Ning'er and a kind of maid also followed Sun Feng'er towards their original location in the mountain village.
I don't know how long it took, but until their figures disappeared without a trace in this mountain forest, this unexpected encounter seemed to come to an end.
But...is this really the case?
——
"General Pan! General Zhou! We...we found traces of the eldest lady on the mountain!"
On the other side of the mountain, if you follow the Chi Road all the way north, you can quickly reach Xindu County without encountering many obstacles.
At this moment, a group of soldiers were slowly approaching Linli Mountain along this road.
At the foot of the mountain, near an open space with ample water, dozens of heavily armed Tiger Guards were processing food in the temporary stronghold they had built.
But at this moment, a urgent call broke the calm.
Two burly men suddenly appeared from the tent. One of them was slightly fat and the other was thin. However, no matter where you looked at these two people, you could not hide the murderous aura in them.
They are generals. These two are out-and-out Soochow generals.
"General Pan! General Zhou! The trace of the eldest lady has been found! It's on the mountain. Just when we went to the mountain to get information, the eldest lady seemed to be digging wild vegetables in the forest with the maids around her... But we didn't have time to catch them.
…”
A commander hurriedly ran from outside the stronghold, leading several soldiers with equally anxious faces, and quickly rushed to the two generals. While kneeling on the ground, he also told them everything they had just seen and heard.
"Are you really the eldest lady? Are you sure you read it correctly?"
"Seriously! The soldiers behind me can testify! They also saw it! And... General, you see, I picked this up from where the eldest lady escaped just now..."
As he spoke, the commander-looking Tiger Guard carefully took out a very small object from his arms.
"Youping! This...this can't be wrong. It is definitely the eldest lady's hairpin. The pattern on it is something that only the Marquis Mansion can carve!"
The speaker looked at the fat general next to him with a shocked look on his face, and the identity of the other person was naturally Zhou Tai and Zhou Youping, who was extremely brave in battle and was later known as one of the "Tiger Ministers of Jiang Biao".
"It's true! It seems that our trip to Linli Mountain was not in vain! Wengui, pack up the team, we will set off immediately. We must take the eldest lady back to the lord before the distinguished guest arrives in Jianye!"
Zhou Tai seemed quite excited. He patted the man next to him excitedly and pretended to lead his army towards Linli Mountain. However, the other man quickly shook his head.
Pan Zhang, also known as Pan Wengui, had made considerable military exploits in the two previous battles of Hefei. Especially during the first battle of Hefei, he firmly stood on Sun Quan's side and became Sun Quan's leader.
The key to defeating Zhang Zhao and other noble groups.
Now that he is increasingly appreciated by Sun Quan, his status in the army has naturally increased.
And he himself has gradually restrained his reckless temperament, and gradually shows signs of developing into a civilized and military man.
He interrupted Zhou Tai not because of anything else, but because he had already noticed something abnormal based on his subordinate's description.
"Huh? Wen Gui, don't you plan to complete the mission? The soldiers entered the mountain today. Although they saw the figure of the eldest lady, Miss Xiangbi also knew about our existence. If we don't do it as soon as possible, I'm afraid that the eldest lady will
I will escape from this place immediately——"
Zhou Tai naturally made his judgment based on the current information.
If there were no surprises, his judgment was actually understandable, but because of this, Pan Zhang discovered the anomaly in his subordinate's words just now.
"No! Only escaping in a short time will not happen..."
"What……"
When Zhou Tai heard Pan Zhang's rebuttal, he was suddenly a little confused, but listening to Pan Zhang's confident tone, Zhou Tai planned to listen to the other party's explanation before making a judgment.
Pan Zhang was not in a hurry, and first asked his subordinates to summon all the soldiers in the stronghold. What he was going to talk about today could not be hidden from everyone.
Immediately afterwards, Pan Zhang cleared his throat, looked around, and slowly said:
"Everyone, we have found traces of the eldest lady. The eldest lady is now in Linli Mountain!"
Because the stronghold was relatively small, everyone had already heard the voice of the commander rushing to the tent and shouting. This news was not surprising to everyone.
However, the attitude was similar to Zhou Tai's. After being summoned, all the Tiger Guards were a little anxious and seemed very incomprehensible.
They whispered to each other, expressing their dissatisfaction with Pan Zhang's lack of tension at the moment - after all, they had suffered a lot along the way, and they finally caught clues to the eldest lady today.
As a force that performs special missions, completing the mission is the goal in everyone's mind.
But now Pan Zhang's behavior is tantamount to preventing them from carrying out their mission.
Of course, Pan Zhang saw this and continued without pausing for too long:
"I know that your thoughts are no longer in the stronghold now, and you are absolutely impatient to rush into the mountain to catch the escaped eldest lady. However, the problem is here - the premise of all this is that the eldest lady and the others are only temporarily settled.
If you are discovered here, you will definitely flee immediately."
"And nothing could be further from the truth!"
Pan Zhang spoke loudly, but he didn't show off. Looking at the people who were looking at each other, he immediately expressed his judgment:
"Today, Commander Chen led a few people to the mountains to inquire about the situation. They met the eldest lady on the way, but do you know what the eldest lady is doing?"
He took advantage of the situation and glanced at the man in the middle. The result was obvious. Most people shook their heads, but a few, such as Zhou Taizhi, suddenly seemed to realize something. They remained silent and their eyes became quite confused.
"The eldest lady is leading the maid to dig wild vegetables. It's strange, isn't it?"
"You only need to think about how the lord and the others talked about the situation when the eldest lady escaped, and you will be able to understand the current situation."
"That's right! But in just half a month, the eldest lady should still have quite a lot of money on her body. What's the reason why they don't live in the town, but come to rest in the mountains and forests? What's the reason that led to the big accident?
The young lady needs to do it herself and dig for wild vegetables, ordinary food that we only use as rations during the war!"
"The answer, I think there are two -"
Pan Zhang slowly stretched out his finger and scanned everyone with firm eyes. In fact, by this time, everyone had calmed down.
As the Tiger Guards, they are the most elite soldiers around Sun Quan. Whether it is selection or training, they are the top soldiers. There is no need to worry about their ability to obey orders and follow their thoughts.
Looking at everyone's current performance, Pan Zhang smiled with satisfaction and continued his argument:
"First, the eldest lady and the others have lost their money and can only live in the mountains now. If this is the case, we don't need to worry, because without money, they will never be able to travel long distances. There is no problem with rations.
There is simply no way to solve it.”
"But if it's the second answer, not only should we not be anxious, but we should be more cautious..."
Speaking of this, Pan Zhang's eyes suddenly turned cold.
"Do you remember that a large-scale Shanyue uprising broke out in Linli Mountain near Yi County? Maybe the eldest lady and the others are in a state of being captured and have no choice but to do anything. But no matter which answer it is, I suggest that we send a team first to fight as soon as possible.
Go up the mountain and go to surrounding towns to inquire about the news about Linli Mountain - if there are really traces of Shanyue people, Youping..."
Pan Zhang looked at Zhou Tai, and Zhou Tai's head was already beginning to feel swollen. He nodded, indicating that he was aware of the danger.
Lin Lishan...at this moment, he was completely targeted by the person they least wanted to see.
