The 50,000 troops of Bingzhou left Jinyang and marched towards Yecheng.

Three days later, it crossed the Taihang Mountain and entered the territory of Changshan Country in Jizhou.

At this time, Yuan Shang's letter was also delivered, and after Yuan Mai read it immediately, his face turned pale and he didn't say a word.

"What does the epistle say?"

Seeing that his brother-in-law's face was not good, Zhao Yun asked in a deep voice, thinking that the situation had become unpredictable again.

"Yuan Shang, a despicable villain, threatened me with Ah Ying's mother in the letter, and asked me to send troops to assist him in attacking Yuan Tan, otherwise I will kill my mother, I think this mother and son are really the same virtue, there must be a son!" Yuan Mai cursed hatefully.

Zhang He knew the Zheng family when he was in Yecheng, and he had a good impression of this humble lady, and after listening to what Yuan Mai said, he was also angry about it: "Yuan Shang's mother and son are guilty of crimes, and heaven and people are angry, Zhang He is willing to lead the cavalry as the forerunner, day and night, and go straight to the city of Ye County!" ”

"No, my mother is locked up in a prison, if I attack Ye County, even if I can break the city, this wicked woman will definitely kill my mother before the city is broken!" Yuan Mai's face was solemn, and he frowned and expressed his doubts.

Xu Shu next to him smiled slightly, and said casually: "Shu has an idea, is it feasible for the Lord and the Princess's staff to do this?" ”

"Yuan Zhi, but it doesn't hurt to say it!" Yuan bought his hand and listened attentively.

At this moment, it is the time for the think tank to show its skills, but unfortunately there are still fewer military advisors around him; Fu Zhu and Tian Feng have one Tun Hanoi and one town Jinyang, and they can't follow the army. There is only one top think tank around him, Xu Shu, although Zhuge Jin is good at negotiations. In terms of strategy, it is lacking.

It would be nice if Sima Yi was willing to come out, this guy has been pretending to be sick for nearly two years, I don't know if he is tempted now? Turn around and take a time to beat this guy, sure enough, it belongs to a donkey, and he is going backwards without leaving, no wonder Cao Cao sent someone to tie him up to Xuchang in history. It's been two years since he was a corporal, if this guy still doesn't know what to do, don't blame Lao Tzu for being polite!

Xu Shu rode his horse and traveled slowly, and at the same time told his strategy: "Since Yuan Shang invited us to send troops to help, the son will plan everything. Smarmy. Deceived Yuan Shang's trust. Let him mistakenly think that we are here to help him this time, lower the vigilance of the defenders of Yecheng, and then come to the city! ”

"Well, a good general is a plan...... Yuan Mai dropped his whip. Approve of Xu Shu's strategy. "This plan works!"

Let's see if it's not early. The herald was ordered to find an open place and set up camp.

Ordered someone to prepare wine and food, and entertained Yuan Shang's envoy with a good life, after he was full of wine and food. It is said: "You will rush to the plain tomorrow and report to the third brother, saying that Yuan Mai's dispatch of troops this time is precisely to help him deal with Yuan Tan, let him drag the Qingzhou soldiers first, and after a few days, we and the state army can join the battlefield and attack Yuan Tan together!" ”

"Thank you Yuan Bingzhou!"

After receiving the promise of Yuan Mai, the envoy was overjoyed, received the reward and went to rest.

After the envoy left, Yuan bought Zhu Ling to prepare pen and ink for himself, and wrote a letter with a pen, his words were extremely groveling, and he must say that only his brother is the head of the horse; After writing it, it was handed over to Zhu Ling, and he was ordered to hand it over to the messenger and give it to Yuan Shang tomorrow to paralyze his psychology.

As soon as Zhu Ling left, a soldier came to report: "There is a person outside the camp who asks to see, claiming to be the main public security officer inserted in Yecheng's eyeliner, is he summoned?" ”

"Oh...... Could it be Cao Qian? Yuan Mai stroked his sparse and hard beard, muttered to himself, and waved his hand to order: "Recruit him in!" ”

A moment later, under the leadership of the soldiers, the person who claimed to be Yecheng's eyeliner walked into the big tent, it was Cao Qian.

Since the siege of Yijing last spring, Cao Qian has explored the location where Zhao Yun was imprisoned, drawn a siege map, and successfully rescued the general Zhao Zilong; Since then, he has won Yuan Mai's appreciation, so he begged from Zhen Yao's subordinates and asked him to be his direct eyeliner.

After Yuan Shao became critically ill, Yuan Mai handed over the task of spying on the military intelligence of Yexian County to Cao Qian, and ordered him to lead more than a dozen scouts to secretly engage in espionage work in Yecheng and report the situation in Yecheng to himself at any time. Cao Qian came to look for the army this time to report the news.

