Deng Yuanjue smiled secretly in his heart, and tried out Xiao Yin's true thoughts with a few words, what he was most worried about was not that Xia Kou could not be defended, but that he would be defended under Xiao Che's sole command.

It was Tian Wuji and Xiang Chu who attacked Xiakou this time, needless to say, the two of them needless to say, one is a famous general second only to Deng Yuanjue, and the other is also the premier general of Chu State, if in the face of the joint efforts of these two, Xiao Che, a rookie who has just entered the battlefield, can still hold it, what does it mean? Jiang Huanchu's case is right in front of you.

"It's impossible to replace the third prince, but I can also give His Highness a chance to make military merits." Deng Yuanjue smiled and threw out the bait.

Xiao Yin saw that his mind was detected by Deng Yuanjue, his face turned red, and he asked with some expectation: "What opportunity?" ”

Deng Yuanjue pretended to be serious: "I asked Wu Teng to attack Kaifeng, Jiang Huanchu is in a hurry to rush back to rescue, after he leaves, Chen Liuhe and Liangjun will be empty, I will give you 50,000 people, you lead the troops to capture there, and then stay in Xuchang to drag Jiang Huanchu and buy me time to fight Chu." ”

Xiao Yin was thrilled after hearing this, he was self-aware, knowing that he was not as good as Xiao Che in leading troops to fight, if he was asked to guard Xiakou, he would definitely not be able to defend it in the face of Tian Wuji, in comparison, Jiang Huan Chu would be much easier to deal with.

Xiao Yin was just about to agree, but then he remembered his mission, although he and Xiao Che's original intention of coming to Chu State was to make military merits to facilitate the future struggle for the throne, but Xiao Dao's exchange was to let them contain Deng Yuanjue.

Seeing that Xiao Che was about to go to the battlefield to make new contributions, Xiao Yin couldn't sit still in Shuzhou, and as soon as he heard that Deng Yuanjue was looking for him, he immediately rushed to Shouchun. Now that the opportunity is in front of him, Xiao Yin is worried that he has left Shuzhou and will no longer be able to contain Deng Yuanjue in the future.

Deng Yuanjue saw that he was silent, and deliberately asked, "Does Your Highness have any concerns?" Are you afraid that you won't be able to deal with Jiang Huanchu? Don't worry, I've arranged it for you, you must know that in several major families, the prime minister and I are optimistic about your eldest son. ”

It was Deng Yuanjue's words that made Xiao Yin finally make up his mind to go to Xuchang to garrison, among the four princes of the Great Song Dynasty, the crown prince Xiao Yan had no family support and could only rely on Xiao Daocheng, and the second prince Xiao Yu also lost the qualification to compete for the crown with the fall of the Tian family. Leaving Xiao Yin and Xiao Che, whether it is in the order of the eldest or youngest, or the support of the family, Xiao Yin's advantages are obvious.

But now on the battlefield of Chu State, Xiao Che has an advantage, if he makes military merits in the future, and Xiao Yin offends Deng Yuanjue in order to please Xiao Daocheng, then he basically bids farewell to the battle for the storage position.

"With the general here, what can I worry about. I will set off for Chenliu tomorrow, and I will never let Jiang Huan Chu step into the Chu realm again. Xiao Yin thought viciously in his heart, anyway, no matter how well he completed the task of Xiao Dao's generation, the final crown prince was still Xiao Yan's. The only one who can help him win the storage position is Deng Yuanjue, and he even began to suspect Xiao Daocheng's motive for sending him over, in addition to containing Deng Yuanjue, he may also plan to stir up the relationship between the two and clear the way for Xiao Yan to succeed smoothly in the future.

The next development was completely staged according to the script set by Deng Yuanjue, and Xiao Che successfully resisted the offensive of the Qichu coalition army in Xiakou. It is said that Tian Wuji himself was surprised by Xiao Che's performance, and thought that among the juniors, in addition to Shi Luosheng, the most difficult ones were Xiang Chu and Ning Unyielding, but he didn't expect that there was another Xiao Che now, and later he knew that Xiao Che was Yan Chixing's apprentice.

