My vicious dog, my horse, I can do whatever I want with it

Shortly after the Ghost Festival, the first battle with the State of Jin finally broke out.

Zong Yanli personally led a large army to the border. The man who led the battle was an old acquaintance, Shao Weiyi, who had led the army when Jin State borrowed troops from Nankang.

"What is the intention of Wu State's move!" Shao Weiyi acted like a victim, sitting on his horse and facing Zong Yanli angrily, "You and I have never had any grudges. Wu State is coming to us to bully Jin State, are they?"

"Don't play dumb here." Zong Yanli, wearing heavy armor, stared at Shao Weiyi coldly and said, "Hand over the third prince, and I will withdraw my troops and leave."

"What Third Prince?" Shao Weiyi looked completely clueless and said in a cold voice, "This is the territory of Jin State. There are only Jin citizens here. We don't want to see the Third Prince of Wu State!"

"You guys really have a big appetite. Are the people who set foot on your Jin territory all citizens of Jin?" Zong Yanli sneered twice, and suddenly drew the long sword from his waist. The cold and sharp blade pointed directly at Shao Weiyi and said, "In this case, I want to see if your Jin territory can withstand the army of my Wu country!"

Shao Weiyi was slightly shocked. He probably didn't expect Zong Yanli to be so arrogant. He attacked him with just a few words.

Both armies were reserved in the first battle, simply wanting to test each other. The leader of Wu State acted arrogantly, while the leader of Jin State insisted that they had never met He Xingliang, let alone knew who the third prince of Wu State was. They just said that Wu State was being unreasonable.

Shao Weiyi originally planned to deal with Zong Yanli, and it would be best if he could get some benefits from the Wu Kingdom.

Who would have thought that Zong Yanli would not listen to any gossip. Either hand the person over or he will beat him!

Shao Weiyi was filled with distress. Then he turned around and saw that the State of Jin had increased its troops. It looked like a battle was inevitable. The general leading the army of the State of Jin was the old Grand Tutor Wu Jian'an, who had established the cavalry of the State of Jin.

He is also Shao Weiyi's teacher. This time, the State of Jin actually asked the old master to be the commander-in-chief, which obviously showed that they were preparing for a war.

After Zong Yanli received the news, Wu Jian'an had just arrived at the Jin army camp. The old Grand Tutor was nearly sixty years old and his hair was completely white, including his beard. However, his eyes were as cold as an eagle's. He was wearing armor and sitting in the commander-in-chief's seat, and was asking someone to take off his knee armor for him.

"Student greets teacher!" Shao Weiyi hurried into the tent, and was extremely surprised to see Wu Jian'an. Even tears of excitement welled up in his eyes. He strode forward and kowtowed respectfully.

"Get up quickly." Wu Jian'an smiled when he saw Shao Weiyi. He had taught many students in his life, but Shao Weiyi was his most proud disciple. He had learned all the military tactics he taught him, but the teacher and student had not seen each other for many years.

Since Shao Weiyi was stationed at the border, he has no time to return to Beijing to pay a visit to his commander. He has always been thinking about him, and he is naturally surprised to see him suddenly.

Shao Weiyi stood up and said in a somewhat hurried tone: "I never thought that the emperor would ask you to lead the army this time. Why did you do this? Is there no one else in the court going to fight?"

Wu Jianan waved his hand and said, "It was not His Majesty's intention. I volunteered to lead the troops."

"Although I am old, I am not so old that I can't lift a gun!" Wu Jian'an snorted and stood up, walked towards Shao Weiyi and said, "How can I sit idly by when Jin is in such danger?"

"It is better to die on the battlefield than to die of old age at home!" said Wu Jian'an.

"Teacher!" Shao Weiyi couldn't bear to hear this, so he knelt down immediately, his eyes seemed to be a little red.

Wu Jian'an patted Shao Weiyi on the shoulder, lifted him up and said, "Let's not talk too much about the past. Let's talk about who is the leader of the Wu Kingdom this time. Is it that old guy Qin Yuanwu? "

Shao Weiyi lowered his head and collected his thoughts before saying, "No, General Qin hasn't fought at the border for many years. The leader of the Wu army now is named Zong Yan, with a single given name of Li."

"Zong Yanli?" Wu Jian'an frowned and thought for a moment: "This surname does sound familiar, but I have never heard of this person."

"This person is really amazing." Shao Weiyi sighed and spoke to Wu Jian'an about Zong Yanli with a very serious expression.

Starting from the battle between Wu State and Nankang, to Qing State and then back to Jin State, Wu Jian'an became more and more surprised the more he listened. After listening to the end, he said with a complicated mood: "I never thought that after not seeing him for many years, Wu State would have such a person."

