Chapter 30 Chapter Eleven Candle Dragon

Xun Xu once consulted Quezheng when he was working in Soochow, and learned that "Candle Dragon" is a legendary beast with a human face and a dragon body, holding a candle in its mouth, in the dark place in the northwest where there is no sun.This appellation code comes from, but I am still very enthusiastically looking for the original text of "Shan Hai Jing Da Huang Jing", which says: "Beyond the Northwest Sea, north of Chishui, there is Zhangwei Mountain. There is a god, with a human face and a snake body. Red, straight eyes are right, its eyes are dark, and its eyes are bright. It does not eat or sleep, and the wind and rain are the wind and rain. It is the candle nine shades, and it is called the candle dragon."

Xun Xu thought at the time that the only thing the legendary Candle Dragon and the "Candle Dragon" have in common is that they both live in darkness.The irony is that Candle Dragon brings some light to the darkness with the candle in his mouth, while "Candle Dragon" has been working hard to make the darkness more chaotic and chaotic.The creators of this code name—Zhulong or Guo Gang—are really humorous. Since the seventh year of Jianxing, the "Candle Dragon" who has been hiding in the dark has brought endless troubles and troubles to Jing'an Division. It is not an exaggeration to call him the most destructive spy of Wei State in the history of Shu Han.It can be said that Xun Xu worked hard for this guy, had trouble sleeping and eating, and experienced countless disappointments and failures.Fortunately, all of this is coming to an end today, that is, May 7th, the ninth year of Shuhan Jianxing.

Zhulong was dragged from the darkness into broad daylight at the last step towards the end of the scene, and now he is standing in front of Xun Xu, naked. Xun Xu held the ripped corner of the robe in one hand, pointed the crossbow arrow at Zhulong's chest with the other, hooked his finger on the trigger, and said softly, "So it was you." The question that had lingered for more than three years was answered, and his There was no excitement on the expression, but an indescribable subtle calm. Although Zhulong's arms were tightly clamped by two soldiers, he still maintained a serene attitude, so serene that he didn't look like a spy who was experiencing a disastrous failure, and was closer to a hermit enjoying the joy of playing chess.

"Hehe, Xiaohe, it's really admirable that you can track it down to this extent." Zhulong said. "It's really admirable that you were caught by me only now." Xun Xu replied coldly, the crossbow in his hand was still pointed straight at his chest.On this occasion, sentimental personal feelings and entanglements have been completely removed. Now Xun Xu is a purely Jingan Secretary, and his tone has become purely business-like monotonous and cold. "I have to admit, Takahashi and you are really an excellent worker. I never expected you to do such a good job in such a limited environment."

"Do you want to show the generosity of a loser?" Xun Xu sneered and said sarcastically, "You should save these compliments for Nanzheng, my friend, we will have a lot of things to talk about by then, I promise it will be a one-off Deep and detailed conversation." Zhulong's tone was still calm: "Why not now? Xiaohe?" Hearing his words, Xun Xu's shaking hands stopped.The gentle smile on Zhulong's lips made Xun Xu feel very anxious. This damned spy has been brought under control, so why does it still make people feel elusive and uncertain?What kind of confidence is hidden behind that smile, or is it just pure bravado?

"You mean you want to talk to me right now?" Xun Xu took a step back and felt very annoyed at the same time, because he was clearly the one who had the absolute advantage now. "I think it's important to you and me." Xun Xu looked up at the sky. It was afternoon, and the sun was shining on the west side of the sky. Looking around, there were earth-yellow rocky mountains that were extremely scorching. lethargy.However, after all, this is an area close to the enemy's territory. If he and Zhulong had a leisurely chat here, and it happened that Wei Jun's support troops arrived at this time, the situation would be completely reversed.

"If Xiao and you are worried that there will be support troops from the Wei people, then we might as well go back and find a place where you can rest assured." Zhulong saw through Xun Xu's mind and said first. Xun Xu's expression was a little awkward, and Zhulong unconsciously took the lead in the conversation, which made him restrained everywhere.He scratched his head involuntarily, and suddenly remembered that this was not serious enough, so he quickly put down his right hand and covered up his embarrassment with coldness: "I will naturally choose a suitable place, and you don't need to remind me of this."

