To defend Tianjin, the most important thing is to control the 19 rivers flowing through Tianjin and prevent the enemy from going , after a few days, these paths were blocked and occupied by barricades. Yin Xiu and Chen Tianyou both believed that this was the ultimate achievement with limited time and resources. In order to build these barricades, even the Jade Tower was completely demolished. Of course, this was agreed by the owner of Qingyu Tower. When they left Tianjin, they had taken away everything they could, leaving only an empty building. However, for such a tall jade building, after the pillars and walls were removed, there would only be enough to build a barricade, which did give people a sense of disparity. Yin Xiu stood on the city wall and when he looked down, he felt that everything in Tianjin was in his sight. The hard-working laborers, the anxious people, and the soldiers rubbing their hands in anticipation of the coming of the rainstorm, everyone is waiting for the arrival of the rainstorm. Once the war breaks out, those barricades and the ancient city wall beneath his feet will be destroyed by artillery fire in an instant. Ma Xiaoyu climbed up the tower and whispered to him, "Chen Tianyou asked me to inform you that the Eight-Nation Alliance will begin its attack tomorrow." "It's time too." Yin Xiu naturally hugged her to his side.

Ma Xiaoyu just smiled and leaned forward gently, "I never thought that one day we Taoists who exorcise demons and monsters would actually participate in the war." "It's all the same. They're all about exorcising demons and monsters." Yin Xiu said softly: "After this battle is over, I..." Before he could finish his words, Ma Xiaoyu gently sealed his lips with her fingers. "Let's talk after the fight. It's all the same. Whatever you say is what I'll listen to." "When did you become such a nice person?" Yin Xiu gently took her hand away and held it in his. "Then what kind of person do you think I am?" She didn't wait for Yin Xiu to answer, and looked at the white clouds in the distance with her clear eyes. "I used to think it was easy to treat everything as passing clouds. Gradually, I realized that it is not easy, or people should not think like this." "You already have such a profound understanding of life?" "You laugh at me?" There was only a smile in Ma Xiaoyu's eyes. "This is not some kind of enlightenment, it's just a little self-righteous cognition." “That’s good too.” Yin Xiu held Ma Xiaoyu's face and slowly leaned her head towards her. Ma Xiaoyu closed her eyes and opened her lips slightly. It was unknown how long it was until he heard footsteps coming from the bottom of the stairs that Yin Xiu let her go. Ma Xiaoyu tidied up a few strands of messy hair and just pushed them behind her ears when the person downstairs came up. The people who came were Qingniang and a few maids whom she had met before in Tianxia Tower. "See the leader!"

Qingniang secretly glanced at Ma Xiaoyu, compared herself with her in her mind, and then knelt down with the others and saluted Yin Xiu. "You're welcome, sis." After Yin Xiu nodded, he looked at her and asked her what was the matter. Qingniang met his eyes that were heated because of Ma Xiaoyu, and her heart trembled. After taking a few deep breaths, she said to Yin Xiu: "Master, I brought a few sisters to sew a new set of clothes for you overnight." "new clothes?" Yin Xiu smiled and said, "Thank you, sisters, but I am not used to wearing long robes and cloth clothes." "Qingniang knows." She blinked, and her long eyelashes trembled. "We know that the leader likes to wear trendy clothes, so we didn't make cloth robes or anything like that." She clapped her hands and several people brought her new clothes. A tweed shirt, deerskin gloves, a calfskin jacket with reinforcements at the front and back, shiny leather boots, and a pair of straight, close-fitting but not restrictive trousers. Even several straps were made to equip the weapons, which looked very neat and tidy. "You did it?" Even Ma Xiaoyu was a little surprised. "Yes, we did." Qingniang glanced at Ma Xiaoyu intentionally or unintentionally, "I think Miss Ma is concentrating on practicing martial arts, and not doing the little toys of girls like us." Ma Xiaoyu looked back at her, pursed her lips and nodded. Qingniang looked at Yin Xiu again and said enthusiastically, "Please allow us to help the leader change his clothes." "it is good……" Yin Xiu suddenly sensed something was wrong and changed the subject, "Sorry, I can do this myself." "Yes." Ma Xiaoyu also said coldly: "He has hands, so he doesn't need your help." "But he is the leader. How can a leader do it himself?" Qingniang retorted. "is it?" Ma Xiaoyu glanced at Yin Xiu, "Isn't this contrary to your philosophy?" Yin Xiu could only nod and say, "That's right, I'll do it myself. Thank you for your hard work." In this way, Qingniang could only leave the clothes with a little regret, and then bowed and left. "How about it, are you satisfied now?" Yin Xiu asked with a smile.

