Hearing that Leng Changxi only recruited more than half of the number of people coming for conscription, Sima Ray began to calculate in his heart. The left people must be the best among them. Therefore, he couldn’t help but ask the spies to find out more. However, when he knew that there were even several Kunlun slaves, he laughed immediately.
“Is he really stupid?” Sima Ray was holding a golden bottle of wine in his hand. Although he was losing, he still didn’t forget to enjoy, “Kunlun slaves are the undomesticated southern barbarians. They don’t understand our words. They can’t speak, and they won’t be disciplined. What’s wrong with Leng Changxi? Is he eager for quick success so he recruits such inferior people into his army?”
“It remains unknown who is the fool,” a cold sentence rang outside Sima Ray’s camp. A figure as tall as half a person, which sat on the chair, was set against the white camp curtain. Just one glance at it made one feel terrified.
The curtain was lifted by the old servant beside Yu Haitang. Yu Haitang’s eyes were shining, seeming to look much more energetic than in the morning.
Sima Ray hurried to stand up, “Mr. Yu.”
Yu Haitang didn’t even look at Sima Ray. He knew why Sima Ray’s attitude had changed so quickly. Yesterday he said that Qiu Shuihan was actually poisoned by others, so her body was poisonous. Sima Ray would definitely be poisoned by his daily intercourse with her and practice. Sima Ray didn’t believe him at first. He even increasingly resisted Yu Haitang after witnessing Xu Ji’s death. However, Yu Haitang only used a little trick to force out part of the poisonous blood in Sima Ray. Seeing the black, stinking blood from himself, Sima Ray naturally felt afraid.
However, as for why only part of the poisonous blood was forced out instead of all of it, Yu Haitang had his own plan.
Yu Haitang only glanced at the official seat specially given out by Sima Ray, but he didn’t bother to sit on it. Wandering around the room, he said, “Leng Changxi has his own plan. He has Kunlun slaves. Don’t we have the wild wolves at the east of the camp? When the untamed Kunlun slaves meet the bloodthirsty wild wolves, what result do you guess?”
While saying, Yu Haitang was imagining the blood and violent scene. He was absorbed in it so deeply that he even laughed out aloud. The voice was sharp, unlike his usual old tone but like a woman’s voice.
Sima Ray gave a far-fetched smile, “Mr. Yu, what a brilliant trick! How come I don’t come up with the idea to use the group of wild wolves? I think about driving them out of the military camp in order not to harm soldiers’ life, but I don’t expect them to kill the enemy.”
“Stop flattering me,” Yu Haitang said coldly. With just one glance, the little lion-faced monkey leaped on Yu Haitang’s shoulder and put a peeled purple grape in Yu Haitang’s mouth. The old servant pushed Yu Haitang out. Sima Ray’s face became solemn immediately. One day he would trample the damned old man under his feet.
However, the old man seemed to begin to be a little weird.
Let’s see Leng Changxi’s side.
There were not many conscripts today, with only 400 or 500 people left in the end. They all came from fishing villages nearby, and every one of them could swim. Leng Changxi organized these people into a unique navy. Although Ping Town was not surrounded by mountains or rivers, there was an extremely wide moat outside the city wall, which was widened every year. It encircled Ping Town. No wonder Sima Ray still had some spare time to enjoy the wine at this time. On one hand, Ping Town had a moat, and Sima Ray’s army was a little better than Leng Changxi’s. On the other hand…
“The spies in the palace wrote a letter saying that the emperor was about to die,” Leng Changxi put down the secret letter in a bamboo tube under a single oil lamp. Qin Yunuan next to him was preparing to put on a cloak to shelter him from the cold. Her hand paused. She hesitated for a while and asked, “Is the message reliable?”
“The head of the tube was marked red.” Leng Changxi looked carefully at the small bamboo tube containing the secret letter, then fell into contemplation. According to the laws of Qi, if the emperor died without any will or a crowned prince, the next emperor should be recommended jointly by the civil and military officials from the adult princes considering the age and ability. However, now that all the officials listened to Sima Ray now, the situation was doomed to benefit him.
If there was a will, it would have been tampered with or torn by Sima Ray long ago.
What was more, once Sima Ray’s status was confirmed, Leng Changxi’s army would be gathered with no rightful reason. Thinking of the series of consequences, now that Leng Changxi was in a high position, he had to worry more.
It seemed that it was urgent to break Ping Town.
Leng Changxi took a deep breath and called Leng Wu, who had always been waiting outside.
“Take my order to others. The attack on the city will be at tomorrow.”
“General, will it be too rush to attack tomorrow?” Leng Wu bowed his fists, “The newly recruited navy hasn’t got their uniforms and nameplates yet.”
“The navy won’t participate in the attack tomorrow. It’s alright,” Leng Changxi knocked on the log table with his slender knuckles.
However, the next day when the 400,000 soldiers of West Xia were all dressed up and high-spirited, a wooden sign was thrown from the top of the wall of Ping Town.
