Chapter 595 The mantis stalks the cicada!

Just when Murong Qingwu was in a good mood and was happily preparing to welcome her newlywed life, an old friend was lying on a sickbed in the backyard of the Ye Mansion...

Looking at An Miaoyi who looked sick, Pei Zhixiu withdrew her hand that was on An Miaoyi's wrist. Seeing this, Qi Qige who was standing by said anxiously:

"Mrs. Pei, how is the eldest lady doing?"

Pei Zhixiu turned a deaf ear to Qiqige's question and continued to look at An Miaoyi until An Miaoyi slowly closed her eyes. Pei Zhixiu then shifted his gaze, took out a pen and paper, wrote down a prescription, handed it to Qiqige and said:
"This prescription is for one dose in the morning and one in the evening!"

Hearing Pei Zhixiu's words, Qiqige's eyes suddenly showed hope, and he immediately said:

"Thank you, Mrs. Pei. I'll go get the medicine now!"

After saying that, Qiqige left in a hurry. After sending Qiqige away, Pei Zhixiu looked at An Miaoyi and said bluntly:
"Madam, your life is not in danger for now, but the medicine can only alleviate your symptoms, but it cannot cure your heart. Heart disease needs to be treated with heart medicine. Although I don't know what you have encountered, there is no need to force yourself in everything!"

An Miaoyi, who was resting with her eyes closed, nodded slightly and said:

"Thank you Jisoo!"

"Madam, we are sisters, there is no need to be so polite. If there is nothing else, Zhixiu will go first!" Pei Zhixiu said calmly:
An Miaoyi nodded when she heard this. Pei Zhixiu picked up the medicine box and turned to leave. Just as she was about to walk out of the room, she heard An Miaoyi's faint voice from behind her.

"Ji Xiu, sometimes I really envy you for being so free and easy..."

Pei Zhixiu couldn't help but stop where she was when she heard this. After a moment, she spoke:
"Madam, if you had experienced what I have experienced, you would not say that!"

After he finished speaking, Pei Zhixiu walked out of the room without hesitation. Listening to the footsteps gradually fading away, An Miaoyi slowly opened her eyes and looked at Pei Zhixiu's back with increasingly complicated eyes. She really had something emotional just now.

In her opinion, Pei Zhixiu can be said to be the one who lives the most comfortable life among Ye Mingsheng. Not only does she not have to compete with others for Ye Mingsheng's favor, nor does she have to worry about her parents' family affairs, but she can also do what she likes every day. This is truly an enviable life.

After an incense stick of time, Qiqige returned to the room with the medicinal herbs. Seeing that An Miaoyi seemed to be in better condition, she carried Ye Jingren, who had just woken up, to An Miaoyi's side. Looking at her cute son with his eyes wide open, An Miaoyi felt much better.

Seeing a smile on An Miaoyi's face, Qiqige also mustered up the courage to advise:

"Miss, don't be too sad. The master has been injured for nearly ten years. This day would have to come. The doctors said that the master could only live for three years. Now he has passed away. The master loved you the most when he was alive. If he knew that you are like this now, he would definitely be worried!"

Hearing Qiqige talking about this, An Miaoyi's eyes reddened again. Just three days ago, news came from Luo An that her father, Kunshan Hou Anhetu, had passed away...
Although she had known for a long time that her father, An Hetu, had been in poor health and bedridden for years since he was seriously injured in the battle with foreign races and could die at any time, and that this farewell to Luo An might be a farewell forever, as a child, An Miaoyi still hoped that her father, who had always loved her, could hold on, at least so that she could see him for the last time and see her grandson Ye Jingren with her own eyes.

Although she was prepared for this situation, An Miaoyi still found it difficult to accept it when she heard it. Her body had not yet fully recovered from giving birth, and now she had a high fever again due to excessive grief. She even fainted at one point. Ye Mingsheng stayed by her side for a day and a night. Several famous doctors in Yijing were afraid to prescribe medicine for fear of hurting the child. It was Pei Zhixiu who took action at the most critical moment and completely lowered An Miaoyi's temperature.

Under Qiqige's concerned gaze, An Miaoyi wiped the tears from her eyes, forced a smile on her face and said:
"Don't worry! I'm not as fragile as you think. My father will bless our family in heaven!"

