Chapter 364 Father Unknown Zhu Kuan was still alive but seriously injured. Duke Dingguo breathed a sigh of relief, thinking of the childish female voice just now. It couldn't be He Xiulong. He asked, "Who hurt him?" "He Linlin, she's only fifteen years old." said the soldier. Duke Dingguo's heart sank. He was only fifteen years old. Zhu Kuan, the one he had the highest hopes for, was defeated by a 15-year-old girl. "It's the surname He again." Duke Dingguo said disdainfully. These people with the surname He, like He Xiulong, were highly valued and carefully trained from the very beginning, and became famous in the final battle. The personal soldier touched his head and said cautiously: "There are many people with the surname He in the Ran army. I heard that most of them are orphans."
Duke Dingguo didn't say anything else. He couldn't say that He Ran ignored a man from a good family like Lu Zhen and instead favored an orphan with no one to rely on. Just like what his personal soldiers had said, there were too many orphans like this in Ran's army. However, Duke Dingguo was not in the mood to ask about these matters anymore. At this moment, he had to withdraw his troops. The Ran army obviously had no intention of pursuing the victory, so when the troops here sounded the retreat, the Ran army retreated like a tide. Duke Dingguo looked at the retreating Ran army and felt extremely uncomfortable, as if a handful of grass was stuffed in his heart. Is He Xiulong treating him like a monkey? Retreat after the fight and come back the next day. But now, Duke Dingguo wanted to pray to God and Buddha that He Xiulong would not come again tomorrow. The city wall has been badly damaged, and the most urgent task is to repair the wall, otherwise the Ran army will be able to climb in with their bare hands without even using ladders. But what kind of city wall can withstand the artillery fire of the Ran army? Duke Dingguo couldn't think of it, he had never seen it before. Three generations in his family have been in the military, and he is familiar with all kinds of weapons. Even when he heard the sound of cannons, he remained mentally balanced. But when he personally climbed up the wall and saw the row of brand-new cannons with his own eyes, Duke Dingguo's perception was overturned. He didn't know where He Ran got these cannons from. Now it seems that Lu Zhen, He Xiulong, and Feng Zan probably have such cannons as well. It is not clear how many Lu Zhen has, but it can be estimated from previous military reports that it is definitely not one or two. And He Xiulong's, Duke Dingguo counted, was a total of fifteen! He Xiulong has fifteen subjects, so Feng Zan and Lu Zhen must have at least ten. These are the thirty-five doors. And He Ran probably has more than thirty-five swords. There is also Fu Yansheng in Datong, and He Dali's troops known as He Ran's personal guards, and Lu Pingnan, the Marquis of Wu'an who is guarding the national border. Do they also have such artillery in their hands? Taizu spent a huge amount of money to buy fifty cannons from the red-haired people. This was unprecedented and went down in history. Duke Dingguo was disheartened. If they all had such artillery, how could they fight this war? No wonder the emperor was furious when he mentioned He Ran. All his private property in the north was confiscated by He Ran. He Ran was too rich.
To have so many artillery pieces, you not only need money, but also channels, otherwise you can’t buy them even if you have money. At least Duke Dingguo couldn't buy it, and the emperor who was imprisoned by him couldn't buy it either. He Ran: No need to buy, we produce and sell it ourselves. If Duke Dingguo knew that Dong Jinzhen, who invented this kind of cannon, had been cleaning the palace before, he might not be the only one to be furious. The Ran army is lurking outside the city, and will not give us any chance to repair the city walls. All we can do now is to slightly reinforce the inside, but even so, it is a huge project and cannot be repaired by just craftsmen. You also need money, stones, solid blue bricks and sand, and a lot of glutinous rice to make mortar. Moreover, now all the people are hiding in their homes, and even the laborers cannot be found. The previous laborers have either run away or been captured by the Ran army. There are only more than 20 people left in the army. What can be done with just these twenty or so people? After returning to the government office, Duke Dingguo forced himself to go visit Zhu Kuan. Due to excessive blood loss, Zhu Kuan has not yet woken up. Duke Dingguo sat in front of the bed for a while, sighed, and returned to his residence. At this time, the personal guard came to report that Ding Wu had arrived. A hint of annoyance flashed across Duke Dingguo's eyes. What was this useless thing doing here at this time? "Let him in." Duke Dingguo said in a deep voice. Ding Wu was supported in by two personal soldiers. His wounds had not yet healed and he looked very miserable. "Why are you running