Chapter 108

Qian Pei’s boat quietly returned to the shore. There was no one around, his carriage was waiting quietly by the side of the road.

Qian Pei got into the carriage, and the coachman drove the horse for a long distance, left the range of Moonlight Lake, turned into another trail, and stopped again.

After a while, Hou Yu appeared. After making sure no one was around, he got into the carriage.

“It is confirmed that he has died.” Hou Yu said.

Qian Pei nodded in satisfaction.

“What should the **** do? He will definitely guess that it is you, Master Qian.”

“If you guess it, you guess it, what can he do to me?” Qian Pei sneered, “He is also a man of calculations, you think he is stupid, thinking that Tang Xuan can be caught in two or three times? He knows what’s going on, so naturally he didn’t Determine whether Tang Xuan will kill me. This is just a pawn. Whether you kill me or not depends on how important I am. Tang Xuan is just a **** for him to push the boat along the way and test the situation.”

“Then Tang Xuan is dead now…”

Qian Pei said: “Yao Kun naturally understands that between me and Tang Xuan, I am the one who has the upper hand.”

Hou Yu asked: “Will he try his best to deal with you like this? After all, he has been forced to do this this time.”

“Don’t worry. Everyone just follow the plan, and everything is business as usual. On the other side of Yao Kun, I naturally know how to deal with him. I have known him since I saw him when he was young, and I have known him for a lifetime. Give him some sweetness, and he will I feel that I have a plan in my chest, but in fact I still can’t figure out the way at all. It’s okay, everyone be patient, things will make progress soon.”

Hou Yu thought for a while and nodded in agreement.

After Hou Yu left, Qian Pei sat quietly in the car for a while, and then told the driver: “Go to Zhonglan City, Anfu.”

An Ruochen stayed in Sixiajiang barracks for a day and then set off to go back. After all, it’s an important military camp and it’s wartime, so she shouldn’t stay for a long time.

This day she just stayed in Long Da’s tent and didn’t go anywhere, but she didn’t feel bored, only happy. She felt that she couldn’t finish talking to the general, and she was even happy to sit aside and read the general’s approval file without saying a word. There is too little time to be together, and she is reluctant to sleep. She told Long Da about everything that happened during the days of parting. Long Da answered seriously, pointed out the problems in everything, gave her ideas, and taught her how to find solutions.

Later, An Ruochen still fell asleep, and when she woke up, she found herself in Long Da’s arms. He was looking at her, seeing that she was awake, and gave her a gentle smile. This smile was as warm as a spring breeze, and An Ruochen’s heart was pounding. In the end, Long Da said to her: “There will definitely be a war. If you see the smoke rising, don’t panic. I have experienced hundreds of battles, and nothing will happen.”

An Ruochen would rather not wake up, if she had been dreaming in the general’s arms that there was no war and no elaborate dreams.

But she woke up, and she knew she had to go. “I’ll take care of myself too, don’t worry, General.”

Long Da patted her head.

“We made an appointment, only to attack and not to retreat. I will wait for the general to return safely, and take me back to Beijing to marry. I am also waiting to find fault with the general’s house is too big, the second and third brothers are not obedient enough, and they will cry and make noise. Ask the general for money to buy new clothes and jewelry.”

Long Da laughed loudly: “Sounds really good.” The second and third brothers were not obedient enough, so he continued to laugh, really wanting to see what his family’s manager and sister-in-law would be like.

An Ruochen left, and took a look at Cao Yihan before leaving.

It was inconvenient for Cao Yihan to talk to her, so he just looked at her. Seeing the wound on his face, An Ruochen knew that Cao Yihan suffered a lot, and that what he suffered was for his life. In order for him to still have his life, he can return to the Southern Qin Emperor to report the letter. An Ruochen understood what he meant, she nodded to him, and promised to do what she wanted to do for him, she would definitely do it.

An Ruochen got into the carriage. Long Da didn’t come to see her off, and Cao Yihan didn’t show up. An Ruochen followed the swaying carriage towards Zhonglan City. They are not in the same place and in different directions, but An Ruochen knows that they all put their good wishes for life into their hard work. Chaotic and dangerous, nothing. She had seen the general and felt motivated. She has many plans, and she will compete with that Tang Xuan after she returns, starting from him, she must find a flaw.

