Chapter 1 A Rumor Spreads

In the following days, rumors spread like wildfire throughout Dragon King Fort.

It was said that because Heavenly King Fort was facing dire straits and felt they had no chance of winning, some leaders had abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, secretly surrendering to Chen Feng and quietly passing on military intelligence. This was the reason for their recent victories.

However, the identity of this person was a secret. Only the leaders of Dragon King Fort who participated in military discussions knew who had defected, but they were all tight-lipped and did not mention it to outsiders.

Not all the leaders in Dragon King Fort were military generals. There were also leaders in charge of various daily affairs, generally belonging to the Supervisor Hall.

Among them was a lower-ranking leader named Niu Qi, who had rudimentary martial arts skills but was proficient in animal husbandry. He was usually in charge of livestock breeding, slaughtering cattle and sheep, and other related matters, serving in the Supervisor Hall.

This person loved his drink and could be described as inseparable from alcohol. He was a drunkard, with a friendly personality and familiar with the headmen under him, often drinking and making merry together.

One day, two small headmen from the Supervisor Hall hosted a banquet at their home, claiming to have brought out good wine passed down for many years to show their respect for the leader, and invited Niu Qi.

Niu Qi, suspecting nothing, eagerly came to the banquet.

The three of them raised their glasses, drinking wine and eating meat, greatly enjoying themselves.

Under the constant urging of the two small headmen, Niu Qi drank happily. Before long, he had finished two jars, his eyes glazed with drunkenness, and he mumbled incoherently with a thick tongue.

Seeing that Niu Qi was seven or eight parts drunk, the two small headmen exchanged a look and deliberately started chatting to each other, putting on a show.

"Speaking of which, the fort has recently been rumored to be secretly allied with someone from the enemy. I wonder if it's true."

"Humph, in my opinion, it's mostly nonsense. Think about it, that Heavenly King Fort has already been granted amnesty and has an official title. Why would they want to return to the bandits? Wouldn't that be abandoning all their efforts and going backwards?"

"What do you mean by that? Are you calling me stupid?"

The two of them chatted back and forth, their tone becoming increasingly aggressive, almost to the point of arguing.

Niu Qi quickly pulled the two apart, slurring, "What's there to argue about? Don't hurt your feelings."

One of the small headmen turned to look at him, feigning curiosity, "Leader Niu, do you think this is reliable? Is it really possible that a Heavenly King Fort leader has defected to us?"

"This was personally said by the Fort Master, and he even said there was a letter as proof. How could it be false?"

Niu Qi replied without thinking.

"There really is such a thing? I wonder what that enemy leader is up to, what they are trying to gain."

"Hey, Leader Niu is someone who is qualified to participate in the discussions, so he must know. I wonder if you could give us some pointers and satisfy our curiosity."

The two small headmen chimed in, looking at Niu Qi expectantly.

Niu Qi had drunk too much and wanted to show off, so he said carelessly, "Who else could it be? It's naturally Xiang Tianjie, who, according to rumors, stirred up Anlin Prefecture with the Fort Master. He has an old friendship with the Fort Master and has long been subdued."

"So it's him."

"That makes sense."

The two small headmen looked surprised and secretly exchanged a glance.

The three of them drank for a while longer, and Niu Qi was completely drunk. The two small headmen sent him back to his home and helped him to bed.

Niu Qi slept soundly, snoring loudly.

The two small headmen did not disturb him. They quietly took the Supervisor Hall's token and then returned to their own house, took out the bundles they had prepared, and left. They used the token to get past the patrolling soldiers and left the fort that night.

Dragon King Fort had taken over most of the forces of the Three Jiao of Lake Yang. Among them, there were naturally mixed elements, including people who had been bought by the imperial court long ago. After changing sides, they had lurked in Dragon King Fort as the court's eyes and ears.

These two small headmen were such spies. When they learned that someone from Heavenly King Fort was colluding with the enemy, they were eager to make a contribution, so they targeted Niu Qi, inducing him to let slip information after drinking.