around instead of taking care of your injuries?" said Duke Dingguo. Ding Wu asked cautiously, "My Lord, I heard that He Xiulong attacked the city with artillery, but called off the attack after seriously injuring Prince Zhu?" Duke Dingguo closed his eyes and said casually, "Yeah, so what?" Ding Wu: "My Lord, He Xiulong is extremely cunning, she is forcing you to submit!" Duke Dingguo finally opened his eyes and his sharp gaze fell on Ding Wu's face. Ding Wu's body shrank back. Duke Dingguo sneered and looked away from his face. Useless trash! Ding Wu, who was regarded as a waste, did not regret volunteering to come to Yangzhou. Perhaps, in the eyes of Duke Dingguo, he was just a small person who did not know his own limitations. However, if he had not given it a try without knowing his own limitations, he would not even be qualified to stand in front of Duke Dingguo. Ding Wu tried to appear more calm. He said boldly, "He Xiulong is draining our fighting power." Duke Dingguo thought he had some unique insights, but after hearing what he said, he said calmly, "If you injure one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred of your own. He Xiulong's own people also have casualties every day. Didn't you see the bodies that were brought back in carts?" Ding Wu swallowed his saliva and gritted his teeth: "But He Xiulong is still full of energy!" Duke Dingguo was stunned. Ding Wu's words should be understood in reverse. He Xiulong is full of energy, what about him? Of course there were casualties among the Ran army, but He Xiulong was in good health, and so were her subordinates. They were in such good health that they would run to the city gate to have fun at five o'clock every morning! The opposite of this is oneself. Not to mention Ding Wu who was seriously injured in the first battle, and Zhu Kuan who is still unconscious, even the Duke Dingguo, who should have been sitting in the central military tent, is now half dead. Duke Dingguo subconsciously wanted to clench his right hand, but it was useless because his right hand would not obey him at all.
A long stream of saliva slid from the corner of his mouth, and Duke Dingguo closed his eyes again. At this moment, he seemed to hear a sound of shattering. He Xiulong shattered not only the city wall, but also his self-esteem! Seeing that Duke Dingguo didn't say anything, Ding Wu didn't know whether he should continue to speak, but at least Duke Dingguo didn't get angry. Ding Wu secretly encouraged himself and continued, "Duke, we can't let He Xiulong continue to waste time like this. We must fight back in a short time." Duke Dingguo looked at him and asked, "Counterattack? Do you think I don't want to counterattack? Or do you think that what you can think of, I can't think of?" Ding Wu was startled, slid off the chair and knelt on the ground: "My Lord, this is not what I meant!" Duke Dingguo snorted coldly: "Then tell me what you mean." Ding Wu: "My Lord, please send me as an envoy to the enemy camp to negotiate with He Xiulong." "Negotiate?" Duke Dingguo's brows were furrowed, "Just you? Can you convince He Xiulong to withdraw the troops? Will He Xiulong agree? Or will He Ran agree?" What a joke! He Ran has been planning this for a long time. He has sent a million strong army across the river. Can they retreat just because of a few words from you? What's more, He Ran is the one who has the upper hand now. Ding Wu: "Duke, have you ever thought about ruling separately from He Ran? The world will eventually unite after a long period of division, and will eventually divide after a long period of unity. Taizu unified the world for the sake of merit, and now two heroes are coexisting for the sake of strategy. Duke, the current situation is not favorable to us, but it is impossible for He Ran to unify the world. Not to mention that the entire Jiangnan is under the rule of the court, let's talk about the two lakes, two Guangdongs, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. These places are dominated by barbarians, and there are also rebels such as Zhou Cangyue, Wang Hao and Nong Liuniang. It will take He Ran ten or eight years to conquer them alone, but what if she cooperates with you?" Duke Dingguo was silent for a moment, then said, "Zhou Cangyue and He Ran have already formed an alliance. He Ran not only provided him with weapons, but also sent him a military advisor. Do you think He Ran will cooperate with me to deal with Zhou Cangyue?" "Zhou Cangyue is not to be feared, but there is still Wang Hao, who has declared himself king. By the way, Wu Dongming and his son have been making small moves recently. I'm afraid He Ran's control over the Wu family has come to an end. If she hasn't found a better ally now, when her troops are almost exhausted in Jiangnan, Wu's father and son will take advantage of her unpreparedness and stick their heads out to bite her. Lord, what do you think He Ran will do then?" Duke Dingguo did not speak. Before today, if someone asked him to form an alliance with He Ran, he would