"It's outrageous! These bandits are so bold!"

In Huang Ben's military tent, the Runan County Captain angrily scolded the bold and arrogant bandits of the Black Tiger Village.

He had never seen such a rampant bandit, and he dared to forcibly force captured officers and soldiers to serve as his internal support. This was even worse than forcing a good man to become a prostitute!

Listening to Huang Ben's anger, Ma Gai's thoughts turned to his mind.

At this moment, he was also very entangled in his heart.

He knew that behind the prisoner-changing incident was Heihu Village trying to contact him, and he was reluctant to contact the bandits opposite him on his own initiative. But the problem was that because these bandits had been forced into a desperate situation by Zhang Jing, Huang Ben, Gao Chun and others, Zhang Jing, the general of the Chen Party, who was one of the five tigers, ordered them to feint attack the village in the daytime and harass the village at night. This was obviously preparing for the subsequent strong attack.

In the face of a huge crisis, Magai certainly understood that Heihuzhai would no longer be as 'tolerant' as before.'

Do you remember the last time he led his army to encircle and suppress the Yingshan bandits?

The instructions given to him in advance were to force the other bandits from the village to join the village. Ma Gai saw through Yang Tong and his gang to subdue the bandits of Yingshan. So he obeyed him and sent Shiyuan, Yang Gan and others to take the opportunity to severely damage the other villages. This incident once made Yang Tong and Guo Da very upset.

It was winter that year, when Magai withdrew his troops and returned to the county, someone suddenly gave him a wooden box.

When the horse lid opened, he found that there was a bloody ear in the wooden box.

He was shocked at that time and immediately returned home, but saw that his wife and son were safe and sound.

Even his wife, Zou, asked him strangely why he came back very early today.

Ma Gai didn't dare to tell the matter, Gu Zuoyan fooled him.

But he knew in his heart that this was a "warning" from Heihuzhai to him, and the reason was that he was "disobedient".

Although it was just a false alarm, Ma Gai could understand through this wooden box that Heihuzhai was already dissatisfied with some of his behaviors. This time it was just a warning, but next time... that might not be the case.

This is also the reason why Ma Gai always echoed Zhang Jing, Huang Ben and others, but never offered suggestions, and kept as low-key as possible. He did not want to anger Heihu Village again.

However, Heihuzhai took the initiative to find something that he should do.

But in front of Zhang Jing, Huang Ben, Gao Chun and many others, and the many soldiers in the camp, even if he wanted to provide assistance to Heihu Village, he would not find any opportunity.

And when Ma Gai was in a dilemma, Zhang Jing was observing him with a calm expression.

Although there was no definite evidence in his hand, his intuition told Zhang Jing that the Kunyang County Magai was probably the insider of Heihu Village. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the prisoner replacement incident. Could the plotter of Heihu Village have never thought that the officers and soldiers who were released by him by the prisoner replacement would definitely be questioned by them?

How is that possible!

The soldiers captured by the enemy have not gained the trust of their former colleagues for a long time. This has been the case since ancient times. Zhang Jing does not believe that the planner does not understand the truth.

It can be seen that under this seemingly stupid and blind plan, there is a real mystery, that is, to use the confession of the captured officers and soldiers to convey the real message to their true inner responders.

But why use such a complicated and cumbersome method?

In Zhang Jing's opinion, there is only one explanation, that is, Magai is the only real insider in the camp, the Heihu Village.

This speculation is not unexpected by Zhang Jing. After all, such internal responses are easily exposed if there are too many people. If Ma Gai becomes the internal response of Heihu Village at the level of a county magistrate, there is naturally no need to arrange more internal responses. After all, no one knows it, and Ma Gai's secret will become safer.

Of course, the premise is to solve the problem of how to deliver messages.

Now that the Heihu Village has been resolved, it depends on Magai...

"...Is he worried that he has no chance to send a letter to Heihu Village?"

Looking at Ma Gai who was frowning deeply, Zhang Jing suddenly said, "Okay, okay, let's stop if you angrily scold Heihu Village. How to solve the current troubles for the present..."

As he said that, he looked around at the three county magistrates in the tent and said seriously: "This time we agreed to the Heihu Village's prisoner replacement request... Of course, this is the right choice! Although some soldiers could not withstand the pressure of the bandits and signed the so-called confession letter, in my opinion, this is forgivable. As long as they do not do what the bandits ordered, they can be forgiven and make meritorious contributions. The only thing I worry about is that this prisoner replacement sets a precedent. Will the bandits continue to arrest our officers and soldiers in the future and use the lives of these soldiers to force us to agree to other requests? For example, forcing us to withdraw?"

After seeing Huang Ben, Gao Chun and Ma Gai all showed deep thoughts, he took the initiative to put forward his thoughts: "So I think it is necessary to strengthen the siege of the bandits... I suggest that we might as well send some people to guard the burned old village near the burned old village, which is one of the paths for the bandits to go down the mountain. If the bandits in the Heihu Village plan to play this trick of capturing our officers and soldiers in the future, even if our camp does not respond well, the soldiers stationed in the old village can play a role in blocking and intercepting. By the way, they can also use this as a stronghold to search for bandits lurking in the mountains. I wonder what the three of them meant?"

When Huang Ben heard this, he immediately said, "I'll go! I'll be responsible for this matter..."

