After Chen Defeng, the unlucky supervisor who took the lead in drinking in the army, went to the superintendent Mo Shixuan to plead guilty, the sky gradually darkened, and Wu Jianying, who had finally regained his military power, also climbed the wall of Shence Gate and began his first night patrol after his official reinstatement.

It's not so much a patrol, but a preparation for war, because I don't know that Wu Chaoyue has given up on himself, and he has just been caught by his opponent Li Rongfa, and he is anxious to atone for his crimes and keep his military power.

Fortunately, although he lost power for a time and left the army for a few days, Wu Jianying's influence in the old army was still there, and the attitude of the middle and grassroots generals towards Wu Jianying was quite respectful, not only respectfully responding to Wu Jianying's request, but also rushing to congratulate Wu Jianying. Wu Jianying expressed his gratitude one by one, and at the same time, he gradually gained some confidence in his heart, knowing that as long as he gave himself a little more time, it was not hopeless to plot a rebellion and win over some middle- and grass-roots generals to surrender with the army.

However, while secretly rejoicing, Wu Jianying was also a little worried, very worried that if Wu Jun didn't hurry up to give himself a chance to make meritorious service, he might lose his power again because of being caught by Li Rongfa, so Wu Jianying could only quietly pray in his heart, and said secretly: "King Zhennan, hurry up and send someone to give me a chance to make meritorious service, otherwise, if you open the city gate to welcome you into the city, I'm afraid you will have to have a long night's dream." ”

The hard work paid off, and when he had been carefully observing the movements under the city, Wu Jianying's henchmen and soldiers suddenly discovered the abnormality under the city, pointed to the dark place under the city and shouted: "Someone! There are people under the walls! ”

"Musket ready! Gong ready! ”

Wu Jianying, who was overjoyed, personally ordered the preparation of the alarm, and at the same time couldn't wait to poke his head out to check the situation, but what surprised and disappointed Wu Jianying was that although there were indeed people in the city, that person was a Taiping soldier wrapped in a red turban, and at the same time, there were people shouting above the city wall at that position: "Don't shoot, it's our own people!" It's our own people! ”

"Who are you? Name! Office! Wu Jianying personally asked.

"Liu Erli, the captain of General Liu's personal army." The people in the city replied loudly, and then asked, "Lin Tianfu is also here, who are you?" ”

"Stupid, I haven't heard it yet, it's our Tian'an." In the darkness, the voice of Wu Jianying's deputy Lin Tianfu Liu Yulin sounded, and then, Liu Yulin led a few personal soldiers to the light of the torch, nodded at Wu Jianying and said: "The last general has seen Shi Tian'an, Shi Tian'an, you personally go to the city to patrol the sentry?" ”

"Hmm." Wu Jianying nodded, and asked very strangely: "Brother Liu, why don't you even hit a torch at the sentry?" Also, what did you send people down to the city for? ”

"I started to light the torches, I was afraid of the cold guns of the demon soldiers, and I extinguished the torches when I got close to the arrow battlements on the city wall." Liu Yulin explained, and said: "Sending people down to the city is because when the last general was patrolling here just now, he saw that there seemed to be a few fires on the other side of the moat, and he was worried that it was a demon soldier who came to sneak attack, so he sent a personal soldier to go down to the city with a rope to see the situation." ”

"What did you find?" Wu Jianying hurriedly asked.

"Probably not." Liu Yulin's answer was a little vague, and he let his pro-soldier captain shout to the city, asking if the pro-soldiers in the city had found anything, and after getting a negative answer, Liu Yulin nodded and said to Wu Jianying: "Shi Tian'an, I didn't find anything, the fire may be a scout of the demon soldiers, and I ran away when I saw that some of us went down to the city." ”

Wu Jianying did not doubt him, nodded and praised Liu Yulin a few words, and then invited Liu Yulin to patrol the city with him, Liu Yulin happily agreed, first asked someone to pick up the soldiers under the city with a rope, and then chatted with Wu Jianying while inspecting the city defense, and finally after inspecting the west wall section of Shence Gate with Wu Jianying, Liu Yulin said goodbye and returned to the camp to rest, and broke up with Wu Jianying.