One day after An Ruochen was on the road, he suddenly heard a guard shouting on the way: “Look, Wolf Smoke!”

An Ruochen got out of the carriage and ran to the high hillside to have a look. It’s not the Sixia River, but another, farther direction. Gray smoke filled the sky, like ferocious claws.

“It’s Shilingya. Nanqin chose to attack Shilingya first.” Jiang Song looked at the faint smoke in the distance, and shouted to An Ruochen: “Get on the carriage, we have to go back quickly. The Four Xiajiang River will start fighting soon.”

An Ruochen quickly ran back to the car, and before she could sit still, the car had already started.

An Ruochen couldn’t tell what she was feeling at the moment. The war has begun—this thing that has been in my mind for a long time has actually happened.

Does this timing have something to do with Esaku? Is it related to Tang Xuan’s arrest? Or is it because Cao Yihan saw the general? Mr. Huo’s death did not buy much time, An Ruochen felt sad. But she doesn’t panic.

In the past she had wondered what would happen to her if there were countless wars, and now she knew. She doesn’t panic, she can do it. The general was defending against the enemy on the front line, and she captured the spy for him in Zhonglan.

On this day, Yao Kun was thinking with a sullen face in the prefect’s mansion. And Qian Pei sat in An’s mansion, eating, drinking, chatting and laughing with everyone in An’s family.

Naturally, Long Da also knew about the military situation. The flames ignited suddenly, and the gray smoke was dazzling.

After hearing the report from the guards, Long Da stepped out of the tent and looked towards the sky: “It’s started.”

As expected, they chose Shi Lingya where he was not present. I think it’s just a test, and it’s not yet time for a big battle.

“General.” Zhu Chonghai led the generals ready to go, waiting for Long Da to give an order.

“Go.” There’s no need to sit and be beaten, there must be a response. Although he does not want to fight, he is not afraid of fighting.

Soon, a row of boats sailed out on the Four Xia River, heading towards Nanqin. The closer they got to the opposite bank, the clearer the formation became, and it was actually a straight line growing obliquely. Nanqin spotted the boat formation and shot arrows at the boat. But because the boat array is slanted, the boats in the back row are far away from the boats in front, and even farther away from the opposite bank. Ordinary bows and arrows can’t shoot at all.

Nan Qin could only hit a small number of ships sailing ahead, but there were no people on board, only a few battle flags flying. The helmsman should be hiding in the cabin. General Nan Qin frowned, not understanding what Long Da was trying to sell. Without transporting soldiers, what is the use of this ship approaching Nanqin?

The ships got closer and closer, Nan Qin sent several ships to fight, trying to block Xiao Guo’s fleet in the river. When the two armies were close, the accident happened suddenly.

“Dong dong dong” a drum sounded, and the horn blew. I saw a row of movements, and the Long Family Army’s fleet actually lifted the planks into the river. Those planks were wide and designed in advance, one next to the other, one ship connected to the other, and they were quickly lined up. A pontoon. A large group of sailors rushed towards Nanqin’s warship on the pontoon bridge in an orderly but extremely fast manner.

All of a sudden, the arrows and feathers flew together, and the fire bombs were fired. In the blink of an eye, the Long family’s army had taken advantage of the chaos to attack the Nanqin warship.

The Southern Qin army was caught off guard and rushed to fight. But the opportunity was lost, and the situation was chaotic. Those who fell into the water fell into the water, and those who fell into the water were killed or injured. The Nan Qin general shouted loudly: “Withdraw!”

Zhu Chonghai took the lead, dancing with two knives like a tiger and tiger, and chopped down more than ten Southern Qin soldiers in one go. Seeing that the Nanqin general’s boat was about to retreat, he took the bow and arrow behind his back with his backhand, nocked the arrow and pulled the bow, and with a whoosh sound, an arrow with a letter shot on the string of the general’s boat.

The Nanqin fleet quickly retreated, and the Long family army did not catch up. The battle didn’t last long, but they captured three South Qin military ships and captured nearly a hundred people. The captives were taken back to the boat of the Long family’s army by the pontoon bridge, and then the pontoon was closed, and the Long family’s army retreated to the river.

