Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 623 Night Battle
Lin'an is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the West Lake is outside the city. The whole city is shrouded in water vapor in summer, making it seem particularly hot and stuffy.

Shishi also can't stand the summer heat and rarely goes out.

So when Yuye came to find her, Shishi took advantage of the coolness of the night and was in the mood to invite her to go out with them.

But after they drank some wine and walked all the way back, their foreheads were already covered with sweat.

Fei Yuye said: "It will take another month or so for the weather to turn cooler. This kind of weather is really hard to endure."

Shishi smiled and said, "I just bought a pleasure boat recently. If you are not too busy, you may move here.

We board a boat and sail on the lake, but we don't go deep into the water. We just look for a wide and cool place with dense reeds and willows, where we can fish in the water and escape the heat. Isn't that comfortable?"

Fei Yuye said happily, "Okay, I will go back early tomorrow morning and find a reason to ask my mother for help. This way, she won't nag me every day."

As they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the gate covered with wisteria. Fei Yuye reached out and clasped the ring, knocking it a few times.

When Chen Erniang opened the door, she saw her master and Miss Yuye standing outside, and she quickly let them in.

Shishi said, "Second Mother, go and make a pot of tea. Yuye and I are a little thirsty. I'll prepare the bath water later."

"Yes!"

Chen Erniang agreed and reached out to stop Yuye.

Fei Yuye looked at Chen Erniang with a little surprise. Chen Erniang smiled mysteriously and said, "Miss Yuye, my husband is back. Please go to the guest room for tea."

Li Shishi and Fei Yuye were both stunned.

Li Shishi thought, that enemy is coming? He didn't even tell anyone in advance, and made me and this girl waste half the night.

Fei Yuye thought, Erlang is here?

As expected... he still liked Shishi more. Even though she was not raised in the mansion, he still doted on her and visited her whenever he had the chance.

Li Shishi said to Fei Yuye: "In that case, you can go to the guest room to rest. Drink some hot tea first, then take a bath and rest."

Fei Yuye pretended to be curious and said, "I don't even know who my godmother's husband is. He's so secretive and he didn't even ask me to meet him."

Li Shishi said: "His identity is somewhat special. You will know it one day in the future. But right now... it's not very convenient."

"Forget it then." Fei Yuye pretended to be regretful and said with a smile.

Li Shishi smiled and said, "There is also a new mushroom mat in the guest room, and Madam Zhu can cuddle with her.

If you still feel hot, ask someone to bring some ice to your room."

After hearing this, Fei Yuye felt a little resentful. You want others to hug Madam Zhu, but you go and hug the young man. How shameless.

Fei Yuye was led to the guest room, where she drank two cups of tea and took a bath.

Without waiting for instructions, Chen Erniang took two maids and brought two buckets of ice and snow that had just been dug out of the cellar and placed them in front of her couch.

Fei Yuye lowered the wick of the lamp to a very low level, leaving only a faint light, and climbed onto the jade-smooth mushroom mat in her gauze pajamas.

The room was indeed much cooler, and the windows and doors were all open, with green gauze curtains to keep out mosquitoes, allowing the air to flow naturally, making it feel even fresher.

She was already wearing cool clothes, lying on the cool mat, holding a bamboo lady between her long legs, and fanning herself with a small fan. She should have felt tired quickly.

But Fei Yuye was only thinking about the fact that Yang Yuan was in Shishi's room at that moment, and she didn't know what tricks the two of them were playing.

Perhaps, Madam Li was pretending to be a little bitch, with beads of sweat even on her waist?
When the lights come on...

Fei Yuye felt restless and had no desire to sleep at all.

When she secretly watched it before, the scene was already unbearable. Now Yuye has tasted what it was like. When she thinks of it again, she can't help but put more strength in her legs and crush the flexible and strong "Madam Bamboo".

Because it was hot in the summer, all the doors were open, with only a screen window and screen door, making it difficult to move around and peek, so Yuye didn't dare to move.

She was just daydreaming there, and didn't know when she felt a little tired, so she pulled the thin linen quilt over her waist.

This linen is breathable and sweat-absorbent, making it the most suitable covering for summer heat relief.

Fei Yuye turned around, faced away from the light, and closed her eyes.

Just as my hazy consciousness was about to achieve harmony with the chirping of insects outside the window, I heard the green gauze door seemed to open.

