The two parties prepared themselves, with half an hour allotted for the task.
Zhao Jiaqi found a net and brought some lamp oil, preparing to trap the thieves or capture their leader. Whichever method Xiao Ce chose when he walked in, she would use one of them to deal with him.
Before long, a large net was set up on the roof, and the lamp oil was ready. Some people who couldn't run well were positioned inside the house to create a diversion. The rest of the people quietly exited the courtyard and moved to their designated positions for battle.
A small team of people, paired up, headed towards Xiao Ce's courtyard.
After they moved out, they would pour the lamp oil from the corners of the roof, aiming to take down their stronghold in one fell swoop.
Xiao Ce saw that the incense on the desk had burned out. He left ten men to guard the courtyard, while the other ninety were dispatched.
Seeing the small courtyard tightly shut with no one in sight, he would have suspected Zhao Jiaqi had fled if he hadn't peeked through the door crack.
He shouted, and his men went to ram the door. It didn't take long before the door was broken open. As they entered the courtyard, the lights inside suddenly went out, plunging the entire courtyard into darkness, rendering everything invisible.
"Stop playing tricks! Charge in! Capture them alive! If you can capture Madam Fan, you'll be rewarded with a hundred taels!"
Zhao Jiaqi, hidden in the shadows, let out a soft scoff. Her life was priceless, yet Xiao Ce had casually put a price of a hundred taels on it. Who did he think he was looking down on?
As everyone charged into the house, a large net descended from the sky. People appeared on the surrounding rooftops, each holding a torch, and the smell of lamp oil instantly permeated the small courtyard.
Xiao Ce's face turned green. He looked at Zhao Jiaqi, realizing she was preparing to kill him before he even made a move!
"Commander Xiao, no fighting! We agreed this was just a simulation of troop deployment and formation. If you use your qinggong to escape, it won't count!"
"Hmph, even if we all die, the ten elite soldiers in the courtyard are more than enough to deal with you!"
Fortunately, he had been cautious and hadn't brought everyone out!
Zhao Jiaqi chuckled and fired a signal flare into the sky. Shortly after, an old wet nurse came to report.
"Madam, those ten people were all burned 'to death.' We've wiped out Commander Xiao's hundred men without lifting a finger."
Xiao Ce was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Zhao Jiaqi, his face filled with disbelief.
Huangfu Jintao watched everything clearly from his four-story viewing tower, with people occasionally relaying information to him.
He could only say that Xiao Ce had lost unfairly and Zhao Jiaqi was too cunning.
"Your Majesty, we agreed to start the action in half an hour, but Madam Fan began her action before the time. This is a foul!"
Absurd!
This was called "all's fair in war"!
Zhao Jiaqi snorted, "I wasn't simulating with you, I was at war with you. Who would trust their opponent on the battlefield!"
That would be either a fool or a madman!
She glanced at Xiao Ce's unconvinced face and taught him an unforgettable lesson: "Haven't you heard of 'The Art of War'? Deception is the way!"
Xiao Ce honestly shook his head. He truly hadn't heard of it. "What is that?"
Fan Jiaqi desperately wanted to tell him the meaning of that phrase, but she couldn't.
Before her husband left, he had suspected there were spies in the palace, so she shook her head and smiled at him, saying, "Ask my husband. He taught it to me!"
A hunter could teach her that?
Xiao Ce didn't believe it, and at the same time, Huangfu Jintao didn't believe it either. To learn troop deployment and formation so thoroughly, someone must have guided her.
Now, neither Huangfu Jintao nor Xiao Ce had any reason to stop her from leaving.
As she was about to leave, Zhao Jiaqi dared to be bolder one more time, requesting a private chat with the Emperor and asking him to dismiss others.
Huangfu Jintao glanced at Wang Zhanlin, who then led the eunuchs and maids from the imperial study out of the room. At that moment, only the two of them remained inside.
"Your Majesty, when my husband left, he speculated that there might be spies from the Zongsheng Kingdom in the palace or the capital. Otherwise, how could they not know about the loss of several cities? After my husband left, I thought about it for several days and made a bold guess: the spies are likely among those who raise carrier pigeons, or at least those who have contact with them, or those who transmit the messages of the carrier pigeons upwards."
The carrier pigeons sent from the border would surely not be just one or two. Even if the first few were lost, what about the later pigeons?
One couldn't possibly have people watching them twenty-four hours a day. Wouldn't there be any leaks?
Therefore, Zhao Jiaqi made a bold guess: at least one or two carrier pigeons must have returned, but since His Majesty did not receive the information, it meant someone deliberately replaced them or hid them, and did not forward the messages upwards.
After she finished speaking, she bowed and left the imperial study.
Leaving Huangfu Jintao to ponder in the imperial study.
The next morning, early, Zhao Jiaqi, with a thousand taels of silver notes, set off under the personal escort of Xiao Ce.
When she left, she left all the silver notes at home for her mother, only telling her to go back to town to visit, not to look for Fan Zehao.
Under the reluctant gazes of everyone, the carriage gradually moved further away.
Traveling north for several days, they saw more refugees on the road. A little inquiry revealed that they were refugees from the war zones.
Most of them were seeking refuge with relatives in other prefectures, counties, or towns. They were forced to do so because they had nowhere else to turn.
Otherwise, who would leave their homeland!
To hurry their journey, they missed the inn that night and had to take shelter in a roadside temple. The small temple was actually housing quite a few travelers.
There wasn't even enough space to lie down, let alone sit, for their group of five.
Xiao Ce took out the dry rations from his cloth bag. They were dry and unappetizing, and there wasn't even a drop of hot water.
"Madam, please eat something. Otherwise, your body won't be able to withstand it. I'll have someone fetch some hot water!"
As soon as Xiao Ce went out, the people in the temple began to eagerly try to snatch the oil cakes from her hand, their eyes gleaming green, licking their lips, and their gazes fixed on her hand.
"See who dares to try! Beware of my saber!"
The imperial guard's loud shout immediately subdued the crowd. They all wilted and crouched in the corners, reluctantly gazing at the oil cakes.
"Sister, my grandmother is hungry. Can you give my grandmother a small piece? Please, sister. Junjun will repay your great kindness."
Zhao Jiaqi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a little girl opposite her, about five or six years old. Her face was smeared with mud, making it impossible to discern her features, but her pair of watery eyes were very appealing.
Her clothes and shoes were covered in mud, making it impossible to tell their original color. This reminded her of her own daughter, and she wondered how she was doing now.
She got up, walked over to the grandmother and grandchild, and handed a whole oil cake to the girl. "Feed it to your grandmother!"
Junjun's face lit up with joy. She shook the sleeping person, but no matter how she called or shook her, the old woman didn't wake up.
Zhao Jiaqi reached out and touched the old woman's nose, then quickly pulled back in fright.
Xiao Ce came back with a bowl of water. Seeing the situation, he checked the old woman's neck and finally shook his head at her. "Madam, this old woman has been dead for a long time, and her body is already cold."
Zhao Jiaqi looked at Junjun, the little girl, and saw tears streaming down her face. She bit her lip, trying her best to suppress her sobs, which made Zhao Jiaqi's heart ache.
"Cry, it will be better if you cry!" Zhao Jiaqi embraced Junjun and said softly.
"Wuwuwu, big sister, I have no one left, no one at all, wuwuwu, what should I do!"
The only answer was the silence of the room. When she was tired of crying, she fell asleep in Zhao Jiaqi's arms.