Chapter 108: Mutual Destruction

  "No way! Young master, you can't agree to such terms. What if something goes wrong? How will we explain it to the general?" As soon as Guan Ling and Niu Tong heard this, they became extremely anxious.

  Tang Huaiye felt a twinge of shame in his heart and said to Yue Yun with a heavy tone, "Yue Xianzhong, I, old Tang, am incompetent and was captured again. This is my own fault! You all don't need to bother about me, just come up and chop this dog thief into pieces..." However, as soon as he finished speaking, he was slapped on the ear by Tian Shizhong with a backhand, instantly cutting off his second half of the sentence.

  "Alright! I promise you!" Yue Yun saw the muscles on Niu Tong's face twitch, and knowing that he was worried about Tang Huai's safety, she resolutely decided to take a risk.

  He turned around and said to Niu Tong and Guan Ling: "You will catch those subordinates of Tian Shi, bring them to the Cishi government..."

  Just as the two were about to take their orders, Tang Huai suddenly let out a loud shout, his eyes blazing with fury. He charged forward violently, attempting to break free from Tian Shizhong's grasp.

  Tian Shizhong was terrified, and the dagger in his hand instinctively made a cut. A long bloody gash immediately appeared on Tang Huai's neck, and fresh blood spurted out wildly.

  "Uncle Tang!" Niu Tong let out a mournful cry, raised the axe in his hand, and with a belly full of grief and indignation, struck at Tian Shizhong with all his might.

  Tian Shizhong didn't even have time to let out a miserable cry, and his head flew out more than two zhangs away, rolling onto the ground outside the hall. The several Xiangyang officials waiting in the courtyard for the matter to be resolved were frightened out of their wits.

  Yue Yun and Niu Tong rushed to Tang Huai's side, who had already fallen to the ground, and saw that he was on his last breath, unable to speak.

  Niu Tong then tightly hugged Tang Shu who had raised him since he was young, and burst into loud wailing, the sound of his crying shook heaven and earth, and was extremely sorrowful.

  Everyone outside rushed in and watched this scene with great surprise.

  Tang Huai was now unable to move, he looked at Yue Yun with pleading eyes.

  Yue Yun's eyes also welled up with tears, he took a deep breath, grasped Tang Huai's large hand tightly and sighed: "Uncle Tang, rest assured! Niu Tong is my brother, I will definitely take good care of him. As long as I, Yue Yun, am alive, I absolutely won't let Niu Tong suffer!"

  Tang Huai's eyes showed a look of relief and gratitude, his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something thankful, but ultimately didn't say anything.

  He fell into Niu Tong's arms with a tilt of his head, and although his eyes were still wide open, they had lost their usual luster.

  In the hall, everyone lowered their heads, silent, only Niu Tong's crying voice was so sad and striking, evoking sympathy.

  Yue Yun and Guan Ling finally managed to calm down Niu Tong after great difficulty, and he barely stopped crying.

  At this moment, Xiangyang Governor Liu Xi and others also came forward with trepidation to meet Yue Yun one by one. Yue Yun also knew that arranging the inventory of grain stores, as well as carters, grain carts, and other matters, all relied on local officials in Xiangyang. He was ignorant of these things and naturally did not dare to be rude.

  However, he found that the officials looked at him with some strange eyes, and in their fear, they also had some pity. It made him really confused. After exchanging pleasantries and flattering each other with a group of officials, Yu Yunwen rushed out of the inner room.

  Yue Yun was overjoyed to see him and hastily called him over. He had no idea how to handle the arrangements for transporting grain, in Chu State, he had the full support of Han Shizhong above and Yu Yunwen helping him with the arrangements below. Now he was completely at a loss, not knowing what to do.

  Yu Yunwen had experience in transporting grain in Chu State and was already familiar with the task. After learning from Liu Xi about the total amount of grain, as well as the number of carters and large carts that could be mobilized in the city, he already had a general plan in mind for how to arrange the transportation.

  Yu Yunwen didn't mince words and immediately stated his arrangements, while Liu Xi was visibly surprised. Although he knew Yu Yunwen was a staff officer under Yue Yun, he only thought that he had unique insights in military battles, but did not expect him to also have studied internal affairs.

  Liu Xi carefully considered Yu Yunwen's plan and felt that it was still feasible. Based on the actual situation in Xiangyang, he made some modification suggestions. In response to the current shortage of transport vehicles, he also proposed a solution: temporarily borrowing large vehicles from several major car companies in Xiangyang. Additionally, by modifying some war chariots in the army, they could be used as grain carts. This way, there would be enough grain carts to transport 800,000 dan of grain.

