Mo Sang – CH 252

Chapter 252. Infiltration

In Jianle City.

Inside Qingning Palace, the lights were bright.

Qing-Feng, carrying a bamboo basket tightly sealed with lacquer, hurried into the palace, reported something, and placed the basket on the long table in front of Gu Jin.

Gu Jin put down his vermilion brush, reached for the basket, opened it, took out a silver cutting knife, took out a sealed document, opened it, glanced at the name, and set it aside.

After opening and reading each document, Gu Jin paused for a moment, then slowly placed the sealed documents back in the basket, pressed down the silver cutting knife, closed the basket lid, paused again, looked at Qing-Feng, and frowned, saying, “Have all the sealed documents arrived today? Is this all?”

“Yes,” Qing-Feng replied, his hands at his sides.

Gu Jin’s brows furrowed even more, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the darkness outside the window, his face ashen.

After a while, Gu Jin reached for several sheets of pre-cut stationery and poured some water into the inkstone, and Qing-Feng hurriedly stepped forward. Gu Jin waved his hand, and Qing-Feng retreated. Gu Jin slowly ground ink, picked up a fine brush, pondered for a moment, and then wrote swiftly.

Having finished writing the letter, Gu Jin carefully folded and sealed it, instructing Qing-Feng, “Get a sheepskin envelope.”

Upon hearing “sheepskin envelope,” Qing-Feng knew it was a highly confidential letter and quickly brought over the sealing lacquer and other necessary items.

Gu Jin personally sealed the envelope, stamped it with his seal, and handed it to Qing-Feng. “Deliver it to Shunfeng Post Station. Have them deliver it to Jiangdu City immediately and give it to their boss; the sooner the better.”

“Yes.” Qing-Feng took the letter, left the palace, tucked it into his robes, and hurried towards Shunfeng Post Station.

……………………

The city gates of Jiangdu had barely opened when a fast-moving messenger, carrying an urgent internal document, crossed the river in a small boat, heading straight for the Shunfeng courier station within Jiangdu.

Two quarters of an hour later, the letter arrived in Li Sangrou’s hands.

Li Sangrou was eating breakfast when she quickly took the letter. Seeing the outer envelope covered in urgent scribbles, she drew her narrow sword and pried it open.

The letter was in Gu Jin’s own handwriting, only two thin pages long, simple and clear.

A month ago, Gu Xi led an army of thirty thousand eastward from Fuzhou, stealthily heading towards Shaoxing Prefecture. Since receiving the military report from Changsha, he had been very worried about Gu Xi.

If Li Sangrou received this letter but still had not received Gu Xi’s military report, please, Boss, consider your actions.

Besides these few sentences, the marching route Gu Xi had secretly outlined in his previous report was included.

“Has today’s military report arrived?” Li Sangrou asked Xiao Lu. “It’s time; I’ll go get it.” Seeing Li Sangrou’s troubled expression, Xiao Lu quickly stood up, grabbed two steamed buns, and ran out.

“Prepare yourselves. Proceed with a forced march; be ready for battle at any moment,” Li Sangrou instructed, gesturing to Hei Ma to light a flint and steel, burning a letter as she gave instructions to the others.

“Something’s happened?” Da Chang asked with concern.

“The Shizi is likely on the same path as General Wu,” Li Sangrou replied softly.

“Who’s in front and who’s behind?” Meng Yanqing immediately asked.

“The Shizi is in front,” Li Sangrou answered, her eyes lowered.

Meng Yanqing and Da Chang exchanged a glance, then turned left and right, preparing themselves.

Xiao Lu quickly returned with the military reports.

Li Sangrou called Meng Yanqing over, flipping through the reports one by one, handing him the copy after finishing one.

Both Wen Yanchao and Huang Yanming’s armies encountered fierce resistance from the Southern Liang Army. Huang Yanming’s troops launched a surprise attack and captured Zhenjiang, but were blocked by the Southern Liang Army outside Danyang County. They were currently joining forces with Wen Yanchao to besiege Jurong City.

Wen Yanchao’s troops had not even crossed Shijiu Lake yet.

After reading all the military reports, Li Sangrou looked at Meng Yanqing.

“Is Southern Liang going all in?” Meng Yanqing frowned.

“Yes, we’ll go from the north bank of the river, cross it to the other side of Tongling County. If anyone asks, just say we’re heading back to Jianle City,” Li Sangrou instructed, burning the military reports with a flint and steel before going inside to pack her belongings.

Dong Chao, with two men, first crossed the river to the post station to prepare horses and other necessities. A quarter of an hour later, the group was ready, left Jiangdu City, and took a boat to the north bank of the river.

Shunfeng Post Station outside Jiangning City, chosen by Zou Wang and Lady Zaohua as one of the transshipment hubs to Jiangnan, was a large place with seven or eight hundred horses.

Li Sangrou and her group of nearly a hundred people selected about two hundred horses and traveled along Shunfeng Post Station towards Tongling County.

The group traveled very quickly, arriving at the post station closest to Tongling County around midnight, where they slept soundly.

