The woman held the bun in her mouth and left quickly, returning to the forest with her companion. After confirming no one else was around, she spat it out.
It was a letter wrapped in oilcloth, with a few lines written inside.
"Yu Qingchuan received a secret letter from Liang Xiao. Liang Xiao inferred that the barbarians would definitely divide their forces to support Yunzhou and planned to wait for an opportunity to annihilate the barbarian remnants outside the city. He also entrusted Mount Tian to send martial artists to assist in monitoring the every move of the generals' families of the He and Dugu clans, and to investigate the rumors within the city."
The man said joyfully, "As expected of Master Tamamo-no-Mae, to infiltrate Liang Xiao so quickly and gather such crucial intelligence!"
These two were the ninjas left by Ito Masamune to contact "Tamamo-no-Mae"!
"Have the barbarians already reached the outskirts of Yanzhou City? Should we go to Yanzhou to warn the barbarians?" the female ninja suggested.
The male ninja nodded, "I will go! You stay here and continue to await intelligence from Tamamo-no-Mae!"
In the Grand Liang imperial palace, the emperor and his ministers also heard rumors of the Heavenly General appearing in various parts of Jiangnan, and they were shocked and dismayed.
Mu Cheng hurriedly dismissed the court and returned to the imperial study with Qin Feng, his expression grave.
"Could it be that your inference was wrong, and Liang Xiao is not the true Heavenly General?" Mu Cheng sighed.
Qin Feng fell silent for a moment, as if talking to himself, "Could it be fabricated rumors? Didn't the Marquis of Zhenbei send people to Daqian to gather intelligence? Your Majesty could first see what his people say when they return..."
"Your suggestion for him to gather intelligence in Daqian is indeed a brilliant move!" Mu Cheng sighed.
Qin Feng merely smiled, "Winter is approaching, and some sections of the Tian River are very likely to freeze. The difficulty for the barbarians to cross the Tian River and invade Daqian will be greatly reduced. How could they be willing to accept last year's defeat? I heard that the Left Virtuous King fears the Heavenly General like a tiger, but if the Heavenly General is truly dead..."
"Perhaps this Left Virtuous King also doubts Liang Xiao's identity, and might realize the truth, only seeking to avenge himself before spring!" Mu Cheng sighed.
Yanzhou was too far from the Grand Liang, and news was delayed. At this time, the emperor and his minister could only speculate whether the barbarians would march south, and whether they would reignite the flames of war before Liang Xiao could completely change the weak state of Daqian!
Qin Feng sighed, "If Daqian and the barbarians go to war, the outcome of this battle will affect the general trend of the world. Your Majesty must make preparations early..."
"You believe Daqian can defend itself?" Mu Cheng said with a wry smile.
He absolutely did not want Daqian to win.
Qin Feng also said with a wry smile, "War is unpredictable, but Daqian is no longer the weak and easily bullied Daqian of the past. Your Majesty must make a decision the moment you receive the war reports. After all, arrangements for this matter will take one to three years, or even longer. The Third Prince has been relentlessly pursuing Miss Zhuo Er recently..."
Mu Cheng suddenly understood, his face displeasure, "You are beating around the bush, are you not just saying that Daqian has Liang Xiao! I know what to do. I will not allow it, and that brat would not dare to offend Liang Xiao and insult Zhuo Yun!"
Outside the chess hall of the Grand Liang Chess Sage, the Grand Liang Third Prince was furious, "This slut, relying on her good grandfather, dares to ignore this prince so much?"
A subordinate whispered into the Third Prince's ear.
"Your Highness, we have investigated. We heard that Zhuo Yun has another capable person protecting her in secret, which allowed Zhuo Yun to safely escape to Grand Liang. This person is an old friend of Liang Dingguo, Liang Xiao's uncle, and was personally arranged by His Majesty. You know him too!"
