Little Cardamom

The frontier is cold and bitter, and spring is deep in Beijing.

The news of His Highness King Dingbei's awakening came to the capital a month later together with the news that King Dingbei led his army to kill Yuehe and approach the main city of Rongzhou.

When Ming Tan heard the news, he was offering a fruit plate to Prince Yu Cong and his wife in the ancestral hall of the mansion. With a "bang", the fruit plate fell to the ground. Ming Tan paused for a moment, but he didn't care about it. He just turned around and asked in a daze: " What did you say?"

Lue was so happy that tears rolled down her eyelashes, and she repeated it again: "My lord led the army to kill the Yue River, and he has arrived at the main city of Rongzhou. I think he will win and return to the court soon!" She hurriedly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. "It turns out that His Royal Highness has woken up a long time ago. It's just that the battle situation on the front line is complicated, and the news has not been sent back to Shangjing. For the sake of the prince, the lady has lost a lot of weight in recent days. Now that she has the good news, the lady can finally sleep well. Got it!"

Ever since the news of the prince's injury came out, she saw that her young lady often had nightmares and woke up in the middle of the night, and she only used half a bowl of food at most.

These slaves, they see it in their eyes, and they are anxious in their hearts, but it is such an important matter, even Su Xin doesn't know how to comfort her, but fortunately, the clouds are finally open to see the moonlight.

The news came too suddenly, Ming Tan's mind went blank, and he didn't know how to describe his current mood.

After returning to her senses for a while, she moved her fingertips slightly, and retorted firmly: "Who is worried about him?" She touched her thin cheek unconsciously, "I, I have unhealed arrow wounds, besides, Xia Shutian also It's not far away, summer clothes are light and thin, you have to be thin to wear a graceful posture, what do you know—" She glanced at the scattered fruits on the ground, "It's time to tidy up here."

"Yes." Lue smiled through her tears, bowed her head, and did not argue with someone who was duplicity.

When Lue came over with a fresh fruit plate, Ming Tan also bowed devoutly to the tablet and got up from the futon.

When she walked out of the ancestral hall, she paused for a while, and suddenly ordered: "Get ready, go to Lingmiao Temple tomorrow morning."

It is not too late to fulfill a wish. If you are too lazy to keep your promise and offend the Buddha, what should you do if the wish is fulfilled immediately?

At the same time that the families in Shangjing felt at ease and rejoiced because of the progress of the Northwest War, the situation in Rongzhou became more and more confusing.

Although they have crossed the Yuehe River and approached the main city of Rongzhou, it seems that it is still too early to return to the victory that Lue said.

Speaking of crossing the river, it was much easier than the soldiers and generals imagined. Once the river was crossed, the road ahead was unobstructed, and it was Yaocheng, the main city of Rongzhou. After it fell into the hands of Qiang Yu, Qiang Yu changed it. Chinese name, Suiyang.

Whether it is called Yaocheng or Suiyang, it is a battleground for military strategists and has great military significance. The generals think it is very abnormal for them to cross the natural barrier city and Chen Bing so easily.

"The spies surveyed the enemy from a high place and reported back. There were only a few soldiers in Suiyang City, and the patrols consisted of six people. They only appeared in the east of the city once in two hours, and the granary was not heavily guarded—"

Someone frowned and said: "There is only one patrolling army left on the tower. This is not in line with common sense. The strength of Qiang and Yu troops should be more than that. Could it be... do you want to play an empty city plan with us?"

"As for the brains of the Qiang and Yu people, is there still an empty plan?" A burly general sneered indifferently, "I think you are thinking too much about the future, and the 80,000 elite soldiers are afraid that they will not be able to attack a Suiyang? So far, the city The guards are estimated to be less than 20,000, according to me, just kill them directly, don't talk too much!"

"That's not what I said. The ambush last time almost made them succeed. It can be seen that the Qiang and Yu people have no shortage of strategies. General Sun must not underestimate the enemy. As the old saying goes, arrogant soldiers will lose."

"Yes, everyone thinks that the Qiang and Yu people are straight, but they have fought many times, and there are many cunning people among them. It is better to set up camp outside the city first, and then send 20,000 reinforcements from Qingzhou. In this way, the strong attack will have a better chance of winning."

"Waiting for Qingzhou reinforcements, how long will we have to wait? Let's wait for reinforcements, they may not be waiting for reinforcements, let them take a breath, I'm afraid they will still be entangled!"