It was originally a trivial matter, but after returning to his residence, the soldiers who accompanied the city patrol suddenly found a little strange, and said to Wu Jianying: "Shi Tian'an, what happened just now seems to be a little strange, Lin Tianfu sent people down to the city, it should be to ask the soldiers on duty in the city to put the rope down the city, why are the people who put the rope and go down to the city just now are all the personal soldiers who are drenched in Tianfu?" ”

After carefully recalling and finding that things were indeed a little weird, Wu Jianying was also a little suspicious in his heart, and said secretly: "Yes, why are the people who were there just now all Liu Yulin's personal soldiers?" If it were me who noticed an unusual movement under the city, I would definitely not let my own soldiers venture down to the city, and I should have asked the other guards in the city to go down? ”

Although he was suspicious in his heart, Wu Jianying did not intend to investigate this matter deeply, because first, there was no movement, and second, in the current situation, Wu Jianying needed to have a good relationship with Liu Yulin, and strive to win over and plot against him for his own use, of course, he couldn't get out of trouble with Liu Yulin for such a trivial matter. So Wu Jianying quickly put this trivial matter aside, and began to hope that Wu Chaoyue would quickly launch a fake sneak attack to create a meritorious opportunity for himself.

It's useless to look forward to, Wu Chaoyue's side has long given up Wu Jianying, an unknown traitor, out of various practical considerations, so just like the first day, he waited until after the third watch, and Wu Jianying still couldn't wait for the Wu army to launch a night attack. As a result, after patiently waiting for the fourth watch and still not moving, Wu Jianying's heart was also a little panicked, so he could only temporarily decide to send another henchman to venture out of the city to contact Wu Jun, report the current situation to Wu Chaoyue, and ask Wu Chaoyue to send someone to help him quickly.

Fortunately, Wu Jianying, who has been reinstated as an official, can take his own soldiers up and down the city wall at will, and it is not difficult to use the excuse of patrolling the city to find an opportunity to use a rope to put a personal soldier down the city, so it was only halfway through the fourth watch, and Wu Jianying's secret messenger went down the city smoothly. As a result, when it was time to send the messenger smoothly, Wu Jianying accidentally discovered a detail again-that is, the scene where his own soldiers quietly let the messenger go down to the city, he seemed to have seen it somewhere......

It's a pity that Wu Jianying doesn't have much time to recall where he has seen this scene, the reason is that Wu Jianying, who hasn't rested much for two nights, is too tired to recall, and second, Wu Jianying is more concerned about Li Xiucheng and Mo Shixuan's handling of their crowd drinking, and he doesn't have the heart to care about these. However, Wu Jianying's luck was not bad, after being announced in front of Li Xiucheng and Mo Shixuan in the early morning of the next day, Li Xiucheng just scolded Wu Jianying, and then announced that Wu Jianying would be given eighty rods, and he would not carry it out for the time being.

"Thank you Zhong Wang Chitose, thank you Mo Qiuguan. Thank you Zhong Wang Chitose, thank you Mo Qiuguan. ”

I didn't expect Li Xiucheng and Mo Shixuan's punishment to be so light, Wu Jianying of course kowtowed again and again to thank him, and Mo Shixuan said very politely: "Shi Tian'an, you have to thank Wang Chitose for thanking him, do you know what punishment Song Tianfu Chen Defeng received?" Cut the knight first-class, twenty military sticks, and execute it on the spot! It was King Chung Chitose Nian who personally interceded for you when he was now employing people, so that he gave you a chance to make meritorious contributions. ”

Glancing at Li Xiucheng, who was sitting in the middle, Wu Jianying's heart was also a little moved, and he quickly kowtowed to Li Xiucheng to thank him, Li Xiucheng waved his hand and said: "Excuse me, for the sake of your duty in defending the city, this king spared you this time, but there is no next time, next time you dare to gather people to drink in front of the enemy, this king will not spare it!" ”

Wu Jianying hurriedly agreed, and Li Xiucheng said: "After I go back, hurry up and prepare for war, the demon soldiers have begun to feint on the dragon's neck, luring us to transfer the army over there, if nothing else, in these three or two days, the demon soldiers in Xiaguan should be going to do it, and the Shence Gate you guard is likely to be the main target of the demon soldiers." Be careful not to make any mistakes. ”

"In three or two days?" Wu Jianying was stunned and hurriedly asked, "Zhongwang Chitose, the demon soldiers are going to do it so soon?" ”