Fei Yuye didn't think much about it, but suddenly she heard Yang Yuan's voice: "Is this... Yuye?"

Fei Yuye's already hazy eyes suddenly opened wide, and she was very surprised. How could he be so bold? How dare he come here!
Just as I thought of this, I heard Li Shishi chuckle and say, "If it's not her, then who else could it be?"

Fei Yuye was about to turn around, but when she heard that Li Shishi was there, she suddenly froze there and dared not move anymore.

Godmother...why is she here too?
Yang Yuan's voice whispered, "Are you crazy? Why did you bring me here?"

Li Shishi chuckled and said, "Life is short, so why not go a little crazy?"

Then, Fei Yuye felt the soft mat beneath her body sink slightly, as if someone was climbing onto the couch.

Fei Yuye was so numb that she didn't know what to do in such a situation.

If you ask her to peek, she would dare to do it. Now two people ran directly in front of her. She was so frightened that she didn't dare to move her little finger. She was completely frozen there.

In fact, Li Shishi and Yang Yuan all knew that she had peeped at them before, and now they were just looking for an opportunity to break the window paper.

Fei Yuye was so frightened and embarrassed that she could only pretend to be asleep.

But she didn't think about it, considering her martial arts skills, how could her alertness be so poor.

Being "deeply asleep" like this has long been the biggest flaw.

Fei Yuye didn't dare to look, but her hearing became unusually sensitive.

In addition, Li Shishi and Yang Yuan were both up to no good. Not only were there sounds, but they also said embarrassing things from time to time, which made Fei Yuye, who was eavesdropping, so embarrassed that her face was so hot that she could fry a basket of eggs.

"Hehe, is Yuye such a deep sleeper? Doesn't that mean she was stolen and she didn't even know it?"

Fei Yuye suddenly heard Li Shishi say something that made her shudder with fear. In her panic, she did not hear the teasing tone in the words.

Before she could come up with a solution, she felt a chill on her collar and a few pieces of ice slipped in.

"Ah~"

Fei Yuye was chilled and could no longer pretend, so she sat up all of a sudden.

As she sat up, the broken ice continued to slide down and Fei Yuye's whole body suddenly froze again.

Then, she saw Madam Shishi, who was beautiful as a bewitching man with her hair loose, and Yang Yuan, who was strong and masculine.

Fei Yuye's frightened heart stopped for a moment, and then she covered her eyes in shame.

There was a soft chuckle in my ear.

A snake-like body wrapped around her and suddenly hugged her.

Then, the witch said, "Erlang, come and bully her!"

……

Fancheng, Han River Wharf.

The Han River flows slowly eastward, the anchored night boat sways gently, and the people on board have already fallen asleep.

Under the moonlight of Qingming Festival, there were two people sitting on the bow deck, drinking from wine bags.

Yan Qingyu asked, "Uncle Luo, should we return to Daxia via the Kingdom of Jin?"

"Why, are you worried that Lintao is difficult to get through?"

"Uncle Luo, the Song emperor has arrived in Chengdu, and the Western Army of the Song Dynasty must strictly guard the border."

“I have anticipated this, but if we want to leave the Kingdom of Jin, we have to reveal our true identities.

The Jin people and Daxia are allies now, so they won't stop us, but they will definitely interrogate us repeatedly, wanting to know what we have learned from Song. It's too time-consuming."

Luo Chengan took a sip of wine and said, "Your injury should be completely healed before we arrive in Lintao.

With your and my skills, even if a large army is stationed for ten miles, it is not impossible for us to pass through quietly."

"Well, so..."

Yan Qingyu had just said this when he heard a horn sound in the distance, followed by the rumbling of horse hooves.

Luo Cheng'an and Yan Qingyu stood up in shock and looked towards Fancheng. They saw torches everywhere in the distance, like stars in the sky, and waves of fighting shouts swept over.

"This...this..." Yan Qingyu was stunned for a moment.

Luo Cheng'an reacted instantly and said in a lost voice: "Oh no, the Jin Kingdom is attacking the Song Dynasty."

Fancheng is located on the north bank of the Han River, facing Xiangyang City on the south bank across the river, forming a horn of each other.

However, the east, west and north sides of Fancheng are all plains, while Xiangyang on the opposite bank has solid city walls, a wide moat, the towering Danshan Mountains and the long banks of the Han River.

In comparison, Fancheng is like a small boat floating in the natural moat of the Han River. It has no defenses when the enemy comes, and the whole city will be flooded when the water comes.

