Chapter 150

"Take over the mountain city?"

Qu Dubian has a very clear understanding of the cities on the northern border.

Beijiang successively conquered two cities on the west side of Dazhou, and the mountain city was the third city of the western defenders. Occupying the advantage of a small hill, it was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

After the people of Northern Xinjiang captured 20%, the main pressure was concentrated on the east side and the middle. The pressure on the mountain city was relatively the smallest.

However, the mountain city is equally important. If it is lost, the defenders on the west side will be almost useless. Now that the two cities have been lost, the cities on the central axis will be attacked from both sides.

Xu Jin said seriously: "If you want to get to the front line, fight from Jushan City."

"Leading troops to fight is no joke. It's not that Grandpa doesn't want you to stay here, but it's not the right time at this juncture."

Even like Xia Fuyang in the past, during the truce period with Northern Xinjiang, he was able to grow up on the front line dealing with small-scale frictions with Northern Xinjiang, cultivate his loyal subordinates, and cultivate the soldiers' trust in him.

But now, it is wartime, and the enemy will not give them time to train a new general.

Just as the soldiers on the border thought, the symbolic significance of the Seventh Prince coming to the border with the emperor's order was greater than his practical significance.

Xu Jin said this, but Qu Dubian knew in his heart that his grandfather didn't want him to take risks and wanted him to be in a relatively safe place.

He did not make it difficult for Xu Jin. "I'll listen to you, Grandpa."

Xu Jin also breathed a sigh of relief. He and Si Wan had corresponded a lot and knew that Xiaoguai and Princess Zhiyi had been very close over the years. Even this trip to the border was mostly because of her.

Stimulated by the hanging flag of bones, he was actually very worried that Qu Duanbian was young and hot-tempered. Just like Ting Feng back then, he would rush out to fight personally no matter how difficult the enemy was, which made people very nervous.

Fortunately, his Xiaoguai is different from Tingfeng, and he won’t do anything big at any time.

"Then wait until tomorrow morning and go to occupy the mountain city. The general guarding the city will be your uncle Ersen. You can rest when you get there." The Northern Frontier army is eyeing the city covetously. It will be safer tomorrow. After tomorrow, they may attack again at any time.

By the time Zhongyi City is engulfed in war, he will have no time to make detailed arrangements.

Qu Watanabe: "But grandpa, if you have any free time during the war, you must rest well."

Xu Jin: "Of course, of course."

After the meeting between the grandfather and grandson, Prince Ming finally arrived in the evening.

His skin had been eroded by the wind and frost of the northern border, and he was completely different from the prince who had been pretentious in the capital.

Only the one-eyed shape is still very special.

We ate mutton in the evening. There was a bonfire outside the tent and a big iron pot in which the mutton was cooked. There were not many stools, so we just moved some tree stumps to sit on.

Prince Ming gulped down a bowl of mutton soup and sighed, "After drinking it, my whole body feels warm. This is life. My little nephew, has your father ever told you that he wants me to go back?"

Qu Watanabe: "Uncle, why don't you give up?"

Prince Ming submitted several memorials requesting to return to Beijing every year, but Emperor Chongzhao was too lazy to read them.

Prince Ming sighed, "That's enough."

Tired too.

When he came here, he didn't expect that he would stay here for more than ten years.

"In fact, the emperor could send other relatives, but he is worried."

Xu Jin came over with a can of freshly brewed milk tea and snorted, "I don't like the Military Supervision Office over there. They are of little use but cause so much trouble. I won't rebel. What do you think, little emperor?"

Prince Ming coughed heavily.

Xu Jin ignored him and poured a bowl of milk tea for Qu Dubian: "Try it, it's salty. We don't drink alcohol during the preparation period, so this is good. It will give you strength."

Qu Dubian took a sip and smacked his lips, commenting: "Grandpa, the sweeter ones are better."

He looked towards the tower and vaguely saw the figures of the Border Army Supervisory Department personnel, working in groups of three or two. "Are the people from the Supervisory Department patrolling as well?"

Prince Ming nodded and said, "Yes, it is to monitor whether the soldiers defending the tower are lazy. They will come more frequently during wartime. After the establishment of the Supervision Office, this work will be carried out regardless of weather conditions."

Qu Watanabe: "It sounds very dedicated."

"The soldiers under Grandpa's command are all good people. It's understandable that they slacked off for a while," Xu Jin said. "That group of people is not annoying enough."

Prince Ming was helpless: "This is the duty of the military supervisors of the Supervisory Office. I have asked them to have as little contact with the Marquis as possible. It's not a big deal. Just ignore each other. Let's all be considerate of each other."

Xu Jin: "Okay, okay, stop."

If Xia Hong doesn't come around, they'll start arguing again if they continue talking.

