Green Mountain-Chapter 549 - 411: Three Mountains Association Seal
Chen Ji admitted that what this unidentified woman said was entirely true.
He was well aware of the Crown Prince’s nature, and now that the bounty orders were posted, the Crown Prince would never let Liao Zhong return alive to stand trial... Liao Zhong understood this even better than Chen Ji.
So, Liao Zhong had only one option left, to escape.
In the dim granary, a piece of tile was lifted, letting in a sliver of moonlight that illuminated the floating dust in the air slowly drifting.
Mrs. Lu quietly watched Chen Ji, neither urging nor anxious, simply waiting for Chen Ji to make a decision.
After a long time, Chen Ji asked, "If Liao Zhong goes to Datong, which route will he take?"
Mrs. Lu stopped drawing on the ground and closed her eyes to contemplate: "Go around Wutai Mountain and cross Heavenly Peak Ridge."
Su Zhou added beside her: "He can also pass Heng Mountain. Although there are bandits there, Liao Zhong is a Seeking Dao Realm Executive Officer, and he won’t fear even if he has lost one hand."
Mrs. Lu shook her head: "The road through Heng Mountain is all under the Hu family’s territory, he won’t take the risk."
Su Zhou wanted to say something else, but Mrs. Lu interrupted: "Don’t listen to her, if she had any sense, she wouldn’t have gone to Luocheng alone for revenge."
Su Zhou gritted her teeth: "I didn’t want to involve others... What you can think of, the Eunuch Party can naturally think of too, they will surely set up layers of checkpoints on the road to Datong."
Mrs. Lu ignored her and just looked at Chen Ji.
At this moment, Chen Ji made up his mind: "How to leave Changping?"
Mrs. Lu calmly said: "You just need to follow me, I have a way to get you out of Changping."
Chen Ji suddenly asked: "Why are you helping me, what do you want?"
Mrs. Lu was silent for a moment: "I help you capture Liao Zhong, you owe me a favor, a favor you must return once you take over the Chen family. You are not yet qualified to discuss this with me now."
"Alright." Chen Ji hesitated for a moment: "How should I address you?"
Mrs. Lu looked at him: "Pingshao."
Su Zhou suddenly realized: "So you’re Pingshao, I wondered why a Seeking Dao Realm Grand Official I didn’t recognize suddenly appeared... Weren’t you only active around Jinling, why did you come to the North?"
Mrs. Lu closed her eyes, ignoring him.
Seeing this, Su Zhou cursed quietly, "Dead woman! So arrogant!"
At this time, the sound of hooves came from outside the capital granary, as if thousands of troops were approaching.
Mrs. Lu pushed open the door and lightly leaped onto the roof like a swallow.
She wore a black night suit, hiding behind the ridge as she quietly peeked outside. In the distance, she saw people coming with brightly lit torches, blocking the entrance to the capital granary with great momentum.
The Longevity Army of the capital granary was gathering, someone raised barriers at the granary gate and shouted loudly: "The capital granary is a restricted area, unauthorized persons are not allowed to trespass, violators will be killed without mercy!"
Su Zhou quietly approached her and questioned: "Didn’t you say the Eunuch Party couldn’t search here?"
Mrs. Lu remained calm: "There is one exception."
"What exception?"
"Someone holds the King’s Command Flag."
...
...
"The King’s Command Flag is here."
Xuan Snake, draped in a large black cloak, raised the King’s Command Flag in hand, slowly riding towards the capital granary.
On the capital granary’s watchtower, Longevity Army crossbowmen tightened their strings but did not fire: that golden King’s Command Flag gleamed brilliantly in the torchlight.
Xuan Snake’s pale face spoke softly, "Let the Chief come out and speak."
The capital granary’s gate opened just a crack, and the Longevity Army household leader guarding the place stepped out alone, eyebrows furrowed in defiance: "I don’t know what brings you all here with torches blazing into my capital granary? Did you not see what is written at my door?"
The Longevity Army household leader pointed to two tall wooden plaques at the door, engraved with sixteen large characters in vermillion: "Be cautious of fires in the granary, any negligence will result in the entire family’s execution."
