Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

"Let me go! Let me go! I'm not a spy, let me go!" A man dressed as a soldier was twisted by the guards of the granary and brought to Xia Yu.

"What happened?" Xia Yu asked the two guards, glancing at the person being twisted.

"Princess, this man was acting suspiciously near the granary. We don't know what he's up to. We found flint on him, and we also found a barrel of tung oil that had been hidden outside the granary."

One of the soldiers opened his palm; it was the flint and steel he had found on the man.

"Are you planning to set fire to the granary?" Xia Yu glanced at the flint, then thought of the tung oil the guard had mentioned, and asked the man whose arm was being twisted.

"No, Princess, I didn't. I just... I just... I wandered here by accident." Although she didn't admit it, anyone could hear the guilt in her words.

"What kind of soldier are you? Whose subordinate are you?" Xia Yu's expression was extremely cold.

"I...I...I..."

After stammering for a long time without uttering a complete sentence, Xia Yu waved his hand impatiently and gave orders to the two guards.

"Send him over to General Zhao and tell him that we have captured a spy of the Prince of Ding'an, and tell him to treat him well."

"Yes, go...behave yourself."

Following Xia Yu's orders, the two guards tightened their grip on the scout's arm. "Damn it, we've only had two days of good food, and now they're burning our granary! We'll break their arms!"

The two guards grumbled and dragged the scout away, kicking him in the backside every now and then.

Xia Yu went back into the granary to refill the grain bins, then left with Da Niu and Shi Jiu. However, this time she didn't return to her temporary residence, but instead strolled leisurely to the city gate.

Waving her hand to signal the guards not to salute, Xia Yu walked up to the city wall and looked at the army of the Prince of Ding'an stationed below, lost in thought. Those around her, seeing her like this, assumed she was thinking of a good strategy to retreat, and all fell silent, afraid of disturbing her thoughts.

After gazing at the city walls for a long time, Xia Yu finally parted her lips slightly.

"Hey girl, Nineteen, what do you want to eat tonight?"

"What?"

Although Da Niu loved to eat, she couldn't help but wonder if she was hallucinating. Could it be that the young lady had been gazing out of the city for so long, deep in thought, because she was considering what to eat today?

"Hmm? What do you want to eat? Have you decided yet?" After not hearing a reply from the two for a long time, Xia Yu asked again.

"Dumplings, three-delicacy filling," Da Niu whispered, secretly swallowing. Surrounded by soldiers who were listening intently, Da Niu felt embarrassed for the first time.

"What about Nineteen?" Xia Yu asked again, as if it were an extremely important matter.

"Um, whatever Miss wants to eat, I want to eat too," Nineteen replied.

"Let's go to the general's mansion." Hearing their words, Xia Yu didn't say anything else, but waved her hand and beckoned the two maids to Zhao Bei's general's mansion.

This time, Xia Yu chose to take a horse-drawn carriage to the General's Mansion.

When they arrived at their destination and got off the carriage, Xia Yu took out a large wooden bucket filled with lively, jumping shrimp. Then she took out a large bundle of fresh, green chives.

Xia Yu handed the shrimp and chives to the guard at the gate and asked him to take them to the kitchen, saying that they were having shrimp and chive dumplings today. Then Xia Yu led his men into the general's mansion.

Xia Yu had a cup of tea in the flower hall before Zhao Bei hurriedly arrived. After exchanging greetings with Xia Yu, Zhao Bei sat down in the armchair opposite her, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it all in one gulp. He was clearly very thirsty.

"Has the investigation been completed?" Xia Yu asked after Zhao Bei put down his teacup.

"Yes, I understand everything. Humph, this spy is a coward. He wet his pants before the torture instruments were even on. He spilled everything he knew. Calling him a spy is too kind of him; he's just a good-for-nothing in Jialing Pass, always stealing chickens and dogs. He said he recently met a big brother who treats him exceptionally well, always taking him out for the best. He completely trusts this big brother."

As he spoke, he poured himself another cup of tea, took a sip, wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, and then continued speaking.

"The situation has been tense lately, so he was recruited and is now doing odd jobs every day. It's quite a coincidence that he's been in charge of cleaning the area around the granary recently. Last night, his older brother came to see him again with wine and meat, and gave him tung oil and a flint, telling him to hide them in two different places. But as soon as he hid the tung oil, before he could even hide the flint, he was caught by the guards."

After saying that, Zhao Bei smiled and continued...

"This guy has been cleaning outside the granary every day lately, and the guards have seen him. If he didn't have something to hide and act suspiciously, attracting the guards' attention, they really wouldn't have paid much attention to him."

"What about his older brother?" Xia Yu asked.

"I've already sent people to look for him at the address he gave, but the house was already empty. I guess he's probably hiding. I heard that the princess brought chives and shrimp with her when she came, and she's planning to have dumplings today?" He was talking about the spies when he suddenly changed the subject to food.

Zhao Bei looked at Xia Yu with bright eyes, but his full beard and his gaze reminded Xia Yu of the golden retriever her neighbor had raised in her previous life.

Xia Yu couldn't help but smile slightly before nodding and saying to Zhao Bei.

"Yes, we'll borrow your cook today. We'll have dumplings."

"Hehe, dumplings are good, dumplings are good, dumplings and wine are so delicious, the more you drink, the better. Princess, let's drink until we drop tonight!" Zhao Bei was excited when he heard that he hadn't had dumplings in a long time. He was so far from home, and he had eaten nothing but millet every day. He was so tired of it, and now he just wanted to eat dumplings from his hometown.

"I'd rather not drink; I have other things to discuss with you," Xia Yu said with a smile and a shake of her head.

"What is it? Princess, please just give your orders. There's no need for discussion," Zhao Bei said casually.

"Are you planning to continue like this?" Xia Yu suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Zhao Bei didn't immediately understand Xia Yu's meaning.

"What I mean is, you're just going to keep guarding like this until the Prince of Ding'an withdraws his troops?" Xia Yu explained further.

"..." Zhao Bei looked at Xia Yu in confusion. What did the princess mean? Did she want to take the initiative?

"Yes, that's exactly what you mean. I think we should control the pace of this battle, instead of passively waiting for the other side to attack or surround us," Xia Yu said calmly.

“Well, the disparity in troop strength between our two sides is too great, and this city is easy to defend and difficult to attack. They can't break through it, so there's really no need for us to open the city gates to meet the enemy!” Zhao Bei said, expressing his opinion.

"Who told you to confront him head-on? Why not use another method?" Xia Yu gave Zhao Bei a disdainful look.

"..." Hearing Xia Yu's advice, Zhao Bei scratched the back of his head and began to search through the military books he had read before, trying to find a method suitable for the current situation.