In today's Dragon King Fort, much of the army was inherited, and the number of people was large. It was unrealistic to distinguish them one by one, and it was inevitable that spies would appear.

Moreover, with Dragon King Fort's style of opening its doors widely, it was too easy for others to plant spies. It was impossible for them to investigate the household registration of every minion like the imperial court.

Zhou Jing was well aware of this situation and could only ensure that there were no spies among the core high-level personnel.

However, only a moldy gang had no spies. There was no such thing as a completely monolithic force in the world. Everyone was the same, which was perfect for him to exploit.

In the Heavenly King Fort camp.

Lu Longchuan was racking his brains over a map, trying to figure out how to defeat the enemy.

At this moment, a messenger rushed over.

"Report! Patrol soldiers have discovered two suspicious people who claim to be spies planted by the imperial court in Dragon King Fort. They have deliberately defected from Dragon King Fort and claim to have confidential matters to report to the commander!"

Lu Longchuan was stunned and felt curious. He nodded and said, "Bring them over."

Before long, soldiers escorted the two small headmen to the central military tent.

As soon as the two men saw Lu Longchuan, they quickly bowed and saluted, getting straight to the point:

"Greetings, Commander Lu. We were once part of Tan Peng's forces and later defected to Dragon King Fort, but in reality, we are under the command of the Xunwu Si (Patrol and Arrest Office), acting as spies among the bandits, and have been lying dormant. Recently, we have found out a very important piece of information, which is why we have come here to report to Commander Lu."

Lu Longchuan remained noncommittal and asked sternly, "What secret?"

"Recently, there have been rumors in Dragon King Fort that an enemy general is colluding with the enemy, so we made a special effort to investigate..."

The two small headmen recounted the process in detail and finally revealed the name of the Fourth Chief, Xiang Tianjie:

Hearing this, Lu Longchuan's expression suddenly changed, and he flew into a rage, slamming the table and standing up.

"Good bandits, how dare you sow discord and ruin the brotherhood? Soldiers, take these two down and execute them!"

The two small headmen were immediately frightened out of their wits and quickly knelt down, raising their fingers to swear:

"We are telling the truth, every word is true! We also have files in the Xunwu Si, Commander Lu can check at the Hongzhou Prefectural Office, we are truly working for the imperial court!"

"You still dare to talk nonsense, tie them up and throw them into prison!"

Lu Longchuan ordered without explanation, roaring in anger.

The personal soldiers on the left and right immediately grabbed the two small headmen, covered their mouths, and dragged them out.

After the two were taken away, Lu Longchuan sat down again, his expression uncertain. After thinking for a while, he had someone call the military advisor, Sun Rong, over.

Soon, Sun Rong arrived.

Lu Longchuan did not hide anything and told him everything that had just happened.

"...That's the whole story. I wonder what the military advisor thinks?"

Sun Rong listened quietly, stroking his beard under his chin, and pondered, "This matter is suspicious. Xiang Tianjie is a veteran of the fort, how could he easily defect to the enemy? This is mostly the enemy's trick to sow discord, to frame us and make us cut off our own arm."

Lu Longchuan nodded, "That's what I think too. These two should be dead men sent by Chen Feng."

"That's not necessarily true, perhaps they are just confused." Sun Rong rolled his eyes and said, "These two claim to be spies of the Xunwu Si, it would be best to send someone to the Hongzhou Prefectural Office to confirm their names on the list. If we kill them by mistake, we would be cutting off a witness."

Lu Longchuan nodded. They now represented the imperial court, and the various prefectures of Lake Yang had to cooperate with them. It was very simple to confirm with the Prefectural Office.

Sun Rong paused and continued:

"Since Chen Feng wants to frame Xiang Tianjie, he must have a backup plan. Perhaps there really is an enemy spy in our army. We should temporarily closely monitor the Fourth Chief, and the spy will eventually reveal his horse feet."

"I will take care of it myself." Lu Longchuan nodded.

Ten days passed in a flash.

