When Chen An heard this, he knew something was wrong. Moreover, the handwriting on the note was indeed Lord Ji's. The two of them had delivered many letters for Lord Ji before. Although they didn't know the contents of the letters, they often saw the characters on the envelopes. Although the handwriting on this piece of paper was a bit sloppy, it was undoubtedly written by Lord Ji.
Chen An immediately put on a fawning smile and at the same time secretly glanced at Li Yin. Li Yin also gave him a slight nod, indicating that there was no problem with the note.
"Young Master, what are you saying? I was just thinking that we had just come back, and now you have to make another trip. If we had known about this in the city, you wouldn't have had to go through this trouble. How could I have any other thoughts? Then I will go and prepare the horses for you right away."
At the north city gate, the guards on duty looked at the backs of the few riders entering the city. One soldier said, "Lord Li is quite busy today. He just went back a short while ago and is back again. We used to only see him once a month or so."
After entering the city, the three of them galloped towards the military camp. At this moment, Li Yan's heart was not as calm as his expression. He could not grasp the timing of Strategist Ji's movements. Who knew when he would go back, or if it was not impossible to run into him on the street.
They soon arrived outside the military camp gate. Li Yan flew off his horse, threw the reins, and walked straight to the camp gate without a word. Chen An and Li Yin quickly led the horses and followed. Li Yan glanced at the two of them. "After you enter the camp and tie up the horses in the stables, you can just wait here."
Chen An and Li Yin had also seen the note. Since they knew that Strategist Ji was looking for Li Yan alone, they were very relieved. And now that they had entered the military camp, they were happy to slack off and quickly agreed.
Li Yan walked towards the depths of the camp. He had been here a few times and was familiar with the place. He bypassed a few barracks. On the way, he met a few patrol squads. These soldiers only checked his identity and then let him pass. He turned his head again to look at the path he had come from. Chen An and Li Yin were no longer in sight. So, he took a few more turns and walked towards Liu Chengyong's barracks.
Liu Chengyong was pacing back and forth in his barracks. At this time, it was about three quarters of an hour past noon. He suddenly felt a shadow before him. He looked up and saw that a person had flashed into the doorway. Who else could it be but Li Yan?
"Brother Li, you're finally here," Liu Chengyong said bluntly.
"Captain Liu, I've kept you waiting. The rest is up to you," Li Yan said quickly.
"Alright, follow me." Liu Chengyong's military demeanor was now on full display. He didn't say much and turned to walk outside. After receiving the secret order, he knew that this was an important matter for the Marshal. As for the specifics, he would not ask more. He just knew that outsiders could not know the details of this matter. Li Yan followed closely behind.
The two of them left the barracks and walked towards the interior of the military camp. Li Yan followed Liu Chengyong as he weaved through rows of barracks and then came to a heavily guarded area. On the way, they had also met many patrol squads, but Liu Chengyong held a token, and after checking it, the other party had let them pass.
Now before them were a few very large barracks. These barracks were very spacious, and each was covered with a black felt cloth. At this moment, the two of them were blocked by a long fence made of crisscrossing wooden stakes. The soldiers here were obviously different from the soldiers they had just met. They were all in dark black armor, with expressionless faces. They were very vigilant about their arrival. Before the two of them could get close, one of them shouted, "Halt, military restricted area."
Seeing this, Liu Chengyong said to Li Yan in a low voice, "Brother Li, please wait a moment." With that, he took out half a tiger tally from his waist, held it up, and walked forward.
Li Yan only saw Liu Chengyong go over and hand the half tiger tally to someone who looked like a team leader. That person carefully checked it for a long time and then said a few words to Liu Chengyong in a low voice. At this time, Liu Chengyong beckoned to Li Yan. Li Yan then also walked forward. Seeing him come, the person who looked like a team leader turned to a soldier beside him and said a few words. He then gave the half tiger tally to this person. That soldier then came out, glanced at Liu Chengyong and Li Yan, and then turned without a word and continued to walk deeper inside.
"Captain Liu, what is this place? It's so strict that you need the Marshal's half a tiger tally. Even the previous token wasn't enough?" Li Yan asked in a low voice, although he was anxious. He had been to the military camp a few times during this period and knew about things like military regulations, roll calls, command arrows, and tiger tallies.
"This is the military supply depot. It's our lifeline," Liu Chengyong replied with just this one sentence.
Li Yan thought to himself, 'No wonder it's so strict. Even if Chen An and Li Yin know I'm here now, they still can't come in.'
After following the soldier for a short while, they continued to go deeper and took a few more turns before coming to a camp gate. It was just that the camp gate here was tightly closed, and there was also a team of soldiers in black armor guarding it. The camp gate was tightly wrapped with iron chains as thick as an adult's arm, and a copper lock about the size of half a human head was on it.
The soldier quickly walked a few steps forward and whispered to the black-armored soldier who came up to meet him. He then took out the half tiger tally and handed it to the other party. The black-armored soldier took it and also looked at it carefully for a long time. Then he beckoned to Liu Chengyong and Li Yan, signaling them to come over.
After Liu Chengyong and Li Yan walked over, the soldier returned the half tiger tally to Liu Chengyong and then ordered someone to open the iron chain, which was as thick as an adult's arm. Then, with a creaking sound, the large door was pushed open by four soldiers with great effort, looking very strenuous.
After the door was pushed open just enough for one person to pass, Liu Chengyong called out to Li Yan and walked out the door.
The heavy sound of the door moving rang out again, and then it closed with a clang, followed by the sound of clanking iron chains. Li Yan looked at the scene before him. He was now in a wide alley. The straight road stretched forward, and not far away, it took a turn and disappeared from sight.
