Fang Shou sat there in deep thought for a long ti before putting away the letter. Grabbing his sword and a bamboo hat, Fang Shou stood up and left the room.
On his way out, he t the middle-aged man and said, "Uncle, thank you for your patronage today."
Taking out a gold ingot from his money pouch, Fang Shou added, "Sothing will happen here. Uncle, you should leave this city before dawn at the latest."
Accepting the gold ingot, the middle-aged man nodded. "Understood. General Fang, please take care."
Clasping his fists, Fang Shou responded, "Uncle, take care."
After saying his goodbyes, Fang Shou put on his bamboo hat, then left the dilapidated courtyard.
Left alone there, the middle-aged man hurriedly packed up his belongings. Before long, he carried a small cloth bundle and left the imperial capital city without looking back.
Returning to the imperial capital city’s garrison, Fang Shou went to the eting room. When he stepped into the spacious eting room, he saw his generals and vice-generals gathered around the map hung on the wall.
"What are you guys doing?" he asked as he walked up to them.
When his words echoed in the room, everyone present turned around.
Seeing him coming, they clasped their fists and greeted him in unison, "This subordinate greets General Fang."
Fang Shou nodded in response, then waited for them to answer his question.
"Answering General Fang. We are discussing the recent situation of this city," answered one of the vice-generals.
Fang Shou raised his brows slightly, then said, "Continue."
The vice-general nodded, and they continued their discussion.
Staring at the map of the imperial capital city, a burly general said, "As this general said before, there have been a lot of people leaving this city in the past few days. Do you all think we need to report this to the imperial court?"
"Not only that." Shaking his head, a tall vice-general lowered his voice, then added, "In this week alone, more than a dozen high-ranking ministers and generals secretly left this city at night."
"This subordinate tried to stop them, but they all had travel docunts with General Fang’s stamp. With the docunt in their hands, the soldiers didn’t dare to stop them."
The mont his words fell, everyone turned to look at Fang Shou.
Receiving their curious but doubtful gazes, Fang Shou calmly said, "This general indeed gave them permission to leave this city at night."
Shocked by his confirmation, the burly general asked, "Why? General Fang, don’t you know that if soone hears about this and reports it to the imperial court, you might lose your head?"
Fang Shou patted the burly general’s shoulder and smiled slightly. "Don’t worry about this general. This general knows what I’m doing."
Seeing that he was so calm, everyone exchanged looks.
A mont later, a handso young general curiously asked, "General Fang, why did you do that?"
Fang Shou’s expression turned gloomy at his question.
He looked out of the window and replied, "The political situation has been very tense since His Majesty imprisoned Pri Minister Wen. It’s understandable that those old ministers and old generals want to leave this place to seek survival for their families."
Turning to look at the generals and vice-generals, he added, "This general can’t do sothing like forcing them to stay when this general clearly knows that only death awaits them here."
His words caused them to fall into silence.
After a brief mont of thought, the tall vice-general carefully asked, "General Fang, do you know sothing that we don’t know?"
Looking at these people who had been following him for years, Fang Shou’s heart softened. He let out a helpless sigh, then nodded.
"You all should send your family mbers out of this city as soon as possible. Sothing might happen in these few days."
When the others heard this, their expressions sank.
After a long mont of silence, one of the generals muttered helplessly, "Where can we go? With natural disasters and war going on everywhere, there is no place that is safe anymore."
Sensing the heavy atmosphere in the air, Fang Shou suddenly said, "Go to Xiqiang City."
Hearing this, everyone looked at him as hope slowly lit up in their eyes.
"Xiqiang City? Isn’t that the border city under Great General Feng’s jurisdiction?" asked one of the generals.
Fang Shou nodded in confirmation.
The general frowned and asked further, "Hasn’t Great General Feng been defeated and imprisoned by the Jin Empire’s army? This subordinate heard that the one who defeated the Feng Army is the famous General Wu. Would that place still be safe after it was conquered by the Jin Empire’s Army?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the others nodded in agreent.
Looking at their confused and worried faces, Fang Shou gestured for them to get closer.
Noticing that he seed to have so secret to tell them, the generals and vice-generals stepped closer to Fang Shou. Forming a half-circle in front of him, they leaned in and listened carefully.
Fang Shou scanned their curious faces, then lowered his voice and whispered, "This is a secret. Besides us, nobody should know about this information."
Nodding in response, everyone raised three fingers and made a vow, "What we hear here today will stay here. If we leak even a word, we will die a horrible death without a burial place."
Satisfied with their vows, Fang Shou continued, "The Feng Army was not defeated by the Jin Empire’s army, and Great General Feng was not imprisoned by General Wu Ruizhan. All of those news and rumors are just covers for the Feng Army to enter the Jin Empire openly."
When the others heard this, they gasped and looked at Fang Shou in disbelief.
After a mont of shock, the young handso vice-general swallowed and said in a hushed voice, "No way... Then... doesn’t that an Great General Feng is planning to conquer the Jin Empire?!"
As generals and vice-generals, everyone present knew the hidden aning of a general conquering an empire without authorization.
Looking at Fang Shou, the burly general asked in horror, "General Fang, could it be that Great General Feng is planning a rebellion?"
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