Therefore, there has been a saying since ancient times that "Xiangyang is made of iron" and "Fancheng is made of paper".

At this moment, the Jin people invaded the south, and their first goal was to capture Fancheng, using it as a springboard to attack Xiangyang.

The captain of the boat came out shirtless and barefoot: "What's going on? What happened?"

Luo Cheng'an jumped over, grabbed his shoulders and shook him: "Quick, hurry up and start the boat, the Jin soldiers are besieging Fancheng, hurry up and cross the river, hurry up and cross the river!"

He did know something about military affairs and knew that when the Jin soldiers attacked Fancheng at night, they would certainly send troops to seize the dock and take the opportunity to seize all the ships moored at the dock and use them as their troop transport ships.

Therefore, if we don’t leave the dock quickly, it might be too late.

Sure enough, a group of Jin soldiers had already reached the dock.

Only when the siege of Fancheng began did they light torches, shout and rush towards the boats, jump on board and forcibly requisition them.

Luo Cheng'an and Yan Qingyu rushed to the shore with their swords in hand, slashed down the three Jin soldiers who had just jumped onto the boat, and turned around and shouted, "Start the boat! Start the boat! Go to the south bank!"

"Oh oh oh!" The captain woke up as if from a dream. He quickly pointed at a group of boatmen who had just climbed up, and wanted to sail away in a hurry.

Luo Cheng'an rushed to the cable and chopped it twice. The cable, which was as thick as the boy's arm, was chopped off by him.

……

Luo Cheng'an didn't understand why the Jin Kingdom suddenly attacked the Song Dynasty. Has the New Jin Dynasty already been destroyed?

However, he did not know that it was not just Fancheng that was attacked that night. There were also Jin or Western Xia troops active in Junzhou, Jinzhou, Yangzhou, Xingyuanfu, and Xihezhou.

This was a joint action between Western Xia and the Jin Dynasty.

At the same time, an elite force of 3,000 people composed of Xixia light cavalry and heavy cavalry quietly penetrated into the Tubo territory from Lintao, like a sharp scimitar, drawing an arc, with the blade pointing to western Sichuan.

There were three thousand elite cavalry, among whom were three hundred heavily armored soldiers. They were all sons of nobles and chieftains of the Dangxiang Qiang people. They rode good horses and wore heavy armor that was impervious to stabbings and cuts.

Obviously, they came here for the Song Dynasty officials.

Lintao has been a famous city in the northwest and an important town in Longyou since ancient times. It is located on the main route of the ancient Silk Road.

Outside the city gate, dust was flying, covering the sky and the sun.

People swarmed like ants, and wherever they went, there were flashes of swords and the sound of killing shook the sky.

Catapults hurled huge stones into the city.

The sharp arrows were like dark clouds, and every wave of arrows claimed countless lives.

In all places, the Jin and Xixia people were the main attackers, but under the city of Lintao, it was the Western Army of the Song Dynasty that took the initiative to attack.

The attacking soldiers fought hard against the rolling logs and stones and the torrential rain of arrows that kept falling from the top of the city walls. Huge stones were thrown by the catapults, and the earth walls they hit collapsed with a loud bang, splashing up clouds of dust.

The defending Xixia soldiers refused to give up an inch of territory and treated the city wall as a meat grinder.

Soldiers from both the attacking and defending sides fell one after another and were replaced one after another.

The mobilization of the Jin and Western Xia troops had long aroused the vigilance of the Western Army of the Song Dynasty.

The Western Army is the most elite of the several imperial guards of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the emperor is now in Chengdu and cannot be lost. The scouts of the Western Army are riding everywhere.

There was no large-scale troop movement, but not a single clue was leaked.

When it was determined that the Jin Kingdom and Western Xia were working together to launch a full-scale attack and that their target must be the emperor, the Western Army quickly mobilized to strengthen the defense lines.

At the same time, the Western Army regarded Lintao City as the only breakthrough point for counterattack.

Offense is sometimes the best defense.

This city is an important town in Longyou. If we capture it, the road ahead will be smooth.

This is why the Jin Kingdom chose to throw it as bait to the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty, and understood that either side would have to eat the bait with a hook even though they knew its purpose.

Shuyang City, a small town on Longxi Road.

Kou Heiyi hid on the wooden beam of an earthen house, feeling helpless.

It took him a lot of effort to leave the Song Dynasty.

