There is no such person

Daytime, early morning.

Yuan State, Diqu City.

A tall man dressed in black stood in front of a huge screen with his hands behind his back.

The exquisite screen was embroidered with mountains, rivers, and cities, and the layout of the territory was depicted in great detail. It was obviously a map.

——From Linguo.

His indifferent gaze swept back and forth across the map, occasionally pausing on a certain spot for a moment.

He remained silent and motionless for a long time.

You want to capture ten cities, but you can't be narrow-minded and just focus on ten cities.

Since we want to achieve victory by surprise, the surprise force must catch the enemy off guard, and the attack must be fast and fierce, directly pushing the enemy down.

Finally, looking at the overall situation, we need to work together internally and externally.

…………

"Bang!"

A big hand slammed a map on the table, and veins popped out on the dark back of his hand.

The bottoms of the four legs of the table instantly shattered into pools of sawdust and powder, and the heavy wooden table suddenly became shorter.

The burly middle-aged man gasped for breath and suddenly yelled in anger:

"waste!!!"

"What a waste! They've taken three cities in less than half a month. They've dug a huge hole in our Dalin border!"

The two border cities were captured overnight by the surprise attack of the army, and then another city was captured by the internal and external forces. The three cities directly dug a hole in the border of Lin Kingdom...

Idiots, idiots, they didn’t even know the barrier was broken, and they succeeded so easily.

He yelled at the people outside: "That bunch of rubbish, drag them all away and chop them up—"

The silent person in the room suddenly spoke up: "Master, don't be anxious..."

"Why aren't you anxious?!" The middle-aged man suddenly turned and glared at him, "Shouldn't these deserters who neglected their duties and enriched themselves be killed?!"

The man looked at the middle-aged man without dodging or avoiding him, and calmly agreed, "He deserves to be killed."

The middle-aged man said impatiently: "Then..."

"But not now," the man said calmly.

He held up a long-stemmed pipe in his hand and said slowly:

"Ever since Emperor Huan of Yuan State obtained the Blood Seal three hundred years ago, there have been few large-scale conflicts within the country. It's fair to say that the people of Lin State are now focused on making money and cultivating themselves. Even the civil and military officials don't fully understand the specific conditions in various parts of Lin State."

Everyone can practice cultivation - this in itself is a blow to imperial power.

This creates chaos and disorder.

He said, "No one knows the detailed situation of the three border cities better than them. They are still useful now and cannot die."

The middle-aged man panted, "What's the use of them understanding? Can they win back the lost territory?!"

The man holding the long-stemmed pipe glanced at him nonchalantly and said:

"The Yuan Kingdom will quickly use the three cities as rear logistics bases to replenish resources. By then, it will not be so easy for us to recapture the three cities."

The middle-aged man frowned and said, "So..."

The man raised his cigarette butt, interrupting him and said calmly:

"So we can't wait for the construction of Yuan Kingdom to be completed. We need to rely on the intelligence of these few people to strike back as soon as possible - while the people of Yuan Kingdom have not yet completed the construction of the three cities and are in a state of panic.

"At the same time, we also need to build a new defensive barrier. The barriers of the three border cities are so good, but are the barriers of other cities guaranteed to be flawless? We need to buy time for repairs and improvements in all areas."

The man twirled his long-stemmed pipe in his hand, subconsciously bringing it to his lips several times before restraining himself and stopping. "They know the terrain, weather, and feng shui over there best. Who knows what hidden secrets there might be in the Three Cities."

He said, "If we keep them, we will move faster and may even get unexpected surprises when we regain lost territory."

The burly middle-aged man followed his words and gradually calmed down. He let out a long breath and waved his hand tiredly, "You have a lot of ideas. I'll follow your lead."

The man holding the long-stemmed pipe smiled slightly upon hearing this, "It is my honor to receive your trust, sir."

The other silent people in the room glanced at him silently and said "Pooh" in their hearts.

What's useful or not, he said it so nicely. He made so many excuses, isn't it just that those people came to him for help, and he took the benefits to protect them?

These days, people who do practical work are far less popular than those who can talk nice words.

The silent people had no expression on their faces and hatred in their hearts.

…………

Inside the magnificent palace, the man in black had an indifferent expression and was muttering something in his heart.

Being too ambitious and eager for quick success can easily lead to failure.

They will inevitably have to spend time to clearly layout these three cities, and at the same time, Lin State will take action immediately.

Next, we have to hand over the troops for defense. If we continue to advance, we will have to fight a protracted war.

They are in a passive position and need to find a way to control the rhythm, otherwise their disadvantages will be revealed little by little.

This kind of thing can't be rushed.

But Jiang Jingyuan wanted the blood seal, so he couldn't help but want to move things forward faster.

He was worried that if he slowed down, Jiang Jingyuan would not be able to wait and run away... then, it would be difficult for him to take care of both sides at the same time.

Thinking of this, Jiang Jingjian suddenly sighed, thinking it was unbelievable. How could the Jiang family's ancestors have managed to send the blood seal into the hands of outsiders?

Side hall.

