Chapter 266 The Eve of the Battle
"I estimate that it will only take three to five days for the Tartars to take action." Lu Chenyang pondered and said, "I will lead the troops myself when the time comes, but you have to stay and sneak into the city again."
Lu Ning was stunned. When there was no special mission, he always followed Lu Chenyang. He was Lu Chenyang's bodyguard.
This time Lu Chenyang was going to the battlefield, and he had thought Lu Chenyang would take him with him. This time the Tatars were coming with such ferocity that he felt a little uneasy if he didn't follow Lu Chenyang.
Lu Ning said: "Why? Sir, the people in the city have been rescued now, why do you still want to sneak into the city?" After a pause, he looked eager: "Sir, I am not insisting on your decision, but... can't I follow you?" He really wanted to stay by his side and protect him.
Lu Chenyang said, "I will leave you two thousand men, plus the civilians. You take them and fight back." His eyes were deep: "Wait for an opportunity to recapture Huai'an City!"
Lu Ning was shocked, "Sir? Isn't this too risky?"
Even if the Tatars went to Chen Village, they wouldn't send out all their troops. They would definitely leave some men and horses inside the city. Lu Ning felt it was too risky to let him lead those civilians back to fight.
Lu Chenyang said, "I know, so you need to wait for my signal." He said calmly, "I will attract most of the Tatar main force and ask them to send more people. As soon as they send troops out to rescue, I will send you a signal, and then you can take action."
Lu Chenyang looked at him and said, "Lu Ning, we need a victory to deter others. Ever since Yanhui Pass was breached, Dagan has been losing. Now, the Tatars are arrogant and conceited, and the Yilin Army is eyeing them covetously. We must give them a warning that our Lu Family Army is not so easy to bully!"
Lu Ning looked into his deep eyes and nodded heavily: "Okay, I'll go."
Lu Chenyang smiled and said, "Go find Zhao Xi. She has something good for you to help you break through the city."
Lu Ning's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed, then turned around and went to find Zhao Xi.
He liked the little things that Zhao Xi had researched the most. When Zhao Xi was a child researching Xiao Sanxiao, it was Lu Ning who gave her the idea.
Lu Ning witnessed the creation of all of Zhao Xi's poisons with his own eyes, and also helped to come up with ideas, which can be said to be a lot of hard work.
Lu Ning also made great contributions to Zhao Xi's research of so many poisons.
Zhao Xi's attitude towards Lu Ning was quite good. She listened to Lu Ning's words and thought, "Oh, it's the adults' order, it's a big deal."
Zhao Xi thought about it and returned to the tent.
Lu Ning followed her shamelessly and stood aside, looking at her with sparkling eyes.
"What is it? Have you come up with something new?" Lu Ning's eyes were filled with condemnation. "You're disloyal. Why didn't you tell me about this good thing?"
Zhao Xi took out a box and said, "I originally saved this for you, my lord, to use during the war, as there aren't many. But since you said so, I'll give it to you now. This is called Beauty Drunk, and anyone who gets drunk will feel like a drunk beauty, completely weak and powerless."
When Lu Ning heard this, his eyes lit up. With this thing, what would he be afraid of, the Tatars?!
The look in Lu Ning's eyes when he looked at Zhao Xi was extremely gentle.
"This is a treasure!" Lu Ning couldn't let it go.
Zhao Xi sighed, "Isn't it? It's a pity that this thing is very troublesome to make. I started making it when I was in Quzhou, but it's a pity that I have only made this little bit so far."
Lu Ning immediately said: "Then leave it to the workshop!"
Zhao Xi said, "This thing is extremely complicated to make. If you're not careful, you could easily injure yourself. Furthermore, there's no antidote. Those who take it will be paralyzed for three days before they can move freely. Furthermore, this thing can easily spread. If something happens in the workshop... it's going to be a huge waste of time."
Everyone in the workshop is extremely busy right now. Everyone has their own work to do. If there is any mistake, it will affect the overall shipping plan.
