In danger, he traveled through time to save her, and the black-bellied prince doted on her

There was no poison in that glass of wine, but if Fan Zhaoyang had not said something that would make Zhou Shenmao believe, the second glass of wine would have been poison.

Everyone was absent-minded. Chen Hengwang finally waited until the banquet was over. He and Zhou Shenmao went to the parade ground to inspect the soldiers.

Fan Zhaoyang was detained in Zhou's mansion, and Zhou Shenmao assigned two guards to him, under the pretext of protection, but in fact they were monitoring him all day long.

Fan Zhaoyang was sleeping at night with two guards standing outside the house. He did not act rashly. He felt that Zhou Shenmao must have ambushed many guards in the dark, waiting for him to fall into the trap.

Two days later, the guards went to report to Zhou Shenmao: "Sir, General Fan has not made any unusual moves."

Zhou Shenmao was friends with Fan Zheng, but only casually associated with Fan Zhaoyang. When he heard that Fan Zhaoyang was behaving well, he was still somewhat worried, so he signaled to the guards to invite Fan Zhaoyang to the inner hall.

After a while, Fan Zhaoyang came here.

Zhou Shenmao got straight to the point: "General Fan, do you want to stay in Yanzhou, or join me in attacking Youzhou?"

Seeing that Zhou Shenmao gave him the right to choose, Fan Zhaoyang avoided these two options first: "I want to go to the south. If you can use me, just tell me."

When Zhou Shenmao heard that Fan Zhaoyang was determined to escape the chaos under a false name, he felt that only by letting Fan Zhaoyang leave the north could the danger be completely eliminated.

It was enough for him to have Chen Hengwang by his side: "Then when are you going to leave?"

Fan Zhaoyang originally wanted to get Chen Hengwang's head, but Chen Hengwang never left the governor's mansion. It was because he asked someone to send a letter to Chen Hengwang that he was able to see Chen Hengwang.

There are heavy troops guarding this place, so he must leave first: "I'm sure there will be panic soon. My wife has gone to Jiangnan, so I'm leaving now."

"Okay." Zhou Shenmao immediately asked the guards to send this person away. He knew Fan Zhaoyang's appeal in Youzhou. If he attacked Youzhou together with him, they would achieve twice the result with half the effort.

But he was more worried that Fan Zhaoyang had other plans and would join forces with the Youzhou soldiers to trap him in Youzhou.

If he were Fan Zhaoyang, he would not come to Yanzhou alone.

He also couldn't kill Fan Zhaoyang, otherwise the confidants who came to Yanzhou with Fan Zhaoyang would definitely send back the news, and the Youzhou soldiers would unite to deal with him.

Chen Hengwang learned that Fan Zhaoyang had left, and also knew Zhou Shenmao's thoughts.

When he was alone, he thought to himself: "If Zhou Shenmao is very smart, he will be a threat to me. Smart but stupid chess pieces are the best to use."

Fan Zhaoyang left Yanzhou City and rode his horse southward alone. He noticed that someone was following him.

There was a dense forest ahead. Fan Zhaoyang dismounted and entered the forest, walking deeper into the woods. He hummed a tune while relieving himself.

The rustling sound made the two people following behind want to relieve themselves as well.

"Awoo..." The rustling sounds of branches in the forest stopped in the sound of this strange and dangerous roar.

The two guards' heads were buzzing. They looked into the distance in unison and saw the grass and trees swaying in the wind, then swaying violently and approaching them quickly.

They looked at each other and fastened their clothes in panic: "What's that noise?"

"It's a wolf!" Fan Zhaoyang pulled up his trousers and ran. His shouting and running made the two guards even more frightened.

After Fan Zhaoyang ran out of the woods, he jumped on his horse.

"Gee!" The horse ran towards the south like an arrow.

The dust obscured the vision of the two guards. They wanted to follow Fan Zhaoyang, but four wolves were blocking the road and pounced on them with bared fangs.

The guards jumped onto their horses and galloped towards Yanzhou without stopping.

Four wolves were chasing relentlessly, and one wolf almost bit the horse's leg. The guard stabbed the leader with a sword.

