The barbarians moved in full force, and the entire heavy armored army raided Yanhui City, risking their lives. Even Daliang had a hard time providing for the heavy armored troops, so what would that mean for the barbarians of the 18 tribes?

Perhaps "exhausting all the fat and oil" is far from enough, and the bone marrow has to be scraped three times.

They are a warlike nation that grew up in the same den as the wild wolves. With their long-planned attack and heavily armored troops, they should be invincible if they put all their might into the attack.

Unfortunately, they happened to run into the Xuantie Camp.

Black Eagle swiftly captured the giant kite, Black Armor captured the barbarian prince alive, and with Gu Yun's tacit consent, they killed all the remaining northern barbarians in the city. The battle was over before the sun set that day.

And this was not the end. After dealing with the external enemies, Gu Yun immediately turned his weapons against his own people at lightning speed. While everyone was in awe of the might of the Black Iron Camp, he captured more than 60 military commanders from Yanhui City, Changyang Pass and other places in the northern border in one go. Without asking any questions, he detained them all and awaited trial. For a time, the northern border was in a state of panic and everyone was in danger.

Chang Geng and Fatty Ge were temporarily placed in the residence of Yanhui Governor Lord Guo. Lord Guo trembled when he saw Gu Yun, fearing that he would be implicated. When he heard that he had been asked to take care of the little prince, he knew that he had escaped a disaster. He really did not dare to neglect him in the slightest and sent two rows of servants to wait at the gate of the courtyard where Chang Geng and his friends were staying. He only left to go there in person to serve tea and water.

Thanks to Chang Geng, Ge Pangxiao also enjoyed the royal treatment.

The little fat boy recovered from the chaos of war, and when he thought that his family was destroyed, he started crying. Halfway through his crying, he remembered that Chang Geng was just like him, lonely and helpless. Although he still had his adoptive father as a relative, his Sixteenth Uncle was nowhere to be seen and didn't come to see him. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for him and was too embarrassed to cry loudly in front of Chang Geng.

But there was nothing else to do except cry, so Fatty Ge counted on his fingers, trying to figure out the various connections in this matter. In the end, he gave up. This matter was too complicated for him, and it was a mess no matter how he thought about it. So he asked Chang Geng, "Brother, they say your father is the emperor, so is Aunt Xiu the queen?"

Chang Geng had half a handful of "Silk in the Sleeve" in his hand. When he rescued Ge Pangxiao, he knocked one of the silk in the sleeve out of the iron wrist buckle, and later he secretly picked it up again when cleaning up the battlefield.

For iron objects, it is difficult for sharpness and strength to coexist. Even though the silk in the sleeve of the cloud-disk button can cut iron like mud, it is not very strong. The tip has been broken in the barbarian's heavy armor and cut into a corner by the scalding purple liquid. The blade is gone, leaving only a bare piece of black iron.

While Chang Geng was scraping off the raised part of the broken knife with an iron nail, he said to Ge Pangxiao nonchalantly, "Not all of the emperor's sons are born to the queen. He has many wives. Besides, Xiuniang is a barbarian. I am not a prince either. It was that barbarian woman who wanted me to pretend to be a prince."

Fatty Ge: "..."

After hearing this answer, the butcher's youngest son became even more confused. He stood with his mouth open in a daze for a long time. He felt that his elder brother was so pitiful. All birds and animals have parents, but he was the only one who couldn't figure out his own origins. His parents were like a tangled mess, and he didn't know who they were.

Fatty Ge swore solemnly: "Brother, don't worry, no matter if your father is the emperor, a centurion, or an opera singer, you are still my brother!"

After hearing this, Chang Geng raised the corners of his mouth dryly at first, and then, perhaps he tasted something, he finally revealed a vague smile.

Fatty Ge: "It would be great if I could enter the Black Iron Camp in the future."

Before Chang Geng could respond, someone outside the room suddenly said, "The Black Iron Battalion is not like ordinary soldiers. The daily training is extremely hard. Can you endure the hardship?"

The two young men looked up and saw Shen Yi pushing the door open.

Shen Yi changed out of the scary black armor, and in the blink of an eye he was the fussy, poor scholar again. He walked in with two food boxes in his hands and put them on the table: "Midnight snack, eat."

Lord Guo is very health-conscious. The midnight snacks in the mansion are only soup. It's okay for a lord, one more or one less is fine, but how can this half-grown boy stand it? Fatty Ge drank three bowls of chicken noodle soup, but he still felt full of water. Even his fat belly, which was warm in winter and cool in summer, became dull. At this time, when he opened the food box and saw the real steamed buns and meat inside, his eyes turned blue. He immediately cheered and rushed over, forgetting all the Black Iron Camp and White Iron Camp.

But this little fat boy was very considerate. He forgot about the world but not his big brother. He happily took a big bun for Chang Geng and said, "Big brother, you eat it."

