Lingyang City, the city guard's house.

It was just dawn, and Xu Jingye, the guard of Lingyang City, had already gotten up early, and after washing up under the service of the maid, he hurriedly ate breakfast and came to the study to deal with the mountains of official documents.

These case files are all affairs that have been piled up over the years, involving all aspects of the military, politics, and people's livelihood, and many things are widely and intricately implicated.

But Xu Jingye had no choice, because since he became the owner of Lingyang for more than half a month, under the overhead of the Seven Families, he was simply an empty city guard, and he had no real power in his hands, and all he could mobilize was a dozen servants and maids of the city guard mansion, and he couldn't get out of the mansion with orders.

And these files can help him fully understand the local situation, understand the strength and weakness of the Seven Families, Xu Jingye is by no means the kind of brainless and reckless corrupt Confucian, and he knows very well that he only has forbearance at present.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, feeling that he had underestimated the complexity of Ling Yang's situation.

The dossier in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.

Smack!

Just as Xu Jingye was bowing his head and meditating, there was a sudden gentle knock from the closed window on the right side of the study.

Startled, he got up and walked over after a moment's thought, reaching out to open the window.

A sturdy figure swept into the room silently and landed steadily in front of him: "Lord Xu!"

Xu Jingye looked at it fixedly, and was immediately surprised and surprised: "Qin Yun Xiaoyou!"

This person who quietly infiltrated the city guard. It was Qin Yun!

"Why are you here, is there anything you want me to do?" he asked, feeling a little strange.

The two met in the ancient temple. Qin Yun united with the Tianbao Dao people to kill the bloody hand man Tu Tu Wanxiong, and he had a life-saving grace for Xu Jingye. Although the age difference between the two is huge, they still become friends.

It stands to reason that Qin Yun can visit the door in a dignified manner, and there is no need to sneak in so secretly, you must know that there are also master warriors in the city guard mansion, which is absolutely troublesome to cause misunderstandings.

Xu Jingye was not an ordinary person, and immediately guessed that Qin Yun must have his reasons for doing this.

Qin Yun didn't talk nonsense either. He told Xu Jingye about his encounter with Tsing Yi Wei in the 100,000 mountains and forced the news that Da Chu was about to invade southern Xinjiang.

Smack!

The thick dossier slipped from Xu Jingye's hand to the ground, and anger appeared on Qingyi's face, and he said in a deep voice: "Da Chu is really ambitious. I've always wanted to peek into my southern territory of Dayan, and I want to immediately report to the imperial court to send a large army to guard it!"

"I'm afraid it's too late!" Qin Yun shook his head: "There is one more thing"

He also told Xu Jingye about the fact that he was blocked from entering the city just now and was attacked and killed by the city guards, and finally said: "This matter is extremely strange, I doubt that there is someone in the city who is colluding with Da Chuli and Yingwai!"

This guess can be called extremely bold, and Qin Yun does not have any real evidence, it is completely instinctive judgment.

If his words were to get out, it would definitely cause an uproar in the fortress city.

But Xu Jingye was not surprised or questioned, and his expression became more and more deeply worried: "Qin Yun Xiaoyou, thanks to you for coming to report regardless of the danger, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get news from the outside here." I'm afraid that when the Great Chu army besieges the city, they won't know what happened!"

"Yesterday, Shangguan Wuya, the commander of the city guards, issued a martial law order despite my opposition, closing the city gate and no one is allowed to enter or leave, I had doubts in my heart at the time, and now it seems that the Shangguan family is very likely to take refuge in Dachu and is ready to sacrifice the city for glory!"

Qin Yun thought for a while and asked, "But why is this, I heard that the Shangguan family has a huge power in Lingyang, is it even better to take refuge in Dachu than now?"

The Shangguan clan is a local family, and defecting to the enemy country will definitely bear a huge amount of infamy, and the benefits that can be obtained may not be greater than now. Once Da Chu occupies Lingyang, they may not be able to maintain the current situation.

At this time, Xu Jingye completely calmed down, and he explained: "Little friend doesn't know, this time I came to Lingyang to serve as the city guard, on the surface, I was belittled in the court, but I secretly had a mission to investigate the local family, waiting for an opportunity to weaken the strength of the Seven Families. ”

Pointing to the dossier piled up on the desk, the great Confucian of the current dynasty continued: "I found that twenty or thirty years ago, the strength of the Shangguan family was still very weak, but in recent years, there is no doubt that there are people behind the strong rise. ”

"Now it seems that I am afraid that they have already been bought by Da Chu, and they are waiting for the right time to attack, and closing the city gate under the pretext that there are bandits in the city is only the first step, in order to just block the news!"

Qin Yun suddenly felt a chill in his heart, if Da Chu had started to set up a situation decades ago, once it was launched, it would definitely be unstoppable, and the entire Lingyang could be said to be in danger!

He immediately said, "Lord Xu, while they haven't started yet, I'll escort you out at night!"