  Yu Yunwen and Liu Xi, Cheng Yuan and others discussed for about an hour or so before arranging the grain transportation properly.

  After seeing off the local officials from Xiangyang, Yu Yunwen pulled Yue Yun into the inner room and said seriously: "Young Master Yue, Tian Shizhong is now dead, this is a crisis! If not handled properly, it will be a disaster for you, Young Master, and even Marshal Yue!"

  "Ah! Is it that serious?" Yue Yun furrowed his brow. Although he knew killing Tian Shizhong was an accident and not part of their plan, he hadn't expected such severe consequences. In his opinion, Tian Shizhong's withholding of military rations was punishable by beheading.

  "Yes! It's just like we suspected on the road, there really is someone secretly supporting Tian Shi behind his back. And when he confiscated our grain, it was also under someone's orders." Yu Yunwen said with a serious face.

  "Who is it? Could it really be Qin Hui?" Yue Yun's voice was low. He recalled the words of Tian Shizhong that he had interrupted earlier.

  "Exactly! That's the trouble." Yu Yunwen said: "I took a look at Tian Shizhong's correspondence, and there is one letter from the Imperial Secretariat to him. Young Master, take a look at the content."

  After saying that, he took out an opened letter from his pocket and pulled out the letter paper.

  Yue Yun looked at it for a long time, and saw that the letter roughly said that there were many bandits in the area, often invading the newly recovered land, and asked him to be careful when sending grain to the front line. At the end of the letter was the seal of the Imperial Secretariat.

  "Grandson, take another look at this letter." Yu Yunwen then pulled out another letter and handed it to Yue Yun.

  Yue Yun opened the second letter, only to see that its contents were about Tian Shizhong guarding the grain warehouse well and not losing it to theft. The letter was also stamped with Qin Hui's personal seal at the end.

  "These... these two letters didn't say anything about not sending grain!" Yuen Yun said with a furrowed brow, somewhat puzzled.

  Yu Yunwen said calmly, "Young Master, these two letters will not explicitly state that Tian Shizhong is not allowed to issue grain to Yue Yuanshuai, but Yunwen observes his words and deeds, and from some subtle clues, it can be inferred that Tian Shizhong must know a set of secret codes for communication."

  These two letters seem to have no major problems. However, judging from the dates, the first letter was sent out on July 8th, which is exactly when the government issued the twelve golden plaques from Lin'an. I've already asked Xu Ce, a staff member of Tian Shiming's army, and he also said that it was only after receiving this secret order from the Imperial Secretariat that Tian Shiming ordered to temporarily suspend transporting grain to the front line at Zhuxiantown.

  He paused for a moment, then continued: "This second letter is even more private to Qin Hui. The content of the letter on the surface is to remind Tian Shizhong to guard the grain warehouse and prevent theft. This is even stranger. The granaries in Xiangyang are all guarded by thousands of elite troops. What thief would dare to steal military rations? But the time this letter was sent was around mid-August. Calculating the time, if a fast horse messenger were sent, Tian Shizhong could have received this letter around late August. According to General Tang Huai, although Tian Shizhong did not cooperate much, he agreed to send grain, and it was in late August that he suddenly changed his mind and refused to let them transport the grain away. The coincidence of these two events in time is strange, and it would be even stranger if there were no ghosts involved!"

  Yue Yun heard this and hung his head in thought. The timing of these two letters and the dramatic changes that followed seemed to be more than just a coincidence, and the situation was indeed strange. He also suddenly understood why Yu Yunwen's expression was so serious. Tian Shizhong must have colluded with the Imperial Censorate and Qin Hui behind the scenes. Otherwise, where did he get the nerve to withhold the military rations of the Yue family army?

  Even if Zhao Yun was in the wrong, according to the laws of the Song Dynasty, an investigation had to be conducted before a sentence could be passed. Moreover, Xiangyang was not on the front lines, and even if Yue Yun wanted to execute him for disobeying military orders, he would have had to report it to the Imperial Secretariat and have it carried out by a specialized execution officer. But Niu Tong took it upon himself to kill him, which is a serious violation of military regulations and can be considered a grave crime of insubordination.

  Yue Yun only then realized why Liu Xi and others would look at him with such a strange gaze.