Tan Hongfei, who followed Gu Yun out of the general's tent, was stunned. He never dreamed that he would be able to wear the black armor again one day. Suddenly, all the sorrow in his heart disappeared, and he felt that after this battle, it was all worth it.

Tan Hongfei took a step forward and said loudly: "I am willing to be the commander's vanguard!"

"You are indispensable. The White Rainbow Chariot will lead the way, the Light Cavalry and Black Eagle will follow me, and the Heavy Armor will be the backup," Gu Yun ordered, "Bring me a Wind-Cutting Blade. We will know what kind of monsters and demons they are after we meet them."

Chang Geng took off the longbow behind him - he had asked for it from Gu Yun during the bandit suppression campaign in the southwest. It seemed to be the last work of Lingshuyuan after Emperor Long'an began to reduce the military power. Unfortunately, the plain iron bow was extremely heavy and could not be controlled by anyone other than a true master. Therefore, there was only one such trial piece in the entire army.

And it could have been improved and popularized in the military...

Chang Geng stroked the cold iron bow and asked, "Foster father, can I come with you?"

Gu Yun paused, not wanting to take him with him - not because of anything else, but after this battle, he had higher expectations for this fledgling little prince. He himself might be able to hold on to the last step, but what about the future?

Who will clean up the ruined land, and who can create a way out for the people's livelihood in this chaos?

Chang Geng is much more tactful and considerate than when he was young. Perhaps he wouldn't end up in such an unmanageable situation with the Emperor like he did...

Chang Geng seemed to know what he was thinking: "When the nest is overturned, all the eggs will be broken. With the current situation of the capital, waiting in the palace is no different from accompanying the front line. If the city is captured, isn't it the difference between dying early and dying later?"

Before Gu Yun could say anything, Tan Hongfei laughed and said, "Your Highness is right! There are so many sour scholars in the court, but only Your Highness is a real man!"

Gu Yun had no other choice but to wave his hand and said, "You've already said it, come if you want."

Then he glared at Tan Hongfei fiercely. Looking at the whip wounds on General Tan's face that had not healed, he wanted to whip the other side of his face as well, turning this man into a symmetrical pig's head.

Outside the capital, black iron is connected into a piece. At a glance, it seems like you are back at the Crescent Lake.

Looking back immediately, the lights in the Qiyuan Tower were still on despite the heavy rain, but it seemed covered with a thin, soft light like a tortoise shell. It was facing the towering imperial city in the distance. Twenty red-headed kites, which were only flown on New Year's Eve, were hung high in the sky as an exception, like a group of eager eyes watching the sight.

Gu Yun made a gesture, and the vanguard troops of the Northern Camp moved solemnly. There were no sad songs or heroic speeches. They walked through the rain, with no way of seeing through their masks and helmets, like a group of indifferent iron puppets.

The heavy rain made the capital float on the water, and the old bluestone slabs were bright enough to reflect everything.

That night, the Western navy went north to raid Dagu Port. Beihai Land and Marine Admiral Lian Wei led his 300 long dragons and 1,000 short ships to hold the port. They first connected the long dragons with iron chains and formed an iron fence outside the port. They held the port until 3:15 on the next day. All the long dragons were killed by the artillery fire of the Western sea monster. None of them survived.

The North Sea Navy collected and stored 36,000 inflatable rockets and 100,000 long rainbow iron arrows, but not a single one was left as they were all exploded into the raging waves and the deep sea.

After running out of ammunition and food, Admiral Lian Wei ordered all the short ships to speed up, using the ships as blowfires and their bodies as white rainbows to crash into the enemy's formation.

The raging fire floated on the sea, and the loyal souls were shattered into pieces.

The North Sea navy rammed, smashed, and blew up nearly 3,000 of the invading shark-like warships, finally forcing the Western sea monster to open its iron tentacles in the rain, release the eagle armor hidden inside, and hastily land from the air, only to find that there was almost no one left in Dagu Port.

At the beginning of the Yin hour, the Westerners who came ashore were extremely annoyed and anxious to make up for their losses in this battle. Without stopping, they advanced directly into the capital. On the way, they encountered the Xuantie Camp, which was formed that day and night, outside the city of Dong'an.

