The setting sun was like blood.

The dog was exhausted. It limped around the blood-stained earthen slope, then went to the half-collapsed small courtyard below and lay down, licking its injured hind leg. Its master lay beside it. Turning its head, it looked at the long wooden shaft stuck in its master's body, nudged it with its nose, then whined and drew back.

Dog, courtyard, corpse, arrow shaft, and blood. Noisy sounds came from not far away.

It was an old dog, so old that it probably didn't have many years left. It had lived with its equally old master in a small courtyard near the big wall. Occasionally, it would go out for a stroll, returning slowly when tired. Now, its favorite thing was to lie on the blue flagstone under the tree by the threshold, basking in the sun, dozing off in the sunlight and cicada songs. When the old master sat beside it, stroking the hard tendons on its neck and talking incessantly, it would occasionally let out a comfortable "woof."

Until a few days ago, it saw the birds fly away, and then the earth moved, collapsing the big wall. Then, people came and went, all things it couldn't understand. For days, the collapsed part of the wall was filled with the shouts of those people. On that day, dense crowds of people swarmed in through the opening, and countless people poured out from various places. Those human seas collided with each other. The old master stood at the opening of the courtyard, watching the vague movements over there, muttering some words it didn't understand, when he fell down without any warning.

It saw the wooden shaft sticking out of the old master's body, smelled the ominous scent of blood, the blood gushing out. It ran over quickly, sniffing and pulling at the old master, trying to get him to move again, but the old man, already old, only opened his eyes and looked at it slightly, then that look froze forever.

The blood was still flowing out. It ran into the street and climbed up the earthen slope behind. Some people stained with blood rushed over. It barked and rushed to bite them, but it was already old, its leg broken by a knife hilt. It whimpered and went to the side. Some people rushed into the courtyard, and then rushed out again. After a long time, large crowds of people were driven out of the opening, the noise boiling over there. Only the small courtyard here cooled down, only the old dog walked back and forth slowly.

Afterward, people rushed in through the opening in the big wall from time to time, and many people fell over there. It hadn't eaten for several days. Occasionally, it would look out from the earthen slope, dragging its broken leg. When it could bark, it would bark a few times. When it was tired of barking, it would return to the courtyard and watch the flies born on the old master's corpse.

The weather was hot. The setting sun, like blood, finally sank between the rolling clouds and the mountains. A red maple tree outside the courtyard, its leaves half-withered, rustled in the evening heat and stench. As dusk approached, the old dog climbed up the earthen slope again, its figure and the earthen slope merging into a lonely silhouette in the orange-red color.

At one moment, the dog straightened its limbs on the earthen slope and craned its head to look into the distance. Countless arrows rose into the sky like locusts.

One of the arrows brushed and pierced through the old dog's body. The corpse rolled down, and a few scattered arrows fell on the earthen slope with a "thump, thump, thump." Then, from outside the city, someone shouted, "Holy Duke!"

Someone else shouted, "It's Dharma Equality! Without High or Low! The Holy Duke has arrived!"

"Holy Duke! Has arrived!"

Countless voices merged into one, rumbling towards this side!

*********************

It was another dull evening. Each day, the disturbances inside and outside Hangzhou City had almost become a daily occurrence. In Taiping Lane, Ning Yi sat on the top of an uncollapsed wooden building, looking towards the setting sun and the city not far away. The waterway near Taiping Lane was a small branch of the Grand Canal. Due to the blockage upstream, coupled with the dangers of war these days, the river water had also become turbid.

Since the earthquake, the chaos had lasted for many days. Internal and external troubles, poor circulation in the city, and a rotten stench faintly emanated from it at this time.

Ning Yi only went downstairs when several people rode in from outside Taiping Lane. The leader of the group was named Qian Haiping, a nephew of Qian Xiwen, but he was already nearly forty years old. He held a clerical position in Hangzhou Prefecture and had considerable power. This time, during Fang La's attack on the city, he was responsible for many things within the city, and had already had some interactions with Ning Yi in the past few days.

He had come to Taiping Lane several times in the past two days. The people guarding the entrance to the lane basically knew him and let him in. Upon seeing Ning Yi, the middle-aged man, who appeared travel-worn, didn't exchange too many pleasantries. He cupped his hands and took out a piece of paper from his person: "Nephew Ning, no need for formalities. This morning, the residence of Lord An in the west of the city was attacked by bandits, and a fire broke out, killing more than ten people. We subsequently obtained this information..." He lowered his voice, "We can now tentatively confirm the mastermind behind it..."

