Volume 12 Chapter 7 (2)

Seeing this, Wuxian couldn't help but smile bitterly, he learned about the change in Jinling on the way, and the pigeon book from Xindu asked him to rush to Jinling to protect Wu Cheng, and instructed him in the pigeon book to help Yang Ning rescue Jianjue, the pigeon book is the handwriting of Ximen Rin, and there is also the mark of the commander of Yanshan Wei, but Lian Wuxian knows that Ximen Rin's token has been temporarily withdrawn by the prince of Yan Wang, so he understands that this pigeon book is not only Ximen Rin's order, but also Luo Chengyu's meaning. In addition to the tough orders that cannot be disobeyed, Ximen Rin also briefly described the response strategy in the pigeon book, although what Lian Wuxian said was pointed out by Wu Cheng, but the main idea was determined by Ximen Rin, which was also the main reason why he unintentionally lost his words under Yang Ning's questioning, but according to his judgment, this time whether it was Ximen Commander or Mr. Wu, there was no malice, I didn't think that Yang Ning had a deep grudge against Ximen Rin, and only heard Ximen Rin's name and rejected his suggestion, but in the end, Yang Ning still left his mouth and did not count His Royal Highness the Prince and himself in it,

One of them inadvertently turned his eyes, but saw that a black shadow suddenly appeared in the upper reaches of the river, floating here like a dark cloud, and the soldier who could watch the beacon tower even if he had no other strengths, he must be good at watching the enemy, this soldier only glanced at it and exclaimed: "Oh no, the enemy is coming." ”

The commander of this team of soldiers scolded with a smile: "Nonsense, if there is an enemy army who can get here, I am afraid that the world will be in chaos." But as he spoke, he looked into the distance along the soldier's arm, and only glanced at it. Has shown a shocked look, only to see the west of the sky is a group of warships are speeding up, today there is a strong wind on the river, those warships are smooth, in the blink of an eye can already see the outline of the first warship, but it is a three-masted ironclad Baotou warship hanging with Shujin sails, on both sides are hundreds of warships, all of which are covered with cowhides, and there are many spears. Under the hunting sails, countless warriors can be faintly seen. This commander is experienced, and he is well aware of the distribution and characteristics of various forces on the river, and only looks at the red brocade sails. Having already guessed the origin of the warship, and not daring to guess how Jinfan would escape the heavy blockade on the river and water to Jinling, he swept to the beacon tower with an arrow, raised his head and shouted: "Old Zhao." Are you blind, why don't you light a fire soon? As soon as the words fell, a black shadow was thrown out of the window on the beacon tower. The Wu elder was stunned, and hurriedly dodged to avoid it, and the black shadow slammed into the ground. But it was Lao Zhao, a soldier who was responsible for lighting the beacon fire. I saw that the familiar facial features had been distorted. The head was even more crooked to the side, and the neck was broken by life. And Lao Zhao's saber was not even pulled out, and he gasped in his heart, this Wu Chang knew that his brothers had met masters.

The so-called beacon tower, in fact, is not just a high platform, but a large and small circular building, the platform is five zhang high, three zhang wide, the diameter of the round house on the top of the platform is only one zhang, there are stone steps that pass up and down in the platform, and the hollow beacon tower can store grain and grass bows and arrows and sulfur saltpeter that ignite the fire, Dry firewood and dry grass, wolf dung and cow dung and other things, there is a stove lit in the round house, and there are a total of six soldiers guarding the beacon tower, each time on duty, five people are guarding below, one person is looking at the top, responsible for lighting the beacon fire, it is really easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the soldier responsible for lighting the fire was actually killed, this captain can't help but be distracted, you must know that he is a low-level officer responsible for guarding the safety of the beacon tower, but now someone has avoided his brother's eyes and sneaked into Taichung, even if he catches the spy afterwards, he may not be able to atone the credit. However, the matter has come to this, and he does not care about the future, but he repeatedly ordered several brothers to go down to the four to report the matter, because the beacon tower is quite far away from the city wall, and the terrain is high, and the wind is strong today, even if it is shouted, no one may be able to hear it.

