Chapter 860: Fan Xian Writes Hundreds of Drunken Poems

Thousands of miles away in Dingzhou, the battle situation on the front line changed rapidly.

Due to Yan Xiaoyi's previous night attack, Qin Hao's team transporting food and grass was damaged halfway, Gaoyang was short of food and grass, and was besieged by the Northern Qi army.

At the same time, other troops of Northern Qi were also actively distracting the troops of Dingzhou. Qin Ming really couldn't send suitable people to rescue Gaoyang. In the end, he could only let Qin Hao lead his 8,000 soldiers to save Gaoyang.

Qin Hao led 8,000 soldiers with light equipment and simple followers, and attacked day and night. He killed the Northern Qi general Chu Xiong under the city of Gaoyang and saved Gaoyang City.

After this battle, Cao Yong, the defender of Gaoyang City, became good friends with Qin Hao.

After that, Northern Qi sent heavy troops to besiege Gaoyang many times, but was repelled by Qin Hao and Cao Yong several times, and suffered heavy casualties. This also caused the entire Dingzhou battle situation to tilt in favor of Qing.

As for the other two border armies, Qing also won victory after victory because of the intelligence sent by Yan Bingyun.

Beiqi was not as strong as Qing, and the successive defeats made Beiqi panic. In the end, due to the arrival of winter, the Qing army stopped its attack in the heavy snow, and Beiqi finally got a chance to breathe.

The high-level officials of Beiqi knew that they could not fight against Qing, so they decided to send envoys to Qing to seek peace.

Looking at the top of Gaoyang City, the sky and the earth were covered with snow. Cao Yong leaned on the parapet and sighed: "Brother Qin, you and I have made great contributions this time. The decree of reward will arrive soon. I don't know when you and I will drink and talk happily again."

According to the merits of Qin Hao and Cao Yong this time, at least he will be promoted by one level, and Qin Hao may even be transferred back to the capital. After all, he originally came here to gild himself.

"There will always be a chance, live well." Qin Hao patted Cao Yong on the shoulder.

As Cao Yong said, the decree of reward arrived in Gaoyang three days later.

Cao Yong was promoted to a higher rank and still served in Dingzhou, while Qin Hao was named Yunhui General and transferred to Cangzhou to garrison with 50,000 troops. Although they were both promoted to a higher rank, their meanings were completely different, which made Cao Yong drool with envy.

Before New Year's Eve, the Northern Qi envoys finally arrived in the capital and had a verbal battle with the officials of the Honglu Temple of Qing. Fan Xian was among them. He was recommended by his future father-in-law Lin Ruofu to take credit. He knew nothing about negotiations and could only watch the fun from the side. Fortunately, the officials of the Honglu Temple were strong in combat and suppressed the Northern Qi envoys.

However, as the situation became stalemate, someone hurriedly presented a note to the Northern Qi envoys and whispered a few words to him. The Northern Qi envoys smiled and told Xin Qiwu that they would never give in to their conditions. They also handed the note to Xin Qiwu and asked him to go back and think about it and verify the authenticity of the news.

Xin Qiwu took the note and saw it, and immediately knew it was bad.

On the other hand, Emperor Qing also received a secret report from Northern Qi. The identity of Yan Bingyun, a Northern Qi spy, was leaked. He was captured by Shen Zhong, the leader of the Northern Qi Jinyiwei. Northern Qi used him as a bargaining chip. Not only did they want Qing to return the occupied territory and prisoners of war, but they also wanted to pay pensions to the soldiers who died in Northern Qi. Most importantly, they wanted to exchange Yan Bingyun with Sean and Si Lili.

Sean can be said to be the Chen Pingping of Northern Qi. He was once as famous as Chen Pingping. At that time, Chen Pingping led the Black Cavalry to raid thousands of miles and captured him at the cost of his legs.

But this battle was also thanks to Yan Bingyun's intelligence and secret reports. What's more, he was Yan Ruohai's biological son.

Chen Pingping knew that the other conditions were false. What Northern Qi really wanted was Sean and Si Lili. Yan Ruohai decisively refused to exchange territory for his son after hearing the news, but Chen Pingping said that there was only one person who could make this decision, and that was Emperor Qing.

Sure enough, Emperor Qing agreed to let the Inspection Institute release the people, but the bottom line was that the conquered territory would never be returned. Everything else was negotiable, but Yan Bingyun must come back alive. Yan Ruohai was grateful when he heard the decree.

The subsequent negotiations were even more intense. The envoys of both sides rolled up their robes and sleeves, and almost fought. Only Fan Xian, who was watching the excitement, was drowsy and leisurely.

Half a day later, the negotiation came to an end. Emperor Qing was satisfied with the result and decided to hold a night banquet in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, where the monarch and his ministers celebrated together, and let the envoys of Northern Qi and Dongyi sit with him.