The Western Navy, which had not yet recovered from the heavy losses in the landing, was caught off guard and was swept back by the eighty chariots that were leading the way. Then the Black Iron Light Cavalry, which was roaming the sea of ​​sand, broke out from the encirclement, flying like an eagle in the sky, with its cry as loud as a sword.

The Pope's guards suddenly encountered the Cutting Wind Blade and were almost dispersed by the light cavalry on the spot. They retreated hastily to the outside of Dagu Port.

Daliang had not experienced such a thrilling night for many years. Battle reports and messengers came and went in the palace like a market, more frequently than the night watchmen.

No one in the entire capital city slept until the next morning, when the good news arrived with the dawn.

This was the first good news in days. When Li Feng heard it, he could hardly stand up and didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.

After the rain, the sky cleared up. The Haihe River surged overnight. The air was filled with an indescribable smell, a mixture of gunpowder and blood. The temperature had warmed up from underground, but the dampness lingered. After a night of fierce fighting, Gu Yun had no navy, and the Westerners were in a mess, so they had to retreat.

Gu Yun sat beside the muzzle of the cannon which was still warm, with his black iron helmet thrown aside and a strand of hair hanging down in a mess. He took the medicine handed over by Chang Geng and drank it all in one gulp.

Chang Geng said: "I didn't bring any needles, and even if I did I wouldn't dare to prick you."

He had been carrying the iron bow all night, and deep marks were left on his hands. He hadn't recovered yet and was still shaking slightly.

Gu Yun grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer. Seeing that he was just exhausted but not injured, he waved his hand in relief: "Don't worry about me. Count the casualties. Old Tan can't count them."

After saying this, he simply leaned against the cannon and took advantage of this moment to close his eyes and rest.

A moment later, Gu Yun was awakened by the messenger from the imperial city.

The one who came to deliver the message was a young imperial guard. With his rank, he rarely saw Gu Yun. This time, he finally saw the living Marquis of Anding. He was so excited that he could not control himself. He rode his horse over, and when he jumped down, he was tripped by something and fell down at Gu Yun's feet: "My Lord!"

Gu Yun quickly retracted his feet: "Oh, why do you have to do such a big ceremony?"

The herald officer said excitedly: "My Lord, His Majesty ordered me to come and reward the Northern Camp. I brought it... brought it..."

Okay, I forgot the lyrics because I was so excited.

No wonder they were beaten to a pulp by the Beidaying. Gu Yun was helpless and could only get up and pat his head: "Don't tell me, let General Tan handle it - go back and tell His Majesty not to be too happy too soon. The Beidaying only has two soldiers. If they are killed, I won't be able to create new ones. If the reinforcements don't come by then..."

The herald stared at him blankly.

The Art of War states, "In every battle, use the normal to unite and the unusual to win." Many people probably only remember the "win with the unusual", and always think that a famous general must be able to survive in a desperate situation and to save the country from collapse with his own strength - but how is that possible?

Unless Gu Yun could use mud to mold a group of magical soldiers that didn’t need to eat or drink and were invulnerable to swords and guns.

The victory in the first battle, the ministers in the capital were probably very excited, but what about the next step? Let's not talk about the big picture, let's not talk about the long-term things such as national strength, reserves, and resources. Let's just say that at the moment, he only has such a small force, what should he do?

Gu Yun knew in his heart that no matter how impressive this beginning looked, it could not change the fact that he was just fighting stubbornly.

He smiled as if he had a toothache, left the emperor's envoy there, and walked towards Tan Hongfei.

In Tan Hongfei's hand was a wind-cutting blade that had been flattened at one end. On the charred end, you could still see half of the word "连" engraved on it.

Many soldiers would carve their names on the Wind Cutting Blade, so that even if it was taken for repair, they would be able to find their old friend who had been with them through thick and thin when it was returned. If the owner died on the battlefield and his body could not be found, his comrades would carry his Wind Cutting Blade back, and then offer a pot of wine as an offering, so that his soul could rest in peace.

Tan Hongfei picked up the Wind Cutting Blade with both hands and handed it to Gu Yun: "Marshal."

Gu Yun took it, and suddenly, he had a feeling, as if the Black Iron Camp, which had suffered many disasters and had gathered and dispersed several times, had always been under the foundation of the country, like a handful of scattered seeds, drifting in all directions, and a towering tree would grow from somewhere without anyone noticing.

