All the lights of the houses have gone out, and the whole city is like a sleeping monster, quiet and silent. Coming out of the government office, I found Ergou hiding in an alley in the middle of the night. This seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy was still full of energy and maintained a strong curiosity. Although he didn't know what happened, he had been there since he entered the house. The cautiousness shown by Cheng Hou in the middle of the night made him feel some indescribable nervousness.
Seeing him coming out in the middle of the night, this young man who always wanted to go out and make a career as a scholar hurriedly stepped forward to find out what happened. After all, he was still young, how could he understand or see the undercurrent at this time?
He is a young man who goes up to the house to uncover tiles and goes down to the river to catch fish. In the middle of the night, he led the two dogs back the way they came. He had already made a calculation in his mind, and now it was better to let the two dogs leave this right and wrong place first.
He said slowly: "Some bad people have come to the city..."
"Where is it?" Ergou showed unprecedented excitement,
"Are we going to fight?" Ye Sangeng laughed dumbly, grabbed the young man who was watching the fun and didn't mind it, and said: "Don't just join in the fun, I've given you a very important task, this one I don't trust anyone else, only you can handle it." After all, he still has a young mind, and after Ye Sangeng praised him like this, Ergou immediately looked arrogant and conceited, grinning with his white teeth exposed, and laughed. Said: "You say, you say, with my two dogs, everything can be done beautifully." In the middle of the night, he reached into his arms and took out a piece of black jade glowing with green light. It was the size of a winter jujube and had edges. It has horns and an irregular shape. As he walked, he asked, "Do you recognize this thing?" Ergou came closer and took a closer look.
"Is it jade? I've seen many people in the city wearing this thing on their waists, but it's much prettier than yours." Yesan put it into Ergou's hand and introduced himself: " This is called the Luminous Monument. Although it is not as beautiful as those carved with dragons and painted phoenixes, it is much more valuable than those. Now go back to the village and tell my sister that there is something to be dealt with here in Phoenix City and it will be delayed. It will take some time. But it should be done soon, so don't worry her." After a brief pause, he glanced at Ergou who was carefully playing with the piece of ink jade. Ye Sangen tried a few more times before continuing,
"Ergou, you haven't always wanted to be a hero, have you?"
"Yes, yes, we hoe the strong and support the weak, and we are chivalrous and righteous." Ergou said with great force, citing the words he had learned from the storytellers in the city.
"When the road is rough, draw your sword to help." Young people all have heroic dreams and dare to play with the dragon with a hatchet. Ye Sangen smiled and said: "Then you start by protecting the people around you. When you go back, protect the people in the village, as well as my sister and Xiaolong Xiaobai. Don't let anything happen to them, do you understand?" Ergou Suan said with a smile. The love that was not mixed with greed slowly faded away. He seemed to have realized something, and asked: "Is there something big going on here?" Ye San looked thoughtful,
"It's not a big deal." That's what he said, but the elusive reasons really made people uneasy.
Ningzhiyu who returned to the Great Zhou Dynasty, General Zheng who appeared in the small town of Anjia, Jiugongyan on the watershed, Lijiao who was secretly manipulated by Fuying on Wudang Mountain, all the signs were unrelated, but in the middle of the night, he felt that there was something strange about this matter. , coupled with Ningzhiyu's extreme temperament, she doesn't know how she could be taken advantage of. If she is really hanging out with Jiugongyan and the Fuying people, and is instigated like this, Ye San can't guarantee that her cousin will be able to Do something outrageous.
Back then, she dared to plot to assassinate Ye Julin. Who knows what kind of medicine she is selling in the gourd now. The first priority is to settle her sister first. Now that she is alone and has no worries, she can concentrate on dealing with everything that happens next.
Shaking his head and throwing away these thoughts, Ye Sangen smiled and said: "If you can handle this matter well and do it beautifully, I will give this jade to you. How about it?" Ergou said His eyes were shining, he couldn't put it down, and he boasted: "Don't worry, don't worry, if we can't handle this little thing, my two dogs will live in vain." Ye San even smiled.
It was rare for Ergou to talk like an adult, and said: "Then you should make things more beautiful, and we will have a drink when we return to the village." Ye Sangen sneered,
"Of course." Not long after, they arrived at the foot of the ten-meter-high city wall. This time, without the help of midnight, Ergou climbed up with his hands and feet several times, waved his hands grandly, and said, "Come back soon. "
"be careful on the road."
"Okay, okay." Ergou disappeared into the night without even looking back. ... He returned the same way in the middle of the night. When he thought about it, the situation was already somewhat clear. Ningzhiyu knew Qi Moyan's attitude towards Ye Xiayou, so she used this excuse to get close to Qi Moyan, held him hostage, and then probably forced Qi Moyan to give orders. The city was closed, and the current situation emerged.
The idea is there, but what is the motive? It makes me puzzled at midnight. What happened to the Fuying Langzhe who was standing next to General Anjia Xiaocheng?
How did Ningzhiyu get mixed up with Bilan Po? Why did Ningzhiyu’s words that housekeeper Qiyuan heard mention him and his sister?
If Qi Moyan was caught because he wanted to know the whereabouts of his two siblings, why did he coerce Qi Moyan to order the city to be sealed off?
From when the general appeared in the small town of Anjia, to when Ningzhiyu appeared in the Phoenix Mountain City, where did all this come from?
