After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 46

“What?!” Two voices sounded simultaneously in the tent.

One was General Chen, his expression shocked; the other was the less composed Commandant Qian.

Upon hearing this, Commandant Qian was overjoyed and immediately said, “Younger sister-in-law, if you have this evidence, you should have brought it out earlier! Quickly, quickly, present it to General Chen.”

Commandant Jiang had been momentarily stunned, but now regained his senses. His gaze suddenly turned sharp, like poisoned arrows, fixed tightly on Li Chanxiu.

In the next moment, Pei Er gripped his blade and suddenly stepped to Li Chanxiu’s side, blocking his line of sight and meeting it coldly.

Commandant Jiang’s expression darkened. Looking at Li Chanxiu past him, he said with a threatening tone, “Shen Xiu, you are a criminal woman. If the so-called evidence you produce is false, that would be a false accusation, an additional crime!”

Hearing this, Li Chanxiu tilted his head slightly and gave him a faint smile, his tone calm. “That need not trouble you, Commandant.”

Commandant Jiang’s hand on his saber suddenly clenched tighter.

After speaking, Li Chanxiu calmly turned back and took several letters out from his sleeve. General Chen had just come back to his senses and quickly told him to present the evidence.

Commandant Jiang’s expression grew even uglier as he stared fixedly at those letters.

In fact, the moment he heard about robbing official salt, his heart had leapt into his throat. Such a secret matter, if the other party hadn’t discovered anything, they would never have known. Could it be that Jiang Chong had really let something slip?

Thinking this, the hand gripping his saber began to tremble uncontrollably, his gaze following those letters.

Li Chanxiu had already handed the letters to Pei Er beside him, who then passed them to General Chen seated behind the desk.

When Pei Er took the letters, his gaze met Li Chanxiu’s.

Li Chanxiu had originally remained silent, but noticing that he seemed to linger a bit too long in taking the letters, as if others might notice, he quickly urged him with his eyes.

In reality, Pei Er had only paused for a few breaths. It was just that his gaze was so intense, and Li Chanxiu was deliberately avoiding him, that it felt especially long.

The letters were quickly handed to General Chen. After receiving them, he immediately shared them with General Zhao beside him.

As time passed bit by bit, the expressions of the two generals grew increasingly grim.

Unable to see the letters, Commandant Jiang grew more and more tormented, his expression unable to hide his agitation.

Jiang Chong, that useless fool! He actually left behind evidence? Something like letters, shouldn’t they have been burned immediately after reading?

Seeing that the two generals had nearly finished reading, Li Chanxiu spoke again: “General Chen, these are secret letters written by Jiang Chong to the leader of the western stronghold, Song. In the letters, he informs them of the route of official salt and agrees upon the time and location of the robbery. This is sufficient to prove that Jiang Chong colluded with the bandits.”

“Additionally, there is a runner in the western stronghold named Ah Fu. Because he overheard something said by Leader Song, he was executed by Third Boss. Fortunately, he was later saved by Physician Hu and me. After waking today, he also identified this matter and said that Jiang Chong had been in the stronghold these past few days, and that the fire attack was also his idea.”

“Bang!”

“I knew it!” Commandant Qian couldn’t help but slam the table angrily.

At this moment, Li Chanxiu gave a slight bow and said firmly, “General Chen, Ah Fu was nearly killed by Third Boss and had been unconscious until recently. It would have been impossible for him to collude with Third Boss beforehand.”

Ah Fu was Third Boss’s errand boy and actually had a good relationship with him, but emphasizing that they were not on good terms at this moment was clearly more advantageous.

The more General Chen listened, the darker his expression became. Looking at the small words at the end of the letter, “burn after reading”, he suddenly slammed his fist heavily onto the desk.

The handwriting in the letter was indeed Jiang Chong’s. Presumably, the bandit had wanted to keep leverage, which was why he had not followed instructions to burn it after reading.

“Additionally, Ah Fu also confessed the location where the stolen salt was hidden. General, you can immediately send people to investigate. If it can be found, it will prove that Ah Fu is telling the truth,” Li Chanxiu added at this moment.

General Chen immediately raised his head and called for the personal guard outside to enter: “You, quickly take five hundred men and search the place Miss Shen mentioned.”