After the backs of those people disappeared, this Wu Chang gritted his teeth, and actually lowered his head and rushed into the low arch under the stage, Wu Chang is the youngest official position in the army, but it is also his hard work to come to the ground, if he is dismissed from his post and punished, several years of hard work will be ruined, he is really unwilling, and this Wu Chang's one-handed knife technique is quite famous in the army, fierce and ruthless, even the ordinary Qu Chang military marquis, may not be able to catch up with him, so he made up his mind to look for the enemy's traces first, and did not let others accompany him to go in, but because he knew that since the enemy had occupied the beacon tower, even if dozens of people went in together, it was impossible for him to overshadow the outnumberedIf it weren't for the fact that he felt that he was guilty of being inescapable, and he relied on his fierce sword technique, he wouldn't have the courage to break into the beacon tower alone.

Pulling out his waist knife in front of him, Wu Chang ran up the narrow stone steps, and when he ran to the end of the stone steps in three steps and two steps, he saw that the stone door that could only allow one person to enter with his head bowed was open, and the early winter sunlight was reflected on the stone slab at the door through the lookout hole in the wall, Wu Chang took a deep breath, but did not rush out immediately, but first stretched out the saber outward, unexpectedly did not expect the head-on attack, he was suspicious in his heart, and after a while, he cautiously poked his head out, only to see that the round house was empty, and a large round hole was broken in the masonry wall of the back cliff, and there was a square foot, and the edge was extremely smooth, as if a piece was dug out by life。 This Wu Chang only felt his heart tremble, although the location of the beacon tower was not on the highest peak of Qingliang Mountain, but there was nothing around

, Dozens of miles away can be seen beacon smoke, and the west faces the river, the east is a cliff deep stream, the most easy to defend and difficult to attack, especially the cliff of the back cliff is very steep, even the vine that climbs the cliff and is born, even if it is an ape, there is no way to climb up, but look at the direction of this stone cave, the person is actually from the back cliff to climb up, such a ability, can be regarded as shocking, meet such an enemy, how not to make him frightened, especially now that no one can see, let him be worried. After thinking about it in his heart, Wu Chang first went to the west window and the stone cave behind him to look down, but he didn't see a human figure, and he couldn't help but be even more surprised, and secretly said in his heart, could it be that a ghost broke into the beacon tower to kill people?

Although no one stopped him, he did not dare to light the beacon fire immediately, knowing that the guilt of misreporting the military situation was even greater, at this time. Behind him, there was a sudden cold snort, the captain was so frightened that he didn't turn back, he slashed with his backhand, but his right hand hurriedly lit the fire and threw it towards the stove, but his steel knife had not yet been chopped out, and his neck had already received a blow that was not light or heavy, and he only felt a sound in his ears that made people feel that his toothache was broken, and he felt the pain. has sunk into complete darkness.

Yang Ning frowned slightly, looked at the corpse that fell at his feet, his eyes flashed with dissatisfaction, and he confessed. He was quite annoyed with Lian Wuxi, since Lian Wuxian wanted him to kill, he just wanted his subordinates to show mercy and let Lian Wuji's plan fail. But perhaps the previous habit was too profound, and he really didn't have the habit of showing mercy to his subordinates, so he still killed all these people easily, knowing that no one would notice the changes on the beacon in a short time. Yang Ning slapped a few palms one after another without any scruples, and the palm wind was silent, but the sound of the bricks and stones breaking was dull and distant. After smashing all the chimneys on those stoves. Yang Ning breathed a sigh of relief. Just because of this, even if someone lights the beacon fire. Because the flue was clogged with rubble, it was impossible for the smoke to rise as high as it used to.

After doing this, Yang Ning was about to leave, but his eyes suddenly contracted, and a wisp of murderous aura rose to the sky, and when he turned around, he saw Lian Wuxian walking in with his head down, he couldn't help but snort coldly, and said, "Could it be that you don't remember what I said, or do you think I really won't kill you?"

