Chapter 282 Big Move
On the wall of Langya Pass, Xiao Zhuo stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the Qi King's army camp below. The southeast wind ripped up his cloak, fluttering violently behind him.
"My lord, is that a cannon?" Feng Zhang held the hilt of his sword and looked at the slowly moving black dot in the distance.
With his knowledge of artillery, he felt that the weapons the enemy was pushing were likely cannons. He counted them and found a full twelve. He knew the power of these weapons best. If the enemy used cannons to attack the city, it would be troublesome.
"That should be the case," Xiao Zhuo replied coldly, "I didn't expect them to even bring in the Tiger Crouching Cannons in order to attack the city."
Feng Zhang swallowed his saliva and said with some difficulty: "My Lord..."
Xiao Zhuo's expression remained unchanged. However, he felt a wave of pressure all over his body, and after only two sentences, he felt he could no longer continue.
If Shen Yuexi were here, he would feel very relaxed.
Shen Yuexi was born with a warmth that was specifically designed to neutralize Xiao Zhuo's coldness. As long as she was around, both he and Yang Cong could speak fluently. Once Shen Yuexi was gone, he felt that Xiao Zhuo was like a piece of thousand-year-old ice, his whole body exuding an oppressive coldness. Not only was it difficult to approach him, but even talking to him became a difficult task.
Xiao Zhuo seemed to notice his difficulty and turned to look at him: "Can our cannons defeat the enemy?"
Feng Zhang was racking his brains for words, but when Xiao Zhuo spoke up, he quickly replied, "We only have three shells left. If only the mistress were still here. We've tried to have the blacksmith forge them, but they couldn't."
"In that case, this city is in danger." Xiao Zhuo replied indifferently, turning his head and continuing to look at the cannons in the King of Qi's military camp.
Feng Zhang was a little worried and asked, "The mistress has been gone for so long and hasn't come back yet. Is something wrong?"
It sounded like a simple matter for Shen Yuexi and Madam Li to go to the enemy camp to find the King of Qi. However, since they had set out at noon and the sun was almost due west, there was still no response. Obviously, something was amiss.
Xiao Zhuo shook his head slightly: "She is very smart and witty, she will be fine."
"Really?" Feng Zhang touched the back of his head unconsciously.
He remembered that the mistress had mocked herself more than once, saying that she was a little fool, of course... compared to Xiao Zhuo.
"Our success or failure now depends on Yue Xi." Xiao Zhuo reached out and patted the hard, cold city wall in front of him, whispering, "If the wall is breached, the enemy can overwhelm us with their superior military strength."
Feng Zhang asked, "My Lord, why don't we withdraw? Our food supply is almost gone. If this continues..."
"Yue Xi said she wouldn't give up this city." Xiao Zhuo withdrew his hand. "Even if it's just for her, I can't withdraw my troops. But this is a desperate strategy. If it fails, everything will be lost."
There was a clatter of footsteps on the steps, and Shen Lan's voice came: "Brother-in-law, Madam Li is back."
"What?" Xiao Zhuo flicked his cloak in surprise and turned around.
Chen Lan and Li Wan helped Madam Li run all the way to the top of the city wall. Madam Li was old and was panting heavily.
Xiao Zhuo rushed to Madam Li and asked, "Aunt, where is Yuexi?"
"Yue... Yuexi stayed in the Qi King's camp," Madam Li panted. "Luckily, I... I met someone, hiss, her friend."
"Yuexi's friend?" Xiao Zhuo turned his head and looked in the direction of King Qi's camp.
…
Shen Yuexi carefully sewed up the torn tent with string. That way, unless the search sergeant paid special attention to this corner, they wouldn't notice the damage.
Now, she and Xia Lan were hiding behind a pile of boxes at the back of the tent. The layers of boxes hid them from view, and as long as they stayed inside, the soldiers outside wouldn't be able to spot them.
The two of them were in sync, and neither dared to speak. After waiting for a moment, footsteps were heard in the tent, and Qi Shengjue's voice was heard.
"Look carefully, is there a woman hiding in my tent?"
Another voice rang out, "General Xinwu, we are also following orders. Please forgive me for not being offended... Someone, open that box."
The sound of a box being opened was heard from inside the tent.
Shen Yuexi and Xia Lan exchanged a glance, secretly thanking themselves for not hiding in the box.
Qi Shengjue's voice rang out again in front of the two of them, separated only by a tent: "You've searched the carriage and checked my trunk. Is there no one here?"
Shen Yuexi's heart moved. Qi Shengjue was really not an ordinary person. No wonder he could recognize her. His observation ability seemed very strong. Did he come here specifically to stand here to block the gap?
"General, indeed not." The previous voice answered, but its voice was much weaker.
"I'm going to the King of Qi to reason with him. You're going too far." Qi Shengjue's footsteps sounded, moving towards the door of the tent.
"General, we dare not disobey the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. You also know that if we disobey the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince..."
The chaotic footsteps faded away, and silence returned to the tent.
Shen Yuexi put her heart back in her stomach, and then she began to look at the wooden boxes piled high around her.
The boxes were square, each one half her height, stacked four layers high, six or seven at a time, forming a semicircle that enclosed the two of them. She had no idea what was inside, but it looked incredibly heavy.
There were two large characters painted in red on the box. She couldn't understand what they were, so she nudged Xia Lan with her elbow and nodded at the characters.
Xia Lan looked at the words on the box, then looked at her, first with an expression of disbelief, then with a questioning look.
Shen Yuexi quickly lowered her head and drew a few circles on the ground with her fingers to hide her embarrassment.
There were only two words on the box, and she couldn't recognize them. It was really... cough.
Xia Lan put her mouth close to her ear and read the words on the box: "Cannonball."
The shells, are they shells from the Tiger Crouching Cannon?
Shen Yuexi suddenly had an idea. She was right where the shells were. What if Big Bear absorbed them all? Without shells, the Tiger Crouching Cannon would be unable to attack the city. At least it could delay the attack for a while.
She was still pondering the feasibility of this move when she heard a man's angry voice in the distance.
"What are you all doing here? The cannons were taken away this afternoon. Why are you still keeping the shells? Get ready to load the shells onto the trucks."
A voice sounded aggrieved, "General, we were about to move the shells, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said no one is allowed to leave the camp."
"You guys load all the shells onto the carriage first, and I'll naturally consult His Royal Highness," the previously angry voice said. "Really? Push and move. If you don't push, you won't move."
Shen Yuexi and Xia Lan looked at each other.
While I was still in a daze, I heard noisy footsteps coming towards me. It sounded like there were at least dozens of people.
One of the voices said, "A box of this stuff must weigh several hundred kilograms. It's so heavy. General, what a fool! Why doesn't he come and move it himself?"
"Hush, don't talk so much, it's not good for the general to hear," another voice said. "Hurry up and move, we have so many people here."
"Then let's start from the top," the previous voice said. "Be careful, or you'll get a big hole in your head if you fall."
Shen Yuexi and the others looked up and saw the box on the top shelf being dragged down with a squeaking sound.
It was really a bad year. If they kept moving like this, they would eventually discover the two women hiding here.
Shen Yuexi quickly took out the dagger, intending to cut open the tent again and hide inside. As soon as she placed the dagger on the tent, she heard several footsteps in the tent, stopping in the middle of the tent, and a voice rang out:
"Pack up General Qi's things, then start dismantling the tents. The entire army will break camp and head to Langya Pass."
Shen Yuexi groaned inwardly.
The enemy has moved away and there is no place to hide.
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