The devil is coming

Chapter 413 New Year's Eve
Marquis Jingnan’s lunch was a little late, and he didn’t start eating until almost 02:30 in the afternoon.
The dishes are not sumptuous and extravagant, but they are also exquisite, with one meat, two vegetables and one soup.
Uncle Zheng divided the chopsticks and sat at the stone table by the pond with Marquis Jingnan to eat.
The previous conversation went too smoothly,
After a few words, it seemed that the princess's matter had been finalized. Maybe what seemed like a big deal to him was nothing more than a minor conflict between two junior children in the eyes of Marquis Jingnan.
The most important thing is that Zheng Fan's method is very clean, leaving no trace. As long as there is no sore leg to scratch, then it is a matter of one sentence whether to protect him or not, and there is no need to say a word.
It is not appropriate to use excuses to accuse Hirano. After all, Prince Hirano is not a soft persimmon now, not to mention that there is Marquis Jingnan standing behind him.
Zheng Fan ate two bowls of rice. When he was eating the second bowl, Tian Wujing took the initiative to put the rice into the meat dish, stirred it casually a few times, and handed it to Zheng Fan.
On his own, he poured the remaining rice into the soup bowl, and then pulled the remaining vegetable vegetables into it.
The two men didn't lick the plates, but they ate them very cleanly, with almost nothing left.
After dinner, some guards came up to clean up the dishes, because Fengxin City looks like a city, and this mansion looks like a marquis mansion, but in fact it is more like a military camp and a military tent. It is not convenient for the army to be generous. A maid appeared just now, so there was no maid here to bring a washbasin or a handkerchief.
Tian Wujing took water from the pond, squatted there, washed his hands and wiped his mouth.
Uncle Zheng also followed suit, squatting next to him and washing his hands.
shook hands,
Tian Wujing raised his head and looked at the sky.
Road:
"It is going to rain."
Zheng Fan nodded and said, "Yes."
Although it was likely to rain, Tian Wujing still walked out of the Hou Mansion, and Zheng Fan naturally followed.
Marquis Jingnan walking in Fengxin City is like Uncle Zheng walking in the snow customs. There are soldiers loyal to him on the outside, so there is no need to worry too much about safety.
At the same time, Marquis Jingnan’s own strength is also displayed here. For most assassins in this world, [-]% of their efforts are probably how to penetrate the peripheral vigilance and defense 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, you can escape the Jingnan Army's patrol and finally come to Tian Wujing, you will experience what it means to be real. difficulty.
Xu knew that his Marquis wanted to go alone, so there were no soldiers to follow him closely. However, Zheng Fan still noticed that there was still a group of personal guards moving around, but they would only follow at a distance, unless there were special circumstances. Will come forward.
The soldier at the door also gave Zheng Fan an umbrella.
Not far out of the Hou Mansion, it started to rain. Zheng Fan held up an umbrella to cover himself and Tian Wujing.
Summer rain can make people feel sticky, while early winter rain can make people feel chilly. Moreover, Fengxin City has experienced several wars, and there are no fireworks scenes. It is really difficult to find anything when walking in such a street. What tranquility and flavor.
Zheng Fan didn't know where Tian Wujing was going, and he didn't need to know, he just had to follow.
Take a step back and say,
Finally met Lao Tian once,
It is appropriate to simply accompany Lao Tian for a walk.
Half of the area in Fengxin City is a military camp, while the other half looks quite dilapidated and has not many people.
As Tian Wujing walked further and further into the countryside, Zheng Fan said:
"Master Hou, actually Fengxin is a good place."
Although the Situ Yi brothers were originally driven out of Yupan City by the Chu people, they obviously chose Fengxin carefully. They would not go to a bad place in a remote area.
The implication is that it is a pity that Fengxin City is so desolate. Now that the overall situation is difficult, we should vigorously develop production to save ourselves.
Tian Wujing said calmly: "Once the Chu people start a full-scale war, Fengxin will inevitably become the front line and will probably be besieged by the Chu army."
Tian Wujing also explained that the State of Chu was like a centipede insect but not stiff. Although the tens of thousands of Chu troops who had been massacred in Yupan City were elite troops of the State of Chu, the State of Chu was a big country after all. This loss was not worth the loss. It won’t be a real injury. The Chu people will definitely send out more troops and horses next time they go to war. What Yan is good at is cavalry warfare. Cavalry warfare also needs a strategic support point to rely on. With Fengxin City, there is a high probability. is to be used as a nail on the chessboard.
