Ling Zhaowen got up, staring at the woman who had fainted on the ground. If he had not been told in advance that someone would plot against him, he would have fallen into a trap today!

"Are you okay, Tongzhi Ling?" A man in black came in through the window, asking in a low voice.

Ling Zhaowen shook his head, "Nothing serious."

The man in black nodded, threw the sack on his back to the ground, and released the unconscious man out of the sack. It was Jia Yin. He placed this woman on Jia Yin's body, creating a scene where the two were committing adultery. "...Lord, he is in there!"

There was a noise outside the room, and the sound of footsteps was approaching, too.

"Tongzhi Ling, come with me." The man in black looked at Ling Zhaowen immediately.

Ling Zhaowen said gratefully, "Sorry to trouble you."

The man in black said, "You shouldn't be." Then he jumped out of the window with Ling Zhaowen and brought Jia Yin back from his unconsciousness by striking his acupoint before they left.

The next second, the door was kicked open.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, which awakened Jia Yin. Before he could reflect on his situation, he was stopped by a surprised voice.

"Big brother?!"

Jia Zhong led the way, followed by Tao Feng and others. Everyone saw what was going on inside.

Jia Zhong didn't expect that the man who hugged Liu Chengfang was his eldest brother. 'Shouldn't it be Ling Zhaowen?'

The others stood there dumbfounded. Jia Zhong took them here to expose adultery, but caught his brother right on the spot.

There was a light flashing in Tao Feng's eyes. Just now, Jia Zhong went to the Yamen and told him that Ling Zhaowen had a secret meeting with an unmarried woman and had some indiscretions, trying to take him here to expose the adultery. Although he was worried that this was a trap, he had no chance to notify Ling Family. Originally he thought Ling Zhaowen would have a big trouble this time, but he didn't expect that things would have a fortunate turn.

"Jia Zhong, you dare to ask us to come here without knowing whether the person involved is your eldest brother or Ling Zhaowen. Jia Yin is not a member of Prefecture Yamen. Since this is a privacy of your family, you should handle it by yourselves."

With that Tao Feng was ready to leave, but heard a flurry of footsteps coming from the downstairs.

"Where is Jia Yin?" A shrill woman's voice sounded.

Fang Shi ran upstairs with some people. She froze when she saw Tao Feng and others. Then she shifted her gaze from those people to the next room and went straight in. A dark look formed on her face when she saw Jia Yin holding a disheveled woman.

"Jia Yin, you shameless asshole!"

"Sister-in-law, this is a mistake." Although Jia Zhong had no idea why his brother was here, he knew that they had fallen into a trap.

"I am not blind!"

"What are you shouting at?" Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "How can you, as a woman, shout so rudely? What a bad manner!"

"Why are you blaming me? Look at what you have done!"

Jia Yin and Fang Shi had a fierce quarrel, which spread far away.

Jia Zhong clenched his fist, gnashing his teeth. "Ling Zhaowen!"

The Ling Family.

After drinking a bowl of hangover soup, Ling Zhaowen became much more sober. He thanked Yuwen Tong for many times.

"Uncle Ling, I am glad you are fine." Yuwen Tong said. Otherwise, Ling Zhang might not sleep well.

Ling Zhang stood beside Yuwen Tong, looking at his uncle without saying a word.

Ling Zhaowen knew his nephew well, so he reminded, "Zhang'er, hold your horses."

"Uncle, don't worry, I won't act recklessly," Ling Zhang answered calmly, but he was not at peace inwardly.

" Jia Family is determined to remove Xingzhong from the position of Tongzhi. They always resort to despicable means that are hard to take precautions against. They are so abominable!"

Ling Xingzhong was very angry. He had never felt sorry for losing his position, but this was the first time that he felt powerless. If he were still holding an important post in court, how dare such a insignificant Jia Family plot against his son?

Fu Caiwei's eyes turned red, but she didn't shed any tears. Because she knew that she couldn't act cowardly. She needed to take care of the whole family. Only by taking care of the affairs at home can her man fight for their family without worries.

Ling Zhaowen had drunk much. Although he had hangover soup, he still needed a rest. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong left together after Ling Zhaowen explained about what had happened.

Looking at the lonely figure of his grandfather, Ling Zhang felt very sad.

After learning of Jia Zhong's plot, he had planned to knock Jia Zhong out then replace his uncle with Jia Zhong. But with Zhang Chong backing him up, the worst result for Jia Zhong was that he married Liu Chengfang as his concubine, which wouldn't cause much trouble for him. If it were Jia Yin, it would be different. Once they enticed Fang Shi into coming to that restaurant, it would cause trouble for the Jia Family for a while.

At bottom, it was because he couldn't shake the power of the Jia Family. Instead of getting rid of such clowns as the Jia Family, to wipe out Zhang Chong, the backing of the Jia Family, was the most intractable thing for Ling Zhang. He wouldn't act rashly until he got the key evidences Yuwen Tong had mentioned that could bring eternal doom to Zhang Chong.

Ling Zhang said nothing all the way. Yuwen Tong knew that he was upset now. "I know your vexation, but you still need patience. Only in this way can you get rid of them once for all."

