Chapter 300

After she left, the carriage started moving again, and the skinny man grabbed He He Lingchuan's uninjured arm, looking at him eagerly: "Home? Home! You kid, you're something else, about to achieve success and fame, and still able to enjoy the favor of a beauty!" The envy of a single dog was overflowing.

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Two claps of thunder in the sky.

He He Lingchuan sat up and stretched.

That's the benefit of drinking in a dream; you won't have a headache when you wake up.

Hu Min held a celebration banquet for him at Yixianglou; there were originally only four people, but somehow, the more they drank, the more people there were, and in the end, even Liu Tiao and Men Ban came.

Seeing the two of them flirting with each other, He He Lingchuan concluded that they already had an affair.

Of course, this was before he got dead drunk.

How many jars of wine did he drink? He He Lingchuan didn't remember himself, but anyway, as soon as he opened his eyes, he was back in reality.

Speaking of which, Sun Sun Fuling's promise hadn't been fulfilled yet.

No chance.

He He Lingchuan rubbed his face, climbed up, and lifted the tent flap to look; outside, the heavy rain was still pouring down. Hadn't the heavens been pouring water onto the ground for days? Wasn't it tired of it? He had asked the local soldiers, and it was said that they had entered the flood season of Xia North, and it would rain for thirty or forty days in a row, with only short breaks in between.

In comparison, the rainy season in Black Water City had never been this long.

Clearly, this kind of weather posed a challenge to grain storage. But this wasn't the most urgent matter at hand; no sooner had He He Lingchuan finished dressing than He He Chunhua sent someone to call him.

When He He Lingchuan went to the main military tent, a meeting was underway. He waited in the side tent for a while, hearing that they were mainly discussing the relocation of the camp.

It was basically certain that the main flood season of the Hanhe had arrived early. After a few days of heavy rain, the riverbanks were prone to loosening and collapsing, so it was best for the Yuan army to retreat another hundred zhang.

In terms of the stationing location, the ground south of the Hanhe, which the Yuan army was guarding, had a soft foundation, while the north had rocky mountains; in previous years, when floods occurred, the south bank was submerged before the north bank.

So Zhao Pan was also highly nervous at this time. The camp had to be moved, and it had to be moved as soon as possible, but it couldn't be moved too far back, letting the enemy on the opposite bank take advantage for nothing.

He had to gauge the scale of this himself.

The meeting ended, and He He Chunhua walked out, only then seeing his son.

"Father, what's the matter?" For the past two days, he had been obsessed with cultivation, forgetting that this was the front line.

He He Chunhua spread a crumpled note on the table: "You have to go with me."

This letter was soaking wet, and the words on it were blurred, but it didn't hinder reading:

Shen time, second quarter (3:30 PM), Xianglong Shanfeng of Bai Ming Valley; if you don't come, the front line will surely be defeated.

Could this be? He looked up at He He Chunhua, only hearing his father say: "Hong Chenglue insists on meeting with us."

Sure enough.

"To be precise, he wants to see his wife and confirm that she is safe and sound." He He Chunhua said in a deep voice, "The day before yesterday, I ordered people to shoot a dozen arrows with letters into the surrounding forests, demanding he withdraw from Xia Province. Hong Chenglue received them, and what you see is the reply he sent."

He was certain that after the grain transport team arrived at the front line, the Xunzhou scouts were still monitoring nearby.

Sure enough, the arrow-letters he sent everywhere could reach Hong Chenglue.

"If you don't go, the front line will surely be defeated?" He He Lingchuan asked strangely, "This man has a big mouth. Can he easily accomplish what tens of thousands of Xunzhou troops on the opposite side can't?"

He He Chunhua remained silent, his eyes flickering.

"Yet Father still wants to go and meet him?"

"Better to believe it than not." He He Chunhua was a cautious man, "Besides, he only has a hundred riders, what do I have to fear?"

"Go and prepare, we leave in an hour."

He He Lingchuan wanted to say something but stopped, having no choice but to accept the order and leave.

An hour later, He He Chunhua led over six hundred riders, braving the rain to rush to Bai Ming Valley.

Besides the four hundred men from the grain transport team, Zhao Pan had allocated another two hundred elites to him, and He He Lingchuan saw that they all carried large bows.

"In a place like Bai Ming Valley, archers are the most useful." This was Zhao Pan's original words.

Accompanying them was a carriage, and Hong Chenglue's wife, A-Jin, was lying inside. Of course, this was no longer a shabby civilian carriage. Before departure, the old woman helped her bathe, change clothes, and even applied a little powder to make her complexion look better.

A-Jin was very quiet, letting them do as they pleased.

Another hour later, the team arrived at Bai Ming Valley.

Walking here, He He Lingchuan understood Zhao Pan's painstaking efforts. Bai Ming Valley was surrounded by large mountains, with many exposed rocks, strange stones standing tall, and countless holes in the mountains.

This terrain was conducive to concealment, so it was no wonder Hong Chenglue specified meeting here.

Local guides led the way; Xianglong Shanfeng was the first low peak one would encounter upon entering Bai Ming Valley, and it wasn't difficult to climb.

He He Chunhua sent a few scouts up, and the feedback was that everything was normal, with no ambush.

However, He He Chunhua didn't go up the mountain, only letting the team stop on the flat ground at the entrance of Bai Ming Valley.

He called for someone to move a chair from the carriage and sat down firmly.

The meaning was clear: I came to Bai Ming Valley as agreed, but I won't go inside; it's impossible for everything to be up to you. If you want to see your wife, come out and see her yourself.

