Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 830 Moisturizing things silently

"partridge."

"His original name was Manyu. He was from Huaixi. When the Jingnan army crossed the river to cut off Wanyan Liang's retreat, he enlisted in the army and participated in a series of subsequent hard battles."

"Although this level of experience is relatively late compared to generals like Zhang Baiyu, it is still quite prestigious and experienced compared to the Taiping Army."

"Later, the army retreated to the north, and you and your family of fifteen went to Yizhou, Shandong to settle down. You also got married and had a son two years ago, whose name is Mandong."

"Last March, I came to Lin'an as an apprentice of Su Ji Fur Shop, and later became acquainted with the servant of Shi Jia who handled furs."

Last June, I had a fight with the owner of Su's restaurant, and through the introduction of the Shi family steward, I became a guard at the Shi residence.

Am I correct?

Hearing the deep voice in front of him, Manyu, whose head was covered by two layers of burlap sacks, remained silent.

There is no curfew on the Lantern Festival. Manyu also came to stroll around the lanterns tonight. When he walked through a dark alley, he saw a young woman posing seductively. He thought she was a prostitute and followed her.

Unexpectedly, he was tackled by several men as soon as he entered the alley, his mouth was gagged with burlap, his head was covered with a sack, and he was dragged into this dark room.

Manyu was not beaten. At first, he thought it was a kidnapping, but now that he heard the other party explain his background in detail, he knew that the other party had no good intentions. Therefore, he did not argue or struggle, but sat there blankly.

Is someone here to enforce family discipline, or has an external enemy captured your superior and followed the clues to find you?

When the hood was lifted, Manyu found himself surrounded by braziers, and he couldn't help but squint.

A figure lurked in the shadows and slowly said, "The head manager asked me to ask you a question: Have you been financially comfortable lately?"

Man Yu was startled and looked up, trying to see the person in the shadows.

Man Yu knew that the title of "Grand Manager" was the code name for the highest-ranking person he knew. Since the person in front of him had said it, it meant that the person was probably one of his own.

However, Man Yu still felt uneasy, so he pretended to just realize what was happening and said, "Gentlemen...gentlemen...I have money on hand, I'll go get it right away, please spare my life..."

The person asking the question remained silent for a long time before someone came up to Man Yu and said with a complicated expression, "A Yu, this is a serious question. Tell the truth."

Man Yu looked up and saw that the person who had come was none other than his contact, Zhao Dagui of Su's Fur Company. Surprised, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and chuckled, "Old Zhao, what are you up to? Are you testing me... um..."

Man Yu was still talking when he saw Zhao Dagui turn around and disappear into the darkness. His footsteps gradually faded away, followed by the soft sound of a door hinge turning. He had left.

Manyu was even more surprised, and then, somewhat at a loss, he heard the voice from the darkness say again: "Manyu, you know that although we are soldiers and are fighting a war, we are not subject to ordinary military law."

Family discipline can bring disaster upon family members; you must answer the questions asked afterward truthfully.

Man Yu broke out in a cold sweat. Ignoring the fact that his upper body was still tied to the heavy wooden chair, he nodded repeatedly: "I will definitely tell you everything I know."

"I just said I had some money on hand... Yes, I do have some money, which was given to me by Wang Zhongwang, the head constable at the yamen gate."

"Go on, why did he give you money? And why didn't you report it?"

"At the end of August last year, I was on the street escorting the young lady of the Shi family to go out to buy cosmetics. That's when I met that head constable Wang. At the time, we were just nodding acquaintances."

"Later, after drinking with Zhang Hu, the guard of the Shi family, a few times, they became acquainted."

"Shi Hao is, after all, the Prime Minister of Song, a seventh-rank official even before the Prime Minister. Although Wang Bantou can lead twenty yamen runners and more than two hundred hangers-on, he is just a nobody in Lin'an."

In order to obtain some protective charms for officials, these yamen runners were willing to befriend us guards.

"Later, around November of last year, I was a little short of money. When Wang Bantou saw that I looked worried, he lent me some money."

These local tyrants in Lin'an weren't short of money. I thought it was a way to build rapport, so I accepted the money without reporting it.

After a long silence, the person in the darkness changed the subject: "Drinking with a crowd? How many times have you gotten drunk?"

Man Yu's expression changed, but thinking of his family in Shandong, he said with a face full of shame, "I have been drunk several times, but I have only been completely drunk and unconscious once. I... I have violated military law. Please punish me, sir."

The person in the shadows remained silent for a moment before continuing, "Why are you short of money? Is there any deduction from your allowance?"

Man Yu's lips twitched a few times, but he dared not speak.

Furthermore, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not short of money. Luo Huaiyan controlled a vast amount of funds, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard's personal troops, especially those infiltrating enemy territory, had more than twice the rations of the Flying Tiger Cavalry.

This doesn't even include the official land allocated to the hometown as a reward on ordinary days.