"Is it because of your behavior just now, or because of this outfit?" Ma Xiaoyu took out the coat from them and took the coat that Yin Xiu had taken off. “They were beyond my expectations.” "You mean this outfit?" Ma Xiaoyu nodded. "I originally thought they would make it look old-fashioned, but I didn't expect it to be so fashionable." "People are going to change." Just as the two were about to say something else, someone else walked up the stairs. It seems that the war is approaching, and there are a lot of people coming today, which is enough to make Yin Xiu give up the idea of ​​continuing to be affectionate with Ma Xiaoyu for a while. It was Chen Tianyou who came up with an officer. "Master, Lord Ye, the commander-in-chief of the capital, has sent a man here." After Chen Tianyou introduced them, the officer came up, clasped his fists, and said straight to the point: "Lord Ye invites you to the mansion to discuss military affairs." Yin Xiu thought it was probably time, and he just happened to confirm something with Ye Tianpei, so he nodded and said, "Thank you, sir. We'll be there right away." Chen Tianyou asked from the side: "Shall I ask Master Qi to accompany you?" In order to prevent others from paying too much attention to this name, Chen Tianyou and others called Ren Qi "Seventh Master" instead of calling him by his surname. "no need." Yin Xiu waved his hand to refuse. "This trip is very simple. We just need to confirm some details. Let him stay here and watch over us. He can take care of us if anything happens." After saying that, he gave Ma Xiaoyu a look, telling her to stay here with peace of mind. After Ma Xiaoyu nodded to show that she understood, Yin Xiucai followed the officer down the tower, rode on a fast horse, and went to the "General's Mansion" temporarily built in Jinmen. As soon as Yin Xiu entered the mansion, he found that many more people had come out this time, probably all officers under Ye Tianpei. These people were already aware of Yin Xiu's identity, so although they did not stand up to greet him, they still gave him their respectful glances. Ye Tianpei directly called Yin Xiu to the long table. On the table in front of him was a topographic map of Tianjin. Ye Tianpei slapped a letter on the table and said, "Johnson, the commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance, sent me a letter." "War?" Yin Xiu did not take it over and open it to look. "Look, it doesn't matter." Ye Tianpei snorted coldly: "That bastard thought he had a strong army and could defeat us." "Oh?" Yin Xiu just said calmly: "It's normal for him to feel this way. After all, he is indeed strong in military strength, with 45,000 soldiers and dozens of cannons." "That's not all."