Zhulong didn't speak any more, only showing a familiar smile from Xun Xu.This made Xun Xu a little sad.So he turned away so that no one else could see the subtle tremor in his face. Immediately, under the urging of Xun Xu, this small team embarked on the road of arrival. When the team left, there were two more people than when it arrived.The limbs of these two men were tied with rattan leather ropes, and they were restrained by a rider on their mounts, immobilized; there were four guard cavalry on each side of them, blocking all possible escape routes.Along the way, Xun Xu observed the two captives from a distance, both of them remained calm, but one of them was extremely depressed after losing everything, while the other was elusive, mysterious and serene.

The team walked along the original road for about an hour and a half, and came to the edge of a dense Bashan pine forest.There is a deep pond formed by streams here, which can be used as a foothold for people and horses to replenish water sources. Zhong Ze ordered the two captives to be tied to a tree first, and sent special personnel to guard them, and then ordered them to disperse.When the tired soldiers heard the order, they let out a small cheer; they happily unbuttoned their front skirts, knelt by the pond and drank water with both hands, and the horses also bent down to lick food, and for a while the forest Crowded.

Xun Xu filled a sheepskin pouch with water, walked up to Li Ping, and pointed the mouth of the pouch to his mouth: "Li Duhu, please have a sip of water." Li Ping glanced at him without saying a word. Open your mouth and "gudong gudong" to drink.He drank so fast that a line of water flowed down his chin to his chest, soaking his gorgeous brocade clothes. "I'm sorry that there is no way to make tea here, and I have wronged Duhu's taste." Hearing what Xun Xu said, Li Ping let out a wry smile, and stuck out his tongue to lick the water left on his mouth.The Central Guard has not spoken since his arrest.Xun Xu put away his leather bag, left beside Li Ping, and came to Zhulong.

"Want to drink?" "It is necessary to moisten the throat before the sincere talk, thank you." Zhulong was still in the mood to joke, and took a big sip of water. "Conversation? I prefer to call it 'a traitor's last futile plea.'" Xun Xu dropped this sentence, turned around and called a few soldiers to untie Zhulong, took him to a certain pine tree deep in the forest, and tied him up again.It is about 20 or 30 steps away from the pond, separated by a large screen-like green stone and a few clusters of green bamboo forests. It is very shady and quiet, and occasionally the mountain breeze exuding the fragrance of pine trees blows by.Xun Xu saw that the candle dragon had been bound, and waved the soldiers to disperse to patrol nearby—no matter what the conversation was about, he didn't want too many people listening, this was the nature of intelligence personnel. The soldiers left obediently, and soon only Xun Xu and Zhulong were left here.Xun Xu lifted a flat stone and placed it opposite Zhulong, lifted his robe and sat down, staring straight into Zhulong's eyes. "Defend yourself, and I'll judge." Zhulong's expression suddenly became calm. He didn't avoid Xun Xu's gaze, and said calmly: "Xiaohe, if we ignore the details, the conclusion is actually very simple. I have never really betrayed a big man." "Oh..." Xun Xu smiled, "Is this what you want to tell me? You know, our Jing'an Division only cares about the details, which is very important." Zhulong nodded: "It's really hard to believe. It always takes some time to clarify the facts." "I don't know where your self-confidence comes from. I'm sorry that I can't see anything beneficial to you." Xun Xu said calmly. "Sometimes things are not what they seem." "It depends on how you explain it." Xun Xu didn't allow Zhulong to make a sound, and immediately continued, "Did you play an important role in the theft of the crossbow blueprint in the seventh year of Jianxing?" "I don't deny that." "On February 26th, Mi Chong met with you for the first time. You provided him with Nanzheng's defense composition and blueprint storage location, and exchanged preliminary action plans; and on March 1st, you used yourself to You secretly manufactured two sets of lockpicking tools and sent Yu Cheng to deliver one of them to Mi Chong—after Yu Cheng failed, you took the risk of handing over the other spare set to Mi Chong on March 2. , Instructed him to steal from the general affairs of the military workshop; on March 5, you managed to delay our search for Liaoyang County, and determined with Mi Chong a strategy to transfer the tiger away from the mountain; on March 6, when Huang Yu and others went with us to When praising Qin Dao, you deliberately transferred the guards of the military technical department to let Mi Chong succeed; on