Chapter 596: Countering with the Same Strategy

Cheng Qianli’s military headquarters was located near the north gate of the city, converted from a large mansion. Soldiers stood guard both inside and outside, preventing unauthorized persons from approaching—security was extremely strict.

Early in the morning, a young one-armed woman dressed in black gauze clothes arrived at the headquarters. She was Qi Yuhua, head of the Hebei Intelligence Agency. As soon as she approached, two soldiers with swords blocked her path.

“This is a secure military area; no one is allowed to enter!”

Qi Yuhua took out a silver plaque and handed it to the soldiers, saying, “Please tell General Cheng that the head of the Hebei Branch of the Anxi Army’s Internal Security Intelligence Agency requests an audience.”

The soldiers had never seen such a silver plaque before, but given her unusual identity, they did not dare neglect her. They took the plaque and said, “Madam, please wait a moment while we inform General Cheng.”

One soldier rushed inside. After a while, he came out and said, “Madam, please come in! General Cheng wants to see you.”

He paused, glanced at the small bundle behind Qi Yuhua, and said, “Please hand over all your belongings. This will avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Qi Yuhua handed him the bundle, saying, “I’ll need these things soon. Please follow me.”

“We understand, madam. Please come!”

Qi Yuhua followed the soldiers quickly into the headquarters. In the main hall, Cheng Qianli was already seated. These days, the news of An Lushan’s massive army had kept him awake day and night, causing his weight to drop sharply. He became pale and thin. Yet, he still refused to retreat, having received orders from Guo Ziyi to hold Xiangzhou at all costs until all hundreds of thousands of people from Hebei had been evacuated. How could hundreds of thousands of people, including the elderly and children, be evacuated to Hedong in just ten days or half a month? Cheng Qianli was anxious but helpless; he didn’t want to disobey Guo Ziyi’s orders.

At that moment, Cheng Qianli was examining Qi Yuhua’s silver plaque, curious about it. He had long heard that Li Qing’an had established intelligence agencies across the country, and Hebei was no exception. On the front of the plaque were the seal script characters “Internal Security Intelligence Agency,” with the character “Two” engraved behind them.

From this plaque, it was clear that the Hebei Branch held a high status within the agency, ranking second. So, who was this young woman who served as its head?

Footsteps were heard outside. Several soldiers brought in a young woman. She was extremely beautiful, yet there was a hint of murderous intent in her beauty. Cheng Qianli was slightly startled when he realized she was one-armed.

Qi Yuhua walked in, gave Cheng Qianli a slight nod, and introduced herself, “My surname is Qi. I am the head of the Hebei branch of the Internal Security Intelligence Agency. Due to my health issues, I regret that I cannot bow properly.”
“No need! No need!”
Cheng Qianli was very polite. He first returned the silver plaque to Qi Yuhua and said with a smile, “I never expected Head Qi to appear in Xiangzhou. My apologies.”
Though he said he was sorry, his eyes still showed great suspicion. Even though she had shown the silver plaque, Cheng Qianli still wasn’t fully convinced. He knew that not long ago, An Lushan had seized control of the Hebei Intelligence Agency in Youzhou. Who knew if this silver plaque had fallen into An Lushan’s hands back then and was now being used to deceive him? With a great enemy at hand, he couldn’t afford to be careless in the slightest.
Qi Yuhua noticed his suspicion and smiled faintly before taking out a letter and handing it to him. “General Cheng, please take a look at this as well.”
Cheng Qianli took the letter and unfolded it. It was actually a handwritten letter from Li Qing’an, appointing Qi Yuhua as the head of the Hebei branch, with Li Qing’an’s signature and seal below. At this point, Cheng Qianli finally believed her. He quickly bowed and said, “It was my fault for being rude. Please, Head Qi, have a seat!”
After they sat down, Cheng Qianli asked, “I wonder why Head Qi has come to Xiangzhou?”
“I have been ordered by the general to come to Xiangzhou to assist General Cheng in defending the city and contribute to the upcoming battle here.”
Cheng Qianli naturally knew that the people from the Hebei Intelligence Agency weren’t there to help with defense on the walls; there must be another purpose. He quickly asked, “I wonder how Head Qi plans to help us?”
Qi Yuhua turned and waved, and the soldier from earlier brought over a wooden tray, on which was the bundle she had brought.
“Please untie it for me.”
The soldier placed the tray in front of Cheng Qianli and quickly untied the bundle. Inside was a pigeon that had been shot dead, with an arrow through its chest, along with a message tube.
“General Cheng, this is a messenger pigeon that my men shot down in the city last night. Please take a look at the information inside the tube.”
Cheng Qianli hesitantly untied the message tube tied to the pigeon’s leg, shook out the letter, and spread it on the table. After quickly reading it, his expression changed drastically. It was a report on the defenses of Xiangzhou city, including the thickness of the boulders used to block the four city gates, the number of laborers involved in defense, and the city’s food supplies—all highly sensitive information.
“Wh—who did this?!”

