Liu Huafei

In Jikang City, it was midnight.

This is a county town more than 60 miles away from the besieged city of Jicheng, and the army brought by Jun Mingfang is stationed here.

The original county magistrate gave up the government office to a group of generals as temporary residences and offices.

Jun Mingfang held up an oil lamp, looked at it carefully in front of the huge map, sighed for a while, and put the lamp back on the table.

The personal attendant stepped forward and said softly: "General, it's late at night, you should go to bed earlier."

Jun Mingfang shook his head, sat on the low couch, and took the water channel handed over by the attendant: "The Japanese pirates and rebels are allied to make trouble everywhere, how can I rest at ease. When will it arrive, is there still no news?"

"The messenger soldiers have just left for two days, so they can't be so fast." The attendant said, "Indeed, some generals in the army have criticized us for not sending troops. Jicheng, the nearest city to Jikang, has been besieged for dozens of days. Probably ran out of food and grass long ago, I'm afraid it won't last long."

Jun Mingfang closed his tired eyes, rubbed the center of his brows, and remained silent.

The attendant looked at him for a moment, then continued: "Mr. Mingfang, please remind the young master that His Royal Highness Ji Wang is still trapped in the city. When the young master went out to fight, the emperor specifically confessed—"

"The emperor asked me to protect the safety of King Ji as much as possible. When I have to do it, I will naturally obey the imperial edict and spare my life to protect King Ji." Jun Mingfang said slowly, "But now is not the time to send troops. I can only hope that Ji His Royal Highness, take good care of yourself until the day when our army comes to the city."

As soon as Jun Mingfang finished speaking, there was a sudden noise outside the door, someone shouted "there is an assassin", and there was only a chaotic sound of weapons being handed over.

Jun Mingfang frowned, and walked out the door.As soon as the door was opened, a group of soldiers stood still outside the door, and the first two were holding a person in their hands.

"Let go of me, I'm not an assassin." The comer struggled angrily, but he didn't use much effort, just pretending.

Jun Mingfang looked at the light from the torch, and couldn't help being surprised: "Nianhua?! Why are you here?! Let him go, you guys go down."

Nianhua glanced to the left and right, snorted softly, and struggled to grab his arm. Before he could speak, someone behind him suddenly asked in a low voice, "Nianhua?"

Looking back, Nianhua saw a vaguely familiar face in the line.He was startled, and then he heard Jun Mingfang say: "Chen Baijiang, you can continue to lead people to patrol, there is nothing wrong here."

"Chen...Hundred Generals!" Nianhua cried out in surprise, took two steps closer to the man, and took a closer look, "So it was you, Chen Zheng! Didn't you follow Su Wei? How did you get here? Are you here? And why are you still a hundred generals!"

"Do you know each other?" Jun Mingfang walked down the steps, grabbed Nianhua's wrist with his cool and pale hand, and said to Chen Zheng: "You can talk about it later. Nianhua, come with me. What you want to explain── Not a lot."

Chen Zheng nodded to Nianhua, and led the people away.Nianhua looked at the serious face of the deputy commander, General Pingkou, feeling a little uneasy.

He is not afraid of being punished, not afraid of being arrested and thrown back to Zhenyang Palace.He heard a lot of rumors on the way here, and they all said that General Pingkou had been guarding Jikang City for more than a month, and he had never planned to send troops except to defend the city gate to resist a small group of rogues.

Nianhua knows that he is good at martial arts, but he is not arrogant enough to think that he can defeat the bandits and relieve the siege of Jicheng with his own strength.He can only rely on Jun Mingfang's army to fight together──

But if Jun Mingfang had his own plans and was unwilling to send troops, how else could he save Zihan?

"Vice Commander, I..."

"Do you know what crime you should be guilty of leaving the palace without permission?! For your youthful vigor, I will not hold you accountable for trespassing on the military camp. Tomorrow morning, I will immediately send someone to escort you back to the capital and hand it over to the emperor! " Jun Mingfang shook off Nianhua's hand, interrupted what he was going to say, and said sharply.

Nian Hua bit her lip, and argued forcefully: "I'm also a member of the guard camp, why can't I fight?! Do you know what stupid things Yuan Mutian has done, you are so stupid and loyal!"

When Jun Mingfang heard the words, he suddenly pursed his lips tightly and did not speak.

Nianhua was stunned and said, "You...you know?! You...you all know?!"

Seeing Jun Mingfang's acquiescence by bowing his head slightly, a wry smile spread from the corner of his mouth.

Nianhua played with a finger, exhaled, and said in a self-defeating manner: "Whatever you want, whatever you think. After I save Zihan, I will never go back again. It has nothing to do with me what you think."

"The emperor will not agree."

"I'll let him die!" Nianhua said angrily, "Okay, I won't tell you those useless things. As you can see, I ran out by myself. It's useless if Yuan Mu is crazy. I'm here to find You only have one thing, when will you send troops to Jicheng?!"

Jun Mingfang shook his head: "Now is not the best time to send troops."

"What?!" Nianhua bit her lower lip and took two steps impatiently, "You really plan to guard this Jikang City for the rest of your life, and what happens outside has nothing to do with you?! How can you..."

"War is not a child's play, and you can't let me tell you what to do." Jun Mingfang said, "I don't need to put you in prison, you stay with me tonight. If you don't want to go back to Beijing, I won't force you, but You must follow me honestly. Tomorrow there will be three groups of people coming to join the army, I am going to rest, you can do what you want."

As Jun Mingfang said that, she actually fell down on the couch and dozed off.

Nianhua stared at him for a long while, until Jun Mingfang's chest rose and fell steadily and his breathing became long, then he gave up and gave up a sigh.

He traveled day and night these days, and he was indeed tired and sleepy.He needs a good night's rest to recharge his batteries.

If Jun Mingfang is determined not to send troops, in the end, he still has to rely on himself──

Zihan, wait for me.

Under the cold moon, Jicheng was desolate, without a single intact house, women, young children and the elderly were all gathered in the original palace, and all the middle-aged men in the city were mobilized, armed with broken and incomplete weapons. side patrol.

Cheng Zihan came out of a room holding a bowl of clear water with a few grains of rice on the bottom.The cold wind picked up, blowing the thin and worn clothing, Cheng Zihan folded his arms and rubbed them, looking up at the bright moon.

The imperial capital of Zhenyang, thousands of miles away──

"Cheng Zihan, Zihan... where the hell are you? You were the one who failed me first, how could you... hurt me so righteously." Yuan Qi, Prince Rui who was banned , leaning against the promenade and looking up at the night sky.

In the middle of the night when the dew was heavy, the voice of "the emperor is coming" suddenly came from a distance, and Yuan Qi didn't bother to get up to greet him.

Yuan Mutian approached the yard of his only biological brother, looked at his decadent appearance, frowned and shook his head, dismissed the palace servants, and walked towards Yuan Qi.