Reborn and returned, sisters swapped

Chapter 136 What's in this bag?

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A glint of light flashed in Gu Jinyan's eyes: "In that case, I need you to bring a few trustworthy brothers. We need to investigate thoroughly to expose Zhao Wenchang's conspiracy."

The following night, Wang Rui led several night patrol soldiers to the outside of the confinement tent.

Everyone holds Gu Jinyan in high esteem and is uneasy about the recent changes.

They huddled together, and Gu Jinyan whispered the plan to them through the gaps in the tent.

“In this frame-up, Zhao Wenchang arranged forged evidence and secret letters with a clear objective, which was obviously premeditated,” Gu Jinyan analyzed. “No matter how meticulously the evidence is forged, there will always be clues left behind.”

I need you to split up: some of you should examine the paper and handwriting of that secret letter to see if it differs from the paper commonly used in the military camp; others should inquire within the camp to find out who first spread the news of my treason.

A night patrol soldier named Liu Yao nodded and said, "Don't worry, Commander Gu, we will be careful and will not let them notice."

Gu Jinyan continued to instruct: "Pay special attention to soldiers in the barracks who have recently been promoted or have received benefits; they may have been bribed by Zhao Wenchang."

"If I can find the evidence, I will have a chance to clear my name."

Wang Rui led Liu Yao to sneak into the military warehouse, where various kinds of papers and documents were stored.

The warehouse was pitch black. They groped their way to the flint and lit a small flame.

"Although the paper on the secret letter is crude military paper, it is slightly different from the paper used for most military documents," Wang Rui said after careful comparison.

They searched repeatedly and found that the only batch of papers in the warehouse that resembled the secret letter was actually Zhao Wenchang's personal document.

“This is the evidence,” Wang Rui said in a low voice. “This paper did not come from foreign enemies, but from our own military camp.”

Zhao Wenchang forged the secret letter using military paper, implying that it was written by himself or one of his confidants.

Under Gu Jinyan's instructions, Liu Yao secretly undertook a crucial task: to find evidence of the forged secret letter, especially to identify who personally forged the letter that framed Gu Jinyan by examining the handwriting.

He was well aware of the danger of this operation; if he were discovered, Zhao Wenchang would not let him off easily.

But in order to clear Gu Jinyan's name, he decided to take the risk and reveal the truth.

Liu Yao knew that several of Zhao Wenchang's men had been in charge of important military records, especially Li Tuo.

This soldier had always been Zhao Wenchang's confidant; he was the one who "discovered" the secret letter that day.

If the handwriting on the secret letter can be compared to Li Tuo's handwriting, then Zhao Wenchang's conspiracy will have a further chain of evidence.

Liu Yao first thought of using military records as a method.

Therefore, he decided to borrow a batch of military records from the military's clerical department under the pretext of checking documents.

This was an extremely cautious step, and Liu Yao knew he couldn't give himself away in the slightest.

So, through an old friend in the clerk's office, he successfully borrowed a military document that Li Tuo had handled in recent months.

The old friend did not suspect anything. When he handed the documents to Liu Yao, he said with a smile, "Liu Yao, you have to deal with these documents quickly. There are a lot of paperwork in our army. You know that things can't be delayed."

Liu Yao nodded, feeling a mix of relief and nervousness.

He left the office with the documents in his hand, muttering to himself, "Everything has started smoothly. Next, as long as we confirm the connection between the handwritings, we can uncover the tip of the iceberg of this conspiracy."

That night, Liu Yao returned to his tent, lit a dim candle, and carefully laid out the secret letter and military documents.

He knew he only had one chance and had to be extremely careful with the comparison.

To avoid being discovered by others, he tightly closed the tent entrance and kept the surroundings as quiet as possible to ensure that outsiders could not spy on him.

He first unfolded the secret letter hidden under the ancient brocade rock pillow and carefully examined the handwriting on it.

Although the letter's handwriting seemed to deliberately mimic a rough writing style, several features caught his attention.

For example, the stroke habits of certain letters, especially the starting strokes of long left-falling strokes and long right-falling strokes, have a unique brushstroke style characteristic of Li Tuo.

“These details… are very similar to Li Tuo’s handwriting,” Liu Yao muttered to himself, but he knew he couldn’t draw conclusions based on first impressions alone.

Next, he began to read the military records written by Li Tuo.

These documents mainly concern routine food and fodder mobilization and patrol allocation, and the handwriting on them appears neat and strong.

Liu Yao began to carefully compare the information, paying particular attention to frequently used words that appeared repeatedly in the secret letters—such as "army," "grain," and "large."

He discovered that Li Tuo's writing style was remarkably similar to the handwriting in the secret letter.

In particular, the way the character "军" (jun, meaning army) is written is quite distinctive. Li Tuo habitually makes the last stroke of the "车" (che, meaning cart) radical longer and slanted, and the character "军" in the secret letter also has the same characteristic.

This handwriting characteristic is not possessed by everyone, especially in secret letters, where even with deliberate disguise, such subtle traces are still preserved.

