At the time of the third watch, the head of Yangzhou City was as black as ink. The monsoon wind whistled over the city, and the defenders of the city huddled in sheltered places, and curled up in the dark corners with curling and coughing.

Dozens of torches climbed the city wall from the stone steps on the inside of the tower at the West Gate, and they went straight into the tower without disturbing any of the defenders. The castle tower is the best place to shelter from the wind, and there is even a bonfire lit inside, and several generals in charge of guarding the city gate are eating meat and drinking wine around a rattling iron pot around the fire.

After dozens of figures entered the city tower, a general frowned and looked at the people who came and scolded: "Get out, don't you know that you are not allowed to come in here?" Stay outside, so that you can keep vigil. ”

The dozens of soldiers who came in surrounded a black-robed man, who gently lifted the cloak on his head, revealing a brand new armor, and the man laughed and said, "General Liu, you are so majestic, the capital has been frightened by you." ”

Only then did several drinking generals see the faces of the people who came, and they were so frightened that they crawled to the ground, and in a panic, they knocked over the iron pot, and the meat and vegetables in the pot overturned on the bonfire, and suddenly smoke and squeaked. After a while, there was a smell of burnt paste in the air.

"It turned out to be Zhou Du's envoy, and the last general was blind, but he didn't know that Zhou Du's envoy was coming, damn it, please ask Zhou Du's envoy to forgive his sins." Several generals hurriedly stepped forward and threw their hands away, blaming themselves in their mouths.

"That's it, it's nothing, you work hard. What is the movement of the enemy? Zhou Yi walked slowly to the outside of the city tower, opened the closed long window and looked down at the city.

"There is no change, the last general and others are staring at it, please rest assured." The guard surnamed Liu was busy.

"Very well, but be cautious and don't make mistakes. If there is any change, we must report it to His Royal Highness King Huai in time! ”

"The last general understands!"

Zhou Yi nodded, looked under the city wall, and suddenly said, "The city gate is blocked, how can I get out of the city?" ”

General Liu was surprised: "What are you doing when you go out of the city?" ”

Zhou Yi frowned and said: "I am the commander of the Son of Heaven and the horse army, and I asked you how you can get out of the city and come here with the orders of the superiors, why do you ask so much?" ”

General Liu hurriedly said: "Oh, if you go out of the city, I'm afraid you can only use a rope to fall." ”

Zhou Yi said: "Then bring a rope and send a person out of the city." ”

General Liu hurriedly said: "Zhou Du, I'm afraid this won't work, His Royal Highness King Huai has ordered that no one is allowed to steal out of the city." Disobeyed his orders, the last general could not eat and walked around. ”

Zhou Yi shouted coldly: "The envoy of Bendu is here on the military order of King Huai!" If you dare to disobey, Bendu will cut off your dog's head now and send it to His Royal Highness King Huai. ”

General Liu was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Don't dare, don't dare, if it is the order of King Huai, the last general will naturally abide by it, but please ask Zhou Du to wait for a while, and the last general will send someone to Huai Wang's Mansion to verify it, this is a big deal, don't blame the last general for being rude, and please ask Zhou Du to take care of it!" ”

"It's up to you, but Bendu reminds you that His Royal Highness King Huai doesn't want too many people to know about this matter, especially in the palace. If it makes a fuss, you know his temper. ”

"This ......" Several generals were stunned for a moment, looked at each other and hesitated.

"That's it, it's not impossible to let someone out." General Liu gritted his teeth and said.

"This matter is a bit strange, His Royal Highness King Huai has clearly forbidden the city gate to enter and exit......" another general reminded in a low voice.

Zhou Yi blinked, calmly and said: "Bendu envoy came by order, so he waited here the whole time, if you are really not at ease, you can go to the Huai Wangfu at any time to confirm it, and see if there is any discrepancy between His Royal Highness the orders of the Huai Wang." ”

"Zhou Ducheng laughed, how dare I! Since it is the order of His Royal Highness King Huai, we are ordered to do it! Seeing that Zhou Yi looked at ease and was willing to wait here, several generals immediately made up their minds to take action, and ordered someone to bring a long rope and tie it tightly around the stone fence.

