Chapter 1060 The Eve of Conflict!

Just as the dark cloud of war was quietly looming over Huainan, a special team came to Hejiang County in the northern part of Huainan...

Looking at the bustling county town in front of him, Ye Pengchao asked Huang Dale beside him:

"Are you sure he's here?"

Facing Ye Pengchao's question, Huang Dale, a captain of the Coordination Office, looked a little unconfident. He hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"Intel says he's here!"

Although Ye Pengchao was not satisfied with Huang Dale's hesitant attitude, he could do nothing about it!

Although most of the blame for Xu Zhaojie's prison break was borne by the First Division and Ma Zhongjun, Ye Pengchao, the Censor of the Jingchu Censorate, and Huang Dale, a captain of the General Coordination Office, still bore an unshirkable responsibility. So under pressure, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale issued a military order to bring Fang She to justice within two months.

In order to fulfill the military order, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale have been trying hard to search for Fang She's whereabouts, wanting to capture the big spy chief of the Zhennan Army!
But unfortunately, Fang She was really cunning, like a slippery loach, and he narrowly escaped from the trap set by Ye Pengchao and his men several times...

After analyzing this situation, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale thought that the news might have leaked from within the Coordination Office, so they followed this idea and set a trap inside. This actually allowed them to find Wang Kuan, a Thousand Tiger Guard secret agent who had been lurking in the Coordination Office for many years.

At first, Wang Kuan wanted to act tough and keep his mouth shut, but after a series of tortures by the Coordination Office, he finally confessed!

According to Wang Kuan, he was personally selected by Fang She and infiltrated into the coordination center in Jingchu. He had been in single-line contact with Fang She before.

And the reason why Fang She was able to avoid the tight net set by Ye Pengchao and his men in the previous few times was because he was tipping Fang She off, so Fang She was able to escape unscathed with foresight!

After finding out the traitor Wang Kuan, Huang Dale wanted to deal with Wang Kuan according to the rules of the Coordination Office, but Ye Pengchao stopped Huang Dale. He took advantage of the situation and asked Wang Kuan to pass the message to Fang She, so that Wang Kuan could lead Fang She to Hejiang County.

Knowing that Fang She was a very vigilant person and it would be difficult for advance arrangements to go unnoticed by him, Ye Pengchao was very bold this time and did not make any arrangements in Hejiang County. Instead, he planned to wait until Fang She appeared in Hejiang County and then launch a surprise attack on him.

And just last night, a message came from Hejiang County, saying that traces of Fang Snake were found in the city...

Because now the days are passing by, and half of the two-month military order they signed has passed.

Therefore, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale are very anxious now. The first thing they think about when they open their eyes every morning is to catch Fang She. After receiving the news, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale immediately took people to Hejiang County overnight!

Now Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale no longer want to continue playing the cat and mouse game with Fang She. They just want to capture Fang She as soon as possible!

Huang Dale hesitated for a moment and said to Ye Pengchao:
"Sir, the news sent is that Fang She is now in the city. Do you think we should seal off the city?"

Ye Pengchao was somewhat tempted by Huang Dale's suggestion. If it could be confirmed that Fang She was in the city, then sealing off the city and checking every step would be like catching a turtle in a jar!
However, there are also disadvantages to doing this. Now Fang She should still continue to believe the false information Wang Kuan gave him and think that Hejiang County is a safe place.

If the city is sealed off now, it would be tantamount to alerting the snake. Even if Fang She cannot leave the city, he may be hiding in some corner of the city. The population of Hejiang County is about 20,000. It is not easy to find Fang She among so many people...

After thinking carefully, Ye Pengchao came up with a plan and told Huang Dale:

"Don't seal off the city for now to avoid alerting the enemy. But you need to take the token and the document to find the county magistrate and ask him to cooperate with our actions. We will place our men at the city gates and capture Fang She immediately if he tries to escape!"

