The 50,000 troops in Bingzhou left Jinyang and headed towards Yecheng.

Three days later, he passed through the Taihang Mountains and entered the Changshan Country of Jizhou.

At this moment, Yuan Shang's letter was also sent. After Yuan Mai finished reading it immediately, his face turned pale and he didn't say a word.

"How did the letters say it?"

Seeing his brother-in-law's face was not good, Zhao Yun asked in a deep voice, thinking that the situation had another unpredictable situation.

"In the letter, Yuan Shang threatened me with A Ying's mother and asked me to send troops to help him attack Yuan Tan, otherwise he would kill her. I think the mother and son are indeed the same virtue. If you have the same mother, you will have the same son!" Yuan Mai cursed hatefully.

Zhang He met Zheng when he was in Yecheng and had a good impression of this humble wife. After hearing what Yuan Mai said, he was also angry: "Yuan Shang and his son are guilty, and the heavens and men are angry. Zhang He is willing to lead the cavalry as the front drive, and go day and night to reach the city of Ye County!"

"No, my mother is locked in a prison. If she forcefully attacked Ye County, even if the city can be broken, this evil woman will definitely kill her mother before the city is broken!" Yuan Mai looked solemn and frowned and expressed her doubts.

Xu Shu next to him smiled slightly and said casually: "Shu has an idea. Is this feasible under the lord and counselor?"

"Yuan Zhi just said it's okay!" Yuan Mai bowed and listened attentively.

It is the time when the think tank shows its skills, but unfortunately there are still fewer military advisors around him; Ju Su and Tian Feng, one of them stationed in Henei and the other one is in Jinyang, and they cannot follow the army. The only top think tank around him is Xu Shu, and although Zhuge Jin is good at negotiating, he lacks strategy.

It would be great if Sima Yi was willing to become an official. This guy has been pretending to be sick for nearly two years. I wonder if he is tempted now. I will take time to beat this guy up. He is indeed a donkey. He can't take it and go backwards. No wonder Cao Cao sent someone to tie him to Xuchang in history. He has been respectful to him for two years. If this guy is still ungrateful, don't blame me for being rude!

While riding the horse, Xu Shu told his strategy: "Since Yuan Shang invited us to send troops to help, the young master took advantage of the situation and vainly slandered the snake to deceive Yuan Shang's trust. He mistakenly thought that we were sending troops to help him this time, lowered the vigilance of the defenders in Yecheng, and then came to the city!"

"Well, you're a good plan..." Yuan Mai dropped the whip and expressed his approval of Xu Shu's strategy. "This plan is feasible!"

Look at whether it is getting late. I send an order to find an empty place to set up camp.

He ordered people to prepare food and drinks, and welcome Yuan Shang's envoys with great wine and food. After eating and drinking, he said: "Yu rushed to the plains tomorrow and reported to his third brother. He said that Yuan Mai sent troops this time to help him deal with Yuan Tan. He asked him to hold back the Qingzhou soldiers first. After a few days, our Bingzhou army can join the battlefield and attack Yuan Tan together!"

"Thank you Yuan Bingzhou!"

After receiving Yuan Mai’s promise, the messenger was overjoyed and took the silver reward and went to rest.

After the messenger left, Yuan Mai ordered Zhu Ling to prepare a pen and ink for himself, and he picked up the pen and wrote a letter. His words were extremely humble and he always said that he was the only one who followed his elder brother. After writing it, he handed it over to Zhu Ling and ordered him to hand it over to the messenger and hand it over to Yuan Shang tomorrow to numb his mind.

As soon as Zhu Ling left, a military soldier came to report: "A man was looking for a meeting outside the camp, claiming that he was the lord policeman's spy in Yecheng. Was he summoned him?"

"Oh... Could it be Cao Qian?" Yuan Mai stroked his sparse and hard beard, said to himself, and waved his hand to order: "Come in!"

A moment later, under the leadership of the soldiers, the man who claimed to be a spy in Yecheng walked into the big tent, which was Cao Qian.

Since the siege of Yi Jing last spring, Cao Qian found the place where Zhao Yun was imprisoned, drew a map of the siege, and successfully rescued the general Zhao Zilong. Since then, he has been highly appreciated by Yuan Mai, so he asked him for it from Zhen Yao's men and asked him to be his direct spy.

After Yuan Shao was critically ill, Yuan Mai handed over the task of spying on the military situation in Ye County to Cao Qian, and ordered him to lead more than a dozen scouts to secretly engage in intelligence work in Yecheng, and report the situation in Yecheng to him at any time. Cao Qian came to look for the army this time to report the news.

He ordered Zhu Ling to serve tea to moisten Cao Qian's throat, and then asked, "What's going on in Yecheng now?"

