The sun was bright, but the February wind was still chilly. Chen Qi stood at the door of Jiuling Hall, watching the curtains flutter. "What are you looking at?" Fang Jinxiu's voice echoed behind him.

"I didn't watch it, I was listening." Chen Qi said, turning his head to look at Fang Jinxiu.

hear?

Fang Jinxiu came over.

"…It is absolutely true. The Jin people were brought in by Duke Cheng…"

"…Does this mean that Duke Cheng really surrendered to the Jin people?"

"…He fled after being convicted of a crime and had no place to stay in the world, so of course he had no choice but to seek refuge with the Jin people…"

"…It is said that he had colluded with the Jin people a long time ago. He had been in the north for so long that he must have been bought by the Jin people a long time ago…"

“…I didn’t expect Duke Cheng to be this kind of person…”

"…People are always greedy and never satisfied. He is so powerful and successful…"

The wind blew in discussions outside the door from time to time.

"Nonsense." Fang Jinxiu said, "What's so good about this?"

Chen Qi spread his hands.

"You're free anyway." He said, looking at Fang Jinxiu, "You might as well stay in Yangcheng. There's nothing to do here."

After learning that Miss Jun was captured by Lu Yunqi, Fang Jinxiu hurried back.

"Come back to get your wages," she said.

Chen Qi chuckled, and when he was about to speak, the discussions outside the door became louder.

"...Wait a minute, wouldn't that be bad... Duke Cheng is so powerful, wouldn't he be invincible if he led the Jin army?"

"…Yeah, yeah, they're going to attack the capital, right? Let's pack up and run."

"…Why are you so anxious? The emperor hasn't run away yet…"

"…Don't worry, that won't happen. Even without Duke Cheng, we still have Earl Qinghe. Have you forgotten who Duke Cheng serves under? Earl Qinghe!"

"...We have stopped them and driven the Jin people back. Just wait and see. It won't be long before the Jin people come to ask for peace and admit defeat again..."

"…Yes, Qinghebo is very powerful. If he hadn't been framed and caused a war, there would be no Chengguogong in this world…"

Hearing this, Fang Jinxiu snorted.

"Nonsense," she said again, turning away.

Is Qinghebo's power also nonsense? Chen Qi laughed and was about to turn around and follow him in when he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves on the street, accompanied by scolding.

"Urgent report, urgent report."

Everyone has become familiar with this sound in the past two months. It is the messenger from the war in the north.

Chen Qi couldn't help but lift the curtain and look out. He saw the bustling crowd on the street making way for them as they were shouted at, and the post soldier, covered in dust, rushed past.

I don’t know whether this is good news or bad news.

…

The emperor stepped into the hall and several ministers waiting there bowed and saluted.

"What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?" the emperor asked with a frown.

Several ministers looked at each other, evading responsibility for a moment, and then one of them stood up helplessly.

"Your Majesty," he said with a trembling voice, "There is no news about Qinghebo."

The emperor was stunned.

"What does it mean to lose the news?" he asked.

…

The weather in Qizhou in February is extremely cold, especially the snow that fell last night. Although the snow was not heavy, it was frozen on the ground. Looking at it in the daylight, it felt freezing.

Qinghebo, wrapped in a thick woolen cloak, had been standing on the castle for the whole morning.

"Master, please go in and rest for a while." The general beside him whispered.

"How long has it been?" Qinghe Bo did not answer, but asked.

"It's been three days." The general replied hurriedly, "Don't worry, Master, the message has been sent out."

Qinghebo's expression eased a little, but his eyes were still gloomy as he looked ahead.

The view ahead was a desolate scene with broken walls everywhere. The trees on the ground were charred black by the fire, and the ground exposed by the snow blown up by the wind was covered with bloodstains.

It can be seen that a fierce battle was fought here.

Further away, densely packed flags can be vaguely seen.

There is nothing scary about the flag; what is scary is the soldiers under the flag.

"How many more have come?" Qinghe Bo asked again.

The general lowered his head slightly.

"Thirty thousand troops are coming from the west," he said.

"So now there are 100,000 soldiers surrounding us." Qinghebo nodded and said.

He didn't seem to be afraid of the amount of 100,000.

The general lowered his head and replied yes.

"Are you scared?" Qinghebo looked at him and said.

The general straightened up quickly.

"I'm not afraid," he said loudly.

Qinghebo nodded.

"There is nothing to be afraid of. The Jin people are very good at playing this kind of siege warfare." He said, "We have enough food and grass, so why should we be afraid of them?"

"My Lord, you have a wise judgment." The general said with admiration.

"Now that we have broken through and sent the message out, we will confront these gold thieves head-on, allowing reinforcements to intercept them from the rear." Qinghebo said.