Xuan Snake smiled and tightened the cloak around his neck: "Seeing the King’s Command Flag and yet remaining composed, the dominance of the Longevity Army is well-deserved. However, my presence here is solely to capture a fugitive, not to trouble you. Later, I’ll have the Spy Department extinguish the torches and search inside, ensuring no fire hazards arise."
The Longevity Army household leader coldly stated: "Our granary is patrolled day and night by Longevity Army soldiers, how could a fugitive infiltrate? What, does the Ritual Supervision not trust the Longevity Army?"
Xuan Snake explained leisurely: "This fugitive is no ordinary person and is protected by a Seeking Dao Realm Executive Officer, making it easy to evade ordinary soldiers."
The Longevity Army household leader countered again: "Every granary is sealed with two stamps from the Ministry of Revenue and the capital granary, the fugitive is nowhere to hide."
Xuan Snake began to smile: "We do not intend to search the granaries sealed with those stamps."
The Longevity Army household leader frowned: "Oh? Then what do you intend to search?"
Xuan Snake stopped smiling: "Tonight, the Spy Department is only searching the twelve granaries where mice die of gas."
"Die-of-gas storerooms?"
What are they searching this nonsense for.
The Longevity Army household leader was suspicious, looked back at the capital granary, and then at the King’s Command Flag, still reluctant to let them pass: "Are you aware that a single spark in the granary can result in the execution of nine tribes? In the seventeenth year of Jianing, a fire at the Tongzhou granary resulted in the execution of one hundred and thirty-two officials, I do not wish to follow in their footsteps."
At this moment, another squad arrived behind Xuan Snake.
Wu Xuange looked solemn, reining in his horse to stand beside Xuan Snake.
The Longevity Army household leader was shocked upon seeing him: "Brother Wu, weren’t you with the Yulin Army, how did you become... how did you join the Jiefan Guard?"
Wu Xuange seemed injured and weakly replied: "Summon the brothers, we too are acting on high orders, to capture the fugitives who attempted to assassinate the Crown Prince, the King’s Command Flag is here, let us pass."
While speaking, the Jiefan Guard behind him held torches high and ran to both sides of the Capital Grain Storage, leaving one person every fifty steps, as if to surround the Capital Grain Storage completely, not letting anyone escape.
The Longevity Army’s households hesitated for a moment: "Approved!"
With a wave of his hand, the gate of the Capital Grain Storage was fully opened.
Xuan Snake raised his hand, and hundreds of spies simultaneously extinguished their torches with sand and drew the knives from their waists.
He advised Wu Xuange in a low voice: "Make sure to hold the perimeter, don’t let anyone slip away."
Wu Xuange’s expression was indifferent: "No need to teach me how to do things, one day I’ll take your damn life."
Xuan Snake wasn’t offended, riding into the Capital Grain Storage: "Looks like Lord Wu Xuange still doesn’t understand how to be an official in the Capital, but it’s fine, you can always learn."
...
...
On the roof of the Gas-miss Mouse Warehouse, Su Zhou spoke solemnly: "Looking at the numbers, the Jiefan Guard and spies have all been gathered here, they must be convinced we are hiding in the Capital Grain Storage, yet you were just so confident..."
At that moment, Su Zhou was suddenly startled to realize that ’Ping Zhao’ had already left the roof without notice.
She turned back to search, only to find that the person had already sneaked to the wooden fence beside the Capital Grain Storage, breaking a wooden plank with bare hands, making a hole big enough for a person to crawl through.
Su Zhou’s face changed, thinking Mrs. Lu was about to abandon her and run again, so she quickly jumped off the roof.
But as soon as she landed, she saw Mrs. Lu returning, brushing past her, heading east of the Capital Grain Storage. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
Su Zhou was taken aback: "Where are you going?"
Mrs. Lu whispered as she passed by Chen Ji: "Follow."
Chen Ji turned back to look at the hole in the wooden fence, understanding that this was a false escape route created by ’Ping Zhao’: "Wouldn’t it be too easily discovered? After all, we climbed over the fence to get in."