"But Uncle Qian isn't confident yet, is he?" Ning Yi looked at the piece of paper, frowned slightly, and then reached out to invite the others into the house. Su Tan'er bowed slightly under the eaves of a house not far away, but didn't come over.

A few days ago, Ning Yi exerted himself desperately for the first time, uniting the forces he could persuade and mobilize from several nearby blocks. This could be considered an activity done for himself. When he saw Qian Xiwen again, he had casually mentioned some ideas. The other party had obviously been active in Hangzhou City for some time, and the planning and strategizing at this time was obviously done by an expert. Trying to carpet-search for people while defending against the attacks from outside the city was not a reliable idea.

But since the other party had come to the city and had some understanding, they would definitely confirm some places that were truly suitable to attack. Strategic planning and attacking the heart, what the world feared most was the kind of crazy person who acted on a whim without any warning. For example, the time Ning Yi was kidnapped by Gu Yanzhen's people was really simple, without any prior clues. But if the other party also had a lot of intelligence, the range of choices they could make would often be much smaller. When it was impossible to catch them all at once, it would be possible to lure them into a trap.

For those places where actions could make the current Hangzhou City more chaotic, it would be better to show weakness to the enemy. As for this matter, all Ning Yi could know was the port in the south. As for more detailed matters, he still had to let people familiar with Hangzhou do it. Let them sabotage, even induce them to sabotage. The plan was to prepare enough follow-up methods on this side, and grasp the other party's rules of conduct in the process. After Ning Yi said these things, he listed a few simple plans. Deliberately causing chaos at the southern dock was one of them. He said it was the third day of the war, and that very afternoon, the southern dock was indeed provoked into chaos. An official wanted to run away, and the bandits hiding in the crowd seized the opportunity to attack. The secret agents hiding in the crowd also caught the other party's tail for the first time.

This clue was cut off an hour later, but the aftermath was handled properly, and it didn't cause any major chaos after all. Then, Qian Haiping also came to find Ning Yi on Qian Xiwen's instructions, and handed over some ideas and intelligence to Ning Yi's side to review. Ning Yi only had experience in the overall situation, but he was extremely cautious about plans that needed to combine local customs and understanding, and didn't speak carelessly. Many times, he would also discuss it with Su Tan'er. Qian Haiping and his men experienced this a few times, and couldn't help but admire this couple.

After Ning Yi finished reading the message on the paper, he also called his wife over to take a look. Su Tan'er just nodded silently, and handed it back to Qian Haiping after reading it. In the past few days, what Qian Haiping's men had laid out in the city was a large net, and now it had shrunk to a certain extent, making it possible to confirm the information of several masterminds.

"...These people are almost all famous green forest experts from before. Shi Bao is extremely skilled with his broadsword. It can now be confirmed that he was the one who killed Deputy General Yuan with one blow in the fire in the north of the city. Two days ago, the tall and thin man with long hair and a spear seen in the city should be Wang Yin. This man is ruthless and highly skilled in martial arts, no less than Shi Bao. Moreover, Wang Yin is outstanding in strategy. We now suspect that he may be the one leading the city at this time. But another person is also possible, Fang La's subordinate Fang Qi Fo, known as Buddha Commander, is a man who is next to Fang La in the rebel army, and some even say that he is knowledgeable and can understand ancient and modern times, a figure like Zhuge Liang. It's a pity that we haven't been able to confirm whether he is in the city or not, otherwise, if we could find him and wipe him out, it would be equivalent to cutting off Fang La's arm."

Qian Haiping said this as he entered the room and sat down. When Su Tan'er personally brought tea, he nodded to thank her. "But that Liu Dabiaozi is a bit strange. This person originally had quite a reputation in the green forests of the southwest, known as Tyrant Blade. But I have a piece of information here saying that Liu Dabiaozi died several years ago. It says above that Liu Dabiaozi has a rough and heroic personality, with a full beard, and has a strange temper, often proud of his chest hair, wearing a short outfit regardless of winter or summer. Although Nephew Liheng saw the other party that day, the man in his forties had no beard. Moreover, with his status, he joined the rebel army and had to take a girl as his master. Could this girl be Fang La's daughter? If so, capturing and killing her would also be a great achievement."

At this time, there was already a lot of intelligence on the table in the room, and Ning Yi had basically looked at it many times. At this time, he added the piece of paper to it: "I'm afraid it will take another day or two. A wily rabbit has three burrows. At this time, the city is too chaotic, and their gathering points can only be determined by one. Acting rashly, I'm afraid it will mostly be in vain."

