Tiger Owl

Chapter 43 The Counter-Espionage Scheme
Half an hour later, Gan Ning led his army to Liling County. Seeing that Xu Sheng had already retreated, he immediately wrote a letter and handed it to a personal guard, saying, "Go to Haihun County immediately and give this letter to Magistrate Li!"

The guards immediately took a shortcut and rode to Haihun County.

Li, the county magistrate, was appointed by Gan Ning as the county magistrate of Haihun County. Although the Jiangdong army later occupied Haihun County, Li Dai came from a prominent family in Haihun County, and he betrayed Zhang Ying, so he was able to continue in his post.

After receiving Gan Ning's letter, Li Dai pondered for a moment and then rushed to find He Qi.

"General He, some of my servants escaped back from Liling County by taking a shortcut. They said that Liling County has fallen."

"Is this true?"

He Qi sat up abruptly. He knew Xu Sheng would lose, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"Liling County has indeed fallen. After the servants heard that a cavalryman had shot an arrow with a message for General Xu, General Xu immediately retreated."

"An arrow signal?"

"This humble servant has only heard about it, not seen it with his own eyes."

He Qi nodded, "I understand, thank you for informing me, County Magistrate."

He immediately sent someone to summon his advisor Li Quan. After listening to the letter, Li Quan's eyes lit up and he said, "This letter is very important. If handled properly, it will be a powerful tool to deal with the Xu family!"

"What do you mean?"

Li Quan chuckled and said, "General Sun Ben has been secretly fighting with the Xu family. If there is evidence that the Xu family members colluded with Gan Ning, the Xu family will probably be held accountable. This is not just about dealing with Xu Sheng, but about dealing with the entire Xu family."

"I can't swallow this anger if I don't kill Xu Sheng!" He Qi said bitterly.

Li Quan advised, "He is a key figure. If we kill him, the persuasiveness of this letter will be reduced. This matter concerns the struggle between General Sun Ben and the Xu family. What is a little bit of anger from General He? If the general wants to vent his anger, he can simply demote him to a soldier. Wouldn't that be more satisfying than killing him?"

He Qi nodded, "We will do as you say, sir!"

At that moment, a soldier came to report, "General Xu Sheng has retreated in defeat!"

Li Quan quickly said, "Let's hear what Hou Ping has to say first, and confirm whether this letter exists."

He Qi immediately sent someone to bring Hou Ping in for questioning.

Before long, Hou Ping rushed over, knelt on one knee and saluted, "This humble servant greets the General!"

"I've come to ask you, did Xu Sheng receive a letter from Gan Ning?"

"This humble servant was just about to report to the general that Xu Sheng did indeed receive Gan Ning's letter and read it several times."

"Tell me, are the two of them colluding?"

Hou Ping, understanding the implied meaning, rolled his eyes and immediately said, "Xu Sheng did say that he greatly admired Gan Ning, but regretted that he could not serve Gan Ning."

He Qi nodded in satisfaction and said to him, "When Lord Wu asks you, just answer like this, and I'll promote you to the rank of Qu Zhang!"

Hou Ping was overjoyed, "This humble servant will certainly not disappoint the general!"

He Qi immediately ordered, "Pass on my command: beat the drums and raise the tent!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As the drums sounded, all the officers above the rank of platoon leader arrived at the tent, and Xu Sheng also rushed over.

"Greetings, General He!"

He Qi nodded and said sternly, "Men, seize Xu Sheng!"

More than a dozen guards rushed up, pinned Xu Sheng down, and tied him up.

Xu Sheng shouted, "This humble general is innocent!"

"Hmph! Still being stubborn. You fled without a fight, losing Liling County. How do you explain that?"

Xu Sheng said urgently, "General, Gan Ning has personally led an army of ten thousand to attack. I only have five hundred soldiers. How can I defend the city? Rather than have all five hundred soldiers die in battle, it would be better to retreat and save everyone's lives. What wrong have I done?" At this moment, a personal guard stepped forward and handed a letter to He Qi. This letter was found in Xu Sheng's luggage and was written by Gan Ning to Xu Sheng.

He Qi glanced at it and gave a cold laugh: "This is evidence of your collusion with Gan Ning. Colluding with the enemy and betraying Liling County is an unforgivable crime. Take him out and behead him!"

