Jiang Yun wrote in the war invitation that he would like to lead his fierce Generals in an appointment to fight in order to avoid the destruction of life and the scourge of innocent people, inviting the Commander of the Sui army and other Generals to fight outside the Muyun Pass. According to the rules of military competition, they will compete in pairs for a competition. Both sides will send the same number of fierce Generals to participate in the battle, and the side with the largest number of victories will be considered the winner.
The defeated side needs to actively admit defeat and seek peace.
With the other party’s Crown Prince personally participating in the battle, the weight and significance of this battle invitation naturally become different.
Sitting in the middle, General Yang Shuo immediately sneered, “Jiang Rongyu dared to take the initiative to challenge His Highness. He shouldn’t have thought that his military prowess was superior just because he won against His Highness’s arrow at last year’s meeting in the river. Can he be on par with His Highness? It’s simply an act of overestimation and self-humiliation.”
After speaking, Yang Shuo felt that the tent was particularly quiet.
Yang Shuo was taken aback and realized that he wished he could slap himself twice.
Everyone in the military knows that the meeting in the river last year was a great shame for His Highness. He publicly lost to the “weak and sickly” Jiang Rongyu, lost the Luo Kingdom, lost the bet, and returned to the Sui capital. In front of the courtiers in the palace, he kneeled down and apologized to the Left Prime Minister, Jimo Qingyu. Since then, everyone knows that this matter is the untouchable scale of His Highness. He’s such a pig brain, why does he have to mention this out of anything?
Yang Shuo didn’t dare to look at Sui Heng’s face at all. He immediately scared his butt off the chair and stood up in a panic.
“What do you all think?”
After a while, Sui Heng reopened his mouth and resumed his usual tone.
But he still hang Yang Shuo, ignoring him. Yang Shuo was sweating profusely, and he clung in place with even greater unease.
“The minister thinks it’s not a good idea.”
In silence, one man opened his mouth first.
Sui Heng raised his eyebrows and looked at Chen Qi, who was sitting at the head of the civil service. “Where does the Military Advisor think this is not good?”
Chen Qi stood up and said seriously, “Because this Jiang Rongyu.”
“This battle invitation, on the surface, is a gentleman’s agreement, but Jiang Rongyu has always been cunning, the most skilled at plotting and scheming to gain fame for himself. Your Highness… has also seen this person’s hypocritical and despicable side. What if he uses the name of the agreement to lay ambushes around and plot against Your Highness?”
This viewpoint immediately drew the agreement of some generals.
Sui Heng did not comment but asked, “So, in the Military Advisor’s opinion, what should Gu do?”
Chen Qi said, “In one swoop, take down the Muyun Pass and completely incorporate the land of Jiangnan into the territory of the Sui Empire. Isn’t this also Your Highness’s grand wish all along?”
“Military Advisor Chen is right.”
Another advisor immediately echoed in a loud voice, “Your Highness has 300,000 soldiers in hand. It’s only a matter of time before Your Highness can take down the Muyun Pass. Your Highness doesn’t need to play this game with the Crown Prince of Jiang.”
The brothers Lu Jishi and Lu Anmin have returned from outside.
Lu Anmin said, “Your Highness, it was said that the Crown Prince of Jiang has already ordered someone to spread the news of his war invitation to His Highness to everyone. Now, the people of Jiangnan and Jiangbei are waiting for Your Highness’s attitude. If Your Highness refuses this invitation, the people will think that Your Highness is tyrannical and has no regard for their lives. Our Generals cowered to the opposing Generals, not daring to fight on behalf of the people.”
The faces of the Generals paled greatly.
Chen Qi also frowned.
One person couldn’t help but curse, “This Jiang Rongyu is really cunning. This is a move that puts His Highness on fire, forcing His Highness to accept his battle invitation and agree to his agreement. It’s absolutely despicable.”
The General’s words came to a sudden halt as he noticed that Sui Heng’s face was as cold as frost, with a terrifyingly gloomy expression.
Sui Heng didn’t look at anyone in the tent, he only picked up the brush and wrote two lines on the back of the invitation, handing it to the messenger and saying, “Reply, Gu accept the battle.”
The appointment time is set for the afternoon.
