Dingjiangshan

Ning Yan held up the letter in his hand, looked at the letter suspiciously, then looked up Shili, and finally turned his head to look at Linglong beside him.

exquisite:"……"

This is the third time, Linglong thought silently.

There were no more than twenty words on the letter paper, not even a single remote capital, but the young majesty, who had read poetry and books since he was a child, seemed to suddenly become illiterate, and just turned the letter upside down by candlelight. After reading it three times, it seemed like I was trying to find out some "behind the lines" from it.

"It's a mistake." Ning Yan put the letter on the desk, leaned back in the chair, and said suspiciously, "Is that what Qin Liu said?"

Shili: "..."

Shili is not like Qin Liu who always circles around Ning Yan overtly and secretly. Over the years, he has not served Ning Yan much, so he doesn't know him very well. Subconsciously glanced at Linglong.

"...Back to the master, there is no mistake." Shili said cautiously: "That's what Sixth Brother said."

Ning Yan frowned, twisted the paper again, and read it carefully for the fourth time, as if he wanted to engrave every word on it in his mind.

Linglong had never seen Ning Yan have such an expression of worrying about gains and losses. She watched Ning Yan rubbing the letter paper, and the four characters "near the hometown" suddenly popped up in her mind.

Qin Liu would not pass on ambiguous news, and Ning Yan also believed that Shili did not make a mistake in translating it, but he just didn't understand why Ning Huaijin suddenly mentioned "drinking".

Almost at the same time when he saw this word, Ning Yan would think of the plum blossom wine that caused a catastrophe in his dream.That was the origin of all the incidents, and it was also the chief culprit of his inability to hide.

Ning Yan didn't believe that Ning Huaijin had forgotten this incident, and even with Ning Huaijin's character, he could only remember it better than him. Even if he saw a wine jar while walking on the street, he would still think of this oolong.

Then why did he suddenly mention drinking, Ning Yan thought.

He had a vague guess in his heart, but he was afraid that he might be wrong, so he didn't even dare to think about it, he just felt unbelievable.

After all, this invitation was too sensitive for both Ning Yan and Ning Huaijin, even more meaningful than any flower viewing cruise.

In addition, this is Ning Huaijin's invitation, if Ning Yan's "bold" guess is put aside, it seems that there is no other meaning.

Ning Yan took a deep breath, and suddenly stood up from behind the desk.

Shili and Linglong were caught off guard, thinking he was going to do something, they subconsciously stepped forward, wanting to follow him out.

But Ning Yan just turned around in a circle, and then supported the table with his hands, as if he didn't even think about what he was going to do.

Linglong and Shili looked at each other, and asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, what's the matter?"

Ning Yan shook his head and said nothing.

——Because he was being enveloped in ecstasy, and he hadn't squeezed out the strength to speak yet.

No matter how frantically Ning Yan thought "it might be a mistake" or "it might be a misunderstanding" to try to calm himself down, so as not to be disappointed later, the joy called "get what you want" was still against his will. swept over him.

He couldn't resist the joy brought to him by Ning Huaijin at all, as if no matter whether Ning Huaijin had detached feelings for him or not, he was only wavering at the moment when he sent the message It was enough to make Ning Yan ecstatic.

But this joy came too fast and too fast, so quickly that Ning Yan had no time to react. His expression was blank, his eyes fell on a point in the void, and his left hand pressing on the table trembled slightly.

"Ten miles." Ning Yan squeezed out a bit of strength from the two emotions of timidity and joy, and said in a deep voice, "Call the governor of Nanyang to come in."

"The Governor of Nanyang is not in Nanyang today." Shili replied, "He went to condolences to the farmers who suffered losses outside the city today—but are you going to call him back?"

——As if there was such a thing, Ning Yan squeezed the center of his brows, forcefully forcing himself to regain his reason from the wave-like emotional washing.He took a deep breath and made up his mind.

"Then don't bother." Ning Yan said: "Just leave a message for him."

Linglong felt a little uncomfortable when she heard his words, and hurriedly asked, "Is Your Majesty going out?"

"Yes." Ning Yan hurriedly put away the letter paper and put it in his arms. It was getting late outside, but he seemed to be unable to wait for a moment. He walked out from behind the desk in a hurry, and was about to go out. .

"By the way—" Ning Yan walked to the door, suddenly remembered something, stopped for a while, and turned to look at Linglong.

"You don't have to go." Ning Yan said: "Tomorrow morning, find a doctor to come over and give you a pulse."

Linglong obediently replied yes.

Ning Yan's gaze moved away from Linglong's face and landed on her lower abdomen. He frowned slightly, as if he was weighing something in his heart.

After a while, he opened his mouth and said, "You are already two—oh no, three months pregnant, understand."

Linglong's expression did not change, as if what Ning Yan ordered was not such a major event as pregnancy, but an ordinary dinner.

"Yes." Linglong said.

In the Xie family's army camp hundreds of miles away from Nanyang Mansion, open flames and candles had been extinguished everywhere, and thick cotton cloth was wrapped around the horse's hooves, and the entire camp was sunk in darkness.