"Of course." Li Xiucheng said casually: "Beyond the Little Demon Cloth Ecstasy Array, it is to transfer the camp of the Chinese army to pretend to attack the west, and to build a road on the side of the dragon's neck, pretending to attack the dragon's neck, the longer it drags on, the more likely it is to expose his main attack position, so this king expects that it will be three days at most, and maybe two days if it is short, and beyond the little demon will have to do it against Xiaguan or Shence Gate!" ”

"It is possible that King Chung Chitose is wise." Wu Jianying hurriedly flattered, but quietly complained in his heart, and said secretly: "You can't really be guessed by Li Xiucheng, right?" It would be bad if the King of Zhennan really wanted to do it in two or three days, and in such a short time, I would have time to pull up a reliable team and open the city gate to welcome the army of the King of Zhennan into the city? ”

Murphy's Law, the more you worry about something, the more it will happen. When leaving the Zhongwang Mansion, on the way back to the Shence Gate, Wu Jianying suddenly heard the faint sound of cannons coming from the northeast corner of Nanjing City, and after careful inquiry, he learned that Wu Jun had built dozens of forts at the foot of Longneck Mountain, and was using artillery to bombard the city wall of Nanjing, covering the people to transport reeds, sand and gravel and other sundries to the foot of Longneck Mountain, and building a road from Longneck to the city wall of Nanjing. Then Wu Jianying also immediately understood that Wu Jun was really going to do it soon, either he really wanted to hit the dragon's neck, or as Li Xiucheng judged, he would make a surprise attack in three or two days to close the Sanmen or Shence Gate.

"It's troublesome, if King Zhennan really goes to fight the dragon's neck, it's okay to say, it's great to miss the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and looking at Li Xiucheng's arrangement, even if King Zhennan breaks through the dragon's neck, he may not be able to take Tianjing City, and I still have the opportunity to continue to make meritorious contributions." But what if the king of Zhennan really wants to come to fight the gods? I didn't know how to succeed, and if I didn't answer, I offended the king of Zhennan, maybe I might be misunderstood by the king of Zhennan, suspecting that I was deceiving him, and when the king of Zhennan entered the Shence Gate from other places, I won't be alive? Also, I wrote a letter of allegiance to King Zhennan, and King Zhennan was angry and shook the letter of allegiance to Li Xiucheng, and Li Xiucheng still had to peel my skin? ”

After returning to his station, Wu Jianying, who had never been able to think of any way to open the city gate to welcome Wu Jun, had always been worried, and almost wanted to risk a showdown with Liu Yulin and Fang Youcai and others, and pulled them to surrender to Wu Jun together, but considering the terrible consequences after the failure of the showdown, Wu Jianying dispelled this idea. Then, in his troubles, Wu Jianying suddenly remembered that he should visit Chen Defeng, who was implicated by himself, and hurriedly prepared a gift, and hurried to Chen Defeng's residence with his own soldiers to ask for a meeting.

It is very strange that in broad daylight, the doors and windows of Chen Defeng's house are closed, and there are Chen Defeng's personal soldiers guarding the door, after Wu Jianying stepped forward to express his intention, Chen Defeng did not immediately ask someone to open the door, or it took a little time before someone opened the door to invite Wu Jianying in, and then Wu Jianying was slightly surprised to find that there were several Chen Defeng's personal soldiers in the room. However, Wu Jianying didn't pay too much attention to these details, just greeted Chen Defeng's injury, and apologized and thanked Chen Defeng, calmly admitted that he had caused Chen Defeng, and asked Chen Defeng for forgiveness.

"It's okay, it's okay, after so many years of fighting, this little injury is nothing, you don't need to raise it, you can walk directly."

Perhaps because of the mercy of the military justice team, Chen Defeng was indeed not seriously injured, and he could force himself to walk without the support of his own soldiers, and Wu Jianying, whose conscience had not been eaten up by dogs, apologized again and again, and presented a generous gift to apologize to Chen Defeng, but Chen Defeng could only accept it. Then after chatting a few more words, Wu Jianying got up to say goodbye, Chen Defeng politely retained, and said with some hesitation: "Shi Tianan, there is a sentence I don't know whether to say or not." ”

"Song Tianfu has something to say, you don't have to be polite." Wu Jianying replied.