Due to nervousness, Cheng Qianli suddenly stood up. If this intelligence fell into An Lushan’s hands, it would greatly weaken his defenses. At that thought, sweat beaded on his forehead. How lucky! Fortunately, it was intercepted by Li Qing’an’s intelligence department; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. With this in mind, the slight prejudice he had because of her being a woman disappeared, and his heart was filled with gratitude. He bowed deeply to Qi Yuhua and said, “Thank you very much, Master Qi, for your help. I am deeply grateful.”

“General Cheng, An Lushan’s intelligence outpost in Xiangzhou City is the Baiyutang Counterparty Firm. What plans do you have to deal with it?”

Cheng Qianli stared at the dead pigeon on the table and gritted his teeth. “With such detailed intelligence, there must be a traitor in my army. I must send troops to eliminate them immediately!”

Qi Yuhua replied calmly, “Don’t you want to use them instead?”

“Use them?” Cheng Qianli was stunned. Then he suddenly realized. “You mean…”

Qi Yuhua took the intelligence from the table and sneered, “The person who wrote this intelligence is Song Yi, the second manager of Baiyutang Counterparty Firm. As long as we control him, General Cheng can feed An Lushan whatever information you want. Isn’t that more useful than destroying them?”

Cheng Qianli was overjoyed. He exclaimed in admiration, “Master Qi is truly brilliant. What do I need to do?”

Qi Yuhua raised her head proudly and said, “I need to borrow three thousand elite soldiers from General Cheng. I’ll take care of the rest.”

……

Baiyutang Counterparty Firm was indeed An Lushan’s spy in Xiangzhou City. To be precise, it was sent by Gao Shang. Before An Lushan formally raised an army, he had already sneaked into Xiangzhou City to gather various intelligence about its defending forces. Half a month ago, the firm officially opened. Its purpose was mainly to facilitate bribery and corruption. There was no need to bring gold or silver—just handing over a note from Baiyutang Counterparty Firm was enough to complete a large-scale bribe, making it extremely simple and convenient.

The location of Bai Yutang’s money shop was originally also a money shop, one run by Yang Huahua. It covered nearly fifty acres. After hearing about An Lushan’s rebellion, Yang Huahua sold the shop at a low price of five thousand guan. The shop had not only above-ground warehouses but also underground vaults capable of storing over a million guan. Within just over ten days of opening, Bai Yutang’s money shop had extremely slow business, as everyone wanted to keep their money on hand rather than deposit it there. However, many people did come to inquire about “flying money,” which allowed withdrawals from other locations—useful since it was difficult to carry large amounts of money while fleeing. Unfortunately, Bai Yutang’s money shop was the only one of its kind, with no branches elsewhere, so it couldn’t offer this service, disappointing many customers. In those ten-plus days, the shop only completed three proper transactions, with deposits totaling no more than a thousand guan.

Nevertheless, the shop remained open from early morning to late at night. The owner and employees worked diligently, running around the city every day. While they claimed to be attracting customers to deposit money, they were actually gathering various intelligence. Every night, the employees from different parts of the city would return to report their findings and receive new tasks for the next day.

That evening, as usual, Bai Yutang’s money shop began to close. All the employees returned from various parts of the city and gathered together for a meeting—this was essential, as combining several people’s information could yield highly valuable insights. Gao Shang had assigned them the task of sending messages every two days, so they were under great pressure to gather information daily.

The room was brightly lit as twenty-four employees and the owners gathered to share what they had learned that day. There were three owners: the chief owner, the second owner, and the third owner. These three were responsible for internal work, such as analyzing and organizing intelligence, with the second owner, Song Yi, writing the messages in pigeon mail to be sent to the main camp outside the city.

That day, they received extremely important intelligence. Several employees had noticed the Tang army digging pits and burying jars beside the four city gates. Based on their experience, they immediately deduced that this was a tactic by the Tang army to prevent the Yan army from digging tunnels into the city. Unfortunately, they still couldn’t determine the exact locations or the number of jars buried.

