Duan Feng returned to his residence and told Sun Cheng his questions: "Uncle Sun, in my opinion, the economy of Cloud City is quite rich and the population is large, why is the armament so weak?"

Sun Cheng sighed: "Although Yunjian City is an important smelting town, most of the pig iron produced here has been transported to the imperial capital, and ninety percent of the annual taxes here have also been handed over to the imperial capital, so now the treasury of Yunjian City is an empty shell, what can I use to recruit troops and buy horses." ”

Duan Feng said, "Why is this happening? Isn't the emperor afraid of any mistakes?"

Sun Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that you still don't know much about our emperor! Our emperor is suspicious by nature, and he never trusts others, except for the Ouyang family of the Imperial Forest Guard, he is always wary of any other generals who lead troops abroad, since the Su brothers rebelled forty years ago, the emperor has gradually withdrawn the military power everywhere, and the four major military towns of the imperial capital of Gongwei have also imposed strict restrictions on their military strength, especially Yunxia County, even the basic reserve army is not allowed to exist. Now, the strongest armed forces of the empire are the rangers of Nanhai County and Ouyang Zhende's Imperial Forest Guard. ”

"It's a pity that the Rangers have been disbanded. ”

"Oh? I don't know very well. ”

"Since Liu Nanchun took over Nanhai County, the Rangers have been disbanded. ”

"I see, that's a shame. ”

Duan Feng was now accustomed to the misfortune he had encountered, so when he heard about his father again, his heart calmed down a lot, and he said, "Are you talking about the two brothers Su Hongzhen and Su Hongfang just now?"

Sun Cheng was a little surprised: "Do you know them?"

Duan Feng said: "I also heard an old man who bought wontons when I was passing through Wuli Town. But I heard that Su Hong was really framed, isn't it true?"

Hearing this, Sun Cheng was stunned for a moment and asked: "I don't know this very well, so many years have passed since the incident, and the people who participated in that incident at that time are basically dead, it is all in the past, don't mention it." ”

Duan Feng asked, "But there is one thing I don't quite understand, I heard the merchants on the road say that the number of minecarts entering Cloud City has gradually decreased over the years, is there such a thing?"

Sun Cheng said: "No, this must be the complaint of those businessmen who can't grab the deal, you don't have to take it to heart." Over the years, the smelters in Cloud City have never stopped, and the number of mine carts has also increased year by year, and it is no different. ”

Duan Feng saw that Sun Cheng seemed to be deliberately hiding something, so he didn't continue to ask, Duan Feng and Sun Cheng said something irrelevant and then returned to their residence.

Sun Yue asked, "Do you think he will believe it?"

Sun Cheng said: "I hope so." ”

Sun Yue said again: "Do you think we really need to do this?"

Sun Cheng looked at his son: "I know him too well, if we don't have enough strength, I'm afraid we will be eaten by him in the future, but if we expose our strength too early, we will also be eaten by him." Remember Daddy's words and never trust anyone. ”

"But it seems that Duan Feng doesn't know about this. ”

"Sooner or later he'll know. ”

After staying in Cloud City for a few days, Duan Feng and the others said goodbye to the Sun family and their son, and returned to Moonlight City the same way, and everyone did not encounter any trouble along the way.

"What's next for you? Return to Phoenix?"

"Since I have already seen Yun Tianlong, and the eldest brother can't be rescued for a while, I can't find anything when I go back to Phoenix City now. ”

"What do you mean?"

"Let's continue to look for the magic sword, we've delayed enough time, Fei'er doesn't know what to do. ”

"It seems that this is the only way to go. ”

"It's just that don't tell Wei'er about this for now. ”

"I understand. ”

Han Qing asked, "Do you believe Sun Cheng's words?"

Duan Feng was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "There shouldn't be any problem, now that I think about it, our Phoenix City's city defense doesn't seem to be very reliable, otherwise the Demon Realm wouldn't have harassed Phoenix City frequently." ”

Han Qing looked at Duan Feng and didn't speak. Suddenly, Duan Feng stopped, looked around, and Han Qing asked, "What's wrong?"

Duan Feng looked at Han Qing: "Don't you think there's something wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

"Don't you think this place looks familiar?"

"Familiar?" Han Qing looked around, the surrounding environment was indeed a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it for a while.

