Volume 5, Chapter 3: Difficult to Explain Oneself (1/2)

Volume 5, Chapter 3: Difficult to Explain Oneself

—raphy of shi+ Ying</blockquote>

Inside the Grand General’s residence, Long Tingfei stood in the main hall with his hands clasped behind his back There was a raging fury inside hi the troops and reorganizing the aret to monitor his subordinate co were the enerals shi+ Ying was skilled at warfare and did not have much experience or skill as a scheh he was theas support, there were far fewer opportunities for hireat merit With this, the rewards and promotions received by Duan Wudi had fallen behind the other commanders Moreover, Duan Wudi’s teinally suspected hi’s surveillance, there was no evidence to prove that either of the two generals were directly colluding with Great Yong

Since the army had returned to Qinzhou, Duan Wudi had busied hifei kept a close eye on all of the changes that he ements Duan Wudi i, aside fro else Aside frostress, there wasn’t anything unusual going on with histress, discovering that she was the daughter of a fa, Su E The Su family had been loyal to the Eastern Jin Dynasty and had refused to pledge its loyalty to Northern Han After the First Ruler took the throne, the Su family would frequently speak words of mockery Ultimately, the Su family’s assets were seized and the faer endure their ridicule Su E died in prison in the tenth year of Rongsheng Qing Dai was Su E’s only daughter After her father’s death, and with her faone, the woman was left to her own devices¹ She had to rely upon selling her skills Even though she was left in such dire straits, the wohty, ready to die to preserve her chastity It could be said that she hated and resented the court This was extre any face and re unsociable towards the rich, influential, and powerful members of the Northern Han court Fortunately, there were plenty who deeply respected that woman’s demeanor, otherwise it would have been ih it was so to fall in love with that woman, one could see fro for help Otherwise, she would not have given up the excellent opportunity of fraternizing with the rich and powerful to acquire intelligence As a result, Long Tingfei had not interfered with the fei could see that shi+ Ying may not necessarily be able to acquire the wouilt of the two generals with the greatest suspicions, Long Tingfei had begun to wonder if he had fallen into the enemy’s discord ploy Who would have expected that at this very ly and suddenly accused Duan Wudi of colluding with fei in a dile operation was hidden, if Long Tingfei did not know about it, then he would simply be too incompetent However, Duan Wudi’s behavior was exactly the kind of thing that Long Tingfei could not do Besides, all of the profits that Duan Wudi made were used to supple Tingfei not only did not condeed the army quarter the funds acquired for pay and cofei could not publicly ad national law, he would not be lightly let off by the royal censors even if the Later Ruler illing to enerals under Long Tingfei, theon Partly because of his frank tee this secret, and partly because he did not pay attention to these matters, al re’s sudden raising of difficult questions, directly targeting Duan Wudi, left Long Tingfei briefly unable to react

Without any alternative, Long Tingfei could only order that Duan Wudi be taken into custody Of course, Long Tingfei had his own selfish motives Before the undiscovered traitor was exposed, he did notDuan Wudi After all, if Duan Wudi were plotting rebellion, then the psychological shock upon the Northern Han arfei was still dreadfully angry With the exposure of Duan Wudi’s s operation, it was very difficult to wipe the accusation away With this, regardless of whether Duan Wudi truly intended to betray Northern Han, Long Tingfei was facing the aard situation of losing a key subordinate Consequently, he was extreretted the trust that he had previously placed upon hierated opinion of his own abilities²

Xiao Tong walked in Seeing Long Tingfei’s ra over and saying, “General, Yufei has returned He wants to fei quivered During this recent period, Great Yong’s security had been extrearding Zezhou As such, Long Tingfei did not yet know the results of Qiu Yufei’s assassinationTingfei could tell that the assassination had failed Heaving a sigh, he opined, “Fine It was already difficult to assassinate an arh that Yufei was able to return safely Allow hientanswered, “It is best to allow hieneral This eneral within our ars with the officers of the army His words should be relatively fair”

Startled, Long Tingfei, feeling a sense of foreboding, ordered, “Have hi Duan, Qiu Yufei entered the hall Seeing Long Tingfei, Ling Duan’s expression ifei with excitement and veneration Within the hearts and minds of the officers and soldiers of the Northern Han ar Duan respectfully koed and said, “This lowly one, Ling Duan, pays his respects to the Grand General”

A look of puzzlefei’s face, as he inquired, “You are?”

