"Mr. Mo, follow me, please." Commander Guo said with a smile.

Mo Li nodded, made a bow to General Li, and followed Commander Guo out of the tent to walk to where Xiao Mu lived.

After Commander Guo and Mo Li left, General Li hurried to walk to the desk and sat down. He picked up the ink brush, thought for a while, and wrote down what he thought about.

Although there was not much refined grain left, soldiers could persist for a few days. Shuo Ling would come back soon and freaks from Xiling were surely controlled by wizards and witches. They would be defeated as long as Shuo Ling asked the king of witchcraft for help and additionally scouts sent by Xiling came to harass the army.

They could beat them at their own game, and this time they could certainly defeat Xiling with no risk at all!

The patrol said some suspicious men appeared nearby. They thought they were scouts sent by Xiling to observe their army.

Therefore, he let soldiers put on a show nearby early in the morning.

For example, soldiers pretended to scramble for meals, sit on the floor lazily, and be hungry.

Even so, for good measure, he wrote down his plan of the battle and places where the ambush had been.

Then all were arranged. When Shuo Ling came here, they could make some adjustments to it.

When he reached where Xiao Mu lived, Commander Guo stopped and said to Mo Li, "Mr. Mo, Mr. Xiao, and other people are all here."

"Thank you, Commander Guo." Mo Li nodded and said to Xiao Mu with his hands cupped.

Commander Guo smiled, "You are welcome, Mr. Mo. Be quick to have some rest. I will ask someone to prepare some food, and it will be sent to you later."

"Thank you, Commander Guo." Mo Li said and turned to pick up the tent to walk in.

Xiao Mu and other people were lying on the bed for rest and then opened their eyes when hearing the sound.

Seeing Mo Li come in, Xiao Mu sat up from the bed, "You have come already. Where is Marquis Shuo?"

Xiao Mu saw Mo Li was back and asked.

Mo Li walked to the bed and sat down, "Marquis Shuo went to the Witchcraft City."

Meanwhile, Mo Li lay down backward.

From Jing City to the frontier fortress, he and Marquis Shuo hurried to come here and hadn't slept for a few days.

"Why does Marquis go to the Witchcraft City?" Hearing this, Xiao Mu frowned and asked Mo Li.

Mo Li said with his eyes closed, "Because of the freaks of Xiling."

"You mean those freaks are controlled by wizards and witches." Hearing this, Xiao Mu frowned.

Mo Li nodded slightly.

"How do you and Marquis think of it?" Xiao Mu asked Mo Li.

At this time Xiao Mu only heard this reply, "Hum. Hum."

Seeing this, Xiao Mu breathed deeply and pushed Mo Li, "Hello, I’m asking you a question. Why do you fall asleep in such a hurry?"

At this time only the sound of snores replied to Mo Li.

Xiao Mu shook his head, sat next to him, and used his fists to perform in front of him. Seeing Mo Li fell asleep, Xiao Mu pulled the quilt from one side and covered it on Mo Li.

In Xiling

The three-day limit drew near, so Zhan You went to the levee following other ministers.

When he arrived at the audience hall, almost half of the ministers had come here.

Other ministers lowered their heads to discuss something. Seeing Zhan You walk in, they hurried to stop what they were talking about.

Zhan You glanced at these ministers, then walked to the forefront, and sat on the chair authorized by His Majesty.

According to common sense, Zhan You was neither a local person in Xiling nor the minister, so he couldn't interfere with the politics. However, Emperor Xiling, regardless of disagreement from ministers, insisted on asking Zhan You to come up with ideas when there was something important.

Therefore, it was reasonable that other ministers were dissatisfied with Zhan You.

Zhan You knew that he was hated by these ministers, but he didn't care. He aimed to help Emperor Xiling finish his great cause as soon as possible, and he could besiege the Witchcraft City with his help.

He didn't have interest in the secrets that he heard at the levee.

Therefore, it was unnecessary for these ministers to worry too much. Zhan You thought they were jokes.

When all the ministers came here, Emperor Xiling appeared from behind.

He stopped to have a look and then sat down.

All the officials kneeled, "Hooray! Hooray!"

Zhan You stood up, walked forward, and made a bow to Lan Kuo with his hands cupped.

Lan Kuo looked at Zhan You and said, "Wizard Zhan, take care of your health. Don't need to make a bow. Go sit down quickly."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhan You nodded and returned to sit down.

After Zhan You sat down, Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo said, "Stand up!"

"Thanks, Your Majesty." All the ministers looked at each other and said.

The moment all the ministers stood up, Lan Kuo said, "In the last battle, we won Dongling and our army felt proud of it, but at the same time Wizard Zhan suffered from health problems because of it. I don't hope you think that I take sides."

Hearing this, all these ministers looked at each other and said with their hands cupped, "Don't worry, Your Majesty."

