Inside the Military and Horse Department of Yanzhou City.
Yang Zongbao looked at the dusty Yang Bajie with a worried look on his face and asked:
"Little aunt, why did you come to the border without permission? If the court knew about it, I'm afraid they would be suspicious."
Sister Yang took a sip of tea, waved her hands and said:
"Don't worry, I have reported to the court and am here to meet Cao Bin."
As she spoke, she said rather depressed:
"I persuaded Cao Bin to go as an envoy at the court meeting, but your grandmother scolded me when I got home."
"She said that the mission is no better than the battlefield. If Cao Bin dies in Xixia and the Cao family is wiped out, I will also be responsible."
Explaining the reason, she complained to Yang Zongbao:
"I also have good intentions. Cao Bin is so powerful. If he doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, wouldn't it be a waste of his abilities?"
"Is this such a rare opportunity? What's wrong with me advising him to go on a mission? Mother will make a fuss out of it!"
Hearing this, Yang Zongbao couldn't help but smile bitterly. He didn't know why his sister-in-law had so much confidence in Cao Bin. Could it be because she had wiped out the Liangshan bandits.
Is this too hasty? After all, Liangshan is nothing more than a group of grass bandits.
The current situation of the Cao family is worse than that of the Yang family. At least there are many female elders supporting the family, but the Cao family only has a single child, Cao Bin.
If Cao Bin dies, then the Zhongjing Houfu will be completely finished.
The Yang and Cao families didn't have any festivals at all. If the Yang family was adding fuel to the flames, they would inevitably feel a little regretful. Who knows, Grand Master Pang would still hold a grudge against the Yang family.
At this moment, soldiers suddenly came to report outside the door:
"General, a secret report came from Xixia Hengshan Camp."
When Yang Zongbao heard this, he suddenly became energetic and said: "Bring it here quickly."
"How's it going? Is Cao Bin okay?"
Seeing this, Sister Yang asked quickly.
Yang Zongbao looked at the secret guard and shook his head and said: "Yuan Hao is indeed barbaric. As soon as our Song Dynasty envoy arrived at Hengshan Camp, he ordered them to be beheaded in sacrifice to the flag."
"ah?"
Sister Yang originally wanted to stretch her neck and watch together. When she heard this, she was so frightened that her face turned pale and she said:
"Cao Bin is really dead?"
As she said that, her eyes were a little red.
I thought of Cao Bin being impassioned, withstanding the pressure for the Yang family, slapping Li Zhichao to vent his anger, and also thinking of him playing the high-spirited Zhuge.
I felt ashamed and sad, and I just felt that I had done a huge stupid thing.
Yang Zongbao had both respect for the elders and love for the younger generation towards this young sister-in-law. Seeing her like this, he was so frightened that he hurriedly said:
"Just when Li Tang was cut into pieces by Yuan Hao's five horses, Cao Bin was not killed. He escaped."
With that said, he quickly handed the secret letter between the two of them so that Sister Yang could see it.
When Sister Yang clearly read the words on the secret letter, she breathed a sigh of relief. She saw Cao Bin scolding Zhang Yuan, causing him to vomit blood, and then burst into laughter.
He said quite proudly: "Cao Bin is really powerful! He dares to scold Zhang Yuan in person..."
After the two of them read the secret letter, Yang Zongbao hesitated and asked: "Little aunt, are you... okay?"
Sister Yang Ba was surprised and said: "It's okay, I'm very fine."
Yang Zongbao didn't hesitate to ask more questions and just said: "That's good. I also want to send a secret letter to the court. What are you going to do?"
Sister Yang stood up quickly and said, "I will lead a group of people to ambush near Hengshan so that I can respond to them at any time."
As she spoke, she seemed to remember something and asked:
"Zongbao, do you think Cao Bin and the others can convince Xixia?"
...
"Today, I found that Xixia is still delivering food and soldiers to the Hengshan camp."
"Yuan Hao is very ambitious. I don't think he will give up attacking the Song Dynasty easily."
After the banquet ended yesterday, Cao Bin and others were arranged not far from Yuan Hao's palace, surrounded by layers of Xixia barracks in the center.
At this time, Zhang Dun was telling Cao Bin his speculation.
Cao Bin frowned and cursed:
"Damn it, I still underestimated Yuan Hao's ambition. It seems that his goal is not to go all the way. Maybe he wants to break through the Song Dynasty and replace it..."
As he spoke, he shook his head in distress and said:
"We still have to retreat as soon as possible, otherwise we may be killed by Yuan Hao at any time. What are your ideas?"
After returning to the camp last night, Cao Bin told Zhang Dun all the details of his interview with Yuan Hao so that he could be mentally prepared.
At that time, Zhang Dun was also frightened into a cold sweat.
If Cao Bin failed to escape and died together with Li Tang, then no one in their entire mission could survive.
After all, even the chief and deputy envoys of the Song Dynasty were killed, and it was impossible for Xixia to keep small characters like them.
Zhang Dun shook his head and said:
"Since uncle used the elixir to scare Yuan Hao, I'm afraid he won't let us go so easily."
"Maybe we will send someone to get more information from my uncle."
"It's about the elixir. He won't trust my uncle easily, nor will he give up searching for the source of the elixir."
Cao Bin nodded thoughtfully, and Yuan Hao agreed to learn the musical instrument from him without moving Xi Meng. This was probably his idea.
Just as the two were discussing how to escape, Hu Sanniang suddenly came in to report that the Xixia Princess had arrived.
Cao Bin was moved in his heart and hurriedly whispered: "Zihou, go find Zhang Yanshou and invite the Prince of Xixia to come over."
Zhang Dun glanced at Cao Bin in surprise and said, "Uncle, do you want to..."
At this time, several palace people had already ran in. They entered the room to search, and after a while, they stood still in the surrounding corners.
Then, Wu Yixi Mengcai stepped forward and said:
"Excuse me, Mr. Cao. I'm here to ask you for musical instrument lessons."
Cao Bin nodded and smiled: "Your Majesty, you're welcome. Cao has nothing to do, but now he's here at the right time."
As he spoke, he didn't waste any time. He took the instrument and started giving instructions one by one.
At first, Wu Yiximeng only thought that Cao Bin's pipa skills were superb, but when he started to really learn it, he realized that it was just the tip of the iceberg.
Cao Bin was not only proficient in the common musical instruments of the Song Dynasty, but also the unique musical instruments of Xixia.
This made Wuyi Ximeng so amazed that he even forgot about the task assigned by Yuan Hao.
Cao Bin would praise her shamelessly from time to time, which made Wu Yixi Meng happy.
To her, Cao Bin was the real master of music, and being praised by someone like him even made her feel like she had met a soulmate.
I just feel that no matter what she plays, Cao Bin can always accurately express her mood.
I don’t know how long it took, Hu Sanniang reported again:
"Uncle, Mr. Zhang has something to see you for."
Bu Yi Xi Meng seemed to wake up from a dream, and quickly stood up and said: "Mr. Cao, will I come back tomorrow?"
Cao Bin quickly waved his hand and said with a smile: "My dear, don't worry, Cao will come as soon as he goes."
With that said, he opened the door and walked out without giving Yi Ximeng a chance to refuse.
Bu Yixi Meng was quite nostalgic for the pleasure she had just experienced, so she was not in a hurry to leave.
