After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Judging from the timing, the main force of the Eight Banners should have already arrived in Huai'an by this time, and was about to head south to join the three major camps.

After they set up camp outside the city, they will begin their actual attack.

Liu Xinghan was sent by the Empress to be stationed in Jiangpu City with Shangguan Yun.

In the main hall of the government office.

"Gentlemen,"

The bearded, deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard frowned, analyzing the situation based on some intelligence:

"If it weren't for Lin Zhang and Yue Li, two of the Four Generals under Ning Jiexiao of the Heavenly Principle Sect, who rose up and attacked the Eight Banners' supply lines, tying up the Green Standard Army in Shandong, Zhang Tingyu in Shandong might have been able to send another 30,000 Green Standard Army soldiers down... Now, well, hehe."

Prefect Liu chuckled twice, a look of schadenfreude on his face.

"Then this servant will have to divide his forces and send men to guard the supply lines."

He sat on a rosewood chair at the head of the table on the left, handed a stack of intelligence to a servant, who then passed it on to Shangguan Yun at the head of the table.

The man nicknamed "Big Beard" by Lu Chong, the former commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, appears rough but is actually very meticulous. He is also skilled in needlework. When he was a captain in his early years, he often sewed flying fish robes for others. After he finished mending the robes for his comrades, they would laugh at him, saying that he only knew how to do some embroidery needlework.

Years later, as his official rank rose, his comrades who used to mock him became somewhat troubled. Not using the nickname "Liu Xiao'e" seemed too distant, but using it risked retaliation. So Liu the Big Beard said with a smile, "I won't sew any more clothes for you than Commander Lu's."

Everyone laughed, and finally became as friendly as ever towards this bearded man, though naturally they dared not let him mend their clothes.

Below Liu Xinghan sat Shang Jiuyang and Sun Li, commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the magistrate and county lieutenant of Jiangpu County, and the eunuch Hong Gonggong, who was in charge of supervising Jiangpu City, all of whom sat upright.

The eunuchs in charge of various regions in this dynasty do not have the same authority as those in the previous dynasty. Eunuch Hong only has the power to present memorials, but not the power to make decisions. At this moment, his face is turning pale, clearly showing his unease about the sudden outbreak of war.

On the right side of the hall sat Jiang Luzhi, the general of Jiangpu Army, Dong Anguo, the deputy general, along with three guerrilla commanders, five garrison generals, and other military officers.

Behind them on the left and right were their respective advisors, about twenty in total. Shangguan Yun alone had hired seven advisors, and Jiang Luzhi had brought two with him. They were sitting behind the group of military officers, listening intently.

With his striking eyebrows and bright eyes, Shangguan Yun, exuding the air of a nobleman's son, received the intelligence.

"Ning Jiexiao?" he asked rhetorically, his tone somewhat questioning.

This wasn't the first time he'd heard the name Ning Jiexiao, but he remembered that this person should be a talented scholar from the north, and he'd heard that he was also good at writing Wei stele calligraphy. How could he have become a member of the Heavenly Principles Sect?

And he's the cult leader?

Shangguan Yun frowned slightly.

"Could it be someone with the same name?"

The staff members exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.

Most of them were successful candidates in the imperial examinations, while a small number were successful candidates in the county-level examinations.

While they weren't all refined and elegant individuals, they would attend one or two literary and poetry gatherings each year, so they had naturally heard of Ning Jiexiao's name at least once or twice.

Liu Xinghan gave a wry smile:

"Young Master, it seems to be that Ning Jiexiao."

He had a basic understanding of literature and did not find the name unusual when he first heard it.

He simply remarked that Han Qing, the old scoundrel leader of the Heavenly Principles Sect, had finally stepped down, though he didn't know whether he was dead or had retired.

There are still a group of Heavenly Principle Sect traitors imprisoned in the Imperial Prison. These people are unaware that their Heavenly Principle Sect has launched a second attack on the Forbidden City.

This time, however, the leader was their new cult leader—Ning Jiexiao.

Based on an analysis of some random rumors that have started in Shandong and Henan.

Ning Jiexiao even led the remaining bandits out of the Forbidden City and fled to the Northwest.

When Liu Xinghan was sorting through this intelligence yesterday, he sighed and said, "This guy's life is really damn tough."

