At dusk, Lin Yi and his team arrived at the base of Bajiao Mountain with twenty police dogs.
Ahead was a crossroad.
The one thousand Soldiers dispatched by Sun Pingkai were assembled and waiting on this plain.
"Inspector Sun, we have been waiting for a long ti, can we now enter Bajiao Mountain?"
The speaker was General Han, who heard that Guo Huaimu had stolen the Official Salt and was eager to search the mountain and capture Guo Huaimu to achieve rit.
Sun Pingkai looked towards Lin Yi, hoping that Lin Yi would pacify General Han.
After all, he ca from a Civil Officer background, and even though he had beco the Inspector of Jiannan State, he was still sowhat wary of Military Officers.
However, Lin Yi was different; Lin Yi was the formidable Great General of the nation, and his orders, General Han had to obey.
But at this mont, Lin Yi was focused on the topographical features of Bajiao Mountain, not hearing their question at all.
"Inspector Lin?"
Sun Pingkai softly reminded, "General Han, I have no experience leading troops into the mountains, let’s follow Great General Lin’s lead."
Lin Yi snapped back to reality and casually took a whistle out of his pocket, blowing it sharply, the twenty police dogs imdiately lined up neatly, ready to obey any command.
"Let’s not rush, let the police dogs decide which way to go first. Everyone unleash the dogs."
Facing the choice at the crossroad, Lin Yi delegated the decision to the police dogs.
The police dogs excitedly ran towards the two paths of the crossroad, then started moving around the plain back and forth.
So even howled, with others engaging in fights.
Lin Yi was curious; although he couldn’t understand the language of the police dogs, he guessed that the police dogs also had disagreents at tis.
Thinking this, Lin Yi stepped forward and loudly said, "Proceed at ease in search for the clues, just rember to return afterward."
Lin Yi’s words surely worked, groups of three to five police dogs began running, but none headed towards Bajiao Mountain.
All the police dogs ran towards another road, eventually splitting into three directions.
Monts later, all the police dogs disappeared on the pathway, diving into a small hill and vanished.
"Great General Lin, what’s happening, have the police dogs lost their way?" Sun Pingkai couldn’t help but worry.
Lin Yi chuckled and replied, "They might have already found the Official Salt, let’s not rush, they will return shortly."
Lin Yi was very confident in the capability of the police dogs to track items.
It was unexpected that Guo Huaimu and his n were so cunning to split a batch of Official Salt into three hiding places.
Roughly half a quarter of an hour later, like receiving a unified command, all twenty police dogs ran back simultaneously.
They were frenziedly barking, indicating they had a new discovery.
Each dog tightly clung to its own master, dragging them along.
"What is this about? You’ve torn my clothes!" A Soldier who had handled the leash fell directly to the ground, unstable.
"Help, save , Great General Lin, what’s with these police dogs?" another Soldier cried out for help.
Lin Yi smiled and said to the ten dog handlers,
"Have you all forgotten? You are the masters of the police dogs. They managed to recognize you among thousands of people, call their nas, slow them down."
The ten dog handlers, skeptical, looked at Lin Yi, gathered their courage to call out their police dogs’ nas, then ordered the dogs to calm down and stop pulling.
Sure enough, upon hearing their master’s commands, the dogs ceased dragging, instead took the leashes in their mouths, and carried them to their masters.
This scene caused amazent among everyone present.
"My goodness, these police dogs can not only understand human speech but are also more intelligent than humans."
"Such well-behaved dogs, I suddenly realize I may not even compare to one."
Facing everyone’s praise, Lin Yi felt these were re trivialities.
’Hehe, if you could witness how the police dogs find the Official Salt, that would truly be an eye-opener.’
"It seems the police dogs have already located clues about the salt, I shall follow the police dogs’ lead."
Lin Yi gave the command, and over a thousand soldiers orderly followed behind the police dogs.
Though they divided into three routes, eventually they arrived at a small hill surrounded by river water.
The river is about two ters wide and approximately one ter deep.
"Master Lin, look, there’s a cave inside!"
Soon, everyone noticed the cave, and twenty police dogs started barking madly towards it.
Lin Yi was very curious as he looked at the entrance of the cave.
Following the police dogs, Lin Yi hadn’t noticed any traces of wagon wheel tracks on the ground.
Moreover, if Guo Huaimu and his n were going to hide the Official Salt in the cave, they would certainly need a wooden board or so logs to cross the river to enter the cave.
The wood could be thrown into the river to wash away, but the water plants beside couldn’t.
Yet, Lin Yi closely inspected along the river, finding no signs of damage or trampling on the water plants.
’Strange, if the Official Salt is not inside, the police dogs wouldn’t be barking like that.’
General Han stepped forward and asked, "Great General Lin, if the police dogs brought us here, does that an the Official Salt is in the cave?"
Lin Yi appeared puzzled; he still hadn’t figured out how Guo Huaimu and his n managed to get the Official Salt inside the cave.
Seeing the sun about to set, Lin Yi pondered for a mont and decided to let so police dogs swim across the water and check inside the cave.
"General Han, just let the police dogs go in and check the cave, and we’ll have our answer."
At Lin Yi’s command, twenty police dogs hesitated not and jumped into the water, crossed the river, and entered the cave.
The dogs started barking and digging frantically once they were inside.
Lin Yi shouted from outside, "Bring out any evidence you find, such as bags for the Official Salt or unwanted clothing, etc."
Despite Lin Yi’s vigorous shouting, the twenty police dogs ca out empty-handed.
However, each dog’s limbs and mouths were covered in mud, probably from frantic digging inside the cave.
At this mont, an old man carrying two loads of firewood laboriously walked towards Lin Yi and his group.
Seeing a stranger, the police dogs, even across the river, started barking madly.
Lin Yi imdiately asked the dogs to keep quiet.
The old man recognized Lin Yi at a glance, slowly setting down his firewood, and exclaid joyfully.
"You are the Great General Lin, I just saw you at the market the day before yesterday!"
"You don’t know, us common folks have been hoping that you could stay in Jiannan State permanently; we have so much to tell you."
Lin Yi nodded; being recognized by the people was nothing unusual.
Beside him, General Han seed a bit impatient.
"Old man, we are handling official matters right now, and it’s not suitable for Great General Lin to chat."
"If you want to chat, then wait until Great General Lin has free ti."
The theft of Official Salt was no small matter, although General Han had already betrayed the Eighth Prince and distanced himself from the Prince’s camp.
However, General Han didn’t want the Eighth Prince’s army of a hundred thousand to lack salt and get delayed.
Unexpectedly, the old man confronted General Han directly, visibly displeased.
"General, what kind of talk is that? I have seen Great General Lin because I have important things to say."
Then, the old man vividly described how this early morning before dawn, when he was chopping wood on Bajiao Mountain, he saw Guo Huaimu and others acting suspiciously and hiding.
Hearing this, General Han was overjoyed and excitedly said: "Old man, are you absolutely sure of what you said?"
The old man nodded firmly and tapped his chest to assure.
"Absolutely sure, I am old now, why would I lie to you?"
"Guo Huaimu is a big corrupt official who exploits us people; we couldn’t wait for him to be caught and were so happy to see the wanted order."
General Han, who had long wanted to enter Bajiao Mountain to capture Guo Huaimu and achieve great rit, clenched his sword tightly, eager to lead an army into Bajiao Mountain imdiately.
...End of Chapter...
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