The pursuers rushed over, and when they saw Ning Baoguan's head, they all cheered and trampled the remaining corpses back and forth on horseback.

The heads and limbs of the Ning soldiers were all taken away, and then they were ordered to stand aside, they were not convinced, they always wanted to remind the other party that the credit was their own, but they annoyed the pursuers, and they all died under the knife.

Only Guan Daogu stood far away, silent, and let the pursuers treat him as a prisoner.

The pursuers made a fuss for a while, and returned to Yecheng with the booty, but no one came to the barren valley.

The official road finally quieted down, leaving behind a few corpses and a strong smell of blood, Zhang Shiqing felt that there was no need to defend it any longer, and ordered him to return to the valley.

Everyone whispered along the way, talking about the fate of King Ning, sighing, only Zhang Shiqing cared about another thing, silent for a long time, when she arrived outside the door of the house, after saying goodbye to everyone, she asked: "Why did Kou Daogu say that you died in the chaos?" ”

"Probably someone misspread the news, anyway, it's a good thing, in the last two years, few people have gone into the valley to bother, maybe it has something to do with it."

"It's not a 'miscommunication', it's definitely ...... It must be the news made by Huanyan to fulfill your wishes. ”

"It's possible." Xu Ji said with a smile.

"Ugh." Zhang Shiqing entered the house, lit the fuel lamp, untied the waist knife and other things, turned around and said, "Why is she not married?" ”

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

"Lord Huanyan? This one...... Maybe it's because Lou Ji's whereabouts are unknown. ”

Lou Ji is the fiancé of the lord of Huanyan, under the command of King Ning, King Liang had promised to find a way to dissolve the marriage, but it was not successful, he died first, and the valley has never heard of Lou Ji since then.

Zhang Shiqing snorted, "Huan Yan refuses to get married, in fact, it is for you, the two of you have always cherished each other, every time you spoil a major event in the court, she is not angry." And you two have a soul, if you want to fake your death, she will tell the world for you. ”

Xu Ji laughed a few times, stepped forward and gently hugged his wife, softly comforted, and saw that she couldn't untie the knot, so he let go of his hands and said, "Do you want to know what kind of person Lord Huanyan is?" ”

"We grew up together, she's only a few years older, and I know what kind of person she is."

"You only know 'Huanyan', but you don't know 'Huanyan County Lord'."

"It's going to be like this again, but it's okay to hear from you." Zhang Shiqing sat down and looked at her husband, "Listen up." ”

Xu Ji smiled, and then retracted, "Huan Yan is your playmate, named aunt and nephew, and she is like a sister." ”

Zhang Shiqing nodded, "That's right, although Huan Yan is not my best friend, he is one of the closest people to me. ”

"The county lord of Huanyan is the daughter of the Zhang family, seeing that the building is about to collapse, she wants to support the entire court by herself, but the general trend is not there, she is just delaying it for a while."

"That's why you two cherish each other."

"But we are not on the same path, she refuses to get married, not because of me, not because of Lou Ji, but because of her ambition and unintentional."

Zhang Shiqing got up and smiled: "Seeing that you are trying so hard to explain, okay, I don't care." But I have one more thing to say. ”

"Listen up."

"When you decided to live in seclusion in the valley, I actually felt a little regretful, occasionally I felt that you were wasting your talents, and I couldn't show my ambitions - I don't have the ambition to be happy, but I also like the feeling of galloping around - what I just saw made me have no regrets, not at all."

Xu Ji stepped forward and gently hugged his wife again.

For several days, it was very quiet outside the valley, and gradually, pedestrians began to pass by on the official road, first by soldiers hurrying by, and then by the number of people.

The people of the valley went out to inquire and learned that the person who now occupies Yecheng is Bao Dun, the king of Runan, who is dividing his troops to seize the surrounding counties and counties, and at the same time recruiting troops everywhere, and is about to attack Yuyang in the north with all his might.