When he sneaked into the city just now, Qin Yun found a place where the defense was weak, and if he just fled at night with Xu Jingye alone, he was still quite sure.

Unexpectedly, Xu Jingye shook his head, and said with a firm expression: "The matter of being loyal to the monarch, I was ordered to guard Lingyang, how could I leave the innocent people in the city and run away alone in order to survive? Although you are kind, you are trapping me in injustice!"

Qin Yun smiled bitterly: "But what's the use of you staying here, now the city guards are all in the hands of the Shangguan family, and relying on our strength alone is not their opponent at all!"

Xu Jingye said in a deep voice: "Although the seven families are headed by the official family, not all of them are looking forward to the official family, and there are also contradictions and disputes between the seven families, and it is impossible for all the families to be willing to lead the wolf into the room!"

"There are also city guard commanders, although they are also from the Shangguan family, but two of the three deputy commanders are from other families, and the other is a general sent by the imperial court, so I am sure that I can win the support of one or two of them. ”

"Besides, most of the soldiers of the Guards are local children, and the Shangguan family can deceive them, but it is impossible for them to completely betray and join the enemy, you must know that many of their ancestors and elders died under the sword of Da Chu, and they have an insoluble grudge against Da Chu!"

"It is foreseeable that once Lingyang falls, Da Chu will not allow people with different intentions to exist in this city, I really don't know how many people will die tragically with butcher knives, Qin Yun Xiaoyou, how can you bear to watch them die innocently?"

Xu Jingye's words were sincere, not only analyzed in an orderly manner, but also showed his resolute and upright temperament, which made Qin Yun couldn't help but be moved!

The blood surged, he gritted his teeth and said: "Since the adults have made up their minds, then I will accompany the adults and the Shangguan family to fight, I don't believe that they can cover the sky with one hand in Lingyang City!"

"No!no!" Xu Jingye shook his head again and again, and said: "Qin Yun Xiaoyou, or I stay here to deal with them, you quickly leave the city and go to Tokugawa to report to King Lu, King Lu is a relative of His Majesty today, and he will definitely not sit back and watch Lingyang fall to the enemy!"

Qin Yun refused without hesitation: "That's not good, the news will naturally send someone to report the news, but I want to stay in Lingyang to help you, otherwise you are single and weak, once the Shangguan family makes a move in advance, who can protect you?"

In addition to not worrying about Xu Jingye, Qin Yun also can't rest assured that he can't go to the Shui family, if something happens to the Shui family, how will he face the master Shui Wanning who entrusted him after he goes back?

Xu Jingye persuaded a few words, and when he saw Qin Yun's resolute attitude, he didn't say more.

He thought for a moment and said, "In that case, I still have two loyal retainers by my side, and I will immediately send them to Tokugawa with letters and seals to report to King Lu and the imperial court!"

Qin Yun frowned: "Now that the sky is completely bright, if the city gate is still closed, I won't be able to get out today, I was almost discovered when I sneaked in from the city wall just now, it's too dangerous to go out now!"

The city guards of Lingyang City are not vegetarians, and Xu Jingye's retainer guards are only in the realm of qi refining, where is the strength to sneak out of the city in broad daylight without being discovered.

"I have a way" Xu Jingye pointed to the mountain of case files on the desk, and said confidently: "A few months ago, an official reported to unblock the underground channels blocked in the city, Shangguan Wuji did not deal with it at that time, and now it is left to me to deal with, I transferred the channel map, and found that there are two hidden channels that can lead directly to the waterways outside the city. ”

"Just in case, I secretly sent someone to check, and it is not a problem for one or two people to sneak out of the city with the help of a secret passage!"

He called in the guards who were standing outside the door.

The two retainers came in and saw that there were other people in the study, and they were all surprised, but they were relieved to see Qin Yun's appearance clearly, because both of them knew Qin Yun and knew Qin Yun's identity.

Xu Jingye sat back at his desk and worked hard to write, quickly wrote a letter, sealed it with fire paint, and handed it to the guards along with the map of the channel that had been extracted and copied.

"You take this letter and immediately go out of the city from the underground channel, and go to the Tokugawa Lu Palace, as soon as possible to ask for Lu Wang Yanyi, this matter is related to the safety and survival of Lingyang, you must not be negligent!"

The two guards looked at each other, and immediately knelt down on one knee and said in a deep voice: "I am willing to die for my lord!"

Xu Jingye nodded and helped the two of them up with his own hands: "You must be careful on the road!"

Qin Yun's heart moved, and he reached into his arms and took out a stack of talismans from the Qiankun space and handed them over: "This is the talisman refined by my master, there are fire gathering talismans and divine talismans, in case of any danger, you can use it." ”

The two guards are both of the strength of the sixth or seventh level of qi refining, of course, there is no problem in using the talisman, the divine talisman can greatly increase the speed of running, and it is suitable for hurrying, so they happily accepted it.

Carefully putting away the letters and talismans, the two guards quietly left the castle guard mansion without alarming anyone...... Happy Lantern Festival to everyone!rq