The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 330 Luo Tong and the School Affairs Office's Undertaking

After escaping, Zhang Jing, Li Sheng, and others did not head north to the Wei army camp, but instead circled around to avoid the villagers and returned to Jitou Ridge.

Returning to this familiar place, Luo Tong felt extremely conflicted. Looking at the familiar plants and trees, he gritted his teeth and said, "Zhang Gongcao, do me a favor. My capture this time was not due to a lack of caution, but rather because I was betrayed. So I would like to ask Zhang Gongcao to help me find out who betrayed me."

Traitors are the most hateful people throughout history. Being captured by the enemy is due to inferior skills, but being betrayed by a traitor is something one would rather die than accept.

What frustrates Luo Tong even more is that he still doesn't know who betrayed him. It's like being hit over the head for no reason and not knowing the identity of the murderer. The more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.

Therefore, we must find this traitor before leaving Jiangdong, otherwise he will not rest in peace.

However, he is currently unable to conduct an investigation and can only ask the school administration for help.

Zhang Jing laughed and said, "No need to investigate. We betrayed you. Here's what happened..."

Luo Tong listened quietly, his mouth unconsciously agape. After a long moment of stunned silence, he finally reacted, and in a fit of rage, he immediately threw a punch at Zhang Jing, cursing as he did so: "You bastard, I've never wronged you, and you still tricked me?"

He had suspected his enemies, his subordinates, and even his uncle Luo Cheng, but he never suspected the School Affairs Office. In the end, he was betrayed by the School Affairs Office. Damn Zhang Jing, what did I ever do to you?

Luo Tong was still not satisfied after punching Zhang Jing, and was about to strike again when Li Sheng suddenly drew his sword and held it to Luo Tong's neck, sneering, "General Luo, please face reality and don't be impulsive. Although you are the stepson of the Censor-in-Chief, our Office of School Affairs is not under the jurisdiction of the Censor-in-Chief."

Luo Tong deflated, withdrew his fist, and said dejectedly, "Do you bastards even know that because of your father's failed mission, how am I supposed to explain this to Grand Commander Lu?"

Zhang Jing sneered, "No need to explain, because Lu Xun is almost finished too. You should know what our School Affairs Office does. As soon as Lord Wu sent out his troops, we sent spies to Damu and Yushan. The spies sent back news last night that Lu Xun suffered a defeat at Yushan, losing tens of thousands of troops, not to mention that Han Dang and Xu Sheng were killed in battle. Do you know what this means?"

Luo Tong's expression changed drastically. Upon hearing this, he exclaimed in shock, "This is impossible! If Guan Xing really killed Generals Han and Xu, he would definitely publicize it widely. It's impossible that we haven't heard any news about it yet."

Zhang Jing sneered, "If we publicized it, would you still be thinking about the steel mill? You'd probably have run away by now. And He Qi, we also have spies in Shanyin who know the general circumstances of He Qi's capture. Therefore, we are certain that Guan Xing's concealment of the battle situation was aimed at the two of you. Isn't this wiping you out in one fell swoop?"

Luo Tong: "..."

That damn Guan Xing, you're even more cunning than Jia Xu.

Zhang Jing continued, "I swear on the name of my ancestors that the news of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths is absolutely true. With both Han and Xu dead, Lu Xun will probably be next, and Sun Quan will definitely follow closely behind. So General Luo, there is no future in following Sun Quan. Only by joining my king can you have a bright future. After all, you are the stepson of the Imperial Censor."

Luo Tong glared at him fiercely, so angry that he almost ground his back teeth to powder. It's true that I am the stepson of the Imperial Censor, but can you please stop bringing this up all the time?

Zhang Jing said to himself, "While the Censor-in-Chief can certainly help you gain a foothold in the court, General Luo has lofty ambitions. He certainly wouldn't be content to be the Censor-in-Chief's subordinate. Instead, he wants to stand tall in front of the Censor-in-Chief and make everyone look at him with new eyes, right?"

Luo Tong said with a gloomy face, "You want me to use the power of the family to help you seize the steel mill's technology, right? And since your school administration is so greedy, you certainly won't let the paper mill go either, will you?"

