After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

…………

Ning Nan threw the branch on the ground and stood up.

Returning south to Jiangnan was no easy task.

It's already March 15th.

The main force of the Eight Banners of the Tartars might be almost at Shandong.

He currently has only about thirty or forty men and thirty or forty horses under his command.

They also had to protect the group of envoys from the Southern Kingdom.

If the enemy discovers you and keeps attacking you, you're doomed.

North China is mostly plains, so horsepower is not an advantage.

Xiuxiu and the others are still in Tongzhou. Even if Xiuxiu and the others come, they still won't be able to defeat them or escape.

We're so short-handed... He rubbed his slightly sore neck, thought for a while, then came to his senses and slowly exhaled.

He turned his head and swept his now somewhat cold gaze over everyone in the room.

At last.

He spoke softly to the crowd:

"Let's go."

…………

Miaofeng Mountain.

west.

The morning sun cast a radiant glow over the mountains.

Zheng Baoju, who has a hooked nose, walked out of a gloomy cave.

A few dewdrops clung to the grass outside the cave.

"Pooh!"

His somewhat fierce eyes swept around, and he spat on the grass:

"Have the soldiers searched the area yet?"

A rustling sound came from the bushes, and someone said:

"Master, not yet."

Another person said:

"People from Master Peng's side said that the soldiers have been mainly searching the east and south sides these past two days."

Zheng Baoju clicked his tongue, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.

"Shen the tall guy and Chen, Chen..."

"Chen Lao Er?"

"Yes. Are they here?"

Shen Shou and Chen Tianxuan each led seventy or eighty men to hide with him in this mountain.

We discussed it yesterday, and the three of us will get together today to discuss and reach a conclusion.

Waiting like this won't do.

Yesterday, a team of about ten people from Shengao went south to scout ahead and ran into a team of ten soldiers.

Only one was left alive after being killed, but he escaped back.

If this continues, they will be found and surrounded by government troops in two days at most.

A somewhat overweight henchman crawled out of the bushes and said:

"Master, the two masters will be here soon."

After a while.

Footsteps came from the left.

"You bastard!" someone called out to Zheng Baoju.

Zheng Baoju cursed.

Shen Shou and Chen Tianxuan entered the cave.

Zheng Baoju poked a piece of firewood at the fire and brewed a pot of wine.

Shen Shou, tall and thin, sat down and shook his head, saying, "Don't bother."

Chen Tianxuan sneered:

"We're already doomed, what's the harm in having a drink?"

"Come!"

He sat on the mound and shared a drink with Zheng Baoju.

After the rice wine was warmed, it was smooth to the taste and not spicy at all. Chen Tianxuan smacked her lips a couple of times, but she wasn't very satisfied with it; it was only enough to quench her thirst.

The group put down their wine bowls, took out a map, drew on it, and argued about it, but they didn't get to any conclusion.

The sentry posts on the east and south were manned by the Eight Banners troops, while those on the west and north were manned by the Green Standard Army.

Zheng Baoju cracked his neck and cursed, "There's nothing to say! We can only run north. We can't win against the east or south."

"Can you outrun a horse?"

"Rob!"

"With just twenty or thirty suits of armor, who can you possibly defeat?"

"If robbing the Tartar soldiers doesn't work, how about robbing the Green Standard Army? Let's fight our way north, and before the Tartars can surround us, we can seize twenty or thirty horses and hopefully some of them will escape."

"They can't run a ball! They have patrolling cavalry, the real Eight Banners cavalry..."

After arguing for a while, realizing that both paths were dead ends and had only fueled their anger, Shen Shou took out a few dry biscuits from his pocket and divided them between the two.

"Eat something first." He squinted his eyes.

Zheng Baoju tore the pancake apart with both hands and put it into the hot water, humming:

"We're definitely going to die this time. In my opinion, we should either charge down from the south, kill one to make it worthwhile, kill two to make a profit, and that's it."

"There's always a way out." Shen Shou stared at the map.

"There's a bird."

