After hearing that Qin Zhenghao died in battle, Zhou Jianlai stood blankly on the spot, then showed a shocked and sad expression.
He had been friends with sisters Qin Xinru and Qin Rulan since he was a child, so he often went to the city lord's mansion to play. Qin Zhenghao always put down his pretensions as a city lord in front of these juniors and treated them like his own nephews, being amiable and approachable. If he was not busy, he would leave them to eat at home, and there were not many strict rules at the dinner table. He would chat and laugh with a bunch of young guys like them, and he could always say something to make them laugh, or to make them curious and interested. , the hearty and heroic laughter makes people feel close to him involuntarily.
Therefore, Zhou Jianlai respects and loves Qin Zhenghao from the bottom of his heart, a hundred times a thousand times more than he does his own uncles.
Thinking that he would never hear the hearty laughter that filled the dinner table again, Zhou Jianlai couldn't help feeling sad, and two lines of tears fell from the corners of his eyes.
Zhou Jianlai turned his back, wiped away his tears, and said sadly: "Uncle Qin has always treated me very well. I regard him as a relative. I never expected that he would die for the empire. My heart aches!"
"My condolences!" Zhang Xiaozu consoled him.
Zhou Jianlai wiped away his tears, suppressed the grief in his heart, turned around and asked, "Uncle Qin died in battle. Could it be that Baiyun City has been captured by Big Toothed Dog?"
"Not yet." Zhang Xiaozu shook his head and said, "The King of Zhennan put on armor and took command, preventing Big Tooth Dog from succeeding. But Baiyun City is in danger and may be breached at any time, so City Lord Qi decided to send his army north to support Baiyun City."
"Hey, when the old prince was young, he fought in the north and south, and he suffered from a lot of illness. In recent years, he has often been bedridden. He can't enjoy his old age comfortably, but he still has to drag his old body to wear armor and lead the army. It's really hard for him. Damn!" Zhou Jianlai lamented, "Your Majesty is a good prince, and your grudges with Su Mou should not be involved in his old man."
Zhang Xiaozu nodded and said: "The old prince saved Baiyun City from danger and devoted himself to the empire, which makes me deeply admire him! Su Mou and I are just enemies with one sword. After so many life and death experiences, I also take it lightly. . If we meet again by chance, as long as he doesn't make things difficult for me anymore, for the sake of the old prince, I won't argue with him."
"That's not necessary." Zhou Jianlai shook his head and said, "Repay injustice with injustice and revenge with hatred. A true man will keep his grudges clear throughout his life and act as he pleases!"
"Yeah." Zhang Xiaozu nodded.
"You just said that Yancheng is going to send its army north to support Baiyun City?" Zhou Jianlai asked.
"Yes. But it's just a feint attack to put pressure on him, and he won't actually fight the big-toothed dog head-on." Zhang Xiaozu said.
"I think so." Zhou Jianlai had already expected it. "Yancheng is so important in the south that there is no room for any mistakes, so the defenders of Yancheng will definitely not move. If my prediction is correct, the troops heading north this time should be Are you in need of new recruits?"
"Brother Zhou is really smart and knows things like a god." Zhang Xiaozu said in admiration.
"But why do you want Yancheng to send troops? What about Haoyue City and Jincheng? Could it be that they have been captured by Big-Toothed Dogs?" Zhou Jianlai asked puzzled.
"Miss Qi said that Jincheng and Haoyue City rebelled and have been occupied by Big-Toothed Dogs." Zhang Xiaozu replied, then frowned and asked: "I don't understand, since Big-Toothed Dogs can infiltrate Jincheng and Haoyue City without anyone noticing." , captured these two cities without any blood, then why wouldn’t it be better if they didn’t directly infiltrate Yancheng and capture Yancheng in one fell swoop?”
Zhou Jianlai said: "You may not feel the ants bite you on the tip, but if they crawl on your face and bite you, can you not feel it? So they are here in Yancheng
You must act with extreme caution, because if you are not careful, you will be discovered. However, a lot of people must have infiltrated, but not to the extent of mutiny and occupation of Yancheng, and they don't dare to go to this extent, because once they cross the line, they will immediately arouse the alarm of the empire. They are now like a poisonous snake, quietly lurking in Yancheng, waiting for the opportunity to give Yancheng a fatal blow. Now it depends on whether City Lord Qi digs out this dormant poisonous snake first, or whether this poisonous snake finds the opportunity to bite first. But thinking about it, there shouldn't be much time left for City Lord Qi. "
"That's it." After listening to Zhou Jianlai's analysis, Zhang Xiaopou immediately felt enlightened. But if he was asked to think about the reason, he couldn't figure it out for a while, so he scratched his head in frustration, feeling that he was too stupid. .
Zhou Jianlai seemed to know what he was thinking, and said: "Actually, these are some simple principles, which can be understood with a little analysis. The reason why you are stuck in it for a while is because you have never learned this knowledge. Well, Aren’t you going to read and be literate? When the time comes, you can learn more about various aspects of knowledge. With your intelligence, understanding and memory, you can ensure that you learn quickly.”
"Report!"
"Drive! Drive! Drive!"
Da da da--
A sharp and urgent shout suddenly cut through the quiet night sky. The urging sound of horses and the rapid sound of horse hooves penetrated into people's ears and stepped on their hearts. Without asking, you can feel that the person driving the horse must have something. An urgent matter.
Zhou Jianlai followed the call, but the night blocked his view and he couldn't see the shouting person. He only knew that he was coming from the south. He couldn't help but frown and guessed in a low voice: "It should be the southern rebels who are making moves."
