Inside Yanmen Pass, before dawn.
Du Changguo, the supervisor of the army, sat in front of Sun Tu and others with a bad expression on his face, listening to their explanation of their purpose. Any other person would be unhappy to be woken up from the bed in the middle of the night, not to mention that he was sick and would cough quietly from time to time.
And when he finally understood their purpose, Du Jianjun's face became even more gloomy: "Are you two suspecting that I am a Liao spy?"
"I don't dare, but the matter is serious, and I can only handle official matters. I hope the supervisor can understand!" Tian Boyuan spoke neither humble nor overbearing. He looked at the other party's unkind eyes, but he had some courage and responsibility.
This naturally made Du Changguo more and more angry, and he slapped several cases: "Bold, do you know what you are talking about? You dare to frame me like this without any evidence, do you really think that there is no royal law in Yanmen Pass? ? What do you want? Capture me on the spot and torture him severely? Do you have the courage?"
A barrage of questions continued to fall on Tian Boyuan's face, making him feel guilty and his momentum instantly weakened. He had indeed simplified things just now. Nowadays, the civil servants of the Song Dynasty were in charge, and the military generals had no choice but to obey orders. There were really not many people who could not take these civil servants as seriously as Sun Tu did. What's more, he really didn't dare to insist that the other party had a problem. He had no evidence, so why should he start
However, he had already finished speaking, so he couldn't just shrink back, so he could only say with a straight face: "Jiang Du, I didn't tell you what I really wanted to do to you. Didn't I come here to discuss it with you? You don’t want people outside to make irresponsible remarks, saying that you are related to the Liao people, right? So I thought it would be better to let my people check it out, for example, take a look at all the documents here. , to see if there is anything suspicious, for example..."
"How presumptuous! Can you search this place at will? Do you really think that I am a suspect? Tian Boyuan, if you ask me if I am a spy of the Liao Kingdom, I can tell you right now, no! I am a dignified Song Dynasty official. How could someone from a Jinshi background have anything to do with those barbarians? Also, to be honest, this Yanmen Pass is still under my control, and you have no right to search me..." Indeed, when it comes to the official positions of both parties, he This supervisor is much higher than Tian Boyuan, and even Tian Boyuan has to obey his orders.
At this time, Tian Boyuan was completely at his wits' end. Even if he really wanted to give the order, he, the general, had the more authority among the two, but this would completely tear his face apart. If the other party was not a spy, there would be endless troubles.
Seeing Tian Boyuan's helplessness, Sun Tu knew that he had to be the villain. Immediately, he coughed and said, "Jiang Du, I have heard that the reason why this city is in such a mess is all thanks to you. I wonder if you have any explanation for this?"
These words made Du Changguo, who was still aggressive at first, suddenly startled. He was still quite afraid of this Sun Tu. Even though it was just his first meeting with him, he had heard about Sun Tu for a long time and knew what he had done in the past. It can be said that among the hundreds of generals in the Song Dynasty today, Sun Tu may not have the greatest merit, but his reputation among civil servants is the greatest. Of course, this is all bad reputation.
Du Changguo was on guard just now. Now he sees
As expected, Sun Tu spoke, feeling even more frightened, but his face still had that menacing look: "Why, do you, the Marquis of Yue, have to interfere in my affairs at Yanmen Pass? Aren't you afraid that I will sue the court for your trespass?" Sin?"
There is nothing wrong with his response. The most criticized thing in official circles is overstepping. Unless your status reaches a certain level, almost no one dares to interfere with matters that are not within your duties. In Du Changguo's view, Sun Tu would not dare to touch such a taboo in official circles no matter how bold he was.
But the truth was completely unexpected. Sun Tu just stared into his eyes and said: "I came north under the order to help my army break through the Liao Dynasty. As for where to start, at least no one has mentioned it yet. Yanmen Pass Now that we are in a predicament, and it is related to the safety of the Central Plains and the victory or defeat of the front line, I believe that, at least for now, there is nothing more important than finding out the spy of the Liao Kingdom. So now that I know about this matter, I will investigate it to the end. , no matter who the spy behind the scenes is or what his identity is, there is no way he can escape my pursuit!"
Sun Tu's words were not big or urgent, but his solemn tone, powerful aura, and the cold murderous intention that he always carried immediately made Du Changguo's heart go cold, and his expression finally changed: "You …”
"Du Jianjun, you are not afraid of shadows. If you are not a spy, how can you be afraid of my investigation? Unless you have a ghost! Moreover, the current chaos between the army and the people in the pass is indeed caused by you, and this is also the case in Liaoning outside the city. What people want to see is that your suspicion is not small, are you really planning to carry it to the end?" Sun Tu continued to put pressure on him, and as he said these words, several subordinates in the room had already put their hands on him. With a knife on his waist, he seemed ready to attack at any time.
