Chapter 513 What is there for me to fear?

When Murong Jing saw the three cannons with his own eyes, a look of confusion and disbelief appeared on his face.

She walked around the three cannons, knocking here, touching there, and even leaning her head to look inside the gun barrels.

"That big commotion yesterday was caused by this thing...?"

Murong Jing looked up and asked, still finding it difficult to understand.

Zhu Qingyan nodded proudly and said:

"This thing is called a cannon. His Majesty personally gave it the names 'Tianwei', 'Shenyu' and 'Wanjun'. The cannon can fire a hundred feet away!"

Murong Jing recalled the scene of black smoke and flames last night and exclaimed:

"If such a divine object is used on the battlefield, it will naturally be invincible."

She then thought of how she had fought on the battlefield for so many years and had never taken any enemy seriously.

But if she encounters this thing called "cannon", it seems that she has no chance of winning!

Zhu Qingyan said with some regret:

"It's a pity that these three cannons can only be used a limited number of times, otherwise there would be no need to worry about the chaos in the northern border."

She looked at Long Buqi behind her and asked him how many shells he had left.

Long Buqi replied, "In order to protect you last night, I have used up all the shots of 'Tianwei'. I still have five shots each of 'Shenwei' and 'Wanjun' left."

Zhu Qingyan nodded, walked to the front of "Shenwei" and took a closer look. Sure enough, he saw that there were slight cracks on the wall of the barrel.

Before departure, the ordnance inspector Zhou Da repeatedly reminded that each artillery piece must not be used more than a few times, otherwise there would be a high risk of explosion.

Long Buqi frowned and said:

"Envoy, although the artillery is extremely powerful, there are only ten shells left. If we want to completely annihilate the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Zhenbei King, I'm afraid..."

Zhu Qingyan naturally knew his concerns, but did not answer him directly. He just said that he had other arrangements at the moment and asked Long Buqi to go and get busy first.

Long Buqi looked at Murong Jing again, nodded to the two of them, and turned to leave.

Zhu Qingyan just noticed that Murong Jing looked a little strange. After Long Bushi left, he took Murong Jing's hand and asked her what was wrong.

Murong Jing lowered her eyes, shook her head gently, and her eyes became painful.

“I just didn’t expect… that he would actually rebel against the court.

Actually, when I think back, there were many things wrong a long time ago, but... it was all my fault for being so stupid that I never doubted him...

It turns out that I have been a knife in other people's hands for so many years."

"How can you be blamed for this? It's all because the King of Zhenbei is too cunning—"

"But I killed Wenquan."

Zhu Qingyan stood there in a daze.

Murong Jing's voice trembled a little:

"If Wenquan hadn't died, Danzhou wouldn't have been lost. It's all my fault."

Zhu Qingyan said nothing, but stood on tiptoe, hugged Murong Jing, who was half a head taller than him, and patted her back gently as she used to comfort him.

She understood the torment in Murong Jing's heart, but now that things had come to this, it was useless to say any words of comfort.

She considered for a moment and said softly;

“Ah Jing, although the King of Zhenbei rebelled, His Majesty still trusts you.

This time, are you willing to quell the rebellion and make meritorious contributions?"

Murong Jing fell into silence.

After a long time, she spoke softly:

"I have no idea."

Zhu Qingyan asked: "You can't do it?"

Murong Jing's voice was a little hoarse. "I grew up in the Northern Frontier military camp. Those people... were all trained by me personally..."

Zhu Qingyan could fully understand Murong Jing's feelings at this moment.

She had seen Ah Jing's decisiveness in killing, and she also knew that she was loyal and righteous.

It is difficult to be both loyal and righteous nowadays, how can one not suffer?

Zhu Qingyan held her hand tightly and said softly:

"If you can't figure it out, forget about it. The King of Zhenbei has withdrawn his troops for the time being. We are not in a hurry for now. You should take care of yourself first."

