Wu Jie was no fool. At thirty-seven years old, he had been in the army for seventeen years. He had studied in his youth and spent more than a decade climbing the ranks in the military. He could see through certain things at a glance. He knew that he had walked right into a trap and was now being taken advantage of by these people.

But knowing was knowing, and understanding was understanding. The problem now was that the person in the prison was indeed a Vice Censor-in-chief, and also indeed an envoy of the Son of Heaven. He represented a proper official of the central government, and the seriousness of the matter was obvious. His old superior, Qu Duan, had indeed taken incomprehensible actions.

Therefore, no matter how messy and foul this situation was, since he had become involved and was being forced into a corner, he could only bite the bullet and deal with it.

As for how to do it, despite Director Wu's seemingly ignorant demeanor, how could he, having been in the Western Army for seventeen years, not know the procedures for certain things?

In fact, if he really did it, with Director Wu's mastery of military strategy and his own thunderous attack methods, he would be surprisingly swift and decisive, and would capture the ringleader first.

This day was the first day of the fifth month.

Wu Jie left the prison and, without stopping, first had the Commander Xue imprisoned, putting him right across from Hu Zhongcheng and the others. Then, he immediately took control and merged Commander Xue's troops.

At the same time, he wrote a secret private letter and had his younger brother and son, Wu Gong, personally deliver it to his younger brother, Wu Lin, who was on the other side of the river.

Two days later, after serving the esteemed gentlemen in the prison for two days and calculating the time, Wu Jie finally wrote more than a dozen letters and sent them to the familiar generals of the Jingyuan Circuit...

It should be noted that the Song Dynasty's military system was complex. The circuits in Guanxi, as border regions, had special military systems from the beginning, like military regions. Therefore, it was not as common to see the titles of Commander or General as it was in the Central Plains. Instead, military leaders were often divided according to the regional unit of the 'circuit'.

For example, before becoming a Director, Wu Jie had successively served as the Tenth Regular General and the Second Deputy General of the Jingyuan Circuit. Qu Duan's steps to consolidate military power in Guanxi also involved first gaining control of the Jingyuan Circuit's troops for his own use, and then using the Jingyuan Circuit's troops as capital to try to annex troops from other places through war.

Therefore, these letters were naturally for Qu Duan's core followers, who were also Wu Jie's familiar old acquaintances, and were now concentrated near the border between Yan'an Prefecture and Fuzhou. These were the generals of the Jingyuan Circuit. However, the content was nothing significant, just some comforting and reminding with subtle hints. This was not what he was really counting on... Or rather, a soldier naturally had a soldier's way of doing things. How could he rely on letters to collude?

In fact, just as this batch of letters was sent out, Director Wu received information that General Qu Duan had already arrived on the other side of the river, escorted by his own brother.

This day was the fourth day of the fifth month. Wu Jie did not dare to be negligent and immediately led a hundred personal guards out of the city to meet him at the pontoon bridge over the Huachi River north of the city.

Qu Duan, who was about forty years old, was in the golden age of a general. He was a burly man with a slightly red face, wearing dazzling armor and riding an exceptionally tall mount. This was none other than the famous 'Iron Elephant' of Guanxi. A hundred personal guards flanked him on both sides from behind, and Wu Lin led more than a hundred riders from behind to protect him... Nearly two hundred iron cavalry galloped from the north, creating a formidable aura. Moreover, the Director-General's flag fluttered in the summer breeze, complementing General Qu's recent complacent state, making him truly majestic and spectacular.

However, no matter how spectacular, basic rules had to be followed. When Qu Duan arrived in front of the pontoon bridge, he saw Wu Jie leading a hundred riders dismounted respectfully waiting on the opposite bank. He smiled triumphantly, dismounted, and led Iron Elephant to go first.

The other personal guards also dismounted one after another and carefully went onto the bridge in order.

After Qu Duan had passed the pontoon bridge, he went directly to the roadside, mounted his horse, and prepared to continue onward. However, Wu Jie behaved with exceptional respect today. He actually stepped forward to lead Qu Duan's horse in his capacity as the military officer of the Jingyuan Circuit second only to Qu Duan, and stopped the others from following. They stopped only when they reached the shade of a tree a few dozen steps away, so that the two could face each other privately.