However, this money cannot be directly distributed to the undercover agents.

Take Man Yu for example. He was just a guard in a noble household, yet he squandered over thirty strings of cash every month. Even a fool could tell something was wrong.

Therefore, this money is usually distributed to the infiltrator's family. The monthly allowance that reaches the infiltrator is only a small portion, about five or six hundred coins, which is considered an unexpected income that can be easily passed off as income.

This is also why, when selecting undercover agents, people with many relatives are generally chosen. On the one hand, they are easier to control, and on the other hand, the undercover agents can truly feel the change in their family's living conditions, thus making them more focused on their work. Man Yu knew that he couldn't avoid this, and even if he wanted to hide it, he couldn't. So, after hesitating for a moment, he made up his mind and said, "At the end of October last year, when I was listening to music with Zhang Hu in a brothel, I happened to meet a respectable woman who sold herself into slavery."

I borrowed money to buy her, partly by using my looks to buy her on credit from the madam. If I didn't pay back the money by the end of the month, the madam would cause trouble at the Shi residence.

The figure in the darkness then asked, "Why did you redeem this woman?"

Man Yu: "Before the Jin invaders invaded the south, my family arranged a marriage for me with my childhood sweetheart, the girl next door. Before the marriage, the Wanyan bandits came, and when the two families fled, they encountered soldiers and bandits, and the whole family died."

The woman I met that day truly resembled the girl next door; once she developed feelings for someone she liked, she simply couldn't contain herself.

At this point, Manyu asked somewhat nervously, "Xiaoya will be fine. She was originally the lady of a noble family in Huaibei, but she ended up in Lin'an because of the war."

I checked her heels and feet; there was nothing wrong with them.

The person in the shadows remained noncommittal: "Who else knows that you had a marriage in Huaixi?"

Manyu's face turned pale: "Everyone knows that I need some past to stand on my own two feet, and these things can withstand investigation. It's just that my whole family, along with the girl next door, perished in the war."

"So, you've described in detail what your previous marriage partners looked like?"

Man Yu remained silent, which was tantamount to acquiescing.

The person in the shadows continued, "Did the appearance of that woman named Xiaoya occur before or after you died of drunkenness?"

Man Yu was slightly taken aback, then his face turned even paler, and his lips moved a few times: "After I died of drunkenness... Shangguan is saying that Zhang Hu and Wang Bantou have problems?"

The person in the shadows remained silent.

As the footsteps faded into the distance, the house fell completely silent.

Man Yu was even more flustered, trying hard to recall what she had said after getting drunk that time, but she couldn't remember.

"Young man, should we bring that woman along as well?"

The person in the shadows, Luo Huaiyan, walked out of the house, gazed at the distant fireworks in silence for a moment, and then waved his hand: "There must be spies around that woman now. Go and catch Zhang Hu, and be quick."

"Here!"

After giving his instructions, Luo Huaiyan waited quietly in the courtyard.

Because they had been secretly investigating Man Yu's case for the past few days, and because Man Yu's testimony was clear and unambiguous, Zhang Hu was knocked unconscious in the latrine of the restaurant an hour later, then stuffed into a carriage and taken to the courtyard.

Since the operation was behind enemy lines, being discovered meant certain death, so it was better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

As for Zhang Hu, Luo Huaiyan naturally wanted to let him experience the methods of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In less than half an hour, when the moon was high in the sky, Zhang Hu had said everything he should and shouldn't have said.

"It's been checked out."

Having been bound for several hours, Man Yu, whose blood was almost frozen, finally heard a voice again and his spirits lifted.

"Zhang Hu is a spy sent to the Shi family by the Imperial City Guard. He has not been put to use until recently. He received orders from his superiors to keep a close eye on the Shi family."

“Your drunkenness that time must have happened after the great victory in the Central Plains War. You were in high spirits, saying things like ‘Our Commander-in-Chief’ and so on… which made Zhang Hu realize something was wrong.”

“Wang Bantou is also a member of the Imperial City Guard, but his position is lower. He has connections everywhere in the market, so he found a prostitute from another place who looks like your neighbor’s daughter, put on a show, and placed her next to you.”

"Fortunately, you were careful enough not to say anything in your sleep, and they haven't found anything useful yet."

Man Yu became increasingly panicked as he listened, until he was sweating profusely and almost fainted.

"Shangguan...I...I didn't mean to betray...I..."

The person in the shadows silently left again, leaving only Manyu to weep softly.

"Young master, shall we administer family discipline?"

In the dark courtyard, someone asked in a low voice.

Luo Huaiyan shook his head and said, "It wasn't a deliberate betrayal, and given that there's plenty of time, he can be spared the death penalty. However, his mistake caused us huge losses. Tomorrow morning, we'll escort him back to Shandong and deal with him according to military law."

"Get rid of that Zhang Hu, make things clean."

After saying that, Luo Huaiyan slowly walked out of the courtyard and blended into the crowd.

(End of this chapter)