"There were four people who returned from the north."

Lights shone from the homes lining the street, casting a faint glow upon the road. From afar, the sounds of children running, roosters crowing, and dogs barking could be heard. Ning Yi and his party walked along the road on the edge of Zhang Village. Peng Yueyun walked alongside Ning Yi, speaking softly about Tang Minjie.

"...Besides Tang Minjie, there was another woman, the sister of a regimental commander in the army named Luo Ye. She suffered a great deal of torture, and her mind is no longer sound. She's been temporarily left in Hanzhong. The other two are Han men with decent martial arts skills, one named Yu Shinan, the other Wei Su. They are Green Forest heroes who served the Han lady in the north."

"...After discovering the four, Hanzhong conducted the first round of inquiries. Tang Minjie... confessed to his actions without reservation. In Yunzhong, he violated discipline and targeted the Han lady, thereby provoking conflict between the Eastern and Western Administrations. The Han lady, however, saved him, gave him Luo Ye's sister, leaving him no choice but to return. Then she secretly sent Yu Shinan and Wei Su to escort the two of them south..."

"Because of the complexity of the matter, Hanzhong separated the four. Two people were sent to escort Tang Minjie back to Chengdu, while Yu Shinan and Wei Su were escorted by another team, arriving in Chengdu less than half a day apart. After conducting a preliminary interrogation, I rushed to bring the records over... The struggle between the Jurchen Eastern and Western Administrations is now all over the newspapers in Chengdu, but no one knows the inside story. Yu Shinan and Wei Su have been placed under protective house arrest."

Ning Yi and Peng Yueyun walked ahead, while Hong Ti and Lin Jingmei chatted behind them. After Peng Yueyun finished speaking about Tang Minjie's case, Ning Yi glanced at him: "Preliminary interrogation... what kind of things you interrogated, you know it in your heart?"

"Tang..." Peng Yueyun hesitated, then said, "...Senior brother... he... confessed to all his crimes and his account didn't conflict much with Yu Shinan and Wei Su's. Actually, according to Yu and Wei's thinking, they wanted to kill senior brother, and senior brother himself..."

Peng Yueyun was silent for a moment: "He seems... he doesn't want to live very much either."

The words were understated, but at the end, there was a slight pang of sadness in them. A man's heart remains steadfast until death, and the Huaxia Army is full of hardliners who see death as going home. Peng Yueyun had long been used to seeing this, but only in Tang Minjie’s case--on the one hand, his body had suffered unspeakable torture, and he still survived. On the other hand, he harbored a death wish because of the things he had done. This unsolvable contradiction moved people, even in understated words.

Ning Yi also walked forward in silence, his eyes fixed on the darkness in the distance of the village.

"Yu Shinan and Wei Su said they brought a message from the Han lady, but they didn't carry any tokens to prove it."

"Yes." Peng Yueyun nodded. "When they left, the lady only asked them to bring that one sentence: Tang Minjie's talent is good for the world, please let him live. Yu and Wei once asked the lady about tokens, asking if they should bring a letter to us. The lady said no, she said... it doesn't matter if the message doesn't arrive, it doesn't matter if there's no proof... These statements have all been recorded..."

In the night, Ning Yi slowed down and took a deep breath in the darkness. Both he and Peng Yueyun could, of course, understand Chen Wenjun's intention of not leaving tokens. The Huaxia Army's use of such means to provoke the struggle between the Eastern and Western Administrations was beneficial to the overall situation of resisting the Jin, but as long as the details of the matter were revealed, it would inevitably be criticized for Tang Minjie's methods being too brutal.

The merits and demerits of later generations were secondary. Now that the Jin dynasty had not yet been destroyed, privately discussing this matter might lead to a war of words over the Huaxia Army's sacrifice of allies. And Chen Wenjun not leaving any tokens for this matter meant that the Huaxia Army's denial or reversal could be more justified. This choice was extremely rational for resisting the Jin, but extremely ruthless to herself.

"...A pity." Ning Yi said, his voice slightly hoarse, "More than ten years ago, when Old Qin was imprisoned and handed over the affairs of the Secret Intelligence Division, he told me about this hidden pawn he had left in the Jin Dynasty's high ranks... saying that she was very pitiful, but not necessarily controllable. She was the daughter of an old friend of Qin's, who happened to be in that position, and should have been rescued originally..."

"The old man said that if possible, he hoped to give her a good ending in the future. A good ending my ass... Now she's so great, what is Tang Minjie doing? What are we doing?"

His last sentence was angry and heavy. Hong Ti and Lin Jingmei, who were walking behind, couldn't help but look up.

After calming down, the group continued to walk forward. After a while, away from the river bank, there were many pedestrians on the road, mostly people returning from the wedding banquet, who came over to say hello when they saw Ning Yi and Hong Ti.

The discussion of Tang Minjie's matter could only go so far with Peng Yueyun. That night, Ning Yi, Su Tan'er and others talked with Lin Jingmei about her relationship, and when they called Peng Yueyun again the next morning, they said to him: "As for you and Jingmei, find a time to propose marriage."

