North of the Imperial Capital, where Northern Liaoning ets Eastern Liaoning.
In a forest situated on relatively high terrain, taking cover behind bushes and rocks, Cao De lay prone behind a rock at the edge of the forest, staring at the distant village.
He calculated the ti, it was almost ti; he signaled towards the back aning, "Is everyone ready?"
Old Liu and the others, scattered and prone in various positions, saw the signal and responded, indicating they were ready.
Cao De squinted his fox-like eyes, took another look at the village to make sure everything was correct, and then made another signal.
A group of people disguised as Internal Guard Bureau mbers spread out using cover, in teams of three, carrying sothing on their backs, they stealthily headed towards the paths they had scouted over these days, moving silently towards different villages.
Cao De led another two people, slowly approaching Outpost Village, the one where Old Liu and Chen Wei were expelled, the outpost among all villages, the most vigilant and the hardest to conquer.
Tomorrow, they from the Internal Guard Bureau and Shen Shi would give Yuchi Zhao a grand birthday present!
During these days of secret surveying, Cao De had learned that the villages ford by the private soldiers were divided into two major categories.
One category was those who, after years of hardening, mostly lost the thought of rebelling; among these people, so had married commoners and integrated well, wanting nothing but to live peacefully with their families without any further upheavals;
there were those who, after the failure of the Rebel Prince’s rebellion, feared execution and ended up here in confusion; they themselves did not wish to rebel after living a secure life;
and there were also those who had willingly joined the rebellion in the past, but over the years, had quelled their rebellious thoughts.
The other major category was those loyal to the Rebel Prince and harbored deep hatred towards the current Son of Heaven, the smallest in number but the senior leaders among the private soldiers.
Especially the leading leader, who was allegedly saved by the Rebel Prince in the past; though the Rebel Prince was defeated in Shandong, this person remained unwavering in his loyalty, deluded by the idea of one day killing the current Son of Heaven to avenge the Rebel Prince, utterly manipulated by Xue Ping, willingly acting as a pawn in front.
It was this person who liked using brutal thods to suppress those opposed, train troops relentlessly for ten years, trying to turn this group of private soldiers into a strong military force; yet unbeknownst to him, the people’s hearts were scattered, most rely compelled by his power, carrying out pointless drills every day.
The private soldiers were not united, not solid as iron, in so sense, no better than loose sand.
That made things easier; along with the strategy provided by the Emperor, if executed, would be enough to take down all these private soldiers without a fight.
This was the information Cao De had found during these days of covert investigation.
He had also found out that, given their occupation related to execution, although many years had passed, they were still quite vigilant; during the twelve Shichen Chinese Ti periods each day, there were always guards on duty, especially at night when they were very alert; it was very difficult to enter the village without alerting anyone during that ti.
Despite this, there were still flaws to exploit; every day around the second half of Shen Hour, was the most relaxed mont when the sentries changed shifts, troop-trained people, weary in body and spirit from the day, returned to their hos and closed their courtyard gates, every household started cooking, exuding the strong scent of life; after dinner, the entire village would gradually quiet down, only guards remained on duty at the heads and tails of the village.
In winter, it gets dark early in this region, taking advantage of this ti, Cao De and his group would infiltrate various villages, find concealed places to hide, settle matters by midnight, and then wait for the strategy to take effect, waiting for Shen Shi to arrive with his troops.
They could not alert anyone during this mission; just imagine the difficulty of sneaking into so many villages unnoticed.
anwhile, Shen Shi, dressed in black armor and exuding an aura of sternness, divided his well-trained soldiers into several groups, leading them to designated spots, ready for battle!
Returning to the capital.
In the Side Hall of Canglan Court.
The Emperor watched his Little Concubine bustling about like a busy little bee, directing people to arrange this and that, even the placent of the charcoal stove had to be ticulous.
He watched leisurely, finding delight in the view, feeling very peaceful inside—such monts of relaxation were rare.
Interestingly enough, after they had finished their al, they had stuck around for a while longer. Nanny Qi had co back, worried about his Little Concubine, specially returning to check on her.
Upon seeing him there, she turned her head and hurried back to the Main Hall, saying so arrangents were still not in order and that she needed to oversee them.
His Little Concubine, suddenly reminded, exclaid, "Oh dear," recalling that Nanny Qi’s room was not fully arranged yet and it had to be done before sunset.
Regaining her composure, she hurried to start organizing, and after a while, she rembered him and hesitated.
In this pairing of old and young, the elder worried for the younger and the younger for the elder, each arranging for the other, making him seem like an extra bystander.
Seeing her predicant, the Emperor told Lian Hua not to mind him and simply ordered so morials to be brought out. He stayed in the Side Hall, keeping her company as she arranged.
At that mont, in the Side Hall, the Emperor had just finished reading a morial congratulating him, he placed it aside, stood up, and walked to the window, looking outside.
His Little Concubine ntioned that Nanny Qi still had so belongings to move, so she went to check.
After watching for a while and seeing no one, he withdrew his gaze; as he turned, he inadvertently glanced at the bed, and as he moved past, he realized sothing was off.
He turned his gaze back, staring at the bed for a while, and finally figured out what was amiss.
There was a small gap in the wooden plank under the bed, which usually looked like solid wood. It seed that sothing during the move had bumped it, causing it to bulge outward.
He squinted at it. In a flash of thought, he rembered his Little Concubine, one hand on the bed, the other hand fiddling with sothing at the bedside, and the sound of a ’click’ as a book specifically for praising him was pulled out.
At that ti, he had sensed sothing unusual but was distracted by her chanting sothing, and hadn’t investigated further.
Now the concealed compartnt had revealed its hint, glaringly obvious before his eyes, and the Emperor was very curious.
What exactly had his Little Concubine used this secret compartnt for, so secretly that even he had not been inford, kept tightly concealed without any hint in front of him.
His Little Concubine was very simple-minded; one could tell what she was thinking just by looking at her facial expressions. Yet, he hadn’t expected she could keep this hidden compartnt so well concealed; it must have been very difficult for her indeed.
The Emperor grew even more curious, thinking that if he didn’t investigate further, it would be a disservice to his Little Concubine’s painstaking efforts.
Thinking this, he imdiately went over, bent down, placed his hand on the protruding gap of the hidden compartnt, and closed it directly with a ’click’; it sealed tightly, not at all appearing as if there were a concealed compartnt.
This sound was precisely the one he had previously heard!
Now the Emperor was completely sure, this was indeed where his Little Concubine hid things.
So secretive, what exactly was hidden?
The Emperor looked around, and seeing nothing unusual in front of the hidden compartnt, he thought for a mont and reached under the bed corresponding to the compartnt, suddenly feeling sothing unusual at the edge of his little finger...
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