the same night, you killed Mi Chong with your own hands, and sent the blueprint to Wei State through the predetermined channel..." Xun Xu went on in one breath. Half of these details came from the confessions of Huang Yu and other Wudoumi believers, and the other half were his own inferences.He has been thinking about that failure for three years, so he is familiar with these data and details. "Do you admit to the above allegations?" Xun Xu pressed. Contrary to his expectations, Zhulong immediately replied without hesitation—in Xun Xu’s opinion, he was even a little proud—“That’s right. Although your speculation is not rigorous, it is basically consistent with the facts.” "Since you admit it, well, then, which thing can prove your loyalty? Which thing has brought benefits to our country?" "May I ask a question? What did our country lose in this incident? And what did Cao Wei gain?" "Our country has lost valuable technical weapon materials, which will cause the Han army to shed more blood in Longxi!" Zhulong shook his head disapprovingly, which annoyed Xun Xu: "Xiaohe, as I said just now, things are often not what we see on the surface. After careful analysis of the results of this matter, we will find that the big man's surface It seems to be a failure, but it is the biggest winner." "absurd!" "First of all, our country successfully eradicated the last remnants of the Five Dou Mijiao in Hanzhong, which not only reduced social unrest, but also weakened the survival soil of Wei's spies; secondly, one of Wei's best spies died in the Nanzheng, this is a great loss to Wei's intelligence work." Xun Xu couldn't help but interrupted and said loudly: "You are putting the cart before the horse. Yes, these two points are indeed Cao Wei's losses, but they have obtained the crossbow machine technology they have dreamed of through this." "This is exactly the third point I'm about to say. Xiaohe, you should also know that Ma Jun, the head of Wei Guo's ordnance manufacturing, once said that the technical content of these two products is very low, and even he can improve their efficiency by five times to ten times. This disappointed the military with high expectations, and became the direct cause of the abortion of the Tianshui crossbow workshop plan. Do you know what this means?" Xun Xu once heard about this matter from Du Bi. At that time, he just thought that Cao Wei's people were ignorant, so he didn't think much about it. Now that he thinks about it carefully, it's really strange.Facing Zhulong's question, Xun Xu hesitated. Zhulong didn't expect Xun Xu to answer, he continued to say: "There is only one reason, Wei State has never obtained the two technologies of 'Yuanrong' and 'Shudu'." "How is this possible?!" "If the drawings are fake, then it's possible." "You mean the drawings have been transferred?" "That's right, what Mi Chong sent back to Wei State were actually two outdated models from three years ago." Xun Xu's eyebrows that had been tense all the time relaxed, and he resumed the slightly mocking and cold expression at the beginning of the conversation: "Your defense is indeed very convincing, but unfortunately you have exposed a very fatal contradiction. .” "I would like to hear more about it." Zhulong replied, and at the same time twisted his body to loosen the tight rattan rope. "You said that the blueprints have been reassigned, so when did it happen? After Mi Chong stole the blueprints from the military technical department, he sent them directly to the grain and grass convoy to Longxi, and then went to see you. The blueprint was changed. Of course, you can say that you adjusted the bag in the military technical department early in the morning, but I tell you kindly, that is absolutely impossible." "Why is it impossible? Since I have the ability to transfer the guards of the Military Technology Division away." "Of course it's impossible. The storage and guarding of the drawings of the crossbow machine are two independent systems; access to the drawings requires cumbersome procedures. I checked the access records, and your name is not there." "Your vision is really sharp." Faced with this blow, Zhulong didn't show any panic, and said calmly: "In fact, I really don't have the ability to transfer blueprints in the Military Technology Department, and I don't even have the right to support the guards." open." "So you admit your failure?" "Your analysis is very accurate, but I can't mean that others can't." Hearing these words, Xun Xu couldn't help but widen his eyes, and stood up from the stone slab. Does Zhulong still have accomplices in Nanzheng?Zhulong looked at the movement nearby calmly, and said slowly: "In fact, only one person can cooperate with Mi Chong's operation to dismiss the guards and transfer the blueprints." "Who is he?" "Prime Minister Zhuge." Xun Xu has experienced many sudden surprises