Chapter 496 : Betrayal (1)

A loud cry broke the silence of the night. One of the two couples, sound asleep, got up and lit the lamp, while the other went to the cradle and carried out the child, who was crying pitifully.

Yuxi now had experience raising children. After feeding Zaozao, she waited for her to pee and then lulled her to sleep.

Yun Qing looked at Zaozao lying in the cradle and commented, “Zaozao is almost six months old.”

Yuxi smiled and asked, “Why? Do you dislike your daughter for bothering you? Be careful when your daughter grows up and finds out you dislike her; she will ignore you.” Speaking of which, Zaozhao was already a very well-behaved child. Apart from crying when she woke up hungry at night, she didn’t cause any trouble.

Yun Qing stroked Zaozao’s round face, but his calloused hands made Zaozao uncomfortable, and she instinctively turned her face to the side. Yun Qing smiled and said, “How could I dislike her? I just don’t think it’s right to wean this child at ten months.”

Yuxi responded, “Most children are weaned after ten months of breastfeeding.” Seeing Yun Qing’s frown of disagreement, Yuxi explained with a smile, “I asked Mama Lan, and she said that it is right to wean a child at the age of ten months. They need to start eating solid food at that age because breast milk won’t be enough to nourish them.” She found Yun Qing to be strange!

When Yun Qing heard Mama Lan say that, he didn’t object anymore. She was an expert in this field, so her words were naturally reasonable.

But Yuxi felt strange and asked, “Why did you bring this up? Did you listen to someone or something?”

Yun Qing said, “I overheard Tianlei say a few days ago that his daughter, Baihe1, wasn’t weaned until she was one and a half years old.” He had forgotten so many things because he was overwhelmed by his work, and it was only now that he could remember them.

Yuxi didn’t have a bad impression of Fu Tianlei, but she strongly disliked Chen Shi. She didn’t want to say anything unpleasant about her. “Let’s go back to sleep, okay?” It was already midnight, which was not a good time to gossip.

Before they could fall asleep, they heard a loud knock at the door. Yun Qing stopped Yuxi from getting up and said, “Don’t get up. I’ll go take a look.” Even without asking the visitor, he knew something big had happened. Otherwise, someone would unlikely knock on his door in the middle of the night.

Before Yuxi could get dressed, Yun Qing returned and told her, “The storeroom at the military headquarters is on fire. I need to go and take a look.”

Upon hearing this news, Yuxi stopped putting on her coat and advised, “Be careful.” Once the news of the items being transported to the storeroom became public, the people behind this fire had to resort to this trick, as they had no legitimate reason to investigate the place.

When Yun Qing arrived at the military headquarters, the fire had been extinguished, but it had burned down a lot of things. He asked coldly, “Has anyone been caught?” It is difficult for ordinary people to get close to the military storeroom, let alone set fire to it, so the person who did it must be an insider.

Yuan Ying said, “The people who set the fire have been found out. There were three of them, but by the time we found them, they were all dead. General, they committed suicide.” These three people who set the fire were all veterans of the Dingbei Army, who had all crawled out of the same trench. It was heartbreaking that these men didn’t die on the battlefield but died amid a conspiracy.

Yun Qing had already guessed that the people who set the fire were probably dead. If they hadn’t committed suicide and gotten caught, they would still be dead, so they might as well have killed themselves. At least they wouldn’t have been tortured.

Yuan Ying whispered, “General, nothing important was burned in the storeroom. However, I’m worried that someone might use this opportunity to cause trouble.” This strange incident made him very worried.

Yun Qing replied coldly, “There is no harm. The military headquarters is not a place they can enter whenever they want.”

Yuxi fell asleep again after Yun Qing left. When Zijin came in and heard that Yuxi had fallen asleep, her eyes widened in surprise. “Madam really fell asleep?”

Mama Xi nodded. “This is no lie; she is indeed asleep. If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself.” However, she whispered, “When you go in, walk quietly.”

Zijin shook her head. “I’m not going in.” The military storeroom was on fire, yet Madam was not even slightly anxious. Her heart must be big enough.

Just after breakfast, Xu Wu hurried over and reported to Yuxi, “Madam, Cao De has led people to break into the military headquarters.”

