I don't know how long it took before Zhang Qigong finally woke up.

He was surprised to find that he was sleeping on the ground beside the campfire, with a sheepskin blanket covering him.

"Strange, how could I..."

He sat up, feeling that his head was still a little dizzy, so he subconsciously raised his hand to rub his forehead, but unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a woman sitting about half a foot away.

The woman was facing him sideways, sitting on a log that served as a stool next to the bonfire. She held a bamboo branch in her hands and leaned against the bonfire. Zhang Qigong glanced at him and found that the woman seemed to be roasting something in the bonfire -

—Probably food.

"Are you awake?"

The woman said calmly, as if she had no intention of turning around: "Some of your subordinates were too excited, so I let them continue to sleep."

"..."

Zhang Qigong's expression froze.

As his consciousness gradually became clearer, he recognized the woman in front of him as one of the unknown group of women who attacked them after nightfall, and was probably the leader of those women.

Recalling the last moment before he fell into coma, Zhang Qigong couldn't help but touch the back of his neck when the sharp sword held by the woman in front of him was still resting on his neck.

To be fair, Zhang Qigong is not afraid of death, but he does not want to die at a young age because he has not yet realized his ambitions and has not yet assisted the hero in his eyes, King Zhao Run of Wei, to unify the Central Plains and then carry forward Legalism.

He slowly stood up and observed the woman in front of him solemnly.

The dancing firelight in the bonfire shone on the face of the woman in front of him, giving rise to something strange and sinister.

He looked around, wanting to see the status of the Black Crows and Jie warriors in his team.

Since this trip to Bashu was not a direct war against Bashu, Zhang Qigong did not bring many Black Crows or hired Jie warriors with him. There were only twenty Black Crows and more than twenty Jie warriors in his team.

, a total of about forty people.

But looking around at this moment, he found that the Black Crows under his command all had their hands tied behind their backs and were sitting in a circle with their heads hanging down. It seemed that they had not yet woken up - or in other words, as this woman said.

I mean, after I woke up, I was knocked unconscious by them again.

As for the more than 20 Jie warriors, the situation is similar to that of the Black Crows. The difference is that a few of them have woken up, but for some reason they have looks of panic or even fear on their faces.

This surprised Zhang Qigong.

Because in his impression, the Jie tribe warriors were tyrannical, cruel people who valued the honor of warriors higher than their lives. Logically speaking, they would not be frightened like this by their enemies.

"Are you afraid of these women?"

Zhang Qigong looked around.

There are two other bonfires around. Originally, the Black Crows and the Jie tribe warriors each used a bonfire, but now, there are several women sitting in twos and threes beside the two bonfires.

Like the woman who just spoke to Zhang Qigong, these women were all wearing clothes with red patterns on a white background - Zhang Qigong glanced at them for a long time but couldn't figure out what they were.

"Hello?"

The woman's displeased voice interrupted Zhang Qigong's peek.

He turned his head suddenly and found that the woman who seemed to be the leader of these women was turning her head to look at him, her face filled with displeasure.

"Who are you waiting for?" Zhang Qigong asked in a deep voice.

The woman chuckled lightly and asked, "Have you never heard of "Ba Wu"?"

"Ba Wu?"

Zhang Qigong was stunned. He knew nothing about the land of Bashu and he really didn't know this.

After thinking for a while, he whispered: "Why... why did you attack us? You and I... have no grievances."

"Well..."

A strange look flashed across the woman's face that Zhang Qigong couldn't understand, and she immediately changed the subject and said, "Are you from Wei?"

"..."

Zhang Qigong fell silent upon hearing this.

He didn't know how to answer this meaningless question. If the other party's next sentence was "I hate Wei people the most in my life," wouldn't he and his subordinates be killed because of his words?

After all, the only thing Zhang Qigong knew about Bashu was that the Wei people—mainly the Zhao family, rather than Zhang Qigong, a commoner from the Wei state—seemed to have some old grudges with the Ba people.

"Actually, I'm Korean."

After struggling for a long time, Zhang Qigong answered carefully.

He considered it very carefully: South Korea and Bashu are not bordering each other, and people from the two places have rarely had contact in the past. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any grudges, right?

But what I didn't expect was that after hearing this, the woman showed a strange smile on her face, and then said lightly: "Ah, if you are from Wei, I can spare your life, but

Since he is a Korean, let’s kill him.”

"Eh? Wrong bet?"