On the night of the night banquet in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the eldest princess sang in unison with Guo Youzhi, and cooperated with Zhuang Mohan to question Fan Xian's poetic talent.

As a result, Fan Xian wrote hundreds of poems while drunk, shocking everyone.

But all this was just Fan Xian's plan. He pretended to be drunk in front of everyone, but in fact he wanted to sneak into the Queen Mother's bedroom late at night and put the key he had stolen back.

On the way to return the key, he accidentally learned that the princess had colluded with Northern Qi and sold Yan Bingyun.

The next day, many flyers appeared in the streets and alleys of the capital. On the paper, it was written neatly that the princess Li Yunrui was traitorous to the country and had a private deal with Northern Qi. For a time, public opinion was boiling, and everyone in the Inspection Institute was also anxious.

After Emperor Qing learned about this, he called the princess and Chen Pingping to confront him. In the end, the princess threw Guo Youzhi out to take the blame. She thought she had escaped a disaster and mocked Chen Pingping.

But soon, Princess Li Yunrui understood what it meant that the old ginger was still spicy. Chen Pingping used Yan Ruohai to test the traitor Zhu Ge in the Inspection Institute, thus proving that Li Yunrui had reached into the Inspection Institute, which undoubtedly touched the reverse scale of Emperor Qing.

So Princess Li Yunrui was driven out of the capital, away from the power center of Qing.

Fan Xian originally thought that after Li Yunrui left, he could take a breath, wait quietly for his marriage to Lin Wan'er, and live his own life. However, Emperor Qing gave him a task and asked him to lead an envoy to Northern Qi to exchange Yan Bingyun.

Fan Xian was naturally not happy at first, but Emperor Qing threatened him with his marriage to Lin Wan'er, so Fan Xian had no choice but to take on this hot potato.

Afterwards, Fan Xian took Sean all the way north.

Cangzhou Camp.

"General, there is someone outside the camp who wants to see you, saying he is from the capital."

Qin Hao's heart moved. Judging from the news from Si Lili, Fan Xian should be arriving in Cangzhou soon.

"Please come in."

"Yes."

Not long after, the guards came in with a man in black.

"Meet General Qin."

"Teng Zijing." After Qin Hao dismissed the guards, he smiled and said, "Sit down, did Fan Xian ask you to come?"

Teng Zijing was not polite, and sat directly in the seat where Qin Hao started, leaned over and whispered, "Fan Xian has a letter, let me give it to you."

Qin Hao took it and looked at it. As he expected, Fan Xian and his party were less than a hundred miles away from Cangzhou.

In the letter, Fan Xian also mentioned Sean, asking if this was the person Qin Hao had mentioned before, and also asked Qin Hao to help escort the delegation north.

Closing the envelope, Qin Hao said to Teng Zijing: "Go back and tell Fan Xian that as long as he arrives in Cangzhou, I will ensure that he is safe."

"Thank you, General Qin."

Teng Zijing hurried back to report, and told Fan Xian about the situation after seeing him.

Fan Xian's tense expression gradually relaxed, and Wang Qinian beside him asked curiously: "Sir, you seem to trust this General Qin very much?"

"Why? Shouldn't I trust him?" Fan Xian asked back.

Wang Qinian smiled awkwardly: "That's not the case. It's just that you rarely trust anyone like this on weekdays."

"Wang Qinian, look at what you said. Don't I trust you normally?"

"Trust, trust. Thank you so much for your trust."

Fan Xian stepped forward and patted Wang Qinian on the shoulder: "Since I trust you so much, I have something for you to do now. You shouldn't let me down, right?"

"Sir, you know me, I'm lazy. If it's something important..." Wang Qinian's face froze for a moment.

"It's very important. You must be there. Go to the prison car and help me keep an eye on Sean."

"Ah?"

Two days later, when Fan Xian led the delegation less than ten miles away from Cangzhou, a team of cavalry suddenly rushed out and blocked the delegation. The leader was burly and held a black gold spear. He looked like a ninth-grade master.

"Who are you? How dare you block the way of the Qing Kingdom delegation." Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat.

"Stop talking nonsense, open the prisoner car, release the people, and spare your lives. If you resist, kill them without mercy!"

"Are you Shangshan Hu?"

Shangshan Hu snorted coldly: "Boy, don't be smart, release the people quickly, otherwise you will die on the spot!"

Fan Xian's eyes turned: "The person in this prison car is the great devil Sean. The people of Qing hate him to the core. Now in Northern Qi, the only one who wants to save him is his adopted son Shangshan Hu. It happens that Shangshan Hu is a ninth-grade master like you."

"I have heard that the Northern Qi general Shangshan Hu is a famous hero, but I didn't expect him to be such a scheming person. It seems that the rumors are not credible."

