Chapter 214: Keeping the Enemy at bay
Inside the main account.
"Your Highness." Mu'er lifted the curtain and walked in, bowing and saying.
King Zhenbei was standing with his hands behind his back in front of a map of the desert. When he heard Mu'er's voice, he did not turn around.
"Where's Jing'er?"
"The princess is competing with General Cheng Lian and his men in the training ground."
King Zhenbei nodded, turned around and asked, "Is there any response from Zhu Ertai?"
"The messenger over there reported that everything has been arranged and the troops will be dispatched tomorrow."
Mu'er hesitated for a moment, "But Your Majesty, Zhu Qingyan and Zhu Lan are good friends of the princess. If they die, I'm afraid the princess will..."
"They both wanted to go there on their own, no one forced them, and they died at the hands of Tianduo. What does it have to do with me?" King Zhenbei said indifferently.
"Jing'er is brave, but not good at political schemes. She doesn't understand the balance of this border, and I don't want her to get involved too much. Since Jing'er insists on going to find the main force of the Great Purification, I can't stop her, so just let her be. She will stop making trouble after enough.
By the way, has Tianduo also been notified?"
Mu'er nodded. "The Princess and the others originally planned to light up Kongming lanterns at the sacrificial site. Tianduo has already made preparations and will not let the plan succeed."
"Well, at this critical moment, he can't get into trouble. This year's 200,000 taels of military pay still need to fall on them. Jing'er will probably come to discuss this with me soon, so you go down first."
"yes."
…
At night, the Northern Frontier camp was brightly lit and the three armies assembled.
The soldiers guarding the border cannot be dispatched easily, so the King of Zhenbei mobilized another 30,000 troops from the nearby military region to be responsible for this operation.
The midnight hour had passed, and it was the winter solstice. As the time of the great purification operation was uncertain, Murong Jing had to prepare in advance. At this time, the 30,000 troops had been divided into more than a dozen teams, including cavalry and infantry, ready to enter the desert from different directions and start searching according to the planned route.
The operation was agreed to use red Kongming lanterns as a signal. If a Kongming lantern was seen rising above the desert, all teams would gather and surround the place where the Kongming lantern was rising. If a team discovered the main force of the Great Purification in advance, they would burn horse manure as smoke to summon the rest of the teams.
After reviewing the entire army, Murong Jing put on the terrifying ghost mask, climbed onto the horse neatly, looked back at the armored King of Zhenbei on the high platform, and said in a resounding voice: "I will go and destroy the Great Purification. Father will sit firmly in the center of the army, you can rest assured!"
"Go." King Zhenbei nodded to her.
Murong Jing was about to order the army to march out when she suddenly saw a man riding a horse forward. It turned out to be Gu Chaoyang wearing silver armor.
This time he also led a cavalry team of 200 people, responsible for patrolling and supporting.
Gu Chaoyang came to Murong Jing and said in a low voice:
"My Lord, I want to bring one more thing."
…
The sky at the winter solstice gets bright very late.
The women who were captured together seemed to have become numb to fear. They had no idea what the arrival of the winter solstice meant, and they were still dreaming of returning home.
Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan spent the whole night with their eyes open until the sky finally turned pale and they saw Ah Zhu again.
However, Ah Zhu seemed to just pass by here and did not come towards them.
From a distance, she seemed to notice the gazes of the two people. She tilted her head slightly towards them, a faint smile appeared on her lips, and she continued to walk forward.
Zhu Qingyan stood there and asked Zhu Lan blankly, "Just now, was she smiling at us? Does that mean that the sky lantern launch has been arranged?"
But there was no response from my side.
Zhu Qingyan couldn't help but look at Zhu Lan and found that her eyes were still fixed on Ah Zhu's receding back.
"What's wrong? Isn't there...something wrong?" For some reason, Zhu Qingyan suddenly felt a great sense of uneasiness in his heart, and asked Zhu Lan nervously.
Zhu Lan finally turned his gaze to Zhu Qingyan's face and sighed softly, "When did you become so naive? Do you really think that this Ah Zhu will help us?"
Zhu Qingyan was a little confused, "What do you mean?"
"This is all too smooth and coincidental. From the disappearance of Ding Xiaoqiu and Master Xie, to the information Cheng Hu provided us about Ah Zhu, it was all a setup."
"Is it really Cheng Hu who deceived us? But when we were discussing it, A Jing was also present, and she didn't doubt Cheng Hu..."
"You trusted the little princess too much, and she trusted the King of Zhenbei too much, so you made a misjudgment."
Zhu Qingyan's eyes widened slightly, a little bit unbelievable, "Don't you trust Ah Jing?"
"No." Zhu Lan's eyes turned dark, "I don't believe her father."
Zhu Lan paused, "Think about it, when we were in Yunzhou, the King of Zhenbei tried every means to prevent us from passing the news of the Great Purification Sacrifice to the little princess. What other explanation is there except that he wanted to protect her? But when we returned to the Northern Frontier Camp again, the King of Zhenbei's attitude suddenly changed. He actually supported this operation to eliminate the Great Purification. Isn't it strange?
Cheng Hu just jumped out at this time and told us about Ah Zhu. Why didn't he tell us earlier or later, but only now? And what a coincidence, at this time, the news came that Ding Xiaoqiu and Master Xie were abducted by the Great Purification Soldiers. The series of events that happened seemed to be intended to make us fall into the hands of the Great Purification. "
Zhu Qingyan was a little confused. "But why would the King of Zhenbei protect Dafu? He is the King of Zhenbei, the mortal enemy of Dafu."
Zhu Lan could understand. After all, Zhu Qingyan was just a teenager and it was his first time to travel far away. He did not have enough knowledge and experience, so it was naturally difficult for him to think of keeping an enemy to protect himself.
She explained: "Let me ask you, now that there is no war between Wuzi and Daliang for the time being, and the Great Purification has been completely wiped out, what will the court do?"
Zhu Qingyan shook his head.
"Maintaining an army is very expensive. If there is no trouble on the border, the first thing the court will do is to reduce the number of troops."
Zhu Qingyan opened his mouth slightly, already thinking of some terrible things.
Zhu Lan continued, "With fewer troops, we naturally cannot ask for as much military pay, and the room for empty pay will also be greatly reduced."
"So... just for this little bit of silver, they let those exorcists massacre the people living on the border? Those are all living lives!"
It was the coldest time of the year, but it was the first time that Zhu Qingyan felt such a bone-chilling cold.
"It's not just for money, but also for military power. And this definitely involves more than just the interests of the King of Zhenbei. It may even involve important officials in the court and even the royal family." Zhu Lan's voice was a little heavy.
Zhu Qingyan looked at Zhu Lan in shock, and suddenly realized that things in this world were so different from what was written in the books and what he understood.
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