Chapter Eleven: Ningyuan (Part One)

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  Nurhaci fell off his horse and was seriously injured, Yuan Chonghuan seized the opportunity to dispatch General Ma Gui with a thousand cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack. Due to insufficient troops, although they heavily damaged the Later Jin army, they did not hurt the Later Jin's vital parts.

  After Nurhaci was seriously injured, he fell into a coma. The generals and strategists in the golden tent all gathered together, anxiously waiting for him to wake up. Except for Daishan who stayed behind to guard Shengjing, the four major Beile were at odds with each other, and the Later Jin dynasty was without a leader. Everyone didn't know whether to continue attacking the city or retreat back to Shengjing.

  It wasn't until the fourth day at dawn that Nurhaci opened his eyes, saw the anxious eyes of everyone in the tent, let out a long sigh and said: "I didn't expect that I, Nurhaci, who has been undefeated since the age of 25, would be unable to take down Ningyuan City."

  The generals in the account heard Nurhaci's words and lowered their heads in shame. The Eighth Prince Huang Taiji stepped forward to ask: "A Ma, should we continue to attack the city or withdraw our troops back to Shengjing?"

  Nurhaci slowly closed his eyes and said, "The Ningyuan city will not be attacked for the time being. However, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians on Juehua Island to its east, as well as tens of millions of dan (a unit of measurement) of grain. Dasan, you temporarily lead the main force to take down Juehua Island!"

  "Yes, your humble servant obeys!" The emperor was overjoyed and hastily bowed to accept the order. Originally, he had planned to take Ningyuan City first, and then capture Juehua Island afterwards. But now this secondary target had become the primary one. Juehua Island only had a few thousand naval troops, and with the freezing weather, the sea surface was as flat as land, making it not even an enemy of the great army. It was simply a merit that was handed to him on a silver platter, how could he not be overjoyed?

  At this time, the Ming army sent a report that Yuan Chonghuan had dispatched an envoy with gifts and conveyed a message from Yuan: "The old general has been dominating the world for a long time, but now he is defeated by my hands, it's really the will of heaven!" Nurhaci listened and opened his eyes again, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He ordered people to return the gifts and war horses, and set a date for another battle.

  After seeing Hou Jin withdraw his troops, Lu Haotian quietly asked Zhu Yinglong: "Your Highness, are we going to enter Ningyuan City?"

  Zhu Yinglong thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, let's wait a bit longer!"

  Xiong Tingbi also nodded in agreement with Zhu Yinglong's approach.

  Zhu Yinglong suddenly remembered that Xiong Hu was drunk last night and had not woken up yet, so he asked Lu Haotian: "Commander Lu, is Lianiang awake?"

  "The woman who was saved by Wang Ye has been taking care of her all along." Lu Haotian replied.

  Zhu Yinglong sighed and said, "I really didn't expect Xiong Hu to be so unable to hold her liquor. She got drunk from just one sip of wine. It's unbelievable. Come with me to take a look at her."

  Xiong Hu was still fast asleep, the red glow on her cheeks had not completely disappeared, and the faint scent of wine was still mixed with the gentle fragrance of her breath between her nose and mouth, this was truly a beautiful picture of a beauty sleeping off her intoxication.

  But last night, Zhu Yinglong threw the wine pouch to that woman, which was already empty, and the strong liquor inside had obviously all gone into her belly. This gave Zhu Yinglong another astonishment: one got drunk with just a sip of wine, while the other could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, and both were stunning beauties who could topple cities. Things are just so strange, yet so real.

  "How is she?" Zhu Yinglong asked, pointing at Xiong Hu who was fast asleep.

  The woman who was rescued just stared at him blankly, not saying a word. Zhu Yinglong said coldly to her: "Although I don't know your identity yet, I do know that you not only understand our language but also speak it. Why are you still hiding from the person who saved your life?"

  The look of bewilderment on the face of the rescued woman disappeared in an instant, and she looked at Zhu Yinglong with an unusually calm expression: "You're not ordinary businessmen either?"

  "Who are you?" Lu Haotian stepped forward and asked loudly.

  Zhu Yinglong waved his hand, signaling Lu Haotian to back away, and asked: "What makes you think so?"

  "I have secretly observed all of you, except for you, Miss Lian and that old gentleman. Every single one of you has calluses between your index and middle fingers, which is clearly caused by long-term archery practice. Would ordinary merchants spend a lot of time practicing archery?" The woman asked with a faint smile at Zhu Yinglong.

