After passing through the city gate, Hu Yan Longhao saw the current scene inside Qingzhou City.
The streets that should have been bustling were deserted, and the shops on both sides of the streets were tightly closed.
Seeing this, Hu Yan Longhao sneered.
The people of the Great Yan were so timid. They had already entered the city, yet the enemy didn't even put up a fight.
However, although Hu Yan Longhao thought so, he still observed his surroundings warily, on guard against any sneak attacks.
Yet, after they had walked in the city for a long time, they didn't see a single person.
Yes, not a single person.
There were not only no sneaking soldiers, but also no ordinary civilians. Even in their shops and homes, there was no one.
It seemed that except for the houses, everywhere was empty.
There had clearly been soldiers guarding the city just now, but after they entered, Qingzhou City was like a ghost town.
Hu Yan Longhao began to feel uneasy.
All this was too strange.
Even Hu Yan Longchang, who had originally looked nonchalant, started to show a hint of indescribable nervousness on his face.
Hu Yan Longhao didn't have the time to sneer at him. He was carefully speculating what the people of the Great Yan were up to.
The Xiliang soldiers, who had originally been full of enthusiasm, looked blank or bored when they found there was nothing to plunder in the city.
Just then, a chill filled the air. An arrow shot from nowhere flew straight towards Hu Yan Longchang.
Hu Yan Longchang quickly bent down upon noticing it and narrowly escaped.
Before they could react, more cold - glinting arrows suddenly rained down from the sky, and the Xiliang soldiers on the street had become live targets!
"It's a trap!" The Hu Yan brothers roared in unison.
Then Hu Yan Longhao continued, "Hurry! Hurry and get out of the city!"
However...
He was too late.
The city gate that they had forcibly pushed open had somehow closed tightly. On the city tower, rows of soldiers in armor were coldly staring at them.
On the rooftops of the shops and houses that they had ransacked, upon closer inspection, countless people were lying in wait, mercilessly shooting their arrows.
They had fallen into a trap!
...
Chu Qing originally wanted to go with them to fight the enemy, but unfortunately, she was firmly refused by Wei Ying and Chu Zhan.
In her previous life, she had an inexplicable longing for going to the battlefield.
Because Chu Qing always believed that defending the country was not only the responsibility of men. If women were also good at martial arts, they could also go to the battlefield and fight side by side with their fathers, brothers, or husbands. Instead of waiting at home nervously, it was better to be on the battlefield and share life and death together.
Unfortunately, due to her status in her previous life, even if she really had the ability, she didn't dare to do such things.
In this life, she was finally no longer the queen, the empress dowager, or even the grand empress dowager. She should have been able to go to the battlefield with Wei Ying.
However, now there was a little life in her body.
Even though she really wanted to contribute, she couldn't be too selfish.
Since a new life was about to be born, she couldn't expose it to unknown dangers.
Therefore, although she was a little disappointed, she still obediently stayed in Fengyue Villa.
Seeing that Chu Qing agreed, Wei Ying finally felt at ease.
Taking Chu Zhan and Wei Sheng with him, he entered Qingzhou City in advance.
When Zhou Cheng, the governor of Qingzhou City, saw Wei Ying, his excitement was beyond words.
Even when the news of the Xiliang's Prince Ning's marriage spread, there was still a place in his heart reserved for the Prince Ning. After all, when he was just an ordinary scholar, a person who could risk his life to save him couldn't be such a despicable and unscrupulous person.
So, at that time, Zhou Cheng thought that the Prince Ning must be planning a big game.
Sure enough, his judgment was correct!
When the Prince Ning's personal guard came to tell him the truth, he was almost in tears.
Therefore, he fully trusted and cooperated with everything the Prince Ning did next.
In just two days, under his leadership, all the people in the city had packed up their belongings. Some had gone to Heyuan, not too far from Qingzhou. The old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled had been transferred to the relatively safe Fengyue Villa in the south of the city. As for a small number of young men, they all voluntarily stayed and vowed to live and die with Qingzhou City.
When they were all ready, the Xiliang people indeed arrived at the foot of the mountain outside Qingzhou City two days earlier.
The soldiers pretending to be city - defense troops on the city tower were all Wei Ying's personal assassins.
But Wei Ying had given the order not to let them sacrifice themselves in vain. They just needed to lead the Xiliang people into the city and then retreat.
Inside the walls of the Qingzhou City tower, Wei Ying had already sent people to build hiding places. To ensure everything went smoothly, he even mobilized some subordinates from Pohuang who were good at hiding and had great strength. As long as the Xiliang people entered the city, these people would secretly break through the walls and close the city gate again.
In short, Wei Ying had ambushed capable people with different tasks near the Qingzhou City tower. No matter what the Xiliang people did, they would cooperate with each other to restrain the Xiliang people.
So, after Hu Yan Longchang led his men into the city, Wei Ying's subordinates worked together from inside and outside and quickly closed the city gate.
Both Hu Yan Longchang and Hu Yan Longhao were trapped inside Qingzhou City. Although the main force didn't enter the city, those who had entered with the Hu Yan brothers were among the best of the Xiliang soldiers.
So...
Catching the turtle in the jar and beating the dog behind closed doors.
Why not?
When Hu Yan Longhao saw Wei Ying standing on the city wall, he wished his eyes could turn into knives and scrape the flesh off the other person's body one by one.
However, Wei Ying, standing high above, was coldly looking at them, as if looking at...
A bunch of ants...
"The King of Wei of the Great Yan is really insidious and despicable! If you have the guts, let's go out and fight a proper battle, soldier against soldier, general against general!" Hu Yan Longchang couldn't help but curse.
Wei Ying curled his lips and slowly said, "First of all, I'd like to thank you for your compliment. I'll reluctantly accept it. Secondly, Your Highness the Crown Prince, are you still not awake? I've already trapped you inside. Yet you still want to go out? Sure enough, Your Highness the Crown Prince's intelligence is... quite in line with the rumors."
"You!" Hu Yan Longchang was so angry that he gasped for breath, and then he chattered a whole lot in the Xiliang language.
Without even thinking, Wei Ying knew that the other person was scolding him.
Hu Yan Longhao beside him squinted his eyes and carefully looked at Wei Ying. Suddenly, he curled his lips and said with a sly smile, "Isn't the Prince Ning a bit too happy too soon?"
"Oh?" Wei Ying raised his eyebrows and waited for him to continue.
Hu Yan Longhao smiled and clapped his hands. A seemingly petite figure was pushed out from the crowd, but it was wrapped tightly in clothes.
The smile on Wei Ying's face faded. He hadn't noticed this mysterious... person at first.
Hu Yan Longhao pushed the person in Wei Ying's direction and then said with a big smile, "The Prince Ning has been away for so long. I wonder if you miss the Princess Ning who is far away in the capital of the Great Yan?"
"What do you mean?" Wei Ying said expressionlessly.
Seeing his reaction, Hu Yan Longhao continued to laugh out loud. Then he suddenly tore off the clothes covering the person.
Then...
Wei Ying actually saw Chu Qing's face!