There was also a charcoal fire burning in the tent, the young man's hair was neat, his eyebrows and eyes were black, and his well-defined jaw had a layer of pale cyan stubble, and he was draped with a thick dark cyan coat, which made his body more structured.

Chang Suian stepped forward and handed over a letter with both hands: "There is a secret letter here, please take a look at it." ”

When Cui Jing took it, Chang Sui'an took a few steps back in time, took off the heavy head on his head, held it in one hand, and waited on one side.

Cui Jing looked at the lamp and first swept his gaze to the lower left place, and saw that there were three words "Wei Shuyi" on it.

After looking at the handwriting and private seals were no different, Cui Jingshi went to read the contents of the letter.

Wei Shuyi and his entourage sent envoys, escorted by 500 forbidden troops, from Beijing, after nearly 20 days, before crossing Mount Tai and going to Qingzhou.

This letter was written by Wei Shuyi when he left the boundary of Mount Tai, which was about 400 miles away from Youzhou, where Cui Jing was at this time, and could be reached in two days by horse.

Wei Shuyi said in the letter that he did not want to continue to travel north.

To the north, one would have to take an overland route along the Bohai Coast and bypass the entire Bohai Sea to reach the Andong Prefecture – and on the way, one would have to pass by Jizhou and Yingzhou on the north side, which are now known to be occupied by the Kangding Mountains and the Yan Dynasty.

On this road, although there are also some Sheng troops stationed in several places along the coast, the coast is empty, and it is a cold winter, so there is no need for heavy guards, and the troops are relatively weak.

Especially when rubbing shoulders with Yingzhou, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a gamble, Yingzhou is the old nest of Kangding Mountain, and the risk is so great that Wei Shuyi deeply feels that this road and Huangquan Road are quite twinning.

So Wei Shuyi decisively gave up the choice of going north to bypass the Bohai Sea.

He wanted to go straight to the east, take the waterway at the Dengzhou port, and the opposite side of Dengzhou is where the Andong Protectorate is located, and the two are separated by less than a hundred miles of waterway, and this water area is the junction of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea.

He has already made inquiries about the fact that although there is sea ice blocking the way this winter, most of them are fragments of ice floe, and as long as at most three sufficiently strong sea vessels are seconded in Dengzhou, and then escorted by Dengzhou sailors, the sea route of less than 100 miles will inevitably reach the other shore in two or three days, even if it is slow.

In addition to avoiding most of the dangers in the north, it is also a shortcut, which is equivalent to going all the way east through the waterway.

Opposite is the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, and then across the Yalu River, you will arrive at the door of Dongluo's house.

At first glance, the difficulty of this road seems to lie only in the difficult and dangerous sea route that is less than 100 miles, but Wei Shuyi and his party are not many, there are experienced sailors here, and a few emergency boats are prepared, as long as the wind direction is observed in advance and no strong winds and waves are encountered, there will be no big mistakes.

But if this was just the case, Wei Shuyi would not have deliberately written a letter to Cui Jing, he sent a letter to Youzhou, obviously not to inform Cui Jing that "I can't wait for Youzhou Realm, I don't have to wait".

After all, Cui Jing didn't plan to wait for him to come over to catch up - Wei Shuyi has always been very self-aware of this unrecognized friendship.

Uncle Wei wrote this letter to ask for help.

Cui Jing was familiar with the surrounding terrain, and when he had not seen the rest of the letter, he had already made a judgment in his heart.

Even though he has a backbone, and a stubborn attitude that can't be scraped off in his bones, but on top of business, Cui Jing has never been a snub person.

In a moment, he wrote a brief reply, and asked Wei Shuyi to send the letter to Dengzhou in advance, and if you calculate the distance, his reply can be delivered before Wei Shuyi and his party board the ship in Dengzhou.

After that, Cui Jing summoned Deputy General Yu and ordered him to order a thousand light horsemen to set off after dawn.

Adjutant General Yu should go down and immediately go to prepare for the troops.

Seeing that Cui Jing had arranged this matter properly, Chang Sui'an, who had been waiting beside him, spoke: "Governor, I heard the news from the scouts today, Kangding Mountain and the others will not move in Jizhou, and they don't dare to attack Youzhou easily in a short period of time, right?" ”

Since the news spread that Cui Jing led his troops to Youzhou to support, Kangdingshan and the others did not dare to act recklessly, and were waiting and discussing with the strategists.

"Kangding Mountain may soon know that I only led 30,000 Xuance troops here-" Cui Jing said: "plus the troops previously dispatched by the imperial court and the defenders of Youzhou, a total of 90,000 people. Kangding Mountain has 37,000 elite soldiers, and more than 50,000 cavalry, which is comparable to the strength of our army. ”

Therefore, Kangding Mountain is destined not to wait for too long, and the ambitious Yan Yan will not allow Kangding Mountain to wait and see for too long.

Therefore, there should be no slackness.

