The summer sun was scorching, and even the cicadas chirped weakly.
Xu Qinghuan sat in the shade of the field headquarters' backyard, flipping through the account books just sent from Jiangning. Beside her sat a bowl of cooled mung bean soup.
Rapid footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard gate. Li Sheng jogged in, his head covered in sweat.
Panting heavily, he acted like a thief, reaching back to shut the courtyard door tightly.
He leaned close to the stone table and spoke mysteriously.
"Miss, rats have gotten into our camp."
Xu Qinghuan did not even lift her head, simply turning a page of the account book.
"If it's rats, go find Lao Sun. He has rat poison."
Li Sheng slapped his thigh in anxiety and leaned in even closer.
"Not real rats, but living men! I've noticed something off these past few days. Among the new batch of men assigned to do odd jobs, a few of them are acting very strangely."
Xu Qinghuan put down the account book, picked up the mung bean soup, and took a sip.
"How so?"
Li Sheng began counting on his fingers.
"Stiff necks, long ears, and unusually small appetites. They never lower their heads when working, only caring to glance around from the corners of their eyes."
"Those guys look shifty-eyed. There's a tall, skinny one who stretches his neck out long, wandering outside the kitchen every day, staring at people chopping vegetables."
"There's also a short, fat one who specifically runs to the stables to count horse dung. The most infuriating one is the guy with triangular eyes, who actually went outside the blacksmith shop to pick up iron shavings and licked them with his tongue!"
Xu Qinghuan put down the porcelain bowl and wiped her hands with a handkerchief.
"Licking iron shavings with his tongue? He isn't afraid of slicing his tongue open."
Li Sheng curled his lips, his face full of disgust.
"Exactly! Their ears are pricked up high. When it's mealtime, while others are fighting tooth and nail for meat soup, they hold their broken bowls and specifically dive into the crowds, only listening to gossip instead of eating."
"They aren't here to work at all; they are clearly spies here to eavesdrop!"
As soon as his voice fell, the courtyard door was kicked open.
Lao Sun angrily strode into the courtyard carrying an empty wooden bucket, his beard bristling and his face flushed red.
"I am furious! Do these new laborers understand the rules or not!"
Lao Sun slammed the wooden bucket onto the ground, shaking the leftover water inside.
A few drops of yellow water splashed onto the bluestone slabs, emitting a foul, pungent smell.
Li Sheng quickly covered his nose and took two steps back, waving his hand in disgust.
"Doctor Sun, what kind of aged brew do you have in this bucket? The smell is too strong!"
Lao Sun glared at him and cursed back in a bad mood.
"There are dozens of people in the wounded soldiers' camp, drinking medicine every day until their urine turns yellow. How could it not be strong! I was just emptying the chamber pots at the base of the back wall, and there was actually a person squatting down in the corner!"
"That kid had his nose pressed against the cracks in the wall, who knows what he was smelling. When I splashed a bucket down, he actually dared to dodge! If my hand hadn't trembled and missed by half an inch, that whole bucket of yellow soup would have poured right over his head!"
Lao Sun stamped his feet in anger, pointing outside the door.
"That kid was quite arrogant too. He glared at me, covered his nose, and ran away. This is a heavily guarded military camp, where did these sneaky scoundrels come from!"
Li Sheng laughed out loud beside him, giving Lao Sun a thumbs up.
"Doctor Sun, your aim is lacking. Next time, splash it right in his face and see if he still dares to squat by the wall."
"But speaking of which, these guys are really going all out. To hear some news, they even dare to smell chamber pots."
Lao Sun angrily found a stone stool and sat down, grabbing the teapot from the table and gulping down a large mouthful of cold water straight from the spout, the water dripping down his beard.
"Lord Xu, you have to do something about this! The back of the medical camp is full of boiled medicine dregs. Them squatting there smelling the medicine means they are definitely up to no good."
"If they manage to steal the recipe for the medicinal rations, wouldn't all our hard work over these past few months be completely wasted?"
Xu Qinghuan nodded, telling Lao Sun to go back and rest first, promising that this matter would be handled.
Lao Sun left, cursing and carrying his wooden bucket. Before leaving, he didn't forget to instruct Li Sheng to close the courtyard door properly.
The courtyard fell quiet once again.
Xu Qinghuan tapped her fingers twice on the stone table and turned to give Li Sheng an order.
"Go, pick out all those with the stiff necks for me."
Li Sheng rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Alright! I'll take some men to tie them up right now. We'll give them thirty military strokes first, then throw them into the military law room. I guarantee we'll interrogate them until they confess everything down to their eighteenth generation of ancestors!"
Xu Qinghuan glanced at him.
"Who told you to arrest them?"
Li Sheng froze in place, his hand stiffening in mid-air.
"Not arrest them? Are we saving them for the New Year?"
