Nie Xingji and Ming Chenyuan now live in the north of Cangyu City, a palace built by King Jiang in the previous generation, in addition to King Jiang's Palace, this should be the most comfortable and luxurious place in the entire Jiang Kingdom. King Jiang placed them to live here, which was not only in line with Nie Xingji's identity, but also quiet and comfortable, without losing the slightest etiquette.

However, when he saw Nie Xingji this time, Ming Chenyuan felt that he had changed, but he couldn't say where he had changed. In short, Nie Xingji did not have the temperament he used to have, and he began to become calm, or silent.

Ming Chenyuan has only been with him for more than ten days, and he still can't tell which kind of change he has.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, news came from the Yan Palace, saying that Nie Xingyi refused to go upstairs to congratulate the people on the grounds that he was too poor, so Wei Nong rectified him, and finally he appeared on the North City Tower as scheduled.

When the news came to Cangyu City, Nie Xingji still praised Wei Nong, and then began to drink with Ming Chenyuan to keep the New Year. Ming Chenyuan took the opportunity to ask him: "Did you tell the county lord about not returning to Yan Kingdom?" ”

"Not yet," Nie Xingji seemed to be drunk, and smiled slightly, "Let her spend the New Year in peace, and I'll tell her again." ”

Ming Chenyuan was a little worried about him when he heard this: "I'm afraid the county lord will be angry with you." ”

Nie Xingji was still smiling, but he didn't answer, and there were a few traces of helplessness and longing in his eyes.

Ming Chenyuan originally wanted to ask a few more words, but King Jiang suddenly came to visit, saying that he wanted to have a few drinks with Nie Xingji. He hurriedly greeted the guests and set up wine, and several people talked and drank freely, and the atmosphere was very lively. In the end, Nie Xingji, who usually drinks a lot of alcohol, actually got drunk and fell asleep on the table.

And King Jiang is still walking steadily, but he has a lot of words.

According to custom, the night of Chinese New Year's Eve is to observe the New Year, and you must not go to bed before the child hour. But Ming Chenyuan and Nie Xingji have never been people who stick to this, the former saw that the latter was drunk, so he hurriedly sent someone to serve him to bed, and he sent King Jiang a ride on his behalf.

The two walked towards the main gate of the palace on foot, and they had to say a few polite words to each other, such as "long admiration" Yunyun, as well as the customs of their own country. Although King Jiang is now the king of a country, since he has chosen to belong to the Yan Kingdom, he naturally knows that he will be a vassal in the future. He had long known that Ming Chenyuan was the number one celebrity in front of Nie Xingji, so he also put down his body and took the opportunity to talk to the other party, wanting to establish a good relationship in advance.

When they arrived at the palace gate, the two were also familiar with each other, and Ming Chenyuan naturally asked: "Have you been living in Cangyu City for more than half a year?" ”

"No," Jiang Wang replied casually, "he had been away for a while in October this year, saying that an old friend of Ning Guo had come to visit him. ”

An old friend of Ning Guo? Ming Chenyuan was a little puzzled. What friends can Nie Xingji have in Ningguo? He'd never been to Ningguo! Ming Chenyuan wanted to ask a few more words, but Jiang Wang's knowledge was limited, so he really couldn't ask anything, so he had to disperse.

This night, Ming Chenyuan has been thinking about this problem. He asked himself that he had grown up with Nie Xingji since he was a child, and he knew Nie Xingji's network very well, except for a few small works that were installed in Ning Guo, Nie Xingji didn't have any old friends in Ning Guo at all.

Will it be to meet the finesse? Or is it someone else? Nie Xingji has now changed his flying and strong personality and is becoming more and more silent, is it related to that "old friend"?

For some reason, Ming Chenyuan always felt faintly uneasy, but before he could think deeply, the remaining 70,000 Yan troops also arrived outside Cangyu City one after another, and Nie Xingji ordered him to go to the place where he was stationed.

So many soldiers must not be able to enter the city, and Cangyu City cannot be stationed. In fact, before the Yan army set off, Nie Xingji had already discussed with King Jiang about the place to camp, which was at the junction of Jiang Ning, the branch of the 100,000 Great Mountain, "Cangshan".

There are several advantages to setting up the Yan army camp on Cangshan: one can reach Youzhou in Ningguo through Cangshan, and if you really want to start a war, you can quickly seize the important town of Youzhou; Second, the woods on Cangshan are dense, which can be used as shelter, and the Yan army is stationed here, and Ning Guo will not find it in the short term.

Therefore, throughout the first month, Ming Chenyuan led the army to Cangshan non-stop, and thus ignored the strangeness of Nie Xingji.

"You lead the army to camp first, don't act rashly for the time being, I will deal with some things in Cangyu City, and I will go over to meet you as soon as possible." Nie Xingji is fate.

Ming Chenyuan received the order and reminded him: "Cangyu City is the capital of Jiang Kingdom, it is necessary for you to install a few spies here in case King Jiang changes." ”

"Don't worry, I'll leave Jian Feng behind." Nie Xingji had already prepared.

Jian Feng was the guard who escorted Wei Nong to Jiang Country for detoxification, and later after Wei Nong arrived in Ning Kingdom, he heard that Nie Xingji would be in danger, so he asked him to go back to ventilate and report the news. Almost five years have passed in a blink of an eye, and Jian Feng first experienced a period of training in the army over the years, and then was transferred back to the Yanwang Palace to be Nie Xingji's personal bodyguard, and then came to Jiang Guo in April last year for peace talks.

