Chapter 94
Master Tao thought he knew his stubborn student well enough, but after Fan Changyu was taken away by him, he suddenly felt uneasy and kept looking out the window. Finally, he got off the carriage and walked around, occasionally glancing in the direction where Xie Zheng took Fan Changyu away.
The young general who led the troops came to ask him: "Master, the army has been resting here for a long time, how about... continuing on the journey?"
Master Tao put his hands behind his back and looked into the distance and said, "Wait a little longer."
The young general then clasped his fists and retreated.
Chang Ning stuck his head out of the car window, rested his chin on the window sill, and asked, "Grandpa, when will my sister come back?"
Tao Taifu's heart was beating fast at this moment. He didn't care about Chang Ning's address to him and just said, "He should be back soon."
He thought, even if he pissed off the brat and wanted to take him away on the spot, there was still the younger one here, he wouldn't leave the younger one behind, right?
Thinking of this, I felt more at ease.
Chang Ning, who was lying on the window sill, suddenly shouted in surprise, "Sister!"
Master Tao stopped thinking and looked at the sound, and saw that the brat who had a gloomy face before leaving was now leading the horse with a normal expression, bringing back his newly adopted daughter.
As he looked at this scene, a strange thought came to his mind: "Everything has its own countermeasure."
After getting off the horse at the gentle slope, Fan Changyu had been walking side by side with Xie Zheng all the way. Her lips were still numb and painful. She touched them with her hand and found that they were probably swollen.
Fan Changyu felt that she had to learn her lesson and not bite him every time. This time, she failed to gain anything but ended up losing the rice. When he bit back, he was much more excessive than she was. For a moment, she thought he might really want to eat her alive.
His breathing was very unstable and he held her and panted for a long time. He bit her a few more times near the teeth marks on her shoulder.
It couldn't really be considered a bite because the skin wasn't broken and it didn't hurt much, but it did leave a few red marks.
When he met Master Tao, Fan Changyu was afraid that he would notice that his lips were swollen, so he tried to purse his lips and said, "Adoptive father."
Before Master Tao could take a closer look at her, Chang Ning jumped out of the carriage like a nimble fat rabbit, opened her arms and said to Fan Changyu, "Sister, hold me!"
Fan Changyu hugged his sister and said with a helpless smile, "Ning Niang, are you a little sticky cake? I've never seen you so clingy."
Chang Ning hummed and said nothing, hugging her neck and refusing to let go. He caught a glimpse of Xie Zheng looking at him, and then he obediently called out, "Brother-in-law."
Ever since she used an embroidery needle to wake Xie Zheng up last time and saw Xie Zheng's terrifying expression like a devil, Chang Ning has been afraid of him.
Xie Zheng was called by Chang Ning, nodded slightly, and then looked at Master Tao again.
Although his expression had calmed down at this moment, Master Tao still felt uneasy for some reason when he looked at him.
Xie Zheng said: "I will hand her over to the teacher."
Master Tao knew that this meant that he was asked to protect Fan Changyu more, so he straightened his face and said, "It was not easy for me to adopt a daughter, so of course I will protect her like a treasure. You don't need to tell me."
After Fan Changyu took Changning into the car, the army was about to set off again.
Xie Zheng rode his horse beside the road. The wind blowing through the forest fluttered his robe, wrapping around his tall and straight figure. Fan Changyu raised the curtain and looked at him: "I'm leaving."
Xie Zheng nodded and said, "Be careful on the road."
Chang Ning stuck his head out from the corner of the car window, grabbed the window sill and said, "Ning Niang is gone too."
With her elder sister by her side, she was not so afraid of her brother-in-law anymore, and could even wave her chubby little hand to say goodbye.
Xie Zheng had very little experience dealing with children and didn't know how to coax a child, so he just said, "Listen to your sister."
Chang Ning said proudly, "Ning Niang is the most obedient."
An eagle's cry was heard from the sky, and the Saker Falcon, which had found Xie Zheng, swooped down. He raised his hand, and the Saker Falcon landed steadily on his forearm.
Chang Ning's eyes suddenly lit up: "Falcon!"
Under Fan Changyu's surprised gaze, Xie Zheng pushed the Saker Falcon toward the car window and said, "Take the Saker Falcon. It can deliver letters faster."
Fan Changyu asked: "What about you?"
Xie Zheng said: "If you ask it to deliver a letter to me, it can find me. But if I deliver a letter to you, it may not be able to find you."
Before Fan Changyu could respond, Changning had already called out, "Niang Ning, raise chickens to feed falcons!"
Master Tao at the side said: "Girl, this boy is so generous for once, don't be polite to him. He hasn't been filial to me for so many years, but now he is willing to give me all his good things..."
He was feeling a little sour and thought to himself that the old saying among the people was really true: all boys forget their mothers once they get married, and the treatment of his half-father was not much better.
But on second thought, this half-daughter-in-law is also his adopted daughter, and it is not a bad thing for a naive girl to have a cunning boy protecting her. Instead of feeling jealous, he felt relieved.
Finally, Hai Dongqing was carried into the carriage by Chang Ning. The carriage moved forward slowly in the infantry formation. Xie Zheng said to Xie Wu and Xie Qi who were standing behind him on horseback: "Go, take good care of her."
Xie Wu and Xie Qiyi clasped their fists, then rode their horses to catch up with the army.
Xie Zheng and his remaining personal guards stood at the entrance of the official road until they could no longer see the tail of the Jizhou army. Then he pulled the reins, turned his horse around and said, "Return to the camp."
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Yanzhou Camp.
When Gongsun Yin learned that Xie Zheng had gone in person to chase after him but failed to bring the person back, he came over waving his fan with a look of gloating, ready to pretend to say a few words of comfort.