Liu Chengyong looked at Li Yan and said with a smile, "Brother Li, this is the exit of the military supply warehouse. No one will come. If you walk a little further, there will be more guards. And then if you go out again, you will be not far from the entrance of the north city gate.
Hearing this, Li Yan remembered that when he had just entered the city through the north city gate tunnel, there were three roads, all paved with large green flagstones. The middle main road was the one they often took when they entered the city. The other two side roads wound their way into the city on both sides, and he didn't know where they went. He thought that this must be one of those roads.
Li Yan looked around and saw that there was no one, so he asked Liu Chengyong, "What are Marshal Hong's next arrangements?"
Liu Chengyong looked at him. "The Marshal said that after you leave this military camp, he will take you to the back door of the Marshal's Residence. Someone will be there to meet you."
Hearing this, Li Yan shook his head. "Captain Liu, then I can't go. You can just give this bottle of things and the letter to the Marshal." With that, Li Yan took out a small porcelain bottle and a letter from his robes and handed them to Liu Chengyong.
Liu Chengyong took the small porcelain bottle with some confusion. The porcelain bottle was not big, only the size of a thumb, and the mouth of the bottle was sealed with wax. He didn't know what it was for. The letter must be something that Li Yan had written for the Marshal. It was not the first time he had delivered a letter. But the order he had received was to take Li Yan to the Marshal's Residence today no matter what.
"Brother Li, you're making things difficult for me," he said, putting the things in his robes and staring at Li Yan, saying each word carefully.
"Hehe, Brother Liu, after these few months, don't you still feel that I'm in a lot of trouble now?" Li Yan said solemnly.
This time, he didn't even call him "Captain Liu."
Liu Chengyong looked at him and said, "I don't know what kind of entanglement there is between the Marshal, you, and Strategist Ji. But the order I received is to take you to the Marshal's Residence."
"Brother Liu, let's make it short. I definitely won't go. And here now, you can't take me. If we get to the exit ahead and there are more people, you won't be able to do anything. Otherwise, something that might have been successful could end up with everyone going their separate ways," Li Yan said. He circulated the spiritual power in his body, and a force immediately erupted from his body, pressing towards Liu Chengyong.
Liu Chengyong immediately felt a force like a mountain pressing down on his body. He was immediately struck as if by lightning. Just as he was about to raise his internal energy to resist in great shock, his body immediately relaxed, and there was no more pressure on him.
Li Yan naturally knew that both Hong Linying and Ji Wenhe would want to have him in their grasp. And he still had to use Hong Linying's power to complete his plan. This way, no matter what, he had to drag Hong Linying into it, but he could not fall into his hands. This was just the beginning of his plan. It was not yet time to meet with Hong Linying. He had to get away first.
Now, he had used Hong Linying to carry out a feint, first to get away from Ji Wenhe's spies. He had also considered the situation that had just appeared. It was just that at first, he didn't know when it would happen. Now that he had reached this point and knew his situation, he was betting that Liu Chengyong would not dare to do anything at the alley entrance ahead, as that might attract Ji Wenhe.
Then this was a good place for a showdown. He had suddenly gathered all the spiritual power in his body to pressure him. In fact, he was also not confident in his heart. What kind of person was Liu Chengyong? He was a master in the army. His fighting skills were incredible. But now he was only using spiritual power to pressure him, releasing and retracting it to create the momentum of a master of the inner family of the martial world, making him uncertain of his depth for a moment. And he was also calling him "Brother Liu, Brother Liu," using both soft and hard tactics.
Liu Chengyong only felt his body become heavy and then light, and his heart was filled with shock. How could this "Brother Li" be so formidable? It had only been a few months, and his cultivation had already become several times higher than his own. How had he cultivated it? He felt that he probably didn't have the ability to take Li Yan down. He didn't know that Li Yan was just a show-off, with an empty body of magical power, pretending to be a master of the inner family of the martial world, but with no fighting experience at all. But Liu Chengyong didn't think so. In the cultivation of the martial sects, how many of them didn't cultivate both internally and externally? While practicing internal energy, they would also cultivate martial arts skills. He thought that since Strategist Ji could teach Li Yan this profound internal energy, he probably hadn't taught him any less of the killing methods. This made his back feel a little cold.
"Hehe, Brother Li has some good skills. I don't think I can complete this order," Liu Chengyong said with a wry smile.
"Brother Liu, to be honest, the things I gave you are exactly what the Marshal needs. After you hand them over, he will also believe that you have completed the mission. It's just that I can only do this here," Li Yan said seriously.
Liu Chengyong looked at Li Yan's eyes. He felt that Li Yan was not lying, so he sighed. "Then I guess this is the only way. I just hope I don't get a beating with the military cudgel." He was also extremely frustrated in his heart. If he came at him hard, he definitely couldn't beat him alone. If he called for more people, then this matter would be ruined. More people would definitely know about it. Then why had he been so careful before?
"Then let's go," Li Yan said, extending his hand forward in a salute. Liu Chengyong let out a long sigh and walked in front. "Brother Li, you don't have to be so careful about everything. Could it be that I would stab you in the back?"
"Hehe, where did you get that from, Brother Liu? I'm not familiar with the road. Besides, when we get to the front, how can I get through without a token or a tiger tally?"
A moment later, at the mouth of the alley, looking at Li Yan's back as he galloped towards the north gate, Liu Chengyong sighed again. He then touched the porcelain bottle and the letter in his robes and strode towards the Marshal's Residence.