Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 590 The Wrong Letter
Bai Zaixiang heard the faint word "kill" very clearly. Her face changed slightly, and it was not until Lu Wenzhao translated Yuan Keli's entire words to her that her face gradually returned to normal.

"I understand," Bai Zaixiang nodded to Yuan Keli. "After I return, I will immediately send more personnel to Bitong and Shuozhou."

After listening to the translation, Yuan Keli gently waved his hand: "You can make arrangements first, but there's no need to rush to send people over. It wouldn't be good if the slaves noticed something was wrong in advance."

"Then which day do you think is suitable for departure?" Bai Zaixiang asked.

"Zhenjiang and Shuozhou are only eighty miles by water." Yuan Keli twirled his fingers. "Eighty miles by water. One day faster, two days later, and we'll be there in three days at most. Just leave three days in advance."

"That's the 27th?" Bai Zaixiang confirmed.

"That's right." Yuan Keli confirmed.

"Okay." Lu Wenzhao did not translate the last word.

"Does anyone have anything else to say?" Yuan Keli straightened up and glanced at the orange-red silhouette reflected on the paper window.

No one spoke up, only Lu Wenzhao asked Bai Zaixiang, "Madam Bai, do you have anything else to ask?"

"I don't have any questions. Just ask Guardian Yuan for instructions." Bai Zaixiang shook her head.

"Let's stop here for today. I don't have anything else to say for now. Let me just talk about one last thing." Yuan Keli looked around at everyone, and everyone looked back in response.

Yuan Keli spoke slowly, and Lu Wenzhao translated in a low voice, "Han Feizi said, 'Secrecy leads to success, while disclosure leads to failure.' So far, apart from General Xiong and Governor Yuan, the only people in Liaodong who know the purpose of my trip and my true identity are you. Inspector Yang, Lieutenant General Hu, and even the generals of the various garrisons are unaware of what will happen in seven days. During these seven days, you may plan and make arrangements, but you must not reveal this matter to anyone."

"Understood!" Lu Wenzhao said, and everyone bowed to Yuan Keli.

"Thank you all for your help." Yuan Keli took a half step back and returned the greeting. Then, he turned around and walked towards the guardianship edict.

Lu Wenzhao also followed behind him and picked up the Jinyiwei imperial envoy badge that looked like a paperweight.

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The door to the meeting hall of the Guerrilla General's Mansion was opened.

Yuan Keli was the first to step out the door, followed closely by Lu Wenzhao on his left, and Gao Bangzuo half a step behind on his right. Bai Zaixiang glanced at Mao Wenlong, who smiled at her and gestured for him to come in, so she quickly took two steps and followed him. Mao Wenlong closed the door and was the last to come out.

"Yuan Bingxian." Lu Jianxing, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who was on duty at the steps, quickly walked over to Yuan Keli.

"Captain Lu, what's wrong?" Yuan Keli stopped and the others also stopped.

Lu Jianxing pulled out the envelope, which had been passed around several times, and handed it to Yuan Keli. "This is from the Tusi of Youyang."

"Since it is a letter sent by the Youyang soldiers to Madam Bai, Captain Lu should show it to Madam Bai first." Yuan Keli stopped taking the letter and looked at Bai Zaixiang with a smile.

"Letter?" Bai Zaixiang was stunned.

Lu Jianxing remained in the same position, showing no intention of passing the letter to Bai Zaixiang. "The Tusi of Youyang was just delivering a letter. This letter was written to Gao Canzheng by someone claiming to be Hada Minister."

"Hiss!" Gao Bangzuo was startled when he heard the Jinyiwei suddenly mention him.

"Hada Minister?" Yuan Keli took the letter, turned his head, and gave Gao Bangzuo a questioning look. Yuan Keli felt that he must have heard the term "Hada Tribe" somewhere before, but his mind was too full of things and too complicated to remember it at the moment.

"I've never heard of the Hada tribe. Perhaps," Gao Bangzuo said, his eyes filled with fear, and he shook his head in bewilderment. "Maybe it's some small tribe in Beiguan or Chaohua." Most of the time, Gao Bangzuo traveled back and forth between Liao, Shen, Feng, and Zhen. He had only a brief encounter with Wang Shizhong; the two had never even spoken alone. Gao Bangzuo's impression of the Hada tribe remained stuck on the phrase "Nanguan."

"Since this letter is addressed to Councillor Gao, he should read it first." Yuan Keli's hand suddenly stopped while delivering the letter. He turned his head abruptly and asked Lu Wenzhao excitedly, "Hada tribe is Nanguan, right?" Yuan Keli suddenly remembered! When they arrived in Guangning, the young "descendant of Nanguan" had introduced the two terms "Nanguan" and "Hada tribe" together.

