Edited by Tnyhy

The outer side of the city walls of the Xiao Chun City was already very worn out, and a lot of earth and dust were acc.u.mulated over the years. Generations has pa.s.sed, and another round of military officers took up the lead to guard the peace of the Xiao Chun City.

But the same as when cracks were discovered at the city walls, the once indestructible doors also gradually became decadent. At this moment at the city walls, there were not many guards moving, as they were keeping a vigilant eye afar. As one gradually heard the clear horse hoofs and see the torches, large drops of cold sweat rolled down their cheeks.

The Tu Jue were ferocious and it would be impossible for the remaining guards to confront them. From listening to the movements, there were a lot of Tu Jue who came. Fear was a mutual emotion so in a short period of time, the guards’ footsteps became much heavier.

Not far away when the people were getting restless, suddenly someone in the city guards shouted, “What is that?”

Even the heavy night rain was unable to hide the surprise in those words. Everyone looked back and saw that within the Xiao Chun City, one did not know when but there were small and large torches lit. These torches were dense and accompanied by an earthquake size shaking. When one listen carefully, there were also sounds of horses.

When two armies confront one another, naturally there would be scouts located up high to inquire about information. If the guards standing at the city"s doors could see this, the Tu Jue’s scouts outside naturally could also see it. Those people who inexplicably appeared were particularly unclear in the rainy night, but the messy sounds of the shouts and horses steps within the rain and wind, had an unstoppable and magnificent sense of power.

“It is the Luo family"s army. It is the Luo family"s army.” Someone at the city guards shouted and almost knelt down in delight, “The Luo family"s army has been restored to glory again.”

Those soldiers of the Luo family"s army had long dispersed many years ago, and those who remained behind were all scattered merchants. The sudden shouts made everyone thought about the invincible aura of the army that Luo Sui led, and it was as if they had a new hope, and at the moment the morale soared, Those new people in the guards held their weapons up and it was like their blood in their bones had heated up, and they were shouting together with those unknown people and horses, the noise was deafening.

First was for the drive, then one got tired, and by the third time one became exhausted. The skyrocketing morale and sudden appearance of the additional troops, bearing the name of the Luo family"s army, apparently made the Tu Jue side astonished. One could only hear the Tu Jue downstairs discussing exasperatedly, and those troops hesitated and dared not come any nearer. After being in a deadlock for an hour, both sides did not move and when the Tu Jue felt that there was something wrong, there was a shout of ‘kill’ from outside the city. This time it was the real troops as Shen Xin and the rest had returned.

Even though the Tu Jue’s troops were agile and strong, they were not as good as Luo Sui and Shen Xin, who had fought battles for the county for all these years, so the troops were not deployed properly and were quickly defeated.

Within the Xiao Chun City, at the Luo residence"s doors, Luo Ling heard the soldier returning back to report, and finally let out a sign of relief before respectfully bowing to Shen Miao, “This time is all thanks to Biao Younger Sister.”

“Biao Youngest Sister is so intelligent.” Luo Qian exclaimed, “To even think of such a method.”

Shen Miao let Luo Ling summon all the available people in the residence, and then gathered the commoners on the streets and at the same time lit up all the torches. One person held two torches, and then told the blacksmiths to use horseshoes to imitate the hoofs sounds of the horses. The commoners of the Xiao Chun City knew that this was a dangerous moment that determined survival, thus they mimicked the shouts of soldiers very well. In addition to the entire night of wind and rain, it was more than enough to fool the Tu Jue outside.

When the Tu Jue suddenly saw so many torches, they unconsciously thought that there were so many people. Horse hooves" sounds and shouts, all coupled with the fear of Luo family"s army, one would only think that there were still a part of the forces guarding the Xiao Chun City. Fear struck the Tu Jue, and they dared not blindly approach and tried to explore. By delaying time till Shen Xin returned, everything could be resolved with Shen Xin and the rest.

It looked simple, but when one was in a critical situation, it was easily to be on chaos, so how would one be able to think of such an approach.

Luo Sa’s att.i.tude to Shen Miao had also changed a lot, “This time it is all thanks to you.”

After Shen Miao came out with this idea, Luo Sa’s heart was filled with admiration and respect. Seeing the meteoric effect of the tactic, he nudged Shen Miao’s shoulder and kept asking, “Biao Youngest Sister, give an honest account. Did you secretly read the military tactics book at Grandfather’s study, then you said it as such.”

Shen Miao gently smiled, “It was nothing more than an opportunity.”

