dtnovels Chapter 149 Spy
Chapter 149 Spy
"Miss, don't you find it strange? They know they are no match for us, so why would they go to such great lengths to ambush us?"
Just like what that robber said, even if they saw the so-called 'remnants of the criminal race' on the car, it wouldn't do any good. They've already fallen into our hands, and the information they get can't get out. Wouldn't that be a waste of their time?
Could it be that someone is secretly monitoring them?
Mo Yuming asked, puzzled.
"They may have a special way of transmitting what they see. This needs to be investigated further."
Huang Xiaoxiao said.
"Since there are no Wu Ji's followers in Luoxia City, let's go to Jian'an City, arrest those remnants of the aristocratic families, and interrogate them properly!"
Mo Yuming said.
Mo Yuming, Sun Min, and the others immediately went to Jian'an City, where the several aristocratic families had all been taken into custody by Su Ce's men.
After rigorous interrogation, the head of a gentry family finally revealed all the details of their household.
The reason they knew the approximate travel time and route of Mo Yuming and his group was because the special envoy sent them a talisman message from Shangyuan City.
They said all they needed to do was send men to ambush the people in the carriage at the chosen location and expose them.
There is no need to arrest anyone.
The ambush location was also designated by the special envoy.
What is a talisman?
Mo Yuming asked.
"The talisman is an ancient and mysterious communication tool. Currently, only a few high-level weapon refiners in the Tianxuan Continent can refine it, and a few large treasure shops sell it. The lowest grade costs one hundred gold coins per set, and a set of talismans can only be used once."
Here are two unused receiver tokens that I received from them; the sender tokens are with the envoy.
A one-way transmitting symbol is the lowest level of symbol, consisting of a transmitting symbol and a receiving symbol. When information is written onto the transmitting symbol, it ignites and burns. After the symbol has burned out, the received information is displayed on the receiving symbol.
Su Ce handed the received message talisman to Mo Yuming while explaining.
Mo Yuming took the talisman and saw that both receiving talismans were palm-sized and seemed to be made of several layers of thin, refined leather pasted together. Both sides of the talisman paper were drawn with complex patterns, which were very light in color and only faintly appeared on the surface of the talisman paper.
A talisman of this size can only hold a few words, maybe fifty at most, enough to send a simple command or message.
However, the price is 100 gold coins, and a higher-grade talisman costs 150 gold coins. The talisman is about one-third larger than the lower-grade one, and it does not distinguish between sending and receiving talismans. It can send messages in both directions.
But like the lower-level ones, it can only be used once.
"Do they know the envoy's identity? Or are there any distinguishing features?"
Mo Yuming looked at the talisman in his hand and said to Su Ce.
"They confessed that the mysterious envoy was thin, dressed in black and masked, and had a very high cultivation level, probably at least at the first level of the Heavenly Realm."
His voice was hoarse, and his whole body exuded a sinister aura that made people feel very uncomfortable.
The mysterious person came to see them three days ago, and the message from Fu Xun was sent to them yesterday morning.
After receiving the orders, they secretly dispatched two groups of men to ambush the enemy at designated locations.
“The message was sent yesterday morning? Wasn’t our meeting of Grand Secretaries held the night before last?”
We had just decided on the plan and hadn't even started taking action when he got the news! What does that mean?!
Mo Yuming was very surprised. The enemy did not just wait for them to run into them by chance, but rather took targeted action after learning of their plans.
"Our Grand Secretary has a spy!"
Huang Xiaoxiao, Su Ce, and others realized this situation at the same time.
The spy informed the special envoy of all the plans, but unexpectedly, Mo Yuming secretly dispatched the Falcon Guards to drive three carriages out of the city before the operation.
The spies and the special envoy, Wu Ji, mistakenly believed that Mo Yuming was using carriages to secretly transport the 'remnants of the criminal clan,' so they urgently used talismans to instruct the gentry in Jian'an City to take action. Fortunately, Mo Yuming's dispatch of three teams of carriages out of the city was an impromptu action, not discussed at the Grand Council meeting.
Otherwise, this outcome wouldn't have happened. Naturally, the spies hidden within the Grand Council wouldn't have surfaced.
"Quickly, let's get back to Shangyuan City!"
Mo Yuming immediately rode the Crimson Cloud Horse with Huang Xiaoxiao, Sun Min and others towards Shangyuan City.
It was already close to dusk, and there were very few people traveling on the official road from Jian'an City to Shangyuan City. Therefore, Mo Yuming and his companions could drive the Crimson Cloud Horses as fast as possible towards Shangyuan City.
As expected of the fastest warhorse in the Long Kingdom, Mo Yuming and his group rode at full speed and arrived near Shangyuan City late at night.
At this time, Shangyuan City was under martial law, with soldiers standing guard and patrolling on the city walls and at the city gates.
Mo Yuming and the others dismounted and walked when they were still ten miles from the city. As the leader of the Falcon Guard, Sun Min naturally knew very well how to enter the city without alerting anyone.
The group of five silently entered the city in the shadows and arrived at Mo Yuming's secret residence. Inside the secret room, the five carefully analyzed the current situation.
After the Grand Council meeting the night before last, only those involved in the operation left the Prime Minister's residence. Su Yangyan, Huo Chengde, and Jiang Yuheng were definitely not among them, while Wang Baichuan and the other civil servants never left the residence and remained inside handling various affairs.
Qi Feng was originally Su Yangyan's most loyal general, and immediately after the meeting, he left Shangyuan City to garrison the border.
Completely unaware of what was about to happen, Liu Liangyi and Niu Tianze also went to their respective posts to guard the outposts.
That leaves only Su Ce and Zhang Sibo. As a key military and political figure, Zhang Sibo is mainly responsible for recruiting new soldiers and allocating troops. This operation involves deploying 20,000 soldiers to cooperate with Su Ce's National Security Bureau in investigating the remnants of Wu Ji.
Su Ce is Su Yangyan's nephew and has a deep-seated hatred for Wu Ji. He has always been Su Yangyan's most capable assistant in resisting Wu Ji.
There's no way they could have colluded with Wu Ji; that leaves Zhang Sibo as the prime suspect.
He was initially a deputy general stationed in Xiyu Town, a veteran who had experienced the battlefield. Because he had no backing, he had been living under the oppression of General Zhu. Later, after Mo Yuming occupied Xiyu Town, he changed his allegiance and joined Mo Yuming's side.
Together with Jiang Yuheng, he assisted Mo Yuming and, through several battles, became a meritorious founding hero of the Great Xia Empire, now holding a high position of power.
If it weren't for so many coincidences, Mo Yuming would never have suspected him.
However, all signs now point to Zhang Sibo.
The seemingly coincidental ambushes, the appearance of the talisman, and the fact that the operation was known in advance all made Zhang Sibo increasingly suspicious.
Mo Yuming and the others fell into deep thought; they needed to handle this potential crisis with caution.
A wrong judgment could trigger unnecessary turmoil and chaos.
However, if the traitor is not identified quickly, subsequent operations will face even greater risks. They must devise a comprehensive plan that confirms whether Zhang Sibo is indeed the traitor, while also avoiding alerting him to prevent the real traitor from escaping or causing even more serious consequences.