General Nanqin pulled out the arrow that Zhu Chonghai had shot, and after reading the letter on it, he was suddenly so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke. It read: Small fights are not respect. If you offend Xiao Guo, I will punish you. Inscribed signature: Long Teng.

Nan Qin was on guard, but Long Da seemed to recharge his batteries after a small trial, and did not attack again, but the battle flag was flying. The battle just now was not a dream.

After nightfall, Nanqin received a report from the army that raided Shilingya. The fight there was quite difficult, but the casualties were not heavy. If a strong army attacks fiercely, there should be a chance. After retreating, the Great Xiao soldiers did not pursue, but hid behind the cliff and did not move.

The Nan Qin generals discussed it, and it seemed that the original judgment was correct, Shi Lingya was easier to fight than Sixiajiang.

An Ruochen didn’t arrive in Zhonglan until the third day because he walked slowly on the first day. When Jiang Song approached the city, he led the troops to the general barracks, since the front line was at war, he also had a lot of business to do here. An Ruochen’s car drove into the city under the **** of Lu Zhengtianqing.

After entering the city gate, he didn’t go far, when suddenly a woman outside the carriage screamed, “An Ruochen, you bitch, pay back my daughter’s life!”

The two horses neighed, and the carriage shook violently. The coachman cursed loudly: “You don’t want to die!” Presumably someone rushed to the front of the car and was almost hit by a horse.

An Ruochen was taken aback, and after she sat down firmly, she realized that she recognized the voice—fourth aunt Duan’s.

Duan cried in front of the carriage: “I don’t want my life. My daughter was murdered by that **** An Ruochen, what do I want? An Ruochen, come out! Give my daughter my life back!”

An Ruochen lifted the curtain of the car and looked out. Duan was wearing mourning clothes and held up a big white cloth scarf with red letters on it.

An Ruochen’s heart was shocked. Could it be that the fourth sister found her these days after she left the city? is she dead

Tian Qing said to An Ruochen beside the carriage, “Don’t come out, leave it to us.”

An Ruochen said: “Ask me what’s going on.”

Tian Qing nodded.

Duan Shi in front of the car was still shouting and crying, her astonishing attire and hoarse posture attracted many spectators. Duan cried and howled, pointing at the carriage and cursing. The crowd got bigger and bigger, Lu Zheng patted his horse forward and shouted to Duan: “This is the carriage of the General Protecting the Nation, get out of the way quickly.”

When Lu Zheng said this, the Duan family changed his name and howled even more terribly: “What’s wrong with the general, the general can rob civilian women and murder other people’s lives? My daughter is only twelve years old, and she is still a child! The general and that **** Someone killed my daughter! An Ruochen, get out of here! Either you die or I die today. I am not afraid of the general, I will let you die for your life!”

Someone in the crowd shouted: “What’s going on, come out and explain clearly.”

“A murderer?! Report to the officer!”

“It’s so pitiful, stop it quickly and hand it over to the government.”

“There’s a war at the front, does that have anything to do with that? What happened?”

“Come out.” More and more people were shouting.

An Ruochen in the carriage heard the yelling around, and suddenly understood. Only a few voices came and went the loudest, and the rest of the noise was not clear what was going on. This is the same trick she used to make the villagers surround the mountain.

The carriage was pushed and shook. Lu Zheng led the guards to stop the crowd in front of the car, while Tian Qing chased them away beside the car. At this moment, the back door of the car was suddenly pulled open.

A man took advantage of the chaos and broke into the carriage, grabbed An Ruochen and dragged him out. His palms are strong, his movements are quick, and his eyes are sharp. It can be seen that he has practiced martial arts.

It happened so suddenly, in the blink of an eye, An Ruochen could only scream instinctively: “There is a spy! Catch the spy!” There was only one thought in her mind, if she was dragged into the crowd, she might be quickly covered up How could Tian Qing and Lu Zheng save her when she lost her trace?