in his life, but never one with such a big impact.He seemed to be thrown down by the flood that broke the embankment, his legs could hardly support him, and he even found it difficult to breathe.Zhulong looked at Xun Xu sympathetically, but didn't make a sound, giving him some buffer time to accept this fact. "This is so absurd!" Xun Xu stammered, but his hesitant tone couldn't conceal the panic in his heart. "If you have indeed read the review records of the blueprints, you should remember that the last person who touched the blueprints was Prime Minister Zhuge." "That is to say, the assistance Mi Chong received in Nanzheng was actually ordered by the prime minister?" "That's right, so Wei Guo will be convinced and follow our plan step by step." Speaking of this, Zhulong's expression became serious, and his voice lowered: "What I want to say next is not authorized, but I Think Xiao and you are entitled to know now." Xun Xu raised his head, and he could see that he still hadn't recovered from the shock. "In fact, this is a plan that started in the fourth year of Jianxing. At that time, Prime Minister Zhuge foresaw that Nanzheng would become the target of Wei's spies sooner or later. In order to deal with this situation, he not only strengthened your Jing In addition to Anji, another plan has been prepared." "that is you?" "That's right. The prime minister's point of view is: instead of waiting for the enemy to develop an insider, we should take the initiative to arrange one for them. In this way, once the insider successfully gains the trust of Wei's intelligence department, then we can use him to prevent the infiltration of enemy spies, and It can be used to send false information to Wei Guo through him, which has two-way value." After a short pause, Zhulong continued: "This plan has no name. In fact, no one except the prime minister and me knows its existence. This is determined by the nature of the plan. Since the fourth year of Jianxing, I have Under the arrangement, I began to contact Wei Guo very cautiously—I not only had to pay attention to the enemy, but also guard against my own people—in the fifth year of Jianxing, I finally succeeded in contacting a Wei Guo officer named Guo Gang. Guo Gang He is very ambitious as a young man, and urgently needs to establish some achievements to prove his ability. I am undoubtedly an important weight in his hands, and I also use his mentality to gradually establish a communication channel with Wei. I sent him A lot of information, some true and some false, and occasionally even sacrificing the interests of our military a little, the reward is their deepening trust in me." "At the beginning of the eighth year of Jianxing, Guo Gang notified me on behalf of Wei Guozhong's Ministry of Education that they were about to implement a plan for Shu Han crossbow technology and asked for my assistance. After discussing in detail with me, Prime Minister Zhuge decided to use fake drawings to do the trick. So I asked Guo Gang proposed some detailed revision plans, such as my suggestion to fully mobilize the power of the underground Five Dou Mi Cultists, and my suggestion to get rid of Mi Chong after the plan is completed to ensure that my identity will not be leaked, all of which seem reasonable in fact But it is a proposal that is beneficial to us. Guo Gang agreed to all these requests." Speaking of this, Zhu Longchong, whose face was still pale, smiled: "You know what happened next. Mi Chong sneaked into Nanzheng smoothly. I met him and started to implement the plan. But the prime minister and I missed it." After all, it’s you. Xiaohe, your ability to track down is far beyond our imagination, and we can’t tell you the truth; as a result, I was forced to fight on two fronts, trying to promote Michong on the one hand, and guarding against it on the other. You; in Qinglong Mountain's Military Weapons Workshop, your outstanding performance almost ruined the entire plan." Xun Xu asked for the first time at this time: "Are you saying that you originally hid the fake blueprints on Qinglong Mountain?" "Yes, because of your unexpected ambush, we had to change the plan." "Then why did you deliberately remind me to investigate Liu's father and daughter?" "This was a mistake I made." Zhulong said frankly, "I only knew about the relationship between Feng Ying and Liu Ying at the time, and I wanted to use this to divert your attention, but I didn't expect that Liu's father and daughter were really You have something to do with Huang Yu, and harbored Mi Chong. What's even more frightening is that you have even hired an undercover agent by their side, and this plan is on the verge of failure again." "Should I say that luck is too good or too bad..." Xun Xu couldn't help muttering to himself. "Fortunately, Prime Minister Zhuge formulated a new plan in time for this situation. You also