Zhennan Army Elite

After Zhang San left, Wu Qixue stared at the map intently without stopping thinking.

The Wu sect martial artists who had just escaped the great danger around were waiting for his decision.

Eventually, he made a decision to follow Lu Gaosheng's plan.

One can never be too careful with this man named Song YanShi.

Now that there was a target and a strategy, Wu Qixue was relieved instead, waiting for Zhang San to come back. In the meantime, he opened the letter left by Lu Qingming.

The letter contained a short, funny story.

Before the founding of Dawu Country, the continent was in turmoil with endless wars between nations.

One day, at a city besieged by enemies from another nation, there was a scholar in the city who had read hundreds of books since childhood and enjoyed great fame. Seeing everyone in the city was in danger, he went up the city wall. The city guard saw his intention was to use the words of sages to dissuade the enemy.

The guard strictly rejected it, but the scholar insisted on going up the wall. After some back and forth, considering the scholar's status, the guard had no choice but to let him try.

Then, sure enough, with just a few words, the bookish man got a shot through his head.

Why did Lu Qingming write such a story for him?

Lu Qingming wrote the reason at the end of the letter:

"Insisting on what one thinks is right regardless of the reality is what I call 'stubbornness'."

"Those who are reluctant to get blood on their hands will accomplish nothing."

After reading the letter, Wu Qixue was silent for a long time.

He looked at his own hands and thought: Over the years, my hands may still be clean, but I seem to be getting further and further away from my oaths and dreams back then...

Have I done the right thing? Or the wrong thing?

Facing Tian Ruo City, Wu Qixue bowed deeply as a disciple and murmured: "Elder brother, I am taught."

Perhaps for this path, I finally know how to walk it.

At the same time, Zhang San was coming with Li Xing and Kill Wolf Xing.

Both of them had received "treatment" from Zhang San and each had a strand of inner force from Zhang San in their bodies.

But this was not normal medical treatment. It was the mighty inner force of the Heavenly Order forcibly channeled from the heavenly court into their Dantians. The inner force circulated in their two main meridians, forcibly suppressing their injuries. Although it did not restore their upper-Earth Realm strength, it ensured they could move freely in the next few days.

As for the serious consequences of their injuries erupting after the inner force dissipated in a few days, for Lu Gaosheng's final order, Li Xing and Kill Wolf did not care much anymore.

It felt strange for anyone to first rob grain and now deliver grain, but seeing the circumstances, apart from sighing at the strangeness of the world, the two were helpless.

Wu Qixue did not recognize Kill Wolf and Li Xing, but he only had forty people. The situation did not allow him to doubt or probe.

"You three, our goals are the same. Now I have made a decision. Listen to my arrangement, act separately, and be sure to deliver the grain to Gourd Port within two days."

...

...

On the mountain path, a snowy horse galloped over.

The one given by Lu Gaosheng earlier, Zhang San had let go after just leaving Tian Ruo City. After all, it was Lu Gaosheng's horse. If there were any marks, it would not be good. Luckily there was another horse in the city that Zhang San took with him.

"Wang Xiaoer!"

A small, agile figure leapt out from the woods.

Wang Xiaoer jumped onto the horse and asked, "Master, is it done?"

"Almost, just the last bit left."

"So what do we do now...?"

"Lu Gaosheng has deployed a thousand garrison troops."

"Ah? They're not coming after us, are they?" Wang Xiaoer was shocked.

Zhang San said, "Uh... it's too complicated to explain. In short, they have come to help this time."

Wang Xiaoer guessed, "Master, you mean they will not only return the grain to us but also help escort it?"

Zhang San said, "You fool, with over a thousand people moving together, the target would be too big. The thousand people are actually there to create chaos and lure the enemies."

Also, if they ran into the elite of Zhennan Army, only a powerful army like the Bai Lu Army could hold them off. The garrison troops of Tian Ruo Prefecture were formidable compared to the "rotten troops" of other prefectures.

Zhang San continued, "Although there are arrangements in place, Lu Gaosheng said there must be spies of Song YanShi within the prefecture. Just in case, I'm responsible for taking care of anyone who tracks us on the journey."

Wang Xiaoer understood as soon as he heard this.

