I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

"Miss Qin, the Imperial City Guard has set up a hidden sentry at the city gate at dawn today, specifically to check on women living outside the city. If you left the city yesterday, you probably won't be able to return today."

"I know," Qin Keqing said, her finger slowly tracing the edge of the booklet. "That's why I didn't publish it yesterday."

Liu An nodded and quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Qin Keqing stood still and blew out the oil lamp hanging on the door.

After the lights went out, she heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from the Imperial Street in the distance.

There wasn't just one horse, but many. The sound of the horseshoes striking the stone slabs was uniform; they were military horses.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year in Lin'an, Qin Hui had already begun to close the net.

Qin Keqing put the charcoal pencil back into the bamboo hairpin, screwed it in, and then inserted the hairpin back into her hair.

She needs to continue investigating the two leads Tian Ruyi left in Xiuzhou. Although she has cut off his escape route and cleared them away, this old intelligence officer will not only follow the Xiuzhou line.

He must have also been investigating Xiangyang, Ezhou, and Zhenjiang at the same time.

Especially Xiangyang.

Qin Hui's men needed a legitimate base to be stationed around Xiangyang to monitor Yue Yinping.

The waterway from Ezhou to Xiangyang is less than 200 li, but it takes a day and a night to travel by fast boat on the Han River.

Now that Dong Xiansheng has been promoted to Military Commander of Ezhou, it's as if Qin Hui has planted an eye at the gates of Xiangyang.

How long this eye can see depends on how well Yue Yinping can hide in Xiangyang.

She turned to a new page in the booklet and wrote a line at the top: "On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Dong Xianke will be employed by Qin. The waterway from Ezhou to Xiangyang may be monitored." After writing this, she paused and added three words at the end of the sentence: "Inform Yue Fei."

Then she closed the booklet, pushed open the door, and walked into the corridor.

The courtyard of the Prince's Mansion was very quiet.

The snow on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year had not yet melted, and thin ice had formed here and there on the bluestone slabs.

Steam rose from the kitchen as freshly steamed dumplings were being made. You could vaguely hear Xiao Jinluo learning how to roll out dumpling wrappers from Aunt Li, exclaiming, "This wrapper looks like a rabbit!"

Shen Qingci smiled and corrected her, saying that the rabbit's ears should be stretched a little longer.

Qin Keqing walked through the corridor to the entrance of the study in the main courtyard, just as Xin Qizong came out from inside.

The old general wasn't wearing the blue cloth short jacket from the Imperial Clan Court today; he had changed back into his faded old military robe. His right hand was on the hilt of his waist sword, and his left leg was still wrapped in bandages from an old injury.

"Miss Qin, this is perfect." Xin Qizong lowered his voice. "His Highness just received a secret letter from Ezhou. It didn't go through our channels, but through Zhang Quwei's old channels at Cining Palace. The messenger identified himself as a tea merchant from Ezhou."

Qin Keqing nodded and pushed open the door to enter the study.

Zhao Bozong sat at his desk, with an opened letter in front of him.

The envelope was made of very ordinary mulberry paper, the sealing wax at the closure had been peeled off, and the edges of the letter were yellowed, as if it had been traveling for many days.

His fingers tapped lightly on the table, his gaze fixed on the letter, and he looked up when he heard Qin Keqing come in.

"This letter was written on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month last year. It took six days to travel to Lin'an. The writer was a tea merchant from Ezhou who identified himself as surnamed Sun in the letter."

He said that last December, a batch of crossbows was transferred from the Ezhou armory, with the destination listed as Xiangyang, but no recipient specified. He used four pages to subtly hint at this, but didn't dare mention Yue Yinping's name at all, because he feared the letter would fall into the hands of the Imperial City Guard.

Zhao Bocong pushed the letter over so that Qin Keqing could read it herself.

"But his hints were clear enough: Xiangyang was secretly preparing weapons and supplies to be transported via the Ezhou tea route."

This matter should have been written to us by Yue Yinping herself, but she did not. She preferred to let a tea merchant from Ezhou risk delivering the message, explaining that the situation in Xiangyang was more complicated than we had anticipated.

The Imperial City Guard has at least two lines of informants around Xiangyang. If Yue Yinping were to begin writing, it's highly likely her work would be intercepted before it even leaves Xiangyang.

