Legend of the Female General

Chapter 109: Dungeon

"It wasn't me who killed him," He Yan stood up, facing them as she spoke.

The recruit who had first discovered He Yan pointed at her fearfully and shouted, "If not you, then who?"

"I went to the Martial Arts Field at night to practice with the crossbow and happened to see someone riding toward White Moon Mountain. The situation was critical, so I followed. I fought with him, and he fled. Before escaping, he threw this brother down. By the time I reached him, he was already dead."

"And where did this curved blade come from?" Shen Han asked sternly.

"It belonged to the other person. He threw the blade as well."

"Is he insane? Handing over his own weapon willingly? Can't you think before lying?" Du Mao did not believe her.

"No, I think he was clever," He Yan replied calmly. "Now, with this blade in my possession, I've become the suspect."

Placing the murder weapon in her hands was practically forcing her to be labeled as the murderer of the recruit.

Shen Han stared at He Yan. "Did you bring any weapons when you went up the mountain?"

"I brought an iron-headed staff," He Yan said. "I lost it on the road when I rolled down with this deceased brother earlier. If the Chief Instructor sends someone to search, perhaps it can be found."

Shen Han ordered Liang Ping, "Take some men to search for it. Be careful, and send a signal if anything happens."

Liang Ping nodded in acknowledgment.

He Yan felt somewhat tired and sat down on a rock. Her injuries had not fully healed, and after the day's events, the old wound at her waist ached faintly. She truly wished to rest for a moment.

After a while, Liang Ping returned with the recruits and reported to Shen Han, "Chief Instructor, we couldn't find the iron-headed staff."

"I think he's lying," Du Mao frowned. "He only brought this curved blade up the mountain."

He Yan sighed inwardly. Since the other party had targeted her, they naturally wouldn't leave any evidence behind. They had likely picked up the iron-headed staff while she was rescuing the recruit.

However, she had left a backup plan.

"I suspect this person is Hu Yuanzhong," He Yan said. "When I fought him, the iron-headed staff struck his right shoulder. As long as we return to the guard post, we can check whether he went out at night and see if there's a wound on his right shoulder."

"Aren't you just making excuses?" one recruit questioned, eyeing her suspiciously.

He Yan shrugged. "Right now, I'm unarmed, and there are so many of you. Are you afraid of just me? Wrongfully accusing me is a small matter, but letting the wolf into the fold is a grave one. If the real murderer is hiding among the Liangzhou Guard, the next person to be assassinated might very well be you, brother."

Her words were neither hurried nor slow, but her tone carried a chilling coldness that startled the recruit who had spoken, silencing him.

Ma Damei looked at Shen Han. "Chief Instructor, this..." To be fair, he quite liked He Yan. For a young man of this age to excel in every aspect was truly rare. Moreover, his temperament was cheerful and easygoing, without a hint of pretentiousness, making him very likable. But when it came to matters of life and death, carelessness was not an option.

"Take him back first and see if what he says is true," Shen Han turned and said. "On my command, we descend the mountain immediately."

He Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Shen Han was reasonable and hadn't condemned her outright.

As they descended the mountain, perhaps because a comrade had died, the atmosphere grew somber. He Yan asked Ma Damei, "Instructor Ma, why did you all come up the mountain?"Ma Damei always wore a faint smile when meeting people, appearing amiable and gentle. Even now, he patiently answered He Yan's questions.

"A new recruit got up in the middle of the night to relieve himself and saw someone riding a horse toward White Moon Mountain. He reported it to the head drillmaster, who ordered us to come up and investigate. Before we arrived, we didn’t know it was you."

Wasn’t this exactly the same process as when she had chased the masked man? He Yan sensed something amiss but remained silent.

"Since you said you fought with the other person," Ma Damei asked, "how skilled were they?"

"Quite skilled. If I weren’t injured, I could have captured him if the fight had lasted a moment longer. But this person was cunning and ruthless—he used a comrade’s corpse to lure me away and escaped." Speaking of this, He Yan grew angry. "Everything that happened today was orchestrated by him."