An Ruochen was dragged to the side of the carriage, and she yelled loudly: “Xiao Zuo! This person is Xi Zuo! Catch Xi Zuo!” While shouting, she simply kicked on the side of the carriage, lunged at the man with her strength, and poked his eyes with her fingers.

The man never expected An Ruochen to be so aggressive, his eyes hurt, and he let go with a scream. But another person also rushed over and grabbed An Ruochen.

An Ruochen wanted to poke her eyes again, but this man was on guard. He grabbed An Ruochen’s wrist, turned his backhand, twisted An Ruochen’s arm behind him, and pressed her shoulder again to restrain her. An Ruochen bent his knees and kicked the man’s crotch. No matter where he kicked, he kicked violently and shouted: “Nan Qin Xizuo has arrested people, Nan Qin Xizuo has arrested people! Don’t let them go!”

The man was kicked to the point, he let out a scream of “ah”, and loosened his hand, An Ruochen quickly turned around, and poked his eyes again. Two more people rushed forward, An Ruochen retreated after poking, and ran towards Tian Qing’s direction. “Careful work!”

The people around finally realized that there was a heated discussion about war in the city these two days, and the secret work was more serious than the murderer, so they all shouted: “There is special work!”

Tian Qing drove the crowd to arrive, and stabbed the two men who grabbed An Ruochen with his sword. The two turned away. Lu Zheng also arrived. Seeing that there was no chance, those people turned around and wanted to run away. The crowd stopped them, and those people pointed their toes, jumped a few times, jumped to the top of the nearby shop, and fled away.

Just as Lu was about to chase, Tian Qing yelled, “Take care to steer the tiger away from the mountain.”

In front of the car, the guards and the coachman have captured Duan. Duan yelled, and the coachman stuffed a cloth into her mouth and tied her up.

An Ruochen took a breath, straightened her hair and clothes, and walked to the car to check the situation. Lu Zheng and Tian Qing guarded her carefully and looked around vigilantly. An Ruochen looked at Duan Shi, Duan Shi saw her struggling again, his eyes were fierce.

“Have you seen Fourth Sister?” An Ruochen asked her.

The guards removed the cloth from Duan’s mouth, and she cursed again, repeating those few sentences over and over, but did not answer An Ruochen’s question.

An Ruochen frowned, and waved his hand to let the guards gag her again. Seeing this scene, the surrounding people talked a lot. A person dressed as a village woman watched all this in the crowd, quietly retreated and walked away. No one paid attention to her figure, everyone’s attention was on Duan’s side.

Listening to everyone’s discussion, An Ruochen also knew that the commotion was too loud, and it was better to appease the aftermath. So An Ruochen stood on the carriage and shouted to the surrounding crowd: “Fathers and elders, there is now a war on the border, and the city is rampant. They want to take our Da Xiao home and kill our Da Xiao people. Just now, those four people used the mad woman to stop us. Street, trying to disrupt the order in the city and create a dangerous situation. Don’t panic, think carefully, but someone has seen the appearance clearly. If you have any clues, please report to the officer. If you see them again next time, please report to the officer. We If you don’t go to the front line to fight, you can still guard the city. The small work must be eradicated, so that Zhonglan City can have peace.”

Her voice was loud, she spoke clearly, and she was very imposing, and everyone hurriedly nodded in response.

An Ruochen turned to the Duan family again, and loudly ordered Lu Zheng and Tian Qing: “Take her back and report her to the prefect, and investigate carefully.” Turning around, she ordered several guards, and said to the crowd of onlookers: “The matter is of great importance. , we have to report to the authorities. Has anyone seen how this woman appeared? Is there any accomplice? Has anyone seen the secret robbery just now? Please help, if you have any clues, please go to the Yamen with me Report to the officer.”

The guards went into the crowd to inquire carefully, and they really inquired a little. Someone saw that Mrs. Duan was brought to the intersection with a sedan chair, and she hid in the sedan chair and did not show up. When An Ruochen’s carriage arrived, Duan rushed to the middle of the road with a red letter and white scarf to stop the carriage. But when things got agitated, I looked at it last, but the sedan chair was nowhere to be seen.

The Duan family was sent to the yamen, and An Ruochen brought witnesses and beat the drums to report to the officials.

