I became a prince in a martial arts world.

When Shi Yinyu returned to the west wing, Han Dingyuan greeted her, "Has the matter been settled?"

"It's settled." Shi Yinyu said, "The Shuntian Army will deal with the three hundred cavalrymen that Zhao Yu brought. We just need to hold off Ma Bojun."

Han Dingyuan's eyes twitched. "Ma Bojun is not easy to stop."

"Didn't you just stop it?" Shi Yinyu said with a smile.

"I didn't stop him; Ma Bojun didn't really intend to make a move." Han Dingyuan was still aware of the situation.

Shi Yinyu's lips curled up. "He wouldn't dare to trespass on my White Flower Smoke."

"He certainly wouldn't dare." Han Dingyuan nodded, then shook his head. "But your White Flower Smoke can't do anything to him either."

Shi Yinyu snorted, "He's only one person, and we have four. We'll have Li Wuchang and Feng Laoguai stop him. You can use your bow and arrow to ambush him, and I'll use poison to attack him. He's just a mere Xiantian, how can he possibly turn the world upside down?"

"At that time, the Shuntian Army and the Iron Eagle Cavalry will fight to the death, and we'll have killed Ma Bojun. With no experts left in the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion and the Shuntian Army, won't the Loulan treasure be all ours?"

Han Dingyuan remained silent, and then he saw Shi Yinyu gently lean closer, her hands reaching inside her clothes, her alluring eyes gleaming with a strange light. "It's getting late, it's time to rest."

……

On the other side, the candles in the north wing were still burning.

"Strategist, how do we deal with Zhao Yu's three hundred Iron Eagle Cavalry?" Duan Rui asked. "The three hundred-plus men we brought are all infantry. Although we have a hundred powerful bows, they shouldn't be enough to deal with the Iron Eagle Cavalry, right?"

Niu Zilian said calmly, "Who told you we were going to deal with the Iron Eagle Cavalry?"

"Huh?" Song Yuanjing was taken aback.

The Shuntian Army and the Qishan bandits clashed once in the oasis outside the city. The four Qishan bandits were highly skilled in martial arts, but the Shuntian Army had a strong military force and each had its own advantages, so the fight ended.

Shi Yinyu just came to discuss cooperation, which clearly means they are dealing with Ma Bojun and the experts from the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion. The Shuntian Army dealt with the three hundred cavalrymen brought by Wang Yu. Now Niu Zilian says they are no longer on good terms. What's going on here?

"The Four Great Bandits are skilled in martial arts, and they also have the help of horse bandits familiar with the terrain. If we fight the Prince of Zhenxi's Mansion to the death, not only will those bandits take the opportunity to kill us, but even if we have enough gold and silver, we won't be able to take it back!"

Niu Zilian chuckled, "All we need to do is lure the Iron Eagle Cavalry into the ancient city, use the terrain to our advantage to wear them down, and then lead them to the Qishan bandits and Shalijin. That will be enough for us to do our best."

Duan Rui and Song Yuanjing both grinned, but considering their strategist's personality, it made sense.

Zhao Lu suddenly asked, "Why did the strategist tell Shi Yinyu that we had already met the Song siblings? What if they actually believed it? Won't they see through the strategist's plan?"

"She won't believe it," Niu Zilian said, shaking his head with certainty. "As the saying goes, what is false can be made real, and what is real can be made false. Only by making her believe that we haven't met the Song siblings will she fall for it."

Zhao Lu nodded, reached out and picked up the bamboo tube that was taller than a person, "I really want to have a match with Ma Bojun and see the Fubo Spear that is famous throughout the Northwest."

……

Seeing that the lights in the north wing were also turned off, Wang Yu and Qianqian floated back to the south wing.

Qianqian went back to rest on her own, while Wang Yu returned to the main house.

"Han Dingyuan is definitely in the room, but although there is Shi Yinyu's poison outside the west wing, she hasn't spoken. She may not be there, or she may be lying in ambush, waiting for me to take the bait."

Ma Bojun said to everyone, "I didn't get any information from Han Dingyuan, but Li Wuchang and Feng Li should be nearby, and he's quite arrogant, so he probably brought a lot of men with him."

"They must have spies in Feisha Town and Huanglongji, and they know we brought three hundred cavalrymen."

As everyone was talking, Wang Yu floated back silently. Only Ma Bojun vaguely noticed, and he was both surprised and pleased. "Yu Lang, where did you learn this lightness skill?"

"I snatched it from a martial artist from Jiangnan," Wang Yu said without hesitation.

Ma Bojun didn't mind, and simply said, "The martial arts world of Jiangnan does indeed have some expertise in lightness skills."

Then Wang Yu recounted the news he had heard in the north wing.

"Shi Yinyu said that they became friends after fighting, which means that the Qishan bandits and the Shuntian army had clashed, but it was just a test."

Li Yunxiu analyzed, "Shi Yinyu said that the merchant was Niu Zilian, one of the two military advisors of the Shuntian Army. He and Song Jingzhou were from the same hometown, so it makes sense that he came from the west to make contact with the Song siblings."

The fact that the Qishan bandits wanted to besiege my uncle, while the Shuntian Army was tasked with dealing with the Iron Eagle Cavalry, indicates that the Qishan bandits were a disorganized rabble or outnumbered, and certainly couldn't withstand a single charge from the Iron Eagle Cavalry.

"But the most important news is their last few words."

Li Yunxiu's eyes gleamed with a knowing look, "Niu Zilian and the others have already met the Song siblings and are carrying out a certain plan, and the treasure should indeed be in the ancient city of Loulan."

"They want to lure us into a chaotic battle in the ancient city of Loulan," Wang Yu said.

