Chapter 83 - A Secret Route (1/2)

“Captain w.a.n.g, you still don’t understand? Even if I stand by and leave them alone, they will no doubt come here and make trouble for me. Moreover, we’re on Zhang Chong’s opposing side, which means that this is inevitable. I value my own life. I value my family’s lives. And I also value your lives. I won’t take any rash action, which is a promise I’m making to you. Like I once said, it’s not too late for you to absent yourselves from this matter.”

“Don’t take me wrong, young master. It’s not that we’re mortally afraid of death. Since the determination of Young master is still grim, we promise we’ll stand by your side and see this through,” w.a.n.g Dashan hurriedly said after hearing Ling Zhang’s words.

“Good. Be it so, I hope you’ll never mention what you’ve just said ever again. Meanwhile, I’ve already given you two chances to choose, so I hope you’ll hang in there. Don’t let me down.”

“We understand.”

Seeing that w.a.n.g Dashan and Liu Yi had understood his words, Ling Zhang said, “Last night has been tough for both of you. Have a break this morning. Tell all our bros to have half a day off. We’ll resume the training in the afternoon.”

“Yes. Thank you for your kindness, Young master.”

After w.a.n.g Dashan and Liu Yi left, Ling Zhang went to the Green Bamboo Mansion to meet Yuwen Tong.

“Did you send someone to stalk w.a.n.g Dashan and Liu Yi last night?”

“My men have been staking out the Prefecture Encampment with them all along for the past few days. It’s just that they failed to spot my men.”

This was exactly what Ling Zhang had speculated. He didn’t feel ashamed that his guards failed to find that Yuwen Tong’s men had been stalking them all along. After all, there was such a wide gap between the strength of the two sides.

“How do you know that there are traps in the Grand Mang Mountain?” This was what confused Ling Zhang.

“All my subordinates are highly experienced veterans who have been through a lot of battles, so it’s very normal that they can detect the danger in the Grand Mang Mountain before your men do.”

“Is that so? Are you sure it was not because you scouted out that place before?” asked Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong looked at him. “You think I went there and scouted that place out previously?”

Ling Zhang nodded. “Not long ago, you went missing for a couple of days. And when you returned, you began to study maps and records of counties near Tanyang. You also circled Qi County in red ink on that map on the wall in your room.”

All these things were traces that Yuwen Tong had not intentionally tried to conceal. Naturally, Ling Zhang could notice them as long as he observed carefully enough, which was why Yuwen Tong was not surprised at all. He said, “That’s right. I did go to scout out the Grand Mang Mountain. And I also located their den and have a general knowledge of which area they might be hiding, but I didn’t tell them these things.”

“You know where their den is?” asked Ling Zhang, a mixture of surprise and delight on his face.

“Yeah. You want to know it?” Yuwen Tong deliberately tried to whet his appet.i.te.

Ling Zhang nodded unhesitatingly. Of course he wanted to know it!

“It’s not that I cannot tell you, but you have to promise me that you won’t do anything rash. You must consult with me before you make any decisions.” Grabbing this opportunity, Yuwen Tong requested him to make a promise.

Ling Zhang was briefly stunned. He was somewhat unwilling to agree to this, but then he recalled that during the past few days, though not deliberately, he had scarcely made any decision without prior consultation with Yuwen Tong, so it wouldn’t really make any difference whether he agreed to this or not.

“Okay. I promise.”

Yuwen Tong gave a smile. “The den of those bandits is located in the depths of the Grand Mang Mountain. That mountain separates Tanyang and Yan Zhou. The den of those bandits is on the border between the two districts. Given the traveling speed of common Yamen runners, finding the den of those bandits alone will take them a day and a night.”

“A day and a night? How come they hide themselves so deep in the mountain?”

“Did those guys in the Grand Mang Mountain do anything else apart from raiding villages and slaughtering villagers in the past few years?” Yuwen Tong asked him instead of answering the question.

Ling Zhang did some recollecting and answered, “Very few, as far as I can recall. They do rob traders of their goods and money, but there have been very few occasions that they did that. Firstly, the Grand Mang Mountain is not close to the main road leading to Tanyang. Secondly, every time they raid somewhere, they take back huge amounts of money which is enough for them to squander for a long time.”

“The two reasons you just mentioned do sound plausible, but the most important reason is that what they really want is neither money nor killing. It is something else that they are after.”

They were after something else? Ling Zhang had an intuition that this had something to do with Zhang Chong. “What do you think it is?”

“They want to build a pa.s.sage connecting Tanyang and the Yellow Sand River in Yan Zhou with their den as a hub. When it’s done, it will only take a day and a night to travel from here to Yan Zhou.”

Ling Zhang was astounded and also somewhat puzzled by the undertone contained in Yuwen Tong’s words. “Didn’t you just say that finding their den alone would take a day and a night?”

“If they take the normal route to search the mountain, yes. Outsiders have no idea that those bandits have already unblocked a secret route which allows an army to pa.s.s.”

“So those bandits in the Grand Mang Mountain have unblocked the shortest route connecting Tanyang and Yan Zhou, but for what?”

Ling Zhang was perplexed. They were just bandits. Why did they laboriously build a road? It didn’t make any sense.

Though a flash of inspiration seemed to have just crossed his mind, it was too fast and he failed to grab it.

Yuwen Tong continued, “The Yellow Sand River which flows through Yan Zhou also flows past the capital city. It’s only a four-hour journey from the capital city to the nearest crossing point on the bank of Yellow Sand River. And the Yellow Sand River flows downstream almost all the way from Yan Zhou to the capital city, and it takes only a day and a night, if the water speed is fast, to get to the capital city. In other words, it takes seven full days to travel from Tanyang to the capital city by the original route even if the horse is fast, but by this elaborately designed route, armies in Tanyang can get to the capital city in two days and nights.”