The chief owner’s surname was Mao. He was a general under An Lushan and a personal guard officer of An Qingxu, originally a scout. He arranged all tasks. Although he was illiterate, all intelligence had to be stamped by him before it could be sent, making his gold seal crucial. However, a fake seal could be made, so it wasn’t a major problem.

Second Manager Song Yi used to be the owner of a money exchange shop and had excellent handwriting, which led to his being in charge of its operations. He was also a trusted confidant of Gao Shang, who relied solely on the intelligence he provided. Third Manager surnamed Wang was a literate officer with no political connections; he was responsible for homing pigeons and organizing intelligence. Manager Mao was dark-skinned, burly, and had a loud voice. “Lu San, this task is yours. You must find the Tang army commander in charge of burying the urns by tomorrow. No matter what the cost, you must bribe him.” “I know who that is.” Another employee interjected, “It seems to be Qin Jinxian, a lieutenant in the engineering battalion. He’s not only in charge of burying the urns but also installed the heavy catapults on the city walls. I only found out about this today. I heard he keeps a woman in the city and goes to her place every night.” “Good! Where there’s a woman, there’s a way in. Start by targeting that woman tomorrow and try to turn him over.” “General Mao, I also have some information. I heard the Tang army is collecting large pots from house to house. I don’t know why.” “I’ve heard that too. They’re taking away all ironware, probably to melt down and make swords.” … Everyone was talking at once, while Second and Third Managers were quickly taking notes. The atmosphere in the room was very lively… Just as everyone was gathered for the meeting, a large number of soldiers appeared outside the money exchange shop silently. They evacuated all the residents around the shop and hid in the surrounding houses, encircling it discreetly. Although there were many soldiers, implementing Qi Yuhua’s strategy wasn’t easy. The key was first to take control of the homing pigeons, and second, to capture Second Manager Song Yi alive. Once these two goals were achieved, almost nothing would stand in the way. It was very quiet around the money exchange shop, but beneath the silence lay an invisible sense of danger that terrified those who passed by. Of course, no one would pass by there, as both ends of East Street were under military control. At that moment, a carriage arrived and stopped in front of the shop. A few people dressed like employees got out and carried down a heavy box. “Bang! Bang!” Someone was knocking hard on the door. “Manager Song, Manager Song!” After a while, light appeared inside the shop, and someone asked, “Who is it?” “It’s me! Can’t you tell? I’m Zhang Debao, the owner of Hanzhong Tavern. I’m here to deposit some money. Is Manager Song here?” Zhang Debao was friendly, known to all the merchants in the area, including those at the money exchange shop. “Oh! It’s Manager Zhang. Wait a moment, I’ll go inform him.”

“Hurry up! I need to deposit three thousand silver coins—this is a big opportunity for you.”
Zhang Debao was slightly nervous, constantly looking around, while his five accomplices were all burly and quick-footed; they were the elite of Cheng Qianli’s scout unit, tasked with capturing Song Yi.
At that moment, Qi Yuhua appeared outside the high wall in the backyard of the money shop. She brought with her over thirty men. They had already determined that the homing pigeon was hidden in the backyard. Qi Yuhua was in charge of this operation entirely. She had planned everything very carefully. One of her men had already climbed the wall and found the pigeon cage. All they needed to do was steal it, but Qi Yuhua didn’t dare act rashly. She wanted to capture Song Yi first before stealing the cage, otherwise, alerting Song Yi might result in his being silenced.
Without the original writer, the forged intelligence would easily be detected. It was better to use the original handwriting.
Before long, the lights in the main hall of the money shop came on, and the owner’s laughter could be heard inside. “Manager Zhang, why come to deposit money in the middle of the night?”
“I think An Lushan probably won’t be able to break into the city. It’s not safe to keep this money here; it could easily be stolen. It’s better to deposit it with you, where it’s safer.”
“Hehe! Manager Zhang seems very confident in the soldiers!”
The door opened, and the tall and thin Song Yi appeared with a pot of tea, smiling at everyone. “I heard Manager Zhang wants to deposit silver coins—those are quite rare!”
“Manager Song, please inspect the coins first!”
Zhang Debao ordered the silver box to be opened. Under the light of the lanterns, the box sparkled with silver coins, looking very tempting.
Zhang Debao chose to deposit silver coins because of an unwritten rule in the money shop: inspection was required before entry. This rule had existed since Emperor Li Longji granted coin-making rights a few years ago. The quality of copper coins varied greatly, and the money shops were afraid of accepting inferior coins. If inferior coins were accepted and discovered later, it would be difficult to explain. So, the rule was to inspect the coins first before allowing them in. Especially after the appearance of Anxi silver coins, with many fakes circulating, the money shops became even more strict about pre-inspecting silver coins.
“I trust Manager Zhang when it comes to depositing money!”
Though he said this, Song Yi still stepped out of the shop. It was part of his professional habit—silver coins had to be strictly inspected. Moreover, Zhang Debao was a well-known kind-hearted man in the area, so Song Yi had no suspicions at all.
Song Yi walked over to the money box, rolled up his sleeves, and reached in to grab a handful of coins from the bottom. According to the rule, one in ten coins had to be inspected, meaning that out of three thousand silver coins, three hundred had to be randomly selected for inspection.