All the ministers felt dissatisfied, but Zhan You won Dongling's army this time. If they had disagreed with what the Emperor said again, they would seem to be too conservative.

"OK. I think you have heard that the Dongling Armed Forces were defeated heavily before, and there is a shortage of army provisions. According to the report from the scouts sent by me, there are no army provisions in the Dongling Armed Forces camp and the morale of the troops has disappeared. It is a good opportunity for us to defeat them respectively." Emperor Xiling said to all the ministers.

Hearing this, all the ministers discussed it in a low voice.

At this time, an elderly minister stood out and said with his hands cupped, "Your Majesty, Dongling Armed Forces are always sly. General Li, who is guarding the frontier, has rich experience in battles. If there weren't food, how would he behave so calmly?"

"Prime minister Fan, what you said is wrong. Do you know where the army provisions of the frontier come from every year?" Hearing this, Zhan You asked him first before His Majesty answered.

Hearing what Zhan You said, Prime minister Fan paused and replied, "Jiandu."

"Since you know Jiandu, do you know the grain harvest in Jiandu?" Zhan You asked.

Prime minister Fan frowned and said with impatience, "Jiandu was flooded and no grain was harvested this year."

"Since the frontier fortress doesn't have army provisions from Jiandu, their supply of army provisions will be less than half of that before. It's a long time for them to hold on till now." Zhan You continued.

Seeing Zhan You so aggressive, Prime minister Fan looked around.

Assistant Minister Yan next to Prime minister Fan understood and walked forward to say to Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo, "I agree with Prime minister Fan. Although Jiandu was flooded before and there was no harvest, it has passed for a long time. Emperor Dongling must have come up with solutions. How would he dismiss soldiers in the frontier?"

Then Zhan You said to Assistant Minister Yan, "Assistant Minister Yan, I have sent someone to find out the truth. Emperor Dongling truly asked someone to send army provisions to the frontier, but I found that only a few were sent. Emperor Dongling is building the imperial mausoleum, so their national treasury is inadequate."

Assistant Minister Yan heard this and his face couldn't help shaking slightly. He thought Zhan You was too arrogant, and he sneered, "Mr. Zhan, is it possible that the Dongling Armed Forces find the problem and thus play tricks?"

"It's impossible. The scouts sent by me saw those soldiers scramble for one steamed bun. They could pretend to do all things except for these behaviors." Zhan You continued.

Prime minister Fan replied, "Why not? War allows deceit!"

"OK, stop your argument." Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo shouted.

Then they hurried to lower their heads with their hands cupped and said, "Your Majesty."

"You are so rude to shout in the audience hall!" Lan Kuo's face turned pale.

Hearing this, Prime minister Fan and Assistant Minister Yan looked at each other and hurried to kneel, "Your Majesty, please forgive us. I just want to tell you the truth."

"I know your kindness. Stand up." Lan Kuo said.

Prime minister Fan glanced at Assistant Minister Yan and said with a kowtow, "Thanks, Your Majesty."

When Prime minister Fan and Assistant Minister Yan stood up, Lan Kuo said, "It has been several days since we last attacked the frontier. I decide to attack it again tomorrow. Once we occupy the frontier fortress, we can go east directly. What's your opinion?"

After hearing what Lan Kuo said, all the ministers discussed it in a low voice. At this time, General Chen walked forward and said in a high voice, "Your Majesty, I think…"

"What do you want to say, General Chen?" Lan Kuo glanced at General Chen, so General Chen had to stop!

He knew Emperor Xiling had made up his mind. It was meaningless to persuade him.

From the last battle, he knew that witchcraft men controlled by Zhan You were very strong and cruel.

If the victory was won by this, he was afraid that ordinary people might suffer from it. As the general of Xiling, he should have been happy when he defeated Dongling.

However, he was restless and thought something bad would happen.

General Chen hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should not be in a hurry. It's not late to attack the frontier after we figure it out!"

"When do you think is proper to declare war? I have waited for a long time. Before Dongling was the head of four countries and we needed to pay taxes and goods to them every year. Now with the help of Wizard Zhan, we have won Dongling once. If we don't follow up a victory with hot pursuit, it’s now or never." Emperor Xiling stared at General Chen and shouted with a little bit of anger.

Seeing this, General Chen wanted to add more, but he was interrupted by Emperor Xiling, "Don't need to add more. I have made up my mind. Tomorrow our army will go to the frontier and defeat Dongling. After the levee, you hurry to make preparations for it."

"OK." General Chen lowered his head with his hands cupped and replied.

All the ministers discussed it again.

Seeing this, Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo narrowed his eyes and asked all the ministers seriously, "Anything else? If not, you can leave to make preparations."

"OK. Hooray! Hooray!" Hearing this, all the ministers looked at each other and kneeled to say with their hands cupped.