Ling Duan knew that there was no way that he would be recognized by Long Tingfei After all, the few tieneral, he earing a bronzeof Tan Ji and could not hold back the tears that streamed down his cheeks He responded, “This lowly one was a fei stared in astonish Duan for so Duan up He stated, “Who would have thought that one of General Tan’s bodyguards would still be alive? Ling Duan, you’re called Ling Duan, correct? Alas, I have already ordered your general’s ashes to be delivered back to his native lands to be buried The court has also issued an edict bestowing hefty rewards It is unfortunate that he can no longer go into battle” As he spoke, Long Tingfei’s tone began to acquire a tint of sorroever, he quickly cal, “How did you escape back here?”

Ling Duan glanced at Qiu Yufei Qiu Yufei quietly voiced, “Explain everything that has happened to the general” Ling Duan nodded his head, explaining everything that he had seen and heard Afterwards, Qiu Yufei added the details of his atte the two of thehtly He had always had so unusual about what Qiu Yufei and Ling Duan said, to Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong, their testimony and the resultant “truth” that was revealed left the two of thefei trusted shi+ Ying, so was also more suspicious of the shrewd and cautious Duan Wudi

Neither Long Tingfei nor Xiao Tong naturally had any doubts about Qiu Yufei’s testi Duan Long Tingfei shot a glance at Xiao Tong Understanding, Xiao Tong coughed and asked, “Ling Duan, what do you think that all this is provable?”

Ling Duan vacantly answered, “This lowly one does not know Although General shi+ was always on poor ter trouble for eneral, this lowly one refuses to believe that General shi+ would rebel It’s just that, if this weren’t the case, ere Li Hu and all of General shi+’s captured troops executed? Coh Zezhou following General Tan Even if they were only seeking to account for the crimes inflicted upon the coht to have been executed In addition, although Marquis Jiang was not the co army is extremely deferential and respectful of the Marquis When he came to the decision to keep Li Hu and me by his side, no one dared to object Even after the Prince of Qi learned of this, he only spoke a feords of warning to the two of us, re us to not be discourteous However, all of a sudden, Li Hu was forcibly taken away and executed with Marquis Jiang notI believe that, were it not for norance of the matter, this lowly one would likely have been executed as well Moreover, Marquis Jiang isLi Hu who alnificant, this lowly one truly cannot understand why all of this has happened”

Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong exchanged glances They did not hear any falsehoods in Ling Duan’s words Moreover, Ling Duan’s train of thought was somewhat chaotic, and it did not seem like a lie that had been fabricated beforehand Thisarmy and been sent back to transfei and Xiao Tong’s intentions, Qiu Yufei gri Duan, he was on the verge of death If he had not run intoTingfei and Xiao Tong understood theDuan had betrayed Northern Han, it would have been impossible for him to have fallen into such dire straits Even if the injuries were self-inflicted, there were li Duan had nearly died, then there was definitely no trickery involved If Ling Duan could even conceal everything from Qiu Yufei’s eyes, then Qiu Yufei would not have the qualifications of being a direct disciple of Jing Wuji

Just then, one of Long Tingfei’s bodyguards ca outside to be suinally, he had su had suddenly raised difficult questions about Duan Wudi However, with his head full of suspicions, Long Tingfei was noorried about inadvertently alerting shi+ Ying to his distrust He glanced at Xiao Tong His eyes glowings, Xiao Tong said, “It is best to first allow him to come inside There are questions we have to ask sooner rather or later Junior apprentice brother, bring Ling Duan with you and withdraw to the back”

Qiu Yufei nodded his head However, before he left, he casually remarked, “I met General Duan on the road Grand General, senior apprentice brother, although General Duan has violatedefforts, I hope that the two of you will give hihtly Sighing, he replied, “How do I not know of this? However, thisis hot-headed and iinally believed it to be unintentional that he did not think to report thisthis matter public But now, it seems like it may have been intentional Yufei, I will handle thisDuan … Yufei, do you have any thoughts?” Long Tingfei could tell that Qiu Yufei was close with Ling Duan As such, he intentionally asked this question

