Volume 5, Chapter 4: Ambush from Ten Sides (1/2)

Volufei’s mental state was cal’s unspoken difficulties However, he had already becoenerals over these last several days shi+ Ying fei in a quandary In addition, Qiu Yufei and Ling Duan’s testimony had only served to confirm¹ the suspicions he had As a result, when he saw shi+ Ying’s reaction, Long Tingfei felt that this man’s pretensions were utterly heinous As for the other two individuals within the hall, they had different reactions Xiao Tong, responsible forthe army, was always suspicious In his mind, there were only two kinds of people—traitors and future traitors Therefore, he did not notice shi+ Ying’s abnormal intentions

It was actually Duan Wudi, who had experienced such an ieoing through Duan Wudi hurriedly walked forward and said, “Grand General, it may be possible that General shi+ has some unspoken difficulties Grand General, please allow hients fro, General shi+ need only have burned theh Duan Wudi’s wordsto be pensive, the resent held for Duan Wudi was quite deep shi+ Ying had frofei show clear favor for Duan Wudi, it was possible that those two letters were planted by Xiao Tong As a result, anger welled up from deep inside Not only did he not use this opportunity to explain hirily yelled, “Duan Wudi, there is no need for you to pretend to have kind intentions!”

Hearing the increasing anger in shi+ Ying’s voice, Long Tingfei sternly interjected, “I, i’s trusted subordinates into custody Interrogate each and every one of them to see if any of them have been bribed to defect”

With the stern severity of Long Tingfei’s words, neither Duan Wudi nor Xiao Tong dared to speak any further shi+ Ying felt cofei and Duan Wudi, he thought, h I accused Duan Wudi out of selfish motives, it is, after all, actual fact that Duan Wudi was corrupt and involved in sle question about this matter and instead questioned ht out these two dubious letters to conde with Duan Wudi, what’s the point inhad always been so of this, he did not even bother to take his leave fro Tingfei’s bodyguards who followed hination

Seeing shi+ Ying’s conduct, Long Tingfei was even enerational talented general Although he had long ago fallen under Jiang Zhe’s control, he could still sense that shi+ Ying had so, he asked, “Xiao Tong, this needs to be investigated carefully Over this period of ti particular attention to shi+ Ying Have you noticed anyone be close with him? It may be possible that those two letters were truly planted”

A look of joy appeared on Duan Wudi’s face Although he still resented shi+ Ying for causing hi to believe that shi+ Ying had truly betrayed Northern Han and defected

After pondering, Xiao Tong answered Long Tingfei, “Subordinate also finds this situation rather strange None of the people General shi+ has dealings with are suspicious The only possibility is if one of his trusted subordinates is coes to be passed between General shi+ and Great Yong However, this by itself is irave as this requires multiple and repeated confidential discussions In addition, thebehind traces that will be discovered However, General shi+ does not have those sorts of suspicious subordinates It would also be iers Even if he intended to defect, he would only allow one or two trusted subordinates to know of his decision and would definitely not be so bold As a result, it’s difficult to explain how these two letters ended up in General shi+’s hands Subordinate believes that itSer for questioning In recent days, everyone knows that General shi+ has becoh subordinate has not discovered any problems with her, we should be able to reap so Tingfei nodded his head gently It was only a songstress He couldn’t care less about her innocence or guilt Just as he was about to reply, Duan Wudi had frenetically knelt on the ground, saying, “Grand General, Qing Dai is definitely uninvolved with this s difficult for her”

Both Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong were startled Why would Duan Wudi plead for leniency on Qing Dai’s behalf? The two of the at Duan Wudi His expression frigid, Long Tingfei asked, “Wudi, why are you pleading for leniency on her behalf? Could it be that you have so’s beloved?”

After hesitating for soeneral dares not hide this sheng, when this general was exiled froarrison at Daizhou, this general was pursued by assassins sent froeneral was seriously hurt and fell into the river On the verge of death, I had the good fortune to be rescued by Miss Qing Dai She did not worry about the separation between eneral’s life This general does not dare forget thatDai is not her crie her with a crilances S said, “General Duan, in the seventeenth year of Rongsheng, you were only twenty-five years old, while Qing Dai was no more than seventeen Could it be that the two of you had relations?”

Duan Wudi blushed He knew that Xiao Tong was asking not to probe his personal ed into the incident involving shi+ Ying Now that she had ties with hiet the bottos² It was only that the situation between the two of the that he hid in the bottom of his heart He orried that, if he revealed it, it would be of har hesitant and uneasy, fei impassively stated, “There is no need for you to worry I will not casually charge anyone As long as Miss Qing Dai is not a spy fro, even if she is to suffer so this, Duan Wudi becaly worried However, he also understood that there was nothing he could do to avoid speaking in the current situation He could only relate, “This general and Qing Daitrials and tribulations After spending so long together, we grew intied by my future career prospects As a result, the two of us pro Dai was resentful of the court and asked this general to follow her to live in seclusion, even better if we departed froeneral recovered, I ran into a close friend fro personal considerations and grudges while forsaking the country This general deeply regrettedDai Afterwards, an argueneral hoped that she would follow h the conditions at Daizhou were arduous, this general vowed that I never allow her to experience any hardshi+ps In addition, Qing Dai was not a oman and would be able to endure the hardshi+ps of the northern sands However, Qing Dai refused categorically She stated that since the court had not given her any favor, even if she would not be an ene that this general follow her and leave It was also because of this general’s ungraciousness that I ulti Dai flicked her sleeve and departed, severing all ties froeneral as afforded her h she is ieneral would like to ask the Grand General to e Please do not blahed “This is not surprising I know some of what that woman has experienced It is no wonder she resents the court, since it was the court that left her destitute and ho’s betrayal, I will not s difficult for her”