Chen Tianxuan chuckled:

"Tall Shen, if you can get me out of here, I'll call you dad."

Zheng Baoju, in his early thirties with a thin face, laughed heartily upon hearing Chen Tianxuan's words:

"Chen Lao Er, of all you Big Dipper stars, you're the one I like best. The other kids are either too bookish or too sinister."

Chen Tianxuan, the most skilled fighter among his fellow disciples, rolled his eyes upon hearing this and said:

"You little brat, you're only seven or eight years older than me? You're still talking about being a brat. You've got some nerve."

"Hey! I'll cover your retreat so you can escape. Will you call me 'Dad' then?" Zheng Baoju said, raising his chin.

Chen Tianxuan chewed on the softened biscuit and sneered:

"I meant getting me and my brothers out of here. What kind of skill is risking your life? Who the hell is afraid of dying? Which motherfucker wouldn't dare to fight? I'll cover your retreat, then you'll call me grandpa!"

Zheng Baoju rubbed his eyes and sniffed, saying:

"Escape? What's the point of escaping? We're surrounded on all sides, the Tartars are coming for us. There are so many temples on Miaofeng Mountain, and so many gods live in them, do you think any of us can escape? Aren't we all going to be surrounded by the Tartars?"

Zheng Baoju snorted through his nose:

"You can't even count on me now, and you still want to count on Shen the Tall Guy? This time, even a god can't escape our fate."

"I can't."

Staring at the map, Shen Shou calmly rejected the other person's ridicule:

"That doesn't mean others can't do it either."

Zheng Baoju knew what the other party was talking about: "With General Xiang Qi here, we might still have some hope. He's good at fighting; even Su Lang is a bit lacking."

Chen Tianxuan snorted: "Four cowards, each sent a branch leader to pay respects to the new leader. Su Lang, that tiger cub, is even in Hebei, I heard he's already in Zhuolu County, but he didn't come over."

Su Lang was extremely strong, his body was like iron, and when he roared, he was like a tiger. As a boy, he fought and roared, and once roared a Tartar soldier to death. It was said that he grew up drinking tiger milk and was called tiger cub.

Shen Shou shifted his chin slightly, glancing sideways at the other side of the map. He said casually:

I wasn't referring to the four of them.

Zheng Baoju scoffed, "Who are you talking about? That old man Peng who abuses his power?"

"Master." As if recalling some unpleasant memory, Shen Shou's eyelids twitched, but he still calmly gave the answer.

"The old cult leader?" Chen Tianxuan asked in return.

"The new leader."

Chen Tianxuan and Zheng Baoju exchanged a glance.

Chen Tianxuan, who had never seen this new cult leader before, snorted:

"Shen Gaoge, you've gone mad! This Xiangshan gathering was originally for this new leader, but now we're completely surrounded by the Dazi soldiers, and he hasn't shown up. If he were in the mountains, he should have shown up by now. If he's not in the mountains, how could he possibly get in? Would he even want to go in? Would he even dare to go in?"

Zheng Baoju chuckled and said, "Who knows, maybe they're in the mountains, perhaps a pilgrim in a temple somewhere, hiding quietly."

Chen Tianxuan nodded and hummed in agreement, feeling that what the idiot said made a lot of sense, and then added:

"Even if we take a step back and assume he's really in the mountains and has shown himself, how could he possibly lead us out? He can't even escape on his own, and we'd have to risk our lives for him. It would be better if he didn't show himself; at least we could die a quick death."

Shen Shou put down the map, looked at the two men, and remained silent for a moment, seemingly quite emotional, since there were some things the two men didn't know.

After a moment, he slowly spoke:

"The leader... he was captured last year, and his situation was much more dangerous than ours is now. He was in a situation where even a god couldn't escape, but the leader... he fought his way out."

Chen Tianxuan shook her neck:

"Who arrested him? The Eight Banners? The Green Standard Army? I've never heard of that. And who told you this nonsense?"

Shen Shou rubbed his forehead and gave a wry smile.

"We caught them."