Therefore, even if it is managed now, it will inevitably be in vain when the Chu army besieges the city. It will even become an additional burden after absorbing too many non-military people.
"Yes, I will understand in the end."
"Your Snow Customs can continue to operate well. The Chu people are now in control of Zhennanguan. Once a war starts, the Chu people will definitely take the initiative in the early stage. But with this prince in charge of Fengxin, the Chu people dare not send out their troops. Hit your snow customs.”
He said this very confidently, but Marquis Jingnan did have the capital to say this.
As long as the head coach of the Chu army on the opposite side is not kicked by a donkey, he will not dare to divide his troops to attack Xueguan when he is playing chess with Jingnan Hou. The Chu and Gan people have a similar problem, that is, the Chu people's cavalry. It's not much, and Xueguan is a big pass, especially after the renovation. According to Xueguan's current strength, population, and war mobilization, the Chu people can't even attack it without a hundred thousand troops.
"Yes, I will understand later."
"The situation can't be said to be good, but it's not bad either. Anyway, the eastern half of the Situ family has been beaten to pieces. If we continue to fight, we won't suffer much loss.
As long as Qian Chu works together, he will eventually have to find a way to break the situation. "
"It would be great if we could capture Zhennanguan." Zheng Fan said.
Capture Zhennanguan, completely restore the border line that the Situ family had against the Chu State, and isolate the threat of the Chu people. Defending a point is obviously less costly and difficult than defending a face.
"If you don't have enough confidence, it's better not to act like this. After all, siege of a city is different from detours of cavalry. The former is more involved. It's easy to put the chips on the table, but it will be difficult to get off easily."
Speaking of this, Tian Wujing said again:
"Besides, having a Chu man in my ear calling me from time to time will save me from boredom and loneliness."
The corners of Zheng Fan's mouth twitched subconsciously, but he could hear the meaning of raising a bandit's self-respect from these words.
I don't know if this was intentional by Tian Wujing, or because he was forced to do so due to the constraints of the situation. This was just a way of comforting himself.
Tian Wujing walked to the door of an ancestral hall and stopped.
The plaque of the ancestral hall fell to the ground and split into many pieces. It was obviously deliberately destroyed. The inner mess could also be seen in the dilapidated threshold.
"This was originally an ancestral hall dedicated to an official family in the new city. Later, the Situ Yi brothers came here and removed all the spiritual tablets in this ancestral hall and changed it into the ancestral temple of his Situ family."
"Ancestral temple? It's true that although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs." Zheng Fan teased.
"I thought you would say this was retribution." Tian Wujing said.
"Master Hou, I don't believe this."
Tian Wujing nodded and walked in.
Zheng Fan didn't know that Marquis Jingnan was going to take him here. He originally thought that Marquis Jingnan would take him to the princess. Even if he said that 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 it was obvious that once he decided whether to do something or not, Marquis Jingnan had no interest in covering up the matter. Otherwise, two eunuchs who announced the decree would not have crashed to death at the gate of the Marquis' mansion in Litian City.
The ancestral hall was very messy. A Buddha statue in the main hall had fallen off the altar table and was leaning against the wall.
The Buddha statue was carved from wood, but it was already cracked, and obvious signs of mold could be seen in some places.
Buddha statues also need people to take care of them. Over time, no one will clean them up, and they will "age" quickly.
Tian Wujing pointed at the wooden Buddha statue.
He 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 alive, in the eyes of merchants, he is goods;
In my eyes, he is just a piece of wood now. "
"Wonderful and wonderful!"
As soon as Zheng Fan finished speaking, an old man walked out from behind the ancestral hall, and behind him, a strong man walked out.
This strong man is as tall as Fan Li. He has two rings in his nostrils and is as strong as an ox.
The old man seemed much shorter in stature. As he was older, his stature would have shrunk easily, and he was less than a head taller than Xue San.
"Your Majesty, is this Uncle Hirano?" The old man pointed at Zheng Fan and asked Tian Wujing.
"It's him."
"Oh, country boy, I have seen Uncle Ping Ye, Uncle Ping Ye Fukang."
