Chapter Ninety-six

  That evening, Tang Yin found Le Tian and Ai Jia. The intelligence organization formed by the two of them had been established for more than a month, and Tang Yin wanted to know about the progress, whether it could be used now.

  It wasn't long before Le Tian and Ai Jia arrived one after the other, paid their respects to Tang Yin, and took their seats. Tang Yin was dressed in casual attire, wearing a silver-white brocade robe that fit him perfectly, making his figure appear even more slender and refined, also giving him an air of elegance. Seeing the faint smile on his face, without any signs of tension from encountering strong enemies, Le Tian and Ai Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

  Tang Yin smiled and sized up the two of them, compared to when they were in Yancheng, both of them had lost a lot of weight now, their skin was also tanned to a wheat color, it could be felt that the two of them were very dedicated to the training of the Xun Ma, even going all out. He smiled and asked: "Le Tian, Ai Jia, you two have been training the Xun Ma for over a month now, what's the effect?"

  Luo Tian and Ai Jia looked at each other, both replied: "Sir, we have already seen some initial effects, but if you want to put it into practical use, I'm afraid we still need to wait for a while." As they spoke, the two of them lowered their heads, showing a look of shame. At this time when they were most needed, the barbarian army could invade and retaliate at any moment, making intelligence even more crucial, but now the two of them couldn't exert their strength, let alone help Tang Yin share his worries and difficulties.

  However, Tang Yin's response to the two was not too disappointing, as if he had expected it all along. As the saying goes, "slow work produces fine goods". Le Tian is a very meticulous person, and Ai Jia is naturally strong-willed and unwilling to admit defeat easily. Both of them have the intention to build their respective intelligence organizations into the best and strongest ones. Tang Yin nodded and asked again: "How much longer do we need to wait before they can be put to use?" This was his most pressing concern.

  Lotte and Aika furrowed their brows, with the former speaking up first: "It'll take three more months."

  Hearing him say this, Aika who was originally going to give the same answer immediately changed her tune and said: "I still need two more months."

  When he heard this, Le Tian looked at Ai Jia with a strange gaze, feeling somewhat amused and annoyed. Since the day they received Tang Yin's order to form their own intelligence teams, he had felt that Ai Jia was always trying to one-up him - if he trained his troops for five hours a day, she would train hers for six; if he made his subordinates run twenty miles with heavy loads, she would make hers run twenty-five. There were countless such instances, and now she even wanted to compete with him on the completion time of their training, wanting to finish a month ahead of him. Le Tian was an old and steady man who naturally didn't take Ai Jia's childish comparisons to heart; he smiled and said nothing.

  Tang Yin's gaze swept back and forth between the two of them, and after a moment, he looked up and laughed, standing up straight and saying: "You two shouldn't stay in Biancheng for long, hurry back to Hengcheng as soon as possible."

  Lotte and Aika were also anxious to rush back to Heng City to train their subordinates, but now in this critical moment, neither of them was willing to leave Tang Yin here in Bian City. The two looked at each other with difficulty, wanting to speak but hesitating.

  Tang Yin understood their intentions, chuckled and said: "Fortunately, this time we are on the defensive, intelligence is not so important, when we take the initiative to attack the barbarian country in the future, that will be your two big show off times."

  Take the initiative to attack the Barbarian State? Le Tian and Ai Jia were both startled, as it was always the Barbarian State that crossed the border into Fengdi, while the Wind Country had never taken the initiative to attack the Barbarian State before. Both of them felt that Tang Yin's words were inconceivable.

  Lai Tian suddenly seemed to remember something, reached into his bosom, pulled out a folded piece of cowhide and handed it over to Tang Yin.

  Tang Yin curiously took it over and asked: "What is this?"

  "Sir, this was found on one of the barbarian prisoners, it appears to be a map of the city-state of Mophis Besa!"

  "Oh?" Tang Yin's eyes lit up as he took the cowhide and unfolded it to take a closer look. Indeed, this was a map, painted with great skill and attention to detail, featuring mountains, water, cities, and roads. However, the annotations were written in the mysterious Bessa script, making it unclear whether this was actually a map of the Bessa City-State.

  Tang Yin looked at the map with a frown, and Le Tian hastily explained: "Sir, I don't understand the map now either, but I'll find someone who can translate Besa language as soon as possible."

  "Alright!" Tang Yin nodded, refolding the map and handing it back to Yue Tian, reminding him, "This map is very important, we'll definitely need it later, make a few more copies to prevent loss!" As he spoke, he saw Ai Jia stretching her neck and staring at the map with wide eyes, and secretly smiled, adding, "Also, make one for Ai Jia!"

  "Yes! Sir." Rakuten bowed his head in response.

  Aika's face lit up with joy, knowing that Tang Yin had her and Le Tian train in reconnaissance horses, which were not used within the borders of Pingyuan County, but rather to secretly infiltrate the Besa City-State to gather intelligence on the barbarian army's movements. If they had a map of the Besa City-State in hand, it would save them a lot of trouble later on, and their reconnaissance mission into the barbarian territory would be twice as effective.

  "Alright, there's nothing else, you two should head back to Heng City earlier!"

  "Yes!" Lotte and Aika responded in unison, both retreating together.

  After the two of them left, Tang Yin couldn't stay in the room any longer. He took the Shangguan brothers with him and went out of the mansion to head towards the North City Gate.