To escape capture, he initially fled south.

The State of Song believed that he was a Jin spy, so the search focus was only on the south, allowing him to escape successfully.

After avoiding the limelight, he wanted to return to the Jin Kingdom.

After all, it was not easy for him to successfully sneak into the "Blood Pagoda" of the Jin Dynasty from Xixia.

He was ordered by the Jin Dynasty's "Blood Pagoda" to infiltrate the Song Dynasty. Now that his identity as a Song Dynasty official has been exposed, returning to the Jin Dynasty is the best option. He can also continue to lurk in the Jin Dynasty for Xixia.

However, although the Jin Dynasty and the Western Xia were also on guard against each other, the conflict of interests was not great.

It can be said that as long as the Song Dynasty existed, it would be difficult for Western Xia and the Jin Dynasty to become enemies.

At this time, Lintao was handed over to Western Xia by the Jin Kingdom, and the Emperor of the Song Dynasty went to Chengdu Prefecture under the pretext of praying for his mother.

This cannot but make people suspect that the Song emperor used this as an excuse to personally summon the generals of the Western Army to discuss plans against Western Xia.

If possible, he would rather fight on the battlefield.

As a member of the Xixia royal family, he believed that he could play a big enough role on the battlefield.

Moreover, if the Song Dynasty wanted to use military force against the Western Xia, this would also be an opportunity for the Western Xia emperor to gradually regain power from Prime Minister Ren Dejing.

After careful consideration, he changed his route again and headed west.

Unexpectedly, they had traveled safely all the way and had arrived at Shuyangzhai today. They would reach Lintao City in two more days, but the Western Army of the Song Dynasty launched a fierce attack on Lintao.

Along the way, there was an endless stream of soldiers and horses. After nightfall, a large number of soldiers and horses suddenly arrived in the small town where Kou Heiyi lived. It seemed that the soldiers and horses were going to the Lintao front line, and they rested in this Shuyang city.

Kou Heiyi had no choice but to hide in this abandoned, leaky house.

"Hey~" Looking up at the starlight showing through the broken tiles, Kou Heiyi simply lay down on the beam, resting his hands on his head.

“Ka, ka, ka…”

Suddenly a sound was heard, and Kou Heiyi immediately turned over and sat up alertly, crouching down, holding the knife at his waist, ready to strike at any time.

This sound is...

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a hand reaching in under the moonlight.

The hand grasped a tile, pulled it out, put it aside, and then another one followed.

When the hand pulled out four tiles, the gap left was big enough for a person to crawl down.

Then, two long legs fell from above, and the toes touched the crossbeam. The man immediately ducked down and crawled in.

"Hmm..., it must be a woman, her butt is so big!"

The man who came down from the roof had no idea that there was already someone sitting on the beam ahead of him.

She stood firmly on her feet, then immediately lowered her body, bent like a bow, and leaned towards the roof, holding on to the beam with both hands, which was equivalent to kneeling there.

So her butt hit Kou Heiyi's face.

To be more precise, it was only a hair's breadth away.

Kou Heiyi's breath could spray steadily on that round object.

After all, clothes are thin in summer, and the breath from the nose alone made the man suddenly aware of something.

The man was greatly surprised and quickly turned around on the beam, reaching out to draw his sword.

Kou Heiyi was quick to cover her mouth with one hand. The girl immediately widened her eyes. There was indeed someone there.

However, Kou Heiyi was hiding in the dark, and she couldn't see what he looked like.

She was under the moonlight, and Kou Heiyi could see her eyebrows and eyes clearly. Her facial features were very beautiful, but her thick eyebrows and big eyes gave her a kind of unruly and wild look.

Just as she was about to explode, the tattered door was pushed open.

"Lao Zhang, how about this room? It's suitable for staying overnight."

"Let's eat something first, and then we'll talk later. It won't make any difference if we just spread some horse feed outside as a blanket."

Outside the house, someone spoke.

"That's right. There's a lot of dust in this shabby house."

The soldier waved his hand in disdain, turned around and walked out again, but he did not close the tattered door.

On the beam, ever since the Western Army soldier walked in, Kou Heiyi had been staring down nervously, while the woman whose mouth he had covered was glaring at him fiercely.

Seeing the soldier leave, Kou Heiyi breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the woman.

The woman glared at him fiercely and stabbed Kou Heiyi in the ribs with the handle of the knife in her hand.