Although Jiang Yun employed some tactics, the Generals of the Jiang Empire were still somewhat surprised when Sui Heng accepted the battle proposal and agreed to resolve the conflict through a contract war.
At the end of the day, Sui Heng was never someone who cared about reputation. How to fight this battle was almost entirely determined by Sui Heng’s personal will. If Sui Heng insisted on starting a war, not to mention one war invitation, even ten war invitations, he might not pay attention to it.
“Could it be that we had any misunderstandings about this Crown Prince of Sui in the past?”
Yun Huai couldn’t help but ask Fan Zhou.
Yesterday, the Crown Prince of Sui suddenly withdrew his troops, which was surprising enough. Today, he accepted His Highness’s battle invitation, which surprised everyone even more.
Fan Zhou was unaware of the situation and naturally couldn’t figure it out, but he also vaguely felt that there was something fishy about it.
“To be honest with the General, I’m actually more worried about another matter.”
Yun Huai clearly thought of it as well: “Is the Master afraid that the Crown Prince of Sui will remember the incident on the river last year and take this opportunity to make another underhanded move to harm His Highness?”
Fan Zhou nodded.
“If it’s really a two-by-two duel, as His Highness said, then the one who will face off with His Highness must be the Crown Prince of Sui. This person is ruthless. Although the rules of the competition are that it should be held to the point and not to harm one’s life, what if he just ignores the rules and targets His Highness? Moreover… some of His Highness’s recent behavior is also very strange.”
Yun Huai quickly asked what was going on.
Fan Zhou said, “Yesterday, after His Highness left the city alone, he asked Gongsun Yang to give me a box. Gongsun Yang said, ‘There are some brocade sachets written by His Highness inside, and I should open them after this great war.’ You say, Why did His Highness leave so many brocade sachets for me for no reason? Yesterday, His Highness went out of the city alone to meet the Crown Prince of Sui without telling us, could it be…”
Fan Zhou was a little reluctant to say it.
Everyone knows that because of that meeting on the river, the Crown Prince of Sui hated their Highness to the bone and even put out harsh words that he wanted to skin their Highness and eat their Highness’s flesh raw.
If His Highness makes an appointment with the Crown Prince of Sui at this time, is it not a case of a sheep entering a tiger’s mouth and feeding the wolf with its body?
After listening, Yun Huai furrowed his eyebrows and became worried. “So what should we do? Now that the battle order has been issued and the Crown Prince of Sui has also taken it, there is absolutely no room for repentance.”
Fan Zhou said, “His Highness appears to have a mild temper, but in reality, he is strong and decisive, extremely independent. Since it is something that His Highness has decided, there is no room for further change. Let’s prepare for war first.”
This matter spread throughout the armies of both countries. As soon as noon passed, the generals of both sides, under the leadership of their respective commanders, stood on the competition field as agreed.
The competition between generals is nothing more than archery and horseback riding. As long as the field is large enough for the run, the only thing that needs to be prepared in advance is the arrow target.
The Muyun Pass was filled with soldiers, and on the side of the Sui army, all the subordinate kingdoms’ Guozhu and officials also came to watch the competition. The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu was unusually disheartened, with dark blue eyes.
Wei Lian, the Guozhu of the Wei Kingdom, asked, “What’s wrong, Brother Chen? Did you stay up all night last night?”
Wei Lian did not attend the Spring Banquet in the Sui capital in the past year, he doesn’t know Jiang Yun and naturally doesn’t know the inside story, but the Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu knew it. The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu sighed helplessly, “Guaren afraid that it’s going to be Guaren’s dead end this time.”
Wei Lian didn’t understand: “Brother Chen, why did you say this? In my opinion, His Highness will win the competition today. I’m afraid there’s no hope for the Crown Prince of Jiang.”
The Chen kingdom’s Guozhu looked at him with an ignorant gaze.
“What do you know? Some things can’t just be seen on the surface.”
“In the future, our lives may not be easy. I advise Brother Wei to find a way out for yourself as soon as possible.”
Wei Lian was so confused by what he said that he asked Jiang Yuping, who was standing on the other side, “Brother Jiang, what’s wrong with him?”
Jiang Yuping turned the trigger in his hand and ignored him.