know the next thing: I instructed Mi Chong to use the plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain, and deceive Huang Yu, undercover Gao Tangbing, and all of you to praise Qin Dao. Taking advantage of this time, I sneaked into the military technical department to steal the blueprints—the blueprints had been urgently reviewed and transferred by Prime Minister Zhuge the day before—after Mi Chong, who didn’t know the truth, successfully sent out the fake blueprints, I killed him .” Xun Xu's complexion couldn't be said to be good or bad, he shook his head slightly, and had to sigh: "It's a perfect plan." Zhulong repeatedly nodded in agreement: "Prime Minister Zhuge is a genius. Even I was almost desperate in such a situation, but he was still able to act calmly, and turned around in one fell swoop." After a pause, he changed into a relatively relaxed tone "In any case, this incident ended with our country winning a big victory behind the scenes. Wei Guo lost an excellent spy and almost all Wudou Mijiao disciples, and the Tianshui crossbow machine workshop was also abandoned after wasting a lot of resources. They We have gained nothing; but we have successfully cleared the internal instability factors in Hanzhong, and further deepened the trust of Wei Guo in me." Xun Xu looked at Zhulong who was still tied to the tree, feeling overwhelmed, and really didn't know what to say.His 11 days of desperate pursuit turned out to be meaningless, whether it was Gao Tangbing or the guard who was killed by Huang Yu, they were just extra characters in a perfect plan...but he could complain what?Everyone is for the revival of the Han Dynasty. "To be honest, you are the one I feel most sorry for in the whole incident, and Prime Minister Zhuge is the same. Especially since you were forced to take responsibility as a scapegoat and transferred to Soochow, Prime Minister Zhuge has always felt guilty about this." Zhulong's voice He turned soft, and a sorry look flashed in his eyes, which moved Xun Xu a little. He could feel that it was sincerity from the heart, not a fake. At this time, the pine forest is still quiet, and the mountain breeze is still. If there is not a stream flowing by the side, it is almost impossible to feel the passage of time.Xun Xu wanted to go forward to untie Zhulong, but he stood up and took a few steps forward.Suddenly, the soldiers were talking and laughing from the other side of the forest. His hands trembled, and he couldn't help but take two steps back. It suddenly occurred to him that the current incident had not yet been clarified. "Then, what about Li Duhu? What's going on with all this?" Xun Xu approached Zhulong again, put his right hand on the rattan rope, and looked straight at him.Although the crossbow incident was of great importance, it was only a technical theft after all, and no one above the middle level was involved. However, Li Ping's departure was a major event that shocked the high-level officials of the Shu Han. The severity of the two is not the same.In fact, Xun Xu has already vaguely guessed the reason, but after all, he has to confirm with Zhulong before he can rest assured. When Zhulong heard Xun Xu's question, he sighed and said, "Don't worry, Xiaohe, I will tell you everything today. But you have to swear that you will never tell anyone else, because this matter is not over yet. " "Okay." Xun Xu stood back, looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and then stood still with arms folded.Only then did Zhulong speak slowly: "The original cause was in June of the eighth year of Jianxing. As we all know, Cao Zhen attacked our country in that year. As one of the defensive measures, Prime Minister Zhuge ordered Li Yan to lead his army north to Hanzhong to support. I remember that Xiaohe and you also followed that branch Is the team going back to Nanzheng?" "Not bad." Xun Xu nodded. "Guo Gang also noticed this transfer, and he made a very bold proposal to me at that time, hoping that I could persuade Li Ping to defect to Wei, just like his good friend Meng Da. I thought it was ridiculous at the time, and planned to I refused straight away, but Prime Minister Zhuge had other ideas..." Zhulong stopped here, Xun Xu didn't ask eagerly, but kept silent and listened patiently. "...So Prime Minister Zhuge arranged for me to be transferred to Li Ping's side. At the beginning, Li Ping behaved very normally, and I didn't think that a big man would do such a thing as defecting. But later Li Ping's trilogy was gradually assigned to other troops, and he himself was appointed in charge of logistics, grain and grass transportation. From then on, Li Ping became restless and prone to lose his temper. After a period of trial, I risked revealing to him The identity of the spy of Wei State, his initial reaction was very ambiguous. He didn't order the sergeant to take me