Half an hour later, a thin crack opened at the city gate, and heavily armed soldiers lined up in a long line behind the crack in the door, staring at Zhou Xingfeng and the others as they entered the city.

A young lieutenant with a calm face was silent, led the way in front of his head, and silently led Zhou Xingfeng to the Assassin's Mansion.

The sound of horses' hooves striking on the stone slabs made a crisp sound; The whole street was deserted except for the occasional patrol soldier, and there were not many shops on the side of the road that were not even lit, and the whole city seemed dead.

Not long after, the group had already arrived at the Thorn Mansion, and under the faint light of the torches, Zhou Xingfeng could see the door of the Thorn Mansion, which had been repaired for a small time, and it was obvious that the work had been stopped halfway.

The lieutenant still didn't speak, pointing to Zhou Xingfeng's horse and the weapon on his waist, and pointed to Zhou Xingfeng's entourage to the guard in front of the mansion.

The soldiers immediately rushed forward and pointed their swords and guns at the six guards. These guards naturally didn't agree, and wanted to pull out the knife from the sheath, but they were stopped by Zhou Xingfeng with a loud shout.

Zhou Xingfeng took matters into his own hands, unloaded the weapons under him one by one, and smiled and motioned to the captain to lead the way.

Without saying anything all the way, the lieutenant led Zhou Xingfeng to the study, knocked on the door, and then turned to leave.

Zhou Xingfeng pushed the door by himself, there was a big brazier in the cold study, Liu Yan sat in a wide bamboo chair, his thin body looked even thinner, and a narrow and lonely back was reflected on the white wall behind him.

Zhou Xingfeng looked at Liu Yan's face that seemed to suddenly age a lot, sighed lightly, and sat down on the bamboo chair opposite Liu Yan.

Zhou Xingfeng picked up a wooden stick next to the brazier and stirred the charcoal of the brazier a few times, making the fire brighter.

"Brother Liu, have you heard about the Battle of Guizhou and the chaos in Tanzhou City?" After a long time, Zhou Xingfeng asked softly.

Liu Yan didn't answer, but gently hummed the almost inaudible "um" word between his nose.

The wooden stick in Zhou Xingfeng's hand lightly tapped the edge of the fire box, and unhurriedly explained the detailed process of the entire Guizhou War, the Yi-Han Alliance, the selection of Yi soldiers, and the facts of the civil strife in Tanzhou that he knew.

As he spoke, Liu Yan's body kept retreating into the chair, showing the powerlessness and helplessness of an old man who was obedient to his ears.

"Lin Feng has never made a plan. After he won the Battle of Guizhou, he blocked the news as soon as possible, but instead fabricated the news of the defeat and sent it back to the rear, just to seek our Chu State. At the same time, he sent Zhao Ye's personal guards to report to you and Panlong, just to test your reaction. As a result, you guys are still fooled! Zhou Xingfeng made a decision.

Lin Feng! Lin Feng! Liu Yan's eyes that had been slightly closed couldn't help but be tightly closed, who would have thought that the young man who had never been smiling would be the one who forced himself to a dead end?

"I'm afraid that Panlong has already returned to the mountain, right?" Zhou Xingfeng asked suddenly.

Liu Yan still didn't speak, but sighed softly. At the beginning, when Ma Xixu, the king of Chu, and Lin Feng persuaded him to pretend to be in trouble, he was slightly moved. When the news of the defeat in the Battle of Guizhou came, Panlong found himself and claimed that the 3,000 Chenzhou soldiers plus 4,000 Tujia elite soldiers were enough to ensure that Chenzhou was not disturbed by foreign enemies. Who would have thought that when the news of the victory in the Battle of Guizhou came, Panlong took his troops away on the pretext that there was an emergency in the village!

"Panlong was scared by Lin Feng, and he was timid in his heart, and he had already lost the courage to fight!" Zhou Xingfeng saw Liu Yan's expression, he already knew the answer to his question, said his judgment, and then said, "Now, more than 20,000 elite soldiers of Datang are all rushing to Chenzhou, Lin Feng has led five hundred elites to infiltrate Chenzhou, and the great disaster in Chenzhou is right now!" ”

Lin Feng came over in person? When Liu Yan heard this, he opened his eyes suddenly.

Zhou Xingfeng knew Liu Yan's thoughts, and immediately shook his head with a wry smile: "Brother Liu, doesn't he still want to capture the thief and capture the king first?" That's impossible! ”

"I, Liu Yan, have been in Chenzhou for decades, treating the people like sons, and there are three thousand loyal soldiers, as long as I kill Lin Feng, Chenzhou will be fine!" Liu Yan argued anxiously.

Zhou Xingfeng gently put down the wooden stick in his hand, stared straight into Liu Yan's eyes, and said in an accentuated tone: "Brother Liu, the people are changeable!" If Lin Feng uses the three-year rent as a bargaining chip, claiming that if the people of Chenzhou do not surrender, not only will they not be exempted from paying the rent for three years, but they will also have to increase the rent, how many people will be willing to support you again?

