Chapter 1028: Betrayal and Self-Betrayal

One man looked around, realizing he had backed himself into a dead end. He reached into his robes for something, but a "pedestrian" pinned him with a dagger, piercing straight through his forearm. He let out a shriek of agony. The other two exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with despair, sighed, and knelt in surrender. The crowd surged forward, binding them tightly and searching their bodies.

By the time Zhao Shiyi and Zhao Wan walked over, the documents and waist tokens had already been found. Zhao Shiyi nodded and instructed, "Send them to the main prison. Arrange for riders to report to Master Jin at once."

The portly middle-aged man had been peering through the crack of the door the entire time. Once the dust settled outside, he stooped and hunched over, walking out with a fawning smile. The three men had not yet been taken away. Seeing this scene, they flew into a rage. One of them cursed, "Shameless wretch!" Then all three were gagged and led off. Zhao Shiyi nodded at the middle-aged man and said with a smile, "Old Zhai, both your sons can enter the Agricultural Studies Academy. If you want to be an instructor there, I can put in a word for you. And if you want to buy shares in that distillery, go to the Cloud Mountain Firm tomorrow to handle the paperwork!"

The portly middle-aged man called "Old Zhai" nodded and bowed, thanking him profusely. Zhao Shiyi placated him with a few indifferent words and then strode away with Zhao Wan. As they walked out of the street, the household guards and constables around them had already lifted the cordon. Zhao Wan could not help but sigh and remark, "That Old Zhai truly has no shame. One of those three imperial agents should be a relative of his, right?"

"He couldn't see reason a year ago, but that doesn't mean he can't now. After being kicked out of the yamen, he's suffered plenty this past year, and his family has been dragged down with him. Those agents had a good plan this time, but whether they succeeded or failed, Old Zhai's entire family would only have one path: extermination. He naturally understands how to weigh his options," Zhao Shiyi said with a laugh.

This Old Zhai had originally been a clerk serving in the Punishment Office. When the Zhao Character Battalion began to intervene, he was unwilling to part with the illicit profits in his hands and resisted, openly and covertly. As a result, he was directly expelled. This leniency was only because he was usually considered honest and kind; otherwise, he would have been thrown into prison on some pretext long ago. Without his clerk status and without his extra income, he naturally suffered losses and grew poor, living very badly this past year. However, three relatives from the capital came to visit, though they told outsiders they were merely merchants from Dongchang Prefecture. Only after arriving did these relatives reveal their identities, claiming to be official agents sent here to eliminate bandits. They promised that if Old Zhai cooperated and assisted, glory and riches would surely follow.

Old Zhai agreed readily on the surface, but he found an opportunity to go to the yamen and inform on them. He was not overly greedy; he sought a way out for himself and his sons, and then wanted to invest money in the distillery. Currently, the Zhao Character Battalion in Xuzhou did not want wealthy gentry and local magnates to buy land; instead, they wanted them to put their silver into workshops like distilleries and factories. Land was only permitted to be used as shares, with land and silver combined, earning only dividends without any involvement in specific operations. Old Zhai's requests were very measured, and Zhao Shiyi agreed to all of them. This was how today's ambush and capture came about.

Until the moment they were caught, the three visitors from the capital could not fathom it. Xuzhou clearly still had its Xuzhou yamen, and this was clearly still Ming territory. They had revealed their identities as members of the Eastern Depot and the Brocade Guard, so how was there not the slightest deterrence? How could they still be betrayed? How could a mere local bandit compare to the righteous authority of the imperial court? Once they were thrown into the main prison of the magistrate's yamen, the feeling grew even more bizarre. Inside the cell, they shouted desperately that they were official agents, members of the Depot and Guard, but the head jailer guarding the prison simply ignored them. When their shouting became annoying, he just threw a bucket of cold water in.

Following this operation, inns throughout the city began openly and covertly investigating all guests who spoke with a Northern Zhili official accent. Figures from the city's underworld and marketplace were even more widely deployed everywhere, searching for any suspicious persons.

At this time, news and prisoners from Yutou Town were delivered to Xuzhou City. The prisoners were locked into the main prison of the magistrate's yamen according to the prior arrangements, while the news was sent on toward He Village.

"Master Li, Master Li, do you still remember me? I've drunk wine poured by your hand before!" A fat man said with a face full of smiles. Li Dajin's expression, however, was somewhat strange.

Li Dajin did recognize who the fat man opposite him was: a centurion from the Right Battalion of the Nanjing Brocade Guard. He even remembered his surname was Liu. Back when Lei Cai and Li Dajin ran a wine shop in Nanjing to gather intelligence on the Brocade Guard, this Centurion Liu had indeed come to drink a few times. That was the extent of their dealings.

Only, back then, Li Dajin was the shop's second manager, serving with politeness and attentiveness, and that Centurion Liu could not even be bothered to offer a smile. But now, everyone knew that Master Li, Li Dajin, was essentially the third most powerful figure in Qingjiangpu, commanding thousands of strong men, majestic and mighty, his authority heavy as a mountain. Although his status had changed, for a Brocade Guard agent to come calling like this was truly bizarre.