have slapped the other person in the face. But too many things happened today. He saw the cannons, he saw the Ran army growing stronger, he saw the damaged city wall and Zhu Kuan who had not yet awakened. The air around them seemed to freeze. After a long moment, Duke Dingguo waved his hand and said, "Step aside. Let me think about it." Ding Wu struggled to get up from the ground and stumbled back. At the same time, He Ran also met the long-rumored Jing Lao San. Finally leaving the scary stable, there were only people but no horses around, and Jing Laosan's tense spirit finally relaxed. Although he was moved from house arrest to imprisonment these days, his condition has visibly improved. He Ran saw Jing Laosan who was locked in an iron cage. He Ran laughed. According to the existing information, Jing Laosan had no martial arts skills. He Xiulong was so wary of him that she locked him in an iron cage. In other words, the Ran army has its own iron mine, otherwise it would be a waste. But the next moment, He Ran took back his previous thoughts. Jing Laosan, you really need to be locked in an iron cage. Because she saw blood, right on the bars of the cage. He Ran asked: "Where did this blood come from?" The guard said, "He bit it. This is the blood from his teeth. Look here, they are bent by him. Fortunately, it is an iron cage. If it was a wooden cage, he would have broken it long ago. Even dogs cannot compare to his teeth."
The corners of He Ran's mouth twitched. It was true that one cannot judge a book by its cover. This Jing Lao San had no martial arts skills, but he was good at studying. However, it was of no use to him given his current situation. But who would have thought that this person, who can't do anything, has a good set of teeth. He Ran looked at Jing Laosan in front of him. Jing Laosan had his mouth closed, and his iron mouth and steel teeth could not be seen. Jing Laosan had long been attracted by the woman in front of him. The woman was not wearing armor, but a black arrow-shaped sleeve with dark gold patterns. Her jet-black hair was tied up like a high ponytail. Ponytail? Jing Laosan shuddered violently. He has been afraid of horses since he was a child, but he just didn't dare to get close to them. What really made him shudder when talking about horses was his experience with Zhou Cangyue. Now, he associated the woman's hair with a ponytail, and felt a chill all over his body, and his face turned as pale as paper. He Ran looked at him with interest. Has this Jing Lao San learned the face-changing technique from Shu? How could his expression change so quickly? One moment he had tears in his eyes, and the next moment it was as if he had seen a ghost. I don’t know what Zhou Cangyue did to him. "Tell me, who is the person your father trusts the most?" He Ran's sudden question finally woke Jing Laosan up from his illusion. Oh my God, just now, he saw a lot of horses rushing towards him, snorting and wagging their tails, and he was almost scared to death. "You, what did you say?" Jing Lao San asked back. He Ran: "Who does your father trust the most?" He Ran repeated the question with a cold look in her eyes, as if she could see into Jing Laosan's heart, leaving him with no way to escape or avoid it. Jing Laosan once faced Zhou Cangyue's interrogation calmly. He has been making preparations here since he woke up. Once Ran Jun gets him, he will definitely be interrogated. But he didn't expect that the woman in front of him would skip the small talk and start asking questions right away, which made him a little overwhelmed. "My father, the person my father trusts the most is of course my mother. They have been married for many years and they are the people who trust each other the most." He Ran smiled and clapped her hands. "I see. Then he didn't hide your life story from your mother." It was so stiff again, so He Ran directly turned the topic to Jing Lao San's life experience. Jing Lao San: "I know I come from a poor family, so please don't embarrass me anymore, okay?" He Ran: "Is your background not good? Being the descendant of Prince Zhao can't be considered bad, right?" When he heard the name King Zhao, Jing Lao San was startled at first. King Zhao? Isn't King Zhao a child? But he immediately realized that the "King Zhao" mentioned by the woman in front of him was not the one in the capital now, but the former Crown Prince Zhou Dong! "You are talking nonsense. I am just a poor man who was changed from a concubine's son to a bastard's son. What relationship do I have with King Zhao?" He Ran smiled and said, "Your biological mother is Princess Huishan. As for your biological father, anyone could be the possibility, except Duke Dingguo. Am I right?" Jing Laosan's expression changed again.
This time it turned from white to red, as red as a cooked crab. "You, you dare to insult me?" He Ran: "What a coincidence, I really dare. Even if you are the blood of King Zhao, you can't change your origin of an unknown father. You are a person with an unknown father."