Wu Jianan pondered for a moment and said, "I remember that I had come across the surname Zong Yan before..."

It's been a long time so I can't remember the exact time. He was once a fierce general of the Wu State, but I can't remember his name.

Wu Jianan collected his thoughts and asked again: "Where is the third prince of Wu State now?"

"Imprisoned in the dungeon." Shao Weiyi said quickly: "This person is seriously injured and is still in a coma. How do you plan to deal with him?"

"Keep him locked up for now and watch him carefully to make sure no one gets killed." Wu Jian'an said in a low voice.

The teacher and student discussed in detail the current situation and the preparations that need to be made next.

On the other side, in the Wu State military tent, Zong Yanli also heard about Wu Jian'an from Tan Liming. In fact, there was no need for Tan Liming to say anything, Zong Yanli also knew that this person was not easy to deal with. The current status of Jin State was entirely dependent on this old mentor.

It is no exaggeration to say that he was a founding hero.

Wu Jian'an's prestige was not only profound within the State of Jin, but he was also praised by many other countries.

"General! Look who's here!" In the military tent, Zong Yanli was looking at the terrain with Gongsun Pu and Pei Liang. When he turned around, he saw Gao Feilin leading a dark and tall man in. The man was covered in dust. When he saw Zong Yanli, he strode forward, knelt down and bowed, saying, "I am Xiang An, your student. I am honored to meet you, teacher!"

"Why are you here?" Zong Yanli was very surprised. Looking at Xiang An whose appearance had changed drastically, he was a little afraid to recognize him for a moment.

"When I heard that you were leading the army to fight against the State of Jin, I asked for a transfer and came to lend a helping hand!" Xiang An said excitedly.

Zong Yanli smiled, looked at him and said, "It hasn't been that long, how did you get yourself into this state?"

Xiang An smiled naively and said, "Although the teacher is not by my side, I dare not slack off day and night. I got tanned accidentally..."

Everyone laughed: "You are not tanned, you are almost charcoal."

Xiang An was also helpless. He didn't know why he would become so tanned after being exposed to the sun, but he was very happy as long as he could come. He immediately took out the transfer order approved by Song Zhiyuan and showed it to Zong Yanli. Zong Yanli took a look at it and ordered someone to put it away.

"Since you are here, then stay." Zong Yanli nodded and said, "It is a good opportunity to see how you have learned."

"Monk, I'll leave him to you." Zong Yanli raised his eyes and called out.

"Yes!" Monkie bowed and responded without hesitation.

Zong Yanli waved his hand, signaling Monkie to take the people down and settle them down, and then turned around to continue discussing strategies to meet the enemy with Gongsun Pu and others.

A confrontation between two armies is not like a siege. It requires the deployment of troops and has many difficulties.

Over there, Monkie took Xiang An to his own camp. The camp was full of his brothers, who were familiar with Xiang An. They were very happy to see him coming and came forward to greet him. Zong Yanli had accepted Xiang An as a student at Yuanshiguan, but he did not have much time to teach him.

Zong Yanli had to take into account the war situation with the Kingdom of Qing, so he only found time to teach a few things. Most of the time, Xiang An practiced hard on his own, and only sought help from the teacher when he encountered difficulties.

At that time, Xiang An was not a soldier under Zong Yanli, so naturally they did not spend much time together. Zong Yanli really did not expect Xiang An to come from afar.

"Teacher has spared no effort to teach me. If I do nothing, it would be too unfair." Compared to Xiang An when he first became a disciple, Xiang An has grown a lot now. He has a strong body and stands straight. He is no longer the boy whose knees could be bent by a casual kick from Zong Yanli.

"I came here to repay the teacher's kindness and to make achievements!" Xiang An grinned and showed his white teeth. He said to Monk and others in a simple and honest manner, "I just hope I will not bring disgrace to the teacher's reputation."

"Hahaha! You're a real man!" Monk was deeply moved by Xiang An's words. He patted Xiang An on the shoulder and said, "It was not in vain that our general accepted you!"

"Come on, let's fight for a few moves and see if you have improved!" Monk rolled up his sleeves and said, "I think the general is too busy to test you now, so I am now considered your top general, so I will test you on your behalf!"

Xiang An was not careless either, he immediately stood up and said: "Please teach me, General!"

The two of them set up their positions and went to the training ground. After Zong Yanli and Gongsun Pu finished their discussion, they heard Gao Feilin come to report this matter. After taking two sips of tea, they said, "Let's go and take a look."

On the training ground, Monkie and Xiang An had already started fighting. Looking at the two men fighting with bare hands, they seemed to be equally brave.