He sighed, "This is the first time I'm marrying off a daughter... Enough is enough."

Looking back, his heart was actually exceptionally cold. Many years ago, he followed Old Qin to the capital, and then recruited soldiers and horses in the name of the Secret Intelligence Division. In his eyes, a large number of Green Forest experts were just cannon fodder. At that time, among the subordinates he recruited were righteous figures like Qin Donghan and "Five Phoenix Saber" Lin Nian, as well as evil masters like Chen Tuozi. To him, it didn't matter. He used power to control people and benefits to drive them, that was all.

Who knew that along the way, so many people would slowly fall by the wayside, and these people would gradually become important in his heart. When the Jurchens first went south, Lin Nian fought to the death on the battlefield. Ning Yi then took in the yellow-haired girl as his adopted daughter. In the blink of an eye, the little girl of that year was also twenty-four or five years old. Fortunately, she didn't foolishly continue to like He Wen. Now she could be with Peng Yueyun. This kid was a descendant of Western Army martyrs and could now be called an independent administrative officer. He had finally lived up to Lin Nian's entrustment that year.

"I will personally look into Tang Minjie's matter after I return to Chengdu." Ning Yi said, "I'll give you two days off here. Discuss the next steps with Jingmei and your Aunt Su. Jingmei's work can also be transferred to Chengdu in the future."

"Chairman, Tang Minjie, he..."

"I know he saved your life that year. Don't interfere in his affairs."

"...Yes."

*****************

The three boys in the family are no longer in Zhang Village - Ning Xi and Chu Yi went to Chengdu, Ning Ji ran away from home, and the third child Ning He was sent to the countryside to suffer. In this home here only some lovely daughters were left.

In the morning, he bid farewell to the daughters who were going to school. After meeting with some people, including Peng Yueyun and Lin Jingmei, and explaining the matters here, it was almost noon. Ning Yi took the carriage to Chengdu, waving goodbye to Tan'er, Xiao Chan, Hong Ti and others. The carriage carried several winter clothes to be brought to Ning Xi and Chu Yi, as well as Ning Xi's favorite roast chicken, a symbol of motherly love.

He handled government affairs in the car and perfected the arrangements for the meeting the next day. He ate the roast chicken. In his spare time from handling affairs, he also considered the issue of Tang Minjie's disposal, but made no decision.

As Peng Yueyun said, Ning Yi's life was actually full of worries every day. The Tang Minjie problem could only be considered a small matter among them.

After arriving in Chengdu, it was nearly midnight. He made arrangements with the secretariat for the meeting the next day. The next morning, first the secretariat reported on the recent new situations, followed by several meetings, some about deaths in the mines, some about the research of new crops on the farms, and some about the response to the new situation after the struggle between the Eastern and Western Administrations of the Jin Dynasty--this meeting had been held several times. The main thing involved the layout of Jin and Liangshan, etc. Interfering rashly because the place was too far away had the feeling of armchair strategizing, but considering that the situation in Bianliang was also about to change, if more roads could be opened and material support to the Liangshan troops could be strengthened, future initiative could still be increased significantly.

"As it stands, the only springboard for materially assisting Liangshan is still in Jin. But according to recent intelligence, the female chancellor of Jin has chosen to bet on Zou Xu in the upcoming Central Plains War. We will have to face a problem sooner or later, that is, although Chancellor Lou is willing to give us some food to keep the troops in Liangshan alive, she may not want to see the Liangshan troops grow stronger..."

"Can we talk to He Wen?"

"According to He Wen's methods, even if he's willing to join forces with us and help a little, it will be difficult to restore large-scale production within the next year... They're now counting on swallowing Lin'an."

"The Little Emperor has seagoing ships, and he's also preserved some odds and ends in terms of physical sciences. If he's willing, he seems to be able to subsidize some food and weapons."

"Even if the Little Emperor is willing to give it, Liangshan has nothing to trade with."

"Use our credit to borrow a little?"

"Don't forget that Wang Shanyue is the Little Emperor's man. Even if the Little Emperor can save some of his family assets, he will definitely support Wang Shanyue first... But although the possibility is small, we should still give the negotiating power in this area to Liu Chengzong and Zhu Biao's troops, so that they can actively engage with the small Southeast court. We will recognize all the debts they borrow from the Little Emperor. This will also make it easier to conduct relatively equal negotiations with Jin."

"But according to Chancellor Lou of Jin's character, won't this action provoke her instead? Cause her to find an excuse not to help Liangshan anymore?"

"The female chancellor is very calculating, but she can indeed pretend to be a shrew. Fortunately, she traded with Zou Xu first. We can first condemn her in a round. If she throws a tantrum for this reason in the future, we can also find a reason to justify it. The technology transfer with Jin is still ongoing after all, she won't go too far..."

Everyone discussed noisily, and in the end, some people suggested whether or not to feign cooperation with Zou Xu and temporarily borrow a road. Of course, this suggestion was only put forward as an objective view and was rejected after a brief discussion.