Zhang Jing laughed and said, "It's so much easier talking to smart people, and you need this credit too, don't you?"

Luo Tong sighed resignedly, "Let's make a plan."

Espionage is a continuation of the main battlefield; as long as the main battlefield continues, espionage will never stop.

Cheng Li, however, was oblivious to this. After rescuing the child, he immediately rushed to the county jail, kicked open the cell door where Luo Cheng was, grabbed Luo Cheng by the collar, and punched him in the eye socket. Not satisfied with that, he punched him twice more before questioning, "Why did you lie to me? Why did you say that you betrayed Luo Tong?"

He was already aware of the existence of the School Affairs Office, but he lowered his guard because of Luo Cheng's confession, which led to Feng Fei's child being kidnapped, and thus Luo Tong being rescued.

He finally managed to grab Luo Tong, but before he could even warm his hand, Luo Tong flew away. He was getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it.

As for saying he shouldn't have believed Luo Cheng's testimony, can we blame him for that?

The process of arresting Luo Tong and his nephew was equivalent to solving a case. Once the people were caught, they would definitely have to give statements. Luo Cheng's statement was equivalent to the case summary. If you don't believe Luo Cheng's statement, what do you believe?

As for the two spies who were making a ruckus in front of the village chief and deliberately relaying messages to him, they should be arrested and their statements taken according to procedure. But finding them takes time. The countryside is so big, where are you going to look for them?

Besides, who would have thought that the School Affairs Office and Luo Tong were connected? They were completely unrelated. Saying that the School Affairs Office betrayed Luo Tong is indeed a bit far-fetched, far less credible than Luo Cheng's testimony. But who would have thought...

Cheng Li grabbed Luo Cheng's head and slammed it against the wall. His head was unharmed, but the wall was smashed with a hole the size of a bucket, leaving both Cheng Li and Luo Cheng stunned.

This prison was built thirty years ago, and due to budget constraints, it was rather shoddy, with only one layer of bricks. It could be easily pushed over with a little force; after all, not all prisons are like the Heavenly Prison.

Cheng Li was staring blankly at the cave entrance when Wang Bin returned, dejectedly saying, "Commander Cheng, I..."

Cheng Li immediately interrupted, "Let's talk outside. Also, allocate some funds later to renovate the prison cells. Who can be locked up in these cells?"

After saying that, he strode away and only asked when he returned to the jailer's duty hall, "Didn't catch up?"

Wang Bin nodded and said helplessly, "The School Affairs Bureau will definitely not be satisfied with not getting the iron smelting technology. Now that they have colluded with Luo Tong, there will definitely be more to come. So I guess they are still in Wushang."

Cheng Li nodded and said, "That's for sure. Although we didn't catch Zhang Jing this time, we managed to keep the steel mill intact, so at least we didn't suffer any losses."

"But now that the school administration has its eye on us, this kind of thing will definitely happen again. We can't be as passive as we are today when we encounter such a thing again."

"Go back and write a summary, clearly analyze the course of this incident and our mistakes, then call a meeting with everyone. What did General Guan say again? We must actively carry out criticism and self-criticism, summarize the lessons learned, and ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again next time."

"Furthermore, we severely lack effective means of rescuing hostages. When faced with such a situation, everyone panics. We absolutely cannot let this happen again next time. Therefore, I plan to select a group of elites for targeted training, specifically to simulate the scenario of hostages being tied up, and then launch rescue operations based on this. The more we rescue, the more experience we will naturally accumulate. What do you think?"

Wang Bin nodded and said, "Sima Yingming, I completely agree, but who should handle this matter?"

Cheng Li said, "I'll leave it to you and Zhu Kang. Draw troops from the steel mill garrison to conduct training. At the same time, draw a group of experienced officials skilled in tracking and solving cases from the county governments of various counties. I will also report to Prefect Xie and draw a group of people from the prefectural government to improve the training plan as much as possible. Next time we encounter the School Affairs Office kidnapping us, I will make sure they suffer the consequences."

Wang Bin nodded emphatically.