novelAbuy Chapter 108: Retreat
Chapter 108: Retreat
"The military roster brought by Zhu Fu included a total of 79 officers and more than 1,300 soldiers, distributed in villages and fishing ports along the Han River in Ezhou, Xiangyang, Suizhou, De'an, Yingzhou, and other areas."
The list has confirmed the activation of eight officers.
Li Bao has been activated in Zhenjiang, Dong Xian is currently under house arrest in Ezhou, and Xin Qizong's support team will arrive in the suburbs of Ezhou tonight.
Sun Yan's tea boat is currently awaiting orders in Suizhou, Wang Zhongchen is on standby in Xinyang, and three others are stationed in Suizhou, De'an, and Yingzhou respectively.
At the beginning of the meeting, Zhao Bocong stood up and marked the eight names corresponding to Zhu Fu's list on the map one by one.
"Once these eight people are activated, they can drive the entire officer chain to activate all subordinate soldiers in turn."
Now that we have this list from the Xiangyang direction, Yue Yinping no longer only has four hundred veterans under her command.
She now commands an entire invisible army distributed along the Han River.
The only problem to solve now is how to truly materialize the forces on this list before Qin Hui takes action.
Qin Keqing placed the charcoal pencil on the location of Xiangyang.
"The first key point is Dong Xian, who must withdraw from Ezhou as soon as possible."
Once Dong Xian successfully enters Xiangyang, his practical command ability will help Yue Yinping reorganize the scattered and dormant veterans into a combat unit.
General Xin will arrive on the outskirts of Ezhou tonight and is expected to complete the rendezvous within three days.
"The second is Suizhou."
Zhao Bozong moved his finger northward from Ezhou to Suizhou on the other side of the Dahong Mountains and continued.
"On Zhu Fu's list is a blacksmith who goes by the alias Chen Da. In reality, he is a crossbow maker from the former Yue Family Army. His blacksmith shop can serve as a transit and reception point for Wang Zhongchen when he travels south from Xinyang."
Once the Suizhou-De'an line is activated, the anonymous notices posted by the Imperial City Guard at the gate of Ezhou will only be enough to block the south; the entire Suizhou-Zaozhuang corridor in the north will be at Xiangyang's disposal.
"The third one is Li Bao." Qin Keqing's charcoal pencil swept across the Han River, from Guazhou Ferry all the way to Xiangyang.
He then said, "After Zhu Fu takes Wang Zhongchen's departure order to Xinyang, Li Bao's ship must immediately head north from the mouth of the Han River, safely escorting Zhu Fu to Xinyang along the way, and at the same time, pick up Dong Xian on the ship when passing through Ezhou on the return journey."
This waterway trip is of paramount importance. It will accomplish two things: first, deliver the departure order to Wang Zhongchen; and second, lead Dong Xian out of the encirclement of Ezhou.
Xin Qizong also stood up and added, "Dong Xian is under house arrest in the backyard of the Military Supervisor's Office. He is not in shackles and can still review official documents and training records every day."
Wan Qixie did not publicly arrest him because he had not done anything in Ezhou in the past year or so that could be proven wrong.
The old crossbows that needed repair were recorded as normal wear and tear in the books, so the Imperial City Guard had no grounds to use them against them.
However, Tian Ruyi had already sent people to seal off the front and back gates of the military command's office, and all official documents entering and leaving the office had to be checked.
Dong Xian cannot leave the government office on his own. His current position is Military Commander of Ezhou; leaving the city without authorization would be tantamount to openly disobeying orders and would implicate more than a hundred innocent subordinates in the Ezhou garrison.
After listening, Qin Keqing opened the booklet and briefly summarized the latest support plan.
"There is an old tunnel in the backyard of an abandoned blacksmith shop in the east of Ezhou City, with the exit at an old brick kiln on the opposite bank of the moat outside the city."
This tunnel was marked out by Xiao Bieli and Manager Chang before Xiao returned from Ezhou. Before returning to Lin'an, he spent two days exploring all the underground passages of abandoned buildings in the east of the city.
Dong Xian had a quarter of an hour of solitude every night at Hai Shi (9-11 PM), and Wan Qixie's men would not search him while he slept.
We arranged for Manager Chang to throw a piece of rag wrapped with charcoal into Mr. Dong's courtyard the night before. The charcoal had only the words "Hai Zheng Hou Men" written on it.
Upon seeing these three words, Dong Xian knew exactly what to do.
Ma Zhong, with two men, met them at the old brick kiln. They prepared three fast horses and headed north overnight along a tributary of the Han River, arriving at the Han River ferry crossing before dawn, where Li Bao's boat would be waiting.
Zhao Bocong turned to Yuwen Xu and thought for a moment before saying, "At that time, all three bell towers along the Han River will be on standby. Once Dong Xian successfully boards the ship, the bell tower at the mouth of the Han River will send out a 'clear' signal, and the bell tower at Baima Temple will respond by ringing the bell."