"You're right," Lu Wenzhao looked at Lu Jianxing, then at Gao Bangzuo. "Hada tribe is Nanguan."

Gao Bangzuo was stunned. His heartbeat inexplicably accelerated, and his breathing became rapid. Gao Bangzuo wanted to know the contents of the letter, but he didn't dare to reach out to take it. In the end, he just stood there in a daze, swallowing his saliva: "I have never met Minister Hada or Minister Nanguan. I don't know why he wrote to me."

Yuan Keli narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the seal of the letter. "Has Captain Lu read this letter?"

Lu Jianxing nodded and said, "The letter was opened when it was delivered."

"Anything else?" Yuan Keli held the letter.

"And this." Lu Jianxing handed over the "written communication".

"Who wrote these letters? Why were they taken out separately?" Yuan Keli took the "pen conversation" but did not open it to read it.

"This isn't a letter. It's a written record of a conversation between a garrison officer named Qiu Julu, a Tartar messenger, and a Youyang soldier." Lu Jianxing smiled faintly. "There's nothing substantial on it."

"Tartar messenger? Where is he?" Yuan Keli asked.

Lu Jianxing shook his head. "The Youyang soldiers did bring a Tartar, but I don't know if it was that man. If not, then the messenger should still be on the way." Lu Jianxing pointed at the written records. "The written records say there were four messengers, one of whom was a Han Chinese interpreter."

"Where are they?" Yuan Keli started writing and quickly browsed through it.

"I don't know," Lu Jianxing said, misunderstanding Yuan Keli's intention. "There was a misunderstanding when the chieftain's soldiers and the messengers first met, and one of the messengers was shot. Judging from the written communication, they should remove the arrowhead at Qiu Julu's fort before continuing their journey. I'm afraid they won't arrive until tomorrow."

Yuan Keli nodded. "Where are the people who gave you this letter?"

"Captain Lu ordered that no one be seen during the meeting, so I sent them back," Lu Jianxing said. "So what's in this letter?" Yuan Keli raised the still-unopened letter. This immediately rattled Gao Bangzuo's nerves.

"In the letter." Lu Jianxing was about to reply when he found Lu Wenzhao staring at him. His heart tightened, thinking Lu Wenzhao was asking him not to talk about it here. "It's about important things. There are too many people here to hear anything, so you should read it yourself."

Yuan Keli had also been paying attention to Lu Jianxing's expression. He noticed not only that Lu Jianxing had changed his tune, but also that he had no hostility toward Gao Bangzuo. This reassured Yuan Keli. If Gao Bangzuo was suspected of collaborating with the enemy, the Jinyiwei would certainly not be completely hostile.

"Then let's go back and see what's in the letter." Yuan Keli turned around, and everyone made way. Mao Wenlong also consciously trotted up the stairs and opened the door.

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Yuan Keli sat in the main seat and silently read the letter. He raised his head, his lips moving slightly, but in the end he said nothing and handed the letter to Lu Wenzhao, who was sitting below him.

Lu Wenzhao took the letter without even reading it, and handed it to the "recipient" Gao Bangzuo.

"Captain Lu, please read it first. Everyone wants to see it anyway." Gao Bangzuo forced a smile and declined, but his eyes turned slightly to Yuan Keli's face. Yuan Keli didn't look at him, but just lowered his head as if thinking about something.

Lu Wenzhao nodded with a smile, "Then I will respectfully obey your command."

The letter wasn't long, and Lu Wenzhao finished it quickly. "No wonder we couldn't find Wang Youji's brother in Guangning. It turns out he was brought to Kuandian by A Ming."

"Captain Lu also thinks that this Wang Dutang is Wang Youji's brother 'Wu'er Huda'?" Yuan Keli raised his head.

"The signature on the letter is 'Minister Youming Hada'. Unless the Nu chief appoints a new Hada Minister, it should be him." Lu Wenzhao handed the letter to Gao Bangzuo again.

This time, Gao Bangzuo didn't resign in a self-deprecating manner. But as he accepted the letter, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "But why did he write to me? And why did he call himself Wang Dutang?" Gao Bangzuo had long served as an official in Shandong, Hebei, and Shaanxi before being transferred to Liaodong last year. Since arriving in Liaodong, he hadn't been responsible for rebuilding the South Gate and was unfamiliar with the matter. More crucially, the title "Wang Dutang" hadn't appeared in court documents for over twenty years.