Qiu Yufei answered, “I’ him back to meet with Master and eldest apprentice brother If eldest apprentice brother takes a fancy to him, I want him to take eldest apprentice brother as his master If impossible, I will be forced to take hi this kind of response, both Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong beca walked over and took a careful look at Ling Duan Sh his aptitude is upperattitude Further, he is not soht, outspoken, and inflexible Since he became one of the hand-picked one in a thousand Ghost Cavalry at such a young age, eldest apprentice brother should definitely be interested Excellent, junior apprentice brother Your insight is quite good”

Qiu Yufei s Duan, Qiu Yufei led hi Tingfei su walked in with long strides He had already dispelled all of the alcoholic scent on his body After he had walked in, he respectfully performed a military salute and inquired, “Does the Grand General have any instructions suazed deeply at shi+ Ying, as he responded, “shi+ Ying, there is a matter that I have never asked you about Now that Duan Wudi will soon arrive under custody, I wish to ask you: how did you learn of Duan Wudi’s srave Why did you not consultinstead to openly speak of it during a enerals? Fortunately, Duan Wudi did not try to run off out of fear of punishment If there were anyresponded, “This eneral’s deputy, shi+ Jun He inforeneral did not think and spilled the beans during theto this point, shi+ Ying revealed a look of slight shaainst Duan Wudi, he hadn’t even thought of reporting this h he was blunt, he was not stupid If his subordinates could discover this kind of large-scale sfei did not know anything about it Only by doing this so openly could he force Long Tingfei to execute Duan Wudi shi+ Ying knew that, although he was deeply trusted by the Grand General, the Grand General valued Tan Ji and Duan Wudi more Further, if like years past, it would have been possible for the Grand General to severely punish Duan Wudi However, with the current desperate situation, the Grand General would likely try to cover up this scandal However, the longer Duan Wudi was allowed to live, theDai would never have a look of happiness on her face Over these past days, he could see that her co shi+ Ying to feel a pain that pierced through his heart

Although the changes on shi+ Ying’s face were slight, both Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong focused on hihed inwardly and said, “Wait outside to directly confront Duan Wudi”

Voicing his consent, shi+ Ying withdrew After he had gone, Long Tingfei’s face grew frigid, as he said, “Xiao Tong, shi+ Ying has ulterior ate to see if there is anything that does not belong”

In a low voice, Xiao Tong voiced his cofei felt hatred building inside, sla else on the table buck, splashi+ng tea everywhere The hall was iuards His expression calfei ordered, “Go tidy up Once Duan Wudi has arrived, re all of the soldiers escorting him to the rear and ensure that they do not wander freely shi+ Jun should be the escorting officer Also bring hihly an hour had passed, Duan Wudi finally arrived under escort Seeing that although Duan Wudi’s expression was serene, his appearance was disheveled, Long Tingfei briefly did not knohat to say Regardless of why Duan Wudi was sardless of whether he had tacitly accepted, this matter had already been exposed If the truth was revealed, then everyone would know of the gravity of the dire situation facing Northern Han, likely causing the morale of the army to waver Moreover, a crime that violated national laould not be easilytrusted and thought highly of hifei knew that there were many court officials ere dissatisfied and resentful of his power and authority Long Tingfei knew that, when the time came, he would be recalled to the capital and held to account If as before, Long Tingfei would notas he was able to continue to conificant However, the current situation was quite dire Great Yong could attack at any leTingfei knew that the king would lose popular support and negatively affect his reputation The only way of resolving this situation was to have Duan Wudi take the blafei, and Duan Wudi would obey, not i him even if Duan Wudi had to die, and he hifei could not bring himself to allow Duan Wudi to be punished in his place

Duan Wudi understood the thoughts in Long Tingfei’s eneral pays his respects to the Grand General Grand General, please punish this guilty general according to national law andto accept any punishment It is only that the country is in dire need of talents Grand General, please allow this guilty general to live This guilty general wants to die upon the battlefield and not on the execution grounds”

Long Tingfei tre ti deeply, Long Tingfei replied, “General Duan, this is all Tingfei’s fault and yet has forced General to bear the responsibilities There is no greater crime than this”

A hint of emotion flashed across Duan Wudi’s face Sole such words? This is all because this general was blinded by greed³ What does this business have to do with the Grand General?”