After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Take advantage of the moonlit night, when the wind extinguishes the fire, the tiger circles around, the eagle attacks at night, head north, three hundred coins, cavalry camp."

The letter contained only this simple line of text, which made the tumor on Chen Yaoqing's right cheek twitch.

"Nonsense!" said one of the guys who came over to take a look.

"Hehe." The others chuckled.

Although they were spies from the Southern Dynasty, they had spent many years in the Northern Dynasty, shaved their heads, and even had families there. Their loyalty to their country was no longer as strong.

These men were all Chen Yaoqing's confidants, and they were either father-in-law and son-in-law or in-laws.

Three of them had been captured by the Northern Dynasty and subjected to severe torture. They were eventually forced to confess and sold several people.

Over the years, they have considered themselves to have done right by the Southern Dynasty. Although the messages they sent back were all authorized by the Northern Dynasty, they have never sent back any wrong messages.

The other brothers in Beijing, they had never sold anything, and they were allowed to live peacefully without suffering any hardship. It's just that when big events happened, they weren't involved.

For example, today, when that grand prince consort suddenly made them his secret guards into open guards, Commander Chen naturally called these trusted confidants to prevent any unforeseen events.

Upon hearing that the so-called Grand Prince Consort was going to take them and their families back to the Southern Dynasty, the way the people from the Sticky Rod Office looked at them sent chills down their spines... Each of them had pledged their loyalty to the Sticky Rod Office, and once they returned to the South, they would surely be forced to become spies for the Northern Dynasty.

If the matter were to leak even slightly, not only would he be doomed, but the family members he brought back from the north would also be doomed, and his parents and family members in the south would also be doomed.

Naturally, no one would do such a losing deal.

They communicated with their eyes along the way, but seeing that Commander Chen couldn't come up with any good plan for the time being, they could only be patient for the time being.

After enduring this long, I've finally gotten a job and can find a place to have a proper discussion.

"What does this letter mean? Are we still going to send it or not?" someone asked angrily, glaring at him.

I thought that even if it was a secret letter, the code words and secret phrases were all the same, and I would be able to find some clues before deciding whether to send it or not.

But seeing that the letter was completely nonsensical, everyone was unsure what to do.

Chen Yaoqing, a centurion, gritted his teeth.

At this moment, a relatively young-looking scout exclaimed "Eh!" After a few breaths, his eyes lit up, and he said with delight:

"I get it!"

The others immediately turned their heads and stared at him.

The young man's eyes gleamed with excitement as he exclaimed, "What top scholar... I don't study. If I did study..."

Bang! Chen Yaoqing slapped him hard on the head:

"Stop bragging...tell me."

The young man was hit, and despite the pain, a smug look remained on his face. He pointed at the letter with his right index finger, raised his chin, and said:

"Jump! Read the word 'jump'! Only skip one word."

Chen Yaoqing and the others were taken aback. They squinted and looked at the letter again in the torchlight.

"Take advantage of...night...fires off...detour...night raid...Northern Dynasty, 300...cavalry camp."

One mile from the Southern Dynasty's main camp, the Northern Dynasty had set up a camp of three hundred cavalrymen to guard the Southern Dynasty's main camp.

"He's planning to launch a night raid on the Northern Dynasty's camp?!"

The group was startled when they saw the letter!

…………

The north wind blew past my ears.

When the blacksmith Zhao Yunji received the second letter from the Grand Prince Consort, left the Grand Prince Consort, and arrived at the camp of the Southern Kingdom delegation, his face and body were covered in blood, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He originally brought five men with him, all of whom were his trusted brothers over the years.

But after they had ridden for four or five miles, one of the brothers suddenly told everyone to stop their horses.

The man hesitated for a long time, then looked at him and said, "Commander Zhao, should we examine that letter?"

Zhao Yunji was taken aback: "Check what?"

The man took a breath and said with a serious look in his eyes, "Check whether the letter written by the Grand Prince Consort is detrimental to the Great Liang."

With just a glance, with just a breath, he met his brother's gaze and instantly sensed something was wrong.

"How dare you!" he immediately cursed, reaching for his waist knife.

With a swift movement, the other two drew their swords even faster than him.

In an instant, the other two brothers were killed by the three traitors.

Even though Zhao Yunji killed two men, the last one escaped on horseback. Zhao Yunji chased after him on horseback for five or six miles before finally killing the last man.

As for what the man cried and begged for before he died, Zhao Yunji, who had been stabbed in the arm and thigh, couldn't remember.

Before returning to Nanjing, he only thought that he had to kill all the families of these three traitors in Beijing and bring them to justice.

Otherwise, it wouldn't deter other spies in the Northern Dynasty.

Because he was hunting down a traitor within his own ranks, Zhao Yunji arrived later than expected.

Before he could even produce the letter upon arriving at the Southern Dynasty delegation's camp, the temporary commander of the delegation, named Shangguan Xiu, grabbed his arm and said with a smile:

"Well done, Zhao Yunji! No wonder you're Liu Xinghan's apprentice! Come on! Let me toast you!"