During this time, Xiang Tianjie always felt distracted.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he always felt that someone was watching him in the dark. But when he looked around to find them, he found nothing. He had been suspicious lately.

He thought it was because he had been dealing with the enemy every day and was under too much pressure, so he didn't take it to heart.

One night, the camp was quiet, and most of the generals had fallen asleep.

Xiang Tianjie lay down fully clothed, half-asleep, when he suddenly heard a faint sound in the tent, as if someone was moving by the bed.

"Who?!"

Xiang Tianjie suddenly woke up, abruptly turned over and sat up, took out his sword from under his pillow, and looked around with the sword.

However, the tent was quiet, with no one else there. Only a faint candlelight flickered, casting his shadow on the tent, presenting a bizarre posture.

Xiang Tianjie vigilantly scanned the area and then got up and used his sword to lift the tent curtain, poking his head out to take a look. He found that the personal soldiers were still guarding outside the tent.

He asked the personal soldiers and learned that no one had approached, so he put away his sword and returned to the tent, thinking that he had just had a nightmare and had an illusion.

However, as he passed the table, Lu Longchuan suddenly froze, stiffly turned his head, and looked at the table in shock.

He clearly remembered that he had tidied up the table before going to bed, and there should be nothing else on it.

But at this moment, a letter of unknown origin was quietly lying on the table, silently watching him.

A chill rose from Huang Ya Yi's bones, and he subconsciously took two steps back.

As an old bandit who licked blood from the knife's edge, he especially did not believe in ghosts and gods, but when he encountered such a strange thing at this time, he still felt fear subconsciously.

"Who is playing tricks on me..."

Huang Ya Yi took a deep breath, walked to the table, and carefully picked up the letter to read.

But after reading only half of it, his expression changed drastically, as if he had been stung by a wasp, and he shook his hand and threw the letter away.

"This is a frame-up! This letter cannot be kept!"

Huang Ya Yi came back to his senses and quickly picked up the letter again, wanting to burn it with the candlelight.

However, at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside.

Whoosh!

Xiang Tianjie and Chen Feng, with their entourage, broke into the tent, and immediately saw Lu Longchuan, who was about to burn the letter.

"Stop! Subdue him!"

Xiang Tianjie shouted, flying up and grabbing Lu Longchuan's wrist.

The entourage beside him swarmed up and firmly pinned Lu Longchuan down.

Lu Longchuan did not struggle hard, but looked at everyone in shock.

"Why are you here?"

He didn't understand. How could Xiang Tianjie have arrived so coincidentally, and all of them were wearing armor? If they hadn't been prepared, how could they have suddenly appeared?

Xiang Tianjie ignored him, looked at the letter with a gloomy face, his chest gradually rising and falling, so angry that his face was livid.

"How dare you!" Bang!

He kicked over the table, burning with anger.

Chen Feng took the letter and read it through, with the same look of shock on his face.

This was actually a reply from Niu Qi. The letter thanked Lu Longchuan for the military intelligence he had provided last time and asked him to continue passing on intelligence next time.

At the same time, the letter also mentioned to let Lu Longchuan not be impatient. Even if he had gathered some of the anti-amnesty leaders, he should not rashly start an uprising and cause internal strife, but wait until the critical moment to take action.

In addition, the letter also agreed with the anti-amnesty faction headed by Lu Longchuan, believing that this Huang Ya Yi was once a hero, but now he had become a government dog, and it was indeed not worth serving. Continuing to follow him would only become a tool for him to gain wealth and glory. But at least you brothers are still together, and after the success, Xiang Tianjie's life would not be harmed, and so on.

"What's going on?"

Xiang Tianjie calmed his anger, pointed at the letter, and questioned Huang Ya Yi.

Lu Longchuan looked aggrieved and said, "I don't know either. This letter suddenly appeared in my tent just now. Someone must have sneaked into my camp just now to frame me!"

"But I have already asked your guard soldiers just now, and no one approached at all!"

Lu Longchuan was unable to defend himself, and then frowned and asked back:

"Why did you suddenly appear? This letter appeared too coincidentally, and you came at the right time. This is clearly a setup against me! Please, Commander, investigate clearly!"

