Devil’s Advent

Hou Jingnan's lunch was a bit late, and he didn't start eating until around 2:30 in the afternoon.

The dishes are not rich and extravagant, but they are also exquisite, with one meat, two vegetables and one soup.

Uncle Zheng shared the chopsticks and sat at the stone table by the pond with Hou Jingnan to eat.

The previous conversation went too well,

After a few words, it seems that the matter of the princess has been settled. It may seem like a big deal to me, but in Jingnanhou's eyes, it is nothing more than a little conflict between the two younger children.

The most important thing is that Zheng Fan's methods are very clean, without leaving any traces, as long as there is no sore foot to scratch, then covering up or not is just a matter of one word, not even a word.

It is not used here to add guilt without excuses. After all, Bo Hirano is not a soft persimmon now, not to mention that there is Jingnan Hou standing behind him.

Zheng Fan ate two bowls of rice, and when he ate the second bowl, Tian Wujing took the initiative to put his rice on the meat dish, stirred it casually a few times, and then handed it to Zheng Fan.

For himself, he poured the remaining rice into the soup bowl, and then pulled some of the remaining vegetarian dishes into it.

The two men didn't lick their plates, but they ate very cleanly, and there was basically nothing left.

After eating, the guards came up to clean up the dishes, because Fengxin City looks like a city, and this mansion looks like a marquis's mansion, but in fact it is more like a military camp and a handsome tent. It is not convenient to be generous in the army A maid appeared on the other side, so there were no maids here to give washbasin handkerchiefs or anything.

Tian Wujing took water from the pond, squatted there, washed his hands and wiped his mouth.

Uncle Zheng also followed suit, squatting beside him and washing his hands.

shook hands,

Tian Wujing looked up at the sky,

road:

It is going to rain.

Zheng Fan nodded and said, Yes.

Although there is a high probability that it will rain, Tian Wujing still walked out of the Hou's mansion, and Zheng Fan naturally followed.

Marquis Jingnan walking in Fengxin City is the same as Uncle Zheng walking in Xuehaiguan. The surrounding area is surrounded by soldiers loyal to him, so there is no need to worry too much about safety.

At the same time, Jingnanhou's own strength is also here. For the vast majority of assassins in this world, ninety-nine percent of their efforts are probably how to penetrate the outer guards and defenses to reach the assassination target;

But in Tian Wujing's case, it's the other way around, because even if you try your best and have great luck to escape the patrol of the Jingnan Army and finally come to Tian Wujing, you will experience what is true. difficulty.

Xu knew that his Lord Marquis was going to walk alone, so there was no soldier following him, but Zheng Fan still noticed that there was still a group of guards moving around, but they would only follow at a distance. will come forward.

The soldier at the door gave Zheng Fan an umbrella,

Not long after walking out of Hou's Mansion, it started to rain in the sky. Zheng Fan held up an umbrella to cover himself and Tian Wujing.

The summer rain will make people feel sticky, while the early winter rain will make people feel chilly. Besides, Fengxin City has experienced several wars, and there are no fireworks scenes. Walking in such a street, it is really hard to find What serenity and flavor.

Zheng Fan didn't know where Tian Wujing was going, and he didn't need to know, as long as he followed.

Take a step back and say,

I finally saw Lao Tian once,

It is also appropriate to simply take a walk with Lao Tian.

Half of Fengxin City is a military barracks, while the other half is quite dilapidated and not crowded.

Tian Wujing walked more and more remote, Zheng Fan said:

Master Hou, Fengxin is actually a good place.

Although the Situ Yi brothers were kicked out of Yupan City by the Chu people at the beginning, they chose Fengxin for a reason, and they would not go to bad places in the backcountry.

The implication is that Fengxin City is so desolate, which is a pity. Now that the overall situation is difficult, we should vigorously develop production to save ourselves.

Tian Wujing said calmly: Once the people of Chu go to war, Fengxin will definitely become a frontier, and it will probably be besieged by the Chu army.

Tian Wujing also explained that the state of Chu is a centipede that dies but does not freeze. Although the tens of thousands of Chu troops who were massacred in Yupan City were the elite troops of the state of Chu, the state of Chu is a big country after all. It's not really a real injury. The next time the war starts, the Chu people will definitely send out more soldiers and horses. The country of Yan is good at cavalry combat, and cavalry combat also needs a strategic support point to rely on. Fengxin City, there is a high probability is to be used as a nail on the chessboard.