Across from him, Commandant Jiang already had sweat forming on his forehead, gritting his teeth to maintain his composure.

Pei Er glanced at him, then suddenly cupped his hands toward General Chen and said, “General, shouldn’t we also send people to search Jiang Chong’s quarters in the camp and his residence at home, to see if there’s any other evidence?”

Hearing this, General Chen’s eyes lit up, and he nodded. “Search!”

Commandant Jiang suddenly stood up and said through clenched teeth, “General, are you already treating Jiang Chong as a criminal and concluding that he colluded with the bandits?”

General Chen looked at him heavily and directly threw the letters over.

Commandant Jiang caught the letters, not even looking at them, and was about to argue through gritted teeth.

General Chen cut him off directly: “Are you going to say the letters could be forged? But the handwriting in these letters is indeed Jiang Chong’s, how will you explain that? Also, if I remember correctly, this batch of official salt was originally supposed to pass through Yongfeng. Jiang Chong just happened to know about it. If he didn’t write these letters, could it be that you or I did?”

This was before the incident of salt being skimmed from the camp supply. At that time, Qing County had sent a letter saying a batch of salt would pass through Yongfeng’s garrison and requested General Chen to send people to receive and escort it.

Not many people knew about this matter, and Jiang Chong had come to the main tent with his elder brother that day, he was one of those who knew.

But not long after, the matter was dropped again. Qing County sent another letter saying the salt would not pass through Yongfeng after all, and there was no need for an escort.

Later, when the incident of salt being skimmed from the camp occurred, General Chen had even felt regret, thinking that if that batch of salt had still passed through Yongfeng, he would have “acted first and reported later” to find a way to keep some for his own camp.

But who would have thought, the salt hadn’t bypassed Yongfeng due to a route change, but had been directly robbed!

Not long after, the people sent to search Jiang Chong’s residence reported back. They hadn’t found letters colluding with bandits, but in Jiang Chong’s home they had found some jade pendants, gold ornaments, and other valuables. These were precisely items robbed not long ago from several noble young men from Chang’an. Among them, one jade pendant matched exactly with one of the stolen goods recovered from the western stronghold.

It was precisely because those noblemen from Chang’an had been robbed that Prefect Yan had ordered the Yongfeng and Yongding garrisons to send troops to suppress the bandits. Unexpectedly, before the suppression even began, the stolen goods had already ended up in Centurion Jiang Chong’s hands in Yongfeng.

At this point, it could basically be determined that Jiang Chong had indeed colluded with the bandits. If the official salt were also found, it would further confirm his involvement in robbing it.

Everyone in the tent couldn’t help but look toward Commandant Jiang, their expressions turning subtle.

Colluding with bandits, attacking one’s own side, robbing official salt, such major crimes. Could Jiang He, as his elder brother, really know nothing?

Or perhaps… he was an accomplice?

Seeing everyone’s gazes turn toward him, the sweat in Jiang He’s palms grew more and more, and the color drained from his face.

Realizing that Jiang Chong’s collusion with bandits could no longer be denied, suddenly…

He violently threw the letters in his hand to the ground, drew his blade, and shouted, “That beast! To have done such lawless things behind my and our father’s backs, he deserves to die! Even if he weren’t dead, as his elder brother, I wouldn’t spare him!”

As he spoke, he gripped his blade and made as if to rush out, shouting angrily, “Where is Jiang Chong’s corpse? That unfilial wretch, why even gather his remains!”

From his posture, it seemed he intended to mutilate the corpse to atone.

The other officers in the tent quickly rushed forward to grab his arms and stop him.

Commandant Qian was startled by how quickly he had changed his attitude. After recovering, he hurriedly said “helpfully,” “Oh my, Commandant Jiang, you’re going to find your younger brother’s corpse to mutilate it? Good thing, he’s still lying at the bottom of the cliff, just smashed up a bit, hard to collect. You know where Wuding Mountain is, right? Here, I’ll lend you my horse, ride faster, don’t go too late, or the wolves might drag the body away, and then you won’t be able to mutilate it.”