On the Kaifeng side, Wu Teng took advantage of Jiang Huan Chu's return to the army to rescue him and attacked him, and then withdrew to Xuchang. The eldest prince Xiao Yin was like a bamboo all the way, conquering Chen Liu and Liang County one after another, and joining forces with Wu Teng in Xuchang.

Half a month later, Wu Teng was transferred back to Shouchun by Deng Yuanjue, and Zhou Yunjing, who was stationed in Zhoukou, came back with him. After the two returned, Deng Yuanjue raised another 150,000 troops and continued to go south to Chuzhou, approaching Jiangdu.

The flames of war have been burning on the land of Chu for more than four years, and during these four years, countless people have been displaced and lost their homes. If there is still a place in the Chu State that has not been affected by the war, it can only be Tianwu City.

Tianwu City is not strictly a city, it has no walls and no fixed borders, it is built around the mountains, and it is made up of small villages. Because this mountain is called Tianwu Mountain, the place where these villages are located is called Tianwu City.

The highest peak of Tianwu Mountain is called Tianzhu Peak, and there is the Hidden Star Sect, the first major sect in martial arts today, on Tianzhu Peak. In the past few years of war in the Chu State, the life of the Hidden Star Sect has not been easy, first of all, there are fewer people who have learned from the teacher, which will lead to a fault line in talents, which will directly affect the long-term development of the Hidden Star Sect.

Then the sect leader Shen Nanxing agreed to Chu Emperor Xiong Huan's request for help, and sent a large number of masters in the sect to go directly to the battlefield to help the Chu army kill the enemy, and even assassinate the enemy commander.

It's a pity that over the past few years, not only has no results been achieved, but heavy losses have been made. Especially in the Offering Hall and the Flying Star Hall, not only did the two deputy hall masters of the Offering Hall all die, but even more than a dozen elders level masters died.

Feixing Hall was even more miserable, in the early years when Jiang Huan Chu was assassinated, the hall master Shen Xun and the deputy hall master Shen Chai, together with more than a dozen children under the sect, all died. Later, in the process of assassinating Tian Wuji, the newly formed Feixing Hall was all killed by two top masters who came out of nowhere, and the entire hall was almost wiped out.

In the past three months, at the foot of Tianwu Mountain, there have also been a group of masters who have targeted the Hidden Star Sect, and all the lone or small groups of Hidden Star Sect members have been assassinated inexplicably. Shen Nanxing personally went down the mountain to search for him several times, but he didn't get anything. Now the ordinary disciples in the sect dare not go down the mountain easily, and even the chores such as sending letters and inquiring about information can only be temporarily handed over to elder-level masters to do it for them.

"Uncle Shi, the people of the Tianqi Sect will be able to arrive in Tianwu City in ten days." Liu Zixuan had just received a message from Hou Ying and was reporting to Zu Qingzhi.

Zu Qingzhi nodded and asked, "How are Luosheng and Wan'er, can they get out of the customs within ten days?" ”

After Shi Luosheng came to Tianwu City, he and Jiang Wan'er entered a state of retreat, and Liu Zixuan was in charge of handling other things.

"It should be in time, when the disciple brought food to the two of them in the morning, Wan'er also said that she could break through in two days, and the ascension should be a little slower, but she will definitely be able to break through within ten days." Liu Zixuan replied.

Zu Qingzhi's face was happy: "That's good, it took me and Senior Brother Hua to practice to the twelfth layer for almost twenty years, and it only took ten years to reach the ascension, it seems that the three sects of the sun, the moon, and the stars can indeed save a lot of time." Senior Brother Hua, why don't we exchange, how about you practice my fire day by day, and I will also learn from your moon and the silence? ”

Hua Haoxuan laughed: "I have long had this intention, but you always feel that the martial arts of the Sun Chasing Sect are the strongest among the three sects, I am afraid that as soon as I open my mouth, you think I am taking advantage of you." ”

Zu Qingzhi also smiled, who is the strongest in the three sects, the two of them have been arguing for decades, and now they finally understand that there is no need to fight for who is strong and who is weak, anyway, it is the martial arts of the Tianluo Sect.