The old man saluted Zheng Fan, but Zheng Fan stared hard and did not return the salute.
Because the magic pill was not with him and the demon kings were not around, one or two strangers suddenly appeared, and Uncle Zheng was instinctively nervous.
But soon, Zheng Fan calmed down. No matter what, Marquis Jingnan stood by his side.
The old man didn't think Zheng Fan's behavior was rude. Instead, he said with an apologetic smile:
"Let me introduce myself. My surname is Zeng and my first name is Shulang. I am the head of Tianji Pavilion."
"Tianji Pavilion?"
"Oh, it seems Uncle Hirano has heard about me, hehe."
"Your people have assassinated me."
"..." Zeng Shulang.
At the inn outside Yin City, Zheng Fan was attacked and killed by the spider woman from Tianji Pavilion in Jindi. Xu Wenzu was also there at that time.
However, the head of Tianji Pavilion was also a master who had seen the wind and waves. After a little embarrassment, he turned around and said:
"As the saying goes, there is no acquaintance without fighting, Uncle Hirano. Please forgive me for my mistakes in the past. Now my Tianji Pavilion has also been blown away by the rain and the wind. There are not many people left."
During the war to destroy Jin, a sect such as Tianji Pavilion, which had stood in Jin for hundreds of years, finally suffered great damage, and now it is just hanging on.
But what Zheng Fan didn't quite understand was why Marquis Jingnan wanted to bring him here to see this old man.
Tian Wujing found a place and sat down, seemingly not intending to participate in the conversation.
Zheng Fan's mind began to spin rapidly,
have to say,
Every time he stands next to Marquis Jingnan, Uncle Zheng's brain thinking speed is often able to perform at an extraordinary level. Firstly, it is because he is under great pressure to be around Marquis Jingnan, and secondly, he is indeed a student of Marquis Jingnan.
Therefore,
Zheng Fan pointed at himself,
Then he pointed at Old Man Zeng,
Road:
"You want to come to me... Dayan?"
"Jin Zuo has come to an end, Ji Dai Yu Xing, the way of heaven is like this, how can I, Tianji Pavilion, dare to go against the trend?"
"Hey, you old man talks pretty well."
It's similar to how I used parallelism against rotten wood before.
It's obviously a simple nonsense, but it must be deliberately made to sound more serious.
When Old Man Zeng saw that Zheng Fan actually dared to talk so relaxedly in front of Tian Wujing, he couldn't help but feel a little stunned, but he quickly smiled and said:
"Made uncle laugh."
Zheng Fan knew it well and said to the old man:
"Please follow me back to Snow Customs later."
The old man immediately knelt down and
He kowtowed to Zheng Fan and said:
"Thank you, Mr. Hirano, for taking me in!"
"How many people are there under your sect?" Zheng Fan asked.
"If I go back to my uncle, there are still dozens of people."
"Can they all be the same as that Spider Woman?"
The spider woman last time left a very deep impression on Uncle Zheng.
"Uncle, that is the protector in my pavilion. However, due to the changes in the past two years, the protectors in my pavilion have been basically destroyed and used up. Now only some craftsmen are left to inherit it."
"Okay, take your time, you can always recover later."
"Thank you, Uncle."
Zheng Fan hesitated for a moment, looking for a token on his body. He had a jade pendant on his body, but it was just for fun. He usually didn't pay attention to it, and even the demon kings wouldn't care about it.
Simply, Zheng Fan took out his Zhonghua brand iron box, pulled out a "soft Zhonghua" stick from it, and handed it to Old Man Zeng.
Old man Zeng took the cigarette, put it in front of his nose and smelled it, and said with some confusion:
"tobacco?"
"Take this as a token. You can gather your men. Either wait outside the city for me to come over when I leave, or you can take the people to Snow Customs first."
Old man Zeng put down the cigarette very solemnly and said:
"The little man understands."
At this time,
Tian Wujing said:
"Okay."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take my leave."
Old man Zeng turned and left, and the tall man also 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 someone else's ambition destroys one's own prestige, if it were in the wild and faced with this old man Zeng, it would be hard to say whether he could survive his attack;
But in front of Tian Wujing, he was a grandson through and through, and his attitude could be as low as possible.
