In Lu Yan's room, Xu Ruhui and Lu Yan were sitting facing each other.
Lu Yan had tidied up the room. The alluring aura left from his entanglement with Shen Qingfeng had long since vanished. Instead, there was a palpable sense of oppression and silence.
Lu Yan looked at the brief message note sent by Xiao Qi on the table. His expression twitched slightly but eventually returned to calm.
Xu Ruhui didn't have the mood to make jokes at this moment. He hesitated for a while before saying, "Senior brother, how about we go back to the Northern Kingdom first?"
Lu Yan shook his head. Given the current situation, he would never consider this matter.
Xia Chuli had been schemed against, and the entire court of Li Xia was going through a blood - soaked storm without gunpowder. Not only was he unable to extricate himself, but if he left Lige at this moment, without his support, once Xia Yonglin completed his power - grab, he would surely be Xia Yonglin's next target.
And if that happened, the entire Northern Kingdom would be dragged into the power struggle in the court. By then, it would surely lead to a direct war, rather than the current veiled struggle. As long as there was war, countless innocent souls would surely perish. Lu Yan would never allow such a thing to happen.
"The Eastern Hu has been preparing for war for ten years. Now that their troops are at the gates of Liangcheng, they must have made the most thorough preparations," Lu Yan said. "Although the Qi Clan has been in internal strife for several years, at least the foundation amassed by Chu Jietian before was sufficient. They should be able to withstand the Eastern Hu."
Xu Ruhui said, "But the actions of the Eastern Hu this time are different from before. They have been stationed under the walls of Liangcheng for many days but show no intention of attacking. They just send people to shout under the city walls every day. But Xiao Qi said that the spies reported that the Eastern Hu was well - prepared this time and seemed ready for a long - term war."
Lu Yan stroked his chin and said nothing, as if he was seriously thinking.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Xu Ruhui said again, "When Xiao Qi sent this letter, he had already returned to the Qi Clan to help and was now in Liangcheng. Senior brother, the Qi Clan's territory isn't large. This time, the Eastern Hu has dispatched 200,000 elite troops. If the Qi Clan falls, half of the northern part of Li Xia will be wide open. Our Northern Kingdom will be the next target of the Eastern Hu. Now that the tiger talisman is in your hands, if the court wants to send troops to reinforce, we will surely be required to participate in the war."
Actually, Lu Yan had already thought of this, but it was also the thing that gave him a headache because he couldn't leave Lige City during this period. He thought for a while and said, "The Eastern Hu is stationed at the gates of Liangcheng without moving. One reason is to dampen the morale of the Qi Clan. The Qi Clan has just ended its civil war and is in a time of recovery. Encountering such a powerful enemy stationed under the city walls will surely make their people unstable. They are just waiting for a good opportunity."
"On the other hand, the Eastern Hu was able to dispatch 200,000 troops, which means they have been planning this military operation for a long time. With such a large - scale army, if they don't win the first battle beautifully, their morale will surely drop. So, they can afford to wait patiently."
"However, the provisions for 200,000 troops won't support them to waste resources casually. This kind of intimidation can last at most half a month. By the time spring comes, they will surely launch an attack," Lu Yan said. "Although Xiao Qi has already led a troop to reinforce the Qi Clan, he lacks combat experience after all. You should ask Wei Yan to assemble another troop. After the king gives the order, rush to the Qi Clan quickly to join Xiao Qi."
Xu Ruhui was stunned and said, "Are we really not going back?"
"We will go back," Lu Yan paused for a moment and looked out of the window. "Soon, but not now."
-
Yu Shuang had come here specially.
With his martial arts skills, the city walls of Bian Palace, which were guarded tightly by the imperial guards, were like a thin piece of paper to him. He could easily leap over them.
With Yu Shuang's skills, even in the entire "Wuhen", except for that one person, if Yu Shuang claimed to be the second, no one would dare to claim to be the first.
He sneaked into the Eastern Palace, jumped onto the roof beams in a few steps, and lifted a tile. He saw that in the room, there was only Shen Qingfeng sitting at the table and Xia Chuli, who had finished taking the medicine and was sound asleep.
He then flashed down, knocked out the on - duty little eunuch from behind with a palm, walked to the window, and knocked on it. "My lord."
The room was quiet for a while. Then, Shen Qingfeng's increasingly hasty footsteps were heard. The sound got closer and closer, and then the window was suddenly opened from the inside by Shen Qingfeng.
Shen Qingfeng stood inside the room, his eyes wide open. Staring at Yu Shuang, he lowered his voice and said, "Yu Shuang? Why are you here?"
Yu Shuang said respectfully, "My lord, there is something that I must report to you."
Shen Qingfeng was slightly stunned. He thought that maybe because he hadn't gone home today, Yu Shuang had waited for him at home but couldn't find him, so he had come to the Eastern Palace specially? He nodded, stretched his head out to look around, and then looked at Xia Chuli, who was sleeping soundly on the couch after taking the medicine. Then he slowly walked out of the room, waved at Yu Shuang, and the two walked together into a secluded room. Shen Qingfeng was the first to speak. "Did you find anything on the Three Saint Mountains?"
When they had arrived at the Three Saint Mountains before, Shen Qingfeng had found an opportunity to tell Yu Shuang about looking for Xiangcheng and asked him to start looking immediately.
"Reporting to my lord, I searched according to the villages you mentioned, but I didn't find any place where people were imprisoned. However..." Yu Shuang paused, as if hesitating whether to say it or not.
Shen Qingfeng glanced at him and asked, "However what?"
Yu Shuang pursed his lips and said, "However, when I was searching on the back mountain of the Three Saint Mountains, I accidentally saw a very hidden stone gate."
"The shape of the stone gate is strange, and its location is extremely hard to find. If it weren't for the avalanche, it might not have been exposed. I knocked on it with a stone and heard that the sound inside was hollow. There might be something else inside. So I covered it with snow again and came here specially to report to you, my lord."
... A stone gate? A closed place?
Shen Qingfeng clearly remembered the description Xiangcheng had given him in his previous life -
"I was chained at that time, and my consciousness was very blurred. I only remembered that there were many people around me looking at me all the time."
Shen Qingfeng had already sent people to investigate that village many times. Since Xiangcheng had once been treated as a plaything, could there still be people living inside that stone cave?
"Is the stone gate sealed?" Shen Qingfeng asked.
Yu Shuang said, "Yes."
Could there be people living inside a sealed gate? That was impossible, right? Or did this stone cave have some other exits?
"What does the gate look like?" Shen Qingfeng asked again.
Suddenly, Yu Shuang glanced at Shen Qingfeng, and his expression was a bit unnatural.
"It looks like a gate for suppressing evil spirits used in sacrifices, but its shape is exactly the same as that of a tomb - sealing gate... The gate's shape is so strange that I've never seen it before."
Shen Qingfeng thought for a while and said, "What's painted on the gate?"
Yu Shuang thought carefully and said, "There are pictures of Xing Tian and... dragons on it."