Chapter 1119 The Big Killer
Jiang Xue dipped the remaining tea in her hand and drew a picture of an army on the table. She said:
"Tomorrow we will beat nine war drums to force Huangfu Shang to hurry up and transport the weapons. We will have hidden spies in Hexi Road, and one of them will be able to intercept the camel caravans transporting goods."
Xiao Zhan suddenly grabbed her hand holding the pen and said, "You want to be on the battlefield in person?"
"Can you feel this pulse and see if it can withstand the force of a sword?"
Jiang Xue placed her wrist against his palm, her gauze sleeves slipping halfway down: "General Lan's old injury has not healed yet, if I continue to show off..."
Before she could finish her words, she was embraced in an embrace that smelled of pine smoke. Xiao Zhan rested his chin on the pearl and phoenix hairpin in her hair and said, "The other day, the spies reported that Yuyin had copied a whole volume of the Rebirth Mantra in the Buddhist temple."
Battle reports flew into the general's tent like snowflakes.
At dusk on the seventh day, Huangfu Shang smashed the glass cup on the table and said, "Send an urgent message to Han Xiangyi from eight hundred miles away. If the black iron thunder cannon is not seen within ten days, bring your head to me!"
When Fu Dong's secret letter was delivered wrapped in poplar leaves, Xiao Zhan was combing the blood from Jiang Xue's hair.
The route marked with cinnabar on the letter passed through Mingsha Mountain, and the date coincided with the full moon.
"Su Yili said that person can cure the Southern Xinjiang Heart-Eating Gu."
He traced the ochre mark on the map with his fingertips: "When the curse on you is broken..."
"The matter of Yun Zhen..." Jiang Xue suddenly felt the silver bell on her wrist trembling slightly. It was the safety lock he had tied many years ago.
Xiao Zhan held her cold fingertips tightly and encircled her into the tent with a rhino horn bow hanging on it: "Send someone to meet her at the ferry tomorrow. Su Yili likes the flower-filled glutinous rice cakes from Chang'an the most."
The night wind blew through the iron gate, and the jade candlesticks on the desk reflected overlapping silhouettes.
Jiang Xue was counting the sound of the night watches when she suddenly felt a drop of warmth on her neck - it turned out that Xiao Zhan had buried his face in her loose black hair, and her heartbeat could be heard from his chest, with his armor still on.
The day when the urgent news arrived from the Beacon Post Road was at dawn on the fifth day.
The red sandalwood secret box presented by the messenger contained a silk book about Jiang Heng's infection, which made Jiang Xue feel extremely nervous.
The word "smallpox" on the 800-mile express document was like a poisoned arrow, clenching her knuckles until they turned white.
Battle flags were fluttering outside the tent, and on the desk lay an undeciphered map of the Northern Di military.
Lan Feng's severely injured body was still oozing blood in the military doctor's tent, not to mention that Huangfu Shang's privately cast black iron crossbow had not yet been discovered.
Jiang Xue closed her eyes and pressed the silk book against her chest, a bitter taste of rust rising in her throat - at this moment she couldn't leave the border covered with yellow sand even a step.
"Tell the Prime Minister to return to the capital immediately."
She heard her hoarse voice cut through the stagnant air in the tent.
When Xiao Zhan took over the military order, the crisp sound of the sword at his waist colliding with the armor was mixed with an almost inaudible tremor.
He looked at the red flags on the sand table, feeling a heavy burden on his shoulders:
Yun Zhen's peach blossom eyes that were always smiling, the siege drums of Tianshui Kingdom that never stopped beating day and night, and the increasingly thin shoulders and neck lines of the person in front of him.
The black cloak was suddenly blown up by the wind and sand from outside the Great Wall, and Xiao Zhan's iron-like arms hugged the person to his chest.
Jiang Xue felt a hot breath coming from the back of her neck, mixed with the scent of ambergris, seeping into every inch of her skin, as if carving the warmth into her bones.
The warhorse was treading the gravel outside the tent anxiously, but he was greedily counting the beating pulse on her neck.
"Eat and sleep on time every day, and turn off the lights before 15:30."
His fingertips rolled heavily over the old wound on her wrist: "If I knew that you took up the sword without permission..."
The unfinished words turned into the muffled sound of teeth colliding. Jiang Xue raised her face in pain, but bumped into the dark vortex surging in his eyes.