…

The generals were arguing endlessly, Jiang Xu stood in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back, and didn't say a word for a long time.

I don't know how long it took, the crowd's throats were smoking, their faces were flushed and they were gasping for breath, but they finally stopped.

"The quarrel is over?" Jiang Xu raised his eyes quietly, scanned the faces of the crowd, and then stopped on Shen Yu who had not participated in the debate, "What do you think?"

Shen Yu was named, and after deliberating for a while, he said slowly: "The general thinks that the siege of the city should not be delayed any longer. Summer is coming, and the northwest frontier, autumn and winter are bitterly cold, and summer is hot. When it gets hot, people will be impetuous It is inevitable, and this battle has lasted for nearly half a year since the end of the year, and the soldiers are already very tired. If it continues to drag on, I am afraid it will not be optimistic.

"The Qiang and Yu people are not without schemes, but because of this, they should also know that if our army finds out the situation in the city, they will think that they are playing an empty city plan and will not act rashly. If this is the case, then how to judge, they are not Are we delaying time because of our army’s doubts?”

These words are also very reasonable, but it is difficult to determine the real situation in the city, and many generals with reservations are still not in favor of attacking the city in the near future.

Shen Yu can see clearly that what they think is not very important, the key is what the person who gives the order thinks.

He boldly asked: "I don't know if the prince has a plan in mind?"

Jiang Xu ignored him, just picked up a small flag and played with it in his hand: "All the army, tonight, when you are ugly, attack the city."

"My lord, think twice!"

"Is this too hasty..."

He raised his eyes: "One hour ago, the king received a secret letter. The Qiangyu leader was in conflict. The third son of the leader of Qiangyu transferred his troops and turned back. Thousands of soldiers, sit in the city of sorrow." With a deep voice at the end, he firmly planted the flag on Suiyang.

…

At night, the sky is dark and there are no stars.

Jiang Xu was wearing a black battle robe embroidered with dragon patterns, holding the reins of his horse, and quietly looked at the Suiyang city gate not far away.

Behind him, stood neatly and neatly, densely packed with 80,000 Daxian soldiers. They obviously didn't move, but there was a sense of chilling blowing towards their faces.

Jiang Xu has never been a general who can say long words of encouragement to make the soldiers full of enthusiasm. However, as long as he leads the troops in front, the soldiers will be filled with courage and confidence to move forward when they look at his solemn and firm back.

Without him, that is to share life and death with them, His Royal Highness Dingbei King, who has been conquering for many years and displayed his **** of war.

Jiang Xu raised his hand, and the rumbling war drums sounded, the battle flag fluttered in the night, and the eagle totem on the flag spread its wings under the firelight.

"The thirteen prefectures in the north have been lost to the barbarians for a long time. After three dynasties, countless soldiers fought **** battles, and today we are waiting for the last battle. Rongzhou is my big loss. I can't give up an inch of land. In the previous dynasty, the emperor guarded the gate. There is no need for the Son of Heaven to go to battle in front of the territory and the country, but we have our own soldiers to guard it!"

His voice wasn't very loud, but in the quiet night, it seemed that every single word struck into the hearts of the soldiers behind him.

"Defend the territory, recover Rongzhou! Defend the territory, recover Rongzhou!"

…

"It's time to change the word Suiyang back to Yaocheng." Jiang Xu drew his sword and pointed at the city gate. The white light reflected his smooth and handsome outline, "Siege the city!"

"kill!!"

Thousands of troops rushed forward, and the catapults all went into battle, and the flames outside Suiyang city were shining brightly, reflecting courageous faces.

…

Three days later, under the continuous onslaught of the 80,000 Dingbei Army, the main city of Rongzhou was ruined.

The enemy defending the city is obviously at the end of their strength, but the Qiang and Yu barbarians have no shortage of crazy beasts in their bones. Sex, previously pretending to be an empty city in an attempt to make the Dingbei Army hesitate, and win the chance to survive.

Now that the overall situation has been decided, the Dingbei Army did not harm the people when they attacked the city, but the Qiang and Yu soldiers who defended the city abandoned the people in the city.

"Little General Shen!"

Watching helplessly a beam on the city tower collapsed by fire oil fell straight in Shen Yu's direction, the soldiers under his command were about to burst into tears and yelled violently.

Hearing the sound, Jiang Xu swept away the enemy army in front of him with a sword, moved to Shen Yu's body at an unmatched speed, and propped up the broken beam with all his strength.