Xu Qinghuan stood up, walked under the old locust tree in the courtyard, and snapped off a dead branch.
"Transfer them away and arrange them separately."
"One goes to the cooks, one to the stables, and shove the rest into the blacksmith shop."
Li Sheng was so shocked he almost jumped up, staring at Xu Qinghuan with wide eyes.
"Miss! The cooks manage the medicinal rations, the stables are full of warhorses, and the blacksmith shop is forging those deadly fire-thunder canisters!"
"You're shoving these spies right into our core assets. Isn't this just offering our necks to their blades!"
Xu Qinghuan turned around, tapping Li Sheng's shoulder with the dead branch in her hand.
"Just go do as I say, why so much nonsense."
Li Sheng stamped his feet in anxiety, his face flushed red.
"No! I can't listen to you on this. I have to go tell the Second Young Master. I can't let you ruin all our assets!"
"If the recipe for the fire-thunder canisters leaks out, we'll all lose our heads!"
Xu Qinghuan threw away the branch and waved for Li Sheng to come closer.
"Do you really think they can find out anything real?"
Li Sheng retorted stubbornly.
"That blacksmith shop clinks and clanks every day; even a blind man knows they're forging military equipment!"
Xu Qinghuan sneered.
"The outer perimeter of the blacksmith shop is full of Tie Lanshan's personal guards, and the inside is full of master craftsmen from Luoxia Valley. Can they even enter the inner workshop? At most, they'll sweep up iron shavings on the outside and listen to the noise."
"As for the cooks, the red-thread and black-thread medicinal rations were all sealed and sent by Xiaocui from Jiangning. Can they figure out the recipe just by looking at a vegetable leaf?"
"As for the stables, the raiding battalion left the pass a long time ago. All that's left are the old, weak, sick, and disabled. How many horse hairs can they possibly count?"
Li Sheng scratched his head, his anger halving, but his face was still full of confusion.
"Then why put them there? Are we just paying them military wages for nothing? Did the grain for our Northern Pacification Army blow in on the wind?"
Xu Qinghuan sat back on the stone stool, dipped her finger in some tea, and drew a few circles on the tabletop.
"I want them to listen, so naturally, I have to arrange a good spot for them. Go find a few gossipy veteran soldiers. Every day during mealtime, have them sit next to those men and chat."
Li Sheng leaned over to look at the water stains on the table.
"Chat about what?"
"Chat about how our Northern Pacification Army is about to run out of grain. Chat about how Commander Tie curses the heavens and earth in his tent every day. Chat about how the Imperial Envoy is so anxious he can't sleep all night and is preparing to beg the capital for reinforcements."
"The more gossipy, the better. The more real it sounds, the better."
Li Sheng listened in a daze. His brain spun a few times before he finally caught on.
He gasped and pointed outside.
"Miss, are we raising thieves?"
Xu Qinghuan picked up her teacup, blew on the floating foam, and took a sip.
"We are raising carrier pigeons."
Li Sheng slapped his thigh in sudden realization, all the anxiety on his face turning into a wicked grin.
"I see! You want to use them as mouthpieces to feed false information back to the capital! You want the people trying to ruin us to think the Northern Garrison is on the verge of collapse, so they will lower their guard!"
Xu Qinghuan set down her teacup and leaned back against her chair.
"Shang Qitai is being pressured by the Emperor to cover the deficit within a month. Right now, he is more desperate than anyone."
"He is desperate to find a scapegoat and desperate to prove that there are no issues with the military rations in the North."
"So, we will feed him exactly what he wants to hear."
"The happier the news makes him, the faster he will meet his end."
Li Sheng rubbed his hands together, pacing in circles out of sheer excitement.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I will go make the arrangements right now. I promise to find the biggest talkers among the seasoned ruffians in the entire camp to yap in their ears all day long. I guarantee they will be so thoroughly fooled that they will forget their own names!"
Xu Qinghuan called out to stop Li Sheng just as he was about to bolt out the door.
"Remember, do not make it too obvious. Those spies might be dense, but they are not complete idiots."
"Tell the veterans to make their act convincing. They should fight over their meals and curse up a storm just like they normally would. Do not let anyone spot any flaws."
Li Sheng patted his chest in a solemn vow.
"Rest assured, leave this to me. I will handle it flawlessly! I will head over to the mess squad right now to pick out the right men, and I will assign those spies to work there while I am at it."
"I know a few old scoundrels who chatter so much they could talk a dead man back to life."
"I will have them squat right next to those spies with their rice bowls every single day, picking their feet while talking absolute nonsense. I guarantee that false information will be firmly planted in their ears!"
Xu Qinghuan waved her hand, gesturing for him to hurry up and get to work.
Li Sheng spun around and sprinted out of the courtyard. He ran so fast that his soles practically smoked, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