"Since this fallen ruler is willing to renew his obedience to the court, he naturally has to use his Chinese name," Yuan Keli said, gently stroking his beard, his eyes full of thought. "As for why he wrote to 'Counselor Gao', perhaps it was simply because he didn't know 'Counselor Yuan' was coming when he wrote."

After reading the contents of the letter, Gao Bangzuo breathed a sigh of relief. His tense nerves gradually relaxed, and his voice rose twice. "Collaborating with Korea and dividing Liaodong? These Tartars are really the ones who came up with this!" Gao Bangzuo stood up, walked to Mao Wenlong, and handed him the letter.

Mao Wenlong finished reading the letter in silence, his face expressionless. "Madam Bai, please."

Bai Zaixiang took the letter but didn't read it immediately. Instead, she asked Lu Wenzhao, "Land envoy. Just now, another 'land envoy' said that this letter was delivered by someone from my camp. Who delivered it?"

Lu Wenzhao was stunned, and the expression on his face seemed to be asking back: You ask me?
However, Lu Wenzhao didn't actually ask back. With his experience, how could he not understand the woman's implication? She was simply trying to distance herself from the matter and say that this was the first time she had heard of it.

"I don't know." Lu Wenzhao first replied to Bai Zaixiang in Southwestern dialect, and then asked Yuan Keli: "Yuan Jiao, do you want to call those people who delivered the letter over?"

"Thank you." Yuan Keli nodded.

"Old Lu." Lu Wenzhao shouted towards the door.

"Here." Lu Jianxing responded and trotted in.

"Go and bring over those messengers, and also the Tartar you just mentioned." Lu Wenzhao ordered.

"Yes, I'll go right away." Lu Jianxing saluted with his fists, turned around and left like the wind.

Soon, Bai Zaixiang finished reading the letter written in Chinese. Compared to Gao Bangzuo, whose anxiety had only dissipated, she felt a touch of joy. As long as the contents of the letter were true, her men would surely have achieved something great.

Bai Zaixiang bit her smile modestly, stood up and walked to the big desk, gently placed the letter in front of Yuan Keli. Bai Zaixiang's eyes swept across the "pen talk" and she felt that the words on it were somewhat familiar.

Yuan Keli didn't look at her, still maintaining that pensive look. Bai Zaixiang didn't dare to disturb him, so she tiptoed back and sat down.

Not long after she sat down, the door of the conference hall was opened again. Bai Zaixiang and the others looked back and were stunned.

"Why are you two here?" Bai Zaixiang was so frightened that she lost her voice and almost jumped up from her chair.

In reality, Bai Zaiying and his group hadn't left Zhenjiang City. Bai Zaiying was certain that the intelligence her third sister had brought back was important enough to warrant questioning. And even if she wasn't questioned today, her eldest sister would have returned to camp. So, she and her men found a small tavern near Zhenjiang City's only gate and sat down to wait.

In the end, things turned out just as Bai Zaiying had expected. They didn't have to wait too long. They had barely finished half of the tea they ordered when Lu Jianxing, accompanied by two Jinyiwei, rode up to find them.

"Big, big sister, I..." Bai Zaiyun's confidence and pride were first hit by Lu Jianxing's indifference, and her second sister poured cold water on her when she took the time to ask. Now, with all the high-ranking officials in the room staring at her, Bai Zaiyun couldn't bear it at all. She hesitated for a long time, and finally Bai Zaiying spoke up to explain: "Big sister. Those messengers were captured by my third sister."

Lu Jianxing also explained: "The letter was brought by these two ladies."

"Where is the Tartar messenger?" Lu Wenzhao asked Lu Jianxing.

"He's still waiting outside the government office," Lu Jianxing said. "If you summon him now, I'll go get him right away."

"Yuan Bingxian, do you want to bring him in?" Lu Wenzhao asked Yuan Keli.

"Please bring them in." Yuan Keli looked carefully at Bai Zaiying and Bai Zaiyun. "Mrs. Bai, could these two be your sisters?"

Lu Jianxing, who was about to go out, paused when he heard this question, but then he resumed his pace.

Bai Zaixiang was still in a daze, so Lu Wenzhao raised his voice and repeated Yuan Keli's question in the southwestern official accent.

"Yes, they are all my sisters!" In the blink of an eye, Bai Zaixiang came back to her senses and nodded several times. She quickly walked between Bai Zaiying and Bai Zaiyun and pulled them to the open space between the large table and the large sand table. "Ying'er, Yun'er, come here and pay your respects to the masters!"

(End of this chapter)