Chang Geng glanced behind Shen Yi, but didn't see the person he wanted to see. He immediately lost his appetite and waved his hands without interest. He suppressed his disappointment and greeted him in a half-dead voice, "General Shen."

"I don't deserve it." Shen Yi knew what he was thinking as soon as he saw his face. He sat down beside him as if nothing had happened and explained, "Marshal Gu was really too busy to handle the border cleanup this time. He was just very concerned about Your Highness and asked me to come and take a look."

"Your Highness is not worthy of it," Chang Geng lowered his head indifferently. After a moment of silence, he said coldly, "The Tenth... Marquis is so busy that he still takes the trouble to think about us. I am really flattered."

Shen Yi smiled and said, "If the Marshal knew that His Highness was so distant behind his back, he would be so upset. It's a pity that he would never speak directly if he felt unhappy. He would only find other ways to make trouble, which makes it hard for us subordinates."

Chang Geng didn't respond indifferently. It seemed that all the attention in the server was on the broken knife in his hand. He carefully selected a position on it and began to drill holes in it with iron nails.

He knew it clearly in his heart, and he didn't believe Shen Yi was an ordinary subordinate. Even if he was on a tour incognito, would an ordinary subordinate dare to order Anding Hou to wash dishes and cook porridge? Unless the old man hanged himself - he was tired of living.

No one spoke and the atmosphere was extremely awkward for a moment.

Shen Yi smiled, cursing in his heart, because Chang Geng's expression was completely for Gu Yun to see, and Gu Yun, the bastard, covered his eyes and dared not look, so he pushed him to take the blame. He thought to himself: "Since the day I boarded Gu's pirate ship, nothing good has happened to me."

Shen Yi was born into a noble family. In fact, he was related to the old Marquis Gu's mother's family. When the old Marquis was still alive, he took him to live in the Gu family for a while. Gu Yun's heroic deeds since he was a child were half due to Shen Yi's military achievements.

Later, Lord Gu passed away, and the two went their separate ways. Gu Yun inherited the title and entered the palace, while Shen Yi went back to take the imperial examination. However, after passing, he refused to enter the Hanlin Academy. Instead, he asked to join the "Lingshu" despite everyone looking at him as a madman.

The Lingshuyuan here is not for pounding medicine or consulting doctors. They do not repair the human body, but only the organism. They are on par with the Imperial Guards and are directly under the emperor. They are the biggest debt collectors of the Ministry of Revenue, and the breadwinners of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War.

Among the seven major military branches, "Kite", "Armor", "Cavalry", "Fur", "Eagle", "Chariot", "Cannon" and "Dragon", all equipment design drawings, improvements and updates, and even the secrets of the Xuantie Camp, all come from Lingshu Academy.

The Lingshu Court often calls themselves "the royal long-arm masters" to be modest. They hardly say anything about important court affairs. They seem to be of low rank and spend most of their time tinkering with those iron tools in the Lingshu Court.

But no one dares to compare them with the craftsmen who make a living from motor oil.

The reason why Gu Yun was able to restart the Black Iron Camp was definitely not just because of the urgency of the war or the emperor's light edict. To a large extent, it was because his old friend Shen Yi helped him smooth out the relationship in Lingshu Academy. At the critical moment, Lingshu Academy stood behind the young general and gave him the most favorable support. This allowed the military power that had been declining for ten years to once again suppress the gossiping literati and aristocrats.

After the Black Iron Camp was resurrected, Shen Yi accepted Gu Yun's invitation and left Lingshu Court to become Gu Yun's exclusive armorer - of course, with Chang Geng's knowledge and experience at that time, he didn't know about these messed up things.

Shen Yi had no intention of explaining, he just looked up and said to Fatty Ge: "I have a few words to say to the Fourth Prince, you..."

Fat Ge immediately responded cleverly: "Yeah, you said, I feel sleepy after eating, and it's time to go back to sleep."

After saying that, he put two buns in his arms, put a big piece of pork elbow in his mouth, jumped off the chair and ran away.

There were only two of them left in the room, and Shen Yi slowly said, "When the war situation in the Western Region was slightly stable, Marshal Gu received a secret order from the Emperor, ordering him to go to the northern border area to find the Fourth Prince who had disappeared with the Imperial Concubine and her sisters."

Chang Geng paused for a moment, raised his eyelids, and looked at Shen Yi without saying a word.

Shen Yi's expression was sincere and he did not seem to be pretending. He told the story slowly and steadily: "When we passed Yanhui, we found signs of northern barbarians' activities outside the city gate. The son of the Wolf King has always been ambitious and has long had a rebellious heart. The Marshal was worried that something might happen in the northern border, so he stopped to check. Unexpectedly, he met Your Highness among the wolves. The Marshal followed the Princess Fourteen Years ago and met the Imperial Concubine once. When he saw Your Highness for the first time, he felt that he looked familiar. It was not until we sent you back and met Xiuniang that we were sure that you were the Fourth Prince we were looking for."