Chang Geng came up behind him and said, "Last night, thirteen chariots were destroyed, five hundred light cavalry were killed, nearly a thousand were seriously injured, not counting the minor injuries. There was no plan, twelve eagle armors fell, and most of the golden boxes exploded in the air. I'm afraid..."

Gu Yun nodded, feeling that the number of casualties was acceptable: "It's all thanks to General Lian."

Chang Geng whispered, "I'm afraid some people will start wanting to negotiate at the court meeting this morning."

"We can't talk," Gu Yun said, "the foreigners showed such a big face last night, they have no face to come to negotiate. If we don't besiege the capital to the point where it can't escape, they won't talk to us."

…and it’s only a matter of time.

Chang Geng was silent for a moment. "I heard that the king of the previous dynasty was also attacked by the northern barbarians and fled secretly through the secret passage. If the capital city cannot be defended..."

"We have to defend it even if we can't." Gu Yun suddenly asked, "Do you know Jinghua Garden in the west of Beijing?"

Chang Geng was stunned.

Gu Yun raised his index finger and put it in front of his lips, making a "hush" gesture, and said nothing more - Jinghua Garden in the west of Beijing was a summer palace built during the reign of Emperor Yuanhe. At that time, Emperor Yuanhe could not stand the heat, and would go to Jinghua Garden every summer to escape the heat. But after Li Feng ascended the throne, his food, clothing and expenses were all kept simple, and even the cosmetics money for the empress and concubines was reduced by half. He never went hunting or traveling for fun.

However, such a frugal man, who was completely different from his father, kept the habit of going to the palace every summer. However, he did not go there for enjoyment. The government affairs in the palace were piled up, and he usually got up early and rushed there under the stars. He had to come back before nightfall, and walk around the capital like walking a dog to check in - let alone escaping the summer heat, it was good enough if he didn't get heatstroke.

If Li Feng was not sick, then it could only be that... there was something important in Jinghua Garden that required him to inspect it frequently.

Chang Geng was so perceptive that an idea immediately occurred to him: the garrisons of the four directions had all been involved in the smuggling of purple gold, so what about the emperor? Time was short, and he had no time to check the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War... But with Li Feng's personality of wanting to have everything in his hands, it was not surprising that he had built a private storehouse of purple gold.

Gu Yun: "Your elder brother doesn't believe anyone. This is just my guess. Don't tell anyone else."

Chang Geng frowned: "It's troublesome... Will Li Feng ask for peace by then?"

Gu Yun laughed and shook his head: "If someone else comes to him to make peace, it's possible. Well... he probably won't run away."

Chang Geng put his hands behind his back, his body was covered in blood. The mud and water that had stained him the night before had dried, and his whole body looked colorful. The young Yanbei County King was walking slowly in the colorful world, as if he was taking a stroll in the imperial garden in the afternoon of spring. After pondering for a moment, he commented lightly: "That's right, Li Feng is not afraid of death, but he is afraid of other things."

Gu Yun couldn't help but glance at him and found that Lord Feng Han was right. Chang Geng really seemed calm and composed all the time, so he suddenly asked, "When did you become such a slow person?"

"I'm not a slow person, I'm extremely impatient." Chang Geng said with a smile, "I actually learned this from you. I found that when my adoptive father was unhappy, he would often pretend to be happy. A happy face would make him feel better. So every time I found myself being particularly impatient, I would delay it for a while, and I would calm down. Well, too much liver fire is not good for health, it is easy to..."

"...I can't sleep well." Gu Yun helplessly listened to him say it more than once, and he could already continue smoothly, "How much do you care about sleeping? And when have I ever forced myself to smile when I was unhappy?"

Chang Geng raised his eyebrows and looked at him calmly, with an expression that said "whatever you say is what it is".

"Retreat as a whole." Gu Yun said weakly, "The wounded and sick go first. It won't be long before the Westerners react. Let's ambush them."

After walking two steps, Gu Yun felt exhausted and couldn't help but think of Chang Geng's heresy that he didn't know which quack doctor he had just learned from. He took off the wine flask at his waist and took a sip of wine. He put General Lian's Wind-Cutting Blade on his back and whistled.

The warhorse trotted over to him upon hearing the sound. Gu Yun changed the tone of his whistle and blew out a strange self-composed tune. He picked up a small yellow wild flower from the ground and jumped on the horse: "Brothers of the light cavalry, get on your horses and follow me!"

