"What?" Ashina Heli stood up suspiciously and asked the spy, "Are they really just doing this?"

The spy nodded and replied, "We have been pretending to be mountain people outside the military camp and watching for a long time. Xiao Du and his group of people have been drinking and having fun every day. They don't seem to be anxious at all. Although they are training every day, they don't seem to have any plans to attack the city."

"What about the food? Has the food been reduced? Porridge or rice?"

"No, all soldiers still have three meals a day, white rice every meal, there is no reduction at all."

Ashina Heli frowned and sat down. He asked a few more questions before sending the spy away. He turned to Dian Yun and said, "Second Prince, don't you think this is unusual? After so many days, the food and grass that Xiao Du and his men brought should have run out. Without supplies, they would have starved to death outside the city sooner or later. But they can still be so patient and don't worry about food at all. Do you think they are waiting for backup?"

Dian Yun also found it a bit strange. He tapped the table with his fingers and thought, "Maybe this is just a trick played by Xiao Du. Even if reinforcements come from the capital, how can they bypass Pingdu Pass and be sent directly to the outside? Let's wait and see for a few more days."

Ashina Heli nodded, but still felt a little uneasy, and continued: "There are still soldiers being killed in the city these days. I will not be able to put my mind at ease unless I find those people."

At this time, a spy rushed in and whispered something to Ashina Heli. Ashina Heli's face changed suddenly. Dianyun recognized that this was the spy they sent to keep an eye on Zou Wu. His heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling. At this time, Ashina Heli said with a gloomy face, "Okay! Bring him in! And Zou Wu? Bring him in for me too!"

Zou Wu was taken to the front of the hall and was pushed to the ground. When he saw a soldier standing beside him, wearing a military uniform with a scar on his body, he was shocked and asked, "Your Majesty, Second Prince, what's going on?"

Ashina Heli looked at him coldly and said, "I want to ask you what happened? This man was found in your room. He was hiding there and was about to send you a secret report. He was caught by my people. Both the man and the stolen goods were captured. What else do you have to say now?"

Zou Wu fell to the ground in fear, trembling and shouting: "Your Majesty, I have wronged you. I don't even know him, and I don't know what the secret report is!"

The soldier showed a look of regret and said, "General Zou, why bother asking them for help now? It's my fault for being too careless and causing trouble for you."

Zou Wu's eyes widened, and he pointed at him while his hands began to tremble. "You! You are slandering me! My king, you must not believe him!"

"Oh?" Dian Yun took out a piece of paper from the side and said, "Then how do you explain this handwritten letter of yours?"

When Zou Wu saw the handwriting on his hand, he was so frightened that he shouted, "I didn't write this! I really didn't write this!"

"Shut up!" Ashina He stepped forward and slapped him to the ground, then grabbed his collar and said viciously: "The handwriting on this letter is the same as the secret letter you sent to us. How do you explain it?"

Zou Wu was slapped so hard that he felt dizzy. He opened his mouth and spat out a bloody tooth, but he didn't care about the severe pain and cried hysterically, "Someone must have imitated my handwriting on purpose. They want to frame me. You must not fall into their trap, my king!"

"Alright!" Dian Yun waved his hand coldly and said, "Whether it is a frame-up or not, we will know after we hand it over to An Jiuying for trial!"

Zou Wu sat slumped on the ground, his face twisted with extreme fear. The Anyiying Battalion was a special team in the Wu army that was responsible for interrogation and torture. It was said that their methods were extremely cruel and no one who entered would come out alive.

At this time, the soldier rushed over and bumped into him, crying, "Lieutenant Zou, save me, I don't want to die yet!" Zou Wu was so frightened that he was knocked to the ground in a daze. He raised his head and saw the soldier's venomous gaze staring at him fiercely. He mouthed one word after another: "Bastard! This is your end!"

Zou Wu couldn't stop shaking all over, and was dragged out before he could call for help. Ashina Heli and Dian Yun waited for a long time, and finally the captain of Anjiu Camp came in and reported: "Both of them couldn't hold on, they died!" He remembered the scene when Zou Wu died of incontinence, and couldn't help frowning in disgust, and said: "But we finally got something. The soldier from the Xiao family wanted to commit suicide but was stopped by us. He couldn't stand the torture, so he told the contents of the secret report."

"What is the secret report?" Ashina Heli hurried forward and asked.