"That's right." Li Yunxiu nodded. "The ancient city of Loulan is now in ruins, but the walls and roads inside are complex and not suitable for large-scale military operations. Instead, it is suitable for multi-party battles."

Wang Yu stroked his chin. "If the treasure is inside the ancient city of Loulan, why did they lure us in?"

Li Yunxiu said quietly, "Because apart from the ancient city of Loulan, they have nowhere else to deal with our Iron Eagle Cavalry."

"Could the treasure inside the ancient city of Loulan be a fake?" Wang Yu asked. "Is this plan just a way for them to create a fake treasure within the ancient city of Loulan to lure us into a fierce battle with the Qishan bandits?"

Li Yunxiu countered, "But besides the ancient city, where else could the previous King of Loulan have hidden the treasure?"

Wang Yu thought for a moment, "An oasis?"

Li Yunxiu shook her head. "If they were just in the oasis, they might have already loaded up their vehicles and left. Only in the ancient city, where everyone is watching from the outside and no one knows their exact location within the city, is this possible."

Not to mention the Qishan bandits and horse bandits, even the oasis where the Iron Eagle Cavalry is located is not far from the ancient city of Loulan. It is an abandoned city, and if a caravan were to come out of it, it would be too conspicuous.

Wang Yu understood. "They want to lure everyone into the ancient city, and while everyone is fighting, they'll take the treasure out and mix it into the passing caravans, so they'll never find it again."

"That's right." Li Yunxiu's eyes narrowed. "The Shuntian Army is definitely not just the ones we and the Qishan bandits saw. There should be more than I imagined. They might not even be leaving the pass as a security escort agency, but simply as a merchant caravan."

"Then what do we do?" Ma Bojun asked.

"Of course we absolutely cannot enter the ancient city of Loulan," Li Yunxiu said immediately. "The Iron Eagle Cavalry are skilled in open-field battles. Entering the city would be tying their own hands. I want to see how they lure us into the city."

……

The next day, Loulan City returned to its prosperity.

Merchants traveling to and from Loulan either came to Loulan or set off from Loulan to the west towards Wusun or the east towards Dajin.

Niu Zilian and his group did not go out, but Han Dingyuan and Shi Yinyu disappeared early in the morning.

Zhao Shan and Zhao He went to the oasis to warn the Iron Eagle Cavalry to be on guard, while the scouts kept an eye on any unusual activity in the ancient city of Loulan. Wang Yu then took Li Yunxiu and Qianqian away from the inn to explore Loulan, with Ma Bojun accompanying them.

Since it's not easy to go abroad, you have to do some sightseeing. A business trip is like a paid vacation; otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

Qianqian, arm in arm with Wang Yu, peeked around curiously, acting like a little girl. Li Yunxiu walked to the side, her eyes deep, still pondering Niu Zilian's so-called plan.

The four arrived at the market of Loulan Kingdom and found it bustling and prosperous, with both Han and non-Han people living together. It sold both naan bread and mutton soup from the Western Regions and dishes and pastries from the Central Plains.

"Want some hand-pulled rice?" Wang Yu pointed to a shop selling mutton hand-pulled rice on the street.

Qianqian grinned and shook her head, pulling Wang Yu into a beef noodle shop next door run by Han people. "The Western Regions are lush with water and grass, and cattle and sheep are plentiful. Since we're going to eat beef and mutton, there's no need to eat Western Region food."

As soon as Wang Yu entered the shop, a waiter came forward to greet him. Upon seeing Wang Yu and his companions, the waiter immediately bowed and scraped, seemingly unable to look directly at the bright and beautiful Qianqian and Li Yunxiu.

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow, then pulled the two women to sit down and ordered four bowls of beef noodles.

A moment later, the waiter brought the noodles over, and Wang Yu casually asked, "We're new to Loulan, may I ask if there are any fun places to visit nearby?"

The shopkeeper shuddered and said, bowing his head, "Sir, you're joking. The deserts of the Western Regions are all the same, there's nothing fun about them."

Wang Yu nodded. "I've heard there's an ancient city called Loulan, about thirty miles to the northwest. Is it fun there?"

The shopkeeper immediately shook his head, "That ancient city has been abandoned for two hundred years. It's all ruins and there's not a blade of grass growing around it. It's not fun at all."

Wang Yu nodded again, "We'd like to buy a few Ferghana horses. Do you know if they're sold in Loulan City?"

The shopkeeper replied, "There are indeed merchants from Dayuan in the market, and there are also Akhal-Teke horses. However, they don't fetch a good price in Loulan City, so they mostly take the horses to the Central Plains. Of course, if you, sir, are willing to pay enough, there aren't many people competing with you for Akhal-Teke horses here."

Wang Yu continued, "Is it in the market next door?"

"Yes," the shopkeeper nodded immediately. "A group of merchants from Dayuan entered the city yesterday and haven't left yet."

"That's great." Wang Yu smiled slightly, then asked one last time, "Why don't you go find your uncle?"

"I dare not..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the shop assistant suddenly looked up, circulated his inner energy, and was about to make a move.

Then he saw the young man opposite him pick up his chopsticks, take a big bite of noodles, and then add a piece of beef, thus naturally showing that he had no hostility.

"The beef is indeed excellent!" Wang Yu commented, then said to the waiter, "Your uncle sent me to find you and tell you to go back to him. The emperor doesn't dare to ask him for people, so you're safe in the Northwest."

"Who are you, and why do you know me?" the shop assistant asked.

Wang Yu smiled and said, "Because I saw you in Longshan Prefecture. You and your sister were in a hurry to leave then, and you remember me, don't you?"

This shop assistant was the same man who bumped into Zhao Yingjie on the day Wang Yu bought the piano.