This should have been the purpose of Xiao Ce's willingness to give up going south to support the north this time, and they came from afar this time Xiao Ce was also taking risks, and the conditions of the alliance were not too much for the north.

But Xiao Ce, who was standing on the city wall and standing in front of Yun Yan, refused cleanly, he didn't want to take advantage of the danger, and he didn't care if there was this covenant between him and the northern realm:

"I understand the intentions of the town Beihou, what you just said will wait for the war in the north to end."

If the Xiongnu can't be defeated, the covenant will be just a dead letter, not to mention that he chose to come to the north by himself, not to trade with anyone, if Luoyang defeats Chang'an one day in the future, it is impossible to ignore the north.

Yun Yan just raised her hand lightly when she heard this, and the guard on the tray on the side understood the meaning and retreated, as if she felt that the person standing in front of her was no longer the second son of Xiao in her impression, and sighed a little:

"No wonder my father used to mention you a lot, when I see you today, you are really different from when you were a child, or the second highness has always been the second highness in front of me, I was wrong back then, no matter how you can come this time, I am already very happy, but unfortunately I am in the midst of war here, there is nothing to entertain you, I can only prepare a little wine for the second highness to catch the wind and wash the dust, please."

They have a lot of icing on the cake in the north since ancient times, but there are few people who send charcoal in the snow, and now that Xiao Ce can come to help, she is already very grateful, as for the city gate, only Xiao Ce is allowed to come up alone, and it is only because her brother is still trapped in Chang'an as a hostage, to show her court.

The simple banquet was set up in the attic of the city gate where she was here, and Cheng An and the others, who were originally waiting under the city, Yun Yan had already sent someone to let them in.

Yun Yan's lieutenant personally rode his horse to the city gate to greet him, and said to Cheng An:

"There was a lot of negligence before, and I hope General Cheng will understand."

Although Cheng An was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart, as long as he thought that their Highness was still drinking with the lord opposite in the attic, there was nothing superfluous to say, and their two Highnesses were considerate, could he still be considerate of a general under his command?

Here Xiao Ce is drinking with Yun Yan, the two of them were still small children when they were separated in Chang'an many years ago, and now there are no outsiders in the attic, Yun Yan remembered the past, and there was a little more vague smile on her face, and she stretched out her hand to make a gesture.

"I remember when I was still in Chang'an, the Second Highness was only as tall as the table here, and now more than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the Second Highness has also grown into a dragon and phoenix among people, and it looks even much taller than my lieutenant general."

Xiao Ce glanced at her quietly, and retorted: "You weren't very tall at that time, and at that time, we and the rest of Shangqing Academy were still talking about you behind our backs, saying that this little marquis from the north looks skinny, and he can really withstand a gust of wind and sand in the north." ”

Later, I learned that she was a woman, and there were many constants in knowledge operations, so she was always dressed in men's clothes, and she was used to it herself.

Yun Yan smiled quietly when she heard this: "I know that they didn't say anything good behind their backs in the past, and if they have a chance in the future, I have to teach them a good lesson." ”

Yun Yan and Xiao Ce chatted a lot on the high-rise building, from Chang'an more than ten years ago to Luoyang over the years, from the westward inclination of the sun here until the night, and later Yun Yan was the first to mention today's north:

"A few days ago, the Huns' soldiers were less than three miles away from this city, and then they heard that you were coming, and they retreated, with what I know about them over the years, I don't know what they have to say."

Now the windows in this attic are open, and you can see the depths of the endless grassland in the distance, there is no moon tonight, but the stars are bright enough, and the stars in the distance accompany the grassland, but it is another bright and clean beauty.

Yun Yan glanced at Xiao Ce, who seemed to be a little drunk in front of her, and finally began to talk about the situation in the north in the past few years: "Do you want to ask the Huns if they don't come early or late, why are they so rampant this year?" Dare to hit my idea of the northern border of the Great Liang. ”

Xiao Ce nodded quietly, according to common sense, they have 200,000 soldiers here, even if the Hun soldiers are strong and out of place, they don't dare to easily fight their ideas.

Yun Yan continued to pour a bowl of wine for herself and Xiao Ce, who was sitting opposite, and said bluntly:

"In fact, the strength of the Xiongnu should also be known, although the former Xiongnu tribes are good at riding and shooting, but most of the tribes are loose between tribes, until a little khan has emerged in recent years, and the original loose tribes have been unified with those means, those tribes are now under his command, and the war is naturally not what it used to be, he has a Central Plains name called Qianzhan, he was constantly testing a large number of military deployments in the north, until he found an opportunity for the recent Central Plains chaos."