The general answered yes again.

As he said this, the ground seemed to tremble, and Qinghe Bo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"It looks like the gold thieves are about to attack again." He said, and threw his cloak, "Fight them."

With the sound of war drums, countless soldiers gathered again.

Looking at the troops in the city, several generals standing on the castle sighed, and then looked at Qinghe Bo who was walking down.

"Mingjian, Mingjian, if he was really Mingjian, how could he fall into the ambush of the Jin people?" A general could not help but whisper.

The general officer beside him hurriedly shouted at him.

"Don't say anything at this point," he advised in a low voice.

The former generals were still resentful.

"It's still not worth talking about at this point. Because of this, he has become more and more stubborn and self-willed." He said, "He insisted on dividing his forces and attacking together. As a result, he was cut off and besieged by the Jin people."

The general officer next to him sighed.

"Fortunately, we have broken out. Reinforcements will arrive soon." He said, looking excited. "The nearest one is Ningguan Pass."

When the general mentioned Suning Pass, his expression softened a bit.

"Fortunately, he still remembered that he was a general." He said, "He was not crazy enough to drive away the Qingshan Army. Otherwise..."

Several generals turned their heads to look outside the city. The densely packed flags that covered the sky seemed to be increasing in number, rolling towards them like a dark cloud.

…

Teams of officers and soldiers rushed back and forth to convey the order to break camp.

Several generals in the main camp pointed at the sand table to make final confirmations.

"Okay, according to the plan given by Master, we will advance westward from here..." said a general, "then turn north, cross the Pingchuan River, and directly attack the east of the Jin army."

The generals nodded and accepted the order.

"Okay, Master is under siege, and this concerns the overall situation of the war, so everyone please work together..." the leading general said solemnly.

A bearded general standing at the end of the line, who was listening attentively, suddenly felt someone poking his arm.

He looked sideways and saw a patch.

Without looking at him, Chop stuffed something into his hand and stood up and walked away.

The general was surprised. He looked at the soldier, then lowered his head to feel the thing in his palm.

A note.

What does it mean?

The general frowned slightly, hesitated for a while, stroked his beard and raised his hand, looked sideways, and suddenly his expression was shocked, and he subconsciously covered his mouth with his hand.

"Old Wen, what are you eating?" the general next to him asked in a low voice.

General Wen laughed dryly.

"No, no, swallow." He whispered.

The general laughed.

"Scared?" he whispered.

General Wen shook his head hurriedly.

"How could that be?" he said.

As the two were talking to this point, the general in front of them coughed heavily.

“…Did everyone understand?” he said, looking at the two people who were talking here.

The other officers in the room also looked over, with expressions of indifference and dissatisfaction.

It's already good enough to be the confidant of Duke Cheng and be able to lead troops. You should cherish your blessings.

The two generals' faces turned red.

"I understand," they said loudly.

"Then everyone go back and break camp," said the general.

Everyone in the tent responded in unison and turned away without hesitation. Although General Wen was standing at the outermost edge, he was not the first to go out. Instead, he stepped aside and watched the generals go away with a complicated expression.

"Lord Wen, is there anything else?" asked the general standing in front of the sand table.

General Wen looked at him.

"Lord Zong, Master Bo wants us to cross the Pingchuan River and attack the Jin army from the east, right?" he said.

Lord Zong frowned slightly.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" he asked.

General Wen hesitated.

"No, I think, maybe..." he said, finally gritted his teeth, bowed his head, and said, "I will obey your command."

Having said that, he strode back out.

Lord Zong, who was standing in front of the sand table, had a look of disdain on his face, but he said nothing more. He lowered his head and looked at the sand table seriously.

General Wen rode back to his station, where his subordinates had been waiting for a long time.

"How is it?"

They had obviously known that the Qinghebo army was under siege, and they also knew that they were being summoned to provide support.

"I never thought that Qinghebo would be ambushed."

"Even though the Jin people are too powerful, there is nothing we can do."

"I think we should provide support from Pingchuan River."

"No, I think we should attack the Jin people's food and fodder. The Duke once said that the Jin people are actually timid and strong in numbers, but if their morale is shaken, it will be very easy for them to disperse."

"Who knows where their food is? We were not told and were just left running around."

Without waiting for General Wen to speak, they started arguing, and in the end there was no final conclusion.

"Where are we going?" They looked at General Wen and asked, "What has Master arranged?"

General Wen looked at everyone, but the note he had just swallowed appeared in front of his eyes.

"We," he said slowly, word by word, as if each word was worth a thousand gold, "we will go east, cross Xingta Mountain, and reach Songyuan."