down, but just warned me not to go out and talk nonsense. From then on, I knew that there was still hope for this seemingly impossible task .” "Prime Minister Zhuge gave me instructions to do everything according to Guo Gang's wishes. So I tried my best to play the role of Wei Guo's spy, and kept lobbying Li Ping, gradually from vague hints to straightforward persuasion. The domestic political situation depends on you. I also know that Li Ping has always been in an awkward position, so I have been using this fact to stimulate him from the negative side, carefully dismantling his defenses, neither too fast nor too slow." Xun Xu frowned at this moment. He thought for a while and asked, "But when I returned to Hanzhong, Prime Minister Zhuge warned me of Li Ping's erratic behavior and told me to be more careful. If what you said is Really, isn't he contradicting himself then?" "It's not a contradiction at all, sometimes moderate external pressure can actually make a person change faster. There are many examples in history that when a would-be defector hesitates, pressure from the security services often has the opposite effect .” After listening to Zhulong's words, Xun Xu comforted himself that it was necessary for the interests of the Shu Han, but the disgust of "being used as a tool" still lingered.Zhulong didn't notice this subtle change, and continued: "However, something that no one expected happened at this time, that is, Xu Yong's defection. It must be admitted that this is a very precious mine of information for our country, but it is extremely important for my plan to lobby Li Ping. Big threat." "You mean Deng Xian? What role does he play in this matter?" Xun Xu interrupted and asked. "It's completely irrelevant. His contact person in Wei is Yang Wei. He is not on the line of Guo Gang. We are isolated from each other. He neither knows my real identity, nor has he tried to win Li Ping over. So when you caught him, Li Ping got rid of him very simply to show his innocence. The threat I was talking about was: He actually knew my plan to lobby Li Ping to escape, and I told you Jingan Division." Xun Xu briefly added a comment: "It's all my fault." "According to the original idea, Jing'an Division only needs to maintain moderate suspicion to make Li Ping uneasy, but the appearance of Xu Yong made Jing'an Division's reaction far exceed the expected intensity." "So you killed Xu Yong?" Xun Xu asked coldly.Zhulong shook his head: "That's not enough, it's just that Li Ping has become suspicious and must take some measures to control it. So Prime Minister Zhuge secretly arranged a group of people to kidnap Xu Yong in Chengdu, and faked an assassination incident to deceive him. After passing everyone, even Chengdu Siwen Cao was kept in the dark. Now Xu Yong is probably recuperating in a dense forest in Zhu Ti." "So, when exactly did Li Ping establish his determination to defect?" Zhulong said: "It was March 15th this year. Prime Minister Zhuge suddenly decided to send troops to the Northern Expedition ahead of schedule, and Li Ping was not informed until the last moment. This move obviously angered him, and he made a big fuss when he returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion." Temper. I made a major breakthrough at that time, when Li Ping personally announced his decision to defect to Cao Wei." "Then why didn't he act immediately, and didn't leave until yesterday?" "Hehe, after all, Li Ping has been in the officialdom for decades, he will not act recklessly." Zhulong talked eloquently, as if he was preaching in the hall, "First, he must get the senior officials of Wei State ——such as Sima Yi or Cao Shuang’s personal guarantee; second, fleeing is a very complicated matter, and it takes a lot of time to plan it; Suddenly returning to Nanzheng, disrupting my plan." "So he sent you to the front line to find out the truth." "Xiaohe, you are really sharp enough. Li Ping sent me to the front for two purposes: to obtain a letter of guarantee from a senior Wei official, and to find out about Prime Minister Zhuge. I have successfully 'achieved' these two purposes, and then Li Ping began to feel relieved Boldly set out to prepare for your escape. During this period, your Jing’an Division also caused him a lot of trouble, but he didn’t care too much—at that time Li Ping was the highest official in Nanzheng, and he expected that you would dare not touch him.” "Hmph, he guessed it right." "However, this plan almost died in early April. On the Qishan front, Prime Minister Zhuge and Sima Yi's prolonged confrontation caused problems in our army's supplies. Li Ping was negligent and sent the truth about the inventory to Prime Minister Zhuge. Zhuge The prime minister wrote back immediately, expressing his intention to withdraw the troops and return to the camp. After Li Ping heard the news, he fell into panic