When the people who were awake in the restaurant heard the sound, they all climbed out of the windows and jumped onto the roof. They all looked solemn and talked in low voices.
More than half an hour later, a dark figure with three red flags on his back galloped past the avenue south of Juxian Restaurant and headed straight for the City Lord's Mansion. There were still a few feet away from the gate of the mansion. The galloping horse suddenly whined and fell to the ground. The dark shadow on the horse had a strong figure and turned forward. The body turned a few times in the air and then unfolded. His body and feet landed firmly in front of the city lord's mansion. But the horse fell hard to the bluestone ground, foaming at the mouth, struggled for a few times and then stopped moving. It was obviously exhausted to death.
"Thank you!" The man turned around and thanked the exhausted war horse with a solemn military salute, then turned around and strode into the city lord's mansion.
"The three-faced red feather order must be an urgent military situation!"
"Either the southern rebels are attacking, or the southern border has been lost!"
"Brothers, please go first, little brother, and we will meet again on the battlefield!"
"If I die in battle with honor, please brothers, please drink a few more glasses of wine for me!"
"Take the first step!"
"treasure!"
Disciples from all sects said goodbye and left one after another with heavy hearts about going to the battlefield.
"Brother Zhang, Brother Zhou, Brother Niu, let's say goodbye. We will take good care of you!" Ruan Xinyuan said goodbye to Zhang Xiaopeng and the other three.
"treasure!"
"Survive, or your woman will be mine." Baili Jingsheng said to Zhang Xiaopou.
"——" Zhang Xiaozu really wanted to slap him.
"Three young masters, please come to our Miao Miao Palace as guests when you have time. The slave family will introduce the best girls to the three of you. Farewell!"
"Send my respects to Miss Jin for me!" Niu Dawa said.
"No problem, it's all in the slave family's possessions
superior. "Wen Lingxiao left with several junior sisters.
Soon there were only three Zhang Xiaopou left on the roof. The three of them went downstairs and looked at the room with messy cups and plates. They recalled the excitement of the night and thought that some people might never come back. They couldn't help but feel sad.
The three of them sat down and discussed, and they all decided to go north with the army and kill the big-toothed dog to relieve the danger of Baiyun City.
When I returned to Li's house, I found that Taoist Tianwu was not there, and I don't know where he went.
The three of them entered the treasury and selected a jade pendant and a jade pendant for Zhou Jianlai. Zhang Xiaozu helped him add spells to them. It took a full quarter of an hour to get the two items, which was obviously much more thoughtful than the ones given to Jin Zhihui and others.
Zhang Xiaozu thought for a while and chose one for Qi Yoyo, a warm white bird pendant, exquisite and beautiful. After blessing the spell, he put it in his arms and planned to find an opportunity to give it to Qi Yoyo.
Niu Dawa saw it from the side and couldn't help but grin, feeling happy in his heart. He was afraid that Zhang Xiaozu would be immersed in the sadness of losing Que'er and would not be able to get over it. Now it seemed that he was worrying too much.
However, this trip to Baiyun City is bound to reveal the deepest pain in their hearts.
It was getting slightly brighter, so Zhou Jianlai left to get some peach blossom wine for Wei Ziyan, and then said goodbye to him. Looking back on the time spent with Wei Ziyan, although the two did not communicate much in words, they had been eating and drinking together for many days, and they occasionally talked. It was extremely warm, like master and disciple, and like good friends. This parting made Zhou Jianlai couldn't help but feel sad.
In the small courtyard of pine and cypress trees, there was one other person except Wei Ziyu. He was still hiding in the dark shadow under the pine and cypress trees as he had been the previous few times.
Wei Ziyan stood by the stone table, holding a bamboo food box in his hand, which was brought to him by the shadow under the tree.
He placed the food box on the stone table and opened the lid. There was a plate of goose-yellow pastries inside. It seemed like it had just come out of the oven and was still warm. As soon as he smelled it, he knew it was Songhua cake, his favorite pastry. This hobby is rarely known.
"My master knew that my senior liked to eat Songhua cakes the most, so he specially invited a skilled pastry chef to come to the house. After studying hard for half a month, the master finally achieved some success in his craftsmanship, so he made some for his senior himself and ordered his junior to send them to him to taste. . My master said that if the taste doesn’t suit me, just tell me, and she will definitely be able to make your favorite taste." said the dark figure under the cypress tree next to the wall.
"She does remember." Wei Ziyan's tone trembled slightly, and there were tears twinkling in his old sunken eye sockets. He stretched out his hand, picked up a piece tremblingly, put it in front of his nose and smelled the fragrance, and then slowly put it into his mouth. Inside, he gently bit into it. It was soft and glutinous, sweet and oily, and melted in the mouth. His craftsmanship was first-class. However, Wei Ziyan couldn't help but frown, put the songhua cake he took a bite back on the plate, and picked it up again. I took a bite of another piece and frowned even deeper after tasting the taste.
Because he was facing away from the shadow under the cypress tree, the shadow did not see his frown.
"Senior is very low-key. If junior had not been lucky enough to witness senior show off his power tonight, junior would not have known that senior had already stepped into the star realm. Junior would have thought that senior's cultivation level is not even as high as the ninth heaven. He is really short-sighted and ridiculous." The dark figure under the pine and cypress tree shook his head and laughed at himself, thinking of that time in the pine and cypress courtyard, he actually wanted to compete with Wei Ziyi, but he really didn't know the heights of the world.
"Senior, tell me, a person who is full of sins and lives in repentance all day long, how does he overcome his inner demons and improve his cultivation level so quickly?" The black shadow under the pine and cypress tree gritted his teeth and spoke in a cold and cold tone. asked hatefully.