Ordered Zhu Ling to serve tea, let the dusty Cao Qian moisten his throat, and then asked, "What's the situation in Yecheng now?" ”

Cao Qian put down the tea bowl and arched his hand: "If you go back to the lord, General Wen Chou has been sent to prison, and the soldiers and horses have also been taken away by Yuan Shang. A few days ago, Yuan Shang led 50,000 horses out of the city to the plains to face Yuan Tan, and there are still 25,000 defenders in Ye County, led by his uncle and nephew! ”

"Shhh...... General Wen Chou was arrested? ”

Yuan Mai took a breath of cool air, originally wanted to rely on Wen Chou to respond, and easily take Yecheng from inside and outside, but now it seems that this road has been blocked, "Sure enough, it is easy to dodge with open guns, and it is difficult to prevent hidden arrows!" ”

"How is Madame Zheng doing?"

Yuan Mai gently rubbed his temples to keep himself as awake as possible, and asked.

Cao Qian replied: "Back to the lord's words, it is said that Mrs. Zheng has been put down in the dungeon, probably imprisoned with General Wen!" ”

"Bastard!"

Yuan Mai was furious when he heard this, and scolded angrily: "This mother and son of the Liu family are simply bastards, I thought they put their mother under house arrest in the backyard, and they were actually put in a dungeon, treating a weak woman so viciously, it is simply ruthless and femme fatale!" ”

"Listen...... I heard that Mrs. Zheng has endured a lot of hardships in the dungeon! ”

Looking at Yuan Mai's angry face, Cao Qian was a little scared, but the scout's duty was to report truthfully, so he hesitated a little and reported the matter truthfully.

"This vicious mother and son dare to abuse Ah Ying's mother, I will kill it myself sooner or later!"

Yuan Mai stood up and paced back and forth in the big tent, making a hateful vow.

At this moment, on Yuan Shao's birthday feast, no one dared to let himself sit down, only the scene of Zheng standing up.

As the saying goes, "the grace of a drop of water should be reciprocated by a spring", as a prince, how can he let his benefactor suffer in the dungeon? We must save this stepmother at all costs.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What is the attitude of the civil and military forces in the city?" Do you support Yuan Shang's monopoly on power? ”

Cao Qian replied: "According to the lowly investigation, half of them are in favor. It's half ambiguous, but because of the obscenity and cruelty of Yuan Shang's mother and son, even those who don't support it dare not stand up against it! ”

"Can you instigate some of the officials of the noble clan to pick up from the city?" Yuan Mai asked.

Cao Qian shook his head: "The trial and preparation are very strict, a large number of eyeliners have been arranged around the mansions of civil and military officials, and the slightest abnormal move will be suppressed immediately, and it is estimated that no one will be able to respond from the city!" ”

After listening to Cao Qian's report, Yuan Mai appeased him, ordered Zhu Ling to take out some coins, give them to Cao Qian as funds, and continue to return to Yecheng to spy on the news. But there is important information. Be sure to try to get out of town. Cao Qian took the funds and took the order.

After Cao absconded, Yuan Mai fell into deep thought. Thinking hard about the best of both worlds that can break the city and rescue the Zheng family unharmed.

Xu Shu's strategy is good. But it can only paralyze Yuan Shang and judge for a while. When his own army is under the city. The trial will inevitably close the city gates and not let a single soldier enter the city.

If the city is forcibly attacked, the judge will inevitably see through his deception. Before the city gate was breached, Liu Jiao, the evil woman, would definitely kill the Zheng family first to vent her hatred.

"How can we break the city and let Ah Ying's mother be safe and sound?" Yuan Mai held his head in his hands and thought hard.

Looking at the candlelight swaying back and forth in front of him, Yuan Mai suddenly had an idea, patted his thigh and said, "There is!" ”

Isn't the Kong Ming lantern invented by Zhuge Liang using the principle of hot air balloons to make lanterns fly into the sky?

There is a high mountain in the north of Yecheng five or six miles, if you let people make a batch of large Kong Ming lanterns, take advantage of the cover of night, let the soldiers take Kong Ming lanterns from the mountains and land in Ye County, one can be from the city, and the other can take advantage of the city's unpreparedness, capture the prison, and protect the safety of the Zheng family, so it is a two-way strategy.

"Zhu Ling, call Ma Deheng, I have a task to him!"

Zhu Ling took the order and left, and after a while, Ma Jun, who was yawning, came to the handsome tent and said, "What do you have to call the lord?" ”

"Deheng, come and sit next to the table, and I'll discuss something with you!"

After Ma Jun sat beside him, Yuan Mai told him his thoughts and told Ma Jun that he wanted him to make a batch of lights that could carry people flying for him, and then attack Ye County. Of course, Yuan Mai would never tell him that this kind of lamp was called "Kong Ming Lantern", but called it "Sky Lantern".

Although Ma Jun is talented in creation, after listening to Yuan Mai's idea, he did not clap his hands as before, but had a half-believing expression. After all, for people living in this era, it is really a fantasy for humans to fly into the sky.