The light armor on Xie Jue and Ning Huaijin's body had already been blackened with coal ash in advance. The two of them held the horse in their hands and stood condescendingly on a high place halfway up the mountain, looking in the direction of Tongbai County from afar.

"Qin Liu came back and said that people in Tongbai County are not completely forbidden to enter and exit." Ning Huaijin said: "Every three days, the gate of the city will be opened, and the farmers outside will be in units of villages. Gather a few young and middle-aged people, pass the card into the city to deliver food... Judging from the current situation, this is the only way to sneak into the city."

"However, the young and middle-aged men brought here are all familiar faces of the guards. If there are unfamiliar faces mixed in, the guards will not let them enter the city even if they have a pass pass in their hands." Xie Jue said: "The prince's move is inevitable. It's a little risky."

The day before, Qin Liu was ordered by Ning Huaijin to investigate the situation in Tongbai County.The guard surnamed Feng was suspicious and cautious. He had guarded against people entering the city in troubled waters, and established a set of rules for entering and exiting the city gates. It is reported that if the person has relatives in the family, three people will be selected from among the relatives, and the local township head will go as a guarantee with their household registration, so that they can be led out.

So if you want to fish in troubled waters, it is not a simple matter.

But the day when Qin Liu came back coincidentally, the next morning was the day when the city gates were opened. The city gates would be open from the beginning of Yinshi to the end of Shenshi, and only the easternmost gate would be opened. take inspection.

Xie Jue originally wanted to give up the method of attacking from the inside, but Ning Huaijin came up with an idea. Otherwise, he would attack Tongbai City at the end of the Yin Dynasty, and take advantage of the dawn of the sky. Mix up the water, and see if there is a chance to sneak into the city.

Although Xie Jue felt that this method was a bit risky, but after thinking about it, it was not impossible, so he agreed after weighing it.

According to his and Ning Huaijin's previous deployment, he and Ning Huaijin would leave most of the soldiers in the battalion, and only bring [-] troops each, and attack Xinyang City from the northwest.It's another matter whether you fight or not. In short, it's better to make more noise.

And Qin Liu took the five or six elites they selected to ambush by the east gate, and if there was a chance, he would fish in troubled waters and sneak into the city with the food delivery convoy.

"When the prince is in Beijing, he always thinks about things several times to make sure everything is safe." There is still a quarter of an hour before departure, Xie Jue smiled, and chatted casually: "When you send troops to fight, you should make good use of it." A risky conspiracy."

"If you just stand still, it will waste food and pay, and it won't help the battle situation. It's better to try it. It's just a surprise attack. If it doesn't work, there is no risk, but if it succeeds, it will help our army a lot." Ning Huaijin paused, Said: "What's more, this king suddenly wants to return to Nanyang earlier."

"What?" Xie Jue said, "Your Highness is not used to being in the army?"

"No." In front of Xie Jue, Ning Huaijin felt that there was nothing to say, and said calmly, "I want to go back to see Your Majesty earlier."

Xie Jue: "..."

He turned his head silently, looking at the dark shadows of the soldiers at the foot of the mountain, he didn't dare to continue the words.

Ning Huaijin didn't care too much, he looked up at the sky, pulled the rein first, and said, "The time has come."

Xie Jue's expression turned pale, and he said sternly, "My lord, please be careful. The battlefield is different than usual. If the enemy has the ability to defend the city, you must retreat in time. You and I are only here to create chaos, so we must protect ourselves." For the top."

Ning Huaijin nodded slightly, and led the horse down the mountain.

At the second quarter of Yin time, Ning Huaijin and Xie Jue led the team and left the dense forest quietly. Noisily approaching Tongbai.

Tongbai County is not small, but it is only a county after all.In order to prevent night attack, the guard under Ning Zheng transferred all the soldiers to the city to garrison, but instead gave Ning Huaijin a chance to make a surprise attack.

In this surprise attack, in order to hide their traces as much as possible, they all dressed lightly. Unless they encountered an unexpected situation, they even avoided contacting with signal flares, so as not to startle the snake and be discovered by the people in the city first.

Two watchtowers were placed on each of the four city walls of the county seat of Tongbai County. Each watchtower had two people, and the guards changed every two hours.It can be seen that this general surnamed Feng attaches great importance to Tongbai County. Although he has not taken the initiative to attack and try to advance towards Nanyang these days, the defense has been extremely tight.

——But even Ning Zheng couldn't imagine that besides the emperor, there was also a ghostly shadow beside the emperor who came to this expedition.

Ning Huaijin believed in Qin Liu very much. Even if other people couldn't get in, as long as there was a commotion on their side, Qin Liu would definitely be able to enter Tongbai County.

And once the shadow beside His Majesty enters the enemy's hole, it will only become a sharp knife, dormant in the dark shadow, and will strike the enemy fatally at any time.

Ning Huaijin raised his hand, and the soldiers and horses behind him stopped silently.Ning Huaijin squinted her eyes, looking at the tower a hundred meters away through the cover of the sparse forest.

He flicked the curved bow on his back forward, took out a feathered arrow from the arrow basket, put it on the bow, and slowly drew the bowstring.

In the next second, the feather arrow burst out of the air with a sharp vigor, and made a crisp whistle in the quiet night, piercing the throat of a watchman.