Wei Mugen was dressed in the garb of a household guard, standing beside Li Dajin like a bodyguard. Centurion Liu paid him no heed. Li Dajin asked, "What business brings you here?" Only then did Liu smile obsequiously and say, "Master Li, since we have some history, I'll speak bluntly. Everyone in Nanjing received an eight-hundred-li express order from the capital, instructing each battalion in Nanjing to assemble men to secretly act against Master Jin. Master Jin is a man of such boundless honor, we all know he's a true hero. Hearing this order made us hesitate. But with orders from above and that treacherous eunuch Wei Zhongxian watching closely, we couldn't just disobey. However, now that we've arrived here, we have absolutely no intention of making a move. We just hope you, Master Li, will grant us a convenience. Let us enjoy some good food and fun here for a while, and then we'll go back and report our mission complete. It's convenient for everyone. What do you think?"

Li Dajin first shook his head, looking at the other man with a mix of amusement and disbelief. Arranging for the Depot and Guard to assassinate Zhao Jin and act against various figures in the Zhao Character Battalion was something everyone had long anticipated. But he never expected the Nanjing Brocade Guard to be so flexible, directly negotiating terms with their "target" and planning to blatantly slack off. Li Dajin glanced at Wei Mugen beside him, nodded with a smile, and said, "That works too. We won't hurt our rapport. Tell me where you're staying. Don't run around recklessly, and don't let a few men suddenly disappear. As long as you're in Qingjiangpu, no one will bother you no matter how you amuse yourselves."

"Master Li is truly considerate. It's no trouble at all. The brothers from Nanjing are all staying at the Gaosheng Inn," Centurion Liu said with a grin.

The Gaosheng Inn was an establishment in Qingjiangpu specifically catering to officials and wealthy gentry, a place of extraordinary environment and enjoyment. Only rich and noble types like the Nanjing Brocade Guard would stay there. After Centurion Liu finished speaking, Li Dajin did not respond. He merely looked at him with a faint, enigmatic smile. Centurion Liu's grin faded, replaced by bewilderment, unsure why the other man wore such an expression. As the awkwardness grew unbearable, Li Dajin leisurely spoke: "What about the ones at the Sanhe Inn?"

At these words, Centurion Liu's face instantly turned deathly pale, and his body gave a violent shudder. The expression on Li Dajin's face turned cold as he said grimly, "Everyone stays in the inn and does not leave. If you want to go, then go back. Otherwise, there is only a dead end. Understand?"

"Understood, understood!" Centurion Liu immediately answered with a crestfallen face, his body already trembling.

Having his hidden arrangement exposed, Centurion Liu was utterly terrified. However, to his surprise, Li Dajin and Wei Mugen did not make things difficult for him and simply sent him away. Walking down the street, Centurion Liu was still uneasy, fearing that the moment he reached the Gaosheng Inn, it would already be surrounded by the Zhao Character Battalion's men. When he returned to the inn and found nothing amiss, he finally relaxed a little. He then hurriedly warned the other Nanjing Brocade Guard members who had come with him. Everyone was tense and frightened, glancing around furtively, yet none could tell who was a spy and who was an ordinary citizen. For a moment, they felt that the innkeeper, the waiters, the traveling merchants—everyone—was suspicious.

After Centurion Liu left, Wei Mugen sat down in the seat below Li Dajin and said with great solemnity, "If not for the meticulous investigation by the Grand Squad Leader and Brother Cheng, those Nanjing agents would have truly slipped past us. We nearly had a major incident."

"It wouldn't have been a major incident. It's just a common tactic on the official side: one team in the open, shown to us and to their superiors as proof they came to Jiangbei; one team in the shadows, also to satisfy their superiors. If they're reprimanded for not knowing how to move covertly, this hidden team serves as their excuse. Moreover, if something happens to the team in the open, the hidden team can maneuver and rescue them," Li Dajin said with a smile. He was not as solemn as Wei Mugen. Seeing that his words did not ease Wei Mugen's mind, he added with a laugh, "The Nanjing Brocade Guard are all businessmen. They're either busy making money or have had their bones softened by wealth and luxury. They lost their edge long ago. No need to take them too seriously."

"Grand Squad Leader, they managed to hide a team in an inconspicuous inn. What if all this is a smokescreen, and they've hidden more among the civilian population, waiting for a chance to head north?" Wei Mugen pressed further.

The smile vanished from Li Dajin's face. He slowly shook his head and said, "If those Nanjing agents know to hide among the civilians, there's no way to search through the hundreds of thousands of people in Qingjiangpu. We can only wait for them to contact those two locations, or for our men to get lucky."

Seeing a look of anxiety appear on Wei Mugen's face, Li Dajin waved his hand and frowned, saying, "If it truly comes to that, there is indeed nothing we can do. Right now, we can't exert much influence in the Nanjing Brocade Guard. The people who can tip us off hold positions too low and know too little. But if these men head north, taking the canal to Yutou Town, the net there is much finer. If they pass Yutou Town and enter Xuzhou, the moment they check into an inn, they will certainly be exposed. To say something taboo, if their skills are even greater and they can enter the territory of He Village, then any slip-up will get them caught. To go even further, if they make no slip-ups even then, unless they never make a move, the moment they do, they will absolutely be killed or captured."

This speech exhausted all hypotheticals, covering every possibility. Yet it did not ease Wei Mugen's mind. He frowned and said, "If it really reaches that stage, wouldn't that be a dereliction of duty on our part?"

Three days left for double monthly tickets. Come to think of it, by shouting like this, am I not basically demanding tickets with a grip on your throat? Some self-reflection is in order!

Thanks to old friends "User Cold Night, Wind Dragon King, Salted Ice Pop" for the tips, and thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you, everyone.