After leaving the valley, continue heading north.

Because Cui Xi let them go, there were no pursuers behind them, and there was no need to keep going day and night. The team slowed down a little and waited for the people to catch up at the fifth watch.

They moved forward, carving hidden marks along the way. In the morning of the next day, Wu Geng finally led his men to catch up, and they finally arrived at Jizhou City.

The two groups met outside the city. Ji Lian jumped off his horse and had tears in his eyes when he saw Ye Yunting. If there weren't so many people watching around him, he would have wanted to hug his young master and cry.

It’s been really scary these days!

I was so frightened that I couldn’t even eat!

Ye Yunting looked at his pitiful look and rubbed his head in a funny way: "You have worked hard these days."

In order to make the stuntman's performance more realistic, Ji Lian could only stay on Zhuangzi with him. Until the "assassin" appeared, he took advantage of the chaos to hide secretly, and then left the city with Wu Geng and others.

In addition to him, Yi Qiu, the old princess's personal maid, was also brought here. Ye Yunting asked the female family members to ride in the carriage while he got on the horse. The group pretended to be merchants visiting relatives and entered the city leisurely. The other escorts secretly

Wei then divided into several groups and followed behind in disguise.

The city of Jizhou is very depressed, with scattered pedestrians walking in a hurry on the streets. Only restaurants and inns and other shops on both sides of the road are still open to provide food and accommodation for passing merchants. Instead, there are teams of heavily armored soldiers patrolling the streets back and forth with guns.

.

Ye Yunting took a second look, and after entering the inn, he asked the waiter as if chatting casually: "This Jizhou City seems to be very different from before. When I came here two years ago, it was much more lively than now."

When the waiter heard this, he stretched his neck and looked outside, and lowered his voice and said: "Young master, this information is not very well informed. Didn't our chief governor of Yunrong just attack Shangjing a while ago? I heard that the emperor was almost captured alive.

Now the Grand Governor is Yun Rong..." He pointed to the sky with his thumb and showed a smile that everyone knew: "This Jizhou City is naturally different from the past. Many men have joined the army.

Naturally, it’s not as lively as before.”

Ye Yunting looked shocked, covered his lips with his sleeves, and asked in a breathy voice: "Isn't this a rebellion?"

"Hey, we don't care whether they are rebellious or not." The waiter put the sweat towel on his shoulders and led them to the guest room before finishing the rest of his words: "Anyway, the governor said that you should join the army in everything.

Yes, one family will be given ten taels of silver."

He also gestured with his hand: "A full ten taels of silver."

Ye Yunting's eyes flashed with deep thought. No wonder the city was deserted. It's probably because all the young men of the right age have gone to the army. A family's ten taels of silver is not much for a rich family, but it is really a lot for a poor family. Especially this year's snowstorm, ten taels of silver.

The money was enough for the affected people to survive the winter.

It's just that the battle of Zaohe is only less than a month away now, and it's freezing cold at this time of year, and all the state capitals in the North are affected by snowstorms. It's not the right time to start a war again. However, the Yin family spent a lot of money at this time to carry out the war.

There must be something fishy about large-scale conscription.

He was confused in his heart, but surprised on his face: "Oh! So many! The imperial court will not give so much money when recruiting soldiers."

"That's right." The waiter said cheerfully: "Under the governance of the Grand Governor, our Jizhou is not much worse than Shangjing."

Ye Yunting complimented him a few words, but when he couldn't get any useful information from him, he took out a piece of broken silver from his sleeve and gave it to the waiter.

The waiter collected the money, smiled more sincerely, sent the person into the guest room, and left with a smile on his face.

Ye Yunting entered the house, closed the doors and windows, and then suppressed his smile. Su Rong said to the secret guard commander: "There must be something fishy about the Yin family spending huge sums of money to recruit soldiers at this time. You order people to secretly explore and see what they are doing.

What."

He didn't think the Yin family was so kind-hearted that they gave away large sums of money for nothing.

Ever since the incident in the valley, the secret guard commander had secretly admired him. At this time, following his instructions, although he felt that going to visit the Yin family on the way was a bit unreasonable, he did not express any objection and immediately accepted the order and made arrangements.

***

Cui Xi returned from the valley to Beijing, but met the team returning from Luzhou on the way.

The leader of the team saw that there seemed to be a defect in his team and asked in surprise: "Cui Changshi, what happened?"

Cui Xi's face was gloomy: "King Yong'an was cunning and actually took the road from Jizhou. I quickly caught up with him and saw that I was about to capture him, but I didn't expect that an ambush had been set up in the valley. Fortunately, I found it not too late.

Evacuate in time. Only then can we return intact and report the news."

"It's a good time to meet you at this time, so as not to waste time when I return to Beijing to mobilize troops." There was a cruel look in his eyes: "Follow me to pursue Jizhou immediately!"

The commander was slightly shocked when he heard this: "They actually left Jizhou?!"

