"General, it's still early, we'll have lunch in the town before we leave, right?"

After the cavalry of the Northern Legion entered the town of Garrison, one of his own soldiers suggested to Admiral Bernard.

"Okay! Let's rest and eat, and leave on time in an hour. ”

General Bernard looked up at the sun in the sky, it was noon, and they had been on their horses since dawn in the morning, and now they were indeed hungry. Zhuma Town was only more than a hundred miles away from Boulder City, and even if they delayed a little longer after eating, they could rush back to the imperial capital before dark, so they nodded and agreed.

After receiving the general's instructions, the soldiers immediately moved and found a nearby inn to rest first. Let the boss prepare some forage to feed the horses, and then the soldiers will cook it themselves, and soon a large pot of meat will be stewed.

General Bernard sat among the soldiers and dined, a habit he had insisted on for many years, eating and living with the soldiers.

The soldiers ate quickly, and in less than five minutes a large pot of meat had been eaten, and several well-fed soldiers stood up and prepared to replace the robes that were still on duty outside, but before they could go out, they heard the sound of scolding outside, and followed two soldiers into the dining room with a beggar-like person.

"General, we have found a man sneaking over the wall into the stable, with bad intentions. ”

The soldier threw the man on the ground, and then prayed, and Bernard looked at the beggar on the ground, but saw that the other party was also looking at him, and his eyes were not only not afraid of panic, but full of excitement and joy.

"Your Excellency, General, I have finally waited for you. ”

When the beggar-like man saw Bernard, he jumped up from the ground and pounced on him, and one of his own soldiers tried to stop him, but General Bernard raised his hand to stop him.

"Let him come!"

General Bernard's words were an order, and his soldiers got out of the way, and the beggar-like man stumbled up to him and grabbed his calloused hand.

"General, I can see you. ”

"Who are you?"

"I'm a close confidant of the Marquis Williams!"

"The Marquis's people, why are you here?"

General Bernard was stunned when he heard this, the marquis's cronies were not waiting for him in the imperial capital, and he came here, and he was so depressed?

"General, it's hard to put into words. This is a letter from the lord to you, you can take a look at it first. ”

The beggar-like man shook his head, took out a lacquered letter from his bosom and handed it to Bernard.

General Bernard took the letter with some disbelief, and tore open the envelope. The Marquis Williams had the grace of knowing him, and he was also his superior, and the two often exchanged letters, and he was very familiar with the Marquis's handwriting, and recognized at a glance that it was the Marquis's own letter.

"Is this all true?"

After just one glance at the contents of the letter, General Bernard's face became grim, and as he read more and more contents, his strong chest rose and fell violently a few times, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper, and finally formed two deep folds on his forehead, and it was not until he had read all the contents that he raised his head, and asked uncertainly with a cold light in his tiger eyes.

"General, don't you even believe the words of the Marquis?"

"It's not unbelief. Instead, I had just received an order from the military headquarters before I came, and it was still stamped with the seal of the Marquis, saying that the eldest prince had launched a coup d'état, His Majesty had been killed, and the second prince had succeeded to the throne, so let me return to the matter quickly. Why did everything change all of a sudden?"

"It was written by the coup d'état who forced him to put a knife on his neck, and the master had to compromise for the sake of the overall situation, but he quietly asked me to pass the letter to the general behind my back. I had arrived in Zhuma ten days earlier and was stopped from going north. In order to be able to see the general in time, he could only disguise himself as a beggar and squat on the street every day. The hard work pays off, and when I saw your team today, I recognized the general from a distance, but I didn't dare to recognize each other in front of the street, so I could only follow quietly, and only when you entered the hotel, did I sneak from behind, and you found out when I was over the wall. ”

The visitor said with a wry smile.

"I see!"

General Bernard clenched his fists.

"General, let me tell you that the coup group is most worried about the Northern Army, and they will definitely try every means to seize the military power of the Northern Army, so the urgent transfer of you back to Beijing is not to discuss any major matters, but to seize the military power in your hands. If you enter the imperial capital like this today, I am afraid that the result will be more auspicious. But if the general is willing, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is now on the run, as long as you save him and command the Northern Army to go south to quell the rebellion, there is still hope for Yous. If the Northern Legion also pledged allegiance to the Second Prince, the fruits of His Majesty's efforts for so many years would be complete, and Yous would soon become the possession of Emperor Hepburn. ”

The messenger took the general's hand tightly and said in a pleading tone, and finally he added:

"Of course, the power to make decisions is in the hands of the general, and the lord can consider it carefully. ”

"I understand what the Marquis means, but it's too early to talk about waving the army south, and what we should consider is how to return to Valen Pass safely. ”

General Bernard pondered for a moment, looked up at the north, and said with a worried face. If the new emperor really has bad intentions towards himself, then he must have laid a net waiting for him to drill, and I am afraid it will not be so easy to get out.

"General, what should we do next? Go south to the imperial capital or return to Valun Pass?"

The captain of the pro-soldier listened to the conversation between the two of them on the side, and basically understood the whole story and the seriousness of the matter, and now he had to make a decision.

"Pass my order, and after dinner, we will return to the imperial capital according to the original plan. ”

General Bernard replied in a calm tone.

"Your Excellency, you have to think carefully!"

Hearing that the general was going to insist on going south, the messenger was a little anxious.

"Go back and thank the Marquis for me, and tell him that Bernard will not forget his kindness. ”

Ten minutes later, everyone had had eaten their lunch, and the horses outside had been fed a round of forage. The cavalry led their horses out of the hotel and continued on the road in the direction of Boulder City.

After a full ten miles of speed, Bernard ordered his men to rest in the woods behind a bend.

"General, as you expected, they sent a team to follow us. ”

After resting for a quarter of an hour, two personal soldiers came in from outside the woods, these two people were the people who Bernard quietly stayed behind on the way to be responsible for the reconnaissance after the break, and they truthfully reported the information they had detected to Bernard.

"How many?"

The general asked very succinctly.

"About 2,000, all cavalry! ”

"Two thousand?" the general sneered: "It's time for them to know the strength of the Northern Army!"