The guards pushed Xu Sheng out, and Xu Sheng cursed, "He bastard, if you want to kill me, just kill me. What kind of skill is it to spout nonsense? I will never forgive you even as a ghost!"

The crowd knelt down and begged for mercy, "General, Xu Sheng is young and doesn't know any better. Please spare his life!"

He Qi and Li Quan exchanged a glance, and He Qi nodded. "Push him back!"

A moment later, Xu Sheng was pushed back. He Qi stared at him coldly and said, "Out of consideration for the pleas of the generals, I will spare your life for now, but your crimes are unforgivable. From this moment on, you are stripped of all your military posts and demoted to a common soldier!"

He then ordered his men, "Lock him up and hand him over to Lord Wu for judgment!"

Xu Sheng stared at He Qi with fire in his eyes, remaining silent the entire time.

The following day at noon, Gan Ning led an army of 10,000 to Haihun County. He Qi was greatly alarmed and hurriedly sent someone to ask Sun Fu in Nanchang for help.

Gan Ning set up a large camp three miles outside the city, adopting a posture of preparing for a long-term siege.

Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon, the City God Temple near the North Gate suddenly caught fire. The fire was huge, and thick smoke billowed into the sky.

He Qi was startled and hurriedly sent people to put out the fire. The soldiers and yamen runners worked together and quickly extinguished the fire.

Li Dai rushed over and reported, "I have investigated and found that the fire was caused by a beggar accidentally lighting wheat straw while trying to keep warm. It's not a big problem!"

He Qi was relieved; in such cold weather, it was indeed easy for a fire to start while trying to keep warm.

Gan Ning stood in front of the camp, watching the thick smoke billowing over the northern city. It was now the hour of Wei (1-3 PM), the time agreed upon in the letter. Li Dai was using this method to tell him that Xu Sheng had been imprisoned and that his counter-espionage plan had succeeded. He had used the conflict between Sun Ben and the Xu family to push Xu Sheng into a corner. Now, all that was left was to make a final push and see if Li Dai could earn him merit.

Li Dai found Zhang Tai, a military commander. Zhang Tai was a fellow townsman and friend of Xu Sheng. He had come to Wu County with Xu Sheng and joined the army with him. Zhang Tai had a hundred men under his command, who were Xu Sheng's loyal followers.

Li Dai had received some information that Xu Sheng's attack on Liling County was due to a false accusation, and He Qi was making things difficult for him. However, Li Dai did not know who had made the accusation, so he could only trust Zhang Tai.

Why is Magistrate Li helping my general?

"It's not that I want to help you, but that General Gan wants to help General Xu. He asked me to do this, so of course I have to do my best!"

"Is Magistrate Li one of General Gan's men?"

Li Dai nodded slightly, "He appointed me as the county magistrate."

"So that's how it is," Zhang Tai said through gritted teeth. "It was Hou Ping who betrayed General Xu. I've already investigated. He's the one who informed on him to He Qi, so he's now been appointed as the commander, replacing General Xu!"

"Take your men and come with me to the prison to rescue General Xu!"

Xu Sheng was imprisoned in the county jail. All the death row inmates on the lowest level of the dungeon were transferred away, leaving only Xu Sheng, who was guarded by He Qi's fifty personal guards.

The magistrate of Haihun County was concurrently held by He Qi, which was the rule. It was the case that the general in charge of a region concurrently served as the chief of government affairs. Sun Ben served as the governor of Yuzhang Commandery, Gan Ning served as the magistrate of Chaisang, and Zhou Tai served as the magistrate of Poyang County. Therefore, the magistrate of Haihun County had to be concurrently held by He Qi.

However, He Qi never interfered in the affairs of the county government, so Li Dai was nominally the county magistrate's assistant, but in reality, he was the county magistrate.

Li Dai ordered the prison warden to close the prison gates, and Zhang Tai led a hundred soldiers with crossbows down into the death row, where Li Dai waited above.

A series of screams could be faintly heard from below, then silence fell. Shortly afterward, Zhang Tai brought Xu Sheng, who was dressed in prison clothes, up.

Xu Sheng stared at Li Dai and asked, "Did General Gan send you to save me?"

Li Dai said slowly, "General Gan cherishes you and knows that you are in trouble. How could he not help you?"

Xu Sheng remained expressionless, but his eyes burned with deep hatred.

Where is that bastard Hou Ping?

(End of this chapter)