Ten days passed quickly, and Qi Tianfang, the sect leader of the Tianqi Sect, came to Tianwu City with the four great Dharma Kings and dozens of masters.

Shi Luosheng and the five people also greeted them outside the city early, and in the past ten days, he and Jiang Wan'er have gone out of the customs one after another, and the mental methods of the two sects of the sun and the moon have successfully broken through to the twelfth layer, and Jiang Wan'er has also broken through to the eleventh layer.

"This is the Stone Sect Master, Qi has admired his name for a long time." Although Shi Luosheng was young, he was the sect leader of the Tianluo Sect after all, and Qi Tianfang naturally had to greet the sect leader first.

"Sect Master Qi is polite, the junior is Shi Luosheng, let me introduce to Sect Master Qi, this is the ancestor of the family, this is my uncle Hua Haoxuan, and this is Liu Zixuan, the deputy sect leader of the sect." Shi Luosheng and Qi Tianfang have also been famous for a long time, and today is the first time they have met.

Qi Tianfang had already heard of these two peerless masters from Hou Ying, so he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed slightly: "Junior Qi Tianfang has seen two seniors. ”

Zu Qingzhi returned a salute: "Sect Master Qi has come from afar to work hard, the Sect has already arranged a place to live, let's go rest first, and then discuss the specific attack on Tianzhu Peak." ”

"Uncle Qi, I haven't seen you for a long time." Jiang Wan'er walked out and took the Tianqi Sect members to the inn to rest.

Qi Tianfang gave a salute first, and half-jokingly said: "Your Royal Highness Princess, we have indeed not seen each other for a long time, I heard that Your Majesty married you overseas, and I am still wondering, is there something that offended Your Highness, why don't you send me an invitation to the wedding, haha." ”

Jiang Wan'er's face turned red, and she secretly glanced at Shi Luosheng and said, "Uncle Qi, don't talk nonsense, be careful that I will really ignore you in the future." ”

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Sect Master, there is news from the city just now, Qi Tianfang has come to Tianwu City with a large number of masters in the sect."

"Qi Tian is so bold that he dares to bring someone to my territory, does he think that there is no one in the Hidden Star Sect now? Yang Yi, you go and gather all the elders of the worship hall who are still in the sect, as well as the hall masters and deputy hall masters of each hall, and we will go down the mountain to meet Qi Tianfang. Shen Nanxing said angrily.

Yang Yi is the deputy sect leader of the Tianqi Sect, and hurriedly stopped: "The sect leader is angry, the Tianqi Sect has always been suppressed by us, although we have had a small setback in recent years, but it is not something that his little Tianqi Sect can offend, this time Qi Tianfang dared to come to Tianwu City, there must be something behind it, we still found out that we are in action, so as not to fall into the enemy's tricks." ”

"Could it be that the Tianqi Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect have joined forces? Send someone to check and see if there are any people from the Heavenly Sword Gate in the city. "Because the Hidden Star Sect sent people to assassinate the generals of Qi and Song at the same time, Shen Nanxing's first reaction was that the people from the Heavenly Sword Sect were also here.

Lei Moyang, the hall master standing at the head of Yang Yi, said: "The Heavenly Sword Sect is the first great Chu sect in the Song Kingdom, and the masters in the sect are only Ding Jiaxuan except for a few hidden elders, and those hidden elders will not go out of the mountain easily, and Ding Jiaxuan alone is not to worry. ”

Yang Yi shook his head: "If it's the Heavenly Sword Sect, I won't be worried, although Ding Jiaxuan is powerful, but the sect leader and the Lei Hall master have always fought back, what I'm worried about is that they have other masters." ”

Lei Moyang shook his head: "Deputy Sect Leader Yang, you are too worried, which sect in the martial arts today dares to trouble us, the Ghost Shadow Gate of the Yan Kingdom or the Luoyun Villa of the Qin Kingdom?" It's not that I'm boasting, or that these four major sects are united, and we will fight them in the same way. ”

"Okay, don't you guys make any noise, won't you know everything when the spies come back?" Shen Nanxing waved his hand in annoyance.