After coming out of the imperial study, Mu Chenke took the initiative to find Princess Yongjia for the first time.
The news of his impending expedition spread quickly. Yongjia already knew it when he entered the imperial study. He was anxiously preparing to send someone to find him, but he didn't expect that he would come to him himself.
"Is this the method you said to prevent me from marrying a foreign prince?" Yongjia asked with red eyes.
Seeing Yongjia's red eyes, Mu Chenke panicked and said quickly: "Princess, don't worry. I will be fine. Besides, I have already told His Majesty that I will ask His Majesty to grant me marriage when I return victorious. I want to marry the princess openly, not under such circumstances."
If he asked to marry Yongjia at this time, not only would the emperor not agree, but even if the emperor agreed, Yongjia would be branded as a coward who abandoned his country, and even the emperor would be blamed for it.
It would be fine if the country is at peace in the future, but if something really happens to the country in the future, Yongjia will become the sinner of the world.
Furthermore, Mu Chenke felt that he was poor, ugly, and had a bad reputation, and was not worthy of the princess. But if he had military merits, it would be different. He could at least give Yongjia a grand wedding.
How could Yongjia not know his good intentions? Now he is just worried about him.
Mu Chenke was about to go to war, and Yongjia knew that he didn't have much time left. He suppressed his emotions, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and took a bundle from his personal maid Luzhi and handed it to him.
"Here are some clothes and some banknotes. They are all useful. Don't refuse them."
Mu Chenke didn't show it on his face, but he was actually very happy in his heart. Someone was thinking about him, so he would no longer be alone!
"Wait until I come back..." Before leaving, Mu Chenke finally couldn't help but went forward and hugged Yongjia.
Only when he quickly let go and his figure disappeared outside the palace gate did Yongjia and Luzhi react.
Seeing that her princess was taken advantage of, Luzhi was so angry that she danced in the direction where Mu Chenke disappeared, but she didn't dare to shout loudly, feeling very aggrieved.
Yongjia stared at the palace door in a daze for a long time, unable to come back to his senses. After a while, he whispered softly: "Mu Chenke, you must come back safely..."
At the Zhaoguo Mansion, since Zhao Yiming left, Tian An had two children to keep him company, and Jiang's mother and daughter, An Wan and others often came to visit, so life was not difficult. But as soon as he calmed down, his worries and longing for Zhao Yiming poured in like a tide.
"According to the time, Daddy and Yiming should be arriving in the Western Regions soon!" Tian An said, putting down the small clothes he had just sewn for the two children.
Nanny Xiao carefully took the spring clothes from her hand and said, "The situation at the border is urgent. The master and General Tian must have traveled all night. Logically, they should have arrived early, but it's still very cold today. I'm afraid the road will be difficult to travel on, but I estimate they should be there soon."
"I hope they can take good care of themselves." Tian An looked to the west through the smooth glazed window, and his thoughts drifted to the Western Regions.
It was just daybreak when Zhao Yiming, who had parted ways with Tian Mingwu five days ago, had already traveled for two hours with his army, which had only had a quick two-hour rest the previous night.
"Everyone, work harder and catch up. We will reach Xijing Pass in another half hour." Jingyu had just returned from patrolling the rear of the team, and saw Qiushan and Xiaofeng, who had followed Chiwei out to investigate the situation last night, riding their horses and galloping towards this side.
"Report... General Yi... Xijing Pass is under enemy attack. When Xiaofeng and I came back, the enemy had already begun to attack the city." Although he was used to it, Qiushan almost called out Zhao Yiming's name directly.
"What's the situation at the scene?" Zhao Yiming asked with a frown.
"The enemy army has about 80,000 people, with siege vehicles and catapults..." Qiushan did not dare to delay and recounted all the enemy situation that Chiwei had told him.
Xiao Feng was listening on the side. Noticing something he had missed, he immediately added, "Captain Chi Wei asked me, Xiao Feng, to come back and report first. He and his men have infiltrated the enemy camp to investigate."
"I understand the situation. You guys should return to the team!" He raised his hand behind him and shouted, "Full speed ahead."
There are 30,000 soldiers defending Xijing Pass. A few years ago, the Zhou family brought 20,000 people here, and now there are another 20,000 people following behind him. The number of people is 10,000 less than that of the enemy. In addition, the soldiers who came earlier suffered casualties. It is definitely impossible to repel the enemy this time by force.
Zhao Yiming frowned and thought for a moment, then took out the small notebook he carried with him and quickly wrote a line of words. He then called Zhuifeng to tear off the written note and put it into the letter bucket on its feet.
"Hold on, hold on for me!" General Zhou, covered in blood, waved his sword at the enemy troops who were climbing up the city wall with the help of ladders and roared angrily.
"General, there are too many enemy troops. I'm afraid we can't hold on!" said the deputy general beside him while fighting off the enemy.
"This general must hold on. The imperial reinforcements will be here soon. As long as we hold on, victory is just around the corner..." He used his already injured body to resist the enemy and loudly encouraged morale.
I don’t know how much of the blood on my body is my own and how much is the enemy’s. I just hope that the reinforcements will come faster and faster.
“Hmm…”
Zhou Haoqun paused and hurriedly used the sword in his hand to support himself from falling.
"General..." The deputy general noticed his abnormality and turned his head to find that he was hit by an arrow in the right chest.
"I'm fine, just focus on defending the enemy and don't get distracted."
He shouted loudly to stop the deputy general from coming towards him, then grabbed the arrow in front of his chest with his left hand, raised his long sword with his right hand and cut off the arrow in front of his chest, then stood up again and raised his sword to look at the enemy troops climbing up the city wall.
However, with an arrow buried in his chest, his movements were restricted. In addition, more and more enemy troops continued to pour into the city wall. He was soon injured again, and Hui Jian's hands became increasingly strained.
"General, be careful..." The deputy general who was tripped suddenly shouted at him with dilated pupils.
When Zhou Haoqun looked up, he saw the scimitar stabbing towards him, but unfortunately he was at the end of his strength and had no strength to resist.
"Is everything over? Can't we hold on any longer?"
Just as he watched the enemy's scimitar getting closer and closer to him, he was almost in despair.
Suddenly, a short arrow came through the wind, almost glancing at his cheek and piercing the heart of the enemy who was raising a knife towards him.
With a "bang", the enemy who was about to kill him fell to the ground before him.
Zhou Haoqun looked behind him and saw a dense crowd of reinforcements rushing towards him from the slope.
The leading general held a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other, trying to multitask while using the crossbow to clear the enemy troops on the city wall and using his sword to harvest heads beside him.
"Hurry! The reinforcements are here, hold on to this place for me!" Zhou Haoqun's eyes were full of hope, he said inspiring words, and he forced himself to pick up the sword and wave it again.
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