Chapter 250: "Remember, It Was Yang Shuo Who Ruined You..."
At the foot of Jiashi Mountain, the meager streams of the dry season trickled through the low-lying riverbed, barely covering the horses' hooves, shattering the reflections of countless people and steeds on the water's surface.
A Hawk Hound waded through the creek to Pei Song's side, clasping his fists and reporting, "Master, everything is in place."
Pei Song narrowed his eyes slightly under the sunlight, giving a faint nod as he held the reins.
The Hawk Hound gestured forward. Soon, a massive explosion erupted from the moss-covered stone piles along the riverbank, filling the air with the heavy scent of saltpeter.
The Hawk Hounds rushed to clear the remaining rubble from the blast site, urgently calling out to Pei Song, "Master, we've found it!"
Pei Song guided his horse through the shallow stream to approach, dismounted, and upon seeing the narrow opening—barely large enough for one person to crawl through—curled his lips in what seemed like a mix of mockery and scorn. He murmured under his breath, "Old man, you've finally been of some use to me."
A young officer from Western Mausoleum, following the party, stared at the dried filth remnants inside the tunnel and exclaimed in shock and doubt, "Is this a sewage passage leading down from the mountain?"
He turned to Pei Song, his tone inadvertently carrying a note of accusation, "If there is such a secret passage into the pass, why did the Consort not inform General Nugeer sooner?"
Pei Song's gaze was icy, though a smile still played on his lips, "General Tusai, surely you don't believe this secret passage could be used to storm Tiger Gorge Pass?"
The young Western Mausoleum officer fell silent, clearly having had his thoughts exposed.
Pei Song's tone held a hint of sarcasm as he continued, "This sewage passage leads to the Liang border defense camp on Jiashi Mountain. Any attempt to launch a surprise attack through it would result in total annihilation before even breaching the camp."
The young officer pressed, "Then what is the Consort's purpose in bringing us here?"
Pei Song's smile remained intact, "This Governor has stated before: Yang Shuo is under my command."
As the young officer prepared to say more, he was cut off by a sharp rebuke from one of Pei Song's Hawk Hounds: "General Tusai, you witnessed how troublesome that Liang cavalry was on the road. They spread word in advance about a spy within the pass. Now, everyone in Tiger Gorge Pass suspects General Yang Shuo is that spy. Even if General Yang Shuo feigns defeat and surrenders to protect the civilians inside, he would inevitably face slander. Only after our master enters the city can he deliberate carefully with Yang Shuo. This method of entry was also disclosed by General Yang Shuo to our master."
The Hawk Hound added pointedly, "If our master intended to conceal anything, would he have brought you and your men along on this mission?"
The young Western Mausoleum officer, left speechless, finally clasped his fists toward Pei Song and said, "This general is merely anxious to enter the pass and meant no offense!"
Since Niru's death, Nugeer had been constrained by Pei Song, largely because Pei Song was the "key" to entering the pass.
The previous night, Pei Song had ordered Nugeer to lead a full-scale assault on the city today, while he himself took a team of personal guards on a secret overnight excursion, boldly claiming he would soon make Tiger Gorge Pass "fall." Nugeer had then sent his trusted general to accompany them, ostensibly to assist but in reality no different from surveillance.
Fortunately, Pei Song seemed unbothered by this and readily agreed.
Now, he gave a slight curl of his lip, still maintaining an exceedingly patient demeanor, "Time is short, General. You may have your men proceed inside first."
The young Western Mausoleum officer gestured to the soldiers behind him, and the Western Mausoleum troops began crawling into the sewage passage one by one.After the last Western Mausoleum soldier had entered, Pei Song finally made a "please" gesture toward the Western Mausoleum lieutenant: "General, please."
As the lieutenant hesitantly crouched down and was about to enter the tunnel, he suddenly felt a sharp gust of wind behind him. Though he dodged sideways in time, he still felt a chill at his throat.
He collapsed weakly against the stone pile at the tunnel entrance, staring at the blood-dripping dagger in Pei Song's hand. With his vocal cords and throat severed, speaking became extremely difficult. Clutching his neck where blood gushed out continuously, he managed a breathy whisper: "You... you... don't..."