Ye Tianpei added: "The news we just received said that they also brought in a 3,000-man Sikh cavalry, who are tall and strong." After other countries had declined, the Sikh cavalry was almost the best cavalry in the whole of Pan-Asia. They were fearless, resolute and brave, and could charge under artillery fire. Even the foreign cavalry did not dare to engage in further entanglement when they saw them. "It doesn't matter. An extra one or two thousand people is just that. Although they are cavalry, when we turn to street fighting, things will be different. The role those cavalry can play in street fighting is limited." "It's different." Ye Tianpei said suddenly. "What's different?" Ye Tianpei did not answer Yin Xiu's words, but first picked up the drawings on the table, crumpled them into a ball and threw them on the ground. Yin Xiu frowned, sensing that things had changed. Around them, the officers seemed to have known about this change a long time ago, so they just sat there as before and didn't say a word. "Mr. Yin, things have changed." Ye Tianpei said. “I certainly know that changes have occurred.” Yin Xiu bent down, picked up the drawing and put it into his pocket. Then he looked up and stared into Ye Tianpei's eyes, "Why?" Ye Tianpei took out another letter from his pocket, put it on the table, and motioned for Yin Xiu to read it himself. Yin Xiu took the letter, and on it there was only one big character written in cinnabar in regular script: retreat. He suddenly realized the uniqueness and significance of this letter, and also knew why Ye Tianpei suddenly changed his mind at this juncture, because there was a greater force forcing him to make this change. Yin Xiu would not be so tactful as to ask who gave the order. He just asked Ye Tianpei: "Are you going back to Yujing?" Ye Tianpei said honestly: "Don't go to Yujing, go directly to the west." Yin Xiu suddenly felt that things had reached a very troublesome point. It turned out that the court did not even offer the symbolic resistance that it had originally prepared? They originally sent the generals of Gyeonggi here, even though they knew they could not win, but this was also to show their attitude. And now, is the imperial court planning to give up even this superficial thing? Fleeing directly to the west, will the emperor's hunting trip to the west happen again? Ye Tianpei could see the disappointment on Yin Xiu's face. "Next, I will follow the original plan and lead my troops to the north to prevent possible unrest on the grassland." "I think you are actually going to be a side guard for the emperor's western hunting trip?" Yin Xiu said directly. "Anyway is fine." Ye Tianpei breathed a sigh of relief: "Anyway, I have saved 50,000 brothers from hell. I have done my best." "What about the millions of people from Yujing to Tianjin? You opened the gates with your own hands and let them face the war." There was no trace of guilt on Ye Tianpei's face, but that feeling of despair and powerlessness still lingered around him. "Mr. Yin, when you first came to meet me, you said this, do you still remember it? You said you don't expect those soldiers to be the best soldiers, or even the best. You want them to be the second best, and they will have fulfilled their duty after firing three shots. Because you know, everyone has their own limits, and if you can't do it, you can't do it.

Unfortunately, I am such a person. I am just an ordinary person and will not leave my name in history and become a great man or a general. When others mention me, I just mention it briefly, which is the most positive evaluation of my life. This is enough and it is my limit. Precisely for this reason, I must admit that I was ready to die when I led my troops to Tianjin. Even though you may not believe it, I am not very afraid of death, because soldiers will eventually die on the battlefield. But after receiving the order to retreat, I felt as happy as if I were about to drown in the swamp but grabbed a vine and was saved. We will survive, even if we fail, even if we escape, and it is within my power to get away with 50,000 men in one piece. As for the millions of people from Tianjin to Yujing, it is beyond my ability to save them. " Ye Tianpei admitted his failure and incompetence so frankly that people were unable to blame him for running away. Instead, they felt a sense of sympathy for his melancholy. "We will be moving our troops back to the capital soon. I respect you as a hero, so I am here to inform you. Please take care." Ye Tianpei patted Yin Xiu's shoulder, turned around and was about to pack up and leave. "Wait, Sir General." Yin Xiu suddenly called him, "You informed me specifically to ask me to escape too?" Ye Tianpei looked at Yin Xiu and said calmly, "It's up to you whether you want to die here or escape. I just don't want you to die in vain." "Do not." Yin Xiu shook his head. "I mean, you notified me to come here because of something else." "Well, what else?" Ye Tianpei was puzzled, he felt that he had nothing to do with Yin Xiu anymore. "Of course there are." Yin Xiu looked determined, "Of course it's to make the general and all the generals present here heroes." "Become a hero?" Ye Tianpei sensed a determination from Yin Xiu's expression, but he did not understand what that meant for a moment. "I mean, General, you will become a hero in Tianjin, a national hero who died here and stopped the foreigners." As soon as he finished speaking, Yin Xiu raised his hand and shot out five blood arrows, killing an officer next to him. "you!" Ye Tianpei was dumbfounded and finally realized Yin Xiu's intention. "you want……" "Yes." Yin Xiu pulled the fallen officer's knife out from his waist. The cold light was dazzling, as cold as his eyes and heart and lungs.

"I have decided. Since you are unwilling to die for the people of Tianjin, I am the only one who can help you and give you a good reputation. As for the most difficult things, I will help you." "Escort!" As the officers shouted, lines of soldiers came through the door. Dozens of palace masters fell from various places on the roof and pounced on Yin Xiu in an instant. Yin Xiu saw this scene and just smiled. (End of this chapter)