Yao Kun was surprised when he heard that it was An Ruochen who played the drums. After hearing the reason, he saw Duan Shi and listened to the testimony of a crowd, silently meditating. He asked the Yamen to arrest An Zhifu, and recorded the testimony of the witnesses, and then he took An Ruochen to the back hall.

Before sitting down, An Ruochen couldn’t wait to ask: “My lord, is there any progress in the case of Tang Xuan? I have asked the general. I can confront Tang Xuan and force him to confess…”

Yao Kun frowned, and interrupted An Ruochen’s words: “Miss An, it’s like this. I put down Duan’s end first, just to tell you first.” He stopped here, as if Thinking about what to say.

An Ruochen suddenly had an ominous premonition, she sat down and asked, “What does your lord want to tell me?”

Yao Kun said: “After the girl left, I interrogated Tang Xuan to no avail, and there was no progress in witness testimony. It would take time to go to Yunhe County to collect evidence, and I was afraid of delaying the military situation. So I thought of a way, pretending to release Tang Xuan, and let Tang Xuan go. People secretly followed him to see who he would connect with, hoping to find clues and catch his accomplices.”

An Ruochen’s heart sank, and he let him go for no reason. A fool would know there was a scam, so how could he give him any clues. An Ruochen asked: “For what reason did your lord release Tang Xuan? Is Tang Xuan convinced? He said before that he would go to Yunhe County to verify his identity, but it hasn’t been verified yet. How can he release him?”

Yao Kun didn’t seem to hear An Ruochen’s question, so he continued on his own: “After Tang Xuan was released from prison, he went straight back to Fu’an County. He went out around Youshi, bought food and wine, and went boating on Moonlight Lake alone. When the boat sailed back, there was only the boatman. The boatman said, when the boat arrived in the lake, Tang Xuan asked him to stop the boat and not to disturb him, so he sat in the stern. Then he heard the sound like Tang Xuan was drinking and eating meat, faintly crying , I couldn’t hear it clearly, and then it was quiet for a long time, and then Tang Xuan suddenly jumped into the river.”

An Ruochen’s eyes widened in surprise, and he stood up abruptly: “What!”

Yao Kun said: “Miss An, Tang Xuan is dead. The boatman went into the water to save people, but he didn’t make it, so he went ashore and reported to the officials. Mr. Qian organized people to fish for them. The next day, that is, yesterday, the body was found in the lake. I Let Wu conduct an autopsy, and it is true that he died by drowning.”

An Ruochen was dumbfounded. She remembered Long Da’s explanation: If the prefect lets Tang Xuan go, it means that the prefect is a spy or is controlled by a spy, then you should leave Zhonglan.

An Ruochen blinked, trying to calm down. But now the prefect neither locked up Tang Xuan to continue the strict interrogation, nor “released” him. He was trying to get Tang Xuan to die accidentally when he was trying to lure out the clues.

An Ruochen shook his head, and then shook his head again. Even for a while, I couldn’t tell the doorway here. What is going on? Could it be that Tang Xuan is not Mr. Xie, but just a small craftsman, so he can die casually, right? But if this is the case, who is Mr. Min’s subsequent contact person? Who has the power to decide Tang Xuan’s life and death?

An Ruochen stared at Yao Kun, wondering if she could still trust him. False release, a tactic to lure the enemy, sounds reasonable, although reckless, it is indeed not wrong. But they obviously talked well, before she left, he didn’t tell her that he planned to use this trick to act. Even if he had a sudden thought, couldn’t he wait a few days.

An Ruochen gritted her teeth, she has no qualifications and position to condemn the prefect. People value you as the prefect, but she is just a commoner. Even if she is married to a general today, why should the family members of the officials scold the prefect for his actions. So being a wife is really not as good as having a half-time official.

An Ruochen took a deep breath, suppressed her irritability and anger, and asked Yao Kun: “Your Excellency sent someone to follow you, but you didn’t find any clues, did you?”

“Yes.” Yao Kun nodded.

“Tang Xuan was silenced, isn’t the boatman suspicious?”