Ma Damei smiled faintly, his tone ambiguous. "Young man, though I’ve always admired you, I must ask: what makes you so special that someone would go to such lengths to frame and scheme against you?"

What made her special?

He Yan thought carefully. She was kind to others and had no conflicts with the new recruits of Liangzhou Guard. The only recent incident was her "scuffle" with Hu Yuanzhong a few days earlier.

Hu Yuanzhong was likely the only person in Liangzhou Guard who harbored hostility toward her.

But what had she done? She had never directly questioned Hu Yuanzhong about his background, at most probing him indirectly. Even if she suspected he was a Qiang tribesman, she had never shown the slightest hint of it. If this was the reason he had framed He Yan, wouldn’t it be a case of protesting too much?

Lost in thought, they finally descended the mountain and returned to Liangzhou Guard.

In the dead of night, Liangzhou Guard was bustling with activity.

He Yan, surrounded by drillmasters on all sides, first went to Hu Yuanzhong’s quarters. Everyone in the room was asleep, and when the drillmasters ordered them to get up, they were all confused. Xiao Mai mumbled sleepily, "Why so early today? It’s not time yet."

When he saw who had arrived, he was so startled he nearly put his shoes on the wrong feet.

Without hesitation, He Yan looked toward the side near the wall. At a glance, her heart sank.

Curled up on the bed, sleeping soundly, was someone who slowly sat up after being awakened, rubbing his drowsy eyes. It was Hu Yuanzhong.

He was actually in the room.

Shen Han asked the people in the room, "Did any of you see Hu Yuanzhong leave tonight?"

"N-no, we didn’t."

"Brother Hu injured his leg and has been sleeping earlier than us. We haven’t seen him leave."

He Yan looked at Hong Shan, who shook his head slightly at her.

So he really hadn’t left?

Shen Han stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "Take off your clothes."

Hu Yuanzhong was bewildered, but when Shen Han’s face darkened in silence, it seemed somewhat intimidating. Hesitantly, he began to undress. As he removed his outer garment and exposed his arm, there was nothing on his right shoulder except for a few small scratches from the bushes earlier—no other marks.

A blow from an iron-headed staff would have left at least a large bruise. But there was nothing on his right shoulder.

He Yan’s eyes widened. Instead of feeling relieved, her expression grew even more troubled. This was a setup. Hu Yuanzhong’s role in it remained unclear, but if he was not the culprit, it could only mean one thing: he wasn’t acting alone.There is a traitor within Liangzhou Guard, working from the inside to coordinate with outsiders—only then could this scheme be arranged flawlessly!

"Instructor Shen," she said coldly, "that person is likely still within Liangzhou Guard right now. Quickly take some men to investigate!"

"I think the most suspicious one here is you," one instructor stared at her and said, "Earlier, you insisted that Hu Yuanzhong was the killer, telling us to come back and check his injuries. Now that Hu Yuanzhong’s suspicion has been cleared, you want to shift the blame to someone else. By dragging things out like this, what exactly are you trying to achieve?"

"I am not lying," He Yan frowned. "If you investigate the entire Liangzhou Guard, you will know what I said is true."

"Silence!" Shen Han shouted.

The argument stopped. He Yan looked at Shen Han. "Instructor Shen, you don’t believe what I said?"

"I only believe what I see with my own eyes," Shen Han replied. "Guards, take her to the dungeon!"

He Yan said, "You can lock me up, but you must still uncover the truth! Otherwise, Liangzhou Guard may face a great disaster."

"Even now, you’re still cursing us," one instructor angrily exclaimed. "How arrogant!"

He Yan was forcibly taken away. The others in the room wanted to ask questions but didn’t dare. Xiao Mai and a few others wore stern expressions. Hu Yuanzhong asked in confusion, "Instructor Shen, what happened? Did... someone die?"

Shen Han didn’t answer. He turned and left the room. The few instructors who followed him out looked grave. Liang Ping hesitated for a moment before asking Shen Han, "Chief Instructor, how do you plan to deal with He Yan?"

