Yan Sikong found an opportunity to have a drink with Yu Shenglang alone. Yu Shenglang accepted his gift and was flattered by him very much. The two were of similar age and had already called each other brothers.

Yan Sikong could see Yu Shenglang's ambition and thought he had great potential, but because he was of decent character, he would not easily say inappropriate words.

However, after drinking and becoming familiar with Yan Sikong, he became less stern and complained a lot about Xue Ronggui's corruption and nepotism. Yan Sikong had expected this, otherwise he would not be the one sent to Hetao with 10,000 soldiers.

Yan Sikong followed Yu Shenglang's words, sometimes filled with righteous indignation, sometimes sighing with regret. His ability to win the hearts of the people was so great that even Xie Zhongren and the emperor could hardly resist him, let alone a fifth-rank general who thought he was a man of unappreciated talent.

When they had almost finished drinking, Yan Sikong took out a very valuable gold and jade carving and gave it to Yu Shenglang.

Yu Shenglang was half sober and was reluctant to accept it. All those before were just preparations. Yan Sikong had just arrived and it was an unwritten rule for officials to show respect to each other. It was not a big deal. But to send such a valuable gift all of a sudden must mean that he had something to ask of him.

Yan Sikong whispered, "Brother Yu, to be honest, this is a birthday gift that the Wolf King asked me to give you alone."

Hearing the word "Wolf King", Yu Shenglang sobered up completely and stared at Yan Sikong in a daze.

Yan Sikong continued, "The Wolf King asked you, do you remember the time when we went hunting together and you almost got hurt while helping him to trap prey?"

Yu Shenglang's lips trembled slightly, and his expression suddenly became complicated, worried, and a little moved. He trembled and said, "This... I was just a small centurion back then, and the Wolf King still remembers me?"

"The Wolf King said that my brother is smart, brave, loyal and a great general. I have never forgotten this all these years."

Yu Shenglang rolled his eyes and sweat broke out on his forehead: "What do you mean, brother Xian?"

Yan Sikong held Yu Shenglang's hand and said sternly, "When I first met Brother Yu, I could tell from your words that you were obsessed with King Jingyuan. There are many old people from Datong like you. General Chen, General Liu, General Mo, which one of them has not received King Jingyuan's favor and admired him wholeheartedly? Can Xue Ronggui be even one-tenth of King Jingyuan?"

"One percent is also a compliment to him." Yu Shenglang blurted out, but regretted it right after he finished speaking. He lowered his voice unconsciously, "Brother Xian, who else have you told this to? You must have drunk too much. Why not wait until you sober up..."

"Brother Yu should be awake by now." Yan Sikong pushed the gold and jade carving in front of Yu Shenglang, "This is just a little gift from the Wolf King. You will never be reused in Xue Ronggui's hands."

Yu Shenglang clenched his fists, his expression full of struggle. Yan Sikong could see clearly that he didn't dare to rebel in his heart, and he might even be cursing him inwardly for finding him. It was impossible for him to pretend to be ignorant now.

Seeing that he pursed his lips and said nothing, Yan Sikong said, "Let me show you something, Brother Yu." He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Yu Shenglang.

"This is..."

"You'll know at a glance." After a moment of hesitation, Yu Shenglang opened the letter and scanned it at a glance. The more he read, the more nervous he became. There was something strange about the letter. The tone was not that of an ordinary person, but the content was also confusing. He could hardly sit still, and asked in a voice so low and hoarse that he wished he could put his ear to his mouth to hear, "Who wrote this?"

"King of Chu."

Yu Shenglang suddenly understood what the letter was about and broke out in a cold sweat.

Yan Sikong narrowed his eyes. "When the King of Chu was still the Lord of the Eastern Palace, I was his tutor. His Highness trusted me very much. You also know that the current Crown Prince is not legitimate and has colluded with the eunuchs, which has given people a reason to criticize him. In the future, will such a person be able to rule our Great Sheng?"

After he returned to Qianzhou, he received a secret letter from Chen Yi. As he expected, Chen Yi had been secretly building up his power over the years. Whether it was the hatred of his mother's murder or his innate ambition for the throne, he never dared to relax. Yan Sikong's letter was the signal he had been waiting for for a long time.

Yu Shenglang wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "This... is a serious matter. I have no time to deal with it..."

"Brother Yu," Yan Sikong said earnestly, "I have three questions for you."

“…You ask.”

"According to the current situation, can Qianzhou stop the Wolf King?"

"It's probably... unstoppable."

"If the Datong soldiers and civilians were asked to choose between the Feng Family Army and Xue Ronggui, who would most of them choose?"

“…”

"Who?"

Yu Shenglang whispered: "Xue Ronggui has no prestige, at most he has no merits or faults."

"Okay, one last question. If the Wolf King assists the King of Chu in returning to the capital to ascend the throne, would he still be considered a traitor?"

Yu Shenglang's face turned pale: "This... this..."

"The King of Chu is the eldest prince. Your Majesty disregarded the objections of loyal ministers and willfully established a lover. Not only did you disobey the ancestral system, but you also violated the wishes of the Queen Mother. How can your Majesty be a role model for the world with benevolence and filial piety?" Yan Sikong said, "Of course, your Majesty was also deceived by the eunuch party and the treacherous concubine. Now that the eunuch party has fallen, it is time to inherit the ancestral system and put things right."