So even if it is operating now, it will inevitably become a waste of effort when the Chu army besieges the city, and it will even become an extra burden after absorbing too many non-military population.

Yes, I will understand in the end.

Your Snow Customs can continue to operate well. The Chu people are now in control of Zhennan Pass. Once the war starts, the Chu people will take the initiative in the early stage. But with this Marquis in Fengxin, the Chu people dare not divide their forces. Hit your snow customs.

This was said very confidently, however, Jingnan Hou did have the capital to say this.

As long as the commander of the Chu army on the opposite side is not kicked by the donkey, he will not dare to divide his troops to attack Xuehaiguan when he is playing chess with Jingnanhou. Chu people and Gan people have a similar problem, that is, the Chu people's cavalry, There are not many, and Xueguan is a big pass, especially after the renovation. According to the current strength, population and war mobilization of Xueguan, no one hundred thousand troops of Chu people can't bite it.

Yes, I will understand in the end.

The situation isn't good, but it's not bad either. Anyway, the eastern half of Situ's house has been destroyed long ago. If we continue to fight, there won't be too much loss.

It's just that Gan and Chu work together, and eventually they need to find a way to break the situation.

It would be great if we can conquer Zhennan Pass, Zheng Fan said.

Take down Zhennanguan, completely restore the Situ family's border with Chu, isolate the threat of the Chu people, and defend one point and one area. Obviously, the cost and difficulty of the former are smaller.

If you don't have enough confidence, don't act like this. The siege of the city is different from the cavalry's detours. The former is more involved. It will be difficult to easily put the chips on the table and get them off easily.

Speaking of this, Tian Wujing said again:

Besides, there are people from Chu calling in my ears from time to time, which saves me from being boring and lonely.

The corner of Zheng Fan's mouth twitched subconsciously, but he could hear the meaning of raising the bandits' self-respect from these words.

I don't know if this is Tian Wujing's intention, or because of the limited situation, it's just a kind of self-consolation for him.

Tian Wujing walked to the entrance of an ancestral hall and stopped.

The plaque of the ancestral hall fell to the ground and split into many pieces. It was obviously destroyed on purpose. Inside the dilapidated threshold, the inner mess can also be seen.

This was originally the ancestral hall of a family of officials in Fengxin City. Later, Situ Yi and his brothers came here and pushed all the enshrined spirits in this ancestral hall, and replaced it with the ancestral temple of his Situ family.

The ancestral temple? It's because although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. Zheng Fan teased.

I thought you would say this is retribution. Tian Wujing said.

Master Hou, I will not believe this in the end.

Tian Wujing nodded and walked in.

Zheng Fan didn't know that the Marquis of Jingnan was going to take him here for a stroll. He originally thought that the Marquis of Jingnan would take him to the princess's place. Even if he said he wouldn't explain it to her, he would go through the motions and say that there was nothing he could do for the time being.

But obviously, once he decided to do it or not, the Marquis of Jingnan didn't even have the interest to cover it up. Otherwise, there would not have been two Xuanzhi eunuchs smashing their heads to death at the gate of the Hou's Mansion in Litian City.

The ancestral hall is very messy, a Buddha statue in the main hall has fallen off the altar and is leaning against the corner of the wall.

The Buddha statue was carved out of wood, but it has cracked at this time, and obvious signs of mold can be seen in some places.

Buddha statues also need to be served by people. After a long time, no one will clean them up, and they age quickly.

Tian Wujing pointed at the wooden Buddha statue,

Said to Zheng Fan:

What do you think of him?

Zheng Fan pondered for a moment,

road:

In the eyes of believers, he is a Buddha; in the eyes of craftsmen, he is a living; in the eyes of businessmen, he is a commodity;

In my eyes, he is now a piece of rotten wood.

Wonderful!

As soon as Zheng Fan finished speaking, an old man came out from behind the ancestral hall, and behind the old man came out a strong man.

The height of this strong man can be compared with Fan Li's, with two rings on his nostrils, he is as strong as a cow.

The old man appeared to be quite short in stature. The old man was already old, and his figure would shrink back easily, so he was less than a head taller than Xue San.

My lord, is this Uncle Hirano? The old man pointed to Zheng Fan and asked Tian Wujing.