Cao Qian put down the tea bowl and bowed, "When you go back to your lord, General Wen Chou has been put in prison, and his troops have been taken away by Yuan Shang. A few days ago, Yuan Shang led 50,000 troops out of the city to the plain to fight Yuan Tan. There are still 25,000 defenders in Ye County, led by Shen Pei's uncle and nephew!"

"Hiss... General Wen Chou was arrested?"

Yuan Mai took a breath of cold air. He originally wanted to rely on Wen Chou to help him easily and cooperate with the inside and outside. Now it seems that this road has been blocked. "It turns out that it is easy to avoid open guns, but hidden arrows are hard to defend against!"

"How is Mrs. Zheng's recent situation?"

Yuan Mai gently rubbed his temples to keep himself at his most sober state, asking.

Cao Qian replied: "When you say lord, it is said that Mrs. Zheng has been taken down in the dungeon, probably imprisoned with General Wen!"

"asshole!"

Yuan Mai was furious when he heard this, slapped the table and cursed: "The Liu family and his son are simply bastards. I thought they had put their mother in the backyard and were actually put in the dungeon. Treating a weak woman so viciously, it was simply ruthless and ferocious!"

"Listen... I heard that Mrs. Zheng has suffered a lot in the dungeon!"

Looking at Yuan Mai's angry face, Cao Qian was a little scared, but the scout's duty was to report truthfully, so hesitated and reported the matter truthfully.

"I will kill this vicious mother and son, sooner or later, if I dare to abuse A Ying's mother!"

Yuan Mai stood up and paced back and forth in the big tent, making a vow resentful oath.

At this moment, Yuan Shao's birthday banquet appeared in his mind, and no one dared to let himself sit down, only Zheng stood up.

As the saying goes, "A drop of water should be repaid with a spring." As a prince, how can you let your benefactor suffer in the dungeon? You must save this stepmother at all costs.

After his eyes turned, he thought for a moment, he asked again: "What is the attitude of civil and military officials in the city? Do you support Yuan Shang's monopoly of power?"

Cao Qian replied: "According to the Bei Judicial Survey, half supported it and half ambiguous, but due to the tyranny and cruelty of Yuan Shang and his son, even those who do not support it dare not stand up and oppose it!"

"Can some gentry officials be mobilized to respond from the city?" Yuan Mai asked.

Cao Qian shook his head: "The guards are very strict and have arranged a large number of spies around the mansions of civil and military officials. If there is any abnormal action, they will be suppressed immediately. I guess no one can respond to the uprising from the city!"

After listening to Cao Qian's report, Yuan Mai comforted him and ordered Zhu Ling to take out some coins and hand them over to Cao Qian as funds, and continue to return to Yecheng to spy on the news. But there is important information. You must try to send it out of the city. Cao Qian received the funds and took the order and left.

After Cao Qian left, Yuan Mai fell into deep thought. He thought hard about both ways to break the city and rescue Zheng safely.

Although Xu Shu had a good plan, he could only paralyze Yuan Shang and Shen Pei for a while. When his troops were at the city, Shen Pei would inevitably close the city gate and not let his soldiers enter the city.

If he forcibly attacked the city, Shen Pei would definitely see through his deception. Before the city gate was captured, the evil woman Liu Jiao would definitely kill Zheng first to vent her hatred.

"How can I break the city and let Aying's mother be safe?" Yuan Mai held his head with both hands and thought about it.

Looking at the candlelight swaying in front of him, Yuan Mai suddenly had an idea and slapped his thigh and said, "I have it!"

Didn’t the Kongming lantern invented by Zhuge Liang use the principle of hot air balloons to make lanterns fly into the sky?

There are mountains five or six miles north of Yecheng. If you make a batch of large Kongming lanterns and take advantage of the night to take advantage of the protection of the night, the soldiers can land in Yexian City. On the one hand, they can respond from the city, and on the other hand, they can capture the dungeon and protect the safety of the Zheng family while the city is unprepared. This is a solution to both sides.

"Zhu Ling, call Ma Deheng, I have a task to him!"

Zhu Ling took the order and left. After a while, Ma Jun, who was yawning, came to the commander's tent and bowed: "What are the instructions for the lord to call you?"

"Deheng, come and sit next to the table, I'll discuss something with you!"

After Ma Jun sat beside him, Yuan Mai told him what he thought, telling Ma Jun that he wanted him to make a batch of lamps that could carry people to fly, and then raid Ye County in air. Of course, Yuan Mai would never tell him that this kind of lamp was called "Kongming Lantern", but called it "Sky Lantern".

Although Ma Jun is talented in creation, after hearing Yuan Mai’s idea, he did not applaud as before, but instead looked half-believing and half-doubting. After all, for people living in this era, it is really a fantasy for humans to fly into the sky.

