gnovel Chapter 103: The Plan
Chapter 103: The Plan
After a moment's thought, Zhao Bocong picked up his vermilion pen and drew a small circle on the map at the location of the former site of Shunhe Tea Shop in Wazi Lane.
After the dead letter drop-off point at the back door of Shunhe Tea Shop was shut down, the Imperial City Guard set up a fixed sentry post there, with two people on each shift, changing shifts every two hours.
However, there is a very short gap during the changing of the guard. After the old sentry leaves, the new sentry has to go through three alleys to get there, which takes about half a cup of tea's time.
Half a cup of tea's time is enough for someone to slip in through the back door of Shunhe Tea Shop, take the spare letter hidden in the wall, and then exit the same way.
The Imperial City Guard didn't block the gap because they didn't know there was something hidden inside the wall.
After raiding Shunhe Tea Shop, they only checked the visible cabinets and shelves; they did not demolish any walls.
Because demolishing the wall required approval from Lin'an Prefecture.
Qin Keqing, in her capacity as a female official of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, immediately completed the "Renovation Filing for the Old Shops of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs".
The threshold for demolishing the wall has been raised to a level that even the Imperial City Guard is unwilling to easily cross.
This was Qin Keqing's work, and it's also the reason why Zhao Bocong relied on her more and more.
Qin Keqing is not only good at gathering intelligence, but she also leaves room for the next step of the operation while gathering intelligence.
The Shunhe Tea Shop still keeps a complete set of spare code words and two blank road signs in a hidden wall, so that someone can quickly retrieve them in case of an emergency.
Zhao Bozong put down his pen and rubbed his temples.
He was reviewing the progress report on the erection of bell towers at Hanshuikou submitted by Yuwen Xu. The handwriting on the report was crooked and messy. Although Yuwen Xu's handwriting was always messy, it was unusually messy this time.
In the final note, Yuwen Xu wrote: "When the bell frame at the mouth of the Han River was being tested, there were fishing boats on the opposite bank that had not yet dispersed, which were suspected to be patrol boats of the Imperial City Guard in disguise."
Zhao Bocong circled this note separately, intending to give it to Qin Keqing for further analysis tomorrow.
The Imperial City Guard's deployment on the Han River has expanded from land routes to waterways, which means that the transfer of supplies towards Xiangyang must be suspended for at least half a month.
At that moment, there was a gentle knock on the door.
The knock was soft and gentle, as if it were three knocks, with long intervals between each one, as if it was hesitating whether to knock a fourth time.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open a crack, and Xiao Jinluo poked half her head in.
Her hair was styled in neat double buns, clearly the work of Shen Qingci. She held a plush rabbit in her arms and a bowl of hot tea in her other hand.
"Your Highness, Sister Shen said you've been writing all day, so she asked me to bring you some tea."
Xiao Jinluo placed the tea on the desk, not leaving immediately, but tilting her head to look at the map and vermilion ink marks covering the table. "What are these red dots?"
Zhao Bozong smiled, handed her the vermilion pen, and said gently, "This is where the bad guys stand guard."
"There are so many bad guys." Xiao Jinluo leaned over the edge of the desk, intently studying the surveillance map. "Your Highness, don't your eyes get tired from seeing so many bad guys every day?"
Of course.
"Then I'll sing you a song. My brother taught me an old song from Xihe. It's very short."
Xiao Jinluo didn't wait for Zhao Bozong's reply before she began to sing softly.
The singing was very soft, sung in the Xihe accent. Zhao Bozong couldn't quite understand some of the words, but the melody was very slow and gentle, like the wind slowly blowing across the Gobi Desert.
Zhao Bozong finally relaxed and listened attentively to the little girl's singing.
After Xiao Jinluo finished singing, she felt a little embarrassed and covered her face with the plush rabbit, saying shyly.
"I don't sing well, but my brother does. He said that our mother taught him this song, and all the kids in Xihe can sing it."
Looking at the little girl who had hidden her face behind the rabbit, Zhao Bozong recalled a sentence that Xiao Bieli had said to him in the corridor before she left.