You don't know what kind of person Lin Feng is, right? Zhao Ye revealed to me in a casual chat that Lin Feng said that he only allowed two kinds of people on the battlefield, enemies or friends! Lin Feng has never shown mercy to the enemy! In order to warn the Southern Han Dynasty, he built a ten-meter-high Jingguan in the territory of the Southern Han Dynasty, which was all made of the heads and corpses of the Southern Han soldiers and civilians! For the sake of Datang, he killed Ma Xicao, Ma Xichong and all the relatives around them! The more loyal your 3,000 soldiers are, the worse they will end! ”

"Do you believe it or not, Lin Feng can slaughter your three thousand disciples with the five hundred elites around him? Taking a step back, even if you are lucky enough to find Lin Feng and kill him, Datang will easily let you go? Will his men let you go easily? I'm afraid that you will not be able to sleep day and night in the future, and you must always guard against their assassination! Speaking of the most embarrassing, Zhou Xingfeng was a little anxious and said quickly.

Liu Yan was like a punctured balloon, deflated all of a sudden, shrunk deeper into the chair, and muttered: "I don't believe it, Chu shouldn't be like this, Chenzhou shouldn't be like this!" ”

"Brother Liu, as a Chu person, I am also distressed, and I have never believed that the Chu Kingdom has come to this point! However, objectively analyzing, this ending has been doomed since the day Ma Xicao declared himself a vassal to the Tang Dynasty and Lin Feng led the troops into Chu! If you want to complain, just complain that the Ma brothers are too angry! Zhou Xingfeng also sighed again and again, and his tone was full of loneliness.

"How is Lin Feng going to arrange you?" Liu Yan suddenly raised his head and asked.

"Start with the deputy envoy of Langzhou, and then go back and lead the envoy of Langzhou." Zhou Xingfeng replied weakly.

Liu Yan sat up all of a sudden, stared at Zhou Xingfeng with blazing eyes and said: "Brother Zhou, if you stand on your own in Langzhou, Liu is willing to follow behind, only you are the first to look forward, Lang and Chen join forces, which is enough to fight against Tanzhou!" ”

You're really sick and rushed to the doctor, it's so whimsical! Zhou Xingfeng shook his head again and again, and said loudly: "If Lin Feng implements the Yihan Alliance in all parts of the Chu State, we will never have a chance to unite the soldiers of all ethnic groups again; As long as the news of the three-year rent exemption spreads throughout Chen and Lang Prefectures, we are afraid that we will not even be able to recruit a single soldier who is willing to follow! In addition, do you think that Lin Feng, who is as shrewd as a fox, will give you this opportunity and give us this opportunity? ”

The last straw was ruthlessly cut off, and Liu Yan was like a dying patient who had just returned to the light, and suddenly retracted back into the chair, his face was completely gray.

After a long time, Liu Yan asked with difficulty, "What conditions did Lin Feng give?" ”

"Chenzhou surrendered, all Chenzhou soldiers surrendered, waiting to fall; You alone will be responsible for going to Tanzhou, exempting your family from responsibility, but you must all move to Jinling City! To tell the truth, it is still Zhou's efforts to exempt your family from guilt, and with Lin Feng's meaning, he wants to punish your whole clan! Zhou Xingfeng stared at the charcoal fire that was about to be extinguished in the brazier and said dryly.

Liu Yan's eyes were also staring at the charcoal fire, which was about to lose its light, and he didn't speak again.

Until the charcoal fire in the basin was completely extinguished, there was no sound coming from the dark study.

It is not only Liu Yan who also feels that there is nowhere to escape from the world, but in Langzhou City, north of Chenzhou, Ma Xixu's eldest son, Ma Guanghui, who is only nineteen years old, has been crazy for several days.

After being left behind by Ma Xixu to defend Langzhou, especially after the Langzhou army successfully attacked Tanzhou City, Ma Guanghui was also once high-spirited. Before leaving, my father secretly promised himself that as long as he guarded the base of Langzhou, the king of Chu would definitely pass it on to him a hundred years later!

Good times never last long! It didn't take long for the news of the defeat of Guizhou to come, and Ma Guanghui was taken aback, and he was always worried that the Chu State would encounter a big invasion by foreign enemies; Who knew that in a few days, the real catastrophe came! News came from Tanzhou City that the Battle of Guizhou was won, but my father and uncle killed each other and were all killed!

This eye-catching thunderbolt suddenly crushed the young Ma Guanghui. Therefore, when Ma Bin was ordered by Li Congqian to give him the "ultimatum", Ma Guanghui went crazy and kept shouting "I don't believe it", and spent several days in confusion and madness.

When Ma Guanghui's mood finally calmed down, he summoned Ma Bin again to ask for ideas.

Ma Bin is also dead-hearted, and he has no spirit at all. He couldn't have imagined that he was begging the Tang Dynasty on the orders of Ma Xicao to bring Lin Feng in, and he never imagined that killing him would bring the disaster of annihilation to the Chu State and the danger of exterminating the Ma family!

Ma Bin said with a sad face: "Guanghui, now, if you still want to keep a little blood of the Ma family, there is only one way, immediately lead the whole clan to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and take the initiative to ask to move to Jinling!" ”

Ma Guanghui's eyes were bloodshot, and he sat there panting silently, his face full of unwillingness and anger.