Zhu Qingyan sent Murong Jing back to rest, and then he found Long Buqi again.

"General Long, have you found out the location of the Zhenbei King's garrison?"

Long Buqi nodded and said that the army from the northern border was frightened last night and retreated twenty miles overnight.

After that, he found a map and pointed out to Zhu Qingyan the current location of the Northern Frontier Army.

Zhu Qingyan observed for a moment and his eyes fell on a place called "Ming Beach".

Mingsha Beach is located right between Qingshi Pass and the Northern Frontier Army. It is surrounded by open space without any obstructions.

It's a good place for negotiation.

Zhu Qingyan looked at Long Buqi and said firmly:

"Please ask General Long to send a letter to the King of Zhenbei and tell him that I want him to meet me at Mingsha Beach in two days."

…

Two days later, at Mingsha Beach, there was endless yellow sand.

King Zhenbei led thousands of Northern Frontier soldiers and appeared on the west side of Mingsha Beach.

In the distance, he could vaguely see the other end of Mingsha Beach, where a group of people were waiting early.

In the most open area in the center of Mingsha Beach, there is only a square table and two wooden chairs, which looks a bit desolate and lonely among the yellow sand.

Zhu Qingyan, wearing a red official robe and a black veil on his head, sat upright on one of the chairs, leisurely fanning the fire of the tea stove on the table with a small fan, as if he was completely unaware of the movement on the other side of Mingsha Beach.

King Zhenbei squinted his eyes and looked at her for a moment from a distance, then raised his hand to signal the soldiers to stop.

Someone nearby reminded: "Your Majesty, be careful of fraud."

King Zhenbei didn't care and chuckled:

"She is just a little girl. How can I be afraid of her? Back off."

After saying that, he gently kicked the horse's belly and walked slowly and alone towards the center of Mingsha Beach.

When the King of Zhenbei came closer, Zhu Qingyan did not stand up, but just raised his head and smiled slightly:

"Your Majesty, please take a seat."

The King of Zhenbei's scrutinizing gaze lingered on her for a moment, remembering that when he first saw her and another little girl named Zhu in Northern Xinjiang, he had never taken them seriously.

I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, I would be on equal footing with him.

He dismounted and sat down opposite Zhu Qingyan, but there was still arrogance in his eyes, and he ignored the tea that Zhu Qingyan handed to him.

"No need to drink tea. You asked me to come here, so just say whatever you want to say. I don't like beating around the bush."

"Your Majesty is a man of quick words, so I will speak frankly as well."

Zhu Qingyan smiled faintly, placed the tea in front of King Zhenbei, his eyes suddenly became sharp, and he spoke word by word:

"Please withdraw your troops, return to Danzhou City, and follow me back to the capital to plead guilty. Perhaps you can still have a chance of survival."

King Zhenbei was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed out loud, as if he had never heard such a joke in his life.

"I heard that you work in the Hanlin Academy. Do you think that you can become a person like Zhang Yi and Gongsun Yan and defeat thousands of troops with a single word just because you read a few more volumes of books?"

King Zhenbei smiled very disappointedly, shook his head and prepared to get up, reading:

"This king is really foolish. I actually mobilized a large army to come here to listen to the nonsense of a little girl like you."

"Are you scared, Your Majesty?" Zhu Qingyan raised his eyes and smiled.

"Afraid? What is there for me to be afraid of?"

"If you're not afraid, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Zhu Qingyan took his time, and pushed the Zhenbei King's tea forward by two points, saying leisurely:

"Don't you want to know what happened on the night Princess Ning Yue escaped from your hands?"

As soon as Zhu Qingyan said this, the scene of the night when the rocks collapsed and the flames shot up into the sky immediately appeared in front of King Zhenbei's eyes, and he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

He didn't say anything, slowly sat back in his chair, staring into Zhu Qingyan's eyes, and his smile disappeared.

"Tell me, what exactly is that?"