Qu Watanabe finally figured it out.

My grandfather was annoyed by the people in the Supervisory Office, just like he was annoyed by the classmate who recorded everything that happened in the class and told the head teacher everything.

But you really can't push him into the water because he has a special appointment as the class teacher.

Qu Watanabe poured a bowl of salty milk tea for Yi Twelve. He thought Liuliu would not be able to get used to it, but he didn't expect that he found it much more palatable than him.

"But, can the Border Military Supervision Office really not be withdrawn?"

Prince Ming: "My little nephew, if you can get your father's approval, the Supervisory Office can be withdrawn." Otherwise, why couldn't he go back for so many years.

Xu Jin: "There are no such annoying guys in the mountain city. You won't have to see them when you go there."

Qu Duanbian shook his head: "No, I think if conflicts accumulate for a long time, something bad will happen."

Prince Ming: "Don't worry, Feng Bing was born in the East Factory, he is a very good person, he has been here for so many years, he can handle things easily."

He was still worried in the first few years, but after gradually giving up power, he felt that Feng Bing was a good person and did a good job in everything he was told to do. So he handed over the patrol and inspection chores to Feng Bing, and he went backstage to deal with armaments and people's livelihood.

"oh……"

Qu Dubian remembered the eunuch who greeted him at the gate of Zhongsan City.

I was in a hurry to get on the road and didn't pay much attention. I'll talk to him next time I have the chance to meet him. He sounds like a wonderful person.

They didn't eat much of the mutton soup, so they distributed the rest to the soldiers.

When they came to get it, they seemed very reserved, probably because Qu Dubian was here, and they didn't even dare to say a word of the nonsense they usually said.

Qu Dubian went straight into his grandfather's tent. After he entered, the situation outside was gradually relaxed.

“I’m still not familiar with it after all.”

The soldiers we led to suppress bandits would never be like this.

B Twelve said: "We will stay here for a long time, we will get familiar with it."

Qu Watanabe: "I would like to solve it faster."

During the war between the two sides, the two borders were blocked. There is no news yet about where Xie Lishan and his sister went after they escaped.

On the surface, Princess Zhiyi is dead, but the news that she is still alive is top secret during the war. Otherwise, the Northern Frontier will probably conduct a thorough search, and then my sister will definitely not be able to hide.

For safety reasons, all actions must be carried out in secret.

Yi Twelve understood what he was thinking, "Once they find a safe place to stay, they will do everything they can to send the message out. Your Highness, just wait."

"Waiting for what?"

Xu Jin came in, "Waiting for grandpa?"

"Yes, I'll wait for you."

Yi Twelve quietly left the tent, leaving the space to the two of them.

Qu Dubian and Xu Jin chatted until midnight. Most of what he talked about were daily trivialities between himself and his grandmother, and his grandfather listened very carefully.

These were ordinary days in which he had no part.

It was not until the late night that Xu Jin suddenly realized that it was already very late, and told him to rest quickly as they still had to travel to Jushan City tomorrow.

Qu Watanabe: "Grandpa, go to sleep too."

Xu Jin: "Grandpa is not sleepy, he still wants to go out and take a look."

Qu Watanabe pulled his sleeve.

After a few seconds, seeing his grandson's disapproving and threatening look, Xu Jin compromised: "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you."

The man who said he was not sleepy actually fell asleep soon after he got on the bed. Qu Watanabe used his inner strength to press on several acupoints that help sleep for a while, helping his grandfather fall into a deep sleep.

He moved a small stool and sat in front of the bed, sighing slightly.

If possible, he really wanted to give his grandfather medicine to let him sleep for a day and a night to recuperate, but it was not possible. Now in the war, even alcohol cannot be drunk. He could only use this method to make his grandfather sleep better.

Hope it recovers a bit.

He stayed here for the rest of the night, and whenever grandpa woke up subconsciously, he would use his inner strength to soothe his grandfather's pain.

It was not until the early morning when the sun was dim that Qu Dubian stretched and walked out of the tent.

When Lang Qing saw him coming out, he waved from afar and trotted over, "Dear Lord..."

"Shhh."

Qu Duanbian said softly: "Grandpa is sleeping and hasn't woken up yet."

Lang Qing widened his eyes, hurried in to take a look, covered his mouth after a few seconds, and tiptoed out.

Then he dared to point at the old man inside who was breathing steadily and slowly, and said in a low voice: "Is it really true?"

Qu Watanabe nodded.

Lang Qing quickly pulled him away and asked all the soldiers to lower their voices so as not to disturb the people inside.

After walking about ten meters, Lang Qing explained, "The Marquis hasn't slept for a long time, and he has been working non-stop these days. We advised him to rest but he scolded us back. In fact, I also know that the Marquis has something on his mind and will wake up soon."