Lian Wuxian waved his hand and said: " Childe is angry, although I have improved my sword skills these days, but I don't dare to compare with Childe, but Childe is alone, Lian is really not at ease, and although Childe destroyed the stove of the beacon tower, but he can't stop the wolf smoke from rising, at most delay for a while, and although the beacon fire can't be ignited, the generals who guard this place are cronies of the Tang family, and it may not be impossible to open the arsenal in violation of military orders, it is better to let Lian make a big show in this place, attract the general, and Childe rob and kill on the way, which can ensure the safety of Jinfanhui. ”

Yang Ning's heart shook slightly, when Qingping and Yi Buping were studying the matter of going to sea, he was listening to it beside him, how to pass through Jiangxia, Kou, Jiujiang, Hukou, this is not difficult, the freight on the river is frequent, and the ships are like stars in the sky, countless, as long as the people and ships are separated, you can easily reach Jinling, but it is not easy to pass through Jinling, just because this is the last line of defense of the Jiangdong Naval Army, and it is also the most rigorous line of defense. From Jinling down, although there are Yanling, Jiangdu, Jiangyin, and Ninghai river towns, the Tang family's naval forces in those places are very weak, and they can't hinder the Jinfan Society's itinerary at all. The reason why the Tang family dominates the river is because of the powerful water army and the means of coercing the bandits to be self-respecting, but such means cannot be too unscrupulous, and the Tang family is not willing to force other Jiangnan families into a desperate situation and be counterattacked, so the Tang family almost does not interfere much in the thousands of miles of the river below Jinling, but let the Jiangnan family occupy the intricate Jiangnan family separately, and the Tang family just firmly guards the most essential waterway from Jiangxia to Jiangning, and can be left and right, and the wealth is rolling. Although admitting the hegemony of the Tang family, if the Tang family's naval army goes east from Jinling, the Jiangnan family will definitely think that the Tang family wants to annex their local forces, and they will definitely attack it in groups under fear and dissatisfaction, so Yi Buping will regard Jinling as the final checkpoint, as long as he passes Jinling, with his connections and combat power, it is enough to deter the Jiangnan family like a plate of scattered sand and go to sea safely.

In order to achieve this goal, Yang Ning will promise to make a move, according to Yi Buping, the Stone Town garrison is under the command of General Jiang Ning, when it is not a war, weapons such as crossbows and catapults must be sealed, if there is no military order from General Jiang Ning and use it without authorization, even if it is defeated, it will be punished afterwards, this was originally a strategy to guard against mutiny, almost all the troops stationed in the major capitals will have such rules, and Jiang Ning's army is no exception. Therefore, once the Jinfan Society begins to storm the defense line of the Shicheng Xiashui Camp, Shicheng must first light the beacon fire and report the message to General Jiang Ning in Jinling City, and then the military order will be issued from General Jiang Ning through the beacon fire, so that Stone Town can use the large weapons sealed and seal the river against the enemy. Of course, because of the Tang family, the defenders of Stone City will not ask for orders from Jiangning General Xia Qian, but directly ask for instructions from the Yueguo Mansion, but in any case, there must be a process of asking for life, so in the original plan, Yang Ning will intercept the elite soldiers who want to ignite the beacon fire in the beacon tower, and Qingping will take advantage of the gap to assassinate the general of the defenders of Stone City, let the stone

There is no leader, and the arsenal cannot be activated from power, but now that Qingping is missing, Yang Ning has two positions, and he can't imagine that he can see through Yi Buping at a glance. When Yang Ning thought of this, he felt very depressed in his heart. After thinking about it again and again, but he also felt that only by accepting Yi Buping's help could he be foolproof, and after thinking about it again and again, he finally didn't want Jinfan to suffer a possible heavy blow, sighed lightly, Yang Ning said coldly: "That's it, since you must make a move." It's up to you, but if you reveal your identity, don't blame me for being ruthless. ”

