It was already dark. Looking into the distance, it was pitch black. Looking up, the sky was dotted with stars.
At the foot of Wuxi Mountain, lights are everywhere.
"Your Excellency, although the Southern Barbarians appear to be powerful on the outside but are actually weak on the inside, they are numerous and powerful after all. Our army has only a thousand people, and it is difficult to win in a head-on confrontation. What can we do?" Han Dianli and Liu Dianli were in the tent, looking worried.
"Attacking the body is inferior, attacking the mind is superior." Zhu Ping'an said confidently.
"Attack the heart?!" Han Dianli and Liu Dianli were puzzled. "May I ask the county lord, how to attack the heart?"
"Aren't the Miao tribes in the south afraid of our army?" Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly, "Then let them tremble."
Upon hearing this, Han Dianli and Liu Dianli looked at each other in confusion, their eyes unable to focus. They could understand every word the county magistrate said, but when they put them together, they couldn't understand what it meant.
"Han Dianli, you take a hundred men and horses and quietly leave the camp and return to Jingnan County. Collect flags, horns and cowhide drums. The more the better. Wait until midnight and then quietly return to the camp. Don't let the southern barbarians find out that I have important roles to play in my army. Liu Dianli, half an hour later, you muster two hundred men and horses and quietly leave the camp. Don't light torches or make any noise. Go to the back of a low mountain three miles away and light torches. Each person should hold a torch, and each person should be two meters apart. The formation should be stretched out, and you should return to the camp in a swaggering manner. After arriving at the camp, rest for a moment, and then take another hundred men and quietly leave the camp. Repeat this three times..."
Zhu Ping'an gave orders to the two of them.
When Han Dianli and Liu Dianli heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up, and they vaguely understood the county magistrate's intention.
"Yes, sir." The two men took the order and went down to prepare.
Not long after the two of them went down, they heard a commotion outside. Zhu Ping'an was about to go out of the tent to check what happened when he saw Liu Dadao walk in from outside. He coughed and said to Zhu Ping'an, "Ahem, sir, that... that... Miss Hua'er and Miss Ruonan are here."
"What?" Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but blurt out English when he heard it.
“Aunt... Uncle...” A little head squeezed in at the door of the tent. Who else could it be but Hua'er
"Master." Then another head squeezed in, it was Ruonan.
Both of them were women dressed as men, and they found two sets of soldiers' clothes from somewhere and wore cloth breastplates...
"Ahem, sir, I'll go keep watch outside..." Liu Dadao coughed and tactfully left the tent.
"Come back..." Zhu Pingan looked at Liu Dadao's back speechlessly and couldn't help shouting, "What kind of wind are you talking about? ! You make me feel like I'm about to do something inappropriate for children? !
However, Liu Dadao was very sensible and had left the tent long ago, so Zhu Ping'an's shouting was in vain.
"Nonsense! What are you doing here?!" Zhu Ping'an looked at Hua'er and the evil girl Ruonan and couldn't help but said angrily.
"Master, I'm worried about you... Before I came, the young lady asked me to take good care of you..." Hua'er hung her head, twisting the straps of her breastplate with her small hands, and replied in a mosquito-like voice.
"Why are you so fierce? If Huaer hadn't begged me over and over again, I wouldn't have come." Ruonan snorted.
"This is a strategic military camp. Swords and knives have no mercy. You should go back quickly." Zhu Ping'an said to the two.
Hua'er lowered her head and said nothing, but this was enough to show her attitude.
"I know you want to take care of me. However, this is a military camp, and war is not a joke. You can't play a role here. Not only can you not take care of me, but you will also drag me down." Zhu Ping'an sighed, looked at Hua'er seriously and said, "Besides, you are deceiving yourself by dressing as a man. Anyone can tell you are a woman at a glance. If you stay in the military camp, how will the people below see me?! When suppressing the rebellion, you actually summoned maids to the military camp for fun?! If the superiors are like this, who will listen to my military orders?! Isn't it that the morale of the army is shaken and the defeat is inevitable?! As I said just now, war is not a joke. If we lose this battle, even if I escape on the battlefield by chance, the emperor will not spare me. So, Hua'er, are you sure you want to stay here?"