Qu Watanabe: "Grandpa slept for half the night this time, so he should be in better spirits."

Deep sleep restores energy the fastest.

Lang Qing almost kowtowed to him: "You are the one who can persuade the Marquis."

Qu Watanabe: "Then I'll leave first. Grandpa has woken up, Uncle Lang Qing, please tell him."

"Eh? Aren't you going to wait for the Lord to wake up?"

Qu Dubian smiled and said, "If you don't call him, he will have to sleep for an hour."

Seeing that he insisted, Lang Qing personally sent him out from the back city gate yesterday, took a detour through the second city, avoided the occupied city, and went directly to Jushan City.

The five hundred soldiers that Qu Dubian brought from the capital will be incorporated into his direct army in Jushan City.

The mountain city was built by hollowing out a small hill, which has high terrain and is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

There are also scattered small trees with a hint of green around.

After entering the city, Ersen came to greet him: "Greetings, His Majesty the Seventh Prince!"

Lang Qing and Ersen are both my grandfather’s confidants, one is agile and the other is calm, and Ersen is the calm one.

He is not good at offense, but good at defense.

Qu Watanabe: "Uncle Nimori, no need to be polite."

Nisen: "It's still relatively peaceful here. Your Highness, would you like to go and select your direct soldiers first?"

"Soldiers have to be selected," Qu Dubian touched his chin, "but Uncle Ersen, is there enough gunpowder here?"

Ersen: "?"

The topic jumped too quickly. He was stunned for two seconds before he said, "Not a small amount. But we should still use it. The people in Northern Frontier are not short of gunpowder now, so our advantage in fighting against them is much less."

Qu Watanabe: "I want to use some."

It's fine to use it, but...

"What are you doing with gunpowder?" Nimori advised, "Your Highness, gunpowder is very dangerous."

Qu Du recalled the formula ratio that he had successfully adjusted on the road to suppress bandits, and shook his head as he walked: "No, it's not dangerous enough."

Ersen held his breath and uttered a word: "Ah?"

Gunpowder isn’t dangerous?

-

The other side.

Xu Jin just woke up.

It was exactly half an hour later as Qu Watanabe had estimated.

Lang Qing waited outside until he woke up. When he heard the noise inside, he went in immediately and said happily, "My Lord is awake."

After a good night's sleep, Xu Jin felt a lot more relaxed and his spirit was at least half restored.

"What time is it now?"

Lang Qing: "The soldiers have had breakfast and are now preparing for battle!"

"I actually slept until now."

"It must be that the prince has come to Zhongyi City. The Marquis is happy, and he relaxes when he is happy!"

Xu Jin fell into deep thought.

Looking at the small blanket draped over her body and the small stool beside the bed.

After thinking for a long time, he vaguely remembered that every time he was about to wake up last night, a gentle force would soothe him and make him continue to sleep without realizing it.

How could he be relaxed? It was probably because someone hadn't slept all night and had been watching over him for the rest of the night.

Xu Jin felt so depressed, he was touched and distressed.

The old man savored the thoughtfulness from his grandson for a long while before he patted himself on the back and stood up. When he looked up, he saw Lang Qing's horrified expression.

he:"……"

Xu Jin: "What are you doing?"

Lang Qing suppressed his heart and said, "My Lord, your expression just now was so scary!"

Xu Jin kicked him.

"If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"

-

East one city.

Ever since Xia Fuyang heard that Qu Dubian was coming to the northern border, he had been scolding him for coming here, saying that he was putting himself in a dangerous situation, but at the same time he was eagerly looking forward to his arrival every day.

As soon as he got the news, he rushed over and asked where Qu Duanbian was.

After hearing that he had arrived in Zhongyi City, he guessed that based on the friendship between the two of them, Xiaoqi would definitely come to see him first, right?

He looked expectantly at the soldier who delivered the message: "How is it, has he come to Dongyi City?"

The soldier was frightened by the eagerness in his general's eyes and took a step back: "General, the Seventh Prince has gone to occupy the mountain city."

Xia Fuyang's mouth began to droop: "Did he say when he would come? Did he mention me?"

The soldier shook his head with difficulty.

Xia Fuyang: "..."

He said angrily, "We haven't seen each other for almost three years, and we haven't even said a word!"

Did he put Xi Zixing behind because he had been hanging around with him for so long? He had heard everything clearly, and it was these two who went together to suppress the bandits!

He and Xiaoqi are such close friends, how could Xiaoqi not even say a word to him when he came to the border?

impossible.

Absolutely, it was definitely Xi Zixing who took advantage of his absence from the capital to say bad things about him behind his back.

He felt that this guy was insidious from the beginning!