After all, He Yan was a soldier under his command. Liang Ping didn’t want to believe that He Yan could be a scheming individual, but with both witnesses and evidence against her, there was no way to defend her even if he wanted to.

"This matter is of great importance, and He Yan’s identity is also unusual," Shen Han said solemnly. "Keep her locked up for now. We’ll wait for the Commander to return before deciding."

"Yes."

...

The dungeon of Liangzhou Guard wasn’t large, but it was dark and damp enough. As it was winter, stepping inside felt piercingly cold. There was no bed—only straw spread on the ground to sleep on. The blanket was a thin piece of cloth with several holes, whether from rats or something else.

He Yan sat on the ground, surveying her surroundings.

Surprisingly, aside from her, there was no one else in the dungeon. The lock on the cell was specially made, no longer the simple "one"-shaped lock like the one on the door of her and Xiao Jue’s room. With just one glance, He Yan knew she couldn’t open it.

Having been reborn, before she could even fully display her abilities, she had managed to land herself in prison. She should have sighed and lamented, but at this moment, He Yan truly wasn’t in the mood.

She was now certain that there had long been a traitor within Liangzhou Guard. That traitor had likely been watching her for some time, which was how they knew she went to the Martial Arts Field for training every three nights. This was also why they arranged for someone to wait on the horse path and lure her up White Moon Mountain.

Going up the mountain at night and killing the new recruits were all to frame her with the charge of "plotting treachery." As for why Ma Damei went to such great lengths to slander and scheme against her, it was because He Yan had discovered the other party’s identity as a member of the Qiang Tribe.

She had already suspected the red rashes on Hu Yuanzhong’s hands and his inconsistent behavior. Later, encountering the masked man on White Moon Mountain who wielded a curved blade and used the fighting style typical of Qiang soldiers, she was eighty percent certain.Now that He Yan was imprisoned, with Qiang Tribesmen still lurking within the Liangzhou Guard, the situation was truly chilling. Xiao Jue was not at the Liangzhou Guard, and the tens of thousands of new recruits had never truly experienced battle. If they encountered the Qiang Tribesmen now, it would be just like her experience back in Mo County—they would likely be completely wiped out. And given how meticulously the enemy had planned, their ambitions were certainly not small. If the news about the Wutuo People harassing civilians in Zhangtai was false, intended to lure Xiao Jue away, then the Liangzhou Guard at this moment was like fish on a chopping board, utterly defenseless.

Xiao Jue had already been gone for twenty days. Even if he discovered the intelligence was false upon arriving in Zhangtai and rushed back overnight, it would still take him ten days to return to the Liangzhou Guard. Therefore, the enemy would certainly choose to strike within the next ten days. Time was running out for them, and now He Yan was still locked in the dungeon, with no one believing her words.

When Shen Han ordered her to be taken to the dungeon, He Yan had considered fighting her way out and breaking free. But doing so would only confirm the murder charges against her, even if she hadn’t committed the crime. Living with the stigma of being a murderer was not what she desired. Moreover, the new recruits of the Liangzhou Guard were her comrades, and they had spent every day together. She did not wish to survive alone while watching them die in vain.

Somehow, this situation had turned into a deadlock.

However, the Western Qiang rebellion had already been quelled by her, and the Qiang Tribe soldiers had suffered heavy losses in that battle, unable to recover for at least another decade. How could they dare to take such a risky move now?

He Yan couldn’t understand it either.

Just then, she suddenly heard a commotion outside: "Let me in! I just want to say one thing! My father is Vice Director Song of the Palace Domestic Service. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility!"

It was Song Taotao’s voice.

He Yan was taken aback. Song Taotao usually brought her pastries and sweets every few days, but she hadn’t expected her to find out about today’s incident so quickly.

The guard outside said something else, and He Yan heard Song Taotao arguing unreasonably: "Try stopping me again! If you keep blocking me, when Second Young Master Xiao returns, I’ll tell him you harassed me!"

Something clattered to the ground, and the next moment, He Yan saw a figure in a pink skirt rush in.