It's him.

Oh, country man, I have seen Uncle Hirano, Uncle Hirano Fukang.

The old man saluted Zheng Fan, but Zheng Fan's eyes were fixed and he didn't return the salute.

Because the magic pill was not on him, and the demon kings were not around, when one or two strangers suddenly appeared, Uncle Zheng was instinctively nervous.

But soon, Zheng Fan calmed down, no matter what, Jingnanhou was standing by his side.

The old man didn't feel that Zheng Fan's behavior was rude, instead he said with a smile:

Let the little old man introduce himself, the little old man's surname is Zeng, his first name is Shulang, and he is the head of Tianji Pavilion.

Tianji Pavilion?

Oh, it seems that Uncle Hirano has heard about us, hehe.

Your people have assassinated me.

... Zeng Shulang.

At the inn outside Yincheng, Zheng Fan was attacked and killed by the spider woman from Tianji Pavilion in Jindi, and Xu Wenzu was there at that time.

However, the head of Tianji Pavilion is also the master who has seen the storm, after a little bit of embarrassment, he turned to say:

As the saying goes, if you don't fight, you don't know each other. Uncle Hirano, I have made mistakes in the wind and rain in the past. Please invite Uncle Hirano. Now my Tianji Pavilion has been blown away by rain and wind. There are not many people left.

In the battle to destroy Jin, amidst the flames of war, Tianji Pavilion, a sect that once stood in Jin for a hundred years, has finally suffered great devastation, and now it is just lingering.

But what Zheng Fan didn't quite understand was why the Marquis of Jingnan brought him here to meet this old man.

Tian Wujing found a place and sat down, as if he didn't intend to participate in the conversation.

Zheng Fan's mind began to spin rapidly,

have to say,

Every time he stood next to Jingnanhou, Uncle Zheng's brain thinking speed was often able to perform at a supernormal level. One was because he was under a lot of pressure beside Jingnanhou, and the other was that he was indeed a student of Jingnanhou.

so,

Zheng Fan pointed at himself,

Pointing to old man Zeng again,

road:

You want to join me... Dayan?

Jin Zuo is over, Ji Dai Yu Xing, the way of heaven is like this, how dare I, Tianji Pavilion, go against the trend?

Hey, you're a pretty good talker, old man.

It's similar to my previous parallelism with rotten wood.

It's obviously a simple nonsense sentence, so I have to deliberately make it a little bit forced.

Seeing that Zheng Fan dared to speak so relaxedly in front of Tian Wujing, old man Zeng couldn't help being a little stunned, but soon smiled again and said:

I made my uncle laugh.

Zheng Fan also knew it in his heart, and said to the old man:

Come back to Xueguan with me later.

The old man immediately knelt down,

He kowtowed to Zheng Fan and said:

Thank you Uncle Hirano for taking me in!

How many people are there under your sect? Zheng Fan asked.

If you go back to Uncle, there are still dozens of people.

Are they all the same as that Spider Woman?

The Spider Woman last time left a deep impression on Uncle Zheng.

Uncle, that is the protector in my cabinet. It's just that due to the changes in the past two years, the protector in my cabinet has basically been damaged and used up. Now there are only some craftsmen left.

That's fine, take your time, and you can always recover in the future.

Thank you, Uncle.

Zheng Fan hesitated for a moment, wanting to find the token on his body. He has a jade pendant on his body, but this thing is just for fun. He usually doesn't pay much attention to it, even the devil kings don't care about it.

Simply, Zheng Fan took out his Zhonghua brand iron box, pulled out a soft Zhonghua from it, and handed it to old man Zeng.

Old man Zeng took the cigarette, put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, and said with some doubts:

tobacco?

With this as a token, you can gather your subordinates, or just wait outside the city and come over when I leave, or you can take people to Xueguan first.

Old man Zeng put away the cigarette very solemnly, cupped his hands and said:

The villain understands.

At this time,

Tian Wujing said:

Okay.

Yes, my lord, the villain will leave.

The old man Zeng turned and left, and the tall man left with him. Zheng Fan noticed some subtleties and guessed that the tall man was not a living person but a puppet.

To put it bluntly, if other people's ambition destroys one's prestige, if one is in the wild, facing this old man Zeng himself, it is really hard to say whether he can survive from his hands;

But in front of Tian Wujing, he is a grandson through and through, and his posture can be as low as he wants.