When Pei Liang saw Zong Yanli had also come, he immediately bowed to her and saluted. Zong Yanli waved and turned to look towards the training ground, watching Xiang An ducking to avoid Meng Qi's tiger pounce, and turning around to fight back cleanly and neatly. Zong Yanli couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when seeing this beautiful attack.

"The general's student has achieved great success in his studies." Pei Liang praised with a smile.

"Not bad." Zong Yanli raised his lips slightly, squinting his eyes and watching Xiang An against Monkie. He did not show any sign of decline, but became more and more courageous as the battle went on, and he was very satisfied.

"Forget it, forget it. Let's stop fighting." Seeing that he couldn't defeat Xiang An in one fell swoop, both of them were panting. Since it was a test, there was no need to be too strict. After all, he was the general's student. Seeing that it was almost done, Monk simply stopped and said, "You have indeed improved a lot!"

"General Meng, you are too modest." Xiang An knew his own weight and pointed at Meng Qi's waist and said, "I just felt that there are iron plates on General Meng's waist and wrists. Even with such a heavy load, I couldn't get any benefits from General Meng."

Xiang An said with shame: "I will need your guidance in the future."

Monk didn't expect Xiang An to find out. He pressed the iron sheet around his waist and laughed, "Good boy, do you really want to knock me down?"

If he was really knocked down, he would be so embarrassed...

Zong Yanli walked over at this time, and the people around him bowed to greet him.

"Teacher." Xiang An also hurriedly bowed.

"That's good. There are ways to defeat Monkie." Zong Yanli raised his eyebrows slightly and glanced at Monkie.

"..." Monk's expression froze, and he suddenly felt a fear of being targeted, and hurriedly said: "General, why do you need him to defeat me! Wouldn't it be better for you to defeat the fierce general of Jin State yourself!"

Monk looked at him and said, "You two teachers and students, please don't treat me badly." What would he do if his dignity in the army was destroyed?

Pei Liang and others couldn't help laughing when they saw this scene. Zong Yanli also raised his lips and waved to Xiang An to follow him to the military tent. Only then did he take the time to ask Xiang An about the situation at Yuanshi Pass.

Xiang An sat upright and replied, "After the Kingdom of Qing proposed to cede land to stop the war, the land to be ceded was not a good place. The envoys of the two sides frequently went back and forth for this, and it was almost like a war again. But for some reason, the Kingdom of Qing finally compromised and ceded the three cities in the north of Quhe."

"When the students came out, they heard that the covenant would be signed soon." Xiang An said.

"Northern Quhe..." Zong Yanli pondered for a moment, feeling that something was a little strange. He paused and said, "Who is the special envoy of Qing Kingdom?"

"It is said that his name is Zhang Yan, and he serves as Sima in the Kingdom of Qing." Xiang An thought for a moment and replied.

"Gao Feilin, go! Call Mr. Gongsun." When Zong Yanli heard this man's name again, he did not hesitate at all and asked Gao Feilin to invite Gongsun Pu.

Gongsun Pu had just returned to the camp and sat down when he was summoned and hurried over. He listened to Zong Yanli's words about the affairs of the Qing Kingdom.

Gongsun Pu was somewhat surprised and asked, "The land to be ceded is actually the northern part of Quhe?"

"Sir, what do you think the Qing Kingdom is doing?" Zong Yanli frowned and said, "I guessed that the Qing Kingdom ceded many territories this time, but I didn't expect that they would cede the northern part of Quhe. If I remember correctly, most of the northern part of Quhe was the fiefdom of the old clans of the Qing Kingdom."

"Won't Qing Kingdom's cession of its fiefdom provoke clan disputes?" Zong Yanli felt that this was obviously not a wise move.

"General, you even know this?" This time it was Gongsun Pu's turn to be surprised. He nodded seriously and said, "When I was young, I went to Qing State. The northern part of Nagqu River is indeed the fief of the old clan in Qing State."

"It's just that the Qing Kingdom has long ceased to rely on the clans, but since the monarch of the Qing Kingdom is in the temple, he must have prestige."

"How can he be king if the old clans don't respect him as king?"

Gongsun Pu thought for a moment and said, "The Qing Kingdom is courting its own destruction."

Zong Yanli said again that the special envoy from Qing Kingdom was the Zhang Yan he mentioned. Gongsun Pu was stunned again. He rubbed the jade flute on his waist for a while and then said, "Pu can't understand. Is Zhang Yan's move to save the country or to harm it?"

Zong Yanli saw that even Gongsun Pu had difficulty guessing, so he asked, "Sir, what do you know about Zhang Yan?"

"Just an acquaintance." Gongsun Pu shook his head. He indeed didn't know her well enough.

"So..." Zong Yanli lowered his eyes and said, "Let's see if the alliance between Qing and Wu can be successfully signed. It will be fine as long as it does not harm Wu."