Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 667 - 665

Chapter 667: Chapter 665

After the soldiers had mastered the formation, Shangguan Xuanyi left Feng Qing as the commander leading the main force to depart. He then grabbed his elite troops and hurriedly rushed to the edge of the desert to set up their formation.

They were to intercept all the new soldiers of the enemy at the edge of the desert. These soldiers now knew they were being identified as rebels and when the time came, Shangguan Xuanyi would try to persuade them to join the Imperial Army. What remained to be seen was how many would put down their weapons and surrender.

The cold wind cut across their faces like sharp blades, but they were completely oblivious to it.

Suddenly, a golden eagle appeared and circled in the sky.

No one else other than that girl could train a golden eagle to be a homing pigeon.

Shangguan Xuanyi whistled, and the eagle landed on his shoulder.

He stopped his horse, and the soldiers behind him hurriedly followed suit.

Shangguan Xuanyi took the letter tied to the eagle’s foot and read it. Then he held out his palm, and the eagle spat out a diamond ring.

This was the girl’s storage ring. Why did she send it to him?

Shangguan Xuanyi dismounted. He told the guardsman behind him, "Take a short rest here, have some dry food, and drink some water!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After speaking, Shangguan Xuanyi moved to the side of a large stone, using his body to block the soldiers’ view. He pierced his finger with a silver needle and swiftly dripped some blood onto the ring.

When the blood was fully absorbed, he used his mind to inspect the contents of the ring’s storage space. The first thing he saw was a large wine jar, on top of which lay a letter.

Shangguan Xuanyi took out the letter and glanced at it. His heart was warmed. How could he not feel touched when his girl was constantly concerned about his safety?

However, upon reading the rest, Shangguan Xuanyi’s heart burned with rage. Man-eating poisonous ants? Well, let him experience the feeling of watching himself being eaten little by little by man-eating ants!

Shangguan Xuanyi gently touched the words written, then carefully folded the letter and placed it safely away. He opened the bag he was carrying, took out a charcoal pencil and some paper, then began to write his reply.

"Who do you think the letter is from?" Feng Xing elbowed Feng Hen.

Feng Hen rolled his eyes at him, "Who else could it be? Who else could make our master respond immediately upon receiving a letter other than the Mistress from Rui’an County?"

"Hmm, that makes sense."

"Of course the truth makes sense!"

"What do you think the letter said?"

"Obviously, sweet nothings! Didn’t you see our master smile?"

"I thought our master seemed quite angry."

"He was clearly smiling, how could he...wait... he really does look angry! We’re doomed, quick, eat up and get on the horses!" Feng Xing finished speaking, lowered his head and bit into his dry food. When their master was angry, they had to march without rest, food or drink!

Last time when the letter from Feng Yang arrived via Pigeon Post, no one knew what was written, but the master, with a severe expression, rode non-stop for the whole day. The hunger was so bad he almost fainted!

Remembering this, Feng Hen also quickly began eating his hard, dry rations with the icy cold water.

In the midst of winter, being cold was already miserable enough. Being both hungry and cold was completely unbearable!

There were just so many people in this world, who ate bitterness and suffered hardship, only hoping that the common people could live a peaceful life.

Traveling day and night, enduring both wind and snow...

Situ Junjie stood at a high point, silently observing the deep night sky.

The night sky was extraordinarily peculiar. The approaching star that was visible a few days ago had disappeared tonight, which was quite strange.

Situ Junjie’s brows furrowed slightly.

He actually could not understand this night sky? What was going on?!

Situ Junjie quickly returned to his tent to consult the ancient books.

He got nothing from the whole night.

The next day, since last night’s stargazing was too bizarre.

Situ Junjie decided to set up a formation at the bottom of the valley and in the dense forest to intercept those in pursuit.

This batch of new soldiers had not been through intensive training and could not compete with the training and harmony of the regular imperial troops.

So when they truly fight, they could only win by outsmarting, with the help of external force, and seizing the right opportunity.

In four to five days, there would be dense fog for three to four consecutive days, especially in the morning. If the Imperial army catches up at that time...

Thinking of this, Situ Junjie revealed a confident smile: he had a way to make the Imperial army be annihilated!

Situ Junjie brought a few soldiers to the entrance of the valley.

He carefully examined the terrain, even the location of every tree, the distance between each tree was diligently recorded.

Then he closed his eyes and meditated. After a while, when he opened his eyes, he began to command soldiers to set up the formation...

At the same time, Shangguan Xuanyi and his guards arrived at the edge of the desert.

However, the terrain here was flat, making setting up a formation even more challenging. Luckily, there was a windbreak behind them. A few years ago, some trees were planted to prevent wind and sand. Every year, they would plant some more saplings and replace the ones that didn’t survive.

The trees planted last spring were already taller than Shangguan Xuanyi.

Shangguan Xuanyi led his guards on horseback for a run in this windbreak.

He ran very slowly, able to record the position of every tree in the forest. He had a blueprint in his mind.

The second time he led his guards on another run, he instructed them to mark some trees.

Once markings were made where they needed to be, he had some people dig holes, others pull out trees, and another group plant the uprooted trees into the new holes, then conceal the original tree holes.

"Master, will these trees survive in this cold?" Feng Xing asked worriedly.

Wind and sand were severe here, and the climate was dry. This windbreak took a lot of effort to achieve its current scale.

"There are priorities in everything," as Shangguan Xuanyi keenly directed his guards to work according to the formation in his mind, he also looked around.

In addition, Xiao’er had given him a lot of water tanks, filled with her specially made life water. The letter said it could strengthen the body and promote plant growth. Since that was the case, he could just water the newly planted trees with the life water.

Shangguan Xuanyi was increasingly finding Xiao’er mysterious. He glanced at the sky, somewhat suspecting that the girl might be a fairy descended to earth. However, whether she was a god, demon, or monster, he was set on her in this lifetime.

Feng Xing nodded, "That’s true, dead trees are much better than dead people and a fallen country! For the sake of protecting the nation, it’s a worthy death for these trees. Their names should be handed down through generations!"

"Therefore, make sure to give each tree a name later, then set up a monument to make them known to the world!" Feng Hen glanced at him and said earnestly.

Such great trees, dying unknown would be such a pity.

Feng Xing: ...

Everyone who heard Feng Hen’s words laughed.