Bai Ming Valley had complex terrain, and He He Chunhua certainly couldn't let Hong Chenglue lead him by the nose. Who knew what strange arrangements were on Xianglong Shanfeng? The elites he brought all went to nearby high points to deploy control, and archers were lying in ambush.

It was also the heavens giving face; as soon as He He Chunhua arrived at Bai Ming Valley, the rain stopped.

The fragrance of green mud lingered, and birds began to chirp in the mountains and forests.

The valley was secluded, with no sign of anyone.

Impatience can't eat hot tofu, so He He Chunhua simply closed his eyes to rest.

Just like that, two quarters of an hour passed, and the ground five zhang in front of He He Chunhua suddenly moved, with gravel bouncing everywhere. The personal guards immediately stepped forward, surrounding He He Chunhua tightly.

The stone sand on the ground gathered quickly; in less than ten breaths, a large pit more than a zhang wide and several feet deep sank into the surface, and a stone man two heads taller than a person crawled out of the pit, walking toward He He Chunhua with heavy steps.

The personal guards revealed their weapons and shouted: "Stop!"

He He Chunhua waved his hand: "Let it come over." This thing didn't seem to have any malice.

The sturdy stone man continued to walk forward a few steps before stopping, its voice as low as if it had been crushed by a stone roller: "Lord He!"

He He Chunhua raised his eyebrows: "Hong Chenglue?"

"Where is my wife?"

"Let's talk about business first." He He Chunhua's gaze wandered into the distance; the stone man was just a puppet summoned by the other party to talk. But this kind of spell had a limited control distance, and Hong Chenglue himself should be hiding nearby. Now, Zeng Zeng Feixiong should be leading his men to search for Hong Chenglue's location nearby.

"I don't want your life, nor do I need you to be difficult in any way, as long as you withdraw from Xia Province for one year and do not return." He He Chunhua said slowly, "Your wife is an honored guest here, provided with good food and drink, guaranteed not to have any discomfort, and even better than following you to eat wind and sleep in the dew. After one year, I will return her to you."

Hong Chenglue rampaged behind Zhao Pan's rear, a huge disaster for Xia Province. He He Chunhua hated him for burning military grain, but was even more worried about him continuing to cause destruction endlessly.

Yet this guy was slippery and hard to catch. So, he settled for the next best thing and drove him out.

"No." Hong Chenglue refused very simply through the stone man's mouth, "Return A-Jin to me now, otherwise I will assist the Xunzhou people in breaking the enemy, and I can defeat Zhao Pan within half a month."

He He Chunhua couldn't help but laugh.

Nian Nian Zanli, who held heavy troops, was not far from the north bank of the Hanhe, and even he couldn't cross the natural barrier of the Hanhe or break Zhao Pan's defense line; Hong Chenglue dared to make this guarantee?

Hong Chenglue didn't make a sound, waiting quietly for him to finish laughing.

The stone man was expressionless to begin with, making it even harder for He He Chunhua to guess his thoughts.

Negotiation is an art; if you can't see the other party's facial expressions, you will miss a lot of information. He He Chunhua was very dissatisfied with this: "You are confident in defeating General Zhao, yet you don't dare to show your face in front of me? Come out and talk first, I don't believe in those who hide their heads and show their tails!"

The stone man stopped talking.

After a short while, figures seemed to flash in the distance.

The He father and son looked intently, and two figures appeared on a small mountain peak more than ten zhang directly in front.

Was that Hong Chenglue?

He He Lingchuan hadn't seen Hong Chenglue, but recognized the other person as Dong Rui.

This person's life was truly tougher than a cockroach; how could he never be caught or killed?

He He Chunhua scanned left and right, and naturally, someone quietly sneaked toward the small mountain peak.

The stone man spoke again: "Lord He, no need to play these little tricks, you can't catch me."

How would he know without trying? He He Chunhua laughed: "General Hong truly has spirit. But you were originally a Yuan person, why help Nian Nian Zanli, this defeated opponent, attack the Yuan nation? How about this, as long as you are willing to withdraw from Xia Province, I will definitely release your wife within three months."

The battlefield situation changes rapidly; if Hong Chenglue really led his troops to withdraw from Xia Province, it was hard to say whether he would or could come back later.

Therefore, the focus of the game between the two sides was actually on this "withdrawal" of Hong Chenglue.

If he withdrew, He He Chunhua would have the credit of "persuading the enemy general to withdraw without a single soldier," which would be an explanation to the front line, to Xia Province, and to the Royal Court, without damaging his prestige.

And this withdrawal would also bring trouble to Hong Chenglue himself. First, the troops he led now were all Xunzhou scouts, not Between Beijia troops, and the two sides had been together for less than ten days; furthermore, due to the abandoned mine incident a few days ago, the Xunzhou people already had dissatisfaction with this leader, and privately, there was no lack of whispering such things as "those not of my race must have different hearts."

If Hong Chenglue withdrew from Xia Province for personal reasons, how would the Xunzhou people be willing to obey? Secondly, Mobile Corps Commander warfare behind enemy lines was an order from the Between Beijia nation. Withdrawing without authorization was violating orders, a military taboo. Hong Chenglue had just returned, and he wanted to cut off his own retreat?

But the vital point He He Chunhua grasped was real.

Others couldn't imagine the bond between him and his wife.

This guy He He Chunhua wanted to cut off his future. Hong Chenglue, who was used to making difficult choices, was also visibly hesitant at this moment.

Dong Rui nudged him with his elbow: "Hey..."

Hong Chenglue immediately raised his hand, interrupting what he was about to say.

Seeing this, He He Lingchuan understood that his so-called "assisting the Xun people in defeating Zhao Pan" claim was likely something he couldn't produce evidence for others to see.

(End of chapter)