After hearing what An Miaoyi said, Qiqige gradually felt relieved. After comforting An Miaoyi for a few more words, An Miaoyi seemed to remember something and asked Qiqige:
"Yesterday was the day Murong Qingwu got married, right?"

"Ok!"

Qiqige nodded, then said with some complaint:

“I don’t know what the master is thinking. Knowing your current situation, Madam, you still insist on marrying that bitch Murong Qingwu at this time…”

An Miaoyi waved her hand and said:
"The wedding date has already been set, how can it be changed? My husband has been able to stay with me for such a long time without taking off his clothes, I am already satisfied!"

At this point, An Miaoyi changed the subject and ordered:

"Since she has already married yesterday, she should come to visit me soon. If she saw me like this, I don't know how happy she would be. Qiqige, please help me to fend her off and tell her that I accept her kindness, but I am still recuperating and cannot see guests!" "Yes!"

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Jiyu, Erlanggou, 30 miles south of Daya Mountain
Chen Chuande, the general of Yingcheng, was riding a tall horse, standing on a small hill, looking at the valley in front of him with a serious expression. He was forty-seven years old this year and had spent half his life in the military. The more he looked at the terrain in front of him, the more he felt something was wrong.

Although the Erlanggou Valley is hidden around Daya Mountain, it is an obvious place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend. It only takes an ambush of troops on the hills on both sides to catch everyone in the valley. Thinking of this, Chen Chuande's eyes were full of suspicion.

Although he instinctively felt that this might be a trap, Chen Chuande still hesitated when he thought of Gao Dingshan's previous instructions. After a moment, he decided to give it a try. He then waved his hand behind him. With Chen Chuande's instructions, several Henan Army soldiers came over, escorting a young man in plain clothes with a smile on his face.

Without waiting for Chen Chuande, the man with a flattering smile, he nodded and said:

"What do you want, sir?"

After looking up and down at the informant named Li Gousheng, Chen Chuande showed a hint of disdain in his eyes, but he still asked:
"Is your boss sure that Zhu Sanshan is hiding there?"

Listening to Chen Chuande's question, Li Gousheng said without hesitation:
“My Lord General, don’t worry. Zhu Sanshan is hiding in Erlanggou. The remnants of the Yan army have brought Zhu Sanshan a lot of money, food and firearms. Zhu Sanshan trusts them very much, so Zhu Sanshan listened to Zhang Zhen’s words that the most dangerous place is the safest place…”

"We have to hide in Erlanggou right under your nose. There are only two thousand people around Zhu Sanshan, and you have ten thousand men under your command. You just need to rush over now and bring back Zhu Sanshan's dog head for a reward!" At the end, Li Gousheng patted his chest and became more and more confident.

Looking at the confident Li Gousheng, Chen Chuande frowned slightly, because Zhu Sanshan somehow suddenly came to his senses and stopped fighting the Henan Army head-on. Instead, he dispersed his troops to fight guerrilla warfare around Yingcheng. The situation of the Henan Army became very difficult. A feeling of powerlessness, like hitting cotton, hung over the heads of all the Henan Army.

Faced with Zhu Sanshan, who was as slippery as a loach, the Henan Army thought of many ways, one of which was to set up an encirclement in the countryside, hoping to reduce the activity area of ​​Zhu Sanshan and other bandits, restrict them to a fixed area, and then the Yan Army would gather heavy troops to swallow them up in one gulp.

Although the idea of ​​this plan was good, unfortunately, due to the Gao family's years of extortion and tyrannical rule, the government army had almost completely lost its credibility in the vast rural areas of Hebei and Henan, and the people almost all supported Zhu Sanshan, who was fighting under the banner of the uprising.

Wherever the Henan Army arrived at a place, countless people would secretly tip off Zhu Sanshan and inform him of the Henan Army’s movements. Although the Henan Army had killed many people in order to establish their authority and threatened with death those who tried to tip off Zhu Sanshan, it was still to no avail. There were still people tipping off Zhu Sanshan...
Therefore, with the help of the common people, the Henan Army organized several encirclement and suppression operations, but still failed to kill Zhu Sanshan. Zhu Sanshan was like a mouse, tenaciously active around Yingcheng and Dayashan. If Zhu Sanshan was not around Yingcheng, but in other places in Hebei and Henan, Gao Dingshan might choose to give up withdrawing his troops and return to Fengqiu under the increasingly serious pressure of money and food.