The wind blew the broken flag across her scattered black hair, and Xiao Zhan suddenly jumped on the horse.
When the black iron wristband brushed against her palm, something warm fell into the dust.
"When the country is stable and we are reunited, I will tell you slowly."
The hoarse ending was lost in the sudden sound of horse hooves, and he never looked back.
He was afraid of seeing her standing alone in front of the gate, and afraid of hearing the sound of his armor breaking.
Jiang Xue stood there for a long time, until the bloodstain on the palm of her hand solidified into a dark scab.
She bent down and picked up half of the white jade ring on the ground, which still had body temperature on it.
She heard the shouts of soldiers training in the distance. She pressed the jade ring against her chest and turned around with a cold look on her face.
The battlefield of swords and spears never allows people to be sentimental, just as her tightly bound silver armor never reveals any softness.
Jiang Xue was about to turn around when she suddenly felt the corner of a green shirt passing by under the eaves.
Looking up, Yun Zhen was leaning against the vermilion column and nodding at her, the moonlight stretching his shadow into a long and slender shape.
When she stopped to take a closer look, the man had quietly disappeared into the night, leaving only a few bamboo leaves swirling on the bluestone slabs.
The secret letter sealed with cinnabar half a month ago was still at the bottom of the dressing box, but the return date promised by Fudong seemed like a promise blown away by the wind.
Jiang Xue looked at the begonias that were gradually withering outside the west window, her heart still hanging in the air.
It was not until this morning when she received the pigeon message from Xiao Zhan, saying that Jiang Heng had survived the crisis of life and death, that she removed her clenched white fingertips from the letter.
When the gong struck three o'clock in the morning, a rapid knock on the door broke the silence in the room.
Jiang Xue quickly put on her coat, and Qing Ming's solemn face was reflected in the bronze mirror.
"The spy from Tianshui City brought back a living creature."
The guard leader squeezed the handle of the goose feather knife until it creaked. "That man called himself Han Xiangyi, and said he could make a weapon that could split mountains and split rocks."
Jiang Xue was wiping her Yuchang sword when the sound of iron chains came from deep in the corridor.
The man entangled in black iron chains came in the moonlight. His dark blue scholar's gown was stained with blood, but his eyebrows and eyes were as clear and elegant as a landscape painting.
The contrast made the dagger on her wrist hum and come out three inches.
"I heard that General Huangfu has a powerful weapon hidden in his tent?"
The sword tip lifted the opponent's chin, and Jiang Xue smelled a faint scent of fire.
Han Xiang's Adam's apple rolled under the cold blade: "Your Highness, do you want to know what that thing looks like?"
"I want to know more..."
The sword flashed past the prisoner's ear, cutting off a few strands of hair. "Can the bones in your neck withstand the simultaneous firing of three hundred divine crossbows?"
Han Xiangyi moved his wrists that had just been untied, and glanced at the sword on Qingming's waist: "If Your Highness can allow the guards to return my personal belongings, I am willing to show them to Your Highness in person."
Jiang Xue tapped the armrest lightly, and the secret guard immediately spread a gray cloth package on the ground.
The young man leaned over to pick up the black iron cylinder, and his fingertips traced the dark patterns on the surface: "Please move to the courtyard."
Sparks flew in the night, and the moment the fire starter lit the fuse, Han Xiang raised his hand and threw the object.
The deafening roar startled the birds perched under the eaves, and a six-foot square charred pit suddenly appeared on the bluestone ground.
Jiang Xue's fingertips unconsciously clasped the carved railing, and the aftereffects of the flying gravel were still vibrating in the air.
She suddenly understood why there were so many strange things in the border battle reports - if Huangfu Shang had used such a powerful weapon to attack the city, the territory of Dayan would have been in flames long ago.
"What is this thing called?" She stared at the bomb crater where the smoke had not yet dissipated.
"Your Highness, this thing is called the Thunder and Fire Bomb."
Han Xiangyi lowered his head and wiped the dust off his face: "Huangfu's army has 300 vehicles like this, what a pity..."
He suddenly sneered: "Ninety percent of them are fakes filled with charcoal."
Jiang Xue turned around abruptly, the moonlight flowing on her gilded armor: "Did you touch the armory?"
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