The entire bell line runs along the Han River, never intersecting with official roads or post stations. Even if the Imperial City Guard intercepts a one-way message from Ezhou, they cannot deduce the bell line's rhythm code.
"The bell line test has passed." Yuwen Xu pushed the progress chart of the Han River bell line installation to the center of the table and pointed to the location of the simple bell frame on the opposite bank of Baima Temple.
"The three bell racks from Xiangyang to the mouth of the Han River were all set up in abandoned watchtowers and old fishermen's sheds along the river. The closest of the secret sentries of the Imperial City Guard on the official road to the river was three miles away, and they could not hear the sound of the bells on the river."
The only problem now is the spring floods on the Han River. No matter how securely the ferry cables are set up, there is still a risk that the rising river water will wash away the wooden stakes at the ferry crossing.
I plan to add two iron chains to the base of each bell frame, with the other end of the chains fixed to the rocks on the riverbank.
If the water level rises sharply during the spring flood season, the bell frame can be held in place by the iron chain to prevent it from being washed away. After the flood season, the bell tongue and spring can be readjusted to restore its original state.
Even if the Imperial City Guards rode the messengers as fast as possible on the official roads, they couldn't possibly intercept the speed of the copper bells carrying messages on the water.
After listening, Zhao Bozong remained silent for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote down instructions on a piece of paper, which he handed to Xin Qizong, Yuwen Xu, and Tang Situi respectively.
Upon receiving the order, Xin Qizong immediately set off for the old camp in the southern suburbs. He led the rapid response team on a night journey north along the Han River to meet Dong Xian. Meanwhile, Yuwen Xu took the iron chain transfer permit to the Military Equipment Bureau to retrieve the materials.
After Xin Qizong and Yuwen Xu left, Zhao Bocong turned to Tang Situi.
He took out the copy of the roster that had been rewritten last year from Zhijia's copper box, turned to the last page, and saw a small note that Zhijia had made.
"The list of military officers is not on the official roster. It is kept in the secret room of Dali Temple by Zhou Sanwei. Yue Fei separated it from the military line to prevent Qin Hui from wiping them all out."
"I need you to find a list in the secret chamber of the Dali Temple. This list was secretly sealed by Zhou Sanwei during his interrogation in the eleventh year of Shaoxing. It contains the complete list of military generals of the Yue Family Army."
My name was written at the top of this list by Yue Fei, and was managed separately from the military line.
If this list falls into Qin Hui's hands, he will purge all the surviving military officers one by one according to the list.
If we get our hands on this list, we'll know where the generals are, who can be moved, and who must be protected.
Zhu Fu has already handed over the complete list of military personnel in Xiangyang; now only the list of generals is missing.
Tang Situi remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.
"When I was an editor at the Dali Temple, I did hear about a secret room located at the deepest part of the Dali Temple archives. The door was made of cast iron, and there was only one key."
Zhou Sanwei said that the files inside were all "never to be opened".
I didn't dare ask what was inside back then.
But I know that the archives are inventoried quarterly, and the next inventory will be on March 28th.
During the inventory process, a special clerk is responsible for checking and numbering the files. I could try to find a way to replace this clerk with someone from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs.
Qin Keqing opened the booklet and checked a date: "March 28th, eight days from now."
On March 28th, Zhao Siqing could send someone into the Dali Temple archives under the pretext of "reviewing old cases of the imperial clan" to assist in inventorying the case files.
We arranged for someone who recognized Yue Fei's handwriting to follow the clerk into the archives. As long as they stayed in the archives for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they could insert a thin copper wire into the crack under the iron door of the secret room.
If the copper wire touches paper instead of a stone slab, it means the list is indeed sealed inside.
After hearing this, Zhao Bozong thought the method was feasible and said to Qin Keqing, "Have Zhao Shiyi submit a document to the Court of Judicial Review in the name of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs requesting assistance in inventory, so that the people from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs can access the archives. This document must be submitted to the Court of Judicial Review before the 25th of this month."
Tang Situi stood up and bowed deeply to Zhao Bozong.
"Twelve years ago, someone removed the stub of the Jin army intelligence for me. I don't know that person's name, but I do know that he was placed in the Privy Council by Master Zhijia through Yue Shaobao. I owe a debt of twelve years, and I will not live in peace until I repay this debt."
Qin Keqing put down the charcoal pencil.
"I might know that person's name."
"On the eve of Master Zhijia's imprisonment in the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, he burned all the documents in his possession that could prove his correspondence with Yue Shaobao."
But he left behind a list of seven lines he had planted in Lin'an.
One of the contacts on the line used the pseudonym "Tuizhi".
Tuizhi was the courtesy name of Han Yu.
When Tang Jianzheng was secretly copying Jin army intelligence in the Privy Council, the reviewer found traces of transmission on the stub of the secret document, indicating that someone had removed the stub and deleted the review record.
No one but Master Zhijia could have accomplished this, but the person who helped him complete the transfer within the Privy Council was the contact person using the alias "Tuizhi."