Bao Dun took refuge with the king of Chu a year ago, and after a decisive battle with the Ning army, they retreated, and he was ordered to stay behind to pacify the entire Jizhou.

After another half a month, the weather turned cold, and the peaceful life in the valley was interrupted by a group of guests.

The comers, a group of soldiers, did not send any men to pass through, dismounted and cut down the weeds with sharp blades, pushed away thorns and dead branches, and then trampled back and forth with their mounts, and opened a passage in only one hour.

Xu Ji forbade anyone to interfere, and specially told Zhang Shiqing: "They come prepared, it is useless to block it, it is better to wait and see what happens." ”

The adults of the valley took the children to hide in the back mountains, and less than ten people remained.

More than a dozen knights broke into the village, and one of them said in a loud voice: "Runan Bodunt is here to visit, please ask Mr. Xu to come out and speak!" ”

Xu Ji actually stood at the door of his house all the time, and then raised his hand and said, "Here." ”

Bao Dun's eyes swept over, looked at it for a while, laughed, jumped off the horse, threw the reins to his entourage, strode close alone, and arched his hand: "What a paradise, the world is turbulent, the valley is lonely, Mr. Xu spends his years here, and envy how many people in the world." ”

Xu Ji had already sent Zhang Shiqing and the others to another room, facing the guests alone, and also arched his hand: "People in the world only know the king of Runan, but they don't know me Xu Ji." ”

Bao Dun's appearance has changed a lot, especially the temperament of the whole person, there is no longer the original hesitation and dazedness, and the smile on his face can't hide the state of contempt in his heart.

He didn't enter the house, and he didn't plan to talk nonsense, "I was about to lead the troops to go on the expedition, and when I heard that Mr. Xu was here, I immediately came to visit, and I had no other intention, but to invite Mr. Xu out of the mountain." ”

Xu Ji smiled and said: "I have lived in the valley for a long time, and I have taken farming as my business, neither reading nor hearing about the world, what is it to go out of the mountains?" ”

"Haha, with Mr. Xu's talent, a few words is better than a mediocre chatter all day long, and you are afraid that there is nothing to do?"

"To tell you the truth, I have an oath and can't go out of the valley."

The smile on Bao Dun's face decreased slightly, "I don't even want to visit in person, it seems that Mr. Xu really wants to live in seclusion in the valley, but it's a pity." In this case, I can't force it, but I brought a person, he has admired Mr. Xu for a long time, he heard that Mr. Xu was killed, he was even more sad than me, and when he heard that Mr. Xu was still there, he was overjoyed and had to follow. ”

Bao Dun turned around, beckoned an entourage to come over, and said to Xu Ji: "This is the long history of our army, and also my 'military advisor', Lan Ruofu Lan Changshi." ”

Lan Ruofu looked like he was in his thirties, and in order to facilitate the march, he also wore armor, but he didn't wear a helmet, replaced by a Confucian scarf, and stepped forward and said: "Seeing Mr. Xu is really Lan's life's luck." ”

Xu Ji returned the salute, "Although it is in the valley, I also heard the name of Lan Changshi." ”

"Mr. Xu has heard of me?" Lan Ruofu was slightly surprised.

Xu Ji nodded.

The two were polite to each other, and Bao Dun said: "Today, the army is on the march, I took a detour to visit Mr. Xu, and I wanted to invite Mr. Xu to go to Yuyang together, since Mr. Xu swore that he would not go out of the valley, I can't force it." Say goodbye to this, and when I return victoriously, I will have a long conversation with Mr. Xu. ”

"I'm looking forward to it."

Lan Ruofu said: "My subordinates have the courage to take a day off from my king, stay here to talk to Mr. Xu, and understand that I can catch up, I don't know if it's possible?" ”

Bao Dun looked at Xu Ji, "Does Mr. Xu have a guest here?" ”

Xu Ji said with a smile: "Lan Changshi is a rare guest, where not to stay?" ”

Bao Dun laughed, nodded to Lan Ruofu, walked away, turned over on his horse, and said loudly: "Lan Changshi is my right-hand man, my dearest confidant, I hope Mr. Xu treats him as if he were me." ”

Bao Dun led his entourage out of the valley, leaving only a dozen soldiers to guard outside the valley and wait for Lan Ruofu.