After the meeting, the condemnation of Lou Shuwan was at least temporarily finalized. In addition to the public criticism, Ning Yi had to write her a letter privately to scold her, and notify Zhan Wu and Xue Guangcheng to put on an angry look, to see if they could temporarily squeeze a little bit out of the materials Lou Shuwan sold to Zou Xu and send it to Liangshan.

In fact, the distance between the two sides was too far after all. According to speculation, if the balance between the Eastern and Western Administrations of the Jurchens had been broken, then according to the characters of Liu Chengzong, Zhu Biao, Wang Shanyue, etc., the troops there might already be preparing to send troops to do things. And by the time the condemnation here was sent over, a battle might have already been fought. The Southwest could only do its best to give them some help and believe that the front-line staff would have adaptive operations.

The letter condemning Lou Shuwan was not easy to write. The letter also mentioned some personality analysis of Zou Xu, so that she would not be deceived by Zou Xu in the subsequent transactions. After writing the letter in this way, it was almost evening. Ning Yi, who finally had some free time, got on the carriage to see Tang Minjie. During this time, he couldn't help but think of Zou Xu, Tang Minjie, Qu Zhengyan, Lin Qiu, Xu Shaoyuan, Peng Yueyun and these young people whom he had personally brought out.

During the years when the Huaxia Army was in Little Cang River, Ning Yi brought out a lot of talents. In fact, the most important thing was the experience of the three years of brutal warfare. Many originally talented young people died, many of whom Ning Yi still remembered, and could even remember how they suddenly disappeared in one battle after another.

Of course, the most powerful of those who were able to stay now was Qu Zhengyan, but Ning Yi admitted that he couldn't teach Qu Zhengyan's talent in military tactics. That was purely the wild talent that was stimulated by the war. And besides Qu Zhengyan, Ning Yi once favored Zou Xu the most among the students who survived at that time.

In the political arena--especially when serving as a leader--Ning Yi knew that this kind of teacher-student emotion was not a good thing, but after all, he had brought them out by hand, understood them more deeply, and used them relatively easily. Therefore, it was inevitable for him to treat them differently in his heart.

And among those students, Tang Minjie was not particularly favored by Ning Yi. The little fat man of that year once thought too much, but many of his thoughts were gloomy and useless--in fact, there was nothing wrong with gloomy thoughts themselves, but if they were useless, at least to Ning Yi at that time, he would not invest too much thought in him.

But in the later stage of the brutal war, Tang Minjie survived, and had two fairly beautiful high-risk actions in extreme environments--his risk-taking was different from Qu Zhengyan's. Qu Zhengyan walked a tightrope in extreme environments, but in his subconscious he had undergone correct calculations, while Tang Minjie was more like pure adventure. Of course, being able to come up with ideas and take a gamble in extreme environments was in itself a superhuman ability--many people would lose their minds in extreme environments, or shrink back and be unwilling to make choices, that was the real trash.

After that, the Huaxia Army transferred from Little Cang River with difficulty. The team with Tang Minjie as the staff officer encountered several difficulties. He led the team to the rear, and the brave man broke his wrist and finally fought a way out. This was the credit he made. And perhaps after experiencing too many extreme situations, he also found that his methods were fierce and almost brutal in Liangshan afterwards, which became a very troublesome problem for Ning Yi.

He had no choice but to send him to the north to cooperate with Lu Mingfang to be responsible for the implementation of the action.

In fact, looking back carefully, if it hadn't been because his ability to act was already very strong at that time, almost replicating many of his own characteristics of doing things in those years, his excessive extremism in his methods probably wouldn't have seemed so prominent in his eyes.

The carriage stopped in front of the courtyard with light walls and gray tiles on the east side of the city--this was the courtyard where Chen Shanjun, Li Ximing and others were temporarily held--Ning Yi got out of the car, it was almost evening, and the sunlight fell into the courtyard inside the high wall. Vines climbed on the walls, and moss grew in the corners.

Tang Minjie was reading a book.

--The window of his room was open, and the setting sun shone in diagonally through the window, so he could see him reading at his desk. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and then stood up.

Ning Yi walked through the courtyard and into the room. Tang Minjie brought his legs together and saluted - he was no longer the little fat man he used to be. There was a scar on his face, and a twisted cleft could be seen at the corner of his tightly pursed lips. His slightly narrowed eyes contained solemnity as well as surges of grief. The fingers of his saluting hand had twisted and turned skin. Even if his thin body tried to stand straight, he didn't look like a soldier, but there seemed to be something more persistent than a soldier in the middle.

Ning Yi also saluted him. He looked at him seriously, and after a long time, he finally put his hand down.

"I've been thinking all the way here. What's the difference between you doing this kind of thing and what Dai Mengwei did?"

"...There is no difference, disciple..." Tang Minjie only blinked, and then answered in a calm voice, "My actions are unforgivable crimes. Tang Minjie... pleads guilty and submits to the law. Also, being able to come back here to be judged, I think... it's very good, I feel happy." There were tears in his eyes, and he smiled: "I'm done."

"..." Ning Yi was silent for a moment, then finally took a deep breath, "...Then sit down."

Tang Minjie sat down, the setting sun through the open window, fell on his face.