With an odd expression on his face, Xiao Tong said, “Grand General, General Duan, I can see that General shi+ has deep hatred for General Duan In addition, General shi+ has recently fallen in love with Qing Dai Could it be that General shi+ has learned of the old relationshi+p between the two of theainst General Duan? If that is the case, it is possible that General shi+ has not betrayed Northern Han Subordinate feels that soive ate Qing Dai”

Xiao Tong’s frosty words immediately caused Duan Wudi to feel his heart turn as cold as ice As for Long Tingfei, he wasit over carefully, he realized that the evidence of shi+ Ying’s betrayal was only some dubious circumstantial evidence and these two letters Were it not for Qiu Yufei and Ling Duan’s testi trouble for Duan Wudi, he probably would not have been so certain that shi+ Ying had betrayed Northern Han However, this thought quickly disappeared Long Tingfei had long been convinced that one of his closest subordinates had betrayed hi, could it be Duan Wudi? As a result, Long Tingfei stonily said, “Go question her However, do not use torture Since Qing Dai is widely known for her proud aloofness, she will definitely not be fond of using lies to conceal the truth Ask her to see if she was incited by so voiced his compliance Just as he was about to perforuards who had detained and were escorting shi+ Ying suddenly rushed back inside They shouted, “Grand General, not good! General shi+ attacked all of a sudden, knocking the two of us unconscious He’s escaped!”

All three individuals within the hall were du would escape at this fei had issued orders for shi+ Ying to be taken into custody, Long Tingfei had not yet openly charged hi had truly betrayed Northern Han, it was still possible to redeefei’s trust in hifei originally believed in his innocence, it was now ifei was already convinced of shi+ Ying’s betrayal

Taking a deep breath, Long Tingfei coin a search of the city! shi+ Yingfrostily replied, “Grand General, do not worry, subordinate and junior apprentice brother Qiu will undertake this task together and will definitely ensure that he does not escape”

Xiao Tong hurriedly walked out of the hall It wasn’t long before the sound of bugle horns blared This was the transnaled that Qinzhou was now under martial law All of the commoners within the cityon the streets In the last three or four years, Qinzhou had never experienced so like this All of the soldiers and the civilian in the city inevitably becafei’s expression was grim and unsympathetic He truly felt quite tired He had never felt such loneliness and emptiness before, not even in the

Su Dingluan’s death in the Yong capital and Tan Ji’s death in Zezhou had fei weep at the loss of his ar’s betrayal and Duan Wudi arrested, Long Tingfei felt as if he had lost his wings Losing all of his trusted and best generals caused Long Tingfei to feel the i victory for the first ti silent for some time, he spoke to Duan Wudi, “I have already decided Once shi+ Ying is captured, I will say that he framed you With this, thisin talented commanders His Royal Majesty and the important officials of the court will surely have their priorities straight⁴ Besides, I tacitly accepted your behavior No one will investigate this ive eneral out of the four who served byefforts and die beforeforth like a spring Although he had coarded his reputation and e operation all for Northern Han’s sake, he also knew that if this ma Even if he did not die, he would lose his cofei had actually come to the decision to personally assume the blame This kind of protection and dear affection would be difficult for hi to his knees, he sobbingly acknowledged, “This general obeys! This general vows to give his life in dedicated service to the country, defending the lands and the country! Even if I a teardrops surfaced in Long Tingfei’s eyes Holding them back with difficulty, he replied, “The current situation is dire In troubled tifei has often received kindness and grace froinally servants of the Liu faeneral and conferred a hout the world, all conferred by His Royal Majesty I will never forget thisfamily will never yield! Moreover,have battled fornumerous casualties on both sides Even several enerals have died before the walls of Jinyang Once Northern Han is defeated and conquered, its people will likely be unable to eenerations and becoins and were repeatedly frustrated, the King, Grand General Lin, and I have all treated you with great grace Do not fail to live up to our expectations If I am to die one day on the battlefield, aside fro, Northern Han will have no one capable of handling the entire situation When the tihness to save this desperate crisis and prevent the people of Northern Han fro’s butcher blades”

Duan Wudi felt his heart ache, as he responded, “Grand General, you h our country is in a desperate situation, it does not mean there isn’t the chance to turn it around Grand General, you eneral only has the word loyalty inas Wudi is alive, I will definitely not betray the expectations of the country and its people”

Long Tingfei heaved a long sigh, replying, “Go help Xiao Tong shi+ Ying ht back alive I want to learn how many military secrets he has revealed”

Duan Wudi consented and withdrew Long Tingfeiphysically and emotionally exhausted