A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

"They're here."

Nie Yinniang stood outside the closed door, looking up at the dust billowing in the distance.

Behind the dust was a black flag fluttering in the wind.

She didn't wait for the guards to announce her arrival and went straight to them.

The sound of horses' hooves grew closer and closer. Huo Qingluan arrived at the pass with dozens of her personal guards. The 50,000-strong army was still entering the pass in succession from the rear. The vanguard had been rushing for seven days.

Huo Qingluan dismounted and immediately saw Nie Yinniang.

He was much thinner than when he left Beijing, his face was darker, his lips were chapped, and there were bloodstains on the hem of his clothes that he couldn't wash off.

"Where is the enemy?" Huo Qingluan asked.

"Twenty miles away."

Nie Yinniang replied, "I arrived three days ago."

"Have you solved the problem?"

"no."

Huo Qingluan frowned.

Instead of attacking the pass, they deployed 30,000 troops twenty miles outside Yangguan Pass. What are they waiting for?

She knew very well that an army capable of leading 30,000 troops across the Gobi Desert and not rushing to attack the city for three consecutive days could not be a hastily assembled band of bandits.

They are patient.

They also have something to rely on.

"Go up the city wall."

Without exchanging pleasantries, the two went straight up the gate wall.

Nie Yinniang pointed westward.

Twenty miles away, the Black Flag Army's camp had already been set up.

The tents were arranged in an extremely neat manner, with sentry posts at intervals, and shallow ditches were dug around the perimeter. Several teams of soldiers on camel taxis patrolled back and forth.

The camels were much larger than Xinwu's warhorses, and wooden buckets, grain sacks, and bundles of weapons were tied to their humps.

Around the camp, waterwheels were set up on high places, and several soldiers were drawing water from underground.

Huo Qingluan took the binoculars that Shang Wanqing handed her.

The lens barrel is made of wood, with two polished glass lenses inlaid at the front and back.

In order to make it, Shang Wanqing wore out more than a dozen pieces of fine glass, and finally obtained this piece that can see clearly into the distance.

Huo Qingluan brought the lens close to her eyes.

The Black Flag Army's camp became clear at once.

She saw the patrol team, the barricades on both sides of the camp gate, and several wooden frames under construction.

Next to the wooden frame were water buckets, with thick leather bags underneath them.

"They're looking for water." Huo Qingluan put down her binoculars.

"It's not about looking."

Shang Wanqing took the binoculars and looked at them for a moment: "They already know where the water is."

Huo Qingluan looked at her.

Shang Wanqing pointed into the distance: "The waterwheels are all located away from the wind, and there are digging tools next to them. There's probably an old well or an underground river underneath."

After she finished speaking, her gaze fell on the wooden sheds in the camp.

"There are craftsmen over there."

"How did you know?" Nie Yinniang asked.

"Ordinary soldiers wouldn't build a waterwheel like this."

Shang Wanqing said calmly, "The wheels are wide, the bearings are covered, and the water buckets have been modified. Someone specifically calculated the resistance in the sand. To be able to carry all this for three thousand miles, their army must have people who understand water conservancy and machinery."

Huo Qingluan tightened her grip on the binoculars.

The enemy is more troublesome than expected.

She wouldn't be afraid if 30,000 cavalrymen stormed the pass.

Although the walls of Yangguan are old, the crossbows and oil are still there, so it is not difficult for 50,000 reinforcements to hold it for a period of time.

But the other side did not attack immediately.

They seemed to be waiting for someone.

"General, the scouts have returned!"

A soldier ran up quickly and knelt on one knee.

"We caught one alive."

"Enemy forces?" Huo Qingluan asked.

"No, he's a merchant from the Western Regions. His leg was broken, and he was hiding under an abandoned waterwheel when our people found him. He can speak Chinese, but... he's a bit too frightened to think clearly."

"Bring it up."

Not long after, four soldiers carried a wooden plank up the city wall.

