Chapter 408: Chapter 404: Spy (Seeking Monthly Votes, Recommendation Tickets)_1
 

Before she could figure out what to do, Xiao Mo abruptly lifted her up onto the carriage.

“Stay put!” He waved his hand, and several trusted aides surrounded the carriage.

Yingbao’s mind raced, contemplating what the safest course of action would be.

Attempting a direct confrontation would not be wise at this moment, but allowing them to search was not an option either.

What if they injured Chen Zhu and the others?

“Xiao Mo! What are you doing?” Yingbao shouted.

But Xiao Mo paid her no mind, commanding the cavalry to exit the city gates while he himself stood at the entrance, directing the city’s defense matters.

Suddenly, Yingbao seemed to calm down.

Chen Zhu and the others were only ordinary villagers, even if they were caught, what then?

She and her crew were merely trying to protect themselves. Moreover, she was the only one responsible for all their actions, Chen Zhu and the others had nothing to do with it. Although Xiao Mo was cold-hearted, he was not the type to indiscriminately kill the innocents.

With these thoughts, Yingbao calmed down and sat in the carriage, calmly observing the situation.

An hour later, the cavalry that had exited the city returned.

“No abnormalities were found.” One man reported to Xiao Mo, “We have searched the entire forest and found no suspicious individuals.”

Hearing this, Yingbao sighed in relief.

It seemed like Chen Zhu had taken her signal – the waving white handkerchief – to flee into the forest without wasting any time.

Xiao Mo’s furrowed brow slightly relaxed, and upon returning to the carriage, he ordered the coachman to head back home.

Once back at the County Government, Yingbao went straight to her room, barricaded herself inside and forbid anyone from disturbing her. She covertly prepared the poisons.

It would be unrealistic to poison Xiao Mo to death all at once, as Xiao Chengjun would soon arrive with reinforcements.

So, she could only wait for the reinforcement to arrive before making a move.

Several days passed in a flash, and as expected, the military troops from the Xiao Family arrived.

However, they did not enter the city but set up camp outside of it.

In the evening, Xiao Chengjun, leading around thirty guards, entered the city to meet his elder brother.

Yingbao was confined in the inner court of the County Government, without ever seeing anyone.

Yet, she saw a chance for escape.

For the two maids who were with her all the time had finally left the room to help out in the front courtyard.

Yingbao pushed the door open and went to the room that Xiao Mo used as a study. She opened the door and looked around, not finding anything useful, nor any maps or letters.

Just then, it seemed like someone was approaching from outside.

Yingbao immediately ducked behind the window and slipped into her hidden chamber.

Afterward, she stayed in her hidden chamber for several days. Except for eating, drinking, and sleeping, all she did was harvest mushrooms and fruits, and fed the horses.

Indeed, she kept a horse in her hidden chamber for emergencies.

She also spent time wandering around the small courtyard inside the cave, practicing her knife skills in the middle of the yard.

She hadn’t dared to check the mirror in her bedroom, as something about it unnerved her.

However, she did not know that her sudden disappearance had caused a huge uproar outside.

Xiao Mo had sent people door-to-door throughout County Town, but they did not find any sign of Yingbao.

As a result, the two maids responsible for taking care of her were whipped, and the guards in charge of the County Government were also punished.

But, that young woman seemed to have vanished into thin air and had not reappeared since.

Several days later, Xiao Mo and Xiao Chengjun each led units of soldiers to reoccupy the surrounding counties.

In the meantime, Yingbao would leave her hidden chamber each night, looking for an opportunity to investigate the study.

Fianlly, one day, Yingbao found many intelligence reports in the desk drawer of the study.

Among them was a message that stated there were rebels stationed in Anping County. It detailed the number of people and horses, where the food and grain were placed, where the army was positioned, and who the commander was. The description was incredibly detailed.