"Fourteen years ago, Marshal Gu was just a young boy. Xiuniang had forgotten him. At first, we were going to reveal our identities to her and take you back to Beijing, but we unexpectedly discovered that Xiuniang was secretly negotiating terms with the barbarians. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Marshal Gu secretly transferred some personnel from the Western Regions, and at the same time thought of playing the enemy's trick and luring him into a trap. This time, the elite troops of the eighteen tribes of the barbarians were all killed, the prince was captured, and a large amount of financial and human resources were consumed by themselves. At least it can ensure peace in the northern border of Daliang for five years. I hope Your Highness will not hold the Marshal accountable for his deception for the sake of tens of thousands of people on the border."

Chang Geng listened, thought for a moment, and nodded sensibly: "Yes."

Shen Yi heaved a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Back then, the Northern Barbarian Heavenly Wolf presented two great grassland treasures to our emperor. One was the Purple Flowing Gold, and the other was the Heavenly Wolf Goddess. The goddess was of noble status, and Your Majesty was grateful for the Heavenly Wolf's sincerity, so he made her a royal concubine. She is the only royal concubine in our dynasty. I have already told Your Highness about what happened later. If the Royal Concubine knew about this in the afterlife, she would definitely be very pleased to see Your Highness grow up so big."

Chang Geng sneered in his heart. If that were the case, then Xiuniang—Hu Geer—wasn't she his aunt? How could his mother be any better than his aunt?

Chang Geng: "I think according to common sense, this story should be that after the 'Royal Concubine' found out that she was pregnant with an illegitimate child, she tried desperately to escape and even wanted to kill the child with a bowl of abortion pills, right?"

Shen Yi: “…”

It is not convenient to talk about the secrets of the palace in detail, but this naughty kid guessed it very accurately.

But Shen Yi was, after all, a vixen who had been dealing with the rich and powerful since childhood. He immediately put on a reserved surprise on his face, "What are you talking about, Your Highness? If it's because of Miss Xiu, then there's no need to think too much about it. Miss Xiu is a foreigner after all, and it's understandable that she's attached to her own people. Your Highness is not her biological child. Moreover, even so, she has worked tirelessly to raise Your Highness over the years, and has found ways to send a message back to Beijing with half of Your Highness's mandarin duck jade pendant. I believe she is ready to sacrifice her life for the country, and she doesn't want to implicate Your Highness, probably because of her blood relationship. If your aunt is like this, how can your mother not love you?"

After a pause, Shen Yi continued, "Your Highness looks like the Imperial Concubine, but their temperaments are like the Emperor's. Blood ties cannot deceive people. As for the incident of Miss Xiu breaking Your Highness's toe, I think there must be another hidden story, or Your Highness was young at the time and his memory is wrong, which is also possible."

Mr. Shen's words were well-reasoned and eloquent. If Chang Geng did not clearly know that he still had a deadly poison in his body that could slowly drive people crazy, he would probably have been persuaded by the story he made up.

He could no longer completely trust the truth told by others. His heart was filled with speculations and suspicions. He could not help but tear apart and tear apart every word that others said. When he delved into it a little more deeply, he felt full of doubts.

Chang Geng suddenly felt extremely tired.

After an incense stick of time, Shen Yi, with a stiff smile on his face, was politely sent away by Chang Geng.

Chang Geng sent Shen Yi to the door and said, "I used to be short-sighted and thought Lord Gu was inadequate and always nagging. I hope Lord Gu will forgive me."

Shen Yi lowered his eyes and could only see the swirl of hair on Chang Geng's head that refused to look at him. He could only sigh and left the courtyard where Chang Geng and his family lived with a heavy heart. He walked out of the gate and turned into the path. In the small garden outside the courtyard, he saw Gu Yun, who was said to be "busy with military affairs".

There were a lot of silver dan grass in Lord Guo's courtyard. Gu Yun sat alone in the pavilion, plucking the leaves of the silver dan grass idly. He held the leaves in his mouth, chewed them up and ate them.

I don't know how long he sat here alone. He almost pulled out all the silver grass, making it look like a bush that had been trampled by goats.

Shen Yi coughed lightly, but Gu Yun seemed not to hear it. It was not until he came closer that Gu Yun squinted his eyes with some difficulty and saw him clearly.

"Has the effect of the medicine worn off?" Shen Yi sighed.

Gu Yun looked confused, and subconsciously turned his face to the side, pretending to listen hard.

Shen Yi had no choice but to walk forward and leaned close to his ear: "Go back first, I'll tell you when I get back - give me your hand, there are stone steps over there."

Gu Yun shook his head, refused his support, took out a "glass mirror" from his arms, placed it on the bridge of his nose, and walked out slowly without saying a word. The two small moles at the corners of his eyes and ears seemed to dim.

Shen Yi glanced at the silver dan leaves that had been gnawed bare by the goat named Gu and chased after it.