"I will continue to contact our people and follow the plan. We will use both methods to catch Fang She this time!"

"Yes!"

After determining the strategy, Ye Pengchao and Huang Dale began to act separately. Half an hour later, Ye Pengchao found the contact person Zhao Wu.

As soon as they met, Ye Pengchao couldn't wait to ask Zhao Wu:

"Can you locate Fang She's position now?"

Facing Ye Pengchao's question, Zhao Wu answered without hesitation:

"Your Excellency, I am currently unable to determine the exact location of Fang Snake!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Pengchao immediately became anxious, grabbed Zhao Wu's collar and asked fiercely:
"Didn't you spread the news yesterday that Fang She was in Hejiang County? How come you can't confirm his location now?"

Zhao Wu was also frightened by Ye Pengchao's ferocious look, and immediately began to defend himself:

“I saw that Fang Snake in the city yesterday, but this Fang Snake was too vigilant. I was afraid of being discovered by him so I didn’t dare to follow him too closely…

"Although I can't confirm which house he lives in, I can be sure that Fang She is living in that bungalow in the southern part of the city!"

After hearing what Zhao Wu said, Ye Pengchao calmed down temporarily. He patted Zhao Wu's face and said gloomily:
"If what you say is true, then you will be rewarded with a great achievement this time. But if you dare to lie to me, you will be dead!"

Zhao Wu smiled with some fear:
"My Lord, I am just a small shrimp. Even if you lend me a hundred guts, I would not dare to lie to you!"

Ye Pengchao was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, and directly waved his hand and ordered:

"Take me to the bungalow in the south of the city!"

Yes!
After an incense stick of time, under the guidance of Zhao Wu, Ye Pengchao and his men arrived at the bungalow in the south of Hejiang County mentioned by Chen Wu!
Ye Pengchao thought that he could catch Fang She immediately after he arrived, but after arriving at the place and looking at the densely packed and dilapidated bungalows, Ye Pengchao couldn't help but frown!
Seeing this, Chen Wu explained:
"Although Hejiang County was not originally wealthy, the people in the city were basically able to have enough food to eat. However, the taxes imposed by the Zhennan Army in recent years are too heavy!"

“If you don’t pay taxes, you will be beaten up and sent to do labor service at the very least, or you will be killed directly at the worst. So in recent years, in order to survive, many people have to sell their houses to pay taxes, and then squeeze in here with their families to barely make a living... "This bungalow area is less than 10% of the area of ​​the city, but 30% of the people in the city live here. I think Fang She hides here because of this. He wants to use the dense population here to hide his identity!"

Hearing Chen Wu's words, Ye Pengchao took a deep breath and said in a deep voice:
"Ma Kai, take a team of people and fence off this bungalow area. No one is allowed to enter or leave. Violators will be killed without mercy!"

"The rest of the troops, go in and search every house. Be sure to pay attention to whether there are secret rooms, tunnels, and the like. Not a single inch of land can be left unsearched!"

"Yes!"

Following Ye Pengchao's order, more than one hundred agents from the Joint Coordination Office went deep into the bungalow area and began their search operation.

At the same time, Fang She was recuperating in a dark little room not far away, even though Wang Kuan had tipped him off before, allowing him to escape the Fengwu Army's pursuit several times.

However, while running away, his arm was grazed by a bullet fired from the Fengwu Army's musket. Although the injury was not serious, he still needed to apply medicine and rest for a while before he could recover.

At this time, Wang Kuan sent him another message saying that the Fengwu Army had realized that he had fled back to Huainan, and was looking for traces of the other snake in various towns, counties and prefectures in Huainan. Hejiang Town had been searched by the Fengwu Army before, and they would not search Hejiang County again in the short term...

Although he trusted Wang Kuan, the secret agent he had personally planted in the Coordination Office, Fang She still conducted a thorough investigation of Hejiang County out of the vigilance of an intelligence worker. Only after he was sure that there was no ambush by the Fengwu Army did he hide in the county.