"So it's him?" The Third Prince's pupils contracted. He finally lowered his face and, with a look of unwillingness, flicked his sleeves and left.
In the northern military camp, Liang Xiao supervised the soldiers' training daily.
The generals from the He and Dugu families had already been sidelined by Liang Xiao, and even their personal guards were dispersed by him.
Because they had received instructions from He Wanli and Dugu Qun in the past two days to obey Liang Xiao and not be arrogant, they could only endure it and not act rashly, despite their bewilderment.
The news of Liang Xiao personally executing He Anping finally reached the capital, and the entire court was shocked!
After Dugu Ling, another court general died at Liang Xiao's hands, giving them no chance for explanation or negotiation.
He Wanli's face was ashen, but he dared not impeach him further.
According to news from the northern border, Liang Xiao had already issued a military order forbidding talk of war, and those who spoke of war would be beheaded. He Anping had still dared to criticize him in private.
This could only be blamed on their failure to remind He Anping earlier not to defy Liang Xiao, and He Anping's usual arrogance as a member of a noble family...
However, how could He Wanli be content? He jointly petitioned Emperor Xiao Qing with Dugu Qun: "Your Majesty, our nation's soldiers' treatment has been improved, and a large number of new recruits have been enlisted in the north. We should be fighting a decisive battle with the barbarians to honor the spirits of the fallen soldiers. The actions of the驸马爷 are truly hard to convince the public. Your humble servant is somewhat worried that he will be impeached for nurturing the enemy for his own gain..."
These few words, seemingly expressing concern for Liang Xiao, were actually a reminder to Xiao Qing to prevent Liang Xiao from amassing power, and the words "驸马爷" were emphasized heavily.
Xiao Qing said dismissively, "Defending the city and waiting for the enemy's mistake is the task I assigned to my beloved minister Liang. Do all my ministers believe that obedient ministers are more likely to amass power than those who act arbitrarily?"
Dugu Qun and the others were speechless and could only change their approach, urging Xiao Qing to order an expedition.
No one knew better than Dugu Qun what the consequences would be if the Grand Qian's Ministry of War continued to operate non-stop.
The military equipment of the Grand Qian soldiers would be greatly improved, and the difficulty for the barbarians to penetrate Daqian would become increasingly high!
Only by allowing the barbarians to overthrow Daqian would they have a chance to crush Liang Xiao!
When the barbarians invaded the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Grand Heng Kingdom in the past, the noble families played no small role. In the end, no matter how many commoners died, they were not among them. They could even take advantage of the chaos for immense profits...
Gu Hong and Mu Lingming's hands, holding their笏板 (ivory tablets), were trembling, and they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They were also very worried that Liang Xiao would lose the battle, or even die on the battlefield...
The Gu and Mu families, being neither big nor small noble families, supported the imperial power, but they were not great enough to sacrifice their families for the nation. They had to consider their family interests, at least ensuring the continuation of their lineage.
If Liang Xiao died, they would eventually face retribution from the Dugu family and the barbarians...
Anyone could lose power, and Liang Xiao could too, but Liang Xiao absolutely could not die!
Xiao Qing was equally nervous. She also did not want her beloved to rashly engage in battle, even if he was the Heavenly General. Outside Yanzhou, the barbarians always held the advantage.
In the northern military camp, after several days of effort, Liang Xiao finally managed to exclude all the family generals from the Dugu and He families from the center of power.
Liang Xiao held the small military tallies of those men and sneered, "Dare to play tricks on me? I'll just press my advantage and take more!"
These noble families, knowing they could not directly fight him for now, wanted to use "捧杀" (praise that leads to downfall), but that didn't mean he would fall for it.
"The primary task now is to eliminate the enemy's scouts. I wonder how General Zhuo is doing." Mu Hong was somewhat nervous and asked, "Is General Nan also there?"
Whether they could gain an intelligence advantage was particularly important for the northern military camp, and could even influence Liang Xiao's decisions!