Gu Yun held the wild flower in his hand, and wanted to put the flower on Chang Geng's head, who was closest to him. Unexpectedly, when he raised his hand, he met Chang Geng's gaze. Chang Geng's gaze actually followed him closely, and the expression seemed to say "You can even put a red veil on my head."

Marshal Gu shuddered and did not dare to do anything, so he stuck the flower on the helmet of General Tan, whose head was as big as a bucket, which profoundly explained what it meant to "stick a fresh flower on something".

The old soldiers in the North Camp burst into laughter. The black-armored light cavalry whistled and galloped after Gu Yun. They followed suit one after another, and the whistles in different accents rose and fell. Gu Yun shouted angrily in front: "Who told you to learn from me? I'm about to piss myself!"

You know what, this kind of fuss is really quite relaxing.

At this time, the Western sea monster came up——

Mr. Ya walked into the cabin in a panic and met the commander of the Pope's personal guard head-on.

"How is it?" asked Mr. Ya.

The leader: "Awake, he's just about to call you in."

In the chaotic naval battle, the place where the Pope was was hit by a rocket, which just happened to detonate a cannon. The huge impact force knocked him unconscious on the spot. The subsequent situation of the Western Navy being in a terrible state when encountering the Black Iron Camp was also largely due to this.

Mr. Ya breathed a sigh of relief and strode in. The Pope had medicine on his forehead. His white hair was scattered limply on one side, revealing a few faint age spots at the corners of his eyes.

Mr. Ya knelt on the ground, looking depressed: "Your Majesty, I'm sorry..."

The old man on the bed didn't open his eyes, and murmured, "It's Gu Yun."

"Yes, it was Gu Yun. We planned to trap him here from the beginning. In fact, we were already prepared to face him in the North Sea, but the Black Crow suddenly appeared yesterday." Mr. Ya paused, looking very annoyed. "The Black Iron Camp was dragged to Jiayu Pass by the Western Regions Allied Forces. I should have been confident, but still..."

"I couldn't keep my footing for a while."

Mr. Ya was speechless.

The pope smiled and said: "Everyone will encounter seemingly invincible enemies in his life. Some are disasters, and some are just hardships. Do you know the difference between disasters and hardships?"

Mr. Ya was stunned.

"The difference is that disasters are invincible, but hardships can be overcome. I think this is very easy to tell. The Central Plains people's communications have been cut off. If such a small capital really had so many weapons, would it have been so easy to cause chaos when we fabricated the Beidaying mutiny?"

Mr. Ya: “You mean…”

"Although Gu is young, he has spent more than half of his life on the battlefield. Don't let him lead you by the nose. Even if he is an invincible wolf king, he is now imprisoned with his claws and fangs plucked out. Go."

On that day, the Western Navy reorganized and landed at Dagu Port again.

After landing, they were once again subjected to fierce sniping attacks. This time it was in broad daylight, and Mr. Ya was confident and commanded the troops calmly. He quickly captured all the heavy armored soldiers who were resisting stubbornly. It was an easy victory - but before he could be proud, he lifted the iron masks of the "prisoners" and found that this wave of snipers was not from the Daliang armored soldiers, but a group of iron golems!

This group of iron golems were obviously temporarily recruited from the homes of high-ranking officials in the capital. One of them had a naughty boy's mask under its mask. It had a pale, round face and a bloody mouth, and smiled at the person opposite with an indescribable mockery.

A Western soldier reached out to pick it in anger, and Mr. Ya said in surprise: "Don't touch it..."

Unfortunately, it was too late. There was a thin fuse under the mask that was pulled off. With a slight pull, the iron golem exploded with a "bang", directly blowing several Western soldiers nearby into the sky.

The mask flew out and landed at Mr. Ya's feet, still grinning.

The Beidaying camp made a feint and then all its troops retreated. The Western navy rushed into the city angrily, ready to quell their anger with blood, but they found an empty city in front of them.

Ever since the news of the mutiny in Jiangnan reached the capital, the King of Yanbei immediately joined hands with the Ministry of Revenue to evacuate the civilians on the front line in batches - there were some who were stubborn and unwilling to leave, but after witnessing the roar of artillery fire the night before, they had already fled.

Gu Yun gave them a strong defense and cleared the countryside.