"Shi Tian'an, I heard that His Royal Highness Zhonger has a deep view of you, and he always likes to make trouble for you." Chen Defeng deliberately lowered his voice and said, "What are you going to do about this?" ”

"What else can I do? Bear with it. Wu Jianying smiled bitterly and spread his hands and said, "He is the righteous son of King Zhong's Chitose, what can I do with him?" I can only endure it. ”

Chen Defeng was silent, his eyes were still a little complicated, and he said again after a while: "Shi Tian'an, there are some things, don't be too weak." You're busy first, and when you're free, we'll sit down and talk about it. ”

also said that Chen Defeng was holding a grudge against yesterday's events, Wu Jianying didn't think much about it, nodded and said yes again, Chen Defeng didn't keep it, but just sent his own personal captain to send Wu Jianying out, and at the same time, when watching Wu Jianying leave, Chen Defeng, the old man of the Taiping Army during the Jintian Uprising, looked even more strange, full of hesitation and hesitation, and a little vicious and fierce......

The matter is not over, after Chen Defeng's personal soldiers led him out, in front of the gate of Chen Defeng's temporary residence, Wu Jianying also unexpectedly met Xu Lianfang, the goalkeeper of Shence Gate, and at the same time, because the encounter was too sudden, Xu Lianfang also had a subconscious dodge action, and then found that there was no way to avoid it, Xu Lianfang bowed to Wu Jianying, and explained to himself without waiting for Wu Jianying to ask: "Shi Tian'an, the last general came to visit Song Tianfu, and the last general heard that he was beaten with a military stick and was worried about his situation, so come and see." ”

"I'm also here to visit Songtianfu." Wu Jianying smiled and said: "Fortunately, he is not seriously injured, he can walk by himself, Cheng Song Tianfu has not rested, General Xu, please come in." ”

Xu Lianfang thanked him repeatedly, and then hurriedly followed Chen Defeng's personal soldiers into the door, Wu Jianying sent Xu Lianfang into the door with a smile, but when he saw Xu Lianfang with empty hands and his two accompanying soldiers with empty hands hurriedly entering the door, Wu Jianying, who was barely careful, suddenly felt that there seemed to be something wrong, but he couldn't remember that there was something wrong.

really didn't have the courage to have a direct showdown with Liu Yulin and Fang Youcai's two deputies, and Wu Jianying didn't dare to make any big moves that day, so he could only take the opportunity of arranging preparations to supplement his own camp with the army with a few middle-level generals who had received his favor, but even so, Wu Jianying still didn't dare to have a public showdown with these middle-level and grass-roots cronies, so he could only try his best to encompass and wait patiently for Wu Chaoyue's reply.

After it was dark, Wu Jianying, who had not slept well for two nights, finally couldn't support it, went back to his room to rest after going around the city, and handed over the matter of receiving the messenger back to the city to a few of his henchmen. But fortunately, halfway through the third watch, the messenger who went out of the city in the second half of the night last night finally returned to the sleepy-eyed Wu Jianying, who was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "How is it?" What is the explanation of the king of Zhennan? ”

"Back to Shi Tian'an, the king of Zhennan wants you to get ready quickly." The messenger replied truthfully: "In the next few days, the king of Zhennan will attack the Shence Gate, and when the time comes, the king of Zhennan will say that it is all up to you." The king of Zhennan also said, if it is done, he will make you the actual chief soldier! I promise you double the reward! ”

"It's that easy, I haven't skimmed the eight characters yet." Wu Jianying smiled bitterly, and asked casually: "When you returned to the city, you weren't discovered, right?" ”

"I was almost discovered by Fang Tianyan (Fang Youcai)." The captain of the pro-soldier in charge of answering replied: "I didn't expect that Fang Tianyan wouldn't go to the city to patrol the city at the whole watch tonight, and he was about to put the rope when he saw the signal. Fortunately, our secret sentinel found it in time and hid the rope in time, so that Fang Tianyan did not see the flaw. ”

"Confirm that Fang Youcai didn't see the flaw?" Wu Jianying asked uneasily.

"Confirm." The captain of the pro-soldier replied truthfully: "Fang Tianyan seemed to be in a hurry to go back to the camp to sleep at that time, so he asked a few words casually and left, and then the little ones have been careful to confirm that they are not being followed. ”

"That's good." Wu Jianying was finally a little relieved, and then quickly looked sad, and said secretly: "What should I do?" If I can't raise a reliable army before King Zhennan attacks the city, what can I do to receive King Zhennan's army into the city? Just rely on a dozen or so personal soldiers under my hands to open the city gate, right? I'm afraid that before I touched the city gate, I was hacked to death by Xu Lianfang's people. ”