"Go." He said in a deep voice.

"My lord!"

The beam was extremely heavy, and with this support, the bones of his left hand were probably broken. Shen Yu stopped breathing for a few moments before regaining consciousness.

A few beams were quickly dropped from the front to block the way out. One person supported him, and only one person could escape. Shen Yu's back was seriously injured, but now that he left, Jiang Xu couldn't escape. Without even thinking about it, he went straight forward to support the beam with Jiang Xu.

Jiang Xu glanced at him, but didn't say much.

Some soldiers wanted to come over to help, but they were entangled with the enemy army and couldn't get away for a while. Shen Yu didn't know what to think. She glanced at Jiang Xu, squeezed her teeth with difficulty and sincerity: "A few days ago, I belonged to the army. I thought, I thought my subordinates did something wrong, but later I found out that the prince has never received the letter from the concubine—"

Jiang Xu: "..."

Shen Yu said again: "Yes, but my subordinates received a letter from my cousin from the Ming family. Nothing was said in the letter, except that there was only a piece of dark jade. The subordinates only discovered two days ago that there was actually a letter in it."

There were beads of sweat on his forehead, and he continued to hold on: "When the letter was taken out, it accidentally fell on the ground. There was a sentence written on it, and asked the subordinates to send Na Wu, Wu Hengyu, Yes, hand over the Wuhengyu...to the prince, and, besides, the letter from the cousin of the Ming family also wrote that it was entrusted by someone, and this subordinate wondered if it was... entrusted by the concubine..."

"Where's Yu?" Jiang Xu asked in a deep voice.

"The subordinate forgot where to put it, yes, so I dare not tell the prince immediately."

"..." "This king shouldn't have saved you."

In the summer, the news of Suiyang City's collapse quickly spread across the country.

The city of Suiyang was destroyed, and Rongzhou was in the palm of hands. However, it took nearly three months to clean up the garrison in the counties and towns, and the army returned to Beijing.

After traveling for more than a month, on the occasion of the autumnal equinox, the news that the Dingbei Army's squadron was returning to the court spread like wildfire in the capital.

"It's only been a few days. What an honor it is to recover all the thirteen prefectures in the Northland. Zhang Huaiyu said that His Majesty will come to the city gate to greet you this time." Bai Minmin trimmed the flowers and branches, and said quickly.

Zhou Jingwan glanced at Ming Tan unobtrusively, and saw that Ming Tan's eyelashes were trembling slightly, not unresponsive, she also picked out a sprig of fresh and plump peonies, trimmed them and followed Bai Minmin's words in a soft voice: "Lu Ting has been doing this for the past few days. In front of the palace, the news that His Majesty is here to greet you personally is true."

She put the pruned flower branches in the Ming Tan vase, and asked seemingly unintentionally: "Lu Ting will definitely not care about me that day, A Tan, why don't you come and pick me up to watch the excitement?"

"You ask Minmin to pick you up, I'm going to Zhuangzi in the suburbs to settle accounts." Ming Tan concentrated on fiddling with the flowers and branches in the vase.

"When can't the account be settled, I have to go in these few days." Bai Minmin couldn't help muttering.

Ming Tan glanced at her: "My Zhuangzi, I can go whenever I want." She put down the copper scissors, "It's getting late, and it's time for you two to go home, Su Xin, Lu E, see off the guests .”

"..."

Soon, Bai Minmin and Zhou Jingwan were forcibly sent out.

The patio in the courtyard was suddenly silent, Ming Tan sat quietly for a while, then suddenly waved, signaling the second-class girl Yudie who was waiting at the door to come forward.

"Yudie, I heard that your brother is the second innkeeper in Huichun Building?" Ming Tan asked casually as if chatting.

"Back to the princess, yes."

"I've also heard that...the location of the window facing the Huichun Building is very difficult to determine."

"Actually, it's fine on weekdays. If there's something exciting going on, it's hard to decide on this position. It's like the number one scholar parading the streets every spring, or like our lord who won the victory and returned to the court to lead the army into the city-this time from the west gate. Come in, pass by the Huichun Building, the place near the window must be packed." Yudie smiled and said everything.

Ming Tan naturally knew these things, she thought about it, and said: "That's right, I have a friend who just happened to be planning the window location of Huichun Tower these few days. I wonder if your brother...can you make it easier?"

Yudie hesitated for a moment: "Princess, are you the friend you are talking about?"