The leader wolf dodged to the side but continued to chase them towards the north until the guards could no longer be seen.

The two guards saw that they had shaken off the wolves and thought that they could no longer catch up with Fan Zhaoyang.

One of them was trying to fool Zhou Shenmao: "We will stay outside the city for two days, and then report to Lord Zhou that Fan Zhaoyang went to the south."

Zhou Shenmao treated his servants and maids very well, but he was very strict with his guards.

The two had been whipped dozens of times for a minor mistake not long ago, and now they had no memory and only remembered the grudge. Besides, Zhou Shenmao was going to Youzhou soon and had no time to take care of them, so they could act cunningly.

The two stayed outside the city for a long time before returning to the governor's residence. They told Zhou Shenmao that Fan Zhaoyang had already passed Jizhou.

Zhou Shenmao was relieved when he heard the news. He and Chen Hengwang immediately led 20,000 soldiers from the state to Youzhou.

The baggage was sent out two days ago, and it included a lot of siege weapons such as catapults, battering rams, ladders, etc., all of which were city defense and siege weapons that Zhou Shenmao had built before.

Zhou Shenmao has an advantage, which is that he is willing to spend money. He is generous even to his maids, let alone the weapons that protect his safety?

Chen Heng saw that these weapons were better than those in Youzhou. Some of them were weapons that had been requested to be reserved by Emperor Ming in the past, and some were weapons that Zhou Shenmao had secretly made.

His shield is stronger than a regular shield, and his arrows and swords are huge.

Zhou Shenmao also has a hundred Modao teams. The Modao soldiers are all strong warriors with a height of nine feet and they look like they have been trained for many years.

Zhou Shenmao had no shortage of military rations. He prepared mutton and meat for the Modao Team every day, and also prepared eggs for the soldiers.

The Yanzhou soldiers were all in high spirits, waiting to follow Zhou Shenmao to win a battle.

The horses raised by Zhou Shenmao were all iron-hoofed horses, with impeccable speed and endurance. They could easily cross rugged mountain roads and they marched very quickly.

Chen Hengwang thought, Zhou Shenmao's tax record was very clean, where did he get so much money to build weapons and prepare military rations?

Zhou Shenmao knew that Chen Hengwang was confused, so he told him frankly: "During the three years of war, I was chased and beaten by the enemy and had to surrender. I almost died on the battlefield."

"Since then, apart from paying taxes to the Dasheng treasury, building roads and providing disaster relief, and enjoying my wealth, the rest of the money from Yanzhou has been used to raise soldiers, forge weapons, and store grain."

"If Yuhe attacks again someday, I will be able to avenge my previous humiliation. Now the one who is rebelling is Xi Wang Mu Jinan, so I have no choice but to mobilize my troops!"

"I think His Majesty has already sent Yang Zhaowei to find out the situation in Yanzhou. He knows that I have food and weapons, so he asked you to come to Yanzhou to persuade me."

"Your Majesty doesn't need to allocate a penny of military pay, and you can reap the benefits. He wants to use your old power and prestige in the Youzhou army to conquer the northern states. Wonderful!"

"I'm just afraid of death and I like to live a luxurious life. In fact, I haven't taken much money from the people of Yanzhou."

The moist spring breeze blew up a strand of Chen Hengwang's hair, covering his somewhat surprised eyes. He suddenly felt that he could not see through Zhou Shenmao.

He didn't know that Zhou Shenmao was such a patriot with backbone. How could Chen Hengwang not know what Emperor Hui was thinking? But what if they saw through Emperor Hui's plan?

Zhou Shenmao patted his round belly with one hand, and the dark night cast a heavy and subtle shadow on his face.

He continued, "When Mu Jin'an attacked Youzhou, the world did not make a big fuss and blame her because Li Yuanyang rebelled and killed her. She wanted to bring the people of Dasheng back home, so she was right."

"But what about us? We are subjects, of a different surname. Unless the people are in dire straits or foreign enemies invade, we have to sit obediently under the golden throne of imperial power and suppress our restless evil intentions."

"The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. If we lose, our entire clan will be executed, our names will be recorded in history books, and we will be cursed by future generations. Now, we have no choice but to work for the emperor."