of rice!"

In front of the many soldiers of the Tiger Bravery Army, Yuan Shu roared at Ji Ling, berating him thoroughly.

Ji Ling, standing opposite Yuan Shu, kept his head lowered.

"General, this subordinate... this subordinate is incompetent, it's just that the woman jumped into the river..."

"If she jumped, couldn't you have jumped too?" Yuan Shu pointed at Ji Ling's head with the horsewhip in his hand and said, "What, were you afraid?"

Ji Ling kept his head down and said nothing.

That was right; he was indeed afraid.

If it were an ordinary river, that would be one thing.

But that was the Yellow River.

It was no ordinary river.

He was wearing armor; let alone jumping in to catch someone.

He would probably have sunk to the bottom before he even caught anyone.

Catching someone was to complete the mission; even if he didn't catch her, the crime was not punishable by death; at worst, he would just be scolded.

But if he jumped into the river, he would certainly die.

Ji Ling could no longer hear the buzzing scolding in his ears; he chose to automatically block it out.

And Yuan Shu, having scolded enough, also stopped.

Hearing the sound in his ears cease, Ji Ling finally raised his head.

"General, what do we do now..."

Yuan Shu pursed his lips.

What to do now? What else could they do?

The people hadn't been found, and going back now would certainly mean being criticized.

Because of the unauthorized return to the city previously, and the incident in the mansion where people died, he had been confined to the Tiger Bravery Army camp.

Returning empty-handed this time, Yuan Shu knew without thinking what the consequences would be upon his return.

"Send someone back to notify them first; we have been traveling for days, the men are exhausted and the horses are tired, so we will detour to Anyi County to rest for two days before returning," Yuan Shu said in a deep voice.

Returning two days late would at least allow things back home to cool down a bit.

With that, Yuan Shu led the Tiger Bravery Army toward Anyi County.

Caoyang Pavilion.

Not long after Yuan Shu led his Tiger Bravery Army away, several cavalrymen carrying torches arrived near Caoyang Pavilion.

The leaders were none other than Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu.

Both of them were wrapped in long robes, with armor underneath.

Besides the two of them, several cavalrymen followed behind.

"Commander, it seems a battle just took place ahead."

The cavalryman who went ahead to scout the road reported after riding back to the two.

Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu looked at each other.

"Let's go over and take a look."

Before long, the two arrived at a spot with shattered carriage parts.

Besides the shattered carriage, there were several corpses that had been trampled beyond recognition.

Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu dismounted and squatted down to examine the corpses.

But the corpses had been trampled by warhorses until they were unrecognizable; it was impossible to identify them, and even their robes were shredded.

The two frowned deeply.

"Hunu, we... are likely a step late," Tie Shitou said worriedly. "The corpses don't look like they've been here long, no more than two hours, and with so many hoof prints around here, I estimate..."

Wang Hunu nodded with a grave expression, indicating his agreement.

"Let's search the surroundings and see if we can find any useful clues."

Hard work pays off.

Before long, a clue was indeed found.

There were traces of a chase in the grass not far away.

It was clear that the traces of the chase led to the riverbed at the edge of the Yellow River, and they were made by multiple warhorses.

Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu followed the traces of the chase to the edge of a riverbed and saw that the warhorse hoof prints stopped at the edge of the riverbed, showing signs of a forced stop.

As cavalrymen, and guards who had been by Duan Yu's side for a long time.

They could clearly distinguish some basic traces of cavalry warfare and marching.

Qualified scouts could even roughly distinguish how many soldiers were in an enemy army from the roads they had traveled, and distinguish from the ruts whether the vehicles were carrying weapons and supplies or grain and fodder.

At the edge of the riverbed, there was a dagger that had fallen to the ground.

The dagger was still stained with blood.

"Commander, there is a warhorse here."

A scout found another warhorse that had collapsed in the grass from exhaustion not far away.

The two came to the side of the warhorse and examined it.

They discovered that the wound on the horse's hindquarters matched the dagger perfectly.

In an instant, a rough picture of what had happened at the scene appeared in their minds.

Someone must have been forced to flee to this point.

The warhorse was already exhausted at the time, and in order to escape, the person on the horse chose to use the dagger to stab the horse's hindquarters.

Tie Shitou looked down at the dagger in his hand.

By the light of the torch, he seemed to have discovered something.

"Torch," Tie Shitou called out to the soldier beside him.

After the soldier brought the torch closer, Tie Shitou finally saw clearly.

The dagger was very simple, and the handle was made of wood.

From the degree of wear on it and the smoothness of the handle, it could be seen that this was a dagger that had been used for a long time.

And on the wooden handle, a small character was carved.

Qing.

A "Qing" character was carved on the handle.

Duan Liuqing!

Tie Shitou's expression immediately stiffened.

Among the generals under Duan Yu, not many knew of the existence of Duan Liuqing.

But Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu both knew.

They knew when those children were brought back from Tanhanshan.

Duan Liuqing's original name only had the character "Qing".

Later, when she became a student of Bai Tu, Duan Yu wanted her to be called Liuqing.

However, she gave herself a name, calling herself Duan Liuqing.

Later, after Duan Liuqing entered the Military Intelligence Department, her actions became even more secretive.

If Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu hadn't been by Duan Yu's side often, they wouldn't have known so clearly.

And the secret letter they received this morning was written by Duan Liuqing.

Carriage shattered, all personnel killed, forced into pursuit... stabbing the warhorse... jumping into the river...

Tie Shitou suddenly gripped the dagger tightly and gritted his teeth, saying, "Damn it, we were late."

Wang Hunu patted Tie Shitou on the shoulder and said, "No need to blame yourself. Ever since the day we followed the Lord, hadn't we already prepared ourselves?"

"For the Lord's great cause, people must die. We are but mortals; how can there be any reason not to die?"

Tie Shitou took a deep breath and nodded.

"Let's go, return to the city. After returning to the city, immediately send this intelligence to Liangzhou. Although the Lord is not there, Mr. Li should be able to take charge," Wang Hunu said.

After saying this, the two turned and walked toward the official road. ===== CHAPTER 1252 =====