Song Taotao called out, "Brother He!"

"Ms. Song," He Yan smiled.

Song Taotao rushed to the bars and hastily stuffed two steamed buns into He Yan’s hands: "It’s too late, so I brought you the leftovers from Physician Shen’s dinner. I once heard my father say that prisoners don’t get food every day. I’m afraid I won’t be able to come every day, so take these two for now and make them last."

While everyone in the Liangzhou Guard now saw her as a murderous demon, this young girl showed no fear and was even worried she might go hungry. He Yan felt a surge of gratitude. She said gently, "Ms. Song, you shouldn’t have come."

"Why shouldn’t I? I heard they said you killed someone?"

"I didn’t kill anyone."

Song Taotao nodded: "I thought so. You have such a kind heart, always stepping in to help when you see injustice. How could you kill someone? You must have been framed. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get you out."

He Yan was both touched and amused: "Ms. Song, you really shouldn’t get involved in this matter."The girl, however, was very stubborn. "You saved my life. My father said that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring. Now, those instructors at Liangzhou Guard are rigid and stubborn, and they won't listen to me. I'll talk to Second Young Master Xiao when he returns and see if I can help."

He Yan thought to herself, I'm afraid it will be too late by the time Xiao Jue returns.

She looked up at Song Taotao. The young girl's face was serious and solemn. He Yan felt like laughing, but then she thought of the current situation and couldn't bring herself to smile.

If the Qiang Tribe really came, what would happen to Song Taotao if she fell into their hands? He Yan shuddered at the thought.

"Ms. Song," she said after a moment, "since you want to help me, let me ask you for a favor now."

"What is it?" Song Taotao looked at her.

He Yan sighed softly. "It's like trying to save a dead horse as if it were still alive."

...

In Shen Han's room, Cheng Li Su was confronting him.

"Young Master Cheng, please go back. Without the commander's order, I dare not release He Yan," Shen Han said helplessly.

Cheng Li Su sat at his door, blocking his way out, and insisted, "Instructor Shen, believe me, Brother He really couldn't be the murderer."

Du Mao, standing nearby, couldn't help but speak up. "Young Master, everyone knows you and He Yan are close, but when we went up the mountain, there were witnesses and evidence. How can we deny it? Even if the commander were here, he would have to follow the rules. Besides, we haven't immediately convicted He Yan yet. Everything will be decided when the commander returns."

"But Uncle isn't at Liangzhou Guard right now!" Cheng Li Su shouted. "You say it so easily, but do you know how cold and dark the dungeon is? How scared Brother He must be, all alone in there!"

Du Mao: "..."

Cheng Li Su spoke as if he had personally experienced the dungeon himself. Moreover, it was unlikely that He Yan was as scared as he claimed. Given He Yan's temperament, he probably didn't even care about the matter.

There was really no need for Cheng Li Su to worry unnecessarily.

Seeing Shen Han's firm stance, Cheng Li Su had no choice but to compromise. "Fine, if you won't let him out, then I have one condition."

Shen Han asked, "What is your request, Young Master?"

"The food and supplies in the dungeon are too shabby. My brother can't endure such hardship. I won't ask for anything unreasonable—just give him the same food he usually eats and ensure it's supplied regularly in the cell. Also, the winter is too cold these days. Give him two extra blankets, and make sure he has hot water every day..."

"Young Master Cheng," Shen Han interrupted him, "that's against the rules."

"This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed—what exactly do you want?" At this point, Cheng Li Su was also angry. He stood up and said loudly, "If you won't do it, I'll do it myself. I'm telling you, you'll regret treating my brother like this!"

With that, he turned and ran away.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang. Shen Han couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. Children of this age, especially spoiled young masters, were truly unbearable. Xiao Jue, who usually seemed cold and strict, must have a lot of patience to put up with Cheng Li Su day after day.

The remaining instructors in the room all looked at Shen Han.