Yuxi asked coldly, “Who is helping Cao De?” Even the guards led by Cao De, despite consuming a bear’s heart and a leopard’s gallbladder2, did not dare to break into the military headquarters. There was only one possibility: a general in Yu City had likely defected to Cao De. She just didn’t know who it was.

Xu Wu replied, “It’s Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen, Madam. They each led 5,000 men to follow Cao De and break into the military headquarters. What should we do now, Madam?”

Yuxi opened her clenched hand and lowered it, saying, “Don’t worry, the General will take care of it. However, we must investigate how Cao De managed to persuade Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen.” It seemed implausible that Cao De could have convinced two esteemed generals to join him in just three days, no matter how capable he was. It’s important to note that if they failed to bring down Yun Qing this time, both of them would lose their standing in Yu City.

With this in mind, Yuxi sneered and instructed, “Send an order to close the city gate tightly. No one is allowed to leave the city without the General’s permission.”

Xu Wu nodded. “Alright, I’ll have someone deliver the message.” As Yun Qing had become the chief general of Yu City, the gatekeeper naturally belonged to his circle of trusted subordinates.

At that moment, tension was mounting at the military headquarters. Yun Qing looked at Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen and sneered. “General Kang, General Geng, I don’t know what you mean by doing this?”

However, Cao De did not wait for Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen to answer before he spoke: “Yun Qing, I have clear evidence that you alone have embezzled millions of the Xu family’s wealth. If you hand over this substantial sum of money now, I will request a lenient sentence from the Crown Prince.”

Yun Qing felt as if he had heard a big joke. “Ask for a lenient sentence? Cao De, who do you think you are? How dare you speak so shamelessly!”

Cao De was so humiliated that his face immediately darkened.

Yun Qing stared at the two men, Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen, as he pointed out, “Without my transfer order, you two have secretly moved your troops to launch an attack…” Secretly moving troops without the authorization of the chief general amounted to treason, punishable under military law. Even if the two were upper third-rank generals, Yun Qing had the authority to execute them.

After listening to the accusation, Kang Donglin responded, “Yun Qing, while we may not have your transfer orders, we possess the Imperial Edict.” No matter how significant Yun Qing’s position may be, could he be greater than the Emperor?

Yun Qing narrowed his eyes as he looked at Cao De and said, “Show me the military tally.” The Emperor’s Imperial Decree alone did not authorize the deployment of troops; it had to be accompanied by a military tally to take effect. This measure was implemented to prevent the possibility of someone forging the Imperial Decree for treasonous purposes.

Military

/ Tiger Tally

“Military tally refers to the credential used in ancient times to convey orders or deploy troops. It was made of copper, jade, or wood and stone, often in the form of a tiger, known as a tiger tally. It was divided into two halves, with the right half kept by the sovereign and the left half given to the chief commander. When mobilising the army, it must be validated by matching the two halves of the tally before it can take effect.” – Baidu

The translation for the texts on the image: A large, pure gold talisman in the form of a Han Dynasty tiger, a rare treasure signifying the authority to raise troops. It stands with a proud posture, its ears perked up, and its tail curled low, emitting a subdued roar. Internally, there are four Yin-Yang clasps embedded in grooves. On the back, along the central seam of the spine, there are 21 characters inscribed on each side in seal script. These characters bear the imperial decree, urgently commanding a force of one hundred thousand. The talisman measures 13.6 centimetres in length, 5.2 centimetres in height, and has a net weight of 260 grams.

Cao De held the Imperial Decree in his hand, which he could act upon at his discretion. However, its usefulness depended on whether the other party was willing to acknowledge it. Clearly, Yun Qing wouldn’t do so unless he saw the military tally.

Geng Jichen wasn’t a fool. Seeing the situation, he said loudly, “Yun Qing, the border city lacks physicians and medicines. Due to insufficient grain and fodder, the soldiers can’t even have a proper meal or meat in a month. How can you still keep the Xu family’s millions of wealth for yourself in such a situation? Yun Qing, if you have even a shred of public spirit, you shouldn’t have done such a callous thing.”

