"Quick! Follow up!"
"Don't look around! We must reach the Niutoushan Pass before Xu hour!"
"Faster!"
"..."
Outside the carriage, noisy shouts sounded from time to time, and the atmosphere became even more tense and depressing amid the surging dark clouds.
But the atmosphere inside the car was several times tighter than this.
Compared with You Wenzong, Han Zhao is obviously slightly worse in scheming and planning.
Therefore, even if he had been extremely cautious, it was possible that the former had caught the flaw at some point and revealed his "true identity".
Of course, all this might just be You Wenzong's temptation.
Therefore, Han Zhao's next response is particularly critical.
"Is there still an ambush in Niutoushan?"
He paused for a moment, then said slowly and in a deep voice: "Master You, if you ask me about this, my answer is no."
"The scout battalion has inspected the Niutou Mountain area several times and found nothing unusual."
"So I don't know why you would suspect this."
"Taking a step back, since the emperor has ordered the army to approach Shuzhou City via Niutoushan, then I will naturally act in accordance with the order."
"So, unless you can produce conclusive evidence, please don't do such intrigues again."
Every time he said a word, his tone became colder. It can be said that Han Zhao's acting skills have reached a super level at this moment.
He stared at You Wenzong, suddenly slapped the table in front of him, his expression became extremely gloomy for a moment.
"Master You! Now that the army has just experienced the beast tide, the situation in the battle of Shuzhou is no longer as clear as before!"
"At this time, I don't have time to guess with you!"
"Just take care of yourself!"
"..."
From a simple explanation, to moving out the holy order, to using a trick to "seize the moral high ground."
Faced with You Wenzong's doubts and temptations, Han Zhao's response could be said to be very decisive, with basically no flaws exposed, which was completely in line with the reaction that a loyal general who has been wronged many times should have.
And this indeed made You Wenzong stop talking for a long time.
He just looked at Han Zhao who had stopped paying attention to him. After hesitating for a long time, he slowly took out a small note from his sleeve.
"General Han, please calm down. It was indeed my fault that I was offended just now."
"But what I just said is not groundless..."
Putting the note in Han Zhao's hand, You Wenzong said softly: "General, you will know after just looking at this."
"..."
Glancing at You Wenzong, Han Zhao did not respond, but turned to look at the note.
But when he saw the content on the paper clearly, his pupils suddenly contracted uncontrollably, and his expression instantly became extremely stiff.
It was eighteen small, somewhat scrawled characters. To be more precise, it was a sentence repeated three times.
As for what is written...
[Don’t enter Niutoushan]
[Don’t enter Niutoushan]
[Don’t enter Niutoushan]
"..."
The hands hidden in his sleeves were clenched into fists. Han Zhao quickly forced himself to calm down, turned around and asked:
"Master You, where did this note come from?"
"I have no idea."
You Wenzong shook his head, and his expression didn't seem like he was lying.
Seeing Han Zhao's disbelief, he then gave a brief explanation.
"General Han, this note was put in a vial and thrown into my carriage this morning."
"But the strange thing is that the guards around didn't find anyone suspicious. I think the person who came here to deliver the message probably didn't want me to know his identity."
"Huh? Didn't find anyone?"
Han Zhao's heart was beating fast at this time, but his face still showed no trace of panic: "Master You, there are at least hundreds of soldiers guarding your carriage. How could you not find anything abnormal?"
"That's the weird thing about this."
You Wenzong held the note in his hand, frowned and said, "Unless this person knows some clever tricks, it must have been done by a soldier while others were not paying attention."
Gu Zan
"And I looked at this person's handwriting...it seemed to be written by a woman."
"woman?"
Han Zhao looked confused.
Although he was nervous now, he was still more confused.
This mysterious man obviously knew that there was an ambush in Niutoushan and was preparing to destroy the ambush.
How did something so confidential get known to outsiders?
Someone on Wei Changtian's side leaked the news?
But even if there was such a trick, why didn't he show up?
You must know that words spoken in person are more credible than a mere note.
Oh, and.
This person is actually a woman?
For a time, countless questions came to Han Zhao's mind.
Although You Wenzong couldn't figure it out, he was not ready to discuss these unimportant details now.
"General Han, it doesn't matter who the messenger is right now."
"We should think about whether what she said is credible."
"Well, what you say makes sense."
Nodding, Han Zhao had already thought of his words: "From what I can see, this may be Wei Changtian's conspiracy."
"He ordered the military commander to send this message, intending to make us cower and delay the advance of the army until all reinforcements from Dali arrived."
"If this were not the case, why would the person who delivered the message not want to show up?"
"It must be because this person couldn't explain why he didn't want to enter Niutoushan, so he could only leave a short note!"
"..."
To be fair, Han Zhao's explanation can be said to be very reasonable.
Niutoushan is the fastest route to Shuzhou City. Any other route would take at least seven or eight days.
And this is why Ning Yongnian ordered the army to go to Niutoushan, just to surround Shuzhou City as soon as possible before the Li army arrived.
But the note that suddenly appeared now was intended to divert the army to other routes, which was indeed in Wei Changtian's interests.
but......
"What the general said makes sense, but what if what this letter says is true?"
You Wenzong frowned: "If there is really an ambush in Niutoushan..."
"Master You!"
Han Zhao suddenly interrupted in a deep voice: "If a mere note from an unknown source can influence the deployment of my army, how can we fight this battle?!"
"If we receive another note in the future asking us not to enter Shuzhou City, will we really stop attacking the city?!"
"..."
The jolting of the carriage made You Wenzong's already weak body somewhat unsteady.
Although Han Zhao's last two sentences were very serious, they still made sense.
Indeed, if you believe all the hearsay, then this battle will indeed be impossible to fight.
Although You Wenzong was only a civil servant, he certainly understood these things.
So after several struggles, he finally nodded silently.
"General, don't blame me. We and other civil servants have been sitting in court for a long time and plotting against each other all day long. It is inevitable that our thoughts will be too heavy."
"This is indeed not the way to march and fight, so this matter... Let the general make the decision."
"..."
Dark clouds were covering the sky, and thunder and lightning could occasionally be seen rolling in the clouds.
The rain has not yet fallen, and the 200,000 troops are still marching quickly towards Niutoushan in the gray sky.
Several ingenious responses allowed Han Zhao to successfully deceive You Wenzong, but in fact, even if he failed to deceive him, there was a high probability that there would be no problems with the entire plan.
After all, there is now less than two hours away from Niutoushan. If that doesn't work, he can still use "physical means" to shut up You Wenzong temporarily.
In just two hours, the general Han Zhao was still able to fully control the army.
In other words, even if Ning Yongnian suddenly sends a message to the army not to enter Niutoushan, it will not work now.
In this way, after several twists and turns, the Battle of Shuzhou is finally about to take an earth-shaking turn.
And it can no longer be reversed.
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