Lu Ning looked regretful. Why couldn't there be more of such good stuff? If such stuff were inexhaustible, why would Lu Chenyang have to worry about not being able to defeat the Tartars?
Zhao Xi said, "This thing is best used indoors. You can sneak into the city and drop it in their tents. If you use it outdoors, the wind will blow it everywhere, and it's easy to cause accidental injuries."
The stuff is good, but it also has many limitations.
Lu Ning nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you very much."
Zhao Xi said dejectedly, "If I could research more poisons, Your Excellency wouldn't have to work so hard. It's my incompetence after all."
What's the saying? Love is always feeling indebted.
That’s how Zhao Xi felt. Seeing Lu Chenyang working so hard, she just felt that she was incompetent and unable to help him.
Lu Ning sighed softly: "Don't say that, we are the ones who are truly incompetent."
Why couldn't they fight one against a hundred and kill all the Tartars without leaving a single one alive?
The two of them sighed at the same time, feeling very sorry for Lu Chenyang.
Lu Ning took the things and left.
Zu Xingwei was truly a master at setting traps; his traps were flawless. Even the soldiers of the Lu family army, even if they knew there was a trap, couldn't spot a single flaw.
Moreover, Zu Xing had many ways to set up traps. He could use any existing tools to help the Lu family army set up traps, which was really eye-opening.
Zu Xingwei squatted on the ground, dug a hole, buried the silk thread in the hole, and fixed the other side of the silk thread with a stone.
This is a chain trap. The first part is a dug hole, covered with a layer of grass to hide the big hole below. As long as the silk thread is moved, the mechanism on the grass will be triggered, the grass will collapse, and the person walking on it will fall into the trap below.
He had set dozens, even hundreds, of these traps, scattered across a dozen miles of road. Initially, the traps were densely packed, but after they grew alert, the middle stretch of road became safe. Then, when they relaxed, thinking there were no traps, the next few miles were filled with traps every three steps.
Zu Xingwei said regretfully: "Alas, it's a pity that this is a plain, and many mechanisms and traps cannot be deployed. If it were on the mountain, I could kill them!" After a pause, he said: "I remember that there seems to be a fork in the road that can also lead to Chen Village. There are woods on that road, right? It would be great if we could lead the Tartars to that road." It is more convenient to set traps in the woods.
As he spoke, he showed a sinister smile.
The soldiers nearby couldn't help but shudder when they saw this.
Wei Dong's eyes lit up. "Very good, very good. General Zu is knowledgeable and has a strong memory. There is indeed such a road." He pondered for a moment and said, "Let's find a way to lead them to that road!"
Wei Dong thought of Lu Chenyang's approach and said, "Just do it the way the adults do it and let them make their own choices."
The two looked at each other and chuckled.
Both roads lead to Chen Village, but the one with the trees is farther away. Generally speaking, no one would choose the longer road over the shorter one, and would always choose the wider road that is easier to travel.
However, if there is a trap at the fork in the road, the Tatars can only choose another longer route.
Zu Xingwei and Wei Dong were not very confident, so they set traps on both roads to be on the safe side.
As a result, the workload increased significantly, and the Lu family army worked tirelessly, working through the night. This was difficult because it was dark, visibility was limited, and they didn't dare to light a fire to attract the Tartars' attention, so they had to work in the dark.
The work of smearing was not easy and physically exhausting, but no one complained. They all knew that this was to reduce casualties in the event of a fight.
The hard work they are doing now is to prevent a few brothers from dying, and they feel it is worth it.
The soldiers who were supposed to take over their shift arrived, and the ones on duty went to rest.
They could finally take a breath. They didn't set up a tent. Anyway, the weather was hot now, so even if they slept outside, they wouldn't feel cold, but rather cool.
A row of soldiers lined up and slept on the ground, their eyes wide open. The dense leaves blocked the sky, and the chirping of cicadas could be heard in their ears.
They closed their eyes, knowing that they would eventually win this battle.
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