Yu Shenglang stood up happily.

Yan Sikong also stood up and looked at his hesitant back: "If Qianzhou City is captured one day, Xu Yong will be the first to surrender. Brother, do you think you will be forced to surrender, or do you want to be the one who has made contributions to the Wolf King and the future emperor?"

Yu Shenglang was shocked.

Yan Sikong curled his lips and smiled, this fish was already in his net.

——

On New Year's Eve, no one in Qianzhou dared to celebrate. The people secretly celebrated the New Year at home, but they were also worried about being reprimanded by the military commander if they made too much noise. Wu Mang, the garrison commander of Qianzhou, was afraid that Feng Ye would take advantage of the lax defense during the festival to launch a surprise attack. He did not want to follow in Mao Ren's footsteps, so even though it was the most important day of the year, they were as cautious and alert as usual.

Unfortunately, the strongest cities are often not those that are destroyed from the outside.

From New Year's Eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year, spies reported back every day that the Wolf King was raising troops to celebrate, and the soldiers were drunk every day, and did not seem to have any plans to attack, so Wu Mang felt a little relieved.

Having not been home to reunite with his parents, wife and children for many days, he finally decided to go back to celebrate the New Year, even if it was just to have a reunion dinner.

That night, Yu Shenglang and his men easily captured the guard of the city gate. At the darkest and coldest hour of the day, the lights on the Qianzhou city wall were bright and the city gate was wide open. Feng Ye, who had already besieged Qianzhou, shook off his drunken state and sent out his troops quickly. When the Qianzhou officers who were still sleeping received the urgent report and hurried over, Feng Ye had already led a large army into the city.

Yan Sikong hid on the upper floor of the inn, and through the half-open window he could just see Feng Ye riding Zuihong, wearing armor and a cloak, and walking slowly and majestically into the city. His capable generals surrounded him, and his soldiers followed closely behind him. The captives all knelt on the ground. He was like a beast patrolling a flock of sheep, wanting to devour these lambs without any effort.

Yan Sikong couldn't help but think of the surprise glance between the two of them when they walked upstairs and downstairs when Feng Ye returned to Beijing. At that time, he remembered Feng Ye's two wolf-like eyes, which were even more fierce and intimidating now.

Yan Sikong closed the window and waited for someone to find him. Soon, he was captured along with many Qianzhou officers. He and Yu Shenglang had discussed in advance that his relationship with Feng Ye could not be exposed because the Datong Army had not yet been captured.

Wu Mang was deeply indebted to the emperor and could not deny his guilt, so he committed suicide in despair. Xu Yong surrendered readily as Yan Sikong had expected. Once he surrendered, most of the people in Qianzhou surrendered. There were still a few people with backbone who were unwilling to surrender, and they were all thrown into prison by Fengye. This group of people, including Shen Hexuan of Maoren, were useful whether they were killed or appeased, so they had to be kept alive for the time being.

Yan Sikong was imprisoned again.

However, this time, Feng Ye ordered someone to bring him the bear cloak and lit the charcoal fire very vigorously, so even in the cold prison, he was not too cold.

After taking over Qianzhou, Feng Ye had completely mastered the Hetao area. Now that the court had just decided with Chahar to open a horse market in Hetao, Hetao was suddenly no longer under the control of the court. This not only made the court ashamed and angry, but also put it in a dilemma. The barbarians could not understand how the Han people were fighting among themselves. They only cared about being a nomadic people, without farming and without handwork. From rice, flour, vegetables and fruits to pots, bowls, needles and thread, they wanted to rob them. Of course, there was a price to pay for robbing. If they could trade with each other, they would be very happy to avoid the risk of going without return. In fact, for thousands of years, most of the invasions by the surrounding barbarians had no intention of conquering the Central Plains - mainly because they were not as powerful as the Oirat. Instead, they were mostly for trade, exchanging cattle, horses and sheep for things that did not grow in their land or in their hands.

Therefore, as soon as Feng Ye conquered Qianzhou, he sent envoys to find the Khan of Chahar, Youli, to intercept the Hu people of Dasheng. If he could succeed, within three to five years, Feng Ye would have powerful soldiers and horses, and be rich enough to rival other countries.

This news shocked the court and the public. The imperial court completely woke up from the dream that Feng Ye might be appeased. Feng Ye's move did not seem like a possibility of surrender. It was clear that he wanted to use Hetao as a base to recuperate and compete for the Central Plains.

When Yan Sikong was in prison with nothing to do, he repeatedly thought about how he had fought and maneuvered since the day he came to Qianzhou, and how he and Feng Ye had completely taken over the Hetao area with abundant grass and fertile land in just a few months. He was not proud of his own intelligence, but wanted to look back to see if and where he had revealed his flaws in the whole thing. The current results were the result of repeated deliberations and planning by him and Feng Ye. Every step was full of risks. Now they were only a few steps away from luring the Datong Army to surrender. If they made any mistakes at this critical juncture, they would fail.

With Feng Ye's current military and financial resources, he would never be able to take Datong by force. Although Feng Jianping is no longer with us, the perfect defense line he built and the soldiers he trained are no pushovers. Besides, Feng Ye is not willing to engage in close combat with the Datong army. After all, it was once his home.

In this way, although Yan Sikong was "imprisoned", his mind was never idle until a few days later, when Feng Ye took him out of prison.