The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu had his own opinion and thought to himself that the things he had done with Jiang Yuping were much more serious than him. He said coldly, “Now everyone is that grasshopper in the autumn1Near one’s ends., no one is nobler than anyone, what are you still showing off for?”
At this time, a clanging zither sound suddenly rang out from the opposite city gate building. The sound was lingering and sentimental, like a lover’s song. Wei Yun stood beside Wei Lian and was slightly surprised at the sound.
“Lou Fengjun? He’s in Muyun Pass?”
Whirling around, he wondered: When did Luo Fengjun start playing such sticky tunes?
The two Crown Princes personally participated in the war, so the competition venue should not be too shabby, with seats, tea, and pastries available. It is only clear-cut and divided into two sides.
Jiang Yun had just spread his sleeves and sat down when Sui Heng swaggered over from the opposite side.
Fan Zhou, Yun Huai, and the trusted subordinates immediately be on alert.
The competition has not officially started yet. What does the Crown Prince of Sui want to do? Sui Heng regarded the crowd as if they were nothing and came directly to Jiang Yun. He took out a small porcelain jar from his pocket and handed it over.
Jiang Yun took it over, opened it, and was taken aback. It turned out to be a small jar of sugar pickled plums.
Xu Qiao, who sat across from him, couldn’t help but stroke his forehead, showing an ‘I can’t watch this’ expression. The Jiang Empire’s advisors and generals were all stunned and immediately looked at Sui Heng with even more vigilant eyes.
Sui Heng said, “Taste it. Gu picked it specifically from Mount Li.”
Jiang Yun picked one up and put it in his mouth.
Fan Zhou: “……”
Fan Zhou paled slightly and said, “Your Highness!”
The other party’s character was so bad, and he hated His Highness to the bone. He was afraid that the other party would poison him!
Jiang Yun slightly raised the corners of his mouth toward him and said, It’s fine.
Fan Zhou took a step forward and stood in front of Jiang Yun, looking straight at Sui Heng and saying, “We appreciate Your Highness’s kindness. But our Highness has no deep friendship with Your Highness, and in the future, I would like to ask Your Highness to have self-respect and refrain from such abrupt behavior.”
In the first round of the archery competition, the generals of both sides take turns playing, with ten arrows per person. The arrows need to pass through the copper coins hanging in mid-air from a hundred steps away and then shoot into the bullseye. The one with the most hits wins. If the game is tied, an additional round will be played.
It is not easy to complete this process at the same time, even the skilled cavalry and archery warriors of the Qinglang Battalion often encounter mistakes. After a few rounds, Yun Huai temporarily took the lead with six targets.
Yun Huai was once known as a divine archer in the military, and this result is not too surprising.
In the next round, when the general of the Sui army was on the field, Sui Heng suddenly ordered someone to bring the bow and arrows and said, “Gu will give it a try.”
The generals of the Sui army cheered, while the generals of the Jiang Empire tightened their hearts.
The story of Sui Heng, who once chased the leader of the Shanu at night and shot an arrow through his head in a chaotic army, directly causing his brain to burst, has been passed down in various countries in the south and north of the Yangtze River. At last year’s meeting on the river, Fan Zhou, Yun Huai, and other trusted subordinates also witnessed the other party’s ruthless archery.
If Sui Heng participated in the competition, it would definitely put a lot of pressure on the Jiang Empire’s side.
Sui Heng held the bow and stood leisurely at a distance of a hundred steps from the target. He bent the bow and drew the arrow with a “whoosh” sound, a sharp and piercing sound was heard. The sharp arrow turned into a shadow and passed through the copper coin hole, sinking into the red bull’s eye.
Sui Heng only shot seven arrows and then withdrew his hand, hitting seven out of seven.
He withdrew his bow, his gaze darkened, and a thin layer of sweat broke out on his forehead. He didn’t know what he was thinking. After a long time, he instructed the soldier in charge of counting, “These seven arrows, credited to His Highness Rongyu, they are considered a gift from Gu.”
The generals on both sides showed signs of astonishment.
The people of Sui were puzzled, and the people of were even more puzzled.
Fan Zhou, on the other hand, looked at Sui Heng with even more wary eyes, as if looking at a psychologically abnormal pervert.
He now seriously suspected that the other party was a pervert who had lust at first sight.