"I..." Hua'er couldn't help but shake her head repeatedly, her eyes turning red after hearing what Zhu Ping'an said so seriously.
"Then let's go back." Zhu Ping'an nodded.
"I..." Hua'er lowered her head, looking hesitant, and her heart was struggling violently.
"Master, I am a weak woman and cannot protect you, but Ruonan can. You have seen that she is very skilled in martial arts. The two soldiers who stopped us at the camp gate just now were no match for Ruonan. Unless you agree to let Ruonan stay to protect you, I will not leave." Huaer raised her head and said stubbornly.
"No need." Zhu Pingan was speechless.
"Ruonan dressed up as a man very well, no one recognized her." Huaer added.
"No need." Zhu Ping'an repeated.
Hua'er looked up at Zhu Ping'an stubbornly, weak and pitiful, yet extremely stubborn...
The demon girl Ruonan seemed to be very experienced and did a good job of disguising herself as a man. In order to avoid any more trouble, Zhu Ping'an had to agree to keep the demon girl Ruonan and ordered Liu Dadao to send someone to send Hua'er back to the county town as soon as possible.
More than half an hour later.
On the mountain where the Nanman Miao people were entrenched, a Nanman Miao person who was on guard suddenly discovered that a small light suddenly appeared at the foot of the mountain about three miles away, like the light of a firefly.
Are you hallucinating? Are you seeing stars as fire
He quickly rubbed his eyes with his hands, opened them again, and found that after the previous light spot, another light spot appeared, and then another, and then another, and then another, and they were still moving...
This is... ...
He was stunned. When seven or eight spots of light appeared, he suddenly reacted and pointed ahead and shouted, "Something's happening, something's happening ahead, the Ming dog reinforcements have arrived..."
His shout immediately alarmed all the Southeast Miao people nearby. They hurried over and looked in the direction he pointed, and then they also saw a row of light spots appear in their sight.
That's a moving torch...
That was the direction Jingnan was coming from, and the torches were also moving towards this side... ... It turned out that the Ming dogs' reinforcements had arrived!
So they quickly responded to the situation.
Soon, Madam Yilan received an urgent report from below. Supported by a maid, she leaned on a tiger-head cane and looked far down the mountain. Sure enough, she saw rows of torches coming towards the direction of the camp at the foot of the mountain.
While observing, Madam Yilan ordered her subordinates to step up their guard.
Under the watchful eyes of Lady Yilan and other southern barbarian Miao people, the torches entered the Jingnan camp at the foot of the mountain.
Watching the torches entering the camp at the foot of the mountain, Lady Yilan couldn't help but frown. Looking at the number of torches and the length of the torch team, she made a rough estimate and it seemed that the Ming people had at least a thousand reinforcements.
Is it because of the reinforcements that the Ming people are so fearless? Madam Yilan thought with a frown.
About half an hour later, Madam Yilan heard a commotion below, and then heard a report that reinforcements had arrived. Then, Madam Yilan saw a group of torches coming from the direction of Jingnan.
Madam Yilan counted the number of torches again, made a rough estimate, and then frowned even more tightly. This time, the Ming reinforcements were more than before, about fifteen thousand.
Just like that, more than half an hour passed before Madam Yilan heard a commotion coming from below again.
Could it be that the Ming people have sent reinforcements again? ! Madam Yilan had a bad feeling when she heard the noise.
Sure enough, someone soon came to report that the Minggou reinforcements had arrived again.
Lady Yilan...
Just like the previous two times, Lady Yilan counted the torches again and made a rough estimate. Her face turned pale in an instant. This time, the Ming reinforcements were more than before, about two thousand people.
Another half hour passed, and without waiting for the people below to report, Mrs. Yilan asked someone to help her watch from a distance.
After watching for a long time, Lady Yilan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, no more reinforcements came...