Chapter 242

"In reality... in reality, Wang Rou was heading to the Xianbei."

Duan Yu understood what was going on.

After Wang Rou received the news in Yinguan, he had fled immediately.

But Wang Rou could not bear to part with the wealth he had accumulated over so many years.

So, he had come up with this method.

Under the guise of patrolling the border and transporting goods, he took three hundred cavalrymen.

Wang Rou also had a younger brother, Wang Ze.

He was the Administrator of Dai Commandery.

Traveling from Yanmen Commandery along the Sangganhe was the perfect route to reach Gao Liu in Dai Commandery.

Thus, Wang Rou had disguised himself and blended into the supply train at Pingcheng Pass, heading directly for Gao Liu in Dai Commandery.

And he had arranged for Chen Pingwu to take a body double and continue heading north.

This was primarily to attract attention.

"What about these Xiongnu?" Duan Yu continued to ask.

"It was Wang Rou."

Chen Pingwu continued: "Before he left, Wang Rou sent someone to deliver a letter to the Xiongnu Shanyu Qiangqu, demanding that Qiangqu set an ambush at Mount Taixing."

Zhang Xun, standing to the side, gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.

To save his own life, Wang Rou had not hesitated to send the three hundred of them to their deaths.

It was easy to imagine.

If not for Duan Yu's reinforcements.

Then these three hundred men would likely have been buried at the foot of Mount Taixing.

And it was likely that not even their corpses would ever be found.

Those Xiongnu would have buried their bodies and wiped away every trace.

It was clear that if Wang Rou were not caught.

Then their whereabouts would never be discovered.

If Wang Rou were never caught, their fate would never be known to anyone.

A force of three hundred Han cavalrymen would likely have been labeled as having gone missing under mysterious circumstances, vanishing completely from the world.

And the families of these three hundred men would never even know the truth.

How ruthless!

This explained why Chen Pingwu had ordered the archers to kill Meng Ji.

Wang Rou was hateful.

But the person who had tipped off Wang Rou was just as hateful.

Duan Yu narrowed his eyes and asked: "Who tipped off Wang Rou!"

Duan Yu had known from the very beginning that someone would tip off Wang Rou.

But this kind of thing was impossible to guard against.

With so many noble clans in Jinyang, let alone him, even Dong Zhuo could not force everyone to keep their mouths shut.

By the same logic, let alone Dong Zhuo, even if the Emperor issued an order, it would be the same.

The ties of interest between noble clans were complex.

These clans, rooted in the local area for hundreds of years, had many intermarriages and exchanges of interest.

As for national sentiment or "betraying the country"... such concepts simply did not exist in this era.

The interests of the family were above all else.

The Han Dynasty did not belong to the world; it belonged to the Liu family.

The Liu family was just one family, a large family.

And this family could be replaced at any time.

The slogans shouted about "betraying the country" and the actual act of betraying the country were two completely different things.

Therefore, from the start, Duan Yu knew someone would tip off Wang Rou.

As for blocking the news, never mind the city passes and key routes.

The people guarding those passes were all from the noble clans.

If not for the incident with Zhang Liao at Loufan Pass.

To cross Loufan Pass, one would first have to get past Wang Rou's nephew, Wang Han.

A tip-off could be done by two or three people, bypassing the city passes.

But Duan Yu leading a large army could not do that.

If he hadn't split the army into vanguard and rearguard, and had the whole army set out together, the speed would have been even slower.

If Wang Rou had reacted in time, a single letter to Wang Han would have been enough to seal Loufan Pass.

Even with Dong Zhuo's dismissal order, Duan Yu would not have easily crossed Loufan Pass.

If the army had to take a detour, Wang Rou might have already disappeared without a trace by now.

"It was the Wang clan," Chen Pingwu said, lowering his head.

The Wang clan!

Duan Yu's gaze narrowed.

The Wang clan Chen Pingwu spoke of was not Wang Rou's Wang clan.

Because after arresting Wang Ji and obtaining his confession, which revealed the letters between Wang Rou, the Xiongnu, and the Xianbei, he had already ordered the arrest of the entire Taiyuan Wang clan.

"The Qixian Wang clan?" Duan Yu asked, squinting.

Chen Pingwu shook his head and said: "I don't know."

"When that person came, he only brought a token with the character 'Wang' on it. I could only confirm he came from Taiyuan, but I couldn't confirm who sent him."

From Chen Pingwu's eyes, Duan Yu could basically confirm that Chen Pingwu was not lying.

At this point, there was absolutely no need for Chen Pingwu to lie.

Aside from Wang Rou's Wang clan.

Then it could only be the Qixian Wang clan.

Wang Gai.

It was most likely Wang Gai.

"I... I have a token in my bosom, the one that person brought."

"After the messenger delivered the news, Wang Rou ordered me to dispose of him. I killed that person and buried him, but I kept the token," Chen Pingwu said.

Tie Shitou, standing behind Duan Yu, stepped forward and fished a token out of the bosom of Chen Pingwu, whose tendons had been severed and who could no longer move.

Duan Yu took a look at the token.

There was indeed a 'Wang' character on it.

It was fortunate that Chen Pingwu had kept this token.

This thing might come in handy in the future.

If it really was Wang Gai who sent the tip, then this token would be Wang Gai's death warrant.

After putting the token away, Duan Yu stood up.

Now that he knew Wang Rou's destination.

The rest would be simple.

Wang Rou was going to the Xianbei, clearly not to hide among them.

It was most likely that he intended to detour through the Xianbei to Liaodong.

Since he was on the run, neither Youzhou nor Jizhou would have a place for him.

As for the Xianbei, that was even less likely.

If Wang Rou and his brother Wang Ze were still the Administrators of Yanmen and Dai, they would have had value to the Xianbei.

But they were no longer that.

And this news could not be kept hidden for long.

If he turned back from here to Pingcheng Pass, and then went from the Sangganhe direction to Dai Commandery, he would certainly be blocked by Wang Ze, who would have been alerted in advance.

Since he was going to the Xianbei, he would just wait for him there.

"Pass the order: start a fire and cook immediately, rest for two hours, then set out," Duan Yu ordered. ===== CHAPTER 244 =====