"...Tang Rong led the scout battalion to enter Hukou Mountain first, avoiding the sentry post in Xieyang Valley, and arrived at the back of Luyang Town from the Yangchang Trail on Yingzui Cliff, hibernating in the valley. When the front army faced off, they used red wolf smoke as a signal to circle around. Later, they launched a sneak attack on Luyang Town, leaving the Qi army surrounded by enemies from both sides and unable to take care of themselves..."
In front of the sand table, Xie Queshan was talking about the formation of troops. He was well-dressed and serious in speech. Nan Yi forced himself to concentrate, but listening to his voice, he always felt a little distracted.
Xie Queshan glanced at the people in the scout camp and met Nan Yi's eyes that drifted over unintentionally. He paused for a moment as if nothing had happened.
"When making a sneak attack, be sure not to fight head-on, but to attack more points. As soon as the Qi army turns around, you will retreat. Wait until they relax their vigilance and then continue to attack. If you keep going like this, the enemy army will be lazy."
Tang Rong pondered for a moment, feeling a little unsure: "This trip will last anywhere from five to six days to more than ten days in the mountains. Will the entire battalion be mobilized?"
Tang Rong was actually asking about Nan Yi. He was not sure whether Xie Queshan wanted Nan Yi to accompany the army on the mission. Although the scout camp is full of familiar Yucheng soldiers, and they have a tacit understanding after getting along some time ago, Nan Yi is a woman after all, and her physical strength and life are still different from everyone else.
Nan Yi also heard Tang Rong's hesitation. She was a little unconvinced. Surviving in the mountains was what she was best at.
"Yes, the whole battalion is dispatched. Everyone must complete this task together." Xie Queshan answered Tang Rong firmly without looking at Nan Yi.
Nan Yi immediately straightened his back and pen.
"General, take your orders!" Tang Rong replied with his fists clasped.
Tang Rong led everyone in the scout camp to set off immediately. Nan Yi didn't expect it to be so urgent and didn't even have time to say goodbye alone.
When leaving the camp, she walked at the end and looked at Xie Queshan.
He smiled softly at her, with trust and love. His determination should make her feel at ease, but she always felt as if she had forgotten something and couldn't help but look back. He was sitting alone in the tent, still smiling the same way - he seemed very happy, but how could he, who was always cautious, be so calm before victory?
This thought passed through Nan Yi's mind, and she suddenly wanted to turn around and grab his hand desperately, but she felt ridiculous - what's wrong, why don't you allow him to be happy? Isn't it worth being happy to finally be able to feel proud and proud, and to be able to shut those people's mouths if they win? The curtain fell down the moment she paused, and she could no longer see him.
Nan Yi followed the scout camp. At this moment, she was a soldier who had received military orders, and she should no longer have such distracting thoughts.
They soon began a new trek, spending several days and nights passing through the untrodden thorny area of Hukou Mountain and climbing steep rock walls, just to bypass the blockade and reach the enemy's rear.
Every step they take is closer to victory.
This is Nan Yi's belief every time he is exhausted.
——
Jinling.
Sister Qiu came out of the palace just before the palace door was locked. For some reason, the eldest princess Xu Keyue has been calling her into the palace frequently recently to keep her company. Probably because she inherited too much love from the Xie family in Lidu Mansion, and her family was the only Xie family member in Aurous Hill, the eldest princess was particularly fond of her.
Most of the conversation was about romantic matters, occasionally interspersed with Sister Qiu asking about the battle situation on the front line. And Xu Keyue seemed to have something in her words. She would inadvertently ask Sister Qiu about her father, Xie Zhu, what he had been busy with recently and who he had met.
At first glance, it sounded like just casual greetings, but Sister Qiu had been having some troubles recently, so she took these words to heart.
She noticed that the eldest princess didn't seem to trust her father.
Is this also what the officials mean?
The carriage carried her back home through the streets of Jinling, and the dusk was getting late.
After passing through the front yard, she discovered that her father was entertaining guests in Yaohua Garden tonight. Her father is now highly respected in Jinling. The house has long been bustling with guests, and there are even people coming to propose marriage to her from time to time. Banquets are already commonplace at home.
But what's strange about Sister Qiu is that there are many servants guarding the Yaohua Garden tonight.
Her suspicion grew from a small shoal to a raging flood.
It is difficult to guard against domestic thieves. As long as you are willing, it is not difficult for Sister Qiu to get close to Yaohua Garden. Her footsteps moved towards the dense shade of trees in an unexpected way. This place in the inner courtyard was unguarded and could cover her figure. Through the hollow window carvings, she could see the scene of the night banquet in the garden.
Xie Zhu was sitting in the guest-host position, and there were seven men sitting below him, all of different ages. Judging from their attire and demeanor, they were probably all nobles of the royal palace. Sister Qiu recognized two of them as old ministers from Jiangnan who often came to the house, but the rest were strangers.
Sister Qiu's heart jumped to her throat. Although she was at home, the act of peeking made her already timid legs weak. She didn't see anything strange, and her mentality was about to collapse. She wanted to turn around and leave, but suddenly a word fell into her ears like thunder.
"After all the calculations, I didn't realize that Mr. Xie's nephew was so hidden. He thought he was one of our own, so all the important information fell into his hands in vain and was given to Bingzhusi to make gunpowder!"
Sister Qiu's footsteps suddenly stopped.
"Although Lidu Mansion was defeated and General Wanyan was defeated, fortunately, the eldest princess was able to turn the tide and cleverly used Xie Queshan's identity to make a fuss. In the current situation, as long as he is in the city of Lidu Mansion for a day, the imperial court will not be able to send troops. , but if he leaves, the battle to defend the city will be lost. Lidu Mansion is already in the bag!"