Qu Duan maintained a perfectly casual and confident demeanor throughout. He did not dismount even when he reached the shade, but remained on Iron Elephant, looking down and asked:

"Great Wu, you said that Councilor Yuwen sent another envoy, and that Xue Feng that rascal beat him up? And put him in prison?"

"Yes!" Wu Jie glanced at the opposite bank, looked up, and answered seriously without panic.

"How did you handle it?" Qu Duan frowned.

"This subordinate was in Luojiao City at the time. After receiving a letter from Magistrate Huang in this city, I came here to capture Xue Feng, preparing to rescue Councilor Yuwen's envoy. But for some reason, the envoy only said that it was a scheme by Director-General, that you deliberately had Xue Feng beat him as a show of force, and then had me come to play the good guy. Instead, he refused to leave the prison..."

Hearing this, Qu Duan frowned even more, but he was not angry. Instead, he laughed derisively, "If I were scheming to beat him as a show of force, why wouldn't I use the old men of our Jingyuan Circuit, and instead use a former subordinate of Wang Xie?"

Wu Jie also sighed, "That is the logic. Others may not know, but how could I not know that this must be Xue Feng being reckless, and has nothing to do with Director-General? But for some reason, the envoy insisted that it was Director-General's arrangement. Not only that, but Magistrate Huang, after chatting with the envoy in private, also entered the prison... And told me directly that unless Director-General comes in person, he will not come out. And this subordinate believes that Councilor Yuwen..."

"No need to say more." Qu Duan finally became impatient and waved his hand on horseback. "It's just that these court officials are self-righteous, and repeatedly ruin the overall situation at the front lines. I thought that Councilor Yuwen was a suitable person, just sitting peacefully in Chang'an, and would delegate power to me. Who would have thought that he would also make such a fuss... Besides, you sent the message so urgently, didn't I come quickly?"

Wu Jie looked at the knights dismounting and crossing the river from the pontoon bridge, and then remounting. He repeatedly nodded in agreement and continued to say calmly, "That's the logic. In any case, Director-General should explain the matter of Wang Jinglue clearly to the envoy. Otherwise, wouldn't all the twenty-odd generals up and down the Jingyuan Circuit be implicated by Director-General, and then uniformly treated as rebels by the court? Wu was born from a good family and has worked hard for seventeen years, but I never thought of rebelling."

Qu Duan, riding on Iron Elephant, was slightly stunned, and then his expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly looked towards the bridge entrance, following the other party's gaze.

At this point, Qu Duan noticed that Wu Lin, who should have directly turned back on the other side of the river, had also followed. Not only that, but when he and Wu Jie were talking, Wu Lin's guards and his, Qu Duan's, guards were mixed together while crossing the river. At this time, half, about a hundred or so people, had just crossed the river, and it was exactly half of Wu Lin's troops and half of his own guards.

In other words, only a few dozen of Qu Duan's personal guards had come over to this side of the river, and they were surrounded by three times as many guards from the Wu brothers.

"Those on the opposite side, no more crossing!"

At this moment, Wu Lin, at the entrance of the bridge, also mounted his horse and shouted across the bridge: "Director-General is a general from another town. He is going to meet the envoy from the imperial court in the city, so according to the rules, he cannot bring too many guards... The number is enough, the rest wait on the other side of the river. Food will be sent to you later."

Complaints arose on the other side of the river, and some even questioned why Wu Jie, who was stationed in this city, still had to go through these formalities?

However, soon several guard officers familiar with Wu Lin on the south bank spoke up to defuse the situation, talking about whether the imperial envoy would share any rewards? Would there be wine and meat later? And so on.

As soon as these words were spoken, the other side burst into laughter, and no one cared about the previous complaints.

Qu Duan turned his head and looked coldly, "Great Wu, what are you brothers doing?"

"It's not what we want to do, it's that the envoy's methods are brilliant. He used the matter of your suggestion to kill Wang Jinglue to say that Director-General was going to rebel, and then blamed me." Wu Jie frankly admitted. "I was forced into a corner, and I didn't want to be wrongly accused, so I had to use this method to invite Director-General to meet the envoy face to face!"

"Bullshit envoy!" Qu Duan came back to his senses and sneered. "Most likely Yuwen Xuzhong got some petty officials from the inner court in Tokyo and came to act important. You are also an old soldier who has been in the army for seventeen or eighteen years, and has risen to be a Director of troops, the first general under my command. How could you be manipulated like this?"