Originally, Cui Xi wanted to pursue in the direction of Jizhou, but he didn't think so, thinking it was a waste of manpower. Jizhou is now a place where the rebels are entrenched, and they have to take a detour. If it were him, would he go to Jizhou?

It wasn't until he chased him all the way to Luzhou that he couldn't find any trace, so he had to turn back.

"That's right." Cui Xi stopped talking to him and took the lead, leading the troops to gallop towards Jizhou again.

Thousands of Shence troops galloped forward, chasing after them along the ruts and horse hoof prints, only to find that the enemy might have entered Jizhou City at this time.

With a ferocious look on his face, Cui Xi raised his hand to stop the Shence Army who was about to move forward: "The front is the territory of the rebels. It is not appropriate to pursue them any further."

The commander pinched the horse's belly hard and stopped with a look of dismay on his face: "This mark is still fresh, they entered not long ago."

"Consider them lucky." Cui Xi turned the horse's head and said, "That's all, it's useless to talk more. Let's go back to your Majesty first."

The large group of people came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

Go to Beijing.

"They haven't been caught yet?" After hearing the news, Li Zong's face darkened: "They still have the old princess with them, so they must not be moving fast. You didn't catch them?!"

The commander moved his mouth to explain, but Cui Xi, who was kneeling in front, said: "They borrowed the road from Jizhou to Weizhou. When I chased them, they had already entered the city of Jizhou. Jizhou is now occupied by the rebels, I

For fear of attracting the attention of the rebels, we stopped pursuing him."

Hearing him mention the Yin family, the anger on Li Zong's face actually subsided a bit.

He gritted his teeth and said, "It's the Yin family again!"

The commander kneeling behind raised his head and glanced at Cui Xi, but did not speak again. Although Cui Changshi skipped a lot of the process, His Majesty was not angry now, and he did not need to explain any more.

Cui Xi said: "Now that the old princess and the princess have fled to Weizhou, and King Yong'an no longer has any constraints, should he ask Governor Shen to secretly strengthen his defense?"

"But." Li Zong narrowed his eyes, sat down again, and said in a gloomy tone: "That's all, just leave. If he really dares to rebel, I will make him become Beizhao's eternal sinner!"

Cui Xi curled up the corners of his mouth calmly, and when he raised his head again, he looked loyal again: "Your Majesty is wise. Now that Xihuang is eyeing him, King Yong'an may not dare to take action easily."

Li Zong thought so too.

The Northern Xinjiang defense line is very important to the entire Beizhao, but once the defense line is breached by Xihuang, the Northern Xinjiang Governor's Mansion will be the first to bear the brunt. Therefore, even if Li Fengqi is rebellious, he will not cause trouble at this time. At least this winter, in Before repelling Xihuang, there is no need to worry too much about the safety of Northern Xinjiang.

His real heartache lies with Yun Rong.

The shame of Zaohe was a thorn in his heart. Now that the old princess and her entourage had fled to Jizhou City, she was obviously sure that he would not dare to conflict with the Yin family again for the time being. This move was tantamount to giving him a chance before he could heal. Another pinch of salt was sprinkled on the wound.

"Show me the Grand Tutor's Mansion." Li Zong thought about it and felt that he had to remove the biggest thorn in the Yin family's side first.

"Yes." Cui Xi's eyes flashed slightly when he heard this, and he stood up and went out to deliver the order.

***

Ye Yunting and his party stayed in Jizhou City for a whole day and night. On the one hand, they had enough energy to prepare for the follow-up journey. On the other hand, they wanted to find out the news.

It's just that there isn't much news about the Yin family's recruitment. The news that the secret guards found is similar to what the waiter at the inn said.

In order to be rewarded with ten taels of silver, most of the young men in the city signed up to join the army, and are now training in the camp outside the city to prepare for war. No matter how much information is found, no one can find out.

On the other hand, the spies who were stranded in Jizhou looking for Ye Wang's traces followed the code left behind and found the inn. They also provided another piece of news - none of the civilians who had been drafted into the army had returned home. Even Qiao Zhuangcheng, the spy who enlisted in the army, It was also gone forever, and there was no news from it again.

It stands to reason that this is not war time, and soldiers should have a ten-day holiday. During the ten-day holiday, they will always go home to visit. However, it has been more than half a month since these people were requisitioned, and no one has ever returned home. Not even a letter. None have been sent.

The military camp's explanation for this is that soldiers train wholeheartedly to prepare for war and can only return home after half a year.

The spies could not find any more information and could not contact their companions. They could only stand still. It was not until they saw the code left by Ye Yunting and his party in the city that they followed the code and came to the door.

After listening to the spies' report, Ye Yunting increasingly felt that there was something fishy in it.

It's just that now in other people's territory, it's not appropriate to be too high-profile to avoid attracting attention.

Therefore, after discussing with the secret guard commander, he decided to leave Jizhou first. As for the strange things in Jizhou City, he could explore them after he was out of danger.
Chapter completed!