again. At that time, his preparations for exile had not yet been completed. So I made a suggestion to him. " "Do you tamper with the grain and grass inventory records?" Xun Xu's puzzle became clearer and clearer. "Yes, Li Ping, as the highest official in Nanzheng who is also in charge of logistics, has sufficient authority to do this. On the evening of April 20, he personally revised Liangtian Cao's records and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Zhuge saying There is absolutely no problem with supplies, and the Han army must not retreat rashly and miss the opportunity." "And then on May 6th, you were finally ready to stop everything and start fleeing?" "Yes, and in order not to let Jing'an Division hinder this operation, Li Ping also specially issued a city-wide martial law order. But even so, it failed to stop your pursuit, and it has evolved into the current situation. Allow me to praise you , Xiaohe and you are really scary." For this compliment, Xun Xu did not show any joyful expression.He is still frowning, obviously there are still many doubts.After Zhulong stopped talking, Xun Xu tapped his head with the fingers of his right hand and asked slowly: "What if I don't come in time? You just fled to Cao Wei like this?" "Oh, of course not. I have secretly arranged for someone to intercept it halfway. Even if you don't make it in time, they will still play a role." "where are they?" "It's Zhong Ze and the others, the elites of the push forward battalion." Zhulong looked at the other side of the forest with a relaxed expression. Xun Xu almost shouted: "How is this possible! I met them by chance on the way, and they were forcibly pulled to the Donggu crossing. All this is just a coincidence! And I have observed carefully, and Zhong Ze and his men did not show any signs at all. Doesn't look like I know you." "It was a coincidence that they ran into you; but they did not appear at the Donggu crossing. Why do you think a group of Yinping grain road patrol troops suddenly appeared in the mountains in the southeast of Hanzhong? That was my order. This group of troops has just been retired from the front line, and their movement will not be noticeable; and they have served in the pusher battalion, and they are good at mountain riding, so they are very suitable for this mission in every way." "Your order? Could it be that they arrested you just for acting?" "No, no, I haven't had direct contact with them. All Zhong Ze received was a secret letter with the seal of the prime minister's office, asking them to arrive at the Donggu crossing before May 7th and intercept any passers-by. In fact, he neither knew who sent it, nor the purpose of the order, and he simply followed the order." "But... since the purpose is the same, why didn't Zhong Ze mention it to me, but acted as if he had other missions?" "It's very simple. For the purpose of confidentiality, the secret letter specifically emphasized that the purpose of this trip is absolutely not allowed to be revealed to anyone. Zhong Ze is a competent and old-fashioned soldier, so he will naturally strictly abide by this order—— Even if you and his goals are actually the same." "But I don't understand. Could it be that Prime Minister Zhuge launched the Northern Expedition this time just to lure Li Ping into fleeing?" This somewhat childish question made Zhulong laugh out loud, which made Xun Xu a little embarrassed.Zhulong replied: "How could the prime minister be so indiscriminate? Li Ping's escape was at most a by-product of the Northern Expedition. You must know that the prime minister had no plan to 'tamper with grain and grass stocks' at the beginning. The prime minister thought of taking advantage of this situation to better influence Li Ping." After Zhulong finished speaking, there was a sudden silence between the two of them, and this long conversation was interrupted for the first time until now.After a long time, Xun Xu licked his dry lips and asked a question that had been lingering in his heart from the very beginning: "Then why did Prime Minister Zhuge indulge Li Ping from dissatisfaction to betrayal, and even sent you to do everything possible to persuade him to flee, and then arranged for someone to stop him at the last moment? Why is it so troublesome? What is the prime minister's purpose?" Hearing this question, Zhulong couldn't help letting out a long sigh.He couldn't move his limbs, so he could only stare at this colleague without saying a word, and the slightly trembling facial muscles contained infinite meaning. Xun Xu responded with the same eyes, and there has always been a subtle tacit understanding between them.After a long time, Xun Xu put his hand on the other's shoulder and said calmly: "I see. Thank you for such a detailed explanation, Shouyi." "Well, it's good that you understand." Hu Zhong showed that gentle smile again.