The next morning, in the light drizzle, led by several local fishermen, they found a secluded and deserted river bend. The group split into several groups and quietly crossed to Jiangnan.

The north bank of the river was a mudflat; across to Jiangnan, towering cliffs stretched out.

The fishermen were very familiar with the terrain along the riverbanks. The place they took them to was precisely where the cliffs had split open; the jumbled mud and rocks provided enough space for them to stand temporarily, and the split cliffs were easily climbable.

Li Sangrou and her group were no ordinary people. What ordinary people could climb with their bare hands was no more difficult for them than flat ground.

Li Sangrou was on the first boat and went ashore first. Mazha, Chuantiao, and several alert, quick-witted, and experienced men, including Dong Chao, quickly climbed up the riverbank and spread out to scout ahead. Mazha imitated a few bird calls and squatted down where they had come from while Dong Chao and the others spread out to keep watch.

Meng Yanqing was on the last boat. Seeing everyone on the riverbank, he quickly climbed up and followed the group, rushing towards a verdant hill.

The area was extremely desolate. The group crossed two small hills, away from the main river, and found a cliff where they could shelter from the rain to rest temporarily.

Meng Yanqing, Dong Chao, and the others gathered around Li Sangrou.

Li Sangrou looked at Dong Chao.

Meng Yanqing said, “Dong Chao has been here before.”

“That time, we crossed the river north of Tongling County, heading southeast until we entered the copper mine. There were three or four checkpoints leading into the mine. It was chaotic inside; if someone died, nobody cared.

That happened thirty years ago. This place isn’t close to the copper mine; it’s quite far,” Dong Chao quickly explained, meeting Li Sangrou’s gaze.

“Well, forget about the copper mine. Let’s find a guide in a nearby town. Hei Ma and Xiao Lu, come with me,” Li Sangrou instructed.

Hei Ma and Xiao Lu followed Li Sangrou, running and leaping through the desolate woods towards Tongling County.

After walking for a while, they saw tall trees. Xiao Lu, more agile than a monkey, quickly darted to the treetops to peer out.

After looking around three or four times, they saw wisps of smoke rising from behind a small hill, like signs of habitation.

The three of them descended the hill and followed the post road, soon arriving at a small town that looked quite bustling from afar.

The town appeared to have sprung up along the road they had come from. The road extended forward, supposedly leading directly to Tongling County, and another road intersected with it at a T-junction, supposedly leading all the way to Qingyang City.

The outermost inn of the town looked long abandoned; sections of the wall stood, some crumbling, and the former warehouse and livestock sheds had collapsed.

After passing the inn, between two abandoned guesthouses, lived a family. An elderly woman with gray hair sat on a broken bamboo chair under the courtyard gate, slowly twisting a hemp rope. Seeing Li Sangrou and her companions, she stopped twisting the rope and craned her neck to look closely.

“Go and say hello.” Li Sangrou gestured to Hei Ma.

“Auntie, why is the shop closed?” Hei Ma stepped forward, speaking in a thick Chizhou accent to the old woman.

“I’m twisting hemp rope!” The old woman shouted, holding up the hemp rope in her hand.

“Who is it?”

The old woman’s loud voice drew people out of the courtyard. A young woman in her early twenties poked her head out from the kitchen.

“Passing by, looking for a place to stay… this shop…”

“Keep going, there are several shops ahead. My mother-in-law is deaf; she can’t hear you,” the young woman cut Hei Ma off abruptly and disappeared back inside.

“Let’s go,” Li Sangrou said with a smile, waving to the old woman, and continued on with Hei Ma and Xiao Lu.

After passing six or seven closed shops, they came to a blacksmith’s shop. A string of iron and copper plates jingled in the wind. At the shop’s entrance, a young apprentice, about ten years old, was eating from a large, rough bowl.

“Why are all those shops closed?”

Without Li Sangrou’s prompting, Hei Ma stepped forward to speak.

“I don’t know!” the apprentice shook his head bluntly. “They were closed when I came.”

Li Sangrou chuckled.

This apprentice was only about ten years old and had been an apprentice for at most two or three years. The decline of this small town, which relied on traveling merchants, must have begun with the renewed separation between north and south.

This renewed separation had lasted five or six years; indeed, it was closed when this young apprentice arrived.

Li Sangrou thought about how six years had passed since the separation between the south and north of the Yangtze River. A sense of disorientation washed over her.

She had known the Shizi and had been in Jianle City for six years.

“I wonder how the Shizi is, whether he’s still alive…”

“Don’t ask; let’s go check on the inn up ahead.” Li Sangrou shook her head, shaking off her dazed state and anxiety, and gestured to Hei Ma.

Not far ahead, past two or three shops, was the inn, its sign proclaiming it a century-old establishment. Inside, a few tables were sparsely occupied.

“What do you have to eat?” Hei Ma called out before even stepping inside.

“Three gentlemen, two, one… please come in!” The waiter hurriedly approached, addressing Li Sangrou, who wasn’t even good at distinguishing men from women, vaguely, but insisted on inviting her in first.

