Chapter 362: Unstoppable (1/2)

“However, the fact that he was being so obvious about it makes it suspicious,” said Jun Huang.

Nan Xun frowned and continued, “That can be true. However, the man is smart. It may be his way of misleading people.”

Jun Huang didn't respond. Nan Xun ma.s.saged her temples and added, “I read the letter Qi Yun sent you. One of the operation bases used to be the Minister of Rite's manor, but it was then gifted to the Minister of Personnel.”

Jun Huang's eyes widened in shock. Nan Xun continued, “I don't know what their relations.h.i.+p is, but the manor has changed hands. Very few know about it. I happened to see the Minister of Personnel exit from the manor and found out about the transfer of owners.h.i.+p from his family.”

“Moreover,the Minister of Personnel was promoted by Ji Bo.” Nan Xun gave her the most convincing proof. Jun Huang was still digesting the new information Nan Xun gave her. He made some very good points.

“Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure there's something wrong about the Minister of Rites as well,” said Nan Xun. “If he's completely innocent, he wouldn't have been doing the Minister of Personnel's bidding.”

It was clear who the mole was. However, further investigation was needed to figure out what the ministers had done. Jun Huang took out a sheet of paper and wrote down their conclusions. Nan Xun had his men deliver it to the imperial city.

Qi Yun was shocked when he received the letter. Enraged, he had the Minister of Personnel arrested, but spared the Minister of Rites.

As Jun Huang had written in the letter, the Minister of Rites was a coward. Even if he'd done something treacherous, it couldn't have that big an impact. If both ministers were put in jail at the same time, people would panic. It was better that he dealt with the Minister of Personnel first.

The minister didn't know he'd been exposed. He started to panic once he was thrown into the prison.

“I demand to talk to the prince!” he shot to his feet and exclaimed. The warden scoffed and turned a blind eye to him.

Qi Yun didn't come, but the evidence against him did. The minister paled when he saw the doc.u.ments and almost fainted.

Qi Yun took care of the rest without asking for Jun Huang's help. He followed the trail left by the Minister of Personnel and identified a few more spies Ji Bo had planted. They belonged to different factions, but they were all people in power. Qi Yun made quick work of putting them in jail.

The imperial court was a lot more stable after that. Qi Yun had also established his authority and won people's approval.

Knowing what Qi Yun had accomplished alleviated Jun Huang's concern. At least the spies had been dealt with. They just had to wait for Ji Bo to make his move. The next few days went past uneventfully.

The day before Nan Xun and his soldiers were going to arrive at the border, Eastern Wu launched a few surprise a.s.saults. Northern Qi's troops at the border had relaxed their guard since their general-in-chief was coming, which allowed Eastern Wu to catch them off guard. They were forced to retreat, and a few cities were thus claimed by Eastern Wu.

Nan Xun heard the news upon his arrival. He didn't say anything, but anyone who knew him could tell from his stoic face that he was furious.

Once everyone had made their report, Nan Xun looked up at the officers and dismissed everyone except for the officer in charge. “It's your fault that Northern Qi lost the cities. What do you have to say?”

The officer paled. He wasn't sure how he should defend himself. He lowered his head.

Nan Xun scoffed. “If you've kept your guard up, Eastern Wu wouldn't have won. You are to blame for the blow on our morale. Don't try to talk your way out of it.”

“You're careless, and our enemies exploited that.”

“There's no use scolding him now,” said Jun Huang. She approached them and saw the officer's face flushed red at Nan Xun's reprimanding. He looked pitiful. “Why don't we think about how we should take the cities back?”

The officer had seen Jun Huang before. He knew about her relations.h.i.+p with Nan Xun. He sighed in relief and asked with a smile, “I hear that you were ill. Are you feeling better now?”

“I'm fine,” Jun Huang said with a smile.

Nan Xun shot the officer a glare and pulled a chair for Jun Huang. “Tell the others to come in,” he said to the officer. “We'll come up with a plan.”