The captain took a step closer and said word by word: "When the smoke of war rises, great things will happen!"

Just as Ashina Heli was trying to figure out what these words meant, Luo Yuan stood with his hands behind his back and said solemnly to the fifty soldiers in front of him: "Remember this, form a group of ten and ambush at the place I just told you. Move at the same time when you see the smoke signals. There can be no mistakes!" He was silent for a while, and then said: "Once we are discovered by the Black Cavalry, we must hold them tightly and not let them see our true number. Even if it costs our lives, we cannot retreat for a moment. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Fifty Xiao family soldiers stood with their heads held high, their voices as loud as a bell. They knew that this was a battle to their death, but there was no fear or retreat on their faces, only the determination to move forward courageously.

The people in the cellar watched this scene silently. An old man stood up tremblingly, took off a string of Buddhist beads from his neck and tied it around the wrist of a warrior, saying: "Brave children, may you return safely."

Then, the others also stood up, took out their belongings and handed them to Xiao Jiabing, mumbling words of prayer. These soldiers who had never cried before in life and death finally couldn't help it, and bowed their heads, gritting their teeth to hold back the tears in their eyes. Luo Yuan also felt his eyes getting hot, but he knew it was not the time to cry yet. He reached out and wiped his face fiercely, walked to Xiao Zhuzi and squatted down, saying: "Do you dare to take uncle to find the place where those bad guys put the food?"

Zhuzi stared at him with his dark pupils, and then nodded vigorously. Luo Yuan touched his head with relief, and said softly: "Don't worry, uncle will definitely send you back safely!" Then he stood up and said loudly: "It's getting late, let's go!"

The soldiers who were still in grief immediately straightened their faces. They held their curved swords tightly and stood in front of Luo Yuan in neat steps. Luo Yuan looked at them approvingly and pointed at one of the teams and said, "You follow me to the food camp, and the other teams will ambush at the city gate as planned."

Just as he turned around and prepared to lead the team out, he suddenly heard a voice calling softly, "Little Master." Yuan Xi put down the work in his hands, walked up to him, took off his hairband and tied it around his wrist, and said earnestly, "Little Master, you must come back!"

Luo Yuan touched the soft ribbon in his hand, took two steps back, bowed, and gave her his usual elegant smile.

Yuan Xi's vision blurred. She recalled the first time she met the young master, he also smiled and bowed to her in the same way, like the bright moon and the fresh breeze, pure and untainted by dust.

A few hours later, while still discussing with Dianyun, Ashina Heli finally received intelligence from outside the pass that Xiao Du led the army to destroy the camp, smashed all the furniture and rushed into the mountains. Ashina Heli was worried and hesitant when he suddenly heard someone outside shouting: "Wolf smoke, wolf smoke is rising in the mountains!"

Ashina Heli and Dianyun were horrified and hurriedly rode their horses to the top of the city tower. As expected, they saw green smoke rising from the distant mountains. At the same time, several loud noises were heard in the city, and fires were burning everywhere. Someone hurriedly ran up to the city tower and reported: "Oh no! The grain camp is on fire!"

However, before they could send anyone to check, soldiers kept running up and shouting that several city gates were on fire. It was said that soldiers wearing Xiao family uniforms were ambushing at the city gates and the grain camp. They rushed in like ghosts without caring about their lives, catching the black cavalry off guard. In the chaos, they could not tell the number of the enemy troops.

Ashina Heli slapped his thigh and said to Dian Yun, "Oh no! We've fallen into a trap! There really is an ambush in the city!"

Dian Yun was also a little confused and asked, "What should we do now? What is their purpose in leading us into the city?"

Ashina Heli was about to speak when his eyes suddenly widened. He saw a rolling yellow earth rising in the distance, gathering into a black cloud and moving quickly towards this side. He opened his mouth and muttered, "Impossible, there can't be only 30,000 people. Where did the others come from? What's going on!"

Dian Yun was also frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. He kicked the spy beside him and said, "Go quickly, go and find out for me how many people there are in Xiaodu!"

The spy ran out with his men in a hurry. At this time, someone finally saw the flag held by the vanguard troops and exclaimed: "It's the battle flag of the South Vietnam Kingdom!"

