TGWM Ch. 14

Chapter 14: Thorough Investigation

Lin Aoxue wore a grim expression as she responded under Beichen Long’s scrutinizing gaze, “General, I believe there is something suspicious about Lu Sheng’s fall from his horse today.”

Hearing this, Beichen Long’s gaze instantly sharpened. He halted his steps and said to Lin Aoxue, “Follow me back to the command tent.” 

With that, he quickened his pace, striding forward. Lin Aoxue followed behind him in silence.

Due to the incident, the military competition had been postponed by a day. Lin Aoxue accompanied Beichen Long to the grand general’s tent and stood inside for a while. However, Beichen Long did not immediately question her about what she had left unsaid earlier. Instead, he seemed to be waiting for someone.

Before long, Yang Jin lifted the tent flap and entered. He glanced at Lin Aoxue before turning to report to Beichen Long, “Grand General, I have investigated the matter. The horse had a cut on the inside of its thigh. The wound was aggravated by the jolting motion while running, causing sudden pain, which made the horse go mad and lose control.”

Yang Jin did not avoid Lin Aoxue when he spoke. Standing to the side, she listened to his report, and her expression darkened in an instant.

Someone had tampered with the horse.

It turned out that Beichen Long had already noticed something unusual about the horse’s sudden loss of control. While Lin Aoxue had been away from the camp searching for medicinal herbs, he had sent Yang Jin to investigate the matter.

After hearing Yang Jin’s report, Beichen Long frowned and asked in confusion, “Has Lu Sheng made any enemies recently? Who would dare pull such a stunt in the military camp?”

Lin Aoxue pressed her lips together, took a step forward, and said, “I believe the real target of this scheme was me, sir.”

“Oh?”

Both Beichen Long and Yang Jin looked surprised. Beichen Long furrowed his thick brows and gestured for Lin Aoxue to continue.

“That tampered horse was originally meant for me.”

Lin Aoxue did not hold anything back, recounting everything that had happened outside the training grounds earlier that day—including what the soldier who brought the horse had told her and the reason she and Lu Sheng had exchanged mounts.

After hearing her account, Beichen Long slammed the table in fury and bellowed, “Outrageous! How could this happen?!”

It was already a severe dereliction of duty to provide sick horses for the soldiers competing in the military trials. Worse still, the horses hadn’t even been properly inspected for injuries beforehand. Back at the training grounds, Beichen Long had been too far away to see clearly and had assumed Lin Aoxue’s two arrows were merely for show.

Now that he thought about it, he shot Lin Aoxue a discreet glance. Even while riding a compromised horse, she had still managed to fire that final arrow with deadly precision. Her archery skills were truly extraordinary—almost supernatural.

Regardless of whether the soldier in charge of the horses had knowingly participated in this attempt to harm a fellow soldier, he would not escape punishment.

Beichen Long’s face turned icy as he ordered in a stern voice, “Bring that man here for questioning!”

Yang Jin immediately turned and left the tent to arrange for the soldier’s capture. However, before long, one of the guards who had been sent out rushed back instead. As soon as he stepped into the tent, he dropped to one knee and reported in a panicked voice.

“General! That soldier is dead!”

“What?!” Beichen Long’s eyes widened in fury, his hands gripping the table as he exclaimed in shock.

The guard lowered his head, breathing heavily. He had rushed back in such haste to deliver his report that he had yet to catch his breath. Taking two deep gulps of air, he finally continued, “The soldier’s body is in the stables. I’ve already ordered the area to be secured. General, would you like to take a look?”

“Let’s go.”

With a cold expression, Beichen Long stepped out from behind the table, leading Yang Jin and Lin Aoxue as they followed the guard toward the stables at a quick pace.

By then, the stable where the body had been found was under strict lockdown. Occasionally, curious soldiers would step forward to inquire, only to be driven away by the guards.

As Lin Aoxue approached with the others, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure among the dispersing crowd. The person had their head lowered and was walking away briskly, disappearing in an instant.

She withdrew her gaze and continued into the stables alongside Beichen Long and Yang Jin.

The body had been discovered in the feed storage area. It was still warm, suggesting the man had died not long ago. He had been hanged from a beam, a short stone block overturned beneath his feet, making it appear as though he had taken his own life out of guilt.

Beichen Long ordered the body to be taken down. Lin Aoxue stepped forward to confirm the deceased’s identity—it was indeed the soldier who had brought the horse earlier that day.

The atmosphere in the stable was heavy with unease. The soldier’s death was far too suspicious. He had no known grievances with Lin Aoxue, and it was obvious to anyone that there was more to this than met the eye. Yet, with him dead, the trail of clues was cut off, making any investigation all the more difficult.

Lin Aoxue moved closer, carefully observing the body. She noticed that the soldier’s right hand was clenched into a tight fist, as if he were gripping something. Her brows furrowed slightly as she reported her discovery to Beichen Long. At his command, the guards pried open the dead man’s fingers—sure enough, inside his palm was a nameplate.

As the engraved name came into view, Lin Aoxue’s expression turned icy, while a flicker of killing intent appeared in Beichen Long’s eyes.

Liang Hui.

Every soldier carried a nameplate with them. If they died in battle and their bodies were too damaged to be identified, the nameplate would serve as proof of who they were.

Yet, this soldier was clutching a nameplate—but it bore someone else’s name.

There was no doubt that Liang Hui had come into contact with the deceased before his death. Otherwise, his nameplate wouldn’t have ended up in the soldier’s grip.