"Can you let the lantern fly with people? The flames keep burning, it would be strange if you don't burn the lantern!"

Yuan Mai looked confident and said confidently: "Now there is no other way to enter the city, so he can only treat it as a living horse! Is it OK? Let's try it again and again. Your craftsman town has strong manufacturing capabilities. Summoning them immediately and make the 'sky lantern' overnight!"

The so-called "craftsman camp" is a team specially built by Yuan Mai for Ma Jun. It has about 500 people. It is composed of carpenters, lacquers, blacksmiths, craftsmen, bricklayers, papermakers and other craftsmen. Ma Jun is the Tun Cao, responsible for inventing and manufacturing various high-tech products; thunder chariots, curved plows, double-sided stirrups, horseshoes and other cross-age supplies are all from the hands of this team.

He did it right away. At that moment, Yuan Mai led the way, Ma Jun and Zhu Ling followed behind and headed straight to the place where the "Craftsman Camp" was stationed.

It was already the hour of Xu. Many craftsmen had been running around for a day, and had taken off their clothes and went to bed. The important task of coaxing people fell on Zhu Ling's shoulders.

"It's snowing, it's snowing. Get up quickly and get your cotton coat!"

Zhu Ling shouted one by one tent, causing the confused craftsmen to quarrel, and muttered to himself, "It's really a good time if there's a snowfall in the summer!"

At this moment, the entire camp gathered and, under the leadership of Ma Jun, began to make "Sky Lanterns" according to Yuan Mai's instructions.

First of all, paper was needed. Fortunately, Ni Heng's "mobile newspaper" accompanied the army, so the troops carried a large number of paper. Although the specifications were not large enough, they could be glued together with paste. The paper of this period was relatively rough and thick, which was far less delicate than that of the 21st century, but it was very suitable to be used as Kongming lanterns.

The carpenter found bamboo strips, which were used to make arrows, and they could only use them temporarily for emergency response and make frames with these bamboos; the blacksmith found iron wire and connected the bamboo strips and paper together. Everyone performed their own duties, and after a few hours, they finally made more than a dozen "sky lanterns".

Seeing that the "sky lantern" conceived by Yuan Mai finally came out, Ma Jun was still skeptical of its ability: "This light is pretty good, but can it really carry people to fly?"

Yuan Mai was not sure. Although he had played hot air balloons several times in his previous life, it was not the same thing after all. One was flying up with high-tech hydrogen, and the other was just relying on the simplest principle of hot air.

"I'm not sure, just try it out if you find a mountain!"

Yuan Mai took some craftsmen and took a huge sky lantern with a diameter of one meter out of the camp, searched for a mountain nearby, and climbed up together. Although it was midsummer, the wind on the mountain was really not small.

In order to increase calories, Ma Jun proposed to use rosin instead of the candles mentioned by Yuan Mai. Compared with the fact that the calories generated by rosin in a short period of time are far better than candles.

A sky lantern was burning, and it was a problem to ask who would try it first. The craftsmen were so scared that they retreated. After all, this was not a joke. It would be strange if the lantern flew into the air and fell down, and they would not fall into meat sauce!

"I invented this sky lantern, so let me do an experiment!"

Yuan Mai rolled up his sleeves and prepared to enter the bamboo basket under the lantern and try to fly.

When Zhu Ling saw that the young master was going to test it himself, he suddenly became anxious: "I'll come, I'll come. What if the young master has a few shortcomings, it would be strange if the ladies don't want my life. I'd better do it!" After saying that, he crawled into the bamboo basket without saying anything, and refused to come out again.

Since Zhu Ling was rushing to share the risks for him, Yuan Mai had to let him do it. After all, his life is more important, although this idea is a bit selfish!

As the rosin burned, the heat in the paper-paste lamp cap became more and more, and it began to slowly float off the ground, one foot, two feet, three feet, and half a meter...

"Wow...the lanterns really flew up, it's amazing!"

Looking at the slowly rising sky lantern, the craftsmen on the top of the mountain exclaimed in unison, and they really didn't believe their eyes.

“Put out the light!”

With Yuan Mai's order, Ma Jun and several craftsmen pushed the floating sky lantern out toward the bottom of the mountain.

A cool breeze blew, blew the sky lights out, more than fifty feet from the ground, floating towards the camp. The wind kept stopping and the lamps kept flying farther and farther. In a short while, I passed the camp and flew to a stream.

According to Yuan Mai's instructions, Zhu Ling extinguished the burning resin and stabbed a gap in the lantern with a dagger. The heat gradually dissipated, and the sky lamp slowly landed on the ground.

"Wow... I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm really flying!"
Chapter completed!