"Is it okay to let the lantern fly with people? The flame keeps burning, so it's no wonder if you don't burn the lantern! ”

Yuan Mai looked confident, and said confidently: "Now there is no other way to enter the city, but to use a dead horse as a live horse doctor!" No, let's give it a try. Your craftsmen have strong manufacturing capabilities, so gather them together and make 'sky lanterns' overnight! ”

The so-called "artisan battalion" is a team specially built by Yuan Mai for Ma Jun, about 500 people, composed of carpenters, lacquerers, blacksmiths, craftsmen, masons, papermakers and other craftsmen; Ma Jun served as Tun Cao, responsible for inventing and manufacturing various high-tech products; Thunderbolts, curved ploughs, stirrups, horseshoes and other cross-era supplies were all made by this team.

Just do it, at the moment Yuan Mai led the way in front, Ma Jun and Zhu Ling followed behind, and went straight to the place where the "craftsman camp" was stationed.

At this moment, it is already the time of day, and many craftsmen have been running around for a day, and they have already stripped to bed at this moment. The heavy responsibility of coaxing people fell on Zhu Ling's shoulders.

"It's snowing, it's snowing, hurry up and get up to get padded clothes!"

Zhu Ling shouted from tent to tent, arguing with the confused craftsmen, and muttered to himself one by one, in the summer, if it really snows, it will be cool!

At the moment, the whole camp gathered, and under the leadership of Ma Jun, according to Yuan Mai's instructions, they began to make "sky lanterns".

First of all, paper is needed, but fortunately, You Heng's "mobile newspaper" is with the army, so the troops carry a large amount of paper, although the size is not large enough, but it can be glued with paste. The paper of this period was coarser and thicker, far less delicate than in the 21st century, but it was very suitable for making Kong Ming lanterns.

The carpenter found bamboo strips, which were originally used to make arrows, but they could only be used for emergency purposes to make frames from these bamboos; The blacksmith found the wire and joined the bamboo strips and the paper together. Everyone performed their duties, and after being busy for several hours, they finally made more than a dozen "sky lanterns".

Seeing that the "sky lantern" conceived by Yuan Mai finally came out, Ma Jun was still skeptical about its ability: "This lantern is quite beautiful, but can it really carry people flying?" ”

Yuan Mai is also not sure, although he played hot air balloons several times in his previous life, but after all, it is not the same thing, one flies by high-tech hydrogen, and the other just relies on the simplest hot gas principle.

"I'm not sure, let's try a mountain!"

Yuan Mai took a part of the craftsmen and took a huge sky lantern with a diameter of one zhang out of the camp, looked for a mountain nearby, and climbed it together. Although it is the height of summer, the wind on the mountain is really not small.

In order to increase the heat, Ma Jun proposed to replace the candles mentioned by Yuan Mai with pine resin, which is far better than the candle in a short period of time.

A sky lantern burned, and it was a question of who would try it first, and the craftsmen were so frightened that they retreated, after all, this was not a joke, in case the lantern flew into the air and fell, it would be strange if the whole person did not fall into meat sauce!

"I invented this sky lantern, so let me do the experiment!"

Yuan Mai rolled up his sleeves and prepared to get into the bamboo basket under the lantern and try to fly.

Seeing that Gongzi was going to test it himself, Zhu Ling suddenly became anxious: "I'll come, I'll come, in case Gongzi has three long and two short, and a few ladies don't want my life, it's no wonder, or I'll come!" After saying that, he got into the bamboo basket and refused to come out again.

Since Zhu Ling rushed to share the risk for himself, Yuan Mai had no choice but to let him, after all, his own life was more important, although this idea was a bit selfish!

As the pine resin burned, the heat in the paper cap began to drift slowly off the ground, one foot, two feet, three feet, and half a foot......

"Wow...... The lantern really flies, it's amazing! ”

Looking at the slowly rising sky lanterns, the craftsmen on the top of the mountain exclaimed in unison, really not believing their eyes.

"Push the lights out!"

With Yuan Mai's order, Ma Jun and several craftsmen pushed the floating sky lantern down the mountain with all their might.

A cool breeze blew, blowing out the sky lantern, more than fifty zhang from the ground, floating in the direction of the camp, the wind did not stop, the lamp did not stop, the farther and farther, it did not take much effort to cross the camp, and flew to the edge of a stream.

Zhu Ling followed Yuan Mai's instructions, extinguished the burning pine resin, and poked a gap in the lantern with a dagger, the heat gradually dissipated, and the sky lantern slowly fell to the ground.

"Wow...... I flew, I flew, I really flew! ”

After landing, Zhu Ling's excitement was indescribable, so much so that he forgot to carry Kong Minglan back, and ran to the camp three miles away with his hands dancing, shouting and shouting. (To be continued......)