As the comparison deepened, Liu Yao became increasingly certain that the handwriting in the secret letter was indeed from Li Tuo.

But he knew he needed more detailed evidence. So he decided to analyze the detailed strokes from a more microscopic perspective.

He picked up the copy of the secret letter, dipped a fine needle in ink, and traced the outline of each word, sentence by sentence.

He noticed that although Li Tuo deliberately disguised his handwriting in the secret letter, trying to make the words appear messy and blurry, some of his unique writing habits could not be completely hidden.

For example, when Li Tuo wrote the character "粮" (grain), he would unconsciously make the first horizontal stroke of the "良" (good) part slightly longer, and this is still clearly visible in the character "粮" in the secret letter.

Another obvious feature is the way Li Tuo writes the character "敌" (enemy). He habitually writes the radical slightly to the right, which is also reflected in the secret letter.

Liu Yao stared at the words in the secret letter, and gradually became convinced: "This letter was forged by Li Tuo."

After several hours of comparison, Liu Yao finally reached a conclusion.

The handwriting in the secret letter almost perfectly matches the handwriting in Li Tuo's military records.

This discovery brought him a great sense of relief, but also made him more cautious.

He understood that although there was now solid evidence, acting rashly might alert the enemy.

Therefore, Liu Yao decided to keep these comparison results confidential for the time being and report them to Gu Jinyan first.

Just as dawn was breaking, Liu Yao quietly approached the secluded tent of Gu Jinyan and whispered, "General, it's me, Liu Yao. I've made a major discovery."

Gu Jinyan had been waiting for news from him, and immediately ordered someone to bring Liu Yao into the tent.

Liu Yao presented her with the secret letter and Li Tuo's military records, and briefly explained the comparison process.

Gu Jinyan took the document, carefully examined the handwriting comparison, and then his gaze sharpened.

“It really was Li Tuo. That explains why he ‘found’ that letter in my tent,” Gu Jinyan said coldly. “The scheme set up by Zhao Wenchang has already revealed its first flaw.”

Liu Yao nodded: "I can confirm that Li Tuo forged the secret letter. He must have been instructed by Zhao Wenchang."

Gu Jinyan pondered for a moment, then said, "Li Tuo is just a pawn. We must continue to investigate and find out the real connection between Zhao Wenchang and the enemy. Only by uncovering the whole truth can we completely overturn this conspiracy."

With the handwriting as preliminary evidence, Gu Jinyan decided to continue investigating Li Tuo's background and further uncover Zhao Wenchang's connection with the enemy.

She secretly summoned several loyal subordinates and assigned them a more detailed investigation task, instructing them to secretly investigate Li Tuo's actions and Zhao Wenchang's dealings with external forces.

At the same time, Gu Jinyan began preparing to publicly expose Zhao Wenchang's crimes. She knew that the handwriting evidence she had was only the tip of the iceberg, and that she needed a more rigorous chain of evidence to completely expose all of Zhao Wenchang's conspiracies.

Over the next few days, Liu Yao continued to secretly monitor Li Tuo's actions and discovered that he frequently came into contact with soldiers of suspicious identities, especially at night.

All of this proves that Zhao Wenchang's conspiracy has entered a critical stage.

Liu Yao finally reported to Gu Jinyan: "Li Tuo has close ties with Zhao Wenchang's other subordinates. We must act as soon as possible to expose all of this."

Gu Jinyan nodded calmly: "Continue to observe, but do not act rashly. We will make our final move when all the evidence is complete."

In order to further investigate the truth behind the false testimony, Gu Jinyan ordered several soldiers to secretly observe Zhao Wenchang's confidants, especially those witnesses who claimed to have seen her "secretly meeting at night".

Wang Rui led two alert night patrol soldiers to take turns tracking these people, paying particular attention to the movements of Li Tuo and Zhang Songhu.

One night, Wang Rui sneaked into Li Tuo's tent under the cover of darkness and overheard him whispering to someone.

Their conversation was vague, but they vaguely mentioned words like "silver" and "gag order".

Wang Rui's heart skipped a beat, realizing that Zhao Wenchang was very likely using money to bribe these witnesses to ensure they would stand up and "testify" at a crucial moment.

After confirming that the secret letter was forged, Liu Yao realized that this was not the work of Li Tuo alone, but a conspiracy carefully planned by Zhao Wenchang.

He decided to further investigate Zhao Wenchang's movements to see what methods this cunning military officer used to control his subordinates and win their hearts.

After several days of observation, Liu Yao discovered that Zhao Wenchang's tent had become a frequent haunt of several trusted soldiers, and each time they left, they carried a bulging cloth bag with them.

What's in this bag? Liu Yao had a vague idea in his mind.

In order to find out the truth, he decided to conduct a more detailed investigation into the soldiers who frequently entered and exited Zhao Wenchang's tent.

Liu Yao discovered that among these people, Li Tuo and Zhang Songhu's behavior was particularly suspicious.