Sima Hongyan said: "Now that we are marching eastward, I don't believe in any coincidences. The only plausible explanation is that this deserted town is simply for us, and the water in the tank has long been left untouched, just waiting for us to use the ready-made. ”

Ban Lingruo didn't believe it, and said: "Sister, we have always been careful outside, it is impossible to poison the water, and we check anything to eat and drink in advance." ”

Sima Hongyan said: "Then what if it is a poison that cannot be detected?" There are poisons that can't be detected with a silver needle, and there are no less than dozens of poisons that the fourth sister alone knows. ”

Seeing that everyone still had doubts, Sima Hongyan asked Zhong Liying to bring a few female soldiers over to get some water samples and come back, and try it.

However, Shi Jinyan deeply thought of Sima Hongyan's words, and it was indeed a bit deliberate to fill all the water tanks with water, if there was no way in it, she would not believe it.

In order to confirm Sima Hongyan's speculation, Zhong Liying took a few female soldiers under his command and cautiously entered the town to take water samples, and only saw her come back after a while.

Everyone saw Zhong Liying's strange face, and they didn't know what she had discovered, so they all looked at her with wide eyes, waiting for the conclusion of her inspection, including Sima Hongyan, who was also looking at her expectantly.

Zhong Liying got straight to the point and said, "I checked the water in multiple water tanks in the town, and the results were all the same, there was no poison in the water. ”

Everyone said "Huh", and Sima Hongyan also frowned, she had never made a mistake in judgment.

However, Zhong Liying continued: "Although the water is non-toxic, it is mixed with another drug. I have been delaying for a long time to test the method of this drug attack, it turns out that as long as the water is poured into a pot and boiled on the fire, the medicine mixed with the water will turn into highly toxic, and the boiling water vapor will drift everywhere. Once inhaled into the lungs, the lungs will immediately fail, and they will be suffocated to death. If we were stationed in this town today and cook with the water of the town, at least none of the people in this town would survive! ”

Xiao Hongying blurted out angrily: "These Dongning people are really vicious, they actually came up with this way to deal with us, what a bunch of bastards!" ”

Sima Hongyan said to everyone at this time: "Everyone understands now, right? In order to stop us, the people of Dongning have begun to do everything they can, and they will do everything they can to kill us. There is no morality here, and there is no reason, only you live and die. So from now on, everyone must pay attention to prevent the tricks of the Dongning people and protect their companions. I hope that as many of us will come, as many of us will return, and no one will lose their lives in Dongning. ”

Everyone was the closest person to Lord Feng, and of course they knew Sima Hongyan's concern, so they all nodded solemnly.

So the army passed through the town and continued on for another ten miles, and then camped and rested.

After a few days of marching, it has been getting closer and closer to the main city on the outer edge of Dongning, and the wet and salty air of the sea water in the air is getting heavier and heavier.

From the small town traps along the road, Sima Hongyan can see that the people of Dongning are insidious enough, and it is estimated that even if they go head-to-head, they will not fight hard. Moreover, there are many murderous killers raised by the Dongning royal family, and the Six Dao Hades King has made Sima Hongyan suffer a lot, maybe how many snoopers are lurking in the shadows now, all looking for an opportunity to want their lives.

No matter how strong the Yanling army is, it can't be leaderless, so Sima Hongyan believes that Dongning must have made many assassination plans for her.

However, Sima Hongyan is not worried about the Dongning people's plot against her, this time she brought out almost all the elites of the Hongyan Women's Army, the purpose is to protect these important generals in the army, if it is better than the ability to ambush and assassinate, the female army is no worse than others.

When I came to the city, I saw that there was not a single soldier guarding the high city wall, and there was not even a single flag, as if this was a deserted city.

Judging from the extension of the city wall, it is also strong, and the city wall is high enough, if you send troops to hold on, it will not be easy to be broken for a while. But such a city was not defended, but the gates were abandoned in all directions.

This made Yan Lingjun a little confused, what is this? Give up resisting? The answer is definitely not. However, the Dongning people's actions were contrary to common sense, which made everyone feel a sense of worry, wondering if there was any ambush in this city, or if it was a trick.

Since the decision to attack Dongning, Sima Hongyan has withdrawn the female soldiers lurking in Dongning, and in such a sensitive period when the two countries are at war, Dongning must strictly guard against secret agents, and Sima Hongyan naturally can't let others make senseless sacrifices. But in this way, it is impossible to grasp the internal movements of Dongning, and it is somewhat passive.

For the sake of safety, Shi Jinyan suggested that a team of cavalry should be sent into the city to investigate first, and if there was danger, they should immediately withdraw and find another way.

Sima Hongyan agreed, and Nan Guying immediately dispatched a team of elite cavalry into the city. Today's Yanling cavalry is fully armed, and the war horses they ride are also excellent war horses contributed by Western Vietnam, and their combat effectiveness and action are extraordinary.