"It's not some petty officials from the inner court, it's the Vice Censor-in-chief as the chief envoy, and a Military Counselor of the Privy Council as the deputy envoy." Wu Jie said calmly. "These two were close confidants who followed the Emperor out of Nanyang City at the beginning of the year, and followed him to Yanling to fight that battle... These two are the Emperor's intention!"

"They said I was going to rebel just because they were beaten by Xue Feng?" Qu Duan was stunned when he heard the introduction of their identities, but then became indignant.

"Director-General, it's useless to say more at this point. Why can't you go into the city to meet the Vice Censor-in-chief and explain things face to face?" Wu Jie also became impatient.

Qu Duan was speechless.

"Director-General doesn't think that I, Wu Jie, want to harm you, right?" Wu Jie became even more impatient. "If that's the case, you can go to the front of the pontoon bridge and order a fight... But if you do that, I'm afraid everyone in the world will know that you are going to rebel."

"I am certainly no match for you brothers, such despicable people!" Qu Duan finally sneered, but he still spurred his horse towards the direction of Zhiluo City.

Wu Jie's expression was gloomy. He also turned around, mounted his horse, and led the knights from the north side of the bridge to follow quickly.

After traveling two or three miles and arriving in front of the city, they saw that Qu Duan was fast on horseback. He had arrived at the city gate early, but he did not enter the city. He was clearly wary and wanted to wait for his dozen or so close guards to come before entering.

However, upon arriving in front of the city, before Qu Duan could speak, Wu Jie simply turned around and shouted: "Leave half of those who came with Director-General behind. Only half can enter!"

Qu Duan was furious and turned around on his horse, pointing his whip and scolding: "Wu Jie, do you really want to rebel against me?"

At this point, Wu Jie was too lazy to pretend anymore. He simply raised his head and raised his whip in response: "Director Qu, the Vice Censor-in-chief, with the Emperor's decree, is in the city. With the dignity of half a prime minister, you do not obey orders. Do you really want to rebel against the Great Song?!"

The surrounding guards were stunned, but since they were all from the same side, they all looked at each other in panic.

Qu Duan was exasperated, but he could not do anything. He just sneered and spurred Iron Elephant into the city. The remaining guards looked at each other, but indeed left half behind under Wu Lin's gaze, with only twenty or so riders following into the city.

However, that was not all. After entering the city, Director Qu had not traveled more than a hundred steps before he was intercepted by an armed force at the first intersection.

Qu Duan turned his head and saw Wu Jie leading a hundred riders following him. He was completely furious: "Great Wu! You don't just want to rebel against me today, you want to kill me, don't you? Is it pitiful that I, Qu Duan, have roamed Guanxi for twenty years, and I am actually going to be killed by a subordinate in the army?"

"Director-General also knows that subordinates should not coerce superiors, right?!" Wu Jie reined in his horse and came to the other person. “Qu Da! Think carefully, how is what I am doing to you today different from what you did to Wang Jinglue in the Diaoyin Mountain camp that day? Didn’t he come to see you, his subordinate, like this that day, and half of his guards were removed at each checkpoint... If you, Qu Da, didn't have the intention of killing your superior and rebelling, how would I, Da Wu, have such intentions? What I, Da Wu, am doing today is just to make you wake up!"

Qu Duan was stunned and speechless. Then he silently spurred his horse and passed through this intersection checkpoint.

And next, as Wu Jie had said, Qu Duan encountered the same experience that Wang Shu had in his camp that day... Every time he passed an intersection or gate, half of his guards were left behind. By the time he reached the county prison gate, there was only one rider accompanying him.

Seeing that the only guard was also forcibly stopped by Wu Jie's soldiers, Qu Da dismounted and continued forward. But as soon as he stepped into this prison, he suddenly felt cold all over and could no longer suppress himself. Then he stopped and looked up at the sky, sighing for a long time.

"You've come this far, what does Director-General mean?" Wu Jie followed behind and said coldly.

"I am regretting Iron Elephant. This precious horse can travel four hundred li a day and is the best steed in Guanxi." Qu Duan looked up at the sky. "I'll give it to you later, it won't be too insulting to him."

This time it was Wu Jie who was exasperated: "Qu Da! No one wants to kill you! They just want you to defend yourself! If that Vice Censor-in-chief wants to kill you forcibly without any evidence, I will risk my life to let you go!"

Qu Duan shook his head slightly, without arguing, but finally stepped into the prison with his head held high.