Liu Xinghan was the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and it was also Liu, the deputy commander, who sent him north.

"If you're afraid of dying, don't go. If you go, your family will be rich for three generations!"

Commander Liu said this at the time.

He didn't care about wealth or status for three generations, but ever since his great-grandfather died in Jiangbei, his Zhao family had never been afraid of death!

Shortly after Zhao Yunji, who had been stabbed twice and was mentally exhausted, entered the camp.

One by one, the campfires in the Southern Dynasty delegation's camp went out.

…………

The Northern Dynasty camp was located a little over a mile away from the Southern Dynasty's envoy camp.

The camp commander was initially skeptical, but after seeing that the Southern Dynasty camp had indeed extinguished its campfires, he chuckled a few times and hurriedly ordered the entire camp to relax on the outside but remain vigilant on the inside.

The cavalry inside the tents were not allowed to remove their armor and were to remain inside with their weapons, keeping watch.

Chen Yaoqing and his six brothers also mingled among them. While serving as secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was also a secret agent of the Sticky Rod Office.

In this camp, there were naturally guards from the Sticky Rod Office in charge, and they were fourth-rank guards.

Upon hearing Chen Yaoqing's words, the guard frowned and said, "Even if it's true, you've already come here? The message hasn't been delivered yet, so why would they attack the camp?"

The fourth-rank guard glanced disbelievingly at the nonsensical letter in Chen Yaoqing's hand, and asked in bewilderment:

"Besides, why would he attack the camp?"

Chen Yaoqing and the others couldn't answer this question either, and could only grit their teeth and say, "Sir, we'll go deliver the message right away!"

The fourth-rank guard, wearing a melon-shaped hat, looked at him like he was a fool: "Are you making fun of me?!"

He tucked the letter into his pocket.

It's better to avoid trouble. Even if it were true, why would he let Chen Yaoqing deliver the message again?

They ordered their men to detain these people.

Meanwhile, we'll arrange for people to keep an eye on the Southern Dynasty delegation's camp, so we can rest easy tonight.

But to his surprise...

About half an hour later, someone came to report that a man covered in blood had ridden into the Southern Dynasty delegation's camp.

Then, a series of clanging sounds came from the Southern Dynasty delegation, and the campfires gradually went out one by one.

The fourth-rank guard was both pleased and worried when he released the smug Chen Yaoqing and his companions. He was pleased because if the Southern Dynasty's camp really did launch a surprise night attack, he would have done a great service by defending the camp effectively.

The worry is that this matter may not be so simple. I'm afraid that things will get too big and I won't gain any credit, but instead make a big mistake.

But one thing is one thing, the camp still needs to be defended, so he naturally ordered the camp commander to arrange for the soldiers to defend the camp well.

Before long, a scout came to report that the Southern Dynasty's main camp had indeed split into two groups and headed north, with their horses bound and gagged!

The fourth-class guard patted Chen Yaoqing on the shoulder, took a breath, and lowered his voice, saying, "I'll report this tomorrow and award you all merits!"

Chen Yaoqing and his companions were overjoyed.

Together with the people in the Northern Dynasty camp, they waited anxiously for the Southern Dynasty to launch a night attack.

…………

At the same time.

As the fire at the embassy was gradually extinguished.

One body after another was carried out.

More and more unease accumulated in the minds of the guards at the Sticky Rod Office, and this unease turned into a series of intelligence reports that were sent up.

For example, the number of corpses... is very strange.

Almost all of the infantrymen brought in by Tian Ye, a third-rank military officer of the Imperial Guard Battalion, were killed.

The bandits used gunpowder and muskets, while the guards camp had no muskets, resulting in heavy losses. However, the number of corpses and wounded matched up.

The bodies of Yue Le and the others were also found and moved out, and the bodies matched up.

As for the number of thieves... only about ten of their bodies were found, some of which were charred black.

The problem lies here...

The thieves had previously used gunpowder to destroy many houses at the embassy in the South, burned many places with pine resin, and then burned, killed, and shouted for half a day.

Why... why were almost none of the bodies of the people from the Southern Embassy found?

How come those thieves killed almost no people at the South Korean embassy?

Outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Mu Shu carefully examined the information handed to him by the guards from the Sticky Rod Office, sweat dripping more and more from his forehead.

A moment earlier, after receiving news that the beggar had gone missing, his heart skipped a beat.

As more and more irregularities surfaced, a truth far more shocking than the so-called "Han Qing and Ning Baixuan conspired" gradually pieced together in his mind.

Fei Ting handed him a message.

Before leaving the city, the Third Prince also handed him a message.

Holding the last two pieces of information, Mu Shu stood in the wind, his clothes soaked with sweat, and finally pieced together in his mind another possible truth for tonight.

His legs went weak, and he almost fell over.

"The world..."

Mu Shu was deeply shaken. He forced himself to turn around, intending to enter the Hall of Mental Cultivation to report.

"How could such a person exist?!"