Qin Keqing took the letter and read it carefully.

The tea merchant surnamed Sun used very cryptic language, describing the crossbow as "top-grade Sichuan tea," Xiangyang as "old customer," and the crossbow bolts as "newly picked Maojian tea."

However, these cryptic words conceal a crucial piece of information: when the crossbows were transferred out last December, the arsenal commander of Ezhou signed the document, but the original transfer record was altered after the arsenal commander was reassigned.

The other party clearly wanted to move the shortfall in this batch of military equipment to "normal wear and tear," but the modification was not thorough enough, and the old and new files did not match.

"Your Highness, Sun Yan." Qin Keqing lightly tapped her signature at the end of the letter.

"Last year, Dong Xian transferred the first batch of crossbows from Ezhou to Xiangyang. At that time, Li Bao sent sailors from Zhenjiang to survey the waterways along the river. They used Sun Yan's tea boats."

In his letter, Li Bao did not mention Sun Yan's full name, only saying, "There is a tea merchant in Ezhou surnamed Sun who transports tea and waterway maps."

This person was Yue Yinping's most trusted liaison in the Ezhou area. He risked having his letter intercepted by the Imperial City Guard to write this letter to His Highness, explaining that what Xiangyang lacked most right now was not soldiers, but communications.

Yue Yinping had no safe communication line from Xiangyang to Lin'an.

"So we need to help her set up this line. The fire alarm bell is currently being used to extend the line from the old camp in the southern suburbs to the Houchaomen ferry. Once it is completed, a coded signal can be transmitted from Lin'an city to the dock within a quarter of an hour."

Li Bao has prepared a permanently stationed fast boat in Zhenjiang, which will only operate on the Guazhou Ferry to Hanshuikou line in peacetime, and will only be used to deliver secret messages. Also—”

Zhao Bozong's finger lightly traced the bell lines on the map of Lin'an's city wards. "Do you think it's possible to use the Imperial Guard's former deadly messenger network to set up a backup drop point for us on the outskirts of Xiangyang?"

Qin Keqing did not respond immediately. She opened the booklet, checked a mark, and her fingertip stopped on a certain line.

"There were two old locations in the suburbs of Xiangyang, which were the backup contact locations that Yue Yinping and I agreed on before she left last year."

One was the rear hall of the White Horse Temple in the west of the city, and the other was the abandoned Dragon King Temple at the Caoshi Ferry on the opposite bank of the Han River. Only Yue Yinping and I knew about these two places. The code was the dead letter memorization method taught by Zhijia back then, which involved stuffing half a cattail root into a designated crack in the old bricks.

"As long as Li Bao's boat can deliver the letter to the mouth of the Han River, I have someone here who can deliver it from the dock to Baima Temple within a day."

"Who was chosen to take this person from the dock to the White Horse Temple? Is he reliable?"

"Reliable." Qin Keqing paused, "But this person is illiterate and can only deliver messages, not write them. We still need Sun Yan from Ezhou to continue to help with the reply from Xiangyang."

"I can have Manager Wang help Sun Yan obtain a proper identity in Xiuzhou, a purchasing agent for the tea shop branch, linked to the Zongzheng Temple's land inventory. This way, he'll have a legitimate reason to travel between Ezhou and Lin'an, preventing him from being questioned every time."

After listening, Zhao Bozong remained silent for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote three instructions on a piece of paper.

The first and second orders were for Li Bao and Jin Bao, instructing them to dispatch a fast boat from Jiaoshan to be permanently stationed at Guazhou Ferry before the tenth day of the first lunar month, taking the special route to Hanshuikou, making at least two round trips per month. In addition, a batch of secret medicinal materials was to be set aside in a pharmacy in Zhenjiang, sealed in boxes with the code "Xiangyang Special Supply", and delivered to Baima Temple by the ferry after being handed over at Hanshuikou.

The third instruction was for Yue Yinping. When writing this instruction, he only wrote six words: "The message has been sent, everything is going smoothly." After writing it, he folded the three slips of paper and pushed them towards Qin Keqing.

"Send her out as quickly as possible. Dong Xian's connection is temporarily cut off, but I can't let her wait alone in Xiangyang."