After old man Zeng left the ancestral hall with his puppet,

Zheng Fan solemnly bowed to Tian Wujing,

Okay, don't bother.

Zheng Fan didn't say his thanks, he could only smile embarrassingly.

Previously, when I came here, I thought about dedicating the master craftsmen of the dwarves on my side to Hou Jingnan. Who would have imagined that Hou Jingnan had already prepared a group of master craftsmen to send him back.

As for why they came to such a remote place to handover, there are also considerations. Even if sects like Tianji Pavilion are defeated, they cannot be taken lightly as a prestigious gate in Jindi.

It stands to reason that if they wanted to take refuge in the imperial court, they should also take refuge in Emperor Yan and be absorbed by the secret spy department.

Therefore, these things can only be handed over under the dark side. Once you see the light, if you want to dig it out, it will be unfair.

Even if it is applied to the imperial court for a memorial, but after passing through the Secret Service Department or the imperial court's Ministry of Industry, can it still be authentic?

Tian Wujing didn't want to listen to Zheng Fan's kind words,

He just stretched out his hand and pointed at the Buddha statue,

road:

Ganchu, in fact, is like this Buddha statue. It looks solemn, but it is actually decayed. It's a pity that my Dayan iron cavalry is blocked by the three sides of Qianguo, and blocked by the Nanguan of Chuguo Town.

You have always studied the methods of siege, and these people are given to you, so you can use them with confidence, make preparations first, and then use them when the war really starts.

My Dayan is indeed exhausted in national strength, but it's not that I can't fight, nor can I afford it. If I can knock down Zhennan Pass and drive the army commander into Chu, there will be no such thing as exhaustion in national strength.

The shorter the war lasts, the less the loss of logistics and national power will be. It's not that the country of Yan can't fight, but it can't afford it.

I will understand in the end.

When there are no outsiders, don't call yourself the last general.

Yes, brother.

...

Even the Marquis of Jingnan was stunned for a moment.

immediately,

Jingnanhou nodded.

Zheng Fanshi is explaining what it means to be pervasive.

hehe.

Zheng Fan himself laughed first, and sat down facing the Marquis of Jingnan.

On the Zhennan Pass line, Xue Rang's soldiers and horses, counting the Royal Guards of the Chu people, add up to 200,000.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Fan echoed, What a big dish.

Zhennanguan, I won't be able to take it down for a while, and I don't plan to order the mobilization of other troops from Fengxin City this year.

Huh? Zheng Fan heard something in Jingnanhou's words.

But you can't just watch Chu people making such a fuss all the time, coming and going without being rude. If you don't bring girl Qian this time, I plan to call you to talk about it.

Your Majesty, just give orders.

The Wangjiang River goes south from the Tianduan Mountains, diverts into the Chu State, stretches along the mountains, and finally flows into the Daze of the Chu State.

In fact, to enter Chu, you don't have to go through Zhennan Pass.

But other places are not suitable for large troops to enter. Zheng Fan said.

The entire Jin land is actually like a big basin, and the plains connected to the outside are guarded by various Xiongguan.

Take a small group of soldiers and horses, infiltrate them, and show Chu people a little color. Tian Wujing said.

Uncle Zheng reacted immediately,

Immediately said:

The subordinates feel that Ren Juan's general soldier, who uses soldiers like a god, is worthy of this job!

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan.

No, I said, Lord Hou, this...

I think back then, Uncle Zheng dared to attack Mianzhou City with three hundred barbarians. Why are you so careless now?

Master Hou, back then I was barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, but now I am...

Success and fame?

I……

Try it, you don't have to do anything to lead a thousand riders in, even if you go in for a while and let the people of Chu take care of you, that's fine. It's still the same as last time, and I won't give you the details. According to the military order, you adapt to the situation.

Master Hou, I think this matter needs to be discussed in the long run, and give the subordinates some time. If this year fails, then next year, if next year fails, the year after, and the year after next at the latest, my subordinates will definitely help you conquer Zhennan Pass. .”

Tian Wujing nodded.

Zheng Fan let out a long sigh of relief.

Leaving in the first lunar month, it's just a good time to pay New Year's greetings to the Regent of the Chu Kingdom on behalf of the Marquis.

... Zheng Fan.