After much deliberation, I couldn't figure it out. I thought of my sister again in the middle of the night. It was the first time in three years that I was separated from my sister. I was really uncomfortable with it.
At the very least, if I had my sister by my side, at least I wouldn't have to think so hard.
"I've been so idle these past three years." Ye San even laughed at himself. After arriving at the government office, all the soldiers with military badges in the city came to gather one after another. When it was almost midnight, the two hundred soldiers who did not know where they were were just gathering. They were all yawning and listless, not knowing why.
Looking at this group of sleepy young men in the middle of the night, they felt helpless. After all, this time was supposed to be rest time except for the night watchers, so they were summoned like this, and no one could go anywhere.
Then there is the matter of the armaments in the city. Because there is a third-rank city lord position with a salary specially purchased for Qi Mo Yan, a small city with less than a thousand households has to add corresponding fourth-rank prefects and fifth-rank captains of Zhechong. According to the military system, over-allocation is not allowed, which directly leads to the reduction of a series of duties such as Captain Guo Yi, General Shi, etc., leaving only Qin Sheng, a fifth-grade military general, to directly lead the army, and even the deputy general Cao. nothing.
The result was just like now. There was an emergency and Qin Sheng was sent out, but there was no one in charge. The two hundred soldiers were left to their own devices, looking at the mansion with big eyes and small eyes. The man in front of the Yamen was hardly familiar to them but not unfamiliar either.
"Are you sleepy?" Seeing this group of people looking at him, Ye San had nothing to say. A group of people on the long street in front of the house looked at each other in confusion and did not say anything to each other.
"I'm sleepy." He asked himself in the middle of the night, causing a few chuckles from the crowd.
"You all know me, right?" Ye San Geng walked towards the crowd,
"A few days ago, your city lord went out of the city in red and green lights to greet my sister. You must have a lot of people there, right." Although it was a question, he didn't expect anyone to answer him at three o'clock in the night. Then he said: "I asked Captain Qin to personally lead a patrol of the city. You should have heard about it. The soldiers guarding the city disappeared tonight for no reason. Have you heard about it?" There were several surprised sounds in the field.
"Let me tell you the general situation now. The first thing is that the soldiers guarding the city on duty tonight disappeared for no reason. The second thing is that your city lord Qi Moyan was held hostage by a group of unknown thieves. The situation in the villa is unknown. The third thing is also the most important thing. From now on, we will enter a state of wartime emergency, with the knife in hand and the arrow in the string. Do you understand?" The tone of the night watch was gentle, but every word was more than critical. , making everyone in the venue look at each other.
"To be honest, I have done some commendable things when I grew up, but this is the first time I have led a soldier. I remember what our founding emperor Tian Wendi said back then, saying that a man should not lead a soldier. A soldier is not a good soldier. But I never thought about being a soldier. I just thought about living a life of doing nothing and waiting to die." In the middle of the night, I was pacing back and forth in front of this group of soldiers, chatting as usual.
"But who would have thought that I would catch up today, with a guy leading 200 of you. I am also under a lot of pressure." Laughter came from the crowd again.
"In the past, I would either go out to do things by myself and act like a tiger in the name of my family, or I would be followed by a bunch of uncles and aunts, just like the rich dudes, who would use hawks and dogfights to pretend to be powerful. Anyway, no matter what I do, Everything has been going smoothly, and I haven't had to worry about it since I was a child. But this time is different, because the matter I encountered this time seems to be a bit tricky." After a pause, the third update of the night was also kind. He allowed everyone to digest and absorb his meaning, and said slowly: "This time is different from the relaxed way you followed Qi Moyan and held the flag out of the city to greet my sister a few days ago. After all, what is the origin of the group of people who held Qi Moyan hostage? No one knows." At this time, the two hundred soldiers were no longer sleepy and were whispering.
"I also heard from Qin Sheng, Captain Qin, that most of you have never been on the battlefield. You just run in the military training field every day, lift stones, ride horses and shoot arrows. But this happened suddenly. Your city lord, the imperial court A third-grade official is being kidnapped in the manor. We don’t have time to wait for instructions from above, so we can only bite the bullet. Maybe we are facing a group of extremely vicious and unruly people, and we are waiting to take action. People will die. I am still here talking to you at this moment, and I may not be lying on the ground waiting for you to collect the body at the next moment. None of us can predict how things will develop, nor can we predict who will come first, death or tomorrow. "There was silence in the field.
"Are you afraid?" Ye San Geng suddenly asked a soldier in front of him. He was young and almost the same age as himself. However, the other man was obviously still immersed in shock and had not recovered. He looked at Ye San Geng blankly.
Ye Sangen grinned and said, "I don't know if you are afraid, but I am anyway." The smile gradually faded, and Ye Sangen exhaled a breath of filthy air.
"But there is nothing we can do, and we can't even be afraid. When we see injustice on the road, we have to draw our swords to help. It is our code to act chivalrously and righteously. We soldiers have to do this job to get this bowl of rice. Today they kidnapped the city lord, and tomorrow Will we have to deal with unarmed people? There are more than 2,000 people behind us. The country has put us on guard, plowed in spring and harvested in autumn, and practiced in winter and summer. We do not want to make achievements and be famous forever, but we hope that the country under my jurisdiction will be peaceful and the people are safe. I All the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty live and work in peace and contentment. Today, those who are willing to follow me to guard the home and defend the country at midnight will be with you in the future!" The long street in front of the house was solemn.