Led 30,000 Xuance troops to come here, not under the will of the saint, but Cui Jing's own decision.

More than a year, he led 80,000 Xuan Ce troops to garrison the north, stationed troops and built border defenses, although not half a day of relaxation, but the north of the defense line facing Beidi is extremely long, almost stretching over the entire north of Dasheng, if he transfers all the 80,000 Xuan Ce troops, it is afraid that the north will fall into danger.

At such a juncture, he must not let something happen to the northern border, if he allowed the Beidi Tieqi to step into the Dasheng country, the chaos at that time would only be more difficult to stop than Kangding Mountain.

Cui Jing didn't want to take care of one or the other, and after weighing it, he decided to personally lead 30,000 soldiers and horses here.

In the north, the winter march is a very risky thing, in order to avoid the loss of Youzhou, his soldiers rushed all the way, on the road due to the bad bitter cold weather fell ill nearly a thousand people, the current Kangding Mountain wait-and-see, but also their time to recuperate.

At this moment, he needs to defend the choke point of Youzhou first, and then try to retrieve the two lost states.

Cui Jing is by no means a person of much talk on weekdays, but when he has the slightest opportunity, he will always analyze the battle situation with Chang Sui'an - he promised Chang Suining that he would carefully teach and protect her brother.

Chang Suian is very studious, often studies the art of war in private, and never trusts himself in the army, he is not afraid of hardship, and treats people frankly and sincerely, and has an approachable atmosphere, which is very popular invisibly.

After Cui Jing analyzed the current battle situation and terrain on the sand table, Chang Suian listened carefully, and asked a few more questions, and Cui Jing answered them patiently.

At the end, Chang Sui An said: "Although Jizhou is only more than 100 miles away from Youzhou, this road is mostly covered with ice and snow, and there are more than ten days before the New Year's Festival. ”

Cui Jing: "Common sense is so, but don't be careless. ”

Chang Sui An Zhengse nodded, and then hesitated for a moment before trying to say: "Governor Dadu, Ning Ning is in Dongluo at the moment, I don't think I will return to Jiangdu before the next year, I want to ......"

"Want to go to Dongluo?"

"No, it's not!" Chang Suian hurriedly shook his head, at the moment of the war, is he the kind of person who leaves his post without permission?

"I thought, is there going to be anyone going east to investigate these days? If so, can someone send a letter to Dongluo so that it can be delivered to Ning Ning before the New Year...... If it's inconvenient, don't worry! ”

Cui Jing didn't hesitate too much, and nodded.

This place is different from the northern border, the messenger goes to Dongluo, to avoid the range of Kangding Mountain's ears and eyes, if you run alone for a letter, or some suspicion of labor and injury - know that Cui Jing has always cherished the soldiers under his command, which is also the reason why Chang Sui An hesitated.

However, Vice General Yu and others were about to go to the vicinity of Dongluo, and sending the letter became a incidental thing, and it was inevitable.

Seeing Cui Jing agree, Chang Sui'an was overjoyed.

Although he is still separated by the Bohai Sea, he has not been so close to his sister for a long time, and he has not exchanged letters with his sister for at least four or five months!

"Go back and write a letter, just send it before dawn."

As soon as Cui Jing's words fell, he saw Chang Suian take out a letter from his arms.

Chang Suian smiled "hey": "I wrote it a few days ago!" ”

Cui Jing took the letter, only to feel that the thickness of this letter was considerable.

Chang Sui'an's letter was full of five pieces of stationery, and it took three days to write, and the mood was different when he wrote the letter every day.

One is crying and writing about Daddy's injury; One excitedly writes about his sister's victory; A serious account of his recent situation in the past few months; One is full of heavy thoughts, and the other is all about expressing reverence and gratitude to Governor Cui.

At this moment, seeing Governor Cui looking at his amazingly thick letterhead, Chang Suian scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and said abruptly: "There is more nonsense in his subordinates......"

Cui Jing: "...... OK. ”

After Chang Sui'an left, Cui Jing also wrote a letter.

Unlike when he replied to Wei Shuyi, he changed to a good pen, and even carefully selected a few pieces of the most neatly cut letterhead.

Like many people, at the beginning of his writing, he also congratulated Chang Suining on his great victory against the Japanese.

But he is different from many people, he is not only happy with Chang Sui Ning, but more worried about Chang Sui Ning's fatigue after the war, he can empathize, this fatigue is not only on the outside, but also in his heart.

He didn't say a word of relief, useless words of relief would only arouse more sad emotions, he just said-

[In the middle of winter, the year old is coming to an end, and it is the time when all things are hidden. In this cold winter, we should also hide our own strength, eat and recuperate with peace of mind, smell more and heal the music, often allow the mind to be empty, and hibernate to wait for the spring solstice of the next year, and then flourish with all things. 】

Another line, and said to her, the world is vast, the mountains and rivers are shaky, but he is with her, even if he has nothing worth mentioning, but with him stationed in Youzhou across the sea, she does not have to worry about the war here, he will guard Youzhou, and he will take back Jizhou and Yingzhou as soon as possible.