“What good food do you have?” Hei Ma bypassed the waiter, plopped down at a table near the window and door, and called out again.

“We have mutton, a sheep slaughtered fresh this morning; chicken, duck, and fish. The chicken is this year’s young hen, incredibly tender! The duck is a wild duck; our local wild ducks are famous, plump and tender; the fish is fresh and lively too!” the waiter introduced in a clear, cheerful voice while wiping the table.

“Let’s make a soup with wild duck and bamboo shoots, braise the mutton, stir-fry the young hen, and maybe add a few vegetable dishes,” Li Sangrou instructed.

“This lady, you’re an expert,” the waiter praised, glancing at Hei Ma.

Based on his experience, Hei Ma was definitely the host among the three; he wouldn’t dare order anything without the host’s approval.

“That’s it! Let your chef show off his skills! We’re from a big city like Chizhou Prefecture; we’ve seen it all!” Hei Ma waved his hand generously.

“Alright! Don’t worry, sir, our head chef’s skills are top-notch!” the waiter replied crisply, calling out three main dishes before scurrying off to brew tea and serve snacks.

“How about we buy some things?” Hei Ma suggested, one foot on a chair, sipping his tea and watching two or three donkeys carrying goods pass by.

“We need to be quick; the faster the better,” Li Sangrou said, glancing at the other tables of customers.

“We’ll have trouble finding someone,” Xiao Lu mumbled, avoiding the word ‘guide.’

This large group of people clearly wasn’t easy to deal with; ordinary people wouldn’t dare act as their guides. Besides, this was Southern Liang; the guide had to be reliable.

“Ask about the tea from Shezhou this year,” Li Sangrou whispered to Hei Ma, glancing at the shopkeeper who had just entered.

“Shopkeeper, come here!” Hei Ma immediately beckoned.

“Sir, what can I do for you?” the shopkeeper asked with a forced smile.

“Sit down, sit down. I have something to ask you!” Hei Ma leaned forward, grabbed the shopkeeper’s arm, and pulled him to a chair nearby.

The shopkeeper smiled obsequiously, repeatedly saying, “Alright, Alright, Alright.”

Sigh, he’d seen plenty of these clueless customers. Let them talk, he thought, since he had nothing else to do right now.

Sigh, for the past five or six years, the business had been barely surviving. He was always idle; he always had nothing to do!

“Have you heard? Jiangzhou has been occupied by the Northern Qi!” Hei Ma whispered in the shopkeeper’s ear, his voice extremely low, as if he were incredibly well-informed.

The shopkeeper glanced at Hei Ma speechlessly. The Northern Qi had occupied Jiangzhou City, Tanzhou, and Hongzhou—that had happened a year ago!

How could he not know? Was there anyone who didn’t?

“You know, all the silk from Hongzhou has gone north of the river!” Hei Ma continued, rubbing his fingers together. “Let me tell you, the silver involved is enormous!”

The shopkeeper glanced at Hei Ma, chuckled dryly, and offered a half-hearted compliment: “Heh, you’re right, an enormous amount.”

“Let me ask you! How many customers in your shop are from Shezhou? How many are trading tea and silk to the north?” Hei Ma kept rubbing his fingers.

“Trading north, going here, crossing the river? They all go to Hongzhou.” The shopkeeper looked at Hei Ma speechlessly.

“That’s true, isn’t it? There’s a war going on right now. By the way, I heard that Shezhou has had good weather this year, and there’s so much tea they don’t know where to put it!” Hei Ma rubbed his fingers, getting straight to the point.

“I heard that Shezhou has had a lot of rain this year, and there were even a few cold snaps in early spring,” the shopkeeper said with a dry laugh.

“Really? How do you know? When did you hear that? Didn’t you just say that all those merchants from Shezhou are going to Hongzhou, not coming here?” Hei Ma stared wide-eyed, his face saying, “Are you kidding me?”

“Even without traveling merchants, there are still letter carriers. These past few years, there have been plenty of letter carriers coming and going from Shezhou.” The shopkeeper practically rolled his eyes.

Li Sangrou’s eyes lit up when she heard the word “letter carrier.”

Bao Ping from the Qing’an Old Inn had told her two years ago that they should first use letter carriers to send letters and goods to the Shezhou area and then expand the postal route once the north and south were connected.

“My uncle is a letter carrier,” Li Sangrou added with a flattering expression.

“Yes, yes, yes! Many people in my family are letter carriers. My family started out as a letter carrier. Do you have letter carriers in your shop now? All letter carriers are one family!” Hei Ma quickly chimed in with a smile.

“Of course, of course,” the shopkeeper chuckled dryly.

Letter carriers were notoriously poor; no one had ever heard of anyone getting rich doing it!

“Oh well, whatever this idiot says goes. If I argue with an idiot, I’ll become an idiot too!” he thought.

“That table over there, those three, they’re the letter carriers.” The shopkeeper gestured with his chin towards a table of three customers diagonally across from him.