  Now, on the top of the northern city wall, people are surging forward, torches are like forests, and the officers and soldiers of the fourth and fifth battalions stationed in the border town are strengthening the city defense under Zhang Zhou's command overnight, transporting logs and rolling stones, installing strong bows and crossbows to cope with the barbarian army that may come at any time.

  At a distance from the city wall, Tang Yin stopped in his tracks and looked up.

  Shangguan brothers stepped forward and asked: "Sir, shouldn't we go up and take a look?"

  Tang Yin shook his head and said calmly, "No need, going up will only add trouble."

  He was completely unaware of the city's defense affairs, and after passing by, he couldn't help but make a mess. He withdrew his gaze, looked around, and found that not far away, there was a small tavern with bright lights, which was really rare. The border town had almost become a ghost town, and it was surprising that there was still a tavern open in the evening. Tang Yin curiously walked over.

  The tavern was not large, only one story high, and the interior space was not very spacious, barely able to accommodate fifty or sixty people. At this time, there were a dozen or so people scattered about inside the tavern, more than half of whom were officials and soldiers, while the others appeared to be ordinary civilians in casual attire.

  Tang Yin and the Shangguan brothers immediately caught the attention of everyone in the tavern, especially Tang Yin. His face was as white as jade, his body clad in brocade clothes, and he looked like a young noble with his youthful appearance. The two Shangguan brothers were tall and robust, resembling two door gods, their appearance not much different from that of a house servant who had been in a fight.

  Tang Yin ignored the gaze of the crowd and walked to an empty table, slowly taking a seat. The brothers Xiangguan sat on either side of him.

  No sooner had they sat down than a waiter came over with a smile and asked: "What can I get for you three gentlemen?"

  The young man was not very old, seemingly under twenty, with a clear and elegant appearance. Tang Yin smiled and asked: "Is there wine?"

  "Of course, what wine would you like to drink?"

  Tang Yin turned his gaze to the left and looked at Shangguan Yuanbiao, indicating that he should pour the wine.

  Shangguan Yuanbiao nodded in agreement and said in a low voice: "Let's start with a jar of white wine."

  "Alright, sir! Just a moment!" The shop assistant replied and quickly turned around and walked away.

  Taking advantage of Xiao Er's absence while serving wine, Tang Yin leisurely scanned the guests in the tavern.

  The table near the window was occupied by six soldiers, who were all low-ranking ordinary privates. They didn't recognize Tang Yin, possibly because they were new recruits, and they ate and drank loudly, completely ignoring him. The other two tables each had four people sitting at them, all wearing rough clothing that looked somewhat old and worn out, no different from ordinary civilians.

  After a while, the shopkeeper brought up a jar of white wine. Tang Yin poured half a bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

  The wine of Fengguo is strong, and the wine of Pingyuan County is even stronger. After drinking half a bowl of wine, Tang Yin felt like he was about to spit out fire, and his pale face suddenly turned red.

  He covered his mouth and nose, coughed lightly, then exhaled slowly, smiling at the Upper Official brothers: "Good wine, refreshing!"

  The Shangguan brothers looked at each other and smiled, imitating Tang Yin's mannerisms, also pouring all the wine in their bowls into their bellies.

  The three of you came and went, and soon drank more than half a pot of burning wine. At this time, the three of them were slightly drunk.

  Tang Yin gazed at the wine in his cup, his thoughts surging, and suddenly remembered Yuemei, also thinking of Yirou.

  I don't know what the dancing girl is doing now, nor do I know whether Yin Rou's trip to Ningguo City for mediation was successful. And those mysterious assassins, have they made another attempt on Yin Rou's life? Tang Yin knows nothing about all this. The location of Pingyuan County is too remote and the news is too closed off.

  It's about time to write a letter to Deng Mingyang and ask him clearly. Tang Yan sighed silently in his heart, picked up the wine cup, just about to take a sip, when bursts of laughter came from the ear, he turned his head to look, it turned out that those soldiers were laughing together for some reason, in the quiet little tavern, the laughter sounded exceptionally jarring.

  He pursed his lips, put down the wine bowl he had picked up, cleared his throat and asked loudly: "Brothers, how do you have so much time?"

  Several soldiers were also stunned and turned their heads to look at Tang Yin, unsure if he was talking to them.

  When they looked at him with their eyes, Tang Yin nodded affirmatively.

  Now, all six officers and soldiers knew he was asking himself questions. One of the officers in his twenties sneered and said, "Do we have time to care about you?"

  "What a big nerve!" Upper Official Yuanwu and Upper Official Yuanbiao, seeing the other's impertinence, immediately flew into a rage, making as if to rise up and teach him a lesson.

  Tang Yin shook his head and smiled at the two of them, indicating that they didn't need to get angry. He spoke calmly: "Just now I saw the government soldiers on the city wall preparing for defense, busily rushing about. How did you gentlemen manage to find time to come here and drink wine?"

  "Hmph! Do I need to report General's affairs to you?" The officer who spoke obviously didn't take Tang Yin seriously, sneering and saying: "You'd better not look for trouble, kid. If you annoy the General, be careful or he'll catch you as a spy for the barbarian troops!"

  What a big tone! Tang Yin raised his eyebrows, just about to speak, when suddenly a wine guest at another table spoke up and said: "Take advantage of being alive now, drink as much as you can. Once the barbarian soldiers arrive, we'll be ghosts under their knives, and even if we want to drink, we won't be able to."