The foreigners near Gucheng had their own country called Guiyan Kingdom, and they also had their own city, but it was remote and few people went there.

    There were many ethnic groups in the Guiyan Kingdom, mainly the warlike Guizhen clan, and they were the ones who had been harassing the border of the Daxia Kingdom all the year round.

    Guiyan Kingdom's attack this time was predictable.

    Two months ago, Li Mingjin discussed with Wei Linyuan and several other generals whether foreigners in the north would go to war against Gucheng because of winter food. Facts had proved that there was absolutely no problem for them to discuss in advance.

    Li Mingjin worked hard in Gucheng this year. When it was farming time, he also asked the soldiers to plant the land. The income of the entire Gucheng doubled compared with previous years. Not only the local officials admired his methods and ideas, even Guiyan Kingdom often sent people over to investigate, and their soldiers even caught several waves.

    Since there was a harvest, it would naturally be robbed. Who didn't want to stockpile more food for the winter, Guiyan Kingdom was located in the grassland, and there was no way to farm, so the only way to live a better life was to rely on robbing.

    Of course, it was not that Li Mingjin had never thought about negotiating with the other party and making a deal. The other party had cattle and sheep, and he had grain, which could be exchanged. However, the plan was obviously not favored by the other party. Gucheng’s grain had indeed doubled this year, but it was only enough for Gucheng's own internal consumption, and they had to anticipate whether there would be a war later, so they needed to store more. The granary in Gucheng couldn't be empty or moved.

    Besides, how could Guiyan Kingdom deal with them honestly, asking for sky-high prices, it would be better to go to war with them, this was also what in Li Mingjin's mind, the gentle way was absolutely useless, not only wasted the time, but also gave the enemy the opportunity to become stronger.

    According to the reports from the spies in the front, the Guiyan Kingdom came and brought their cavalry this year. According to what they said, it was  cavalry with 10,000 soldiers and horses, and it was estimated that there were still more than 30,000 soldiers.

    Gucheng also had cavalry, which belonged to Wei Linyuan's team and was left to him by General Wei.

    Although Li Mingjin had only been in Gucheng for a few months, during this time, some of his novel methods had won the favor of many soldiers. Even Wei Linyuan, who didn't favor any side, would occasionally say a few good words for Li Mingjin. Not only him, the same went for the third imperial concubine. Their husband and wife's way of handling something really surpassed their predecessor, and it also benefited the common people a lot. They had made many contributions for everything they did.

    Of course Wei Linyuan still communicated with General Wei. After he explained to his father the deeds of the third prince and the third imperial concubine in the north, he found that his father didn't know anything about it. It turned out that these news didn't reach the capital at all. For a while, Wei Linyuan thought a lot. Perhaps the third prince did these things not to compete with other princes for fame, but he really did it earnestly, regardless of the gains and losses of other interest.

    Wei Linyuan also heard his father mentioned that Emperor Tiansheng often mentioned the third prince and third imperial concubine who were in Gucheng in front of him. He was afraid that they wouldn't have enough food and clothing, so he often asked people to secretly bring food to the couple, without letting the other princes know. His father seemed to be not talkative, but he couldn't hide things well, and he didn't know who to tell, so he wrote a letter to Wei Linyuan, who could hide things.

    Hearing too much about Emperor Tiansheng's treatment to the third prince, and combined with Li Mingjin's current actions, Wei Linyuan quietly changed his view on the third prince, and occasionally reminded his younger brother to be respectful to the third prince. Sometimes he felt that Emperor Tiansheng might still have had some expectations for the third prince in his heart?

    It was absolutely right to follow the third prince properly. At least Wei Linyuan could understand what he meant from his father's letter.

    For so many years, he never heard his father mentioned any prince, even the crown prince, his father seldom mentioned him, why was he now paying attention to the third prince?

    The letters between the family members actually revealed a lot of important information to Wei Linyuan.

    At this time, Luo Shuyu also began to worry about Li Mingjin. He paced around in the study, worried about Li Mingjin who was on the front line today.

    Under the medical treatment from Lin Yuan for nearly half a year, Chen Rong was no longer like Fufeng who looked like willow, and it was no problem to follow Li Mingjin to the front line.
[Fufeng: virtual character in Pili puppet show, an official of the Xuehai Music Department, has a handsome appearance, acts cautiously and politely, and behaves softly, like a willow supporting the wind, assisting Le Zhiling to cultivate people's hearts and educate humanity with music.]

    Li Mingjin wanted to go to the front line, and Luo Shuyu didn't stop him. Compared with living an easy and  comfortable life, it was worth taking some risks. There were also hidden guards around him to protect him, and Li Mingjin had promised to Luo Shuyu that he wouldn't rush into the battle blindly, and he would bring himself back safe and sound.

    But, Luo Shuyu was still worried. Li Mingjin had never been on the battlefield in the previous life, and this was the first time in his life. Luo Shuyu had confidence in Li Mingjin's intelligence, but the sword had no eyes after all, and the battlefield changed rapidly. Who knew what would happen in the next moment.

    When Luo Shuyu was tangled up and down, it was getting dark, and after a while, a guard came back to report Li Mingjin's news to him.

    The cavalry of the Guiyan Kingdom was not far from Gucheng. The army of the Daxia Kingdom had a fight with their cavalry. Li Mingjin was in the front army, but there were other generals who were braver and more skilled in fighting than him, so he didn't show off. He watched the whole battle and listened to the veterans discussing countermeasures.

    Luo Shuyu breathed a sigh of relief after listening to the previous report, but after the guard finished the rest of the report, Luo Shuyu stood up in one breath: "What did you just say?"

    The guard: "His Highness said that he will lead the troops to battle tomorrow."