Yun Qing did not want to verbally argue with these people and said to Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen, “Considering your countless achievements in killing the enemy, I’ll give you a chance. If you put down your weapons and retreat now, I can let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, don’t blame me for disregarding your feelings.” Initially, Yun Qing was wary of Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen. As a result, they were not assigned many new recruits, and their combined forces amounted to only 30,000. However, due to various considerations, each brought only five thousand troops.

Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen were not that muddle-headed. If they continued to follow Cao De, they could still fight their way out. However, putting down their weapons and retreating would only lead them to a dead end. Geng Jichen shouted, “We are also following orders. Yun Qing, if you really didn’t embezzle millions of taels of silver from the Xu family, why would you be afraid to let the Imperial Commissioner check you out? You don’t dare to let him do it because you feel guilty, just like a thief.”

Yuan Ying was so angry that he exclaimed, “Don’t you know how important the military headquarters is? Do you want it to be investigated based solely on your empty words? What impact will that have on the reputation of our Northwest Army?”

Cao De said, “I have enough evidence to prove that Yun Qing has embezzled four million worth of gold and silver from the Xu Family.” After saying that, he shouted, “Mr. Xia, reveal the truth to everyone.”

Mr Xia walked out of the crowd and bowed towards Yun Qing, saying, “General Yun, I’m sorry.”

What could one fail to understand at this point, except that Mr. Xia had defected? He was involved in the entire gold and silver affair, and his betrayal was devastating.

Cao De said, “With the complete human testimony and material evidence, the General had better be thinking about how to explain this to the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, right?”

Du Wenshu, who had been silent, advised Yun Qing, “General Yun, if you have a clear conscience, how about letting Imperial Commissioner Daren search the place?”

Yuan Ying got so annoyed that he shouted, “General, let’s fight them.” It was simply too much of a bully to force their general like this.

Yun Qing said to Cao De and his group, “It’s fine if you want to search. If you don’t find anything, don’t blame me for being ruthless.” As for Kang Donglin and Geng Jichen, he could no longer allow them to stay. Those who harbour dissenting thoughts could become future problems if left unchecked.

Yun Qing controlled 50,000 troops. If they really fought, he would definitely be the winner. However, as the commanding general of the border city, he must put the general interest first. Internal fighting would only damage Yu City’s protective strength. If the Northern Barbarians took advantage of this loophole again, the consequences would be disastrous. Fortunately, they suffered heavy losses early in spring; otherwise, there would be no way for Cao De to run wild here.

After witnessing Yun Qing’s murderous aura, Xu Chen and Jiang Bin were so terrified that they broke out in a cold sweat. They desperately wanted to leave the place if at all possible.

At this point, it was impossible for Cao De to hold himself back as he said, “If the General is truly wronged, I, Cao De, will personally plead guilty to the Emperor and the Crown Prince and leave it to them to address my offence.” As an imperial envoy, punishment could only be administered by the Emperor and the Crown Prince, not Yun Qing.

Yun Qing glanced at Mr Xia and said in a deep voice, “Make way for them and let them search.”

Mr Xia lowered his head and led the people to the storeroom. After half a night’s work, the place had been cleaned up; however, it still carried a burning smell.

Cao De looked at the ashen-faced Mr. Xia and asked, “Mr. Xia, where is the entrance to the secret passage?” He had not expected to find a secret passage in the storeroom at the military headquarters. If he hadn’t pried the information from Mr. Xia, the money would never have been discovered, which would have suited Yun Qing’s interests.

When Mr Xia opened the entrance to the secret passage, everyone was surprised.

After seeing this situation, Yuan Ying’s face turned ashen. The General was now going to be charged with corruption. In fact, Yun Qing had received a massive sum of money from the Xu family, which all his trusted confidants knew about. They also understood that Yun Qing was not greedy enough to embezzle the money and would eventually use it to benefit Yu City’s soldiers. However, their belief was futile if the Imperial Commissioner remained unconvinced. “General…” Looking at Yun Qing’s calm expression, Yuan Ying swallowed all the words he had intended to say next.

Yun Qing looked at the entrance and sneered, “I didn’t expect there to be a secret passage in the storeroom. Mr Xia certainly knows a lot of secrets.” His words made it clear that he was unaware of the secret passage’s existence until now.

Cao De refrained himself from arguing with Yun Qing. He summoned the guards nearby and descended through the entrance, with the others following suit.