Xiao Ce took a sip of wine and said in a deep voice: "Your 200,000 soldiers and horses, plus the 100,000 I brought, if against the main force of a thousand battles, what are your chances of winning now?" ”

Xiao Ce came from thousands of miles away, so he naturally had the intention to help her, and Yun Yan naturally wouldn't hide anything, so she said truthfully:

"I won't hide it from you, the troops in my hands plus the 100,000 you came to support him are less than fifty percent."

Xiao Ce swallowed a sip of wine, and the combined thirty soldiers and horses had less than a fifty percent chance of winning.

"But rest assured, Second Highness, I have been here for so many years, and there is only the northern border, if the Huns want to enter the Central Plains from the northern border, it is better to step directly from my corpse."

She has been in the north for most of her life, and she is mortal enemies with the Xiongnu who invaded the north, and her determination to defend the north is naturally not comparable to ordinary people, and Xiao Ce's determination to fight this battle is the same. Although there is no covenant between them, they have some common interests and ideas, and this is the strongest alliance.

"By the way, Second Highness, my adjutant general is going to inspect the barracks tonight, do you want to follow and take a look?"

Xiao Ce glanced at Yun Yan and asked, "You're not going?" ”

Yun Yan glanced at the wine bowl on the table, and there were several jars scattered under the table:

"I won't go, there is no one who is more familiar with the military camp here than me, it doesn't seem interesting to see, I asked the adjutant general to take His Highness down, in fact, I also want His Highness to take a look at my military strength in the north, for trusted allies, there is nothing to hide."

Of course, Xiao Ce understood what she meant, and frankly speaking, this Yun Yan in front of him was very sincere in forming an alliance.

Li Hanning stayed on the side for a day, seeing that Xiao Ce stood up and planned to inspect the military camp at night, Li Hanning naturally planned to follow along, although he knew that Xiao Ce would definitely not encounter any danger here, but she was not very familiar with the northern border and was used to following him.

Yun Yan was rarely a little lazy and half-lying on the seat, barely supporting herself with one arm, and glanced at Li Hanning, who was about to leave on the side: "You stay and drink with me for a while, you can rest assured, His Royal Highness Xiao Er will not encounter any danger in my military camp, those soldiers under my command are not convinced, but His Royal Highness King Ming's reputation for undefeated achievements in the Central Plains They have heard more or less before, and they only have admiration in your Highness's hearts." ”

In this way, Xiao Ce personally went to inspect the military camp, but he was also boosting his prestige in the eyes of these people in the north.

Xiao Ce glanced back at Li Hanning, meaning to reassure her, Li Hanning had no choice but to stand where he was, watching him walk down the city tower with the deputy general from the north on the side.

Yun Yan looked at Li Hanning in front of her, Xiao Ce and the deputy general left, and there were only two of them left in the attic, Yun Yan poured Li Hanning a bowl of wine: "Actually, I left you alone, I also want to talk to you." ”

In fact, it was the first time she had met the town Beihou in front of her, and she had only heard her name before, and there were many stories about the town of Beihou Yunyan, but Li Hanning naturally knew that the rumors he had heard were mixed with falsehood.

Yun Yan carefully glanced at Li Hanning up and down, and then commented very seriously: "His Royal Highness Xiao Er is here, I didn't say it, you are almost exactly the same as I imagined." ”

Li Hanning thought this was a kind word, so he said: "But you are not quite the same as I imagined." ”

Yun Yan froze while holding the wine bowl, and then laughed silently: "I heard that the people of the Central Plains call me the female devil, should you think like they think that I look like a blue-faced fangs and want to eat people, right?" ”

Li Hanning immediately shook his head and denied it to his face: "No, you are much more approachable than I imagined." ”

Yun Yan smiled again when she heard this, and casually put the wine bowl in her hand on the table next to her, and her eyes fell on Li Hanning's body: "To be honest, I can see that Xiao Ce likes you, and I don't want you to misunderstand, I am someone I like but can't be together, but that person is not Xiao Ce, Xiao Ce's birthday is two years younger than me, no matter what he looks like, I just used him as my younger brother when I was in Chang'an." ”

Li Hanning felt a little strange, why so many people were afraid that she would misunderstand, she had never been too lazy to misunderstand these.

Yun Yan could also see that people like them were emotionally important, but Xiao Ce came from thousands of miles to help, and she didn't want to cause Xiao Ce a little more trouble in addition, Yun Yan said to the person in front of her:

"I heard that you followed Xiao Ce all the way, and I didn't have a good rest along the way, when you went out to fight, even when Your Highness rested, the deputy generals below did not dare to relax for a moment, I deeply understand this, but you can rest well these days, the Huns temporarily retreated, there will be no war in these days, but there will be a war sooner or later in the next half a month, and we have to be busy."