"Well, these people are all experts. At this time, without a foolproof plan, I'm afraid that taking action will also lead to them being killed." Qian Haiping also nodded, then remembered something and laughed, "Oh, that's right, I heard that Liheng has some grievances with the Lou family. Today, when I had free time, I sent someone over to knock on their door, haha, smashed their gate, and vented my anger for my virtuous nephew."

Ning Yi frowned, looked at Qian Haiping who was smiling happily: "A small matter, not a big grievance. At this time, we should be united against outsiders. Uncle, doing this, I'm afraid..."

"Hey, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Qian Haiping waved his hand. "The Lou family says they have some power, but in the eyes of my Qian family, they are just chickens and dogs. Uncle didn't know about Liheng's humiliation before. Now that I know, it's my business. If he has any resentment, that's fine too. Uncle will take the opportunity to help you erase him! I know Liheng is kind, haha, but there's no need to worry about this matter. Right now, Liheng's matter is my Qian family's matter... Alright, nothing else today, I'll leave. I hope to hear good news tomorrow."

He smiled and got up, and accompanied by Ning Yi, walked out of the room. At this time, the setting sun was like blood. Only the shouting could be heard from the vicinity of the western city, boiling in the distant horizon.

"It's here again..." Qian Haiping shook his head, sighed, and left bored.

Ning Yi looked at the sky, frowning.

*****************

"The Holy Duke has arrived. It seems that the city can be broken in a day or two!"

Someone was speaking. In the setting sun, this was a relatively complete courtyard. Shi Bao rushed in, laughing loudly.

Wang Yin, with long hair, was sitting by the well, wiping his steel spear, not knowing what he had been thinking about before. At this time, he looked to the west, listening carefully to the sound of the wind. But he didn't seem happy: "I originally thought it should be broken these two days, but I didn't expect it to be delayed until today. These few days of actions in the city always feel a bit strange."

"Strange? What's strange?" Shi Bao was stunned, then sat down beside Wang Yin and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey, Stone Carver, you're always like this, thinking too much. These few days we've been killing so happily, the city is in chaos, I think it's reliable. Buddha Commander said before that you scholars think too much, so scholar rebels never succeed in ten years. Oh, I'm not saying you..."

Wang Yin smiled, swung the steel spear out, in a straight line. All the water droplets on the spear burst open, and there was even a "bang" in the air: "Is it in chaos? I think something is wrong... It's not chaotic enough. Although there's nothing wrong with each action, I feel that the results are always not very clear afterward. It's like hitting a cotton ball. The force is gone, but there's always someone who can roughly patch up the hole, making me feel that someone is watching us in the dark..."

"No way, Stone Carver, are you sure?"

"Heh, maybe I'm thinking too much. I originally wanted to break the city from the inside and outside before the Holy Duke arrived, but since the Holy Duke has arrived, breaking the city is even simpler. Next... By the way, where are Xu Fang, Gou Zheng, and Liu Dabiaozi?"

"They're on their way, the messages have all been sent."

As they were talking, someone opened the door and came over in a hurry. This person was named Xu Fang, and he was quite familiar with Shi Bao and Wang Yin. After entering the courtyard, his expression was solemn: "We have to leave."

"What's wrong?"

"Liu Dabiaozi was recognized and tracked, and a government spy was caught. The matter... is a bit serious."

Shi Bao and Wang Yin stood up at the same time, then grabbed their weapons, disguised themselves, and walked out of the door. The group left the courtyard, passed through the ruins, streets, and pedestrians. After turning two streets, the streets began to light up one after another. Some people who had lost their families were cooking on the roadside, and children were running around. They entered another courtyard. After the setting sun, the courtyard was a bit dark. A girl in a blue floral dress and a black gauze hat was hugging her knees, sitting quietly in the shadows by the porch under the eaves. The big man with the long wooden box on his back was washing his hands by the well, blood soaking into the grass. A bean-sized oil lamp was lit in the room in front. There was blood on the floor of the room.

Wang Yin first walked into the room and saw a broken corpse. When he turned his head, the middle-aged man who had finished washing his hands had also walked over, patting his palms, saying something in a low voice. Wang Yin gradually frowned, and after a long time, he laughed again. In the night wind, their voices could be vaguely heard.

"Ning Liheng..."

"Son-in-law... ha..."

"Hangzhou actually has such a person..."

"I really want to meet him..."

After a while, Shi Bao threw the treasured blade in his hand and then caught it.

"Hey, how about tonight?" (To be continued.) Vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation.)

Support (Complete Novel Station) Share this site with those little friends who need it! Leave a message if you can't find the book!