"You..." Du Changguo's face was filled with confusion. After all, this was related to his face and dignity. If these Qiu Ba were allowed to randomly search his residence, once word spread, it would really become a big joke among the officials.
But in the face of Sun Tu's aggressive words and momentum, his persistence collapsed. He could see that Sun Tu was not just talking, this was a master who really dared to kill officials. After a long while, he finally lowered his head and gave in: "Since you want to investigate, I will let you investigate. But there is one thing, if there is something missing in my room, you will be the only one to ask! I am innocent, how can I I am afraid of you, just for the sake of my safety at Yanmen Pass."
Seeing that he finally gave in, Tian Boyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He was really at a loss just now. At the same time, it also made him respect Sun Tu more. This is the real hero in the army. Compared with him, he is so useless and insignificant.
Sun Tu frowned and glanced at Du Changguo, who had already stood up and walked out. This attitude made him start to feel that this person was innocent. Because if he really had a problem, he should have been more insistent, at least until he really fell out and took action. Of course, it does not rule out that he has cleared up all the clues, so he is not afraid of searching by himself at all, but in this case, why bother to stop him like just now? Anyway, no matter what the possibility is, it is difficult to find anything in the search here.
The result was just as Sun Tu expected. Although his men had searched very carefully and almost turned the courtyard upside down, they still could not find any valuable clues.
. As for comparing Du Changguo's handwriting, it was even more troublesome for these warriors.
It sounds easy to compare handwriting, but in fact, if you are not an expert, you can see the subtle similarities between the two texts from the details of the handwriting and other details. Otherwise, as long as the other party deliberately conceals it, it will be enough to hide it from most people. most people's eyes.
The text on the cloth in Sun Tu's hand looked very different from Du Changguo's usual calligraphy style. They were completely different styles. In this way, the inference was confirmed that this matter had nothing to do with him, at least it was not him who handed the cloth to Laoguan.
It wasn't until he was confirmed that he was innocent that Du Changguo became more confident: "Now you know that I have nothing to do with this, Marquis of Yue, I have already written down this matter and will report it later." Today. His face was disgraced and he naturally hated Sun Tu greatly.
Sun Tu didn't care too much and just replied: "It's easy to say. But it is your intention to gather the people in Guanzhong. There are many things wrong with this matter, and I will report it truthfully. Also, today we will report this matter The hidden dangers must be completely cleared out, and I hope the supervisors will not hinder us."
"You..." Du Changguo was immediately annoyed, but Sun Tu had no intention of wasting any more words on him and turned around and left. It was already dark now, and they still needed to check several other suspicious people, so naturally they would not delay here any longer.
With the experience here, it will be much easier to interrogate several other military counselors. They didn't dare to disobey, after all, even the dignified Supervisor Du's residence was searched, so what did they mean? These few were even worried that if they were slightly hindered, they would be labeled as suspects. Naturally, they cooperated extremely well. Not only did they let them search their residences and public rooms at will, they even cooperated by writing words with their left and right hands at the same time. People inspected it, but the result was the same. There was no problem, and they were all innocent.
After such inquiries, half a day had passed, and it was almost noon. Even the civilians were arranged by the guards to start leaving the south gate and settling down outside the pass.
After all this hard work, he got nothing, which made Tian Boyuan feel a little discouraged: "This guy is hiding so deep. We have spent so much effort, but we still got nothing... General Sun, could it be that it's just that?" Lao Guan is just one person, but there is no more important spy? Or maybe the spy is actually hidden among the civilians. If this is true, it will be no different than finding a needle in a haystack."
Sun Tu was also full of doubts at this time. He had been looking at the cloth in his hand over and over for a long time. The words on it had been imprinted in his heart and he could recite them backwards and forwards, but there was still no gain. Hearing the question, he frowned: "Both of the two you mentioned are difficult to achieve. After all, Lao Guan is just an ordinary soldier, and he is always responsible for his responsibilities. How can he know the time of all military food shipment routes? And , it is even less possible for those civilians to grasp these military matters, and even the time of their arrival is random. There must be something that we have overlooked. The fox's tail is clearly right in front of us, but we did not notice it. I consciously ignored it..."
As Sun Tu spoke, he tightened his hands and kneaded the cloth into a ball. And at this moment, his eyes flashed and he thought of a key point...