The message brought by Min Qiu had Xue Ziqin lead 5,000 people back to the capital, but Xue Ziqin brought far more than 5,000 people.
He took two-thirds of the people with him, and there were only more than 3,000 people left in the camp.
Just stationed at the border, this person is completely enough.
In other words, the emperor did not know how many troops the Northern Army had.
Many soldiers were recruited by Xue Changfeng later, and the number reported is very inaccurate.
For example, the personal soldiers of the Xue family were a group of troops that did not exist in the imperial court.
"Min Qiu, why don't you sing a song to listen to?" Xue Ziqin sat on his horse bored and suddenly asked Min Qiu beside him.
Min Qiuben was still staring at the scenery in a daze, and suddenly heard Xue Ziqin make such unreasonable demands. He turned his head and tried to find some joking meaning on Xue Ziqin's face, but unfortunately Xue Ziqin looked at him with great anticipation.
Min Qiu turned his face back again, pretending he didn't hear it.
"Hey, do you hear me?" Xue Ziqin couldn't be fooled. He took the whip and stabbed Min Qiu twice. Xue Changfeng asked them to go back to the capital "with great momentum", but he couldn't bring so many people to the city, no matter what, he could only march in the suburbs, so Xue Ziqin slowed down his journey, especially on official roads, deliberately Go slower, so that more people know about the return of the Northern Army to the capital.
Therefore, the time spent on the road increased, and Xue Ziqin became more and more bored. Min Qiu was a talkative person, and he didn't know how to gossip. Xue Ziqin didn't know what to talk about. That's why he came up with the idea in front of him, and let Min Qiu sing a song to listen to.
A few soldiers close by also heard this, and hurriedly coaxed: "Yes, Lieutenant General Min sings a song to listen to."
Min Qiu squinted and stared at him, but the soldier was not afraid because Xue Ziqin picked it up, and laughed at him.
There was no way to hide. Min Qiu turned back and said to Xue Ziqin, "General... I can't sing."
"You can't even sing?" Xue Ziqin raised his eyebrows, his expression a little unhappy. They have been on their way for more than ten days. If they followed the past, they would have reached Xiangcheng by now. This really made Xue Ziqin miserable.
Min Qiu thought for a while, then he could only shake his head and say, "I really won't."
"...Tsk." Xue Ziqin smacked his lips unhappily, and Min Qiu looked at his disgusting expression, and became unhappy: "Would you like to sing one?"
"Alright, the general sings one!"
"agree!"
The soldiers in the back seemed to be not afraid of death anyway. They picked up Min Qiu's words and immediately changed their positions. Xue Ziqin turned his head slightly, Danfeng's eyes were half-squinted, his eyes swept over them, and the scene became cold. The soldiers coughed a few times and chatted about other things one after another, just pretending that what just happened didn't happen.
Xue Ziqin looked at Min Qiu again, and Min Qiu didn't know which bird in the sky was fascinated.
"How far is it?" Xue Ziqin said, "I feel like I can reach Yanhangu."
"Every time I go to the official road, I slow down. It must be slower. I guess there are still two days left." Seeing that Xue Ziqin took the initiative to change the topic, Min Qiu was naturally willing to answer.
But the answer made Xue Ziqin even more unhappy now. He has always done things quickly, and hated his mother-in-law the most. Now, because of Xue Changfeng's "great momentum", he was rushing like a walk, which really upset Xue Ziqin.
It's hard to wait until I can return to the capital, but I still have to spend more than ten days on the road.
Min Qiu looked at his expression, and he secretly thought about it. Xue Ziqin didn't feel bored. In the past, when he was fighting, when he was ambushing his opponent, he didn't move for three or four days and never saw him irritable. He asked tentatively, "Who is the general rushing to see?"
"Who?" Xue Ziqin asked rhetorically.
"...Meet the General." Seeing that Xue Ziqin's face was bad, Min Qiu swallowed the name that was coming to his mouth again and replaced it with Xue Changfeng.
Speaking of this, Xue Ziqin added: "The old man is no longer a general, so don't call him wrong in front of outsiders."
"We will know at the end."
Xue Ziqin felt resentment in his heart.
When Min Qiu mentioned this, he couldn't help thinking of Guo Linchong, who died tragically, and how Xue Changfeng borrowed Guo Linchong's body and took it back to his life. For the sake of the overall situation, Xue Ziqin certainly understood Xue Changfeng's actions; but he couldn't accept it because of his feelings.
The two were speechless for a while, and after a long time Xue Ziqin spoke again: "Guo Linchong's corpse..."
The sadness between Xue Ziqin's brows was undisguised, and Min Qiu said cautiously, "After the disposal in the palace, the general quietly sent someone to bury him."
"Oh, so." Xue Ziqin said indifferently. Instead, he raised his hand and shouted loudly, "Stop, rest for half an hour."
Min Qiu immediately turned around on the horse and conveyed the news later. The 7,000-strong team was stretched out, Xue Ziqin dismounted, and the soldiers behind immediately took Bai Liu to the side of the road to graze. Min Qiu didn't come back until after a long time. Seeing Xue Ziqin sitting against the tree, he also went over and sat next to him. .
The general and the lieutenant were resting here, and the soldiers naturally moved back so as not to be disturbed.
Min Qiu took a sip of the water bottle he carried, and handed it to Xue Ziqin. Xue Ziqin was used to taking it and took a sip. Min Qiu said: "If the general is annoying, it doesn't matter if you start to return quickly."
"Um?"
"The momentum is big enough along the way. It is estimated that Wangdu has already received the news." Min Qiu said bluntly, "If the general wants to go back early, then go back early."
"Do you know that being close to the nostalgia is more timid?" Xue Ziqin asked suddenly.