Kou Heiyi thought about it and slowly let go of his hand.

"You are...bah..."

The woman was about to speak when she suddenly felt her mouth full of dust and she couldn't help but make a loud "Puh" sound.

Before she could finish spitting out "Pah", her mouth was blocked by Kou Heiyi again.

Kou Heiyi carefully glanced down and saw that the soldiers outside had not heard him, so he whispered, "Silence."

After saying that, he let go of her hand again.

This time the girl didn't spit, she just picked up her sleeves and wiped her mouth angrily.

Kou Heiyi lowered his voice and asked, "Who are you?"

Yue Peiying stared at the person in front of her in the dark and whispered, "Who are you?"

Kou Heiyi chuckled and said in a serious tone, "He who hides here secretly is probably not a good citizen of the Song Dynasty, right?"

Yue Peiying chuckled and said, "Mutual, mutual."

Kou Heiyi suddenly asked: "Bangni Dingren?"

Yue Peiying was stunned and asked, "Are you from Daxia too?"

The Xixia people called themselves the Great Xia Kingdom or the Bangni Ding Kingdom.

Bangneding is the transliteration of Xixia language, which means big, white and tall, big, white or tall and big, anyway, it means tall, big and white.

But its country's name is Daxia.

The people of the Song Dynasty were accustomed to calling them Xixia people or Dangxiang people.

Therefore, as soon as the two of them said this, they both knew that the other party was from the same country.

Yue Peiying obviously relaxed, took two steps back, and still squatted on the beam.

At this moment, it became a section of beam under the starlight, with two people sitting in the shadows on both sides of the hole in the roof.

Yue Peiying asked: "Are you my Great Xia scout?"

He appeared here at this time, in this place, and in this environment, and his movements were so sneaky, so it is very likely that he is a scout sent by the Xia army.

Kou Heiyi's eyes flickered for a moment, and he nodded and said, "Yes, the girl is?"

Yue Peiying said proudly: "Have you heard of 'Yipintang'?"

Kou Heiyi's eyes flashed with brilliance, but then disappeared. He said respectfully, "Young lady, are you from Yipintang? Yipintang is a well-known and prestigious place. I have certainly heard of it."

Yue Peiying ordered proudly: "Since you are a scout, you must be familiar with the enemy's distribution ahead. Lead me through, and when I return successfully, it will be your credit."

"Yes! I am willing to serve you, sir."

Before he could finish his words, he heard a loud shout from below the beam: "I said there was indeed a sound just now, who is hiding on the beam, come down!"

Following this loud shout, six, seven or eight soldiers rushed in from outside the door.

Two or three of them held a knife in one hand and a torch in the other, while the others held spears and pointed at the beams.

Because of the light from the torch, Yue Peiying and Kou Heiyi were able to see each other clearly.

Huh? This little scout is pretty handsome...

Yue Peiying turned her head and glanced at Kou Heiyi. Just as she thought of this, Kou Heiyi moved.

He held the beam with one hand and squatted with one leg. He suddenly stretched out the other leg and kicked Yue Peiying on the butt, kicking her off the beam.

Then, Kou Heiyi jumped up, broke a few tiles, jumped onto the roof, and disappeared in a flash.

"You bastard, you deserve to die!"

Yue Peiying was so angry that she cursed loudly, then drew her sword and started fighting with several brave Western Army soldiers.

Several more soldiers rushed in from outside the door. When Yue Peiying saw this, she knew that it was a good thing that they were inside the house and they couldn't control them, otherwise she would definitely not get the upper hand.

Yue Peiying suddenly swung her sword, knocking away three attacking Song soldiers, then leaped with her legs and placed one hand on the beam.

She curled up her abdomen, curled up her body, and used the momentum of the swing to flip upwards. She broke through the hole and jumped onto the roof.

Under the moonlight of Qingming Festival, a figure was seen running fast on the roof of a house in the distance, like a happy rabbit.

On the ground, some of the alarmed stationed soldiers were drawing their bows and shooting arrows, but the angle was not good and it was difficult to hit the target.

"This scout is so bold that he actually tricked me!"

Yue Peiying cursed angrily and started chasing after him.

She didn't know that the man was a member of the emperor's trusted "Flying Hawks" and was a sworn enemy of the "Yipintang" founded by the prime minister.

Kou Heiyi would love to have a chance to trick the people of Yipintang and weaken the power of the prime minister.

(End of this chapter)