Following behind, Sun Li, a educated captain, asked with a puzzled look, "Ning Jiexiao?"

He said with a hint of surprise:

"Could it be that Ning Jiexiao?"

Liu Xinghan sensed something amiss in Sun Li's tone, given that he was the leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect and a notorious bandit so ruthless as to attempt to assassinate the emperor. He then asked another question:

Which Ning Jiexiao?

After all, the Southern Dynasties had also suffered greatly from the Heavenly Principle Sect. Previously, Chen Fu, a member of the Heavenly Principle Sect, had rebelled in Huguang, causing great unrest in the region, and had now fled to Sichuan. Liu Xinghan was naturally very concerned about this.

A talented scholar whose words were worth a thousand pieces of gold became the biggest bandit leader in the world?

How could such a thing happen!

But from Shandong, a few incredible things happened.

One moment it's said that Ning Jiexiao inflicted a major defeat on the Eight Banners in Zhuolu County; the next it's said that Ning Jiexiao wrote a poem a month ago in the Taihang Mountains, which reads:

"Wanting to cross the Yellow River, the ice blocks the way; wanting to climb Mount Taihang, the snow covers the mountain."

He carved the poem on a tree in the Taihang Mountains to mock the Northern Dynasty soldiers who were trying to suppress him, saying they were constantly running into obstacles and couldn't stop him. The two lines of poetry infuriated Ortai.

Because Ortai thought Ning Jiexiao was still hiding there, it turned out that the other party had escaped long ago.

Some of the civil officials from Taiyuan who were present saw the words and found them somewhat familiar. After comparing them, they discovered that they were indeed Ning Jiexiao's handwriting!

This immediately dispelled the rumors of the name duplication, and rumors quickly spread in Shanxi that this Ning Jiexiao was the same person as that Ning Jiexiao.

There are also stories, some true and some false, such as Ning Jiexiao writing a calligraphy scroll called "The Slaughter of Cattle" half a month ago and exchanging it for 50,000 catties of grain with a great scholar from Taiyuan, Shanxi.

The "Butcher's Post" contains no more than five hundred characters, and each character is worth a hundred catties of grain.

Ning Jiexiao took the grain and led four thousand men to escape from the Taihang Mountains. They also seized a grain transport route in Shanxi, along with a batch of military supplies and more than a thousand horses. They bypassed the Taiyue Mountains and headed towards the Lüliang Mountains further west.

Meanwhile, Ortai led 20,000 men in a relentless pursuit, stirring up public outrage and resentment in Shanxi's officialdom...

The Northern Dynasties had strict checks on trade routes, and these checks are becoming increasingly stringent.

Those merchants who managed to travel from Shanxi and Henan to Shandong and Huai'an were already closely connected with Shanxi officials, and many of them were even sons, nephews, or sons-in-law of high-ranking officials.

Upon arriving here, they heard that the Heavenly Principle Sect had also caused trouble in Shandong. While feeling lingering fear, they couldn't help but marvel at it.

Fueled by the alcohol, they started talking about things in Shanxi. Rather than discussing Ning Jiexiao, their conversation probably contained more dissatisfaction and mockery towards Ortai, a high-ranking official of the court.

This may also reflect the dissatisfaction of Shanxi officials with Ortai.

They accused the Minister of War of stirring up trouble in Shanxi and of being incompetent, being completely manipulated by Ning Jiexiao...

Liu Xinghan slowly and methodically recounted these messages one by one.

The crowd was quite surprised, and there was a lot of discussion in the hall.

"Tsk, 'Wanting to cross the Yellow River, but the ice blocks the way; wanting to climb Mount Taihang, but the snow covers the mountain.' That's a fine line of poetry, but it's a pity it's just a fragment."

"Ning Jiexiao? He really assassinated the Tartar emperor?"

"It must be true... A merchant from Beijing mentioned it before... I thought they were just telling a story..."

"Didn't the storytellers in brothels already write up this story?"

"Tsk tsk, a 'butcher's post,' what a missed opportunity..."

"Isn't that just a far-fetched analogy?"

"I also think it's possible; it's probably just hearsay..."

Shangguan Yun flipped through the intelligence reports with both hands, raising his sword-like eyebrows.

I still couldn't quite believe it.