Han Qing stopped everyone and looked around, this was an empty meadow, the grass on the ground was very fresh, as if it had just grown, and there was nothing unusual other than that: "What's wrong?"

Duan Feng asked, "How long have we been gone?"

"It's been two days. ”

"At that time, we set off from Wuli Town and arrived in Yunjian City in two days with a huge convoy, and now we are traveling lightly, it stands to reason that we should have arrived in Wuli Town a long time ago. ”

Han Qing looked at Duan Feng in shock: "That's right! Wuli Town!

Duan Feng ordered everyone to dismount and run to a hill next to him, which was the hill they had stationed two days ago, from where they could clearly see Wuli Town, but Duan Feng looked around and tried his best to look far away, but he didn't find any shadow of the town.

This made Duan Feng and the others feel a little panicked, how could a town of tens of thousands of people disappear without a trace in just a few days, and there was no trace of the surrounding battles and vehicles, not like they had suffered a military disaster or other disasters.

Duan Feng and the others rode back and forth along the original road several times, and were sure that this Wuli Town had indeed mysteriously disappeared, and the location of the original Wuli Town was overgrown with lush weeds, as if it had never existed at all.

Duan Feng said: "What the hell is going on, there are many strange things along the way, what is going on, it seems that wherever we go, strange things will follow." ”

While everyone was meditating, an unkempt old man walked over to everyone, Duan Feng hurriedly ran over, and when he looked closely, it was the old wonton.

Duan Feng helped the old wonton to sit on a stone on the side of the road and asked what happened to the old wonton.

The old wonton said in a hoarse voice: "Three days ago at night, I was sleeping, and suddenly I heard a chaos outside, so I secretly got out of bed, and saw through the crack in the door that the lights were bright outside, and a group of people drove all the residents of the town out of the house with knives and guns, and I felt that the situation was not good, so I hid in the cellar of my house. When he came out, the whole town disappeared without a trace. ”

Duan Feng didn't hear any clues from the old wonton's words, but judging from the tone of the old wonton's words, he seemed to have something to hide. Duan Feng asked, "Do you remember the story you told us at the beginning?"

Old Wonton glanced up at Duan Feng: "Remember." ”

Duan Feng looked at Han Qing and leaned over: "I have a question that I don't understand. In your story, there are three brothers, and I want to know, what happened to the third brother?"

Old Wonton was suddenly stunned for a moment, and did not answer Duan Feng's words, but took out a wine gourd from behind him, took a sip of wine, and said slowly: "That third child, it is estimated that he will also die later." ”

This was obviously not the answer Duan Feng wanted, Duan Feng continued to ask: "The old man seems to be very familiar with this story, you really don't know where he went in the end?"

"I don't know. The old wonton said and turned sideways to Duan Feng.

Duan Feng still looked at the old wonton with a suspicious gaze, and had no intention of leaving.

Old Wonton looked at Duan Feng: "If Childe is really curious about this matter, I have a place to go, and maybe there will be the answer you want." ”

Duan Feng asked, "Where?"

The old wonton coughed: "Yongdingguan." ”

After saying that, the old wonton's body twitched, and a few drops of white foam flowed from the corners of his mouth, and then he fell to the ground and didn't wake up, Han Qing reached out and touched the old man's snort, and said, "It's dead." ”

Saying that, Han Qing picked up the wine gourd, sniffed it, and said, "It's poisonous wine." ”

Duan Feng looked at the old man on the ground and said, "Let's go to Yongding Pass." ”

Liu Yuwei said: "Yongding Pass, what is that place? What the hell is going on? What should the escort team do?"

Duan Feng said: "The escort team will go back first, let's go to Yongding Pass first, and I will tell you the details slowly on the way." ”

Han Qing said, "Is this appropriate? Besides, this matter doesn't seem to have anything to do with us, right?"

Duan Feng said: "How can it be okay? If it doesn't matter, why did Lao Wonton run to us and commit suicide, and before committing suicide, he told us that he was going to Yongding Pass? I have a gut feeling that there must be some secret in this Yongding Pass, and this secret is closely related to us. ”

After saying that, Duan Feng sent the others back to Moonlight City first, while he and Han Qing took Liu Yuwei and Su Yanjun to the north.

Along the way, Duan Feng explained to Liu Yuwei and Su Yanjun how he met Lao Wonton in Wuli Town, and the story that Lao Wonton told him, and then the four of them quickly rushed towards the direction of Yongding Pass.