“Free of war?” Tuoba Wuyu was really unhappy, “Damn it! I’ve prepared so much! In the morning, I deliberately spilled more urine as a sacrifice to heaven, the earth, and my ancestors. How can he take out the sign to avoid war?”
Even though it was on the battlefield, there was still some care for emotions and traditions. When two armies were at war, if one party had a major holiday or funeral, it could hang up a free-of-war sign. If the other party attacked at the moment, despite the chance of victory, it would end up with the name of an unrighteous army. Although many people had done so in history and won power through it, the behavior would always be remembered.
Tuoba Wuyu raised his voice and shouted to the old man hanging the sign on the city wall, “Old man, I want to ask you a question. I don’t remember today is a festival of Qi. Why do you hang up the sign?”
The old man was hard of hearing. After Tuoba Wuyu raised his voice and shouted again, the old man replied slowly, “Well, Prince Ray’s favorite horse has died. He always cherishes this horse and takes it as his own son. Now that the horse is dead, His Highness is going to bury it in the same manner as burying the grandson of the emperor of Qi.”
“Taking a horse as his own son? Isn’t it calling himself a brute too?” Qin Yunuan whispered. She and Leng Changxi happened to look at each other. Then she knew that they were thinking of the same thing.
It remained unknown what Sima Ray was planning when he came up with such an excuse. For him, it was nothing more than knowing that why Leng Changxi dispatched his army this time was to pursue a justified reason. Leng Changxi definitely wouldn’t give his army an eternal shame at this time.
Sima Ray’s tricks would continue later precisely due to this reason.
As expected, on the second day, the sign was still hung up on the wall of Ping Town, because there was news from the Royal City that a distant aunt of Prince Ray had died.
On the third day, Prince Ray’s favorite hound died.
On the fourth day…
On the fifth day…
Half a month later, when Leng Changxi was sitting in the camp to read the battle report calmly, a helmet was thrown directly by Tuoba Wuyu. Leng Changxi stretched his hand to catch it so that the heavy helmet wouldn’t smash the wildflowers that Qin Yunuan had just picked for him to put in the vase in the morning.
“It’s too awful! I’m so angry!” Tuoba Wuyu broke into the tent, sweating heavily. He could be so hot when it was so cold outside. His big round face was also red. With hot gas coming out from his mouth, he said angrily, “I’ve yelled for quite a while in front of their city gate, using all the rude words, but they just don’t open the gate for me! Damn it!” After speaking, he took another glance at the wildflower beside the helmet and spit, “Tomorrow, maybe they will say that the flower in Prince Ray’s house is dead too. Hey, General Leng, I’m so confused. It is said that Prince Ray’s mother is a servant girl, so he doesn’t have many relatives. Why can they die one after another for such a long time? If it keeps going on, I’m afraid that all his ancestors will have to climb out and die again.”
Tuoba Wuyu’s word was rude but right. At this moment, Qin Yunuan happened to come in with two cups of tea.
“General Tuoba, you’ve come all the way back from the front line. Now you must be thirsty now. Have a taste. These are the white plum blossoms picked by Leng Shuang from the back of the mountain. It tastes the best when you cook it into a tea with snow water that hasn’t touched the ground.”
“General, Madam, what time is it now? The soldiers are all burned out of fighting spirits. Why are you still focusing on what water and what flower to cook?” Tuoba Wuyu punched his forehead, “It’s over! It’s doomed to fail.”
Leng Changxi took the tea on Qin Yunuan’s tray. He used the lid to pick the plum petals floating on the water, “If we all panic like you, then we’re really over.” After saying, he took a sip, “What Sima Ray wants is exactly to grind the fighting spirit of us and the morale of our soldiers until we are all softened like mud, and then he will attack us suddenly.”
Tuoba Wuyu turned his head, “I really want him to attack as soon as possible.”
Leng Changxi nodded and waved his hand, “Don’t rush. Be patient. Now that they are having psychological warfare with us, we won’t treat them badly.”
Tuoba Wuyu was stunned. Seeing Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan smile at each other, he knew that they had already had an idea. Just when he was going to relax, Qin Yunuan reminded, “However, General Tuoba, don’t relax after you know the situation. You still have to scold outside Ping Town every day. Scold them every day. The ruder your words are, the better it would be.”
Tuoba Wuyu seemed to understand or not. Anyway, he nodded solemnly, turned around, and left.
At the same time, there seemed to be something wrong with Sima Ray’s side. Sima Ray and Yu Haitang were discussing something in the camp when a reckless soldier rushed in from outside.
“What are you doing? You are so hurried. Don’t you know that His Highness is inside?”
“Your… Your Royal Highness, a woman injured by an arrow broke into the camp gate. She has been shouting hard to see you.”
Somehow, the first person Sima Ray expected was Qin Yunuan. However, thinking that Qin Yunuan’s white skin to be penetrated by sharp arrows, he felt distressed. Until the soldier spread the straw mat wrapping the living person, Sima Ray finally saw the true identity of this person. Well, it was Shangguan Yuen.