“Jiao Jiao must not be modest.” Madam Ma looked at her with enthusiasm, “If it was not for you today, everyone of us would be in trouble. Not only have you saved our residence, you have also saved the commoners in the Xiao Chun City. Thank you.”

Shen Miao could not help but laugh in her heart. Actually she was not modest, as this was just an opportunistic thing. In her last lifetime, this kind of thing happened before, but Shen Miao could not remember clearly which date it was, and only knew it was a day where it was raining hail. The Tu Jue attacked the Xiao Chun City and even though at the end, Luo Sui rushed over with troops and also saved the City from being attacked, there was still a tragic price. There were innumerable people in the Xiao Chun City dead or wounded, it was a miserable sight.

At that time, in order to gain Fu Xiu Yi’s favour, she was working hard to learn military tactics and strategies. She also used this matter to seek Pei Lang’s advice, and at that day Pei Lang replied like this to her, “The Tu Jue have some apprehension and dare not rush forward. As it would be unwise to be reckless and dishearten to escape, it would be better to give them a confused view of an empty city. As long as they can be delayed until reinforcement arrive, everything would be solved.”

She had recorded Pei Lang’s words in her handwritten, thus she was very clear about them. Shen Miao knew that she did not have any abilities in war tactics, but she believed in Pei Lang. In those years at the Inner Palace, in order to gain Fu Xiu Yi’s favour, she would ask Fu Xiu Yi’s aids for advice, and finally it brought her a lot of unexpected bargaining chips.

That was the gift that Fu Xiu Yi gave to her.

“Biao Youngest Sister is too naughty.” Luo Qian heard the guards outside frequently reporting, and finally the restlessness in his heart dispersed. He started to ridicule Shen Miao, “Obviously one had known intimate information, but purposely still scared us like that. Really made us think that we had reached such a dire state. It scared me.”

Luo Tan slapped his head, “So shameful. Not even as good as a little girl.”

“Are not you also the same?” Luo Qian counter attacked.

Shen Miao gently smiled and did not answer. She naturally knew that at the end it would be resolved, but deliberately made it this dire, because she wanted to let everyone in Luo family to understand, that just by relying on the remaining Luo family"s army, not to mention protecting the Xiao Chun City, it would be a struggle to even protect the Luo family. If one do not have enough power in this world, one would not be able to protect those one want to protect. The Tu Jue were watching with tiger eyes, and sooner or later they would come back. When that day comes, what would the Luo family do?

Only by letting them be truly aware of the danger would the Luo family feel nervous. The Luo family’s younger generation, Luo Lian Ying and Luo Lian Tai, and even Madam Ma and Madam Yu, would then spare no effort to persuade Luo Sui to reorganise the Luo family"s army. As for Luo Sui himself, he had eyes to watch and ears to listen, so there would be a time where the rod in his heart would move.

It was impossible for Shen Miao alone to persuade a stubborn Luo Sui, and because of her ident.i.ty, Luo Sui would inevitable have some hesitation, but it was not the same with the Luo family.

Sometimes to achieve something, the most direct method should not be used, and instead it had to be done around tactfully. Whatever Shen Miao wanted in her past life, she would directly say it out and do it, but at the end she lost tragically. In contrast, Mei Furen had the ability to do it so tactfully that it was an art. She hated Mei Furen, but had to learn the thing she did not have from Mei Furen.

When the dawn of the second day arrived, the Xiao Chun City finally calmed down.

The Tu Jue were defeated in this battle to a sorry state. Originally because of Shen Miao’s empty city tactic, it made the Tu Jue suspicious and with the addition of Shen Xin and Shen Qiu, such aggressive generals, they felt the biggest unknown impact and retreated back to the gra.s.slands. It seemed that for a long period of time, they would not have any energy to make a comeback.

Even though it was a victorious battle, the mood in the Xiao Chun City did not feel relaxed. In particularly in the Luo residence, as they had tasted the reality of Shen Miao’s words those days back, with that sudden attack on the city by the Tu Jue. To have such a terrifying neighbour eyeing like a tiger all day, no one was able to safely sleep soundly.

After learning that the empty city tactic was thought up by Shen Miao, Luo Sui valued Shen Miao more. Shen Xin was naturally very proud, and kept boasting that his unmarried daughter was far better than a male.

Two days later, Luo Sui announced to the entire Luo family, that the Luo family"s army would be reorganised.

The entire Xiao Chun City was cheering, and those who were running around to tell, were the juniors of the Luo family as they were very excited. Only Shen Miao had a calm expression on because this was expected. The night when the Tu Jue attacked would eventually make Luo Sui determined, as rather than being chased in a bad condition, it was better to take advantage and make a comeback.

