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

As dusk fell on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Xiao Bieli walked out of the back gate of the Prince of Puan's mansion, carrying a sword with a broken bamboo sheath.

His luggage was extremely simple, consisting of only a change of a gray cotton-padded jacket, a knife, and a roster in his pocket.

There was also the osmanthus cake that Xiao Jinluo had stuffed into his bundle before he left. The osmanthus cake was wrapped in three layers of oil paper, and on the outermost layer of paper were two words written crookedly: "Eat when you're hungry."

Shen Qingci stood at the end of the corridor, watching his figure disappear into the alley. She was holding a bowl of freshly cooked glutinous rice balls, but she didn't have time to give them to him.

Someone gently nudged her elbow from behind. It was Xiao Jinluo, who was holding a plush rabbit and looking up at Shen Qingci. "Sister Shen, my brother will come back."

Shen Qingci pulled her closer to her. "Mmm."

"He never promises he'll do something, but if he says 'okay,' he'll definitely come back." Xiao Jinluo paused. "He said 'okay' once in the Jin camp, promising to take me home, and he did."

Shen Qingci looked down at her and used a handkerchief to wipe the glutinous rice powder off Xiao Jinluo's face.

Zhao Bozong watched Xiao Bieli walk through the Imperial Street and disappear into the crowd from his study window. Behind him stood Qin Keqing, Liu An, and Xin Qizong. All the necessary arrangements had been finalized over the past two days.

"Xiao Bieli's trip to Xiangyang this time is not only to activate the Baima Temple liaison point, but also to pass through Ezhou."

If he can find any trace of Zhu Fu in Ezhou, even just a single clue, we can initiate the connection of the military's contact list.

But Ezhou is now heavily spies within the Imperial City Guard, and it's too risky for Xiao Bieli to go alone. General Xin, send an old soldier who knows Zhu Fu to accompany him.

Xin Qizong opened the door and was about to leave when Zhao Bozong added another sentence.

"Give him the title of document escort at the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, and let him take on the official post of inspector at the Ezhou Military Equipment Bureau."

Tian Ruyi had planted hidden sentries in Ezhou, and Xiao Bieli, with his official identity as a member of the Imperial Clan Court, would at least deter the Imperial City Guard from arbitrarily intercepting him.

"The document escorts of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs must be registered with the Ministry of Personnel—"

"Send it to the Ministry of Personnel tonight, and it will be approved early on the fifth day of the month," Zhao Bozong replied after a moment's thought. "Zhao Shiyi will sign it personally."

Xin Qizong grinned, leaned on the gun barrel, and limped out.

Qin Keqing remained silent until Liu An went out to relay the order, leaving only her and Zhao Bozong in the study.

She held the charcoal pencil over the edge of the booklet for a moment before finally writing: "Xiao Bieli departs for Xiangyang tonight. Zhu Fu's clues are in Ezhou; whether they can be activated remains to be seen."

The bell tower of Baima Temple in Xiangyang has been spied on, and the liaison point has suggested activating the backup plan. Tonight, on the Lantern Festival, Lin'an city is brightly lit, with more sentries than in previous years.

Zhao Bozong looked at the words but said nothing. He simply pushed the plate of cold glutinous rice balls toward Qin Keqing.

The glutinous rice balls were sent by Shen Qingci, but Qin Keqing knew that Xiao Jinluo had spent the whole afternoon making them in the kitchen.

It has sesame filling and is very sweet.

Suddenly, the sound of fireworks rang out outside the window.

Fireworks were being set off on Imperial Street, their colorful lights exploding and dissipating in the night sky, illuminating half of the street.

......

Xiangyang.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Xiangyang doesn't have as many lanterns as Lin'an. Only a few paper lanterns are scattered along the banks of the Han River, flickering in the river breeze.

The bell tower of Baima Temple rang twelve times in the twilight, a tradition of the Lantern Festival, when every temple rings its bell to pray for blessings on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

But after the twelfth chime tonight, the bells did not stop.

The old monk on the bell tower paused for a moment; he hadn't struck the bell that many times.

In the darkness, someone silently slid down from the north side of the bell tower, disappearing into the bamboo grove behind the White Horse Temple.

Fifteen minutes later, Yue Yinping received a signal from Baima Temple in her old camp on the outskirts of Xiangyang.

The signal was delivered by a 13 or 14-year-old novice monk. He slipped a note into the hollow of the crooked locust tree at the entrance of the old camp, then picked up his lantern and walked away nonchalantly.

The note read: "The clock tower was raided tonight. The perpetrator has a slight limp in his left leg. The contact point needs to be changed."

Yue Yinping burned the note, pulled the plain wooden spear from in front of the tent and planted it on the ground. She pondered for a moment before speaking to the captains in front of her.