After Old Man Zeng left the ancestral hall with his puppet,
Zheng Fan bowed to Tian Wujing very solemnly.
"Okay, don't bother."
Zheng Fan hadn't said his words of thanks yet, so he could only smile.
Previously, when I came here, I wanted to donate my master dwarf craftsmen to Marquis Jingnan. However, Marquis Jingnan had already prepared a group of master craftsmen to send back to him.
As for why we went to such a remote place to hand over, there are considerations. Even if a sect such as Tianji Pavilion has declined, as a prestigious sect in the Jin Dynasty, it cannot be taken lightly.
Logically speaking, if they wanted to seek refuge with the imperial court, they should also seek refuge with Emperor Yan and be absorbed by the Secret Service.
Therefore, these matters can only be handed over in the dark side. Once they are exposed to the light, it will be unfair to try to dig them out.
Even if you submit a petition to the imperial court for application, can it still be authentic after being handled by the Secret Service or the Imperial Ministry of Industry?
Tian Wujing didn't want to hear Zheng Fan's good words.
He just stretched out his hand and pointed at the Buddha statue again,
Road:
"Qian and Chu are actually the same as this Buddha statue. They look solemn but are actually decayed. It's a pity that our Yan cavalry is blocked by the three sides of the Qian Kingdom and the Chu Nanguan Pass.
You have always studied the methods of siege, and these people are given to you. You can use them with confidence. Make preparations first, and then use them when the war actually starts.
It is true that our national strength, Dayan, is exhausted, but it is not that we cannot fight, and it is not that we cannot afford to fight. If we can knock down Zhennan Pass in one fell swoop and drive the army commander into Chu, there will be no need to say that our national strength is exhausted. "
The shorter the war lasts, the smaller the loss of logistics and national strength will be. It is not that Yan cannot fight, but it cannot afford to consume.
"I will understand at 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,
Marquis Jingnan nodded.
Zheng Fan is explaining what it means to be pervasive.
"Ha ha."
Zheng Fan smiled first and sat down facing Jingnan Hou.
"On the front line of Zhennanguan, Xue Rang's troops and horses, including the Chu people's royal imperial army, total 20."
Hearing this, Zheng Fan echoed: "What a big plate of hard food."
"Zhennanguan won't be taken down for a while, and I don't plan to order the mobilization of other troops from other departments to Fengxin City this year."
"Huh?" Zheng Fan heard something in Jingnanhou's words.
"But we can't keep watching the Chu people being so noisy and disrespectful. If you don't bring Qian girl with you this time, I also plan to call you over to talk about it."
"Your Majesty, just ask."
“The Wangjiang River flows south from the Tianduan Mountains, enters the Chu Territory, flows along the mountains, and finally merges into the Chu Territory Daze.
In fact, you don’t have to go through Zhennanguan to enter Chu. "
"But other places are not suitable for large armies to enter." Zheng Fan said.
The entire Jin region is actually like a large basin, and the plains connected to the outside are guarded by various passes.
"Take a small group of soldiers and horses, infiltrate them, and give the Chu people a little color." Tian Wujing said.
Uncle Zheng reacted immediately,
Immediately said:
"My subordinates feel that Commander-in-Chief Ren Juan is a master of military skills and is worthy of this position!"
Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan.
"No, I said, Lord Marquis, this..."
"I think back then, Uncle Zheng dared to attack Mianzhou City with only [-] barbarian soldiers. Why are you so indifferent now?"
"Master Hou, at first I was barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. Now I am..."
"Are you successful?"
"I……"
"You give it a try. You don't have to do anything to lead a thousand riders in. Even if you just go in and wander around to let the Chu people calm down, that's enough. It's still the same as last time. I won't give you any details. It’s a military order, just act accordingly.”
"Master Marquis, I think this matter needs to be discussed in the long run. Give your subordinates some more time. If it doesn't work this year, it will be next year. If it doesn't work next year, it will be next year. If it doesn't work next year, it will be the year after that. At the latest, the year after tomorrow. My subordinates will definitely be able to help you capture Zhennang Pass, Lord Marquis." ."
Tian Wujing nodded.
Zheng Fan let out a long sigh of relief.
"We set off in the first lunar month, just in time to pay my New Year's greetings to the regent of Chu on my behalf."
"..." Zheng Fan.
(End of this chapter)