Xiang Tianjie remained unmoved and said in a deep voice:

"These past few days, I have been having my personal soldiers monitor you. Every day it was a different person. If I hadn't been careful, I would have been deceived by you!"

Lu Longchuan's eyes widened in disbelief, and he said, "You were monitoring me?"

"That's right. A government spy told me that you were secretly colluding with the enemy. I didn't believe it at first, but now what else do you have to say?"

Xiang Tianjie shouted.

Hearing this, Lu Longchuan was filled with grief and indignation.

He didn't expect that after so many years of brotherhood, his own Fort Master didn't trust him and actually sent people to monitor him.

No wonder he had been uneasy these past few days. It turned out that he was really being watched.

But with the evidence at hand, it was like dropping yellow mud in his pants. Lu Longchuan knew that it was difficult to defend himself, so he had to cheer up and shout:

"Commander, listen to me. This is the enemy's trick to frame me and sow discord. From beginning to end, I have never colluded with the enemy! Commander, don't fall for the enemy's trick!"

"With the evidence here, even if you talk until the end of time, you can't avoid it. Soldiers, tie him up, put him in jail, and interrogate him thoroughly!"

Xiang Tianjie ordered.

The soldiers on both sides said, "Forgive us," and escorted the wronged Lu Longchuan away.

Watching everyone leave, the anger on Xiang Tianjie's face subsided, replaced by a look of worry:

"Military Advisor, are we really going to do this?"

Huang Ya shook his head: "We have the evidence, even if we wanted to let him go, we can't. To be safe, we can only lock him up first."

Although they had obtained the letter as evidence, the two of them did not completely suspect its authenticity. They still felt that it might be a frame-up.

But whether Lu Longchuan was framed or not, the fact that this letter appeared here proved that there really was a spy inside!

Moreover, the spy's status would definitely not be low, otherwise, how could the military secrets mentioned in the letter be so detailed.

It was just a pity that the real traitor had not revealed his horse feet tonight.

The two had no choice but to play along and lock up Lu Longchuan first, and then carefully investigate who was the traitor.

However, although the two of them subconsciously didn't believe it, they still couldn't control the suspicion towards Lu Longchuan in their hearts.

--Was there a one-in-ten-thousand chance that there were no other secrets, and it was really him colluding with the enemy, just like the current evidence showed?

"Who exactly could it be..."

Xiang Tianjie frowned, one face after another flashing through his mind.

Which old brother had betrayed him?

He felt confused and suspicious, feeling that many people were possible.

In Xiang Tianjie's opinion, most of what was said in the letter was true, and the opinions about him were probably the writer's heartfelt words.

Although this letter could not be fully believed, after thinking about it, it seemed that only the leaders of the anti-amnesty faction had a motive for betrayal.

Could it be that my choice to accept the amnesty was really unpopular?

Xiang Tianjie's expression changed.

Thinking of Niu Qi's heroic posture, a shadow fell over his heart.

Although he was not a person who indulged in self-pity, compared to this invincible man of the world, he sincerely felt ashamed of himself, knowing that his charm was far inferior to the other party.

If it weren't for the fact that he had been in the righteous brotherhood with the leaders for many years, they would probably have wanted to switch to Niu Qi long ago, right?

For a time, Huang Ya Yi was worried about gains and losses, and his expression was uncertain.

At the same time, on the other side of the Heavenly King Fort camp, at the residence of Immortal Yufeng.

Inside the tent, Zhou Jing slowly opened his eyes.

"The unity of a gang often ends with suspicion. People's hearts are easily changed. Next, it's just waiting. I just need to add a few more fires at the right time. I wonder if that Lu still has the ability to suppress everyone under his command... Heh, probably not. He's already an old fart, his ambitions from his youth have long been worn away, and his style is becoming more and more petty, very greasy, and he's not handsome enough."

While thinking, he shook his head, blew out the candle that was emitting green flames, and dismissed the Ghost Servant Technique.