After a commander and his subordinates saluted Sima Hongyan's side, he turned around and ran towards the empty city. When the cavalry commander saluted, Sima Hongyan felt as if he had seen him somewhere, and after thinking about it, he remembered that the person turned out to be Gan Yunkai.

Since Gan Yunkai was defeated in the competition with the female soldiers, he led his subordinates to work hard, trained hard under Nan Guying's training, and performed very well. Although the combat ability of individual soldiers may not be as good as that of female soldiers, the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the third battalion of Xiaocai is already the elite of the cavalry elite.

After the cavalry entered the city, Sima Hongyan and Shi Jinyan discussed: "In addition to this road, do we have any other road to take?" The people of Dongning naturally know that this is the only way for us to attack, and they will inevitably lay countless traps along the way. Even if we can find out, it will be a waste of our time and energy, and we must find another way to avoid being led by the nose. ”

Shi Jinyan looked at the empty city in front of her and said solemnly: "I also feel very bad, now we are completely touching and walking, and it is inevitable that we will be ambushed by each other." I have two ideas for you to consider looking at. The first is to give up the near and go far, we get out of the way of the main road, around the north gate when you escaped from Dongning, but this road is farther, and the time delay is secondary, the key is that the battle line is too long, and the supply of reserves is prone to problems. The second way is to take the sea route to attack the West Gate, and we need to go to the sea to grab the ship and risk crossing the sea. The distance can be saved by half, but it is difficult to say whether the ship can be captured, and our soldiers are not good at water warfare, even if they have a ship, if they encounter the Dongning Navy at sea, they are not opponents. So this second method can only be regarded as a next policy! ”

Sima Hongyan did not hesitate to deny the idea of taking the sea route, she said to Shi Jinyan: "We must not do things that we are not good at, otherwise we will put our lives in the hands of the other party, and the idea of seizing the boat and crossing the sea does not need to be considered." The road to the north gate is too far for a large army to march, so I think I can consider taking the east side. You think, the south, west, and north are all close to the sea, and the warships in Dongning have long-range weapons, and if we attack any of these three places, we will form a flanking attack, but the east is full of land, and it is far from the sea, which is the most beneficial for us. ”

Shi Jinyan said: "But have you thought about it, the east must be guarded by Dongning's elite soldiers, and then we will encounter the most stubborn resistance." ”

Sima Hongyan said: "Even if we encounter the greatest resistance, it is better than us running to the board and letting others slaughter us!" As long as it is on flat ground, I have absolute confidence in our army. Moreover, Dongning has lost this advantage at sea, and it is not easy to compete with us. ”

As he spoke, he heard a chaotic sound coming from the city, as if many pots and jars were falling from a height. Then there was another neighing of horses, and it was clear that the cavalry who had gone in to explore the road had been ambushed.

Sima Hongyan immediately ordered the gong to be struck to recall the cavalry, and as soon as the gong sounded, I saw a sudden fire in the city, as if the whole city was ignited in an instant, and it was immediately wrapped in flames.

Everyone was taken aback, and Sima Hongyan hurriedly said, "Go and save people!" ”

It seems that this empty city has been poured with fire oil everywhere, and it will burn up as soon as it encounters an open fire, and in order to deal with the Yanling army, the Dongning people are really willing to burn down a city.

Many soldiers wanted to put out the fire, but because there was no water source nearby, and the fire was so big that they were almost roasted if they got closer, everyone could only watch the fire burn wantonly but were completely helpless.

Before he saw the enemy's face, he folded a group of elite cavalry in vain, and Sima Hongyan was furious in his heart.

Just as everyone felt sorry for their companions, they suddenly saw flames flickering at the city gate, and a fireball rushed out of the city gate. Everyone was startled, not knowing what had come out, and they were all on fire. The Yanling army was immediately alert, and the female army also subconsciously surrounded Sima Hongyan in the core, vigilantly staring at the movement of the fireball.

Suddenly the ball of fire burst into the air, and out of the fire came a man and a horse, and when the fire left them, the horse neighed, and fell to the ground with the man on the horse, and they still had a little flame on them. The soldiers immediately rushed to them, and beat them with blankets, towels, clothes, and all kinds of things, until all the flames were completely extinguished.

Look at the flame that flew up just now, it turned out to be a burning thick blanket, at this time it has been burned by the fire and there is almost nothing left, but everyone can recognize that it is a thick blanket used to spread under the body when camping, one piece per person in the Yanling cavalry, which is usually folded and tied to the back of a horse.

The fallen cavalryman was helped up by everyone, fortunately he covered himself with a blanket, otherwise he would have been burned to black charcoal by such a fire, but he had a lot of burns on his calves and arms, and it didn't look light. And his horse was even worse, the blanket could not be completely covered, and the lower half of the horse's body was almost burned, and it would definitely not be able to be saved.

The crowd poured water and pinched the man before he woke up the cavalryman, and the first thing he said when he opened his eyes was to shout: "Quick! Go and pull the rope on the horse's back. ”

Only then did everyone realize that behind the fallen horse, there was a long rope, but it had been ignited by the fire, and it was crackling and burning.