There was a breeze blowing through the window lattices. It was a little chilly in the hall in early spring because there was no heating.

Sitting on a majestic carved chair was a girl wrapped in a cloak. She looked indifferently at the figure in front of her and said slowly, "No?"

"Yes, yes." A stranger knelt on the ground, his expression not looking good. He replied, "Your Highness, the spy we sent in a few years ago has not been found. It is even said that..."

He carefully raised his eyes and glanced at the expression on the girl's face in front of him. His lips moved for a moment, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Yes, I've never seen it before."

After saying this, he suddenly dropped his head weakly, bitter tears almost bursting out of his eyes.

I regret it. I regret it so much.

His heart was filled with regret.

I had wanted to take this opportunity to become familiar and get close to the two princes in the palace, but...

In the end, not only was things not accomplished, but more and more people were involved!

What kind of ideas did those people come up with? Who knows what twists and turns are involved, causing him to get into trouble for no reason.

In front, the girl didn't say anything and remained quiet for a long time.

Her dark eyes did not look at the person on the ground, but were slightly distracted as she looked ahead, as if she was thinking about something.

…………

In the evening, the orange-red flames lit up little by little, illuminating the stone roads and outlining the silent moving figures.

In the deep of night, the lights were blown out again.

It was dark in front of me, with only a few sparse lights in the distance shining dimly.

"Come out quickly."

A female voice urged softly.

“Swish…”

A pale hand pushed aside the branches and leaves, and a figure suddenly stood up from the grass, bent over, and walked out carefully.

"Alas, I told you there's no such person. What are you looking for?" She frowned at the palace maid in her early twenties and complained impatiently, but still raised her hand to beckon him, lowering her voice and saying, "Follow me, and be gentle!"

The seventeen-year-old girl, who was also dressed as a palace maid, didn't say much when she heard this. She just whispered "OK", raised her hand, picked up the small branch hooked on her clothes, threw it out, and followed her closely.

In the deep darkness of the night, two figures bent over and quickly and silently shuttled through the paths.

call--

The cold wind blew, as if an icy, soft, boneless hand was caressing the back of her neck. The seventeen-year-old girl shivered suddenly, and goose bumps instantly appeared all over her body.

She reached out and brushed the hair on the back of her head, then rubbed the back of her neck vigorously, and only then did she manage to suppress the itch on the back of her neck and the goose bumps all over her body.

What a ghost place! There is no human voice at all. Why is it so eerie?

"Here we are, here we are, come quickly."

Suddenly, a light and urgent urging voice came from the front.

The girl was stunned, and looked forward as she walked forward.

The tall and majestic magnificent palace stood quietly in front of us, dimly visible in the dark night.

The bright and eye-catching colors were covered with a layer of gray, and the carved beams and painted buildings were blurred by the darkness.

The collision of splendor and desolation suddenly created a spooky and eerie atmosphere.

The girl opened her mouth slightly, then silently closed it with gritted teeth, and raised her hand to rub her arm.

"Aren't you going? Hurry up." A palace maid in her early twenties pouted and nudged her lower back with her elbow. "I told you there's no one here. Does this place look like it's inhabited?"

I don’t want to either, I’m just someone who follows orders… The girl said nothing and walked forward with a bitter look on her face.

She subconsciously crouched down stealthily and reached out carefully to push the palace door.

With the inevitable muffled sound, the magnificent door of the palace was pushed open a crack.

As soon as the girl moved her face forward, she was instantly hit by thick dust and bounced back from the door.

Her facial features were twisted in a ferocious manner. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and two lines of tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.

Behind her, the palace maid looked at her speechlessly.

The girl raised her hand to wipe her face, opened her red eyes, bared her teeth, and rushed forward to push open the door.

The gap in the heavy door suddenly widened silently, and the two men moved swiftly into the hall and pushed the door shut.

A faint light filtered through the hollow window lattices, and the hall was dim.

Covering their mouths with wet handkerchiefs, the two men did not dare to light a lamp and could only move forward side by side in the dark.

As they walked, the hems of their skirts kicked up clouds of thin dust.

"I said there was no one. I've been in the palace for so many years and I've never seen anyone like that."

The palace maid made a muffled sound, covering the lower half of her face with a wet handkerchief, and the eyes on the upper half of her face had already narrowed and were filled with tears.

She couldn't help but complain, "Don't think I'm not serious about my work. You can see now that there's no one here."

"Not just here. Anyway, I've never heard anything about her in all these years. If you hadn't been looking for her, I would have almost forgotten about her."

The girl seemed not to have heard anything, and remained silent. With her eyes wide open and unable to stop she looked at the darkness ahead, and softly called out:

“Is anyone there? Is anyone…?”

The palace maid next to her shook her head and sighed.

There was no response in the darkness, only her puzzled calls echoed.

The girl closed her mouth and stopped calling.

When she saw the interior of the palace covered with thick dust, she knew that what the palace maid said was true.

The person is missing.

Or rather, it never appeared.

After all these years, they had only just discovered it now. So where was the Seventh Prince...?

In the dim light, the girl stood still with an ugly expression on her face.