Pei Song took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his dagger, his dark lashes lazily drooping over his eyelids as he said indifferently: "General Tusai wants to say that this governor shouldn't celebrate too soon, that you've already sent someone back to camp to report, is that it?"
The Western Mausoleum lieutenant's eyes widened in shock, astonished that Pei Song even knew about the secret signal he had given his personal guard when ordering his soldiers into the tunnel.
At that moment, a Hawk Hound waded through the stream and approached, throwing a bloody severed head before the Western Mausoleum lieutenant and reporting to Pei Song: "Master, the target has been intercepted."
When the lieutenant recognized the face of the decapitated soldier, he seemed to want to cry out in grief, but with his vocal cords severed and his throat filled with blood, he could only utter broken, breathy words: "You... deceived the princess... and... the general..."
Then he stared wide-eyed, full of rage and resentment at Pei Song until he breathed his last.
Pei Song casually tossed the blood-stained handkerchief onto the corpse, his glancing down as casual as looking at an ant, and said lightly: "Don't worry. Once Nugeer enters the city, I'll send him down to meet you."
The Hawk Hound removed the lieutenant's waist token and presented it to Pei Song. Taking it, Pei Song gazed at the sun's shadow in the sky and smiled faintly: "Sir, destiny is on our side."
Yang Shuo had never been his man—it was all just a pretense to lure Western Mausoleum into attacking Tiger Gorge Pass.
This tunnel had been built by Qin Yi when he established the Border Defense Camp on the mountain while guarding Tiger Gorge Pass. Later, after the mountain camp was fully established, Qin Yi ordered the tunnel sealed to prevent potential risks.
Since this matter concerned the safety of the entire Tiger Gorge Pass, only Qin Yi's closest confidants knew of the tunnel's existence.
After Qin Yi was wrongly implicated in the crown prince succession case and imprisoned, his confidants were all purged. Besides Qin Yi, Pei Song was the only one left in the world who knew of this tunnel.
What he had planned by joining Western Mausoleum was never to help He Yi conquer Daliang, but to use Western Mausoleum's power to reclaim everything that was once within his grasp!
With the Wen woman and that Xiao fellow dead beyond the pass, who in Liang territory could stop him now?
Relying on the strategic advantages of Tiger Gorge Pass and Hundred Blades Pass, even if Western Mausoleum wanted to settle accounts with him later, what could they do?
Moreover, it remained to be seen whether He Yi would even live long enough to demand repayment!
Jashi Mountain Border Defense Camp.
A patrol team passed between the tents, their footsteps and the clanking of their armor almost in perfect rhythm.
As the last patrolling soldier passed, a hand suddenly reached out from between the tents, covering his mouth and nose while a knife-hand strike heavily hit the back of his neck. The soldier immediately fell unconscious and was silently dragged behind the tents.More than a dozen corpses of border guards stripped of their military armor lay haphazardly on the open ground.
The Hawk Hound stripped the armor from the border guard he had just knocked unconscious, slit the man’s throat with a dagger, and donned the stolen armor before reporting to Pei Song, "Master, we’ve all changed."
The mountain passageway, originally a drainage route, had long been abandoned, its entrance sealed with a stone slab and repurposed as a storage shed for miscellaneous items.
After emerging from the storage shed, Pei Song and his men lay in ambush here, attacking over a dozen passing border guards.
Pei Song had already changed into a set of border guard armor. Fastening his wrist guards, he retrieved the waist token taken from the Western Mausoleum junior officer and issued orders in the Western Mausoleum tongue to the accompanying soldiers: "You will break out from the western side of the Border Defense Camp."
His expression was icy. "Whether it’s slaughtering villages or burning towns, spare no effort to spread the message that Yang Shuo is a spy who colluded with you to breach the pass."
Seeing the token, the Western Mausoleum soldiers did not question the order. They immediately pressed a fist to their chests in salute to Pei Song, their faces twisted with savage excitement as they departed to carry out the command.
A Hawk Hound accompanying him asked, "Master, where do we go next?"
A faint, bloodthirsty smile curled at the corners of Pei Song’s lips. "Naturally, to the Yang residence."
