Chapter 861: Chapter 515: Daoist Priest, Time to Take You Killing (6k)
"Confirmed correct! The court’s Silver Shadow Guard stationed at Linfeng, ’Bai Sun’, greets you, sir!"
The dirty woman looked surprised, suddenly knelt on one knee, raised her hands high to return the token.
This scene stunned everyone, Zhao Douan asked suspiciously, "Shadow Guard Bai Sun?"
"Yes." The woman codenamed Bai Sun reached into her bosom and took out her own Shadow Guard Token with black characters on a silver background: "Please verify, sir."
Tang Jinzhong, standing aside, took it, infused it with Qi Mechanism, and the Shadow Guard Token sparked with dreamlike starlight. As it revolved, the words "Bai Sun" appeared on the back.
"It’s real," Tang Jinzhong confirmed.
"You’re a court Shadow Guard? Why were you attacked? Tell me quickly." Mo Chou struggled to stay calm, suppressing the urge to vomit as she questioned.
Bai Sun answered immediately:
"I was ordered to infiltrate enemy lines in the war zone to gather intelligence. My identity was exposed, and I was pursued, but was saved by you, sir."
Mo Chou was cautious and asked, "Why flee this way? Shouldn’t you escape to the Prefecture?"
Bai Sun answered truthfully, "There was a battle at the Prefecture today, so I dared not go there and had to head north. The Linfeng Shadow Guard learned days ago that you were leading the troops southward, so I fled north to make the enemy scouts afraid to advance further."
The response was fluent, without hesitation.
Zhao Douan suddenly asked, "You said there’s a battle at the Prefecture?"
Bai Sun nodded: "Reporting, sir, today the rebel army under Su Dan was dispatched to attack the Prefecture. However, undercover intelligence revealed that elite riders led by experts were sent to take advantage of our forces being tied up at the Prefecture, to infiltrate and disrupt. I learned of this, became anxious, and rushed back through the frontlines, which is why I was targeted."
What? There’s a battle up front? The Yunfu Rebel Army and Xue Shence are fighting?
Everyone’s face changed at this moment.
Zhao Douan felt a sinking feeling and asked, "You said experts are infiltrating to cause destruction? What exactly? Who are they? Where did they go?"
Bai Sun looked troubled: "The enemy’s movements are confidential, and I don’t know much... I only know there are several light cavalry units, and also cultivation experts overseeing."
Zhao Douan suddenly threw the map on the ground along with a branch in his hand to her: "Mark the route of the light cavalry you saw and know about. Don’t tell me you know nothing and still got hunted down."
Feeling Zhao Yan’s icy gaze, Bai Sun shivered and couldn’t muster the thought of resistance, so she reluctantly picked up the dark end of the branch and drew a few lines on the map.
Zhao Douan nodded in satisfaction, his gaze towards her warming slightly, as he personally helped her up: "You’ve been through a lot, since you’re injured, someone, take her to rest in my carriage. I’ve got better medicine inside."
Bai Sun was moved to tears and said, "Sir, the situation is urgent, my life is not worth worrying about. I don’t know where the reinforcements are. Currently, we must head to the Prefecture quickly to repel the strong enemy."
Are you teaching me how to do things? Zhao Douan’s expression became solemn: "This governor will seriously consider it, go now."
He finished speaking and threw a glance at Tang Jinzhong, who understood immediately and personally led the Silver Shadow Guard named Bai Sun to the back.
"The military situation is urgent; there’s no time to eat. We should set off immediately," Mo Chou urged anxiously.
Zhao Douan didn’t move an inch: "Where to?"
Mo Chou looked at him strangely: "Of course, to the Prefecture! The Shadow Guard is right, only if we get there quickly can we turn the tide of battle."
"Wait a moment," Zhao Douan said. He turned and looked toward the woods from where constant screams could be heard. Shortly, Song Jinxi returned dragging a bloodied officer in black armor, saying with a grin, "Sir, this person has told us everything he knows."
The intelligence Zhao Douan heard from the officer closely matched what Bai Sun had reported.
At this point, Tang Jinzhong returned too, nodding at him, indicating that he had verified Bai Sun’s identity with the secret code.
Zhao Douan finally nodded:
"Indeed, Shi Meng and Yuan Feng should lead the main force from the Capital Camp to the Prefecture. Jinxi, ride to the camp behind and inform them of the intelligence we just received. Ask them to hurry with forced marches, and also, bring the light cavalry from the Divine Mechanism Camp over separately. I need them."
Song Jinxi responded, mounted his horse, and sped off with a whip.
Mo Chou froze for a bit: "What do you want the light cavalry for?"
Zhao Douan picked up a branch, eyes fixed on the dirty map on the ground: "To kill, of course. Didn’t you hear? The real purpose of the enemy attacking the Prefecture might be to cover for this cavalry unit to cause damage. How can we just let it be?"
Mo Chou retorted: "But we don’t know where these people went, do we?"
Without lifting his head, Zhao Douan kept his eyes locked on the few black and gray arrows on the map. His gaze was deep like a pool, and in his mind, every important location and coordinate within the Taicang Prefecture emerged one by one. The directions of the enemy’s attacks marked by Bai Sun became clearer and more extended in his mind’s deduction. Those scattered, deliberately misleading arrows seemed to spread and divert along the crisscrossing roads on the map, eventually converging into one.
He murmured softly:
"I may not understand marching and warfare, but I do know that a battlefield, within its bounds, follows basic rules like a game of chess. I consider myself adept at chess, as its strategies can be extrapolated, so can the march of an army. Ha, fortunately, this is Taicang Prefecture. When I came here last year for an investigation, I understood the terrain inside out at the inn, personally measuring and walking through every path within and around the city... There are very few places within Taicang that are worth such a complicated diversion stealth attack from Su Dan; cavalry travel is limited, unable to scale mountains and cross ridges, making roads fixed; reinforcements are arriving, and with Mu Prince Manor’s intelligence capabilities, they surely know too, so time is also constrained... As these rules are brushed through one by one, the target of the enemy’s surprise attack is not ambiguous."