Although the environment in the room was very simple, Fang She was still very optimistic. He felt that he would be able to escape the pursuit of the Fengwu Army soon.

His parents should be in Hanyang City right now, and he will be able to reunite with them soon, and then find his wife and children. Then, his whole family can go to Nanyang together and live a happy life!

As if thinking of this beautiful scene, a smile appeared on Fang She's cold face, and at this moment a noisy sound was heard outside the room.

The sound broke Fang She's fantasy, and made the former commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards of the Zhennan Army become alert. At this critical moment, the door of his house was suddenly kicked open, and more than a dozen agents from the Coordination Office rushed in.

Faced with this horrifying scene, Fang She's heart sank, and he immediately wanted to fight his way out. He was indeed very powerful. Although his left arm was injured, he still managed to fight his way out of the house with his superb martial arts.

Just when Fang She was extremely happy and was thinking quickly about where to escape, he found that outside the house, Ye Pengchao was waiting for him with more agents from the Coordination Office.

Seeing this, Fang She knew that he could not escape even if he had wings, and he felt helpless. The next second, his instinct for survival made him put down the dagger in his hand and kneel on the ground.

Ye Pengchao rushed forward and kicked Fang She, knocking him to the ground with a trace of blood on the corner of his mouth. However, Fang She did not fight back but said:
“Don’t kill me, I can help you find Xu Zhaojie’s son Xu Kang…”

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Jiangnan, Lin'an

Lu Houde was in his luxurious mansion, drinking and having fun with his beautiful wives and concubines, when a servant suddenly came to report that

"Master, Master Murong Zhengshan is here to see you!"

Lu Houde was a little surprised to hear the news, and immediately asked:
"What's going on? Why is Zhengshan here?"

The servant answered truthfully upon hearing this:

"I don't know what happened, but Master Murong Zhengshan suddenly wanted to come to see you. Your subordinates couldn't stop him at all. We could only escort Master Murong Zhengshan to the mansion!"

In response to this answer, Lu Houde hesitated for a moment and nodded and said:
"Let Zhengshan come in!"

"Yes!"

Under Lu Houde's order, half a cup of tea later, the pale-faced Murong Zhengshan appeared in Lu Houde's sight.

Lu Houde wanted to greet Murong Zhengshan immediately, but Murong Zhengshan didn't buy it at all. He asked right away:

"Brother, are you Jiangnan troops going to hold a large-scale military exercise in Guangshou?"

Lu Houde was a little hesitant when he heard this, but under Murong Zhengshan's gaze, he finally nodded and said:
“That’s true…”

As soon as these words came out, Murong Zhengshan said:
"Brother, you must think of a way to stop this military exercise. We must not provoke these arrogant and powerful soldiers of the Fengwu Army at this time!"

Lu Houde seemed to understand Murong Zhengshan's thoughts after hearing this, and comforted Murong Zhengshan:
"Zhengshan, I understand what you mean. I have already talked to Lu Yun in private, and Brother Yun has also promised me that he will remain restrained during this military exercise and will not take the initiative to provoke the Fengwu Army!"

Murong Zhengshan smiled bitterly and shook his head when he heard this.

"Brother, I'm not worried that you will provoke the Fengwu Army. I'm worried that they will seize this opportunity to do something!"

"The Fengwu Army has always attached great importance to military merit. The arrogant and brave generals of the Fengwu Army would do anything for military merit, and He Jingyun and Yuan Song are competing with each other!"

"He Jingyun has always wanted to attack Jiangnan, but he was suppressed by the Marshal's order. Now your large-scale military exercises in Guangshou will further stimulate them!"

“Even if your Jiangnan Army does not take the initiative to provoke us, you have given them an excuse to take action this time. I’m worried that the Fengwu Army’s crazy guys will take the initiative to provoke a war…”

(End of this chapter)