Ashina Heli and Dianyun only then noticed that the flags representing the Nanyue tribe were flying high in the wind. They could not help but take a step back in fear. They had never expected that Xiao Du would join forces with the Nanyue people to attack the city. Now they had no idea how many enemies were in front of them. If the Xiao family army in Qingzhou attacked from the rear, they would be attacked from both sides, not to mention that there were countless ambushes buried in the city. Ashina Heli sighed and pounded on the city wall, saying, "Abandon the city! Go to Qingzhou to kill!"

"No!" Dian Yun still had some rationality and shouted, "We can't abandon the city."

Ashina Heli pointed at the flames all around the city and said, "Second Prince, you still can't see that we have fallen into their trap! What do you call this? This is called catching a turtle in a jar! Now we have no choice but to fight our way to Qingzhou City. There are only 60,000 remnants of the Xiao family army there. We have twice as many troops as they do. If we can break through, we can kill all the way into the Central Plains. If we stay here any longer, I'm afraid our entire army will be wiped out!"

Dian Yun gritted his teeth and sighed, but finally gave the order unwillingly: "Beat the drum to send the order, abandon the city immediately and attack Qingzhou with all your strength."

Just when Dian Yun and his men finally made the decision to abandon the city, Luo Yuan and ten soldiers were fighting a fierce battle in the grain camp. They swung their short knives left and right, killing people and horses, and blood splattered everywhere. Roars and screams continued in the thick smoke. This reckless fighting style actually caused the Black Cavalry's formation to be in chaos, and for a while they were afraid to move forward.

At this time, the horn of retreat came from the city. Although the group of black cavalry soldiers were unwilling to let them go, they had to turn their horses and gather with the army immediately. Luo Yuan saw that the time was ripe, and hurriedly hugged the pillar in his arms and whispered to the few remaining people: "Go!" But at this time, the thick smoke gradually dissipated, and the last group of black cavalry soldiers finally found that there were only a few remnants in front of them, so they shouted: "There are only a few of them left, kill them quickly, kill them!"

But they soon regretted it. The soldier in front of them was like a devil crawling out of hell. He didn't care about the blade chopping at him. He just used up his last bit of strength and plunged the dagger into the opponent's chest until the blade curled up. He still desperately bit and tore the enemy with his teeth and hands, strangling each enemy with his life.

Finally, after this tragic battle, a group of black cavalry was completely wiped out, and only the last soldier of the Xiao family was left. He dragged his wounded body to protect Luo Yuan and Zhuzi and fled to a hidden place. Unexpectedly, a black cavalry soldier who was lucky enough to survive came from behind and swung his sword at Luo Yuan. The soldier shouted loudly, threw Luo Yuan and Zhuzi under him, took the blow for them with his body, and then clamped the man's throat with his backhand until he stopped breathing.

Luo Yuan quickly turned over and supported his falling body. He wanted to use his hands to plug the bloody holes in his body, but he couldn't stop them. He was so anxious that he kept crying.

The soldier spat out a mouthful of blood and said, "Sir, don't worry about me. I killed so many black cavalrymen today, which is enough for my life." His body began to grow colder and his eyes gradually dimmed. "Just please remember, sir, my name is Meng Qi, and I am from Tongcheng, Shuzhou. I want someone to tell my parents that their son died on the battlefield and was a hero who protected many people. Also, give them the salary I have saved all these years..."

His voice became weaker and weaker until it disappeared. Luo Yuan cried and nodded continuously, closing his eyes. Then he took a deep breath, turned around, hugged Zhu Zi, who was shaking with fear, and ran to a haystack with him in his arms. But at this moment, he suddenly heard the shouts of the black cavalrymen coming from not far away. The sound was getting closer and closer, and was about to reach them...

At this time, accompanied by the flames at the city gate, Xiao Du had already led 30,000 soldiers into the city smoothly. Behind them were thousands of crazy oxen. This was a plan that Xiao Du came up with. He had heard that the leader of the Mu Rong, Ashina Heli, was suspicious by nature, so he pretended to be sure of victory to make Ashina Heli suspicious. Then he used the spies in the city to frame Zou Wu, making the Black Cavalry think that they had easily broken into the city because they had fallen into the trap of the Da Mu Army. Then he let the spies contact Luo Yuan in the city, and when the time was right, they lit the beacon and the two sides acted together. He sent a team of soldiers to raise the flag of the Nanyue people and charge in the front. He also used the sand and soil raised by thousands of oxen to make Ashina Heli unable to grasp the number of the attacking army. He was also worried about the ambush set up in the city. In the panic, he decided to abandon Pingdu Pass and directly capture Qingzhou.

