"Xu Wencai!"
Chen Sanshi grabbed the Old Scholar. "I have a task for you that concerns the lives of everyone in the city. Can you handle it?"
"Me?"
Xu Wencai was startled, but quickly nodded. "Rest assured, my lord. I, Wolong, can handle it!"
"Good!"
Chen Sanshi leaned close and whispered in his ear.
"My lord!"
Xu Wencai's eyes brimmed with tears. "I swear I will not fail your trust. Even if I must risk my life, there will not be the slightest mistake!"
If a matter was not kept secret, it would leak.
Chen Sanshi told no second person. Under the cover of deep night, he headed for the horse farm east of the city to meet Han Cheng before midnight.
The Hour of the Ox.
The South Gate in the city wall quietly opened.
Three riders waited on a forest path outside the city.
The barbarians had not encircled the city right beneath its walls. They had chosen open terrain instead. With their limited numbers, they could not truly seal the place so tightly that not even water could pass through. There would always be several narrow paths for a handful of people to break out through.
Not to mention that two of the three were Viscera Refining Martial Artists.
"How much longer until the Hour of the Ox?"
Magistrate Xue sat atop his horse.
Tang Ming answered, "Half an incense stick."
"Wonderful. Every last one of them is so loyal and righteous."
Xue Yuping sneered. "One wants to bring his wife, another wants to bring his nephew. Dragging their whole families along—what great undertaking could they possibly accomplish!
"Lord Chen is one thing. He has received an Imperial Decree and imperial rewards! But what the hell is Luo Dongquan?"
Back then.
Liang Shengzhi had voluntarily informed on