Zhao Fuyi looked at Yan Sikong in astonishment for a few seconds, then waved his hand and asked him to hand it over.

Yan Sikong walked over.

Zhao Fuyi spread out the letter, read it quickly, nodded, said "OK" heavily, and couldn't help but look at Yan Sikong again.

Zhao Fuyi had heard that Feng Ye and Yan Sikong were good friends, and thought that Feng Ye brought this young Hanlin here just to do him a favor and give him a chance to make merit so that he could be promoted in the future. Today, he saw that this young Hanlin was so smart and his official letter was impeccable. No wonder he could give lectures at the imperial lectures and serve as a reader for the crown prince. It seemed that he had underestimated him. Zhao Fuyi praised, "Lord Yan is so talented and thoughtful. He is really a young man to be feared."

"Thank you, General. This is my duty."

Xu Yan's face darkened and he remained silent.

Zhao Fuyi narrowed his eyes and looked at Yan Sikong carefully: "Have you and I... met somewhere before?"

Yan Sikong smiled and said, "But what about the day when His Majesty offered sacrifices to heaven?" Ten years ago, he and Zhao Fuyi had met once in Guangning City, and he didn't believe that this man still remembered it.

"No..." Zhao Fuyi shook his head again, "Maybe I remembered it wrongly. If ordinary people had seen Master Yan with such a face, they would probably find it hard to forget him."

Yan Sikong bowed with a smile.

After leaving the central military tent, Xu Yan said indifferently, "Lord Yan was able to foresee what was going on and guess General Zhao's intentions. I really admire you."

Yan Sikong smiled and said, "I don't deserve it. I was just worried about the war day and night, and my heart was in turmoil. I had to write it down. I didn't expect that it would be useful. It was a blessing in disguise."

Xu Yan snorted softly: "It sounds like Lord Yan is even more powerful."

"Lord Xu, you are joking." Yan Sikong lightly blocked Xu Yan's jealous provocation, took a few quick steps, and left him behind.

This man has failed the imperial examination for many years and is still a judge. However, because he is Liang Guang's nephew, he can stay in the capital to work. Liang Guang is imprisoned at this time, and he is more nervous than anyone else. If he just said a few rude words, Yan Sikong would not bother to argue with him.

After waiting for two days, Bao Yunyong replied, agreeing to send Liang Guang back in sincere words, and explained that the killing of Liang Guang's followers was a misunderstanding, but he did not mention the matter of recruiting. He was such an illiterate person that he could not write a decent correspondence. As they guessed, Bao Yunyong had a conspirator around him.

The next day, Bao Yunyong sent Liang Guang back. This move was both reasonable and unexpected, which made people wonder what Bao Yunyong was planning.

Liang Guang was obviously treated with courtesy in Kuizhou City, and not a single hair was messy - although the three people accompanying him lost their heads. He had a gloomy face and remained silent. He returned to the camp and asked Zhao Fuyi to dismiss everyone, and he had a private talk with him.

Yan Sikong pulled Feng Ye into a dark place and whispered, "Were you the one who went out of the camp to pick up Lord Liang just now?"

Feng Ye nodded: "What on earth does Bao Yunyong want to do? Is he really going to release Lord Liang so easily?"

"He is stalling for time." Yan Sikong narrowed his eyes. "He has no intention of appeasing us, but he also doesn't want to confront us head-on. If he delays for one day, he will consume one day's worth of my food and fodder."

"Yes, what should we do now?"

Yan Sikong pondered for a moment, as if he was talking to Feng Ye, or as if he was talking to himself: "What is Bao Yunyong most worried about? What does he want most?"

"Hmm?" Feng Ye lowered his head. "Kong'er, what did you say? Speak louder."

Yan Sikong tapped his shoulder: "Don't make the wrong call outside."

Feng Ye coughed twice, suppressed his laughter, and called out in a pretentious tone, "Lord Yan."

Yan Sikong raised his head and said, "What Bao Yunyong feared the most was his old subordinates in Kuizhou. His rebel army was almost starving to death and had to rebel. Some of the old subordinates in Kuizhou wanted to do something as risky as rebelling. It was because the garrison was killed that they had no choice. If they wanted to defeat Bao Yunyong, they had to start with that group."

"Bao Yunyong had anticipated this, so he killed Lord Liang's followers and imprisoned him. There has been no news from the spies sent by General Zhao yet. The military forces of Kuizhou are all under Bao Yunyong's control, and he has the support of King Liang behind him. I'm afraid this matter..."

"Prince Liang, Bao Yunyong, and the old subordinates of Kuizhou..." Yan Sikong suddenly smiled, "I have a plan."

"oh?"

Yan Sikong looked around and whispered, "We can send spies to pretend to be King Liang's men to contact the old subordinates in Kuizhou, and then deliberately let Bao Yunyong know. Bao Yunyong will be afraid that King Liang wants to cut off his support, so he can even send another envoy to disturb him, and then..."

"And then what?"