At the blast site beneath Jiashi Mountain, Xiao Li led the Wolf Cavalry, tracking the trail through the mountain stream until they discovered the corpse of the Western Mausoleum junior officer slumped near a cave entrance. Dismounting, he examined the body.
A Wolf Rider beside him used his scabbard to turn over the severed head on the ground, his brow furrowed in confusion. "They’re all from Western Mausoleum?"
He looked at Xiao Li. "Lord, could it be that Pei Song had a falling out with these Western Mausoleum men?"
Even as he spoke, he realized the inconsistency—if there had been infighting, more than just these two should have died here.
Xiao Li carefully examined the knife wound on the junior officer’s neck, his gaze shifting to the bloodstained silk handkerchief on the body.
The junior officer had died with one hand clutching his throat and the other hanging limp. The bloodied handkerchief clearly did not belong to him; it seemed more like someone had used it to wipe a blade before casually discarding it.
A Wolf Rider nearby called out, "Lord, there are signs of activity inside this tunnel!"
Only then did Xiao Li shift his attention to the tunnel. He brushed his fingers over the dried residue at the entrance, then surveyed the entire layout of Jiashi Mountain, instantly grasping the tunnel’s original purpose.
Only the former garrison troops inside the pass could have dug such a drainage tunnel here.
A chill shot through him. He immediately ordered, "Tian Wu, go find Tiger at once. Tell him that if there is any disturbance inside the pass, he must reinforce at all costs.
"The rest of you, follow me!"
The commotion caused by the Western Mausoleum soldiers quickly stirred panic within the Border Defense Camp.
After all, Tiger Gorge Pass had formidable defenses and occupied a strategic natural stronghold, remaining unbreached for over a decade. News of the Western Mausoleum army attacking the pass had only arrived that morning, and now Western Mausoleum troops had infiltrated the camp—had Tiger Gorge Pass already fallen?
Coupled with the rumors that Yang Shuo was a Western Mausoleum spy, an unknown terror spread like a plague through the entire camp, shattering military morale into disarray.
Disguised as border guards, Pei Song and his Hawk Hound slipped out of the camp with ease. Along the way, they intercepted and killed a messenger dispatched by the camp commander to report to the city, taking the messenger’s place.After arriving at the general's residence and explaining the incident at the Border Defense Camp, the Yang family's guards stationed at the mansion did not raise any defenses, given the disheveled state of Pei Song's group and the handwritten letter from the Border Defense Camp commander retrieved from the messenger as proof. Though they did not know the cause of the mountain incident, they were well aware it was aimed at their general.
The guards first escorted Pei Song and his companions to a side hall to rest, summoned the mansion physician to dress their wounds, and urgently ordered servants to inform Madam Yang to gather valuables and evacuate Tiger Gorge Pass with her two sons.
Just as tea was being prepared to inquire further about the details of the Border Defense Camp attack, a sword suddenly pierced through a guard's heart.
With a clatter, the teapot fell from the guard's hand and shattered on the floor.
The guard stared at the blood-stained blade protruding from his chest, slowly lifting his head to look at Pei Song. His expression was a mix of shock and bewilderment, tinged with confusion and helplessness: "You..."
Pei Song withdrew the sword, blood splattering onto his face. A faint smile played on his lips, his demeanor cold and indifferent: "Just cleaning up the disloyalty for my Qin family."
The guard's chest was completely soaked in blood, his strength failing as he collapsed forward onto the low table, sweeping all the tea utensils to the ground.
Struggling to lift his head at Pei Song's words, he pointed a bloodied finger and gasped out: "You... you are..."
Pei Song seemed unwilling to mention the name he loathed, merely curling his lips coldly as his dark eyes fixed on the guard: "Remember, it was Yang Shuo who brought this upon you all. He made you Wen's lapdogs."
At that moment, screams erupted outside the door. Blood splattered against it, dripping down the gauze of the carved wooden panels.
The Hawk Hound pushed the door open, kicked aside a corpse blocking the entrance, and clasped his hands toward Pei Song: "Master, all has been cleared."
Pei Song asked: "What of Yang Shuo's wife and children?"
The Hawk Hound replied: "They fled toward the back gate under the protection of household servants. I've already ordered all exits sealed. We just need to catch them like turtles in a jar."
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