Zhou Yi turned back to a man with a cloak covering his head: "Be careful yourself, I'll wait here." ”

The man with the cloak nodded his head again and again, and the rope was tied to the waist of the man in the cloak, and the other soldiers who led the retinue also tied the rope, and everyone pulled the rope together, and slowly fell the three from the city. Zhou Yi ordered the guards to put down the drawbridge again, and watched the three of them walk across the moat from the drawbridge and sink into the darkness ahead, then he turned around and ordered several generals to pay attention to the movement at any time and pull people up before dawn.

The three people who went out of the city walked in the direction of the Chu army camp with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and before they walked a hundred steps away, there were footsteps and the sound of horses' hooves in the darkness beside them, and soon more than a dozen black shadows surrounded them, and the blades in their hands flashed, surrounding the three people.

"Don't do it, I am a messenger in Yangzhou City, I ask to see Your Majesty the Emperor, please give a briefing." The man in the cloak presented the nameplate, and after a Chu army scout took the nameplate, he rushed towards the direction of the camp, and the rest of the people slowly walked towards the camp with a few people holding swords.

Li Yuan's big tent was brightly lit, and although it was the third watch, more than a dozen generals and Li Yuan were discussing the siege of the city with a fire. The guards came in to report that a messenger was coming from the city, and Li Yuan was stunned after receiving the nameplate, and then laughed.

"Your Majesty, who is here?" Liu Jiangsheng asked.

Li Yuan smiled: "See for yourself." ”

Liu Jiangsheng took the nameplate and glanced at it, frowned and said, "It's really not that the enemies don't get together, Zhang Xun!" Now he is a servant of the Ministry of Officials. Why did he come? It's just the messenger's words, don't you need him to come, isn't Li Congjia afraid that we will chop Zhang Xun alive? ”

"Zhang Xun, okay, I've been waiting for him to be dismantled!" Luo Erhu sneered.

Li Yuan laughed and said: "Things have become interesting, Li Congjia sent his number one adviser to see me so late, I am afraid that it is not a messenger, but something else." I just wanted to muddy the waters, but now it seems that there is an unexpected catch, and I don't know if a big fish will take the bait. ”

The generals were puzzled and asked one after another, Li Yuan waved his hand and said, "You all go back to rest, it's not good if there are too many people." Jiang Sheng, it's good for you to stay, let's see how this big fish gets hooked. ”

"Obey orders!" The generals, including the menacing Luo Erhu, had to leave reluctantly, of course they also wanted to see what was going on, but it was a pity that His Majesty had made some moves mysteriously in the past few days, and it seemed that he was implementing some plans, but he did not make it public.

Eighty or ninety percent of the people who came tonight were related to the plan, and His Majesty would definitely not let others watch, because no one wanted to inquire about what His Majesty didn't want to say.

The black-clothed messenger was none other than Zhang Xun, and because this matter was so extraordinary that it was impossible to fake the hands of others, he had to take the risk himself. He also firmly believes that today's Li Yuan will not hurt himself easily, Li Yuan is already a son of heaven, and he will definitely not embarrass himself too much.

Zhang Xun entered the camp nervously, got into a carriage and was carried to the big tent of Li Yuan in the middle camp. After getting out of the car, looking at Li Yuan's brightly lit tent and the fierce guards in front of the tent, Zhang Xun was a little stunned, but he had no choice but to walk to the brightly lit tent accompanied by several guards.

Zhang Xun originally thought that inside the big tent there must be a group of Chu generals with swords and eyebrows, but after entering the big tent, he found that the entire big tent was empty. Under the giant candle, a small table was placed on the side, and two figures in wide robes sat opposite each other next to the small table, concentrating on a game of Go.