"Besiege the city, summon the Luoyang army, completely surround Kuizhou, cut off the connection between Bao Yunyong and King Liang, and spread the word that King Liang has already gone south to take Nanjing, leaving Bao Yunyong here as bait to contain our army. At this time, Bao Yunyong is threatened by his old subordinates in Kuizhou and a large army is besieging the city. Whether he advances or retreats, it will be beneficial to us."

"What about King Liang? How can we make him not save Bao Yunyong?"

"It's very simple. We will surround them but not attack them. As long as we don't take action, King Liang will not take any risks."

Feng Yezan agreed, "This is a good plan. As long as Bao Yunyong believes that King Liang has abandoned him, we will win this battle."

Yan Sikong said: "In fact, this is still our army's initial strategy - divide and conquer, but now the situation is more complicated, so we need to deal with it with extraordinary methods."

"That's right. As long as the alliance between these two thieves is not broken, our army cannot send troops no matter what. Otherwise, we will be defeated." Feng Ye's eyes were full of admiration. "Kong'er, you are always so smart."

Yan Sikong smiled and said, "General Zhao and Lord Liang will surely come up with a good plan. We will discuss it during the meeting."

"I heard that you also wrote the official letter presented to Bao Yunyong?"

"As a clerk, isn't this part of my job?"

Feng Ye pursed his lips and smiled. Seeing that no one was around, he quickly kissed Yan Sikong on the face and laughed softly, "Sometimes, I really hope that only I know your goodness, and not everyone in the world can see it."

Yan Sikong smiled and said, "I am not that good. Only you, maybe you have been looking at me for too long and your eyes are blurry."

Feng Ye raised his chin proudly: "That's right, my people, from childhood to adulthood, everything is good."

Yan Sikong looked at Feng Ye's domineering and high-spirited appearance, which was like the lake under the scorching sun, with ripples, and like the stars in the daytime, so bright and so dazzling. This was the good that everyone in the world could see, but for him, everything was just a pretense.

——

After sunset, Yan Sikong was summoned by Zhao Fuyi to the central military account. In the account, there were already Liang Guang, Xu Yan, Feng Ye and three of Zhao Fuyi's trusted generals.

Zhao Fuyi said, "Lord Yan, please sit down."

"Thank you, General." Yan Sikong sat next to Feng Ye.

"I have discussed this with Lord Liang for half a day, and I also heard your plan from the prince, which coincides with my idea. I am afraid that the secret will be leaked because there are many people talking. So I called you to discuss this matter together."

Yan Sikong bowed and said, "I have no virtue or ability. The general has placed his trust in me. I will never forget it."

"You and I serve in the same court, both of us came here to suppress rebellion. You are talented and worthy of being appointed. Lord Yan, you don't have to be polite."

"Thank you, General."

Liang Guang said, "Lord Yan, I have also discussed with the general and devised another strategy to alienate Bao Yunyong and the King of Liang."

"I wonder what Lord Liang saw and heard during his few days in Kuizhou City?"

"Bao Yunyong looked at me very seriously, and I couldn't get in touch with any of the old Kuizhou people. However, I still paid a large sum of money to bribe one of his guards. According to this person, a large number of the old Kuizhou people did not obey Bao Yunyong, a bandit. Those who dared to openly resisted him were already dead or imprisoned. Most of the rest were hypocritical. They would rather surrender to King Liang than be ordered around by Bao Yunyong."

"That's just what we want."

"That's right. We will use this to make Bao Yunyong and King Liang suspicious of each other." Zhao Fuyi said, "But it's not appropriate to let a spy do this. I'm worried that it will backfire and Bao Yunyong will expose our trick."

"That's what I think." Liang Guang said in a deep voice, "Bao Yunyong seems to be just a rough and crude man, but he is a man of great wisdom. He knows how to manipulate people's hearts and deceives his subordinates with the word 'loyalty'. Most importantly, he has a conspirator. It is said that this man was punished for cheating in the exam in his early years and was banned from being an official for life. If it weren't for this man, Bao Yunyong probably wouldn't have made a quick decision to kill my followers and put me in prison."

Zhao Fuyi pondered, "This is back to the original problem. If we can't get in touch with the old Kuizhou people, then everything will be in vain. But there is still no news from the people I sent out. I'm afraid it's more dangerous than good."

"I think it is not necessary to contact the old subordinates in Kuizhou directly."

"Do you have any good ideas?"

Yan Sikong pursed his lips and glanced at Feng Ye. While Feng Ye was still trying to figure out what Yan Sikong meant by that look, he had already stood up and bowed to Zhao Fuyi, saying, "I am willing to be your envoy and will go to Kuizhou City. I will meet Bao Yunyong later."

Feng Ye stared with his eyes wide open.

Zhao Fuyi seemed to be waiting for Yan Sikong to say this. He didn't look surprised at all, but leaned forward and said, "You...want to go to Kuizhou? Do you know what happened to Lord Liang? Aren't you afraid of losing your life?"

"I know, but I have no choice but to share your worries and help the people."