"I stayed in the Jin camp for half a year in order to carry my sister out. If you want evidence, I can give it to you one by one, but you don't want evidence, you want me to confess."
He was someone who had been tormented by the struggle to "survive" for far too long.
But he raised his younger sister very well, so well that when the little girl was being chased by the Imperial Guards, she could hold a gun and say, "If they take another step forward, I'll stab them."
She was so kind that she would ask the person across from her who was being beaten half to death, "Does it hurt?" She was so kind that she would believe all strangers were good people just because of a piece of osmanthus cake.
"What's the name of this song?" Zhao Bozong asked.
"It doesn't have a name, it's just called Xihe's Song. My mother said Xihe has many songs, and this is the oldest one. It's about waiting for someone to come home."
The song is about waiting for someone to come home.
Zhao Bocong picked up his teacup, took a sip, and realized what Xiao Jinluo was thinking.
"Don't worry, your brother will come back. He found the person he was looking for in Ezhou."
"I know." Xiao Jinluo hugged the plush rabbit a little tighter, her voice suddenly becoming very steady.
It was as if she had transformed from the shy little girl just moments before back into Xiao Jinluo, who could brandish a gun and utter harsh words even while being pursued by the Imperial City Guard.
"He promised to take me next time. My brother always keeps his word."
Xiao Jinluo ran out of the study carrying the rabbit, and the door closed gently behind her.
Zhao Bozong smiled and continued reviewing the documents.
But before turning to the next report, he wrote a line of small print next to the Imperial City Guard's control map, which was covered with cinnabar markings.
"On the seventh day of the third month of the thirteenth year of Shaoxing, A Luo sang a song from Xihe. The song had no name and was about waiting for someone to come home. Her brother, Xiao Bieli, was in Ezhou at that time."
After he finished writing, he put down his pen, looked at the line of words, and remained silent for a long time.
The time traveler's understanding of history gave him the vision to plan his scheme.
But what truly transformed him from a pawn into a player in this city was not his historical knowledge, but the people who staked their lives on him.
He must ensure that none of these bets fail.
The twilight outside the window deepened.
Qin Keqing was organizing the day's intelligence summary in a small room in the side courtyard, while the cat was curled up on her lap and dozing off.
She turned to a new page in the booklet and began writing down today's actions and plans for tomorrow.
Halfway through writing, Qin Keqing paused, remembering Qin Hui's words in the signing room: "You do things just like your mother."
I recalled the nameless old Xihe song that Xiao Jinluo sang in the kitchen today.
She pressed these two unrelated things into the charcoal marks, wrote a note in the booklet that only she could understand, and then continued writing.
What she wrote was not a record of past intelligence, but a plan for future operations.
Qin Keqing needs to complete the plan to cover Xiao Bieli and Xin Qizong's departure from the city before the end of the first month.
This was to ensure that all communication nodes were in place before the Xinqizong team arrived in the suburbs of Ezhou, and to simultaneously activate the Level 3 early warning upgrade of the Baimasi communication point in the Xiangyang direction.
Each instruction is clearly specified down to the exact time, the specific messenger, the backup plan, and the emergency code word.
This is a habit she has developed over the past ten months. After Zhao Bozong proposed the strategic direction, she was responsible for breaking down all the strategies into actionable tactical actions, down to the smallest detail.
What she was writing down on the paper was not just a plan, but the foothold of an entire invisible army for the next few dozen days.
Someone outside the window is softly calling to the cat.
It was Shen Qingci. She was squatting under the corridor with a plate of dried fish in her hand, waving at the calico cat.
The cat jumped off Qin Keqing's lap and ran towards the corridor.
Shen Qingci placed the dried fish on the steps, looked up and saw that the light was still on in Qin Keqing's room. She didn't go in to disturb her, but simply moved the plate of dried fish closer to the door, and then tiptoed away.
The night breeze in March was unbelievably gentle.
Qin Keqing put down her pen, rubbed her slightly sore eyes, closed the booklet, and blew out the lamp.