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

end of February.

A tiny oil lamp was lit in the bamboo shed of the old camp.

Xiao Bieli laid out the test results of the back hall of Baima Temple on the table. Both contacts had been confirmed to be activated. Zhao Tieqiang would set up crossbow warnings at the south corner tower of the city, and Mingxin would regularly change the markers at the corner of the wall outside the back door of Xiangji Kitchen.

From the time the test signal was sent from Xiangyang to the time the confirmation reply was received in Lin'an, the entire process was expected to take seven days, provided that the Imperial City Guard did not block the Han River within those seven days.

Yue Yinping copied the activation confirmation of the Baima Temple contact point onto bamboo paper and sealed it in a wax pellet.

"The Baima Temple liaison point has been activated. Zhao Tieqiang and Mingxin are both in place. The coded system has been completely separated from the Lin'an direction, with a total of twelve early warning combinations."

There are at least eight plainclothes officers from the Imperial City Guard within Xiangyang City, two of whom are carrying police patrol badges issued by the prefectural government. We request assistance from Lin'an in ascertaining the identities and backgrounds of these two individuals.

Yue Yinping tied the letter to the carrier pigeon's leg and released it from the cage.

The carrier pigeon circled in the night sky before flying towards the lower reaches of the Han River.

This is not a letter destined for Lin'an, because carrier pigeons can only fly to the Han River ferry crossing, where Li Bao's fast boat will pick it up and continue delivering it.

A secret letter can travel from Xiangyang to Lin'an in as little as seven days, two days slower than the imperial messenger's report, but it is safer than any open channel.

"The Imperial City Guard has been stationed outside Xiangyang City for two months, but they still haven't pinpointed the exact location of the handover point at Baima Temple."

Yue Yinping pulled the plain wooden spear from in front of the tent and planted it on the ground. "But after the Guanyin Festival, it will be the Shangsi Festival on the third day of the third lunar month. According to the customs of Xiangyang, on that day, the whole city will go to the Han River to enjoy the spring scenery."

The Imperial City Guard will definitely take this opportunity to blend into the crowds of people enjoying the spring outings and redeploy their forces. Before the third day of the third lunar month, the White Horse Temple must complete its first full exchange of secret messages.

Xiao Bieli nodded and asked, "Zhao Tieqiang is repairing bows at the south corner tower, and Mingxin is changing the markings in the rear hall. How many backup drop-off points do you plan to set up in Xiangyang?"

"Four places," Yue Yinping marked the locations on the map.

"The rear hall of Baima Temple remains the main hub. The other three locations are Zhao Tieqiang's bow repair stall at the south corner tower of the city, the Dragon King Temple at the Caoshi Ferry on the opposite bank of the Han River, and the brick seams of the abandoned granary in the north of the city."

These four locations all used twelve combinations of cattail roots and pebbles to transmit warning messages, without sending words, only symbols. Even if the Imperial City Guard intercepted one location, they would only see a few cattail roots and a few pebbles.

Xiao Bieli's gaze lingered on the abandoned granary in the north of the city.

The granary is near the old wharf on the Han River. From there, heading north out of the city leads to the official road to Ezhou, and heading east over a low mountain leads to Liulin Lane, where Zhu Fu's former residence is located.

"This granary—"

"It's for Zhu Fu." Yue Yinping pointed the tip of her spear at the granary. "If he goes north from Ezhou, his first stop will be north of Xiangyang."

Meanwhile, outside the narrow alley where Zhu Fu's former residence was located, a peddler carrying a load of goods squatted in the corner of the wall counting copper coins in the darkness of night, with needles, thread, combs and flint and steel at his feet.

He stayed an extra half an hour tonight, not to wait for business, but to wait for the moment when the rolled-up calendar hidden under the door of Zhu Fu's old residence would be taken away.

The Imperial City Guard is also waiting.

On the last day of February, Xiao Bieli detoured to Ezhou before leaving Xiangyang.

He traveled alone, without taking Lao Xu's fishing boat. He crossed low mountains and followed a tributary of the Han River for a whole day, finally entering Ezhou City at dusk.

The checks at the city gates were stricter than during the first month of the lunar calendar. The Imperial City Guard stationed in Ezhou added two new checkpoints, and everyone had to show their travel permits.