Seeing the moment was right, Zhang Debao stepped back, gave a signal to his men on both sides, and at the instant Song Yi bent down to grab the money, four of his men pounced like tigers, pressing Song Yi to the ground. Before he could shout, the leader punched him in the temple. Song Yi let out a muffled groan and lost consciousness. The sudden turn of events stunned the two clerks at the door. Just then, two poisoned arrows shot out from the carriage with a whoosh, hitting the two men in the throat. They clutched their throats, unable to scream, and collapsed to the ground.

Song Yi was loaded onto the carriage. At that moment, a bright light appeared above a large tree as a rocket was launched into the sky, tracing a bright arc.

In the back yard, Qi Yuhua saw the rocket and immediately ordered in a low voice, “Act!”

More than twenty of her men climbed the high wall like monkeys—some jumping into the yard, others perching on it. In moments, a huge pigeon cage, one zhang long, wide, and high, was lifted by ropes. A black cloth covered the top of the cage, and the other end of the ropes passed through a branch of a large tree, slowly lifting the cage over the wall. Those on the wall held the cage to prevent it from shaking violently and disturbing the dozens of homing pigeons inside.

The cage was slowly lowered, and over a dozen soldiers stepped forward to carry it away carefully. Suddenly, a scream came from the back yard, followed by a shout, “Something’s wrong! The cage has been stolen!”

It was Manager Wang San, who had come to the back yard to retrieve the pigeons during the brief lull after Song Yi left. He suddenly noticed people in the yard and found the pigeons missing from the platform. Before he could shout, a soldier hiding in the yard shot an arrow through his chest. He screamed and died on the spot, while his subordinate behind him was terrified and started screaming.

“General Mao, things are bad!”

Seeing the plan exposed, Qi Yuhua immediately ordered, “Fire the signal arrow!”

With a crack, a flame appeared. The flame ignited the rocket and its fuse, and an arrow with a loud whistling sound and flames shot straight into the sky. This was Anxi’s gunpowder arrow, very different from ordinary signal arrows; its whistling sound could be heard throughout the city in the quiet night.

Three thousand elite soldiers lurking around launched their attack. Half rushed into the storehouse, while the other half surrounded it completely, preventing anyone from escaping. Cries of pain and the sound of weapons clashing came from inside the storehouse as its defenders fought a final desperate struggle.

Cheng Qianli stood on the steps of the military office, his expression complex as he watched the flaming arrows soar into the sky. He knew that was Li Qingan’s secret weapon, Thunderbolt. It was said to be extremely deadly. If he had such a weapon, how could he fear An Lushan’s siege? Unfortunately, he didn’t, and Li Qingan would never give it to him. Feeling disappointed, Cheng Qianli let out a long sigh.

……

The battle inside Bai Yutang’s shop had ended. Though these men were elite chosen from the scout regiment, their resistance was meaningless against the powerful Tang army. They were killed or wounded in moments. In the meeting room, Manager Mao was surrounded by a dozen men. Unable to resist any longer, he plunged a dagger into his own chest and committed suicide. Yet he wasn’t completely dead yet, his fierce gaze fixed on the one-armed woman before him.

Qi Yuhua used her sword to lift his shirt. There was only a gold chain left around his neck; his gold seal had disappeared. Any high-ranking report required his gold seal. At that moment, a hint of triumph appeared in his eyes as he stared at Qi Yuhua with a provocative and smug look.

Qi Yuhua, however, sneered. Her opponent ordered, “Cut open his stomach!”