Yingbao furrowed her brows, Anping County was close to Chuanhe Town, she suspected that Dazhou’s troops intended to besiege the Xiao brothers.

But before they even arrived, detailed information had been revealed to the Xiao family, indicating that the situation had been leaked from within the ranks.

Yingbao hastily took this spy report back to the cave and copied it, then returned it unabridged to the drawer.

She then climbed out the window and quietly went to the foot of the wall.

Seeing guards approaching, she darted back into the cave and started to calculate the patrol times she had observed in the past few days.

Assuming that this group of guards had gone past, Yingbao reappeared, climbed up a jujube tree by the wall and deftly scaled over it.

Although there were still patrolling troops outside, Yingbao had a hiding place in her cave. As long as she waited for the guards to go away within the cave, she could quickly run into the darkness.

Without any hesitation, Yingbao once again came out of the county town through the waterway.

After leaving the county town, she dared not travel by land; instead, she took out her gourd boat and rowed in the direction of Anping County.

After about a dozen miles, she got off the water and rode on her horse, rushing along the official road.

She would not dare to go to the post stations on the road in case they were manned by Xiao family’s people.

It was not until the afternoon of the next day that Yingbao arrived at Anping County. According to the address on the spy report, she found the stationed troops and requested an audience with their general, saying she had something important to report.

A soldier passed on her request and quickly came back to take her in.

Yingbao was taken into a tent and saw that the man sitting at the head was Uncle Fu.

“Yingbao, how did you get here?” An excited Wei Zhan who stood by the side walked over.

Yingbao glanced at the people and said, “I have something important to report to the general, it must be confidential.”

Uncle Fu frowned and dismissed everyone, including Wei Zhan and Xu Kun.

Wei Zhan reluctantly withdrew from the large tent with the others.

Yingbao looked again at the scholar standing behind Uncle Fu and said, “He hasn’t left yet.”

The scholar paused, furiously rebuking, “Impudent! Who do you think you are? You dare to point fingers and make commands in the military camp!”

Ignoring him, Yingbao turned to Uncle Fu and said, “Uncle Fu, I have to talk privately to you about an important matter.”

The scholar’s face flushed red, he pointed at Yingbao and was about to say something, but Uncle Fu interrupted, “Mr. Dong, you go first. This girl is a child of family friends and isn’t an outsider.”

Mr. Dong huffed and puffed out of the tent, glaring daggers at Yingbao as he passed her.

When everyone had left the tent, Uncle Fu asked, “Yingbao, what’s the matter?”

Yingbao presented the copied spy report to Uncle Fu, “Take a look at this.”

Uncle Fu took and read the report, his brows tightened in anger.

Of course, he understood what it meant.

The only one who could have known the detailed plans and movements of his army was an insider—a traitor.

In other words, there was a turncoat among his ranks.

“Uncle Fu, the Xiao family has deployed not less than ten thousand men. They are all stationed around Qinchuan County, which is already in their control. Don’t be fooled and go to rescue Qinchuan County.”

Yingbao told Uncle Fu all she knew in one breath, including the situation in the county city.

“I see.” Uncle Fu smiled at Yingbao, “You’ve worked hard Yingbao. Go and have a good rest. We’ll set off in the morning.”

“Alright.” Yingbao was indeed exhausted, feeling as if she could sleep for three straight days without opening her eyes.

Uncle Fu had someone take Yingbao to rest while he leaned back in his chair deep in thought.

Remembering Yingbao’s words, he went over everyone in his mind and came to a decision.

Uncle Fu assembled all his generals and informed them that they would depart early in the morning to attack the Xiao brothers’ troops at Zhouhe County.

That night, a shadow stealthily arrived at the grove outside the encampment and took something from his bosom to hide in a tree hole.

After looking around, he quietly returned.

Shortly after the shadow left, two other figures approached the tree. They took out an oil-paper pack from the tree hole, and upon opening it, they were infuriated.

“This bastard! He is indeed a spy!”