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

"One for each city gate." Qin Keqing opened the booklet and checked. "I currently have seven sets of travel permits, but only three people can independently identify the markings: myself, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, and Liu An."

The other four are still waiting in Xiuzhou and will not be able to enter the city until after the first month of the lunar calendar. However, Xiao Bieli said that he also hid a group of people outside the city gates, former members of Yue Fei's army scattered among the people.

Everyone turned to look at Xiao Bieli.

Xiao Bieli remained silent for a moment, then took out the roster from his pocket and spread it out on the table.

The roster was densely filled with dozens of names and their whereabouts: hunters, porters, outlaws, and an old captain who ran a small tavern incognito.

Qin Keqing had seen this roster before, and Xin Qizong had heard of it, but only now was it being laid out on the core conference table of the documents for the first time.

"The jailer who helped my sister deliver the rabbit in the Dali Temple prison was later fined three months' salary by Wan Qixie and now sells charcoal at a stall near Houchao Gate."

Xiao Bieli pointed to a line on the roster, "There are a few others. One works as a boatman at Guazhou Ferry, and another works as a waiter at a tavern in the west of Lin'an City."

None of these people have been exposed yet. If Your Highness needs backup contact points at the four city gates, I can arrange for someone to mark the rendezvous at each gate.

These men had all served in Yue Fei's army and were familiar with covert surveillance, able to distinguish plainclothes scouts from the Imperial City Guard. They only passed markers, not messages; even if captured, the Imperial City Guard couldn't extract any substantial information from them.

For the first time, Zhao Bozong carefully examined the complete version of the roster. There were far more than seven names on the roster. Some names were crossed out, some had vague locations noted next to them, and some he only recognized half of.

Have you contacted all of these people?

"I spent two years on the road to exile, finding them one by one," Xiao Bieli said. "Some are still alive, some are already dead. As long as the living are willing to wait, I will write their names in a book. One day, when His Highness's order is issued, they will come on their own."

Qin Keqing and Zhao Bozong spoke at the same time, then stopped at the same time. Zhao Bozong gestured for her to speak first.

"Your Highness, Xiao Xianfeng's list and the backup contact points I previously agreed upon with Yue Yinping, the back hall of Baima Temple and the Dragon King Temple, can be put together perfectly."

"I've been lacking someone who can run through the markers directly in Xiangyang City. If I use someone from Xiao Xianfeng's roster..."

"We'll select the person for this today. Xiangyang Baima Temple is a target that Tian Ruyi has already set his sights on, but setting his sights on it doesn't mean he'll take it. We need to get the communication process running smoothly before he confirms the exact location of the handover point."

"Miss Qin, have Xiao Bieli choose someone from the list right now. They must be from Xiangyang City and able to enter and leave the White Horse Temple at any time without being questioned."

Zhao Bocong turned to Qin Keqing and said, "We will continue to use the code word left by Zhijia, and stuff cattail roots into the cracks between the bricks."

The marking direction and marking time have all been changed to new codes. The Xiangyang direction must be an independent system, completely separated from the Lin'an direction. Even if Tian Ruyi breaks through one of them, he will not be able to deduce the other.

Xiao Bieli pushed the roster half an inch towards Qin Keqing, and the two of them screened the roster one by one under the lamplight.

They selected one of their former subordinates from Xiangyang City, one boatman from the Han River ferry, and two contact persons marked outside the Houchao Gate.

Qin Keqing used a charcoal pencil to write each person's alias and contact information on a piece of paper. After writing it down, she memorized it three times on the spot, burned the paper, and crushed the ashes into the tea.

Xin Qizong watched as the two young men, one flipping through the roster and the other burning paper money, suddenly stood up from the table and slammed the old gun barrel heavily on the ground.

"Your Highness, I have a question. The names on this list are much more numerous than the list of names on the missing copper coin that Zhijia left behind. Zhijia's list only had seven people, but Xiao Xianfeng's list has at least sixty."

Zhao Bocong noticed it too. "Xiao Xianfeng, the names on this roster don't completely overlap with the old subordinates you knew in Yue Fei's army. Some of these people aren't from your vanguard battalion."

"Yes," Xiao Bieli said. "Some of them were under Zhang Xian's command, some under Wang Gui's command, and a few were defeated soldiers that Yue Shaobao had recruited in Jiangnan West Road back then."

These people were scattered everywhere after the eleventh year of Shaoxing; hunters, porters, outlaws—I found out about them one by one by asking them.

But this roster is probably not complete. In the tenth year of the Shaoxing reign, Yue Fei's army numbered nearly 100,000. After the eleventh year of the Shaoxing reign, some died, some scattered, and some were reorganized but then dispersed, but some were still alive. What I found is only a very small fraction of them.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Back then, I saw a piece of intelligence from the Jin State Marshal's Office in the Jin camp. The Jin people also had a list that recorded the mid-level officers from Yue Fei's old troops who might still be able to regroup."

That list was much more detailed than mine, but I only glanced at it and couldn't remember it all.

Qin Keqing lowered her voice: "Do the Jurchens have a list of former members of Yue Fei's army?"

"Yes, Yue Shaobao fought for ten years, and the Jin people kept records of every officer under his command who was good at fighting."

After Yue Fei's death in the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era, the Jurchens updated this list, not to find these people, but to guard against them and prevent them from regrouping.

Zhao Bozong stood up and walked to the window. The Jin people also had a list of former Yue Family Army soldiers. He needed to carefully consider the weight of this matter.

Before his death, Master Zhijia divided the missing copper coin into seven pieces and distributed them, each representing a copy of a list.

We thought this list was all there was—seven people, or seven contact points—but Zhijia's original words were, "The wooden bird recognizes its master when the wind rises."

He gently tapped his fingers against the windowpane. "The wooden bird is a communication tool, not a weapon. The list Zhijia left behind is not a conscription order, but a contact directory."

These seven copper coins are not just gathering seven people, but gathering seven archives, each archive corresponding to a field, and each field contains more names.

The "military intelligence" list in Xiao Xianfeng's possession is very likely a fragment of one of the files, while the list in the Jurchens' possession is another fragment of a file they intercepted from somewhere.

"When Zhijia scattered the copper coins before he died, did he say which seven lines these seven coins corresponded to?" Xiao Bieli asked.

Qin Keqing answered for Zhao Bocong: "Before Master went to prison, he only told us one thing: the missing coin is one wing of the wooden bird, and the other wing is in Xiangyang."

His original words were, "Xiangyang is not just Xiangyang." At the time, I thought he was referring to Yue Yinping's old camp, but now it seems he might not have been referring to military strength, but rather a bell tower, a roster, or a more complete contact list than we currently know.

Zhao Bozong took a tiny bronze box from the bookshelf, opened it, and inside were two pages of paper that Zhijia had left for him before his death.

It is a brief explanation: "The wooden bird has three wings, one wing in the capital, one wing in the field, and one wing in the army." Below this sentence is a line of even smaller text: "The military line is kept in Ezhou, awaiting Zhu Zi's order."

He showed this page to everyone.

"The word 'Zhu Zi Ling' is not a military term; it is a secret code used by Zhi Jia. Zhu means red."

There aren't many people with the surname Zhu in the military, and even fewer who have access to the military's inner circle. There's one person in the world who can help us activate this list—Zhu Fei.