Unfortunately, however, Yingcheng is an important grain-producing area in Hebei and Henan. Although its land area is only a few tens of percent of the total area of ​​Hebei and Henan, due to its fertile land and convenient water conservancy, the grain produced in this area can even reach 20% of the annual grain output of Hebei and Henan in a good year.

It is well known that grain is very important in such a chaotic world. For a populous province like Hebei and Henan, even gold, silver and treasures are not as important as grain in today's times. Therefore, for the long-term stability of Hebei and Henan, the Henan Army must control this important grain-producing area and use the continuous production of grain here to maintain the rule of the Gao family.

In order to control Yingcheng, the most urgent task now is to kill Zhu Sanshan. The failure of several encirclement and suppression attacks made Gao Dingshan very frustrated. Just when he was about to give up on himself, his staff gave him a very good idea.

That is to use a large sum of money to win over and divide bandits like Zhu Sanshan, find a traitor among the bandits, and then use this traitor to lure Zhu Sanshan out, and then carry out a decapitation operation on Zhu Sanshan. In their view, as long as they kill Zhu Sanshan, the bandit leader, the "Sanshan Hao" bandit gang will be leaderless and will collapse without an attack...
Gao Dingshan, who got the idea, thought it was a very good one, so he put it into practice immediately. At this critical moment, Zhu Sanshan, who had broken through the encirclement of the Henan Army several times with the help of Ye Zhen and others, was a little complacent and inadvertently gave Gao Dingshan a great assist!

The great assist came when Zhu Sanshan was hiding in Daya Mountain. Because he was bored, he got together with Yan, the wife of his subordinate leader Ge Biao. Not only did they get together, but they also failed to take any safety measures, and Yan got pregnant, allowing his subordinate Ge Biao to become a father.

Ge Biao naturally could not accept the humiliation of being cuckolded, but the other party was his boss, so Ge ​​Biao could only grit his teeth and swallow it, forcing a smile to say that it was a blessing for Yan Shi to fall in love with him, and that he could enjoy her as he pleased without caring about me.

Perhaps it was because Ge Biao's acting skills were very good, or perhaps it was because he had repeatedly broken the encirclement of the Henan Army that Zhu Sanshan lost his vigilance. In short, Zhu Sanshan did not take precautions against Ge Biao and at this time, Gao Dingshan also began to implement his plan of corruption with a large sum of money.

Under the anger of being cuckolded and the temptation of a large sum of money, Ge Biao betrayed Zhu Sanshan without thinking twice and became an informant of the Henan Army. He then sent his trusted subordinate Li Gousheng to inform Gao Dingshan of the news that Zhu Sanshan was hiding in Erlanggou.

After receiving the news, Gao Dingshan was naturally overjoyed, and ordered Chen Chuande, the general of Yingcheng, to lead 10,000 troops to Erlanggou, determined to bring back Zhu Sanshan's head...

As the person in charge of this decapitation operation, Chen Chuande knew how much Gao Dingshan was looking forward to this operation. If he failed to bring him a satisfactory result, then he, the general of Eagle City, would be in great danger!
Thinking of this, Chen Chuande sighed, and then gradually strengthened his belief that one cannot gain a tiger cub without risking it. Things have come to this point. Even if there is a dragon's den or a tiger's den ahead, he has to give it a try!

After deciding to give it a try, Chen Chuande gathered his generals together and began to arrange specific combat tasks. Although according to the intelligence sent by Ge Biao, Zhu Sanshan had only more than 2,000 soldiers and horses with him, this battle must keep Zhu Sanshan in Erlanggou, so Chen Chuande must make sure that nothing goes wrong and not give Zhu Sanshan any hope.

Half an hour later, under the deployment of Chen Chuande, two Henan Army units of one thousand men immediately wiped out the hills on the east and west sides of Erlanggou. Although it was unclear whether Zhu Sanshan’s hiding in the easy-to-attack and difficult-to-defend Erlanggou was an elaborate trap, in his opinion, as long as he controlled the hills on both sides, even if this was a trap, he could remain invincible and could attack or defend without any danger...
(End of this chapter)