Listening to this, Magai's heart moved slightly.

The old village stationed in Heihu Village?

Wouldn't that be...

Thinking of this, he immediately said, "I'll go, Huang Ben, it's hard for you to harass the thieves these days and nights. I'll share this matter with you."

Huang Ben did not suspect that Ma Gai had an affair with Heihu Village. He didn't guess that Ma Gai wanted to share the burden for him, but he actually had no intention. He smiled and said, "What? I'm afraid I'll steal your limelight? Dede, it's your territory. I won't rob you, okay?"

Ma Gai laughed and scolded, "You guy, I have good intentions to share the burden for you, but you said I'm robbing me?"

Beside him, Gao Chun stroked his beard and smiled at Huang Ben and Ma Gai quarreled. After all, the three of them were old acquaintances, and he was accustomed to such bickering.

However, Zhang Jing took a look at Ma Gai with a meaningful look.

『…I’ve given you a chance.”

He looked at Magai with regret.

He deliberately brought up this matter to see Magai's reaction.

If Ma Gai was indifferent, he might still doubt his judgment and reconsider the possibility of Ma Gai being a supporter in the Heihu Village, but Ma Gai jumped out impatiently and competed with Huang Ben for the matter.

Isn’t he obviously going to take the opportunity to inform Heihu Village?

However, considering that there is no evidence at hand, Zhang Jing does not want to alert the enemy for the time being.

After saying goodbye to Huang Ben, Ma Gai and Gao Chun, three others, returned to their tent, Li Fu asked Zhang Jing: "The general was deliberately putting a trap on the horse, right?"

"Did you see it?" Zhang Jing asked with a smile.

Li Fu shrugged and said honestly: "If the general doesn't tell me about Magai's affairs, then Bei Yi will certainly not guess it, but since the general has told me about this, Bei Yi only needs to think about it in this regard... Anyway, the general will not do meaningless things."

"You are so sloppy." Zhang Jing couldn't help but laugh and scold.

After a little laugh, Li Fu raised his question: "The general deliberately gave the Magai a chance to inform Heihuzhai. Is the general going to counter-espionage plan?"

Zhang Jing shook his head slightly when he heard this and said seriously: "I just want to try it out to see if Magai still remembers that he is a county lieutenant, see if he still remembers his duties, and give him a chance to reform himself. But unfortunately, he gave up on his own. If it is confirmed later, he really informed Heihu Village, don't blame me for being merciless. As for the counter-espionage plan you mentioned..."

After carefully considering the current situation, he nodded thoughtfully: "It's not impossible. Well, this idea is good."

At the same time, Magai has returned to his tent.

He didn't expect that Zhang Jing had long been suspicious of him, and he was delighted with his wit.

Now, he was worried that he would not have the opportunity to inform Heihu Village, but he didn't expect this opportunity to come.

The next morning, he took the captain Yang Gan and fifty county soldiers to the mountain.

After learning about this, Li Fu immediately reported to Zhang Jing.

"General, Magai has already brought his men up the mountain. Do you need Beizhi to take his men to follow him?"

“No need.”

Zhang Jing shook his head and said, "I probably know what Heihu Village wants to inquire or ask Ma Gai to do. I probably know what he wants to do. It doesn't make much sense to send someone to monitor Ma Gai. Furthermore, for the first time, whether it is Heihu Village or Ma Gai, I think you will be extra careful. If you take someone to monitor him, once you are seen through, Ma Gai will destroy Ma Gai, a chess piece that can be used to set up counter-espionage strategies... In short, don't let the Black Tiger Village doubt it. If the strong attack cannot capture its main village in a few days, maybe we can use Ma Gai to lure the Black Tiger Village into the trap."

"General wise!"

Li Fu nodded convincingly.

Under Zhang Jing's will, and Huang Ben and Gao Chun, the two county magistrates, trusted Ma Gai, so Ma Gai would naturally not be subject to additional obstacles.

On that day, he took Yang Gan and about 50 other county soldiers to the mountain and stationed near the old village of Heihu Village.

Taking advantage of the lack of building simple defense facilities by Yang Gan and others, Ma Gai took the excuse of patrolling nearby and brought ten county soldiers to the cave where he and Yang Tong, Guo Da and Zhao Yu met on the same day, and wandered around the area.

However, there were no traces of bandits around.

Seeing this, Magai simply sent his men and sent them to patrol nearby, while he himself entered the cave.

Walking into the cave, he looked around.

The cave was still as he remembered at the time. The only difference was that the bodies of the two bandits disappeared. Magai guessed that he might have dragged them to the other party and buried them.

"Even your loyal subordinates can do ruthlessly..."

Recalling Yang Tong's cruelty that day, Ma Gai shook his head slightly and walked to the land where he had signed the confession letter.

Unlike that time, there was a lot of dirty hay there.

Although it was not surprising that a pile of dirty hay appeared in a cave like this, Magai was sure that he had never seen the pile of hay at that time.

He felt a move in his heart, leaned over and pushed the hay away, and then he saw a piece of rag covered with sludge under the hay.

He picked it up and saw a filthy piece of it, and there were vague words such as "moon black" and "hai".

Magai immediately understood the rag and put it into his arms and strode out of the cave.
Chapter completed!