Xiao Bieli passed through the checkpoint smoothly with the pass issued by the Zongzheng Temple document escort, but upon entering the city, he noticed a new notice posted inside the city gate with portraits of two people on it: one was him, and the other was Dong Xian.

Below the portrait was only one line of text: These two men are suspected of being spies of the Jin Dynasty. Anyone who knows their whereabouts should report to the authorities.

The notice did not name Xiao Bieli and Dong Xian, but the drawings were very similar, especially the red rope on his left wrist, which was drawn very clearly.

Xiao Bieli walked through the city gate with his head down and found Manager Chang at Hanyang Inn.

"Dong Xian's house was surrounded after February 20th," Manager Chang said in a low voice.

"It was the officials stationed at the Imperial City Guard who surrounded the Governor's Office for three days. Dong Xian did not resist, and the Imperial City Guard did not arrest him in public. They simply placed him under house arrest in the backyard of the office and did not allow him to leave."

A clerk my family knew at the Ezhou government office said that Dong Xian was still reviewing official documents every day as usual, and had even had all the training records from the Ezhou arsenal over the past two years moved to the study in the backyard to continue the calculations.

This man is a bit stubborn. Even when the Imperial Guards surrounded his door, he still insisted on settling the accounts for the losses.

Xiao Bieli didn't ask any further questions after hearing this.

He knew why Dong Xian was continuing to calculate the losses from the armory training in these last few days.

It wasn't so much to appease Qin Hui, but perhaps more to replace all the altered transfer records.

They disguised the damage to every crossbow and every arrow as normal training wear and tear, so that even if the Imperial City Guard obtained the old files from the armory, they wouldn't be able to tell how many batches of military equipment Xiangyang had actually received.

Xiao Bieli sat down in his inn room and wrote a letter to Dong Xian.

The letter was short: "The Imperial City Guard has listed you as a suspected spy for the Jin Dynasty. A notice has been posted at the city gate that it is not advisable to stay in Ezhou for long. You must evacuate to Xiangyang before the end of January. — Xiao Bieli"

After writing the letter, he handed it to Manager Chang, asking him to find a clerk he knew at the Ezhou Prefectural Government and deliver it to the back courtyard of the Supervisory Office.

Then he shouldered his bundle and prepared to leave the city. Just as he reached the entrance of the inn, an old man rowing a boat brushed past him and slipped a note into his hand.

The note contained only one line: "The calendar from Zhu Fu's former residence has been taken away. The person who took the calendar had a slight limp in his left leg and was wearing gray clothes."

Xiao Bieli clutched the note in his hand.

He had a slight limp in his left foot, wore gray clothes, and had the same physical appearance as the Clock Tower Night Stalker.

Tian Ruyi's men have already made their way to Zhu Fu's former residence.

The calendar in Willow Grove Lane was taken away by the Imperial City Guard, which means that when Zhu Fu returns next December, he will not be greeted by cattail roots, but by an iron ruler and hunting dogs.

He had to find Zhu Fu before the twelfth lunar month.

Zhu Fu was last seen in Ezhou, after which his whereabouts are unknown.

But Manager Chang provided a clue last week: there is a desolate mountain called Wild Boar Ridge, thirty miles north of Ezhou City, with a dilapidated Taoist temple on the mountain. Legend has it that a lame old Taoist priest lived there for two years.

This person never goes down the mountain during the day, but only goes down to the vegetable garden at the foot of the mountain at night to steal a few cabbages.

Xiao Bieli decided to explore Wild Boar Ridge before leaving Ezhou. Regardless of whether the lame old Taoist was Zhu Fu or not, he would not let go of any possibility.

......

March 1st.

Xiao Bieli left the north gate of Ezhou City before dawn and headed towards Wild Boar Ridge.

He didn't know if the lame old Taoist priest was Zhu Fu, but he had promised Qin Keqing that he would find Zhu Fu.

Xiao Bieli had only made a few promises. He failed to bring back the remains of three hundred people, and he failed to plant the Song flag firmly on the walls of Bianjing. This was the last thing he could fail to do.

The dilapidated Taoist temple on Wild Boar Ridge is hidden in a grove of withered bamboo halfway up the mountain. Half of the door has collapsed, and the incense burner has fallen to the ground and rusted black.

Xiao Bieli tapped the door three times with the hilt of his knife, but there was no response.

Just as he was about to push the door open, a very thin hand reached out from the crack and pulled the door open halfway from the inside.