A man in his thirties lay on the wooden board, wearing a tattered leather robe, his right leg twisted in a strange way below the knee.

His face was covered in dust, and when he saw Huo Qingluan, his lips trembled for a long time, and he couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"water."

Huo Qingluan raised her hand.

The garrison handed over a water bag.

The merchant snatched it away, and after taking two gulps, he choked and coughed repeatedly.

"Slower."

Huo Qingluan said, "No one is taking your water."

The businessman's hands were still trembling.

"What's your name?"

"Ah... Abdu."

Where did the Black Flag Army come from?

Abudu glanced at the area outside the pass, his face deathly pale.

"They...they're not here to fight Xinwu."

Huo Qingluan did not urge him.

The businessman was already terrified; pressing him too hard would only make things worse and prevent him from explaining himself clearly.

Abudu swallowed hard, his fingers gripping the water bag tightly.

"They're not here to fight you; they're here to find someone."

Huo Qingluan looked at him: "Who are you looking for?"

"An old man."

"What's your last name?"

Abudu's lips were dry, as if he was trying to recall the pronunciation of those two words.

"His surname is Fang."

Huo Qingluan did not move.

Nie Yinniang, who was standing next to her, also raised her head.

Abu, oblivious to the change in the two, continued:

"They say that old man stole their Khan's most precious possession. They've been chasing him for two years, and many people have died. They've followed him all the way from the west, not even sparing us merchants."

"What did you steal?" Huo Qingluan asked.

"I have no idea!"

Abudu shook his head immediately, aggravating his injured leg and causing his face to contort in pain.

"I really don't know! They only said that thing is very important, that it's the Khan's lifeblood. Whoever holds it can command the seventeen tribes of the Western Regions."

Shang Wanqing stood behind and whispered, "The thing that can command the seventeen tribes can't just be gold and silver."

Huo Qingluan was also thinking about it.

Something that can command the seventeen ministries could be a token, a covenant, or some kind of inherited power certificate.

Fang Zhaoru taking it away shows that Mr. Fang was not involved by chance.

He probably knew all along that the Black Flag Army would come after him.

Perhaps he never told the capital.

"Have you met that old man Fang?" Huo Qingluan asked.

"I've seen it."

Abudu hurriedly said, "Two years ago, near Suyab. He was with a caravan, dressed in ordinary Han Chinese clothes, and had no guards. That's where the Black Flag Army found him."

"Where did he go?"

"east."

"Be more specific."

"First we went to Kucha, then we went east along the old Loulan road."

Abudu's voice grew faster and faster: "Later someone said that he had entered Xinwu territory. The Black Flag Army chased him all the way to Yangguan, and then asked me to lead the way."

He looked up, his face filled with fear.

"General, they said they'll withdraw their troops immediately if you hand over Old Man Fang. If you don't..."

Huo Qingluan stared at him: "What if you don't hand it over?"

Abdu's Adam's apple bobbed.

"They said, let's start from Yangguan and push eastward, one pass at a time."

None of the soldiers guarding the city wall spoke.

Huo Qingluan slowly stood up.

She saw the white cloth and also saw the taxi drivers busy at the Black Flag Army camp.

The enemy did not rush to attack the city because they had already regarded Fang Zhaoru as Xinwu's Achilles' heel.

They didn't want to see Old Man Fang.

They wanted to see if Xinwu would back down.

Huo Qingluan turned to look at Nie Yinniang.

Nie Yinniang was also looking at her.

Neither of them said much, but they both understood the significance of the matter.

"The old man surnamed Fang is Fang Fuyao's grandfather," Huo Qingluan said.

Shang Wanqing gripped the binoculars, her expression shifting.

Fang Fuyao is one of the most important people around Wei Zhao.

Let's not talk about what Fang Fuyao would think if Fang Zhaoru were handed over.

The fact that the Xinwu court left this loophole alone is enough to make all the border regions see one thing clearly.

As long as there are enough troops and they come from far enough away, they can force Xinwu to hand over the people.

This precedent must not be set.