The number one spendthrift woman in the capital actually brings glory to her entire family?

"Why is that old woman Fang Huixue running to you again? Because of Zhu Da Pangzi, this woman is always picking on me. Can you send her to handle other matters? It's not right for such a hypocritical woman to keep an eye on me like this. Yesterday, she saw me having a few drinks with Fatty, and today she couldn't wait to complain to my boss. This woman is really annoying. No wonder Fatty can't stand her!"

Sikong Jin couldn't help but complain.

Tang Jingyao raised an eyebrow at her and said calmly, "Don't complain to me. The judicial department has been almost overwhelmed lately. Besides, you really need to be careful."

"Nonsense! You're so busy, how could you possibly have the time to drink tea here?"

And they flipped through it for so long, drinking the best and most expensive stuff!

Sikong Jin glared at him, looking at the tea leaves floating in the pot with a pained expression...

"Alright, you're so stingy with this little bit of tea? Last time you took a thousand-year-old ginseng from me and I didn't say a word. You're so cheap! The spy brought back news from Hangu Pass. Let's talk about what you think."

Tang Jingyao tossed the small note he had just received to Sikong Jin and asked a question.

Sikong Jin unfolded the document, glanced at it quickly, and pondered for a long time before saying softly, "The situation is not optimistic. If the Zhongzhou Association does not intervene again, given the Emperor's attitude, I personally am pessimistic about the battle situation in Hangu and Wangzhou."

As she spoke, Sikong Jin sighed, took a map from the bookshelf behind her, quickly spread it out, and soon found the corresponding locations on the map. Holding a pen, she quickly circled two locations on the map. "Look, this is Hangu Pass. Nearly 200,000 Liao cavalry will attack Hangu Pass from the front. In order to cope with the emergency, Lord Xingqi Tian can only draw some troops from several nearby cities such as Wangzhou and Longzhou to support Hangu Pass. Therefore, the defense of these places will inevitably become weak. However, the Liao army of over 100,000 gathered near Tashe City remains inactive."

"What do you mean? The Liao army in Tashe City has 100,000 troops? How is that possible?"

Tang Jingyao raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Sikong Jin nodded heavily, sighed, pointed to the location of Tashe City on the map, and slowly said, "Back when I was still in Malan City, I went hunting once and passed by Tashe City. In a forest near Tashe City, I found many hoofprints. Such a large number of hoofprints could not have belonged to an ordinary caravan. After the great victory at Malanpo, I captured a group of prisoners from the Liao Dynasty. In order to find out what was going on in Tashe City, I decided to take a risk. I initially asked them to exchange twenty arrows for one prisoner. Unexpectedly, Tashe City agreed very quickly, so I felt even more strange and asked them to raise the price."

"Oh? What's going on?"

A glint flashed in Tang Jingyao's eyes. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Sikong Jin with great interest.

Sikong Jin took a sip of tea, a strange smile playing on her lips. "I raised the stakes, making them exchange forty arrows for one prisoner, plus 100,000 taels of silver as compensation for their labor during this period. Sure enough, in less than three days, Tashe City actually managed to raise that amount."

“You know, the usual garrison of Tashe City is no more than 50,000, apart from the Liao troops who have been stationed there in the past! Such a huge sum, 200,000 arrows and 100,000 taels of silver, how could such a massive amount be raised all at once? Doesn’t that already explain the problem? Under normal circumstances, Tashe City would never have been able to come up with 200,000 arrows, and I knew they couldn’t, so I deliberately made things difficult for them, but now… do you understand?”

Sikong Jin narrowed her eyes with a shrewd and calculating look, staring at Tang Jingyao with a half-smile.

Tang Jingyao's eyes lit up, and his large hand holding the teacup suddenly tightened. "You mean, this time the Great Liao has decided to launch a major offensive, concentrating its forces to attack Hangu Pass, leaving several nearby strongholds undefended, while the Great Liao's secret army, which has already been secretly stationed in Tashe City, will attack from these gaps, tear through the defenses, and attack Dayong."

Sikong Jin nodded. "Yes, you're not stupid. Besides, this isn't the worst-case scenario. Think about it, what would happen if the Liao army broke through here and suddenly turned around and headed straight for Hangu City?"

With her long, slender, white fingertips gently pointing to a location on the map, Sikong Jin lowered her voice and reminded him.

Tang Jingyao looked in the direction Sikong Jin was pointing, and after a moment of thought, his expression changed slightly. His gaze froze for a moment as he stared at Sikong Jin in astonishment, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Shaking his head, Sikong Jin smiled awkwardly. "Don't look at me with such surprise. This is probably true. I did a detailed investigation and research on the Crown Prince Xifeng Lie of the Liao Dynasty. He is an outstanding military strategist, and what he has been advocating recently is this kind of gradient flanking maneuver. You know, the implementation of such a tactic is a very large-scale siege. As far as I know, more than ten years ago, the fourteen-year-old Crown Prince of the Northern Zhou Dynasty became famous in one battle, destroying the kingdoms of Western Chu and Eastern Lu in one battle, using this gradient flanking maneuver."

"Xi Fenglie is very arrogant. He believes that only the Crown Prince of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Third Prince of Tiansheng, Tuoba Yu, are qualified to be his opponents in the entire Fengyun Continent."

Tang Jingyao was momentarily stunned by Sikong Jin's analysis, his brows furrowing with surprise. "Xifeng Lie, Dibei... Ah Jin, you really are the most clever... Then what are we waiting for? Tell Ji Ji and the others about this right away..."

"I have done my best to arrange everything. Now Berger is with Lord Yukisaki and the others. However, even so, facing such heavy pressure, I'm afraid they alone can't... We must provide strong external support, otherwise I am personally pessimistic about the consequences of fighting alone."

Sikong Jin made her meaning very clear.

Tang Jingyao nodded. "I understand what you mean. I will make this request at the Central Plains Conference at the beginning of next month, but I really can't say whether those纨绔 old guys will agree. After all, you know, most of them are now inclined to support the Emperor..."

"I will do my best to persuade them. Lord Ji Jiucheng can't just sit idly by. And what about your judicial department? As for Sikong Shu... I will do my best..."

"You've really gone through a lot, Ajin..."

Tang Jingyao sighed, reached out and gently put his arm around Sikong Jin's shoulder, his eyes filled with warm concern and relief...