Shangshan Hu's eyes widened, and he pulled off his veil directly: "Humph, since you guessed my identity, none of your delegation will survive today, kill them!"

After hearing Shangshan Hu's order, the cavalry behind him immediately took an attacking posture and was about to kill the delegation. Suddenly, Shangshan Hu's face changed and he turned his head to look behind him.

While Fan Xian was puzzled, his ears suddenly moved. He squatted down and put his hands on the ground. A violent vibration came, and Fan Xian's originally nervous expression gradually turned into pride.

Not long after, black dots appeared on the earth slope in the distance.

The civil servants of the delegation laughed when they saw this.

"Haha, it's my Qing cavalry!"

"Qing's military flag, our reinforcements have arrived!"

Shangshan Hu looked at the red-bottomed black-lettered military flag on the earth slope with a sullen face. The deputy general behind him rode forward to remind him: "General, it's the Cangzhou army, at least 500 cavalry."

"Tiger, let's go. I won't die for the time being."

Although Sean in the prison car couldn't see the situation outside, he could feel that the situation was developing in a direction that was not favorable to him.

"Don't worry, godfather, I will definitely rescue you today. Whoever stops me will be killed!"

After many years, Shangshan Hu, a man of iron, almost cried out when he heard Sean's voice again.

However, at this moment, an inappropriate voice came.

"Oh? Really? That depends on whether you have the ability."

The moment Qin Hao appeared, Shangshan Hu's face turned livid. He could feel that the true energy fluctuations emanating from the young man in front of him were even higher than his.

Sean's face in the prison car also changed. Although he had been imprisoned in the dungeon of the procuratorate for twenty years, his martial arts had not been abolished. The true energy that suddenly appeared was not inferior to that of his peak period.

"Old Qin, you are here on time." Fan Xian greeted Qin Hao as if no one was around.

Qin Hao nodded, and then looked at Shangshan Hu with a smile: "The general of Northern Qi did not say hello and privately brought people across the border to our Qing country to stop the envoys from going north. Isn't it too disrespectful to the border troops of Qing country?"

Shangshan Hu tightened the spear in his hand and gritted his teeth and said: "Today, I just want to save my adoptive father."

"Sean is the hostage exchanged for Yan Bingyun. He will be returned to Northern Qi. Why should the general be in such a hurry?" Fan Xian walked to Qin Hao and said to Shang Shanhu earnestly.

Sean in the prison car suddenly said: "I wonder which expert came from outside? Could it be Qin Ye, the head of the Qin family? He doesn't sound like him."

"Senior Xiao, there is no need to test me. I am Qin Hao. Although my last name is Qin, I am not from the Qin family. My father is now the Minister of the Ministry of Justice."

Qin Hao's answer made Sean fall into a brief silence, and then he sighed softly.

"Qing is indeed a prosperous country with many talented people. It has only been a few years since another ninth-rank peak appeared."

"Tiger, go away. You can't take advantage of this person. Don't give up your life in vain."

Uesugi Hu's eyes were red, and he clenched the spear in his hand and pointed it at Fan Xian: "Boy, listen carefully, take good care of my adoptive father. If you dare to humiliate him in the slightest, I will kill you when you arrive in Northern Qi."

"You threatened the leader of Qing in front of the border army of Qing, Shangshan Hu, don't you want to leave Qing?" Qin Hao shook the spear in his hand, knocking Shangshan Hu's black gold spear aside.

A trace of surprise flashed across Shangshan Hu's face. This time, it seemed that he didn't use much force, but in fact, he used clever strength, which almost shook him so much that he couldn't hold the weapon steadily.

"Humph, I'll see you on the battlefield one day and compete with you!" Shangshan Hu left a cruel word and was about to leave.

Qin Hao, however, squeezed his horse's belly and followed.

Shangshan Hu's face changed: "General Qin, what does this mean?"

"Nothing, the general of Northern Qi is visiting my Qing country, and my Qing country's border troops must escort him out of the country with courtesy, so as not to be impolite." Qin Hao said lightly.

Shangshan Hu snorted coldly, and said nothing more, but was secretly alert.

However, along the way, Qin Hao did not make any unusual movements until he sent Shangshan Hu and his party outside the border line.

"General, wait a minute."

Shangshan Hu tightened his spear in his hand after hearing this: "General Qin, what else do you want to teach me?"

"General, don't you want to save your adoptive father?" Qin Hao looked at him with a smile.

"Humph, if it weren't for you today, I would have rescued my adoptive father by now." Shangshan Hu's body shook and said angrily.

Qin Hao shook his head: "This is the territory of Qing. If you rescue Sean, how will Qing save its reputation?"

"Humph."

"The general is in a difficult situation in Northern Qi now. I'm afraid he is unable to rescue Sean. I can help you."

Uesugi Tiger sneered: "Why do you want to help me?" (End of this chapter)