Xu Ji invited the guests into the study and said: "The mountains are deserted, there is no tea and no wine, only the stream water can be drunk, and the sea is overlooked." ”

The two were polite back and forth, and Lan Ruofu finally got down to business: "The prince of Runan came to invite him, which shows the truth, why does Mr. Xu refuse to go out of the mountain?" ”

"I did make a vow......"

Lan Ruofu smiled: "There is no oath in the world that cannot be broken. I have always admired Mr. Xu's talent, and I don't understand why Mr. Xu is pedantic in such things. The king of Runan is not an ordinary person, and it is not just to invite Mr. Xu out of the mountain to get a staff. The world is changing, does Mr. Xu really not understand? ”

"There are few guests in the valley, and I never ask."

"Please Mr. Xu listen to my brief description: Now Song Zhuzhu, the king of Chu, is the leader of the alliance in the world, but after defeating King Ning, the leader of the alliance is already in name only. The people occupied by the king of Chu are nothing more than Jing and Luozhou, Huai and Wu Qunxiong in the east, Bian Zhongying, the king of Guangling, and Yi and Han Zhongying in the west, and the Tiejia brothers are dominant, all of which are inseparable from the king of Chu. In the south of Hunan and Guangzhou, Changsha Marquis Guo Shifeng is respected, and has been sending troops and food to the king of Chu, but he has long been tired of it, and when the time comes, he will inevitably rebel. As for the three northern states, they all belonged to the king of Runan. The king of Runan never forgot that the king came, and wanted to exchange Jizhou for Luozhou, but was rejected by the king of Chu. King Runan said that if he was only to fight for a moment, he would not come to disturb Mr. Xu, and the reason why he came to invite him in person was to calm the world. ”

Lan Ruofu said a lot, most of the names Xu Ji had never heard of, but he had not heard the whereabouts of Tan Wuwu, Tang Weitian and others, and he didn't ask.

"What does Mr. Xu think?" Lan Ruofu finally asked.

Xu Ji thought for a long time, "Listening to what Lan Changshi said, the king of Runan has a chance to win." ”

Lan Ruofu smiled and said: "There are no eight or nine out of ten, there are also six or seven out of ten, the king of Runan has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and the grain is enough to support five years, and it is not a problem to defeat the king of Chu, but the difficulty is to sweep the universe after that and dominate the world." ”

"Once the leader of the alliance is defeated, the heroes of the Quartet will naturally surrender, and those who do not accept it will first stabilize it, then provoke it, and then crusade against it, and within five years, the king of Runan will win the world."

"Mr. Xu thinks so too?" Lan Ruofu's eyes lit up.

Xu Ji nodded, "So I can't go out of the mountain." ”

"Huh?" Lan Ruofu was stunned.

"The king of Runan has taken advantage of the time, place, and people, and I have no benefit after I go out of the mountain, so I can only walk with the army, and wait and see the victory. So I'd better keep my oath and stay in the valley. ”

"I promised the king of Runan that I would be able to persuade Mr. Xu to go out of the mountain with his incorruptible tongue."

"As a minister, Lan Changshi is not familiar with me, so he shouldn't make a promise lightly."

Lan Ruofu smiled and nodded, "It's my fault, it's my fault." I said everything that should be said, and since Mr. Xu insisted, I had no choice but to retreat. I will take my leave, and when the king of Runan returns victoriously, I will come back to visit and listen to the advice. ”

Lan Ruofu left, Xu Ji sent it to the entrance of the village, watched the guests walk away, turned around and saw Zhang Shiqing and the others, and sighed: "No way, it's difficult to escape, set off before dark, I hope it's still too late." ”