Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

Song Chengwu stood up abruptly, his face filled with disbelief: "The Emperor himself is leading the expedition? At the city gate?"

How dare this dog emperor personally lead an expedition? How is that possible?

How many men do they have?

Zhou Wentong: "According to the report from the goalkeeper, they have no more than five thousand men."

"Moreover, they are currently challenging us at the city gate, hurling extremely offensive insults and declaring that they will fight us to the death."

Upon hearing this, the bald general Zheng Quan shouted, "A mere five thousand men dare to be so arrogant! Commander, give the order immediately! I'll lead the troops out of the city right away and kill that old emperor!"

"In this way, the officials in various places will surely surrender without a fight, and the great undertaking will be accomplished!"

Zheng Quan is straightforward and simple-minded; his mind is full of fighting and killing.

Wang Wu, however, frowned and objected, "Commander, we must not act rashly. The emperor is so arrogant; he must have something to rely on."

Song Chengwu nodded: "A mere group of men dares to make such a fuss. They must have set a trap outside the city. We must not act rashly."

"Then what should we do? Just let them yell and curse?" Song Leye couldn't help but ask.

"Let's keep a truce and wear down their morale first."

After much deliberation, Song Chengwu made a decision.

He had finally reached Pingkou City, so he couldn't afford to be careless.

Something unusual must be going on; we absolutely must not fall into the emperor's trap.

"Zhou Wentong, take a team to the city gate and keep a close watch on the enemy's movements. Report any unusual activity immediately."

"In case of an emergency, you can adapt to the situation!"

Song Chengwu issued the order.

He had a relatively high opinion of Zhou Wentong.

He is well-versed in military strategy and possesses excellent martial arts skills; he is a promising talent.

Given time, he might become another great general under his command.

Zhou Wentong: "Yes!"

He then quickly ran out of the city lord's mansion.

The rest of the people all frowned, looking extremely serious, completely unable to understand what kind of trap the emperor would set.

"What are your brilliant ideas, esteemed generals?" Song Chengwu asked from above.

Wang Wu: "The emperor dares to personally lead the expedition, so he must be very confident. I'm afraid that the five thousand troops outside the city are just bait."

"Who cares if it's a scam or not? We have 100,000 men. Twenty against one, we can win no matter what kind of scam it is!" Zheng Quan couldn't wait to charge out right now.

Song Anbang: "We can't be careless. I estimate that a large number of troops are lying in ambush all around, just waiting for us to close the trap and annihilate them in one fell swoop."

"That damned emperor! He's so despicable! If I ever catch him, I'll tear him to pieces!" Song Leye's outburst was all emotion, devoid of any analysis.

Song Chengwu, seated high above: "..."

The discussion went on for a while, but it was as if there had been no discussion at all.

Is it a trap? Can't he see it?

The key question is, where is the trap?

It's utterly absurd that the dog emperor would personally lead a military expedition.

After all, he had already wiped out most of the Black Hawk Guards. Given the emperor's temperament, he would never come to their deaths for nothing.

Could it be that they borrowed troops from a foreign country?

Song Chengwu himself couldn't understand it either.

Wang Wu, Zheng Quan, and others were still having a heated discussion below.

At the gate of Pingkou City, shouts and curses rose from all sides.

"Song Chengwu, you old bastard, come out here if you dare!"

"Come out here, you traitor, you shameless bastard!"

"Song Xingbang, Song Leye, you two bastards, do you dare to come out and fight me?"

"..."

A dozen soldiers shouted and cursed below the city, their spittle flying everywhere. After a long while, they only saw a sign of truce hanging in Pingkou City, and nothing else happened.

Not far away, the emperor sat in his carriage, staring wide-eyed, his expression shifting from expectation to disappointment.

"Are all the Song family members cowards? They're being insulted like this and they still won't come out? They're really acting like bastards."

He thought it would be over soon.

Black Hawk stood by, trembling with fear. He could only say thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness the Song family hadn't sent troops. Otherwise, with only 5,000 men, they would have been finished.

He had no idea what His Majesty was thinking. They had clearly agreed on a sneak attack, but once they got to the battlefield, His Majesty changed his mind.

It's dishonorable to launch a sneak attack; we must defeat the Song family honorably.

So the idea of ​​this cursing came up, with the aim of forcing the Song family out so that Shen Niangzi, who possessed unparalleled martial arts skills, could kill the Song family directly.

He can only be described as willful, extremely willful.

"Oh dear, I'm a little hungry, Madam Shen. Why don't we eat first?"

The emperor touched his belly and said to Shen Qing.

As he spoke, his eyes lit up again: "That's right, we can cook under the city gate, provoke the Song family, and then we can eat, drink, and laugh at them. That way, the Song family might just show their faces."

"When the time comes, Madam Shen, you can kill the Song family, and then we can return to the capital smoothly."

The emperor was still exceptionally confident; with Shen Qing by his side, he seemed to have boundless confidence.

Just as Shen Qing was about to agree, a familiar mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

[Ding—Host detected at the gate of Pingkou City]

[Ding—To help the host advance the mission, please set up a stall to sell oil-splashed noodles, quantity unlimited]

[Price of Oil-Splashed Noodles: 30 coins per bowl]

Shen Qing: "..."

Isn't this system a bit too outrageous?

The enemy is right on the city wall, and you expect her to set up a stall here selling oil-splashed noodles?

"Lady Shen? Lady Shen??" the emperor called out twice.

Shen Qing snapped out of her daze: "Oh, oh, Your Majesty is right, we'll have oil-splashed noodles today."

"To be even more arrogant, I'll set up a stall at the city gate and sell oil-splashed noodles. That way, the Song family will definitely be furious."

"This will also help His Majesty achieve his goal."

The emperor's eyes lit up even more: "Excellent, excellent! As expected of Lady Shen!"

"This is a brilliant idea! Absolutely brilliant! It's unprecedented and will surely be recorded in history!"

"The Song family are all big bastards, hahaha, we are so powerful, I can still have some fun and pretend to be a commoner."

Black Hawk, standing to the side: "..."

They've gone mad! Not only has His Majesty gone mad, but Lady Shen has gone mad too.

However, since Madam Shen dared to say that, doesn't that mean she was very confident in killing the Song family?

Thinking about it that way, it seems he was worrying for nothing.

Forget it, Madam Shen is so capable, she can definitely do it!

Black Hawk was completely relieved.

Immediately afterwards, Shen Qing said:

"Today's oil-splashed noodles cost thirty coins per bowl, and all soldiers can line up to buy them."

Upon hearing this, all the soldiers were overjoyed.

After setting off from the capital, they traveled for more than half a month.

For the past two weeks, Shen Qing has rarely cooked, and even when he does, he only cooks a small amount, leaving none for the soldiers.

The main problem was the long journey; I was so tired from traveling that I didn't want to do anything.

This made all the soldiers extremely hungry.

"Oh my god, it means we can eat Madam Shen's cooking too!"

"It's been almost half a month, and I can finally try it!"

"If I could taste Lady Shen's cooking, I would have no regrets even if I died on the battlefield..."

"..."