"Now that we are able to win the upper hand, Mr. Daman is also indispensable. If it weren't for your mediation in Jinling, how could we have been able to turn things around so quickly?" The man raised his cup from a distance to thank Zhu.
"I just heard that Prince Consort Zhang went to Lidu Mansion. Is there anything the officials can do to turn the tide?" The person who spoke had a sharp voice and was sitting on the left side of Xie Zhu. He was probably a high-status eunuch in the palace.
Xie Zhu's eyes darkened, and he drank with a toast to the two men: "So many people from my Xie family have died for him. If he could have supported him, the gentlemen and I would not be sitting here."
Sister Qiu held onto the wall and tried her best to steady herself. Every word she heard impacted her cognition.
But she had never thought as clearly and quickly as she did now, and many fragments of the past suddenly fit together in an orderly manner.
In the 21st year of Yongkang, my father, who was an official in the court, tried his best to lead the war, but failed to implement the New Deal and was demoted to his home. In order to save some face, he remained the calm scholar Mr. When he is drunk, he will scold the court in a rebellious manner - with such a monarch, the dynasty is in danger.
It took several years for my father to accept the current situation and work as a supervisor in that small shipbuilding department, talking to those imperial students about their burdens and doing nothing. In Sister Qiu's eyes, her father is depressed and frustrated, and there is always a sense of depression in his calm brows, but he also has backbone and refuses to follow others' influence or bend against his own ideals.
In the twenty-eighth year of his first arrival in Yongkang, three months before the fall of Bianjing, my father went on a business trip due to matters related to the shipping company. When he came back, the decadent air that had been depressed for several years was completely gone.
At that time, she was still a little lucky, thinking that her father had finally found some joy in life in the shipping department, and could put aside his depression and look forward. Thinking about it now, maybe it was at that time that he and Daqi reached some consensus.
Later, I accidentally caught a glimpse of the secret conversation between my father and Wanyan Puruo in the ancient temple of Jinling. On the night when Zhongshu ordered Shen Zhizhong to die, my father rarely stayed home at night...
All this points to a possibility.
Sister Qiu finally understood that her father's words of "useless things" after the death of her sixth cousin were referring to the officials.
He thought of a more powerful monarch.
Sister Qiu quickly turned around and ran away. The whole night wind in Jinling seemed to be rushing towards her, trying to penetrate her and send her into deeper darkness. In front of her was the Wangchuan River. She took a sip from a bowl of Meng Po soup. , you can forget what you saw and heard, and return to the carefree and colorful dreams of the past.
But she can't forget.
She wanted to remember everyone's face, every detail of the banquet, and what she could do with her meager abilities. She returned to her room, spread out the drawing paper, studied the ink as quickly as possible, and picked up a pen to swipe. Drop paper.
By noon on the second day, a lifelike picture of a night banquet had been painted. She didn't dare to wait for a moment, and immediately brought the painting to the palace to see the eldest princess Xu Keyue.
Just as she was standing at the gate of the palace waiting for the eunuch to announce his arrival, a fast horse headed to Lidu Mansion with urgent documents passed by her, carrying the smell of pen and ink that had not yet dissipated from the royal palace.
History is passing by in an accidental way.
——
Nan Yi, who was under the shade of a tree, suddenly woke up, her heavy heartbeat almost nailing her western limb to the spot.
After several days of trekking, they had reached the hills behind Luyang Town. Just waiting for the agreed signal to rise, they could sneak attack Luyang Town and attack Qi Bing with reinforcements. All they could do now was wait and rest. Nan Yi took a nap under the tree during the changing of the guard.
But for a moment of staring in confusion, she seemed to be pressed into bed by a ghost. She was conscious and knew that she was in a dangerous mountain. She also knew that she was sleeping. She wanted to wake up, but she couldn't move. Then she saw Xie Queshan walking towards her.
He said, get up quickly, there is going to be a war.
She wanted to speak, but she couldn't open her mouth. Xie Queshan turned around and left without waiting for her. She was very anxious, wait for me!
She seemed to be stuck in dense invisible mud. The more she struggled, the deeper she sank. Suddenly, her heart felt real cramps, and she woke up, covered in sweat.
The surrounding mountains were still silent, and the chirping of cicadas seemed to be getting more and more sad. The soldiers of the scout camp were resting in twos and threes, and there was still no news from the front line.
Nan Yi inexplicably remembered another trivial matter. She vaguely remembered what he said in her ear after having sex in the camp that night, but she was so sleepy at the time that she didn't even chew the words in her mind.
What was said?
This is something that we don’t have to think about anymore. What meaning does it have in that situation? But ever since she traveled over the mountains and ridges to get farther and farther away from Lidu Mansion, some small strangeness and uneasiness began to grow in her mind day and night.
Maybe it came from that sudden love, he seemed to have forgotten the pain too quickly, and was so heartless that it was not like him at all.
A half-remembered thing is the most painful. Her heart began to beat, and while she was thinking hard, she walked to the edge of the cliff, hoping to take advantage of the mountain breeze to wake herself up.
The signal didn't come for a long time. Could it be that he deceived her somewhere else? Reinforcements won't come, right?
Could it be that he sent her out because Lidu Mansion was about to fall?
As soon as this depressing thought came out, Nan Yi felt that the ground under her feet had become nothingness, and it seemed as if she would step into an abyss with every step she took. She didn't want to believe this possibility, so she glanced worriedly into the distance.
Immediately afterwards, Nan Yi was shocked.
In the lush woods of the valley in the distance, red wolf smoke shot into the sky!
"Red smoke!" she almost screamed.
Waiting, waiting, that's the signal to start the war, reinforcements have arrived! He didn't lie to her!
