"Chief Eunuch, there are no walls in this world that do not let the wind through."
"If nothing is noticed, so be it. But once it is noticed and investigated carefully, every thread and trace will come to light."
"People have to live, weapons must come from somewhere, and dealings always leave tracks. The Imperial City Office has confirmed that these strongholds have deep ties to the Kingdom of Ying."
The young eunuch was not very old. He answered respectfully, though his voice carried a faint chill, as if the nature of his work had shaped his temperament.
"Have any been captured?" Ma Shunde had calmed down, and his voice was steady as well.
"Chief Eunuch, quite a few have been captured or killed, but those captured have yet to be pried open..." The young eunuch spoke respectfully, his tone cold. "That itself is the flaw."
"Under the Five Woods, what confession cannot be extracted? Yet there are people who can endure it now. Even if they confess later, the fact that they can hold out at present is extraordinary. If not the Kingdom of Ying, they would have neither the cause nor such death-defying warriors."
"Chief Eunuch, we have hooked a big fish."
Ma Shunde said nothing, merely nodding. "Cao Yiyan still hasn't been caught?"
"Yes!"
Though Cao Yiyan himself had not been captured, they had uprooted his strongholds in the Capital City. Following the vine to find the melon, they might yet capture him.
In the past, Ma Shunde would certainly have been greatly interested in such a matter.
When they had previously gone to arrest Cao Yiyan, he had personally overseen the operation and had even ordered the deaths of many people. Afterwards, some censors had criticized him sharply for it, but the Emperor had not punished