  "Good thinking," Zhu Yinglong quietly exclaimed, his face calm as he said, "We've passed through many mountainous and wild areas on our journey, where there are many bandits. Practicing archery is also for self-protection, this isn't strange at all?"

  "Oh." The other party smiled slightly and said, "You are the lifesaver of this young lady, it makes sense to say so."

  Xiao Yatou was being ambiguous, but Zhu Yinglong could hear it clearly. He chuckled and said: "Since you acknowledge us as your lifesavers, why did you disguise yourself on the way and deceive us? Are you a runaway from home, afraid that we'll send you back?"

  "Well, I suppose so." The rescued woman replied ambiguously.

  Just as Xiong Hu was fast asleep, he let out a "hmm" and woke up. The woman who had been rescued immediately returned to her appearance from earlier when Zhu Ying Long arrived, and her eyes still hinted at asking him to keep it a secret, Zhu Ying Long slightly nodded towards her.

  "Lianiang, you're awake." Zhu Yinglong stepped forward to help up Xiong Hu. As they were now engaged, they didn't avoid each other as men and women should.

  Ling Niang opened her eyes to see Zhu Ying Long's face, which had been on her mind, and found herself leaning against his chest. Remembering their previous falling out, her face flushed red for a moment before she suddenly pushed him away. Zhu Ying Long didn't expect Xiong Hu to make a move on him, so he was caught off guard and fell onto his back.

  Fortunately, Zhu Yinglong had sent all the people around him far away, and Lu Haotian was also waved back by him earlier. No one could see Zhu Yinglong's disheveled appearance today, so he managed to save a bit of face.

  In a split second, she only thought about not being hugged by Zhu Yinglong, but never thought that she was actually a martial artist, and this push's strength could not be withstood by an ordinary person. When Zhu Yinglong fell backwards, she suddenly realized that she had made a big mistake. In the strict hierarchy of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yinglong was the master, and she was the servant. How could a servant push their own master? She quickly ran over to help Zhu Yinglong up, hastily saying "Wang..." but then noticed there were other people around, so she changed her words to "Dragon Young Master, are you okay?"

  Zhu Yinglong also wanted to know how much weight he had in Xiong Hu's heart, so he pretended to be unconscious and didn't know if he should have such good fortune. Zhu Yinglong had once talked about artificial respiration with this maid in the mansion and had even demonstrated it on Shi Kefa. At this time, Xiong Hu thought of artificial respiration, and her two hot cherry lips were stuck to Zhu Yinglong's lips, constantly blowing air into his mouth. The virgin fragrance from her body entered his nostrils, and her warm tongue occasionally swept across the tip of his nose and the edge of his lips. Under such stimulation, with Xiong Hu being the person in his heart, Zhu Yinglong was immediately infatuated and couldn't help but stick out his tongue to meet hers. When Xiong Hu realized something was wrong, she found herself tightly hugged by Zhu Yinglong, her body soft all over, her eyes like silk, extremely flirtatious, completely losing herself. The two of them went back and forth, and after a fierce battle, they finally exhausted their energy and separated. When they parted ways, they discovered that someone had been watching the entire process beside them, with a bright red face.

  Xiong Hu's face turned bright red with embarrassment, and he jumped up, running away hastily. Zhu Yinglong thought back to the scene just now, thinking that it was indeed difficult for a hero to pass through the "beautiful woman barrier". Such a moving feeling made him yearn for more. He sat up and said to the rescued woman beside him: "Ling Niang is my fiancée!"

  "She's really beautiful!" The other person's eyes flashed with a hint of melancholy and said.

  "Yes, we are very loving. If it wasn't for a little disagreement some time ago, but now it's fine." Zhu Yinglong smiled as he watched Xiong Huayuan walk away.

  "Are you happy?" The blush on the rescued woman's face disappeared, and she asked in a low voice, but her pretty face seemed to hide many thoughts behind it.

  Zhu Yinglong did not answer, the word "happiness" had always been troubling him, he didn't know if he could bring her happiness in the future, as long as he stepped into that red palace wall, whether the struggle inside could be changed because of himself, this he simply had no assurance.

  "Why aren't you speaking?" The rescued woman found that Zhu Yinglong hadn't spoken for a long time and felt puzzled, so she asked.

  "You'd better worry about yourself!" Zhu Yinglong threw out a sentence, got up and left, leaving the rescued woman of the noble family in a daze.