Chapter 271: A Fortuitous Mistake
Li Qun’s informant is called Han Miao, nicknamed Little Monk, but he has nothing to do with monks. He is actually just a local ruffian who relies on his parents’ indulgence to idle around all day and stir up trouble.
However, this Han Miao has some extraordinary qualities. His eyesight is particularly sharp; he never forgets a face he has seen, he is very clever, and his network of news is wide. Li Qun took a liking to his traits and employed him as an informant, promising him that if he could establish merit, he could be absorbed into the internal guard.
In order to join the internal guard, Han Miao was especially diligent. He stood at a street corner, nervously looking around, and when he saw Li Qun approaching, he hurried over and whispered lowly, “Big Brother Li, I discovered a suspicious shop!”
“Where is it that makes you feel suspicious?”
“I heard the ‘coo! coo!’ of pigeons.”
Li Qun was stunned and immediately asked, “What kind of shop?”
Han Miao jerked his mouth toward the back. “It’s that Sanjiang Inn!”
“Besides the pigeon calls, is there anything else suspicious?”
Han Miao lowered his voice again and said, “The shopkeeper changed at the beginning of the month, and all the waiters were replaced too.”
Li Qun perked up. If the shopkeeper and waiters were all changed, that meant a new owner. But among the list of more than twenty shops that had changed owners in his hand, there was no Sanjiang Inn.
“Are you sure?”
“Big Brother Li, believe me! How could my eyes be wrong? I remember clearly what the original shopkeeper and waiters looked like.”
Li Qun did believe him; this guy’s eyesight was indeed impressive.
He pondered for a moment, then arranged for two subordinates to pretend to be merchants and check into the inn, and also arranged for several subordinates to conduct surveillance from the surroundings.
The next morning, Li Qun received news from the subordinates who checked in: there were indeed pigeons kept inside the inn, in a loft on the top floor.
By noon, another subordinate arrived with a carrier pigeon that had been pierced through the body by a crossbow bolt, with a letter tube still tied to its leg.
“Reporting to the supervisor, this pigeon was about to fly into the inn when we shot it down with a crossbow bolt.”
Li Qun opened the carrier pigeon, and there was only one sentence on it: ‘Investigate the detailed number of Western Chu Army warships!’
Li Qun immediately hurried to report to Wang Xiaoman. Wang Xiaoman nodded. “Capture them all!”
Half a shichen later, three hundred internal guards surrounded Sanjiang Inn. Soldiers rushed in, and soon captured the shopkeeper and three waiters, tying them up.
The shopkeeper looked at the pigeons and letters that were found, and his face turned deathly pale.
Wang Xiaoman hurriedly came to Gan Ning’s official residence, reported briefly, and soon entered, bowing in salute. “Today we captured a group of intelligence scouts!”
“It’s that inn, right!”
Gan Ning smiled faintly. “I heard about it too.”
Wang Xiaoman hesitated for a moment, then said, “But it’s a bit unexpected. They weren’t sent by Cao Cao; they were Jiangdong intelligence scouts.”
“Jiangdong scouts?”
Gan Ning was also stunned. He suddenly chuckled in amusement. “It seems Jiangdong isn’t content to stay quiet either!”
He nodded immediately. “Interrogate them thoroughly, report this matter to Strategist Pang, and continue searching for Cao Army scouts.”
Wang Xiaoman immediately understood. His lord still wanted to utilize the Jiangdong intelligence scouts just like last time.
“This subordinate understands. This subordinate will report to Strategist Pang immediately after the interrogation.”
Wang Xiaoman left. Gan Ning pondered for a moment, then sent someone to invite Pang Tong. Soon, Pang Tong arrived, and Gan Ning recounted the discovery of the Jiangdong intelligence scouts.
Pang Tong smiled. “Does the Marquis of Chu still want to handle it like with Jixiang Pharmacy?”
Gan Ning nodded. “Xiaoman will report the interrogation results to you later. You are in charge of this matter.”
“Please rest assured, Marquis of Chu. This subordinate will handle it properly.”
At this time, Gan Ning remembered something else and smiled. “I forgot to tell Xiaoman earlier. Actually, Jixiang Pharmacy still has utilization value. I feel Cao Cao won’t give up on Jixiang Pharmacy easily; he might still be sending people to observe it secretly.”
Pang Tong somewhat understood his lord’s intention. “Does the Marquis of Chu mean that Cao Cao thinks Jixiang Pharmacy only obtained fake intelligence, and it’s not a problem with Jixiang Pharmacy itself?”
Gan Ning shook his head with a smile. “Not entirely. The intelligence Jixiang Pharmacy gave to Cao Ren was basically all real; it only faked the troop strength numbers, the defending city commander, and the catapults. But Cao Ren never knew the real situation inside the city, so how would he know the intelligence he got was fake?”
“But Cao Cao will push the blame onto the intelligence.”
Gan Ning smiled. “One crushing defeat can be blamed on intelligence, but what about a second crushing defeat? Cao Cao isn’t a fool; he won’t blindly believe one side’s words.”
“So having Jichun Apothecary resume normal business is also something the Marquis of Chu can arrange?”
Gan Ning nodded. “Perhaps Cao Cao has indeed given up, but we should still try.”
Jichun Apothecary was still operating normally. Shopkeeper Wang Yao continued to greet guests with a smiling face, as if nothing had happened, but inadvertently, a trace of worry and fear would still flash in Wang Yao’s eyes.
This morning, Wang Yao stood on the steps seeing off a guest. As he turned to go back, a low voice suddenly came from behind him: “Heaven has unforeseen storms.”
In an instant, Wang Yao’s whole body stiffened. After a good while, he slowly turned his head. Behind him was a burly man with a pair of eyes as cold as ice staring at him.
“Everyone has sudden fortune or misfortune,” he stammered in reply.
“Get in the carriage with me!”
Wang Yao then noticed a carriage parked behind the man. The man turned and boarded the carriage. Wang Yao hesitated for a long time. He recalled what Li Qun had told him the day before yesterday: the other side might not know about his betrayal.
Wang Yao tremblingly boarded the carriage. The carriage door closed, and the carriage set off.
Inside the carriage, as Wang Yao was about to speak, two daggers suddenly pressed against him from behind, one on each side. Wang Yao’s face changed drastically in fright. “W-what is this about?”
The man stared at him coldly, saying word by word: “You betrayed the Chancellor!”
“Betrayed?”
Wang Yao widened his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“You sent us fake intelligence.”
“What fake intelligence?”
Wang Yao immediately said agitatedly: “When did I ever send fake intelligence?”
“The Queyue City intelligence, wasn’t it?”
“That was intelligence I bought for one hundred taels of gold. How could it be fake?”
The man stared at him for a long time and, seeing his agitated expression not seem feigned, lightly waved his hand, and the two daggers were withdrawn.
The man asked coldly again: “Then why has there been no news at all in the recent half year?”
Wang Yao was stunned, then said after a while: “No instructions were given to me! I need to act according to instructions. Hasn’t it always been like that?”
The man’s last trace of wariness was dispelled. He wouldn’t believe Wang Yao just because of a few explanations; in fact, he had been observing Wang Yao for a long time and was certain Wang Yao had no contact with the Western Chu Army.
The man then slowly asked: “How did you meet the person who provided you with intelligence? How did you obtain the intelligence?”