Min Qiu was a rough man in the military camp by himself every day, even though he was so delicate that he was called Mama Min, he never expected that Xue Ziqin would suddenly say such a sentence. He asked honestly, "Does the general still feel homesick?"
"No," Xue Ziqin handed him the kettle, "I'm afraid Guo Linchong hates me."
Min Qiu suddenly understood that Xue Ziqin did not dare to visit Guo Linchong.
That day, Jiang also told Xue Ziqin that it was
"He" killed Guo Linchong. If this is the case, Guo Linchong must have hated him before he died.
"General, he won't blame you." Min Qiu said.
Xue Ziqin looked up at him, not understanding the meaning.
Min Qiu continued on his own: "If I die in the hands of the general, at least I have no complaints."
"why?"
"That's what it means anyway." Min Qiu said vaguely.
Xue Ziqin did not ask any further questions, but the guilt in his heart did not subside. Guo Linchong's death is still vivid in his mind, and Xue Ziqin dreamed of him for a long time, probably because he was ashamed.
"Are you ready, General?"
"what?"
"The general is always on the side of the third prince."
"I know." Xue Ziqin said, "As long as the third prince is dead, he has to support Yao'er."
"What does the general mean?"
"If there is no better way, then the only way is to get rid of it." Xue Ziqin said indifferently, he had no blood relationship with the Xue family, not to mention the third prince who had only met a few times when Gongchao crossed. For him, it was like a stranger.
"Why?" Min Qiu sighed, somewhat helplessly.
"what do you mean?"
"Why did the general do this for him? In the end, he was just taking advantage of the general's power." Min Qiu said.
These words had been held back in Min Qiu's heart for a long time, but now that he suddenly opened his mouth to say it, he felt a little calm in his heart. If Xue Ziqin wanted to be emperor, Min Qiu was of course obliged to follow him to the death.
But when he thought of Xue Ziqin's all kinds of things, and even turned against Xue Changfeng for such a person, even though Min Qiu never mentioned it on the face, he still felt that it was not worth it.
Of course Xue Ziqin knew who he was talking about. He has been with Min Qiu for many years, and some words need not be concealed at all. If Min Qiu insists on asking for a reason - "I like him, he wants to be the emperor, I will let him be the emperor." Xue Ziqin said frankly.
Hearing this, Min Qiu gave him a meaningful look and said nothing. He got up from the ground, patted the dirt on his body, and turned to feed the horses.
In fact, why should the lieutenant do things like feeding the horses himself? Just like Xue Ziqin's Bai Liu, there will always be soldiers who take the initiative to lead them to feed them.
Half an hour passed quickly. Xue Ziqin took the lead in getting on the horse and said to Min Qiu, "Go and explain to the latter, and hurry at full speed."
"Yes."
After Xue Ziqin made such a decision, the 7,000-strong team might have had to travel for two days, but they arrived in one day. In the middle of the night, all 7,000 people had arrived at the outskirts of the capital city. It was as powerful as Xue Changfeng had explained.
Xue Ziqin arranged the people to guard more than 3,000 people in the south and north pavilions, while he brought Min Qiu and more than 100 people into the city.
In the middle of the night, the gates of the city were closed long ago, and there was no war outside, so the capital was naturally safer. The patrolling soldiers on the city tower were dozing off when they suddenly heard the sound of horses hooves rushing towards them, and they all woke up with a fright.
Xue Ziqin stood under the tower and shouted loudly, "Open the door!"
When the patrol team leader saw this situation, he was a little horrified. It took a long time to shout from the city tower: "The city gate has been closed, who is making a noise?"
"I'm Xue Ziqin, now open the door for my generals in the Northern Army!"
The captain's legs went weak when he heard it. But he didn't have the right to open the city gate in the middle of the night. The reputation of the Xue family was naturally known to everyone, so he could only quickly send someone to call the prefect of Xiangcheng over.
"General Xue, don't be impatient!"
Xue Ziqin immediately became angry and said to Min Qiu, "Or just slam the door open."
Min Qiu was dumbfounded by his words: "General, this is the capital."
"What happened to the capital? Isn't that what the old man meant? The momentum is huge."
"... Besides, we didn't plan to attack the city, so there's no baggage available now."
"Okay." Xue Ziqin shouted towards the tower again, "I'll give you a stick of incense, don't blame me for breaking in."
The position of the prefect of Xiangcheng seems to be very high, but in fact, at the foot of the emperor, all the important officials of the court live here, and anyone who comes here may be a few ranks higher than his officials.
In the middle of the night, someone came to report that the Northern Army demanded to open the city gate.
Xue Ziqin waited irritably, and kept staring at the tower, and when the prefect of Xiangcheng got upstairs, he saw it.
"Give me the torch." Xue Ziqin said suddenly.
Min Qiu didn't know what he was going to do, so he handed it to him subconsciously. I saw Xue Ziqin rubbed the arrow on the torch, the arrow was rubbed and burned, Xue Ziqin opened the bow and shot at the tower.
The prefect of Xiangcheng was asking what was going on next, when he heard an arrow whistle, and the official hat on his head was hit by the arrow, nailed directly to the wall, and set on fire.
"Hurry up and open the door for Laozi."
"General Xue, open the city gate in the middle of the night... Does General Xue have an imperial decree?"
Xue Ziqin was too lazy to talk nonsense, he did the same thing, put another arrow on the bow, aimed at the head of the prefect of Xiangcheng and said, "Can you open it?"
"Come here, open the city gate!" The prefect of Xiangcheng shouted in fear and anxiety.
Xue Ziqin then took the bow and waited for the heavy city gate to be opened, and more than a hundred people rode their horses straight to the Xue residence.