Wei Yu and Madam Hu hadn’t met in person since they formed their alliance.
Though they didn’t know what the other looked like, they each got what they wanted through correspondence.
For example, Wei Yu obtained evidence of the county magistrate’s crimes over the years, some copies of letters exchanged with Guo Xiu, and a map of Ziyang County’s layout. Madam Hu, on the other hand, asked for nothing—she simply said that helping them kill the magistrate was the best reward for her.
To this, Wei Yu could only say that his gynophobia had flared up again.
Ever since Madam Hu became an inside informant, it had become almost effortless for Wei Yu to gather information on the different regions of Ji Prefecture.
Though Hu Yong wasn’t exactly a competent county magistrate, he was still an official. His intel came from legitimate sources and was far more reliable than that of someone like Yi Shisan, who just went around snooping and peddling rumors.
It was in this context that Wei Yu came to understand the current situation in Qiling.
On Oxhead Mountain, the Eighth Prince and Wei Yu were sitting in the same room.
The Eighth Prince was reading the latest intel sent by Madam Hu. After finishing it, he found the circumstances in Qiling County hard to believe.
“Qiling is just a small county—how have they still not run out of food after nearly three months of lockdown?”A city’s grain storage was usually divided into two parts: one inside the city granary, the other outside the city.
In ancient times, large cities had granaries—often set up at the prefecture level—to regulate grain prices and serve as reserves for emergencies and government distribution.
But that applied to big cities. In small towns, there often wasn’t even enough space for housing, let alone for large granaries. If there was any grain storage inside, it was minimal—most grain was stored outside the city.
In all of Ji Prefecture, only Yuanyang could be considered a major city. So the fact that Qiling had been sealed off for nearly three months was truly hard to fathom.
The Eighth Prince asked Wei Yu, “What do you make of what’s happening in Qiling?”
At that moment, Wei Yu was casually eating sunflower seeds.
As for his opinion on Qiling sealing itself off while Heyang and Lingbei were overrun by bandits—he didn’t have one.
“Eighth Brother, don’t you think this is a little suspicious?”
Wei Yu reminded him, “Second Brother’s been in Ji Prefecture for a little over three months now, right? Don’t you have any thoughts about that?”
The Eighth Prince gave him a sideways glance. “You’re suggesting Second Brother is behind what’s happening in Qiling?”
Wei Yu didn’t reply. He just shrugged.
It all felt too coincidental for him not to be suspicious.
Besides, Second Brother had come here with a reform mission, hadn’t he?
Wei Yu had already filled in his Eighth Brother on the real reason the Second Prince came to Ji Prefecture when he himself arrived.
After all, now that he was here, he had to stir up some trouble. And if he was going to do that, he had to at least let his partner-in-crime in on the plan, right?
Otherwise, if things went wrong, it’d be harder to shift the blame onto Eighth Brother…
The Eighth Prince thought it over and concluded that it was fairly likely Second Brother was involved in Qiling.
“A wise man doesn’t stand under a crumbling wall. If you’re saying that the siege by the bandits was orchestrated by Second Brother, I’d believe it. But if you’re saying he’s inside Qiling right now, I don’t buy it.”
Hmm. A well-reasoned guess.
Wei Yu had actually been thinking the same thing.
Second Brother was a clever man who aimed to be Crown Prince—he wouldn’t risk his life like that. Especially not when he had both a civil and a military advisor at his side. There was no way he’d be hiding inside Qiling.
If the city actually fell and the bandits broke in, even with strong guards, something could easily go wrong.
Second Brother, that guy…
Wei Yu clicked his tongue and said with certainty, “I think Second Brother is definitely hiding somewhere outside Qiling City!”
And was he hiding?
Turns out, Wei Yu guessed right.
Outside Qiling, in a mountain encampment, several prominent bandit leaders were gathered inside the main tent, eagerly watching the smiling young man seated at the top left.
The man seated at the center—tall and broad-shouldered—was the bandit chief, Niu San.
Niu San was also looking at the young man on his right. Despite his rough appearance, he spoke softly and deferentially.
“Strategist, we’ve been doing just as you said—surrounding the city without attacking, slowly grinding them down. It’s been almost three months now. These past few nights, we’ve caught a bunch of people trying to sneak out, and they all said there’s barely any food left in the city! So… do you think it’s time we made our move?”
The strategist replied, “Is the Chief getting anxious?”
Niu San smiled ingratiatingly. “It’s not just me. The other brothers are all getting antsy too! We’ve been laying siege for three months now, and we’ve already taken over the nearby grain depots. If this drags on and the government sends troops, we’ll be in deep trouble…”
The strategist looked at him with a smile. “Don’t worry, Chief. The court won’t send troops. After all, the one more afraid of things blowing up than you is our dear Lord Guo.”
Niu San rubbed his hands together and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, the strategist is right… but when are we actually going to attack? We only have about three thousand men. If the prefect sends troops, we’re doomed!”
Niu San’s words seemed to open the floodgates—others began chiming in.
“Yeah, strategist, when are we going to attack? The brothers can’t wait any longer!”
“Those people in the city are weaklings. Just waving a knife at them is enough to make them spill everything. They’ve run out of food—if we attack now, we can take it for sure!”
“If you ask me, we should just go in tonight!”
“…”
Voices rose in a chaotic chorus, but they were all saying the same thing.
Clearly, this had been planned in advance.
The strategist kept his calm smile and slowly sipped his tea.
Seeing this, Niu San gave a discreet signal with his eyes.
The voices gradually quieted down.
Niu San leaned forward slightly and continued in a friendly tone, “Strategist, as you can see, the brothers really can’t wait. Even though I’m the boss, I can’t make every decision on my own, right?”
“Has the Chief made contact with the bandits in Heyang and Lingbei?” the strategist suddenly asked.
Niu San was momentarily stunned. “We did contact Heyang. But as for Lingbei, I heard their leader was killed. The brothers who came back said it’s total chaos over there—no one’s in charge, and everyone wants to be the boss.”
He wasn’t sure why the strategist was asking this, but he knew there must be a reason.
Sure enough, after he finished speaking, the strategist asked another question.
“Has the Chief thought about what the brothers will do after we take the city?”
Niu San answered immediately.
“Of course! We’ll bring all the gold, silver, and jewels back to the mountains, find some pretty wives for the brothers, and hold the surrounding hills, control the grain stores and main roads. As long as the prefect doesn’t send troops, we’ll be kings of this region! That old county magistrate won’t be able to do a thing to us!”
His words stirred up cheers of agreement from the other bandits.
The strategist smiled faintly.
“Does the Chief know why, despite us besieging the city for three months, the prefect still hasn’t sent troops?”