Lian Wuxian knew that Yang Ning didn't want people to misunderstand that he had joined forces with Youji, and he had no intention of embarrassing him. So he smiled calmly, took a silk scarf to cover the hole in the ground under his eyes, and without drawing his sword, he actually took a crossbow from the stove in the garden house. Then he reached out and grabbed the silk silk on Wu Changrong's clothes, and with one arm, he threw his body out of the window. At this time, someone below had already seen the Jinfan Society's warship. While Ming Jin warned him, he also wondered why the beacon tower did not send a message, and the soldiers who were ordered to come to investigate not only found the bodies of several people killed by Yang Ning. Several of them even watched Lian Wujijiang's corpse thrown out of the beacon tower. For a while, the sound of copper whistles and painted horns came and went. There was a boiling sound all around, and the sound of many soldiers running and shouting. There was even a young general who hurried over with hundreds of guards, but he wanted to recapture the beacon tower and quickly report to Jiang Ning, as for how those generals and soldiers in Linjiang responded, Yang Ning and Lian Wuxian were invisible. Seeing this situation, Yang Ning didn't speak, just flashed his figure, and flew out of the hole in the cliff, and he didn't know how he moved, obviously his body was in the air, and he had no way to borrow strength, but he shook his arms, like a dragon swinging its tail, and crossed a perfect arc, silently submerging into the bushes on both sides of the mountain road.

Lian Wuxian silently looked at the swarming soldiers, and showed a cruel smile on his face hidden under the veil, although it was impossible to defend the beacon tower under the siege of three thousand elite soldiers alone, but he had no doubt that he could hold the beacon tower for half an hour under the premise that the Demon Emperor would kill and Jinfan would break through head-on, but unfortunately this time it was not the Southern Expedition of Youji, otherwise Jiang Ning would be at his fingertips, and he would not be the first to win the city. At the same time, Yang Ning silently restrained a thin pawn, changed into his lichen armor without hesitation, and then disappeared into the crowd.

What happened on this day was a legend long after, the bandit Jinfan Society, who had dominated the river for many years, actually broke through the battle formation of the Jiangdong water army under the condescending pressure of the defenders of the stone city under the condescending pressure of the three thousand stone city defenders. In order to recapture the beacon tower, the first wave of soldiers who attacked the beacon tower was very fierce, climbed the high platform on the ladder, and wanted to recapture the beacon tower around the narrow passage, but the crossbow arrows shot from the window were no arrows, and it was almost easy to pursue the lives of dozens of soldiers, until the unbearable defenders opened the way with fire, which forced the bandit out of the beacon tower, the man was masked in black veil, holding a gun in his hand, an ordinary iron spear, he made it like a dragon out of the water, the spirit snake was dispatched, and a bloody storm was set off, after a fierce battle for more than half an hour, the man was wounded by eighteen swords, and then he broke out of the stone city with blood。 Of course, the more bizarre thing in this is the strange death of several generals, almost all of them were sniped silently in the battle array, and each of them was killed by the short sword through the heart, which is suspected to be the shadow of the world's three major killers, but no one remembers that when these generals died, there was a delicate and ordinary pawn who appeared beside them.

It's not that there are no rumors that this incident was done by the Demon Emperor who was in Jinling that day, but everyone knew that the Demon Emperor at that time was working hard to rescue his lover, so no one believed that he would anger the Yueguo Mansion at such a time, plus there was no evidence, almost no one had seen Yang Ning's trace, and the bandit who occupied the beacon tower was a top master who was good at using guns, and his body and martial arts had no resemblance to the Demon Emperor, so this matter was over after all.

However, the sequelae of this incident is not to be underestimated, the prestige of the Jinfan Society, which was originally burdened by the destruction of the Six Great Kou, rose sharply, a few months later, when Yi Buping exclaimed his prestige in the sea frontier, almost no one dared to oppose the Jinfan Society, and finally contributed to the confrontation pattern of the Jinfan Club dominating the East China Sea and the Yu family in the South China Sea, and the prestige of the Tang family had fallen again and again because of the Demon Emperor, and it was even worse after this incident, but later the defenders of Stone City learned the lesson of being attacked by the enemy this time, and revised the defense, sacrificed tens of thousands of soldiers to break through the city, smashed Jinling, and the commander of the Youji army at that time, but also issued a slaughter order, almost made this tiger standing in the dragon pan, the ancient capital of the past dynasties of the Jiangzuo shape victory, became a broken ruin, no one lonely city. A more direct consequence was that under the anger of the Yue State Mansion, it suspected that it was a conspiracy of other vassal kings and even the imperial court, and issued an expulsion order to the major forces in the territory despite the Demon Emperor's request to block the four realms, which led to the occurrence of a melee that is still talked about more than ten years later.