"The White Horse Temple will be replaced by the Dragon King Temple. From tonight onwards, all handovers will be conducted by water, not by land. The Imperial City Guard has already reached outside the city. Tell Old Xu, the boatman at the mouth of the Han River, that all boats loaded with cargo should be dispersed into tributaries before dawn."

An old soldier glanced back north. "Young lady, any news from Lin'an?"

"Yes," Yue Yinping replied, her voice deep.

"His Highness said the message has been sent and everything is going smoothly, but we can't just wait for him to come to our rescue. Qin Hui is keeping a closer eye on him than we are on our side."

Before the Lunar New Year, Li Bao had already transferred a fast boat from Zhenjiang to be stationed at the Hanshuikou line. From now on, communications between Xiangyang and Lin'an will be able to reach each other by waterway in as little as seven days.

His Highness also sent us a messenger. This man returned alive from Zhuxian Town and Jinying. His abilities are beyond question. He will be officially put into service once he arrives at the liaison point at Baima Temple.

When she said the words "Zhuxian Town," the old camp fell silent for a moment.

Zhuxian Town was the northernmost point reached by Yue Fei's army in the tenth year of the Shaoxing era, and also the place where the army began its southward retreat in the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era.

All the veterans present remembered that day, the day they received the order to withdraw.

Yue Yinping didn't say anything more. She stuck the spear back into the ground, sat down, and began to revise the handover route map from Xiangyang to Baima Temple.

From the day she received the arms shipment, she knew she was not just training soldiers; she was guarding a seed that had not yet sprouted, waiting for a signal from afar.

......

January 20th, Ezhou.

Xiao Bieli arrived in Ezhou on the night of the nineteenth day of the first lunar month.

He used the pass of a document escort officer from the Imperial Clan Court to enter the city under the guise of "inspection by the Imperial Clan Court's Armory Supervisor," and his journey was smooth.

The Imperial Clan Court's credentials were always readily available in local prefectures and cities. The garrison commander of Ezhou didn't even bother to examine the seal of the Imperial Clan Court's credentials before letting them pass. This was the first time he had used the Imperial Clan Court's credentials in public.

After entering the city, he went directly to an inn called "Hanyang Inn" in the east of the city.

The innkeeper's surname was Chang, and he was in his fifties. He was number forty-two on Xiao Bieli's list and had served as a horse trainer in Yue Fei's vanguard for half a year.

When Manager Chang saw the bamboo-scabbard knife at Xiao Bieli's waist, he didn't say anything, but pushed the key over, with a note on it.

"These days, many unfamiliar faces have come to Ezhou. Some are peeking around at the gate of the Ordnance Bureau, while others are going from house to house along the Han River asking about tea shops. They are all asking about the same type of tea: Xiangyang Maojian."

Xiao Bieli tucked the note into his sleeve, took the key, and went upstairs.

The latest instructions from Yue Yinping in Xiangyang were delivered using the old method of the backup line at Baimasi Temple.

Shortly after he entered the city, an old boatman placed a bowl of unordered tea on his inn table. Underneath the bowl was a slip of paper with only one line of text.

"Zhu Fu's former residence is located in Liulin Lane, west of Ezhou City. Neighbors say he moved away three years ago, but every December someone slips a calendar under the door of the former residence, which is suspected to be Zhu Fu himself or his relatives."

Xiao Bieli stared at the words for a moment in his inn room, then burned the note and sifted the ashes into his tea.

Then he untied the bundle and opened the osmanthus cake that Xiao Jinluo had wrapped for him. The outer layer of the oil paper was already torn, and the three words "Eat when you're hungry" were blurred to the point that only the strokes remained.

He broke off a small piece of cake and put it in his mouth, then wrapped the rest up again and stuffed it back into the deepest part of the bundle.

Just after midnight, he changed into a dark-colored short coat, climbed out of the back window of the inn, and made his way along the alley to Liulin Lane in the west of the city.

Liulin Lane is the oldest residential area in Ezhou, and the house numbers at the entrance of the lane have been eroded by wind and rain and are no longer legible.

Zhu Fu's former residence is located at the deepest part of the alley. There is a narrow black lacquered wooden door, and the couplet on the door frame has faded, with only the four characters "Peace and safety year after year" still faintly discernible.

He squatted in the shadow of the woodshed across the street for about half an hour to make sure there were no people watching him at the alley entrance.

Then he reached the door of Zhu Fu's former residence and gently used the tip of his knife to pry open a scroll of calendar stuffed in the crack of the door.

The calendar is from the thirteenth year of the Shaoxing reign. Turning to the last page, a line of text is written in extremely fine strokes in the blank space: "This year, in the twelfth month, still here, Zhu."

The handwriting is very new, and the ink is still moist.