But as soon as he entered the camp, he found that the important generals and staff of Yanzhou were standing in a military tent. Xie Zheng, wearing a black robe with arrow sleeves, sat in the first seat. In front of him were the map of Kangcheng's government and the map of its military defense. He was discussing something with his important generals, which was completely unrelated to the frustrated look he had imagined.
Seeing him, Xie Zheng raised his hand and threw the map over to him, saying, "You've come just in time. You will teach them the siege tactics of Ximen."
Gongsun Yin caught the map thrown to him with both hands, glanced at the place he had circled, and said in astonishment, "Didn't they say that we should waste time in Cannes first and wait for He Jingyuan to take Chongzhou before taking action?"
After all, he besieged Kangcheng this time just to find something to do to show the court after giving up the military merit of Chongzhou.
If he captured Kangcheng with lightning speed, he would still have to send troops to aid Chongzhou, and there was no guarantee that he would not be caught up in the fight between Wei Yan and the Li family.
Xie Zheng raised his sharp eyes and asked with a faint smile, "Who said I was going to take over Cannes directly?"
Gongsun Yin looked at the circled area on the map again and asked in confusion, "Aren't you planning to fight a quick battle and attack with force?"
Xie Zheng said: "We must wipe out all the minions of the rebels in Kangcheng. It would be a waste of time to let them continue to survive."
Gongsun Yin thought, that was true, but wasn't their original tactic to first surround the city without attacking, so as to wear out the patience of the rebels in the city before attacking? Why did they suddenly change their tactics?
The deployment was discussed until late at night. The generals and staff in the central military tent left one after another. After drinking a cup of tea to moisten his throat, Gongsun Yin asked, "Are you trying to vent your anger by fighting a battle because you failed to bring the people back?"
The candles in the tent were burning brightly, and the candlelight reflected by the black iron wristbands on Xie Zheng's sleeves was also cold and dim. He held a bamboo scroll in his hand and said, "In three days, I will make Kangcheng unable to send out troops and can only defend to the death."
He looked up at Gongsun Yin and said, "After three days, you will lead the troops to surround Kangcheng. When the victory report from Chongzhou arrives, you can break open the city gate."
Gongsun Yin pondered the meaning of his words, and suddenly his face changed and he accused: "Are you going to throw this rotten stall to me?"
Xie Zheng glanced at him and said, "I defeated the rebels in Cannes so badly that they can only survive for a while. If you still can't hold on, you don't have to work for me anymore."
Gongsun Yin could guess why he rushed back to deal with all this. Thinking of him rushing to catch people without stopping, he was still confused. Suddenly, he felt that being left in Cannes was not so aggrieved.
He shook the fan in his hand, afraid that he was blinded by the impulse, so he said a few words of comfort: "Okay, okay, you are going to Chongzhou to find Miss Fan in three days, right? Don't blame Miss Fan for being cruel. I think it is a good thing for Miss Fan to go to the army in Jizhou. Although He Jingyuan handed the tiger talisman to you, if Li Huaian really finds out something from Jizhou Prefecture and overthrows He Jingyuan, his tiger talisman will eventually be taken back by the higher-ups. If Miss Fan can be a general in Jizhou by then, and with Master Tao here, the military power in Jizhou will at least not fall into the hands of others."
Xie Zheng said, "A man's ambition is nothing more than to ennoble his wife and children. I am not so incompetent that I need a woman to take over the military power for me. If I want Jizhou, I will not hand over the military order. No matter whether it is the Li Party or the Wei Party, can the intrigues and schemes in the court defeat the iron cavalry and bloody swords? In the end, it will just kill more people."
When he said this, his expression was extremely cold, and there was only indifference in his eyes. Even Gongsun Yin, who thought he knew him quite well, felt a chill down his spine at that moment.
"But if we kill all of them, the Dayin court will become an empty shell. The decrees and national policies issued must be passed down layer by layer, and someone has to do it, otherwise the people will only become more chaotic." He turned the white jade unicorn ring on his hand and said in a bored tone: "The changes in the dynasties have lasted for ten or even several decades. After all, we have to support people who can take up those positions before we can take action."
Then he sneered: "This is something that the little emperor should worry about. I will not worry about it for him."
Gongsun Yin thought to himself that it was a good thing that he had no interest in that position, otherwise with Wei Yan in front of him and this evil wolf behind him, the little emperor would be worried every day, and it would be a blessing from God if he didn't die young from fright.
He asked in confusion, "So you plan to bring Miss Fan back in three days?"
Given his personality, if he really wanted to bring the person back, he shouldn't have returned empty-handed after chasing him out today.
Xie Zheng lowered his eyes to look at the bamboo scroll in his hand and said, "She is determined to do this. I can protect her, but I shouldn't stop her."
Gongsun Yin shook off the goosebumps on his hands and said, "Then I hope Miss Fan can appreciate your kindness."
Xie Zheng suddenly said, "I heard that there are many girls who admire you."
Gongsun Yin straightened his back a little, and the movement of waving the fan became more romantic: "Not much, not much, just a trip with fruits and vegetables."
Xie Zheng continued to look at the bamboo slips without raising his head: "Is there any girl who, because of you, has traveled all over the world, or is she the only sage in Hejian, determined to study poetry and become a sage of the time?"
Gongsun Yin opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond, when Xie Zheng said, "She said she wanted to follow the path I walked and become a person like me."
Gongsun Yin was stunned for a moment, and finally realized what he wanted to say.
No wonder he looked like this when he came back!
Gongsun Yin's face was distorted with jealousy. He stood up and said, "Goodbye!"
The author has something to say:
Gongsun Yin (swearing): Thank you dog for having nothing to do with human affairs!
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