Black Fairy, the master is a female ghost

The news that the second prince Yan Bei was going to the front line to supervise the battle was also notified to the provincial government in advance.

Therefore, all the officials of the state government went out outside the north city gate, enduring hunger and waiting anxiously.

The governor of the prefecture was still unable to get out of bed, so he was carried by someone, wrapped thickly, and sat in a wheelchair, enjoying the cool breeze outside the north city gate.

At noon, a cavalry team arrived outside the north city, with the sound of horse hooves and the appearance of dust.

An official said: "Here we come, here we come, everyone line up quickly."

There were about five hundred cavalrymen in the team.

A general rode his horse at the front of the team.

He kept running until he was only five meters away from the welcoming team, and then he stopped his horse.

Immediately, a provincial official shouted, "The Nanjun Provincial Government respectfully welcomes His Royal Highness the Second Prince."

The general said, "The Second Prince said that time is of the essence, so there's no need to greet him. Let's go to the Imperial Examination Hall, take a break, and then leave."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for the state official to respond, he squeezed his legs together and said, "Go..."

Five hundred cavalrymen rolled past, raising a cloud of dust.

Yan Bei is among the team.

But he was wearing ordinary cavalry uniform, didn't say a word at all, and didn't stop. He followed the team and quickly entered the city.

The provincial officials didn't even see the shadow of Yan Bei before the team passed by.

An official said, "Quick, quick, go to the Imperial Examination Hall."

In the Imperial Examination Hall, Lord Sun was chatting with Lu Xunhuan.

Suddenly, there was a dense sound of horse hooves and the sound of horses neighing outside the gate.

Lord Sun stood up hurriedly: "Are you here? Come on, welcome them."

He ran out like a gust of wind.

Lu Xunhuan was quite surprised to see his figure.

A sixty-year-old man, who is usually very gentle, can actually run so fast when there is an emergency?

He stood up and said to Noila Mo, "Let's go."

At the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall, the cavalrymen had dismounted, automatically lined up in formation, and blocked the door.

The general, bringing Yan Bei with him, had already entered the Imperial Examination Hall.

Lord Sun came hurriedly with a group of officials from the Imperial Examination Hall, trotting and bowing, "The Imperial Examination Hall of Nanjun County respectfully welcomes His Royal Highness the Second Prince."

Then everyone knelt down.

Yan Bei walked up to everyone and asked, "Which one of you is Lu Chenglong?"

Lord Sun stood up and turned his head back: "Chenglong, Chenglong, hurry up..."

Yan Bei saw two young people, a man and a woman, striding towards him.

No running, no panic.

Lord Sun kowtowed and said, "Please forgive me, Second Prince. I am from a small place and have never seen the world."

Yan Bei said, "Get up," and walked around several kneeling officials from the Imperial Examination Hall and walked towards Lu Xunhuan.

When the two sides were about three meters apart, Lu Xunhuan finally stopped and bowed, "I, Lu Chenglong, greet Your Highness."

Noila Mo quickly followed him and said, “I, the humble Mo Xiaoqian, pay my respects to His Highness.”

Yan Bei walked up to Lu Xunhuan and looked him up and down.

"I have read your 'Man Jiang Hong', 'Ma Shuo', and 'Old Man Chatting about the Passion of Youth'. I have also sung the songs you wrote. They are very good."

Lu Xunhuan was surprised: "Did it spread so quickly?"

Yan Bei looked back at Lord Sun and said, "Lord Sun wrote a letter to recommend you to me, Prince Teacher, and included your articles and songs in the letter. Now, your articles and songs have caused a sensation throughout Longzhou City."

Lu Xunhuan bowed again: "I'm ashamed."

Yan Bei added, "We've already eaten in a small town twenty miles from Nanjun City. The war situation is urgent, so we won't stay any longer. Let's go now."

Lu Xunhuan looked at Noila Mo and said, “Prince, I need to bring a follower.”

Yan Bei looked at Mo Xiaoqian and said, "No problem. Leave two soldiers and horses for you two. Set off immediately."

The cavalry arrived at the Imperial Examination Hall and rested for less than a quarter of an hour.

Yan Bei left two soldiers behind and gave the horses to Lu Xunhuan and Mo Xiaoqian.

Then the cavalry rolled out of the south gate and galloped towards Tongmu County, a hundred miles away.

When the officials from the provincial government arrived at the Imperial Examination Hall breathlessly, the Second Prince was nowhere to be found.

Lord Sun stood at the door and said with a smile, "My lords, what a rare guest! What a rare guest! Come in and have a cup of tea?"

Most officials don't have the heart to drink tea.

The governor, who was still unable to stand up, stroked his beard and pondered for a moment: "Master Sun, since you are here, why not chat for a few minutes?"

Lord Sun still had that smiling face: "Sir, please come in."

The governor of the prefecture drank half a pot of tea with Lord Sun in the Imperial Examination Hall, and only then did he understand why the second prince came to the Imperial Examination Hall.

It turned out that the second prince came to see Lu Chenglong. From then on, Lu Chenglong became the aide of the second prince Yan Bei.

He suddenly became restless and could no longer drink his tea. He said goodbye in a hurry and had someone carry him back home.

But Lu Xunhuan followed the team, riding his horse south, and ran fifty miles to reach the canyon.

At this time, some people were already exhausted.

