Are you crazy? Trying to trick him into military service? He's the number one dragon on the fro

May 10th.

The Zemeng Camp, located in the southeast of Yun County, has already felt the heat of summer. But today, all the soldiers in the camp disregarded the heat and stood fully armed on the drill ground, ready for battle under the scorching sun.

Inside the watchtower, a middle-aged general with a scholarly air was bent over his desk, diligently handling military affairs.

The military officers in front of him were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, pacing back and forth from time to time.

With the appointed time fast approaching, one of the burly men finally couldn't help but speak up:

"General, the young brat sent by the court to suppress you is almost here. Aren't you going to give the order?"

"What order is being given?"

The middle-aged general was Qian Yu, who didn't even look up after hearing this:

"The imperial court's dispatch of the Marquis of Champion to provide assistance is a normal military deployment. I will immediately compile a general overview of the situation in the army so that I can hand it over to the Marquis of Champion when the time comes."

"If you have nothing else to do, go and clear the road so that the Marquis of Champion can lead his soldiers into the camp."

"They have come from afar from Yuyang County, and their journey has been arduous. As their comrades, we should make preparations in advance to welcome them and do what we can for them."

"General!"

Upon hearing this, the bearded man couldn't help but exclaim:

"It's one thing for the imperial court to appoint that young brat as General Zhennan, but why is he given the authority to oversee all military affairs in Yun County, making him more powerful than you?"

"This is clearly a deliberate move by the imperial court to send you back to the capital and remove you from any important position!"

Upon hearing this, the other generals echoed his sentiments:

"Yes, General!"

"Last time, you led your men back to defend the southern border of our Great Zhou ahead of schedule for the sake of stability. Little did you expect that you would fall into that old man Xiong Zhao's trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain. Otherwise, you wouldn't have lost more than a thousand brothers, allowing the Chu people to seize an outpost and continue their northward advance!"

"This is not your fault at all, yet the imperial court went to great lengths to send people here."

"To put it nicely, they're assisting the general with defense; to put it bluntly, they're directly trying to seize your power!"

"Don't worry, the brothers are all worried for you!"

Upon hearing this, Qian Yu finally put down his brush and looked up at the crowd.

The bearded man and his men were overjoyed, thinking their general was about to make a decision, when they heard him shout:

"If you had focused your efforts on defending against the enemy, how could our dynasty have suffered such continuous losses of territory?"

"This is my final warning to you. The Marquis of Champion is heading south on the orders of the imperial court to take over the Zemeng Camp, not to assist me in its defense. So when the Marquis of Champion arrives, even I will be his subordinate, let alone you."

"Stop with your petty scheming and don't embarrass me!"

After saying this, seeing the astonished looks on everyone's faces, he sighed:

"Furthermore, we are all military generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and we should work together to defend against powerful enemies, rather than holding great opinions about others because of personal gains or losses."

"Gentlemen, the Great Zhou Dynasty is weak and surrounded by powerful enemies on all sides!"

"Now that Champion Hou has utterly defeated Bei Hu, he has come south to lend a helping hand without stopping for a moment. You should be grateful, but you should also feel ashamed!"

"If we were capable of driving the Chu people back, why would we allow the Marquis of Champion to wage endless wars?"

Upon hearing this, the bearded man and the others exchanged glances. Although they knew the logic was sound, they still felt indignant on behalf of their general.

"Those Northern Hu are nothing but a bunch of uncivilized barbarians who only know how to rampage across the grasslands. If it were us going there, we would have captured them long ago!"

"That Lu Xiao guy just got lucky and got a good deal!"

"presumptuous!"

Hearing them speak increasingly recklessly, even addressing the Champion Marquis by his full name, Qian Yu slammed his fist on the table and stood up in anger:

"You keep calling them barbarians, yet why don't you petition the court to go to Yuyang County and quell the Northern Hu?"

"The Marquis of Champion may be young, but that doesn't stop him from having real skills. He directly stormed into the Northern Hu royal court and invited the Hu king and the Tongtian Witch to the capital as guests!"

"Stop uttering such treasonous words, or don't blame this general for being impolite!"

After saying that, he snorted angrily a few times and sat back down to continue his military affairs.

"Everyone, get out!"

"If you do not wish to welcome the Marquis of Champion, then each of you should lead your troops out on inspection tours as usual."

……

Meanwhile, five miles outside Zemeng's camp.

After more than half a month of trekking, Lu Xiao and his group finally arrived near their destination.

At this moment, he shaded his eyes with his hand and looked out. He saw the Zemeng camp nestled far away in the mountains and forests, with small black dots moving on the watchtowers of the city walls connecting the two mountains. He nodded secretly.

It seems that the Zemeng camp, facing its own side, has not become overly complacent despite the relative safety it provides.

Coming to his senses, he cracked his whip and proclaimed loudly:

"Keep going, we'll be at camp soon!"

At this moment, several people rode quickly from not far away. Only when they got closer did they realize that it was Zhou Daxing and Gao Hong.

Lu Xiao immediately greeted him with a smile:

"You have finally arrived, so I can rest assured."

"This humble general greets Your Excellency."

After exchanging greetings in turn, the group looked up at the front of them and remarked with considerable emotion:

"This Yun County is really different from our Yuyang County. The further south we go, the hotter and more humid it becomes. There are also more snakes, insects, and rodents along the way. Fortunately, I listened to the Marquis's advice and carried more insect-repelling herbs with me. Otherwise, I don't know how difficult the journey would have been."

"My lord, we're so close now, why haven't the comrades from Ze Meng's camp come out to greet us?"

Hearing this, Lu Xiao smiled:

"Perhaps it's because they didn't know we were coming today."

"This humble general is willing to go first and allow the enemy to open the city gates!"

Zhou Daxing was about to speed up forward when Lu Xiao stopped him, shaking his head and saying:

"No rush."

"Now that we're here, it's like we're visiting a relative. Before we do anything, we should first see what this relative's attitude is, otherwise we might overdo it."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone fell silent, still seething with indignation.

As they traveled south, they encountered warm hospitality in towns and cities along the way, with some people even coming out to greet them when they were still more than ten miles away from the town.

They arrived at Zemeng's camp and were about to enter the city, but they still acted as if they hadn't received any news.

This made many soldiers feel that the other side was trying to intimidate them!

Since even Lu Xiao didn't say anything, they felt awkward about doing anything else.

Before we knew it, time had slipped away.

When Lu Xiao and his group arrived at the north gate of Ze Meng's camp, they finally saw several of the enemy's mid- to high-ranking generals riding up, but they greeted them with an air of complete indifference:

"This humble general, Chen Feng, greets Your Highness!"

"This humble general is Zhang Qingshan!"

"Wang Hengdao!"

Upon hearing the other person introduce himself, he returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute from afar.

"Lu Xiao greets fellow comrades."

"May we enter the city now?"

The three exchanged glances, then Chen Feng stepped aside and said:

"Please, Your Excellency!"