When Yun Tianlong stood in front of Liu Nanchun angrily, Liu Nanchun was really surprised, and then pretended to be calm and said: "How is the task completed?"

Yun Tianlong looked at Liu Nanchun who was sitting on the chair and sneered: "Doesn't the city lord know the result?"

Liu Nanchun glanced at Yun Tianlong sideways, knowing that everything was going according to his plan, but what made him strange was that Yun Tianlong was not injured, but judging from his expression, Duan Feng had not suffered a heavy blow, Liu Nanchun asked rhetorically, "What is the result?"

Yun Tianlong didn't wait for Liu Nanchun's instructions and went straight to find a chair, sat opposite Liu Nanchun, and said with a gloomy face: "I'm not Duan Tiande, I hope that the city lord can understand the relationship between us in my heart." ”

Liu Nanchun glanced at Yun Tianlong and said with a smile: "Brother Yun, where are you talking about this, I know that this matter is a bit difficult, and if you can't finish it, forget it." In the future, I will have to rely on Brother Yun to help me manage the affairs of Phoenix City. ”

Yun Tianlong sneered: "The city lord is serious, as long as I am not attacked by someone when I walk at night one night, then I will be satisfied." ”

Liu Nanchun smiled: "Brother Yun, what are these words, how can you say that you are also the chief commander of the Wubei Division, and you are also the owner of Qingshui Villa, who in the world has the courage to sneak attack you?"

"It's hard to say, after all, I have too many people's handles in my hands, and maybe one day these handles will fall into the hands of outsiders, and some people may take risks to protect their secrets. ”

Liu Nanchun's face sank, and then he laughed again and said, "Brother Yun is joking. ”

"But it doesn't matter, since I dare to take these handles, I have a way to ensure that they are not stolen casually, even if I die, they will still exist. ”

Yun Tianlong said and got up to leave, then turned around again, put a piece of paper on Liu Nanchun's table, and said, "Qingshui Villa is my Yun family's property, I don't want anyone to fight its idea, I hope this is the last time." ”

Liu Nanchun watched Yun Tianlong leave Liufu, the expression on his face was very ugly, this was not the first time Yun Tianlong threatened himself, but this time his attitude was tougher, Liu Nanchun felt that he couldn't control him more and more.

At this time, Liu Wenxing walked in, picked up the paper on the table, and opened it to see: "These people ······"

Before Liu Wenxing could finish speaking, Liu Nanchun raised his hand to stop Liu Wenxing: "This poisonous snake has finally grown up!"

Liu Wenxing said: "Do you want me to find someone to get rid of him?" ”

Liu Nanchun leaned on the back of the chair, sighed, and said: "It's not that simple, the current Yuntian Dragon is no longer the Yuntian Dragon before, although we have achieved our goal in this mission, Duan Feng will not return to Phoenix City for the time being, but our price is too great." Now, the entire Armament Division is basically completely under the control of Yun Tianlong, and the Qi Control Division must have hidden a lot of his cronies. ”

Liu Wenxing said: "Then what should I do, will he Yun Tianlong take the opportunity to seize power?"

Liu Nanchun said: "No, he doesn't have this strength at the moment, after all, his foundation in Phoenix City is still shallow, and if he has no other allies, he doesn't dare to act rashly." However, this person is more ruthless than I imagined, and we must pay more attention in the future, this poisonous snake, if it is not well raised, it will bite us back when the time comes. ”

"Do you just let him do whatever he wants?"

"It doesn't matter, he can't form the climate for the time being, let's be careful in the future, as long as he doesn't affect our plans, don't move him for the time being, you pay more attention to the Qi Control Division, and control the situation as soon as possible." ”

"I see. ”

"How's going up north?

Liu Wenxing thought for a while and said, "The people we sent to the Far North have returned. ”

Liu Nanchun sat up and asked expectantly, "How is the situation?"

Liu Wenxing replied: "The situation is getting worse and worse. ”

Liu Nanchun asked worriedly, "What about that batch of goods?"

Liu Wenxing returned: "The goods have been prepared and can be shipped out at any time." ”

Liu Nanchun breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, hold on for a while, soon." You go to Moonlight City tomorrow and tell Sima Ran about this place, so that he can speed up his preparations. As for the rest, it's up to Duan Feng. ”