Yan Bei ordered them to rest for half an hour, and the people quickly ate their dry food and the horses were quickly sent to the stream beside the canyon to drink water.

He took the general and Lu Xunhuan, sat on a rock, took out some dry food, gave each of them a little, and ate it while chewing.

Lu Xunhuan looked at the second prince and honestly felt that this was the prince he respected the most.

Be decisive, unpretentious, and don't act like a prince.

He eats whatever the soldiers eat and doesn't ask for special treatment.

In order to avoid conspicuousness, he also wore soldier's uniform.

Think about the eighteenth prince of Zhou Kingdom, and Liang Nuo, the crown prince of Nanliang. Which one of them is not living a life of luxury?

Unfortunately, Dong Yan was indeed worse than Zhou and Southern Liang.

Yan Bei swallowed his dry food with difficulty, drank some water, and said, "Most of the people around me are mediocre, and I am thirsty for talents."

"Lu Chenglong, if you have talent, feel free to display it. This prince will definitely use you."

Lu Xun Huan smiled and said, "Thank you, Prince."

Yan Bei also smiled: "But if you are only good at writing articles and songs, and have no other talents, this prince can also recommend you to develop in Longzhou City. We can be friends."

This statement is very clear. If Lu Xunhuan can be of great use to Yanbei, he will definitely be given important positions.

But if he can only write articles and songs and nothing else, then he won't be of much use to Yan Bei.

He also heard a big story from Yan Bei's words.

Perhaps, Yan Bei did not want to be the second prince, or even the second prince, for the rest of his life.

He has big goals.

Precisely because he has big goals, he is particularly eager to have talented people to assist him.

Everyone was resting and watering their horses when suddenly the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard in the canyon.

The general shouted, "Stop them and ask them."

Dozens of soldiers quickly gathered and blocked the road.

The horse neighed loudly and stopped.

The general shouted, "Is this intelligence from the front lines?"

A soldier jumped off his horse, half-knelt and saluted, "Report, the enemy has occupied Pingyang County and Sanhe County, and is heading towards Tongmu County."

"We estimate that we will be able to encircle Tongmu County before dark."

The general asked, "Didn't they say that Tongmu County was under siege?"

The soldier reported, "Only a small number of enemy troops, about 10,000, have arrived from Tongmu County and are stationed outside the city."

"They came to stop us from supporting Sanhe County, but they didn't lay siege to the city."

"But now Sanhe County and Pingyang County have both fallen, and the main enemy force is heading towards Tongmu County."

After hearing this, the general turned and saluted Yan Bei: "Your Highness, how do you think we can resist the enemy?"

Yan Bei said, "You are the general, you should take the strategy."

The general asked, "The enemy's main force is advancing fiercely. Our front lines have been routed, and I'm afraid we don't have much manpower left."

"Should we order the defenders of Tongmu County to abandon the city immediately and retreat northward to preserve their manpower?"

Yan Bei asked, "Where should we retreat to?"

The general said, "Block the enemy along the way, fighting and retreating until my reinforcements arrive in large numbers."

Yan Bei asked Lu Xunhuan, "Lu Chenglong, what do you think?"

Lu Xun Huan asked the spy, "Previously, there were 30,000 garrison troops in Nanjun City who had already set out to provide emergency assistance. Where are they?"

The scout replied, "I met them fifty miles north of Tongmu County. They may be almost at Tongmu County now."

Lu Xunhuan asked again, "How many soldiers are there in Tongmu County?"

The spy replied, "Five thousand."

Lu Xunhuan asked again, "How many enemy troops are there?"

The spy replied, "About 200,000 men. They have suffered about 50,000 casualties in the battle with us, leaving us with 150,000 available troops."

"But they have occupied the natural barrier of Tongmu Pass, which makes it much easier and faster for reinforcements to arrive later."

Lu Xun Huan thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, Tongmu County is on a mountain. It's easy to defend but difficult to attack."

"With 35,000 soldiers, relying on the advantageous terrain and mobilizing the entire city population, we can hold out for ten days until reinforcements arrive. This shouldn't be a problem."

Yan Bei asked the general, "What do you think?"

The general said, "Even though we have the advantage of terrain, our forces are so few that it's a bit risky. Moreover, His Highness is traveling with us, so we can't afford to lose anything."

Yan Bei said, "Don't consider me, the prince. Just treat me as an ordinary soldier."

The general thought for a moment and said, "It's still a bit risky. The people can be mobilized, but fighting a war involves real weapons and swords, which is far from what we imagine."

Lu Xun Huan took over the conversation, "Your Highness, you and the cavalry will arrive later. I will take Xiao Qian and set off now. We will try to enter Tongmu County before it is surrounded."

"It's just that I need the command of those 35,000 soldiers."

Yan Bei nodded: "Okay, let me see if you can hold on."

He pulled out a tiger talisman from his bosom and said, "This is the talisman that His Majesty gave to the general. Take it and you will be the general of Tongmu County."

Lu Xunhuan took the tiger talisman and said, "I'll go first. Xiaoqian, let's go."

The two men mounted their horses, whipped their horses, and galloped away.

The general listened to the sound of horse hooves fading away, still very worried: "Your Highness, he is a scholar."

Yan Bei said, "You two just showed off in front of this prince."

"You are not as good as him."

"He asked about the number of our troops and the number of the enemy troops. At least he knew both ourselves and the enemy."

"What about you? Did you ask?"

The general lowered his head in shame: "No."