As soon as Ming Chenyuan heard that Jian Feng would be left in Cangyu City, he felt a little relieved, and before leaving, the two discussed some military affairs, mainly proposing several early warning measures to prevent the Ning army from suddenly attacking and so on.

This made Ming Chenyuan have a feeling that the battle with Ning Jun was imminent, and that uneasiness surfaced again, prompting him to ask, "Do you really want to take the initiative to start a war so soon?" ”

"Food and grass are limited, and the soldiers' energy is also limited, and spending too long will hurt morale." Nie Xingji had obviously made up his mind.

Ming Chenyuan sighed: "Having said that, wouldn't it be too hasty?" ”

Nie Xingji was a little surprised when he heard this: "How did you become a mother-in-law now?" If I'm not mistaken, you've tried to persuade me to go to war again and again. ”

"Uh......" Mingchen was blocked for a moment and had nothing to say.

Seeing this, Nie Xingji thought for a moment, and then said, "You wait a minute. He went straight to the inner room, not knowing what to do.

Mingchen waited outside for a long time before he saw him come out with a scroll, which seemed to be ...... A painting?

Nie Xingji unfolded the scroll in front of Ming Chenyuan, but saw that there were countless twists and turns on it, and countless strange patterns were also marked, which was a commonly used military symbol in the Guiguzi Art of War!

Mingchen was surprised, pointed to the scroll and asked, "This is?" ”

"This is the other half of the mountains and rivers to prevent the map." Nie Xingji suppressed his excitement: "This is the reason why I am in a hurry to start a war against Ning Guo. ”

Ming Chenyuan was obviously overshocked, his expression was shocked, suspicious and happy, and he hurriedly asked, "Where did this come from?" ”

Nie Xingchen then explained the reason for getting this half of the anti-layout map: "The half of the anti-layout map that Wei Nong gave me at the beginning, there were only Yan and Jiang, so I brought this map to Jiang Guo to try to increase the bargaining chips for peace talks. Unexpectedly, after King Jiang saw it, he took out this half of the picture and compared it with me, saying that it was found among Chu Yao's relics. ”

Ming Chenyuan was a little confused when he heard it: "But...... Didn't the county lord say that the half of the picture was taken away by Yunchen? ”

"I don't understand the specific situation, I just heard King Jiang say that he found this scroll among Chu Yao's relics, although he couldn't understand it, but he felt that this thing was very important, so he kept it properly." Nie Xingji said truthfully: "It wasn't until I brought the other half that King Jiang looked familiar, and then he remembered that Chu Yao still had half a picture." I've carefully compared, at least the terrain of Chudi is all true. ”

At this point, Nie Xingchen sighed again: "It is precisely because King Jiang has the other half of the anti-layout map in his hand that he temporarily increased the conditions for negotiation, otherwise the peace talks would not have progressed so slowly, and I would not have promised him not to start a war in Jiang's country." ”

"Could this be a trap?" Ming Chenyuan felt that there must be a mystery in it: "Could it be that Queen Jiang deliberately left half a fake picture before her death, wanting to lure us into the bait?" ”

But how could she have expected that King Jiang would collect the picture? What if King Jiang throws it away? How did she know that this half of the picture would eventually fall into my hands? Nie Xingji has been thinking about this for a long time.

"Maybe she saw Jiang Guo getting close to us and guessed that Yan Jiang would join forces sooner or later, so she gambled before she died?" Ming Chenyuan guessed.

"It's possible," Nie Xingji analyzed, "It's also possible that after Yunchen got the anti-layout, he left a copy for her just in case." ”

"Then before Queen Jiang committed suicide, she should have destroyed this copy!" Ming Chenyuan objected.

"yes, but it's probably because of some concern." Nie Xingchen said as he took out his half of the parchment scroll, and put the two anti-layout pictures together and compared: "Wei Nong said that the anti-layout is drawn on the parchment roll. But the one in King Jiang's hand was drawn on paper, and the ink faded slightly, which would not last more than three years at most, which coincided with the time when Queen Jiang committed suicide. ”

"Could it be that King Jiang is doing it?" Ming Chenyuan thought of another possibility: "For example, King Jiang and King Ning colluded to get this anti-layout map, and deliberately changed some places to lure us into the bait?" Or is it...... Or did King Jiang want to be the yellow sparrow, so he took out this half of the picture for you, and took the opportunity to instigate Yan Ning to go to war? ”

"But the picture is in Yunchen's hands, such an important thing, I don't believe he will let King Ning get it." Nie Xingji retorted again: "And King Jiang, if he really knows what this half of the picture is, he won't stay still." He could have used this anti-layout map to negotiate with King Ning, or negotiate with us. ”

"Having said that, Weichen still feels uneasy," Ming Chenyuan was worried, "This picture is too strange. ”

"I know, so I sent someone to Ningguo to investigate the terrain some time ago," Nie Xingji pointed to Youzhou and Minzhou, and said, "At least these two places are consistent with the drawings on the map, and there is no problem at all." ”

"What about the other states?"

"I haven't had a chance to look it up yet." Nie Xingchen frowned: "Ning Guo has strengthened its defense, especially in a few important towns, and the spies can't enter at all." ”

"In other words, on this map, Chudi, Youzhou, and Minzhou are all right? But Fuzhou, Toyosu is still not sure? ”