Commandant Jiang had been pretending to struggle, but upon hearing this, his face instantly turned pale. Perhaps from extreme anger, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Commandant Qian was startled. “Oh my, how come you started vomiting blood just from talking? I didn’t say anything! I know, it must be because your younger brother angered you.”

Commandant Jiang gritted his teeth, blood filling the gaps between them, and turned his head to glare viciously at Commandant Qian.

Pei Er glanced at him, then suddenly cupped his hands toward General Chen and said in a deep voice, “General, Jiang Chong’s collusion with bandits is supported by solid evidence. As his elder brother, Commandant Jiang is also under suspicion. Shouldn’t he be suspended from duty pending investigation?”

At this, Commandant Jiang immediately glared at him again.

General Chen naturally wished for this outcome. Hearing the suggestion, he immediately nodded. “Mm, makes sense.”

Upon hearing this, Commandant Jiang spat out another mouthful of blood. This time he couldn’t hold on and fainted on the spot.

Commandant Qian, never one to shy away from a spectacle, even wanted to poke him with his blade hilt. “Hey, he’s not pretending, is he?”

Only after being glared at by General Zhao did he quickly withdraw his blade.

Li Chanxiu couldn’t help but glance at him and, unable to hold back, smiled.

In the next moment, a solid human wall suddenly blocked his line of sight.

He glanced at Pei Er, who had stepped over, coughed lightly, and then raised his head to take his leave of General Chen.

After leaving the central command tent, it wasn’t long before Pei Er also followed out.

Li Chanxiu still felt a bit awkward, unaccustomed to being alone with Pei Er, so he casually started a topic: “That Commandant Qian just now…”

“Arrogant. Foolish,” Pei Er immediately evaluated.

Li Chanxiu: “…”

“But capable of correcting his mistakes.” Pei Er glanced at him and added.

Li Chanxiu: Being fooled by Jiang Chong even after being reminded, “arrogant” was indeed an accurate evaluation. But…

“His way of speaking just now was quite interesting,” Li Chanxiu continued, making conversation just to fill the silence.

Hearing this, Pei Er immediately began to think: Miss Shen likes people who speak interestingly?

“By the way, why didn’t you ask me where the evidence came from?” Seeing that he still wasn’t speaking, Li Chanxiu brought up another topic to avoid awkwardness.

Pei Er could naturally guess that the evidence came from Lu Zhi and Xuanping. But recalling Commandant Qian’s “interesting” way of speaking just now, he cleared his throat and said, “Oh my, could it be that Lu Zhi and Xuanping gave it to you?”

Physician Hu said to coax… coaxing means catering to what the other likes, right?

Li Chanxiu: “…?” Why did that suddenly sound so strange?

“It was indeed sent early this morning by someone riding a horse on Xuanping’s orders. As for the location where the salt was hidden, it wasn’t actually Ah Fu who said it, he didn’t overhear that. It was Lu Zhi who discovered the matter and, through investigating within the stronghold, found it out.”

Pei Er: “Oh my, is that so? Then he’s quite capable.”

Li Chanxiu: “……”

“Do you… have some kind of issue with Lu Zhi?” he couldn’t help but ask tentatively.

Pei Er: “How could I? I didn’t say anything.”

Li Chanxiu: “……” But speaking like that was really… sarcastic.

He had originally wanted to say that he planned to go see Lu Zhi and would need to find an excuse to go to the county town.

But after glancing at Pei Er and thinking it over, he decided to remain silent.

Because he had received the letter Xuanping had someone deliver early in the morning, he hadn’t had time to feed the golden eagle before rushing to the military camp. Now that matters were finished, Li Chanxiu wanted to go back first and feed it.

When he returned to the residence, the eagle didn’t know how long it had gone without a proper meal. As soon as it saw him open the door, it swooped straight at him.

Pei Er followed closely behind. Afraid it might hurt Li Chanxiu, he quickly knocked it aside with the scabbard.

With a thump, the golden eagle fell to the ground. It immediately raised its head, glaring at him with a pair of round eyes. After a moment, it suddenly laid its head down on the ground and refused to get up.

Pei Er expressionlessly said, “Oh my, could it be pretending?”

Li Chanxiu: “…Can you speak normally?”

His expression was indescribable.