At the end, thinking that in her last letter, she had been commensurate with Ling'an, and the young man's originally noble and cold eyebrows and eyes were a little softer, and he carefully embellished the word "Cui Ling'an".

Cui Jing put down his pen, folded the letter carefully, put it in the envelope, and after sealing it himself, Vice General Yu entered the account and asked to see: "Governor, everything has been arranged, just wait for dawn to leave!" ”

"It's not easy to travel in the harsh winter, so you must be cautious on this trip."

Deputy General Yu responded: "Yes, please rest assured!" ”

Cui Jing: "In addition, you can give these two letters to them at that time, and let them take them to Dongluo and transfer them to Chang Thorn Shi." ”

Vice General Yu's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stepped forward to take it.

Cui Jing's letter, although not thicker than Chang Sui'an's letter, but not to be underestimated, when Vice General Yu left with these two letters, he only felt that this was also a letter for people to deliver, if he changed to a carrier pigeon, he was afraid that he would be tired to death, and he would not be able to move, at least he had to hire a vulture to fly an eagle or something.

……

Because he knew that Dasheng sent an envoy to come, in order to ensure that the envoy had enough time to travel in winter, the date of Jin Chengyuan's accession to the throne, after repeated discussions among Dongluo officials, finally chose the latest day in a few days - the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, which is close to the Dasheng New Year's Festival.

The time soon came to the twenty-second day of the lunar month, and there were only six days left before the day of Jin Chengyuan's accession to the throne, but there was still no news of the arrival of the Dasheng envoy.

Dongluo officials are inevitably a little anxious.

The matter of enthronement has long been completed, and it is only waiting for the Dasheng envoys.

If the envoys could not arrive in time, the enthronement ceremony of the new king had already been announced to Dongluo, and it would not be good to delay it any longer, but in this way, they were afraid that the grand event would feel that Dongluo was neglected and despised by him.

No way, who let their short-lived new king be at fault first.

At the same time, the officials of Dongluo were also very worried about whether this group of envoys would encounter any changes on the way, and the rebellion between the Yan and the Kangding Mountain had a wide impact.

And the envoys of a country, often representing the monarch of a country, have their own extraordinary significance, and it is easy to attract the attention of traitors and enemies.

Jin Chengyuan was also a little uneasy in his heart, so he sent a military guard to prepare to leave the country to meet the investigation.

Chang Sui Ning knew about this, found Jin Chengyuan, and said: "I will also go with me, so that your country's military guards can accompany me, and it will be more convenient to cross the border." ”

Dongluo Junwei left the country and set foot in the Dasheng territory, which required the permission of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate and the issuance of customs clearance documents.

But with the presence of perennial Ning, it is much simpler.

Jin Chengyuan nodded: "In this way, I will be tired of stabbing Shi in person." ”

But I heard Chang Suining say: "I was going to go out too." ”

She has been recuperating in Dongluo for more than half a month, and during this half month, she has learned a lot of intelligence information about Kangding Mountain and the Yan Ya through the hidden stakes raised by Meng Lie in the northeast.

In the past two days, she has made a decision.

Leaving Dongluo on this trip, I happened to be able to pick up Wei Shuyi and them by the way.

On the same day, Chang Suining immediately ordered a thousand henchmen and set off with a Dongluo sergeant.

……

Wei Shuyi was a minister, and after a few days of turbulence on the sea, he finally landed without danger.

After getting off the boat, some officials walked a little unsteadily.

Many of them were the first to cross the sea by boat, and although they had only drifted for a few days, it was enough for them to vomit yellow bile, but here the water dripped, and the top had not yet finished vomiting, and the bottom had begun to form frost......

Wu Siqing was also retching, pretending to be close and thinning Wu Chunbai patted his father's back.

Since leaving Beijing, their journey has taken too long, because what they have seen along the way is far more difficult than they imagined.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Wu Chunbai would never have imagined that the outside would have become such a scene.

They have encountered soldiers and horses to suppress the rebellion, and they have also encountered homeless people blocking the road to sue the emperor, and one day, she once saw two corpses, one large and one small, lying in the dry grass next to the official road, I don't know whether they were starved to death or frozen to death.

Wu Chunbai also wanted to retch, but it was not because of the boat, but the suffering pictures in her mind that kept impacting her all the time, making her feel helpless and dizzy in this cold place.

Not only Wu Chunbai, Song Xian and others have also been affected too much, and Tan Li, who is usually optimistic and open-minded, is silent most of the time.

On this eastward trip, they all felt unprecedented dazedness, even powerlessness and frustration.

But the perilous situation did not give them much time to remain at a loss, and not long after disembarking, they were besieged. (End of chapter)