Seeing the woman in front of him say the word "kill" with a calm expression, Zhang Qigong felt his hair stand on end, and a cold air suddenly seemed to surge up his back.

At this moment, he could not care about his reputation as Huang Chihou, so he quickly changed his words: "No, I am Wei..."

But just when he had a look of horror on his face, he saw the woman giggling, waving her hand to interrupt him, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I know you are from Wei, I'm just teasing you.

That’s all.”

"..."

Seeing the other party laughing heartlessly, Zhang Qigong's eyes twitched a few times.

He felt that the woman in front of him was probably not a kind person, but a person with a bad character.

Suddenly, he was stunned and asked in confusion: "This...this girl, how do you know that I am from Wei?"

"It's very simple. I recognize the character Wei."

The woman took out a golden token from somewhere and shook her head towards Zhang Qigong. She saw the word "Wei" clearly engraved on the side of the golden token facing Zhang Qigong.

Seeing this, Zhang Qigong's expression suddenly changed and he subconsciously touched his waist.

Only then did he realize that his token of "Tiance Mansion Right Commander" was missing.

After realizing this, Zhang Qigong was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Precisely because he is the right captain of Tiance Mansion, he deeply understands the power of his token.

With this token, he, Zhang Qigong, can mobilize any army in the Wei State except the imperial guards in accordance with the emergency regulations, and take over any city in the Wei State except Luoyang - of course, the commanders of those armies and the city's

The guard will immediately send someone to the Tiance Mansion for a second confirmation after being taken over, regardless of whether there is a corresponding official document.

Precisely because this token was so important, Zhang Qigong kept it close to his heart and did not dare to show it easily, lest it fall into the eyes of interested people. However, he never thought that it would fall into the hands of others.

"Hey, what's your name?" the woman asked.

Zhang Qigong hesitated for a moment and said cautiously: "My surname is Zhang...Gong, Zhang Gong."

"Zhang Gong." The woman muttered, and then asked: "What kind of official office is Tiance Mansion? Does the right captain have a high official position?"

"Well, the Tiance Mansion is..." Zhang Qigong opened his mouth and blundered: "Actually, it is just a small office that handles heavy government affairs for the emperor. It is of no importance. As for the right captain... he is the one who supervises them."

"So, you are actually just a minor official?" the woman asked.

"Yes, yes..." Zhang Qigong nodded repeatedly and said, "I'm just a low-ranking official..."

"Seriously?" There was a hint of doubt on the woman's face: "You didn't lie to me, did you?"

Zhang Qigong didn't know where he had exposed his flaw, so he bit the bullet and said: "How could I...how could I deceive a girl?"

The woman looked Zhang Qigong up and down, frowned and said, "My sister sent you here, I thought you were an important minister around King Wei..."

"Eh?"

Zhang Qigong was stunned for a moment, feeling that something seemed a bit unbelievable, and quickly asked: "May I ask the girl who your sister is..."

"My sister's name is Mi Jiang, and she is married to the king of your Wei people..." the woman said without hesitation, and then pointed to a sharp sword leaning on the log and said: "This sword belongs to me.

Sister, I left it to you and asked you to come find me, right?"

"The Queen?!"

Zhang Qigong was shocked when he heard this, and quickly turned his head to look at the sharp sword leaning on the log. It was indeed the Queen's belongings that he had carried with him during this period and did not dare to leave them behind.

Looking at the woman in front of him, Zhang Qigong suddenly remembered the day when he was summoned to Fengyi Palace by Queen Mi Jiang before leaving for Bashu.

That day, Zhang Qigong was greatly surprised when he heard Queen Mi Jiang summoning her.

Because the contemporary queens of the Wei Kingdom, like the queen Wang of the previous generation, are women who never participate in state affairs. The difference is that Queen Wang, who is now the Queen Mother, is keen on cultivating her character and studying Taoism, while

The contemporary empress Mi is keen on cultivating flowers and grass, or cultivating some poisonous insects that can infiltrate people.

"What did this Queen Mi call me for?"

Puzzled, Zhang Qigong followed several palace maids to Fengyi Palace and met the mistress of the Wei Kingdom.

Zhang Qigong remembered clearly that when he saw Queen Mi, she was holding a oozing centipede in her hand, which was two fingers wide. Even poisoners like Zhang Qigong felt horrified when they saw it.

But the empress held it in her hand without any emotion, so that when Zhang Qigong looked at the oozing centipede that kept twisting and struggling, he felt a sense of pity in his heart.

"Master Zhang."
To be continued...