His master was a top expert in disguise, poisoning, assassination, setting traps, and all the skills of the dark ways. Things like tracking and counter-tracking were a piece of cake for him.

Cough, cough...

Wang Xiaoer was just admiring his master's greatness when Zhang San coughed heavily.

Helping Li Xing and Kill Wolf suppress their injuries to move freely had cost him two strands of inner force...

The situation seemed to be getting better. My situation seemed to be getting worse.

"Master..."

"Stop blabbering. Let's talk after getting things done."

...

...

On the morning two days later, east of Hei County in Tian Ruo Prefecture, Gourd Port.

As Dawu Country prohibited maritime activities, the former seaport had long been abandoned. However, Lu Gaosheng had run maritime businesses for many years and naturally built several ports in secret. Among them, this Gourd Port was used the most.

Behind this port were continuous mountain ranges. The only passage was a deep valley between the mountains, shaped like a gourd.

Thus the port was named Gourd Port.

Not only were the "mouth" and "tail" of the gourd valley just small paths, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the middle part where the mountains converged could be blocked by enough strong bows and crossbows on both sides, preventing even thousands of cavalry.

In Lu Gaosheng's plan, under such urgent circumstances without sufficient intelligence, taking the initiative to find Song YanShi's lethal move of the Zhennan Army and stop it was definitely impossible.

If attack was not possible, then defend.

Over the years operating the illegal maritime business, he would often stash goods here because of the special terrain. With just three to five hundred people guarding, it was safe enough.

The sea wind and waves beat against the reef.

The sky was high and the sea was wide.

Seven hundred grain carriages, some individual and some in pairs tied together, were brought over by five hundred Bai Lu Army soldiers.

On the beach, the morning light fell on them. In the misty distance, the silhouettes of big ships slowly emerged from the fog.

The scene was indescribably beautiful.

However, the expressions of the five people in the front on the beach were extremely solemn. Well, four people, excluding the completely useless Wang Xiaoer.

Li Xing frowned and said, "Impossible, how could the gentleman's plan fail? Let alone not work at all, this is impossible. Could there be a mole among us!?"

Defending Gourd Valley was Lu Gaosheng's strategy, but it was also the last and most dangerous one.

Before this, according to Lu Gaosheng's arrangement, Li Xing had already sent out three hundred of the thousand garrison troops to search and apprehend spies in villages and county administrative offices across the prefecture.

Of course, the purpose was not to catch them but to create chaos and buy time and opportunities for the grain convoy.

The other seven hundred were divided into small teams, some carrying drugs, some carrying coded orders full of fake information, heading north, west, and even east towards the coast.

Because if all the teams avoided the coast, it would easily arouse suspicion.

According to Lu Gaosheng's plan, as long as Song YanShi could be made to hesitate and the Zhennan Army's troops were delayed in finding the grain convoy, they could succeed.

If it went smoothly, they might not even need to make a last stand against the enemies at Gourd Valley.

Looking at the big picture, Lu Gaosheng's ideas and plans were not wrong. However, starting yesterday, scouts from the Bai Lu Army have been reporting back that along the coast near Gourd Port, they discovered a troop of 400-500 men sweeping and searching the coastline.

According to the scouts, although not one of the hundreds of men were wearing armor, judging from their behavior and the way they were sweeping and searching, they looked very much like professional soldiers.

In other words, Lu Gaosheng's plan had failed, and may not have even delayed Song YanShi at all.

It was as if Song YanShi had sent his men rushing straight for the coast around Tian Ruo Prefecture.

How was this possible?

Needless to say, this was Li Xing's first time seeing Lu Gaosheng's plan fail. Logically speaking, the ports were all secretly and privately built by Lu Gaosheng and the Bai Clan together, with the mutual intention of win-win cooperation.

With the Bai Clan's assistance, the secrecy of the ports was undoubtedly guaranteed. On Song YanShi's side, he had no idea that Lu Gaosheng had been doing maritime trade all these years.

Since this was the case, Song YanShi's first priority should have been sending people to search the roads leading north from Tian Ruo Prefecture, or even directly stationing people at those locations.

Moreover, even if Song YanShi had guessed that transport by sea was the route, Tian Ruo Prefecture's coastline was so long. How did he manage to find it so quickly?

No wonder Li Xing suspected there was a traitor among them.