Liang Ping asked, "Chief Instructor, what should we do now?"A man had died in the military camp. Although He Yan was now imprisoned, his words had indeed stirred waves in everyone's hearts. If there truly was a spy in Liangzhou Guard, and that person remained hidden among the recruits, having silently killed a comrade without anyone noticing, it certainly wasn't for amusement.

Who exactly was this person? Who was their master? What was their goal? When would they slip up? All of this remained unknown. This person might be He Yan, or it might be someone else. If it were He Yan, it would be easier to handle. But if it were someone else, then things would take a turn for the worse.

"Have someone keep an eye on that Hu Yuanzhong," Shen Han pondered. "If what He Yan said is true, this person will surely make a move."

Ma Damei asked, "Has the Commander sent any letters these past few days?"

Shen Han shook his head, his gaze clouded with worry.

There had been no news from Zhangtai so far, which in the past... was quite rare.

Let's hope nothing bad has happened.

...

Cheng Lisu ran out and bumped into someone. That person clutched their forehead, let out an "ouch," and scolded, "Are you blind when you walk?"

Cheng Lisu looked closely and saw it was Song Taotao.

He had just been stewing with anger after leaving Shen Han's place, and now, seeing Song Taotao, his temper flared. "Who told you to bump into me?"

Song Taotao rolled her eyes at him. "Can't be bothered with you." She walked straight ahead.

"Stop!"

Song Taotao turned around and asked, "What do you want?"

"Are you going to see Old Shen?" Cheng Lisu pointed in the direction of Shen Han's quarters.

Song Taotao turned back fully, annoyed. "What about it? Is that not allowed?"

Now Cheng Lisu was getting worked up. He took a few steps forward and said, "Are you going to plead for my big brother?"

Song Taotao glanced at him. Although she disliked Cheng Lisu's lack of ambition and his useless demeanor, she had to admit the boy cared quite a bit about He Yan. He often brought food to He Yan, and He Yan got along well with him. So she replied, "What if I am?"

"Forget it," Cheng Lisu waved his hand, looking dejected. "I just came from Old Shen's place. That man is incredibly stubborn. No matter how much I pleaded, they wouldn't believe that my big brother He didn't kill anyone. They also refused to let anyone bring food or blankets to him."

"You're such an idiot," Song Taotao said, exasperated. "If they won't agree, can't you go yourself?" She glanced at Cheng Lisu's crestfallen expression and added irritably, "I already went earlier. I brought steamed buns to Big Brother He, so don't worry!"

"Really?" Cheng Lisu's eyes lit up as he looked at Song Taotao. "I didn't expect you to be so loyal."

Song Taotao sneered. "I'm honored that Young Master Cheng thinks so highly of me."

With that, she lifted her foot and continued walking forward.

"Hey, hey, hey," Cheng Lisu stopped her. "Why are you still going to see Old Shen? I already told you, that man can't be relied on. It's better to count on the two of us."

Because of He Yan, these two could now be referred to as "the two of us." If He Yan were here, he would hardly believe his ears.

"I think so too, but Big Brother He trusts him," Song Taotao said helplessly. "I'm just fulfilling a promise. Big Brother He asked me to go find Drillmaster Shen."

"Big brother asked you to go?" Cheng Lisu was stunned."Right." Song Taotao stepped around him. "So don't disturb me from handling important matters. I'm going to find someone first." With that, she ignored Cheng Li Su and walked straight ahead.

After a few steps, she turned back, returning to the dazed Cheng Li Su. Lowering her voice, she whispered in his ear, "Brother He also said that during these days in Liangzhou Guard, you must not wander around. If any new recruits come looking for you, don't go with them. It's best to stay by Instructor Shen's side at all times."

"Old Shen?" Cheng Li Su frowned. "Why should I follow him? I can't stand him!"

"This is Brother He's instruction!" Song Taotao's expression darkened. "You'd better listen."

She recalled the young man standing in the dark dungeon, pressing something into her hand, his voice filled with worry: "There may be traitors lurking within Liangzhou Guard. When I'm not here, stay close to Shen Han and let him protect you."

"Be extremely careful."

(End of Chapter)