Xiao Du recaptured Pingdu Pass without a single soldier, but he did not dare to relax. He first ordered several teams to guard the city gate, then he dismounted and rushed to the city tower. Looking at the backs of the black cavalry, he took the iron bow handed to him by the deputy general behind him, drew the arrow, and shouted: "Whoever dares to invade my territory..." The soldiers under the city tower raised their long spears and responded in unison, "Kill!"

Xiao Du shouted again: "Those who insult my compatriots..." "Kill!"

"The one who killed my brother..." "Kill!"

The soldiers under the city wall thought of their fellow brothers who died at the hands of the enemy, and their blood boiled. They kept shouting "Kill! Kill! Kill!" The deafening shouts surged like a tide and rushed straight into the sky. The Black Cavalry, who had already fled out of the city in panic, were frightened by the earth-shaking roar and forgot their formation for a moment, constantly bumping into their own troops.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ashina Heli waved his hand and ordered the drums to be beaten and the troops to re-form their formation. Xiao Du curled his lips coldly, aimed at a dark shadow next to the fluttering flag, drew his bow with great strength, and shot two arrows in a row. The iron bow in his hand weighed more than ten pounds, and it took a lot of strength to shoot it, but the range was amazing. The black arrow feathers whizzed through the air, and the arrow in front was about to fall when it was hit by the arrow behind, and then pierced Ashina Heli's armor and shot him off his horse. Fortunately, the personal soldiers beside him rushed to pull him up in time, so that he would not be trampled to death in the chaos.

The Black Cavalry were frightened to death when they saw that the enemy could shoot down their leader with one arrow from dozens of miles away. However, they were even more desperate. It turned out that Zheng Long secretly sent people to break the dike upstream of the Weishui River, causing the river water to rise to a depth of one meter, which was difficult for ordinary horses to cross. Then, rockets began to be fired continuously from the Qingzhou City on the opposite bank. The Black Cavalry suffered a series of setbacks today and had no power to resist. They were surrounded and killed tens of thousands of people. Fortunately, Dian Yun personally took up the commander's flag and commanded the Black Cavalry to rearrange their formation and retreat to the mountains beside the Weishui River, so that the whole army was not annihilated.

Xiao Du finally relaxed a little after seeing the situation was settled. As soon as he walked down the tower, he saw the figure he had been thinking about day and night. He quickly stepped forward and held her tightly in his arms. Yuan Xi was held in his arms, and her heart, which had been hanging for several days, finally settled down a little. Then she cried again, "The young master took people to the grain camp and has not come back!"

Xiao Du's face changed, he held her hand and soothed her, "Don't worry, I will bring him back!" Then he mounted his horse and rode towards the grain camp. Yuan Xi was taken back to the county governor's mansion by two personal soldiers, but she was still restless and looked out anxiously.

After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly heard cries coming from afar. Her heart was immediately gripped with grief and she rushed out the door. In the afterglow of the setting sun, Xiao Du was walking slowly towards her on horseback. Sitting on the horse was the little boy Zhuzi, but he was carrying that person on his shoulders. His blue shirt had long been dyed bright red, and his gentle eyes would never open again.

Yuan Xi felt her body going limp and she had to hold onto the door frame tightly to prevent herself from slipping, but she still didn't want to believe it. She just stared at Xiao Du with hopeful eyes, hoping that he would tell her that the young master was not dead, but just seriously injured.

Xiao Du's eyes were red and he didn't dare to look at her. He gently put down Luo Yuan's body, took Zhuzi off the horse and said, "He hid the child in the haystack and used himself to lure away the enemy. I searched for a long time before I found him in the pile of corpses..." His throat choked and he couldn't say any more.

Yuan Xi felt a blackness in front of her eyes, and finally she could no longer hold on and fell to the ground. Xiao Du rushed over and helped her up, letting her bury her face in his chest to vent. At this time, Zhu Zi, who had been standing nearby, suddenly walked up to them and tore open his shirt. On his shirt, names were written in blood, one by one, each stroke was vigorous and majestic. This was the last thing Luo Yuan did before the arrival of the Black Cavalry.

At the last moment, he wrote down the name of each of the assassins. This was the only thing he could do for them, and it was also a promise he would never forget even in his death.