Mrs. Lu led the way ahead, calmly passing through the narrow alleyways between the granaries, without turning back she said: "Xuan Snake is very smart and arrogant, but also inherently suspicious. If a smart person is also suspicious, they end up being misled by their own cleverness. To deal with such a person, you must first make them think you’re not as clever as they are."
Chen Ji asked again: "Why don’t we just escape directly?"
Mrs. Lu casually explained: "Xuan Snake is cunning, he came to block the main entrance of the Capital Grain Storage to stir up the grass and frighten the snake. Outside, there are surely masters lying in ambush."
Chen Ji suddenly asked: "Have you dealt with him often?"
Mrs. Lu paused slightly, then continued forward: "Had some dealings in Jinling."
Mrs. Lu led Chen Ji and Su Zhou through the wide Capital Grain Storage, heading east. Gradually, Chen Ji saw a small temple.
"This is the Granary God Temple, dedicated to the Han Dynasty military demigod Han Xin, a place where the granary official checks in and issues tokens. The main hall houses the Harvest Monument, the side rooms store the Granary Calendar." Mrs. Lu explained: "Changping was originally a major coal-producing county, with intersecting and crisscrossing underground mine paths, and this Granary God Temple was built atop one of these tunnels."
Chen Ji took a glance at Mrs. Lu’s back, noticing her impatience with Su Zhou, yet unusually patient with him.
Mrs. Lu walked up to the Granary God Temple and knocked on the door, three long knocks and two short ones.
With a creak, someone opened the temple door from inside: "Who?"
Mrs. Lu pried out a square seal from her belt, pressing vermillion ink onto her palm, showing it to the person inside the Granary God Temple: "Qigong seal, Three Mountains Association emergency."
Chen Ji was startled, Three Mountains Association?
Indeed, the Three Mountains Association consisted of remnants from the Imperial Three Camps, naturally having connections with the Longevity Army, which is why the Three Mountains Association has stood strong in the Imperial Capital.
The person inside the temple scrutinized the vermillion seal in her palm through the gap, then quickly opened the temple door: "Come in."
After the three squeezed in, the middle-aged man inside the temple poked his head out to look around before closing the door.
Upon the altar in the Granary God Temple, two Everlasting Lamps flickered, presumably the only light during the night in the Capital Grain Storage.
The middle-aged man whispered: "What do you seek?"
Mrs. Lu calmly replied: "To send us away from Changping."
The middle-aged man paused for a moment: "Does Qigong know about this?"
Mrs. Lu unhurriedly said: "The seal authorizes it."
The middle-aged man nodded: "Done."
He walked to the back of the altar, opening a stone platform beneath it to reveal an entrance: "Go, follow the triangle markers in the mine path, it leads straight to the Yongding River, where a boat is ready."
...
...
In the Capital Grain Storage, Xuan Snake rode straight to the Gas-miss Mouse Warehouse, searched the first one, nothing. The second, nothing. The third, the fourth...
It wasn’t until he reached the seventh one, upon pushing the door, that he saw the tiles lifted on the roof and a glimmer of moonlight.
Xuan Snake maliciously said: "Indeed hiding here."
At this moment, a Jiefan Guard shouted: "The wooden fence has been opened, the suspects might be escaping north."
Xuan Snake listened, expressionless: "Tricks of the trade, stupid. Don’t pursue north, it’s a decoy."
He exited the Gas-miss Mouse Warehouse, intending to search elsewhere, then returned to it, using the moonlight to examine the map drawn by Mrs. Lu on the ground.
Xuan Snake squatted before the map, seeing three routes drawn on it, one leading to Datong, another to the sea, and the last to Guyuan.
The Guyuan and sea routes were roughly drawn, only the Datong route was meticulously detailed.
Three routes, and to chase after them would mean splitting the forces into three. If Xuan Snake wanted to succeed, he had to gamble on which path Chen Ji would take.
After pondering for a moment, Xuan Snake glanced up at the lifted roof tiles, suddenly ordered: "Send the order out, blockade all passes leading to Guyuan!"