Lin Aoxue thought back to the fleeting glimpse of the familiar figure in the crowd and clenched her teeth before saying, “Just now, on the way here, I saw Liang Hui among the soldiers.”

Beichen Long was furious. Without hesitation, he ordered his men to capture Liang Hui immediately. The guards rushed off, but once again, they returned empty-handed. Reporting in a panic, they informed him that Liang Hui had disguised himself and slipped out of the camp a stick of incense ago—clearly realizing that the truth would soon come to light and choosing to flee rather than face the consequences.

At this, Beichen Long let out a sharp laugh of pure rage. Slamming his hand against the stable railing, he roared, “What a bunch of useless fools! Go after him! If he escapes, I’ll personally charge each and every one of you with dereliction of duty!”

The guards turned pale with fear and scrambled to pursue Liang Hui beyond the camp.

Once they were gone, Beichen Long had the soldier’s body taken care of before turning back to Lin Aoxue. “Liang Hui is one of your men. What grudge does he hold against you?”

Lin Aoxue hesitated, then shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know. If anything, the person he should have a conflict with is Lu Sheng. While it’s true that Lu Sheng fell from his horse, that injured horse was originally meant for me. I don’t recall ever offending Liang Hui, which makes this all the more strange.” She couldn’t make sense of Liang Hui’s motives no matter how hard she thought about it. 

Seeing that her confusion didn’t seem feigned, Beichen Long furrowed his brows and said in a deep voice, “We’ll know the truth once he’s captured.”

Perhaps it was because the grand general had given strict orders, but this time, the guards acted with remarkable efficiency. That very night, the fugitive Liang Hui was caught and brought back.

When the guards threw the tightly bound Liang Hui before Beichen Long, the terrified man turned deathly pale, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

Beichen Long frowned, about to question whether he was responsible for the murder. However, before he could speak, Liang Hui struggled to crawl toward him, clinging to his leg in panic as he wailed, “General! I’ve been wronged! I didn’t kill him!”

Yang Jin let out a cold snort, looking at him with nothing but disdain and disgust. “If you didn’t kill him, why did you run? Speak the truth at once. The general is just and will decide fairly.”

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell everything, General!”

In his desperation, Liang Hui clung to Yang Jin’s words like a drowning man grabbing onto the last straw. Without hesitation, he poured out everything he knew.

“It wasn’t me! It was my cousin!”

At his words, another name was drawn into the situation. Beichen Long’s expression darkened.

“Explain clearly,” he commanded.

Liang Hui nodded frantically, then clenched his teeth as if making a great decision. Taking a deep breath, he recounted the entire story in detail.

His distant cousin was Zhou Liang, a quartermaster in the military doctors’ camp who managed the medical supplies. A year ago, he had married Chen Er’s younger sister. Chen Er had survived on the battlefield thanks to Zhou Liang, who had stolen a considerable amount of hemostatic medicine from the supply stores for him.

Unfortunately, Chen Er was nothing more than a coward. He survived by playing dead on the battlefield, and as a result, he hadn’t accumulated much merit over the past two years.

This spring, Chen Er died. Zhou Liang couldn’t have been more delighted, feeling as though he had finally rid himself of a burden. In his excitement, he dragged Liang Hui out for drinks. But he drank too much and ended up spilling all of his and Chen Er’s buried secrets.

When Zhou Liang sobered up, he was stricken with anxiety. He wasn’t sure how much he had revealed and lived in constant fear that Liang Hui might betray him. Around the same time, his wife—the late Chen Er’s sister—brought up the conflict between Chen Er and Lin Aoxue.

Chen Er had managed to return alive every year before this, so why was it that this year, of all times, he died? Overcome with grief, Zhou Liang’s wife placed all the blame on Lin Aoxue. She whispered into Zhou Liang’s ear, urging him to take revenge on Lin Aoxue.

At first, Zhou Liang had no patience for it—he was already troubled over Liang Hui. But at that moment, Liang Hui was reassigned under Lin Aoxue’s command. That gave Zhou Liang an idea. He decided to use this opportunity to get rid of both Liang Hui and Lin Aoxue.

Feigning continued friendship, he assured Liang Hui that as long as he kept his mouth shut, he would receive extra medical supplies for treating battlefield injuries. Tempted by the offer, Liang Hui maintained his close ties with Zhou Liang.

This entire ordeal started when Zhou Liang bribed a soldier to switch out the horses meant for Lin Aoxue and his companions. He only told Liang Hui that he had swapped one sick horse into the mix, so Liang Hui thought it was just a harmless way to embarrass Lu Sheng. As a result, he willingly played along, volunteering to lead away the only healthy but inferior horse.

What he hadn’t expected was that Lin Aoxue and Lu Sheng would swap horses. At first, he worried that Lu Sheng, now mounted on the better horse, would steal the limelight. But instead, Lu Sheng fell, breaking his leg. Then Yang Jin sent people to investigate the horse. It was only then that Liang Hui realized he had walked straight into a trap.

Panicked, he sought out the soldier who had led the horses earlier, hoping to get some answers. But by the time he found him, the soldier was already dead—hanging from the rafters, freshly killed by Zhou Liang.

Liang Hui had witnessed the entire scene. Shocked and terrified, he froze in place. Zhou Liang turned and grabbed him, attempting to force-feed him a packet of powder.

He recognized that powder—it was a throat-destroying poison. He was barely literate to begin with, and if he swallowed it, he would lose the ability to speak and never be able to reveal the truth.