As for money matters, Luo Xue Yan still had some savings and as for military trainer, Shen Qiu and Shen Xin had yet no place to use their martial skills, naturally they were spirited to agree to it. It was not an easy task to recall all the dispersed soldiers back to train, but the Luo family were all tigers. Since the decision has been made, their hearts became determined and in a short moment of time, the Xiao Chun City started to bustle again.

Life went by calmly and enriching.

On one day, Shen Miao was sitting in front of a table reading, when Luo Tan rushed in and almost collapsed on the chair at the door. Gu Yu jumped up in shock as Shen Miao looked towards her. But before she could say anything, she saw Luo Tan soothing her chest as she panted, “Biao Younger Sister, have you heard about it?”

“What about?” Shen Miao asked.

“That Little Marquis Xie of the Xie family.” Luo Tan gestures were in a flurry, “He was the person that I mentioned before, who is as famous as Older Brother Qiu, that Little Marquis Xie of the Xie family. He went and requested for commander to go to the Northern Jiang to battle.”

Shen Miao’s heart jumped and she nodded her head slowly as she looked at Luo Tan, “I know about it.”

“You have heard of the news before, that Little Marquis Xie kept on winning victories and the Xiong Nu were forced to the desserts.” Luo Tan said, “Everyone kept saying that when the Little Marquis return back to the capital, one fear that his meritorious services will be higher than those of the Marquis of Lin An. His Majesty will definitely reward him with a high ranking t.i.tle.

These words were not false. Not long after Shen Miao reached the Xiao Chun City, Xie Jing Xing also lead the Xie family"s army into Northern Jiang. Xie Jing Xing’s brave performance on the battlefield was simply amazing, no matter if it was in military formations or fighting one on one, he was so fierce and cold, that even the enemy feared him upon hearing his name. One initially thought that Xie Jing Xing would not be able subdue the Xie family"s army but they were however able to surprisingly produce repeated achievements, making others put away the last bit of suspicion of Xie Jing Xing. Everyone all said that Xie Jing Xing would be the most outstanding male in Ming Qi, and would definitely supersede the Marquis of Lin An. When Shen Xin and Luo Sui discussed about this, they poured praises on Xie Jing Xing, saying that he was an exceptional talent of this world. Because Shen Miao knew of Xie Jing Xing’s ability in her past life, she was already jaded to it.

She patiently listened for Luo Tan to finish, but saw Luo Tan’s eyes redden and a bad premonition came as she asked softly, “What is the matter with you?”

“Dead.” Luo Tan did not stretch it out as her tears suddenly fell, “Little Marquis Xie died.”

Xie Jing Xing was a hero like Shen Qiu in Luo Tan’s heart and wors.h.i.+pped him greatly, thus at this moment she could not help but have tears flow, “That Little Marquis Xie was attacked by the enemy from the back before being surrounded. A thousand arrows pierced his heart and his corpse was hung at the city walls for everyone to see.” Luo Tan cried, “Biao Youngest Sister, he is dead.”

He died.

The cup in Jing Zhe’s hands fell onto the floor with a ‘guangdang’ sound, and she immediately looked at Shen Miao in a panic. Shen Miao had some friends.h.i.+p with Xie Jing Xing and if he was dead, what reaction would Shen Miao have?

What reaction did Shen Miao have?

Shen Miao stood in front of the table and quietly watched Luo Tan cry. She was so quiet that it was scary, as if what Luo Tan said was not a big headline news but of a common topic, like today’s weather or talks of flowers. Even though she had a peaceful facial expression on, the hands that were holding the book became even more tightened.

Was Xie Jing Xing dead?

Thousands of arrows piercing his heart, his body was hang on the city tower to display to the public. Exactly the same outcome as in the past. Was it really Xie Jing Xing?

As Shen Miao was in a trance thinking about it, it seemed that she wanted to differentiate if this was a joke or reality. However what flashed in her brain was that day in Guang Wen Tang’s courtyard, little rice dumpling deceived her out and a youth with n.o.ble airs walked out from the forest. That youth was wearing an ivory robe trimmed with silver thread, handsome and das.h.i.+ng as he elegantly walked to her, step by step.

His lips hooked up to a naughty smile, and his peach blossom eyes’ had an expression of a smile but not a smile, which was very intoxicating. Three tenths of the time he was teasing, six tenths of the time he was testing, and one tenth he was just a dissolute youth.

He said, “So it was you.”