“I personally interrogated the boatman. He doesn’t know martial arts. If Tang Xuan is a master, he must be able to use martial arts. The boatman will not be his opponent. I then interrogated other related people who make a living by the lake. The boatman was by the lake. He has been in charge of the ship for more than 20 years, he is a local, he is honest, and all the people around him know him. I have sent people to watch him day and night to see if he may have contact with suspicious people. But so far, no doubts have been found. ”

An Ruochen didn’t speak.

Yao Kun said again: “Nowadays there are rumors in the market that Tang Xuan is a serious businessman. He was accused of crimes and imprisoned. He was humiliated in prison. He couldn’t calm down. After he was released, he couldn’t think about it for a while and threw himself into the lake.”

An Ruochen didn’t want to say anything anymore. Creating rumors and triggering public opinion and speculation to influence the situation are all too common methods.

“These rumors are not good for you and me, and they are not good for General Long,” Yao Kun said.

An Ruochen worked very hard to hold back the sneer, the most important clue is gone, do you still have to consider the trivial things that the folk rumors are not good for you? The general is fighting at the front, but Pingnan County is still in chaos, An Ruochen feels in a bad mood.

Yao Kun waited for a while, and saw that An Ruochen had no intention of talking to him at all, so the topic changed back to today’s matter: “Your fourth aunt brought someone to rob you, it’s strange. I will carefully review An’s family. I heard that after your fourth sister disappeared, your fourth aunt was a little crazy. I don’t know where she went to find those people. Maybe they were used by others.”

An Ruochen still ignored him, and Yao Kun had no choice but to analyze by himself: “If your fourth aunt wants to avenge your fourth sister, you should be ordered to assassinate you directly. To take you away is indeed more like a subtle act How she came into contact with these people as a woman in the inner house needs to be investigated carefully.”

An Ruochen glanced at him, and finally said: “Besides the spy, there is another person who is suspected. It is Mr. Qian Peiqian. He wants to take revenge on me and take me back to relieve his hatred. This is a well-known fact. My lord Do you want to check Qian Pei?”

“Okay. I will investigate to the end and will not tolerate it.”

An Ruochen realized that something was wrong, the prefect’s attitude was a bit unusual today. Her suspicious heart was ready to move again.

“Now that the front line is fighting, I received a report from the army that the military situation is fine. I still have scruples about coming to Nanqin. It’s just that Miss An has a close relationship with General Long, so we should be more careful and be careful not to attack you. If you are a hostage, General Long’s It’s not easy to fight a battle.” Yao Kun said: “The girl usually seldom goes out, if she wants to go out, she should bring more people.”

“Don’t worry, my lord.” An Ruochen said intentionally, “I won’t kill myself because of too much thinking and too much pressure.”

Yao Kun showed no expression.

An Ruochen said again: “If I commit suicide, it will be homicide. I hope that my lord will not give up pursuing the murderer, and must give me justice.”

“I remember.” Yao Kun replied: “If the girl encounters misfortune, I will not be deceived by the appearance.”

“Other people’s misfortune, I hope adults can think so.”

Yao Kun nodded. “I really think so. Similarly, if I have misfortune, it is not an accident. No matter what others say, I hope the girl will continue to investigate.”

An Ruochen was taken aback, what kind of move was this?

If nothing happened, Yao Kun didn’t seem to have said anything strange just now, he just said: “I’m going to try your fourth aunt’s case again, girl, would you like to join me? Although Tang Xuan’s death is regrettable, something happened, it’s a clue. Anyway , have to check it out carefully.”

An Ruochen frowned. If it’s acting, it’s too good to be acting.

Beside the hut on Jiangding Mountain, An Ruofang stretched her neck and waited. When she saw Master Jing Yuan coming back, she went up to greet her happily: “Master, how is the city? Can I go home?”

Jingyuan shakes her head.

An Ruofang’s smiling face narrowed, and she asked cautiously, “What happened?”

“Your mother is going to kill your eldest sister, and the trouble has gone to the government.”

An Ruofang’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait a little longer.” Jing Yuan was a little annoyed, and went into the house, muttering as she walked: “If you are so energetic and fussy, you should throw it on the battlefield. Killing the enemy is honest.”

An Ruofang stood there stiffly, full of anxiety, but didn’t know what to do.