"I see, thank you. If you hadn't sent someone to keep watch on Jia Zhong's every movement, my uncle would have a big trouble."

This was also what made Ling Zhang feel sad. He was too weak. He kept on saying that he wouldn't take what Yuwen Tong said with a grain of salt, but every time it was Yuwen Tong who helped him at a crucial moment. Without Yuwen Tong, could he manage to keep his uncle and his whole family safe in the endless conspiracies of the Jia Family and Zhang Chong?

"I told you many times that your business is mine, I don't want to repeat it again."

Yuwen Tong looked at Ling Zhang. What he needed was not Ling Zhang's gratitude. And for now, Ling Zhang had lost in depression.

"Did it make you feel bad to get my help?"

Ling Zhang didn't expect that Yuwen Tong's words were so straightforward, which shocked him. He would look down on himself if he admitted. But if he didn't, then why he felt disgusted with himself?

"Once I was put in danger too, and I also hated my weakness."

Yuwen Tong suddenly talked about his past and admitted that he had hated himself for his weakness.

Ling Zhang was shocked. "..."

"Are you surprised? No one is born strong. The reason why today's Emperor can ascend to the throne is because he has undergone the most severe trials and finally survived the sea of dead bodies. And I have seen and experienced more than he did. At that time, Wan Country was very strong, and they constantly attacked the border of Great Yue, almost taking both Shengzhou and Youzhou. And it was in that battle that my grandfather was killed in a sneak attack by the enemy. His body was badly trampled by the horses, but fortunately, it was preserved at last. I was very young at that time, but I wanted revenge, I wanted to guard against Great Yue's border. All I could do was keep fighting, keep improving myself, keep learning the art of war, and keep dealing with the power struggle of the court, the family, the border, and the countless secret plots by the enemy. If I didn't stick to it, there wouldn't be a Grand Marshal in the Great Yue? If that's the case, I am afraid the Great Yue would have already ceased to exist."

"I am not telling you this to prove how hard I used to be, but to tell you that I have been through some tough times, too. There's nothing shameful about getting help from others. On the contrary, the shameful thing is that when others are willing to offer help, you fail by not taking the chance."

After saying that, Yuwen Tong fixed his eyes on Ling Zhang. His eyes were bright with indestructible light that illuminated Ling Zhang's soul.

It was late at night, and they were still standing in the yard. The moon overhead lit up the yard.

Ling Zhang looked up slightly at Yuwen Tong. He was shocked by Yuwen Tong's experience and couldn't dissipate it from his mind for a long time.

The hardships of the previous life and the difficulties of this life made him stronger, meanwhile, he was also bound by these experiences; the hatred bound his mind; the situation of Tanyang and the Ling Family also tied him firmly in this place, making it difficult for him to realize his aspirations.

Did he not look forward to a beam of light to illuminate his path and help him break through all obstacles?

Now Yuwen Tong's eyes was that beacon.

At this moment, he finally relieved and kept what Yuwen Family had done in previous life and all of his suspicion of Yuwen Tong in this life in his mind.

What was hard for him to understand and see through now, he would figure it out one day. It was better to let it go than entangled in it.

"Thank You." Ling Zhang showed his heartfelt thanks to Yuwen Tong.

"Thank you for telling me. You are right, I should take advantage of your power. I have said that you are my solidest backing, so I will count on you well. And I will depend on your help before you get out of these matters."

Yuwen Tong stared into Ling Zhang's eyes, noting the grit, resolution as well as unwavering conviction that were slowly gathering in them. A smile slowly adorned Ling Zhang's face. Simple, pure, elegant, and beautiful, just like a flower blooming under the moonlight.

"Young master, Lord Yuwen, Old Master asks me to inform the two of you to have dinner," a servant came and said.

Their worry about Ling Zhaowen robbed them of their appetite. So the dinner was postponed.

"Let's go."

Ling Zhang restrained his smile, but obviously his attitude towards Yuwen Tong softened a lot.

Yuwen Tong arched his eyebrow, following Ling Zhang with joy. Ling Zhang's attitude brightened his eyes.

"They were haunted all night by the farce made by Jia Yin. Fang shi and Jia Yin even got into a fight. Jia Yin said that Fang was a jealous hellcat, and that he wanted to marry Liu Chengfang as his second wife and let her enjoy the same status as Fang."The next morning, the guard, who spied on the Jia Family all the night, reported.

"Don't spend too much time watching these two people. The most important thing is to keep an eye on Jia Zhong."

"Got it."

"Did you find anything wrong about Zhang Chong?"

"Zhang Chong never showed up again after transporting the ores back to the encampment. Ling Family's herb farm is under the close watch of guards and steward, so Zhang Chong didn't find any chance to arrest the farmers. The guards sent by Childe Ling to keep watch at night also found no suspicious targets."

"Keep a close eye on him. With the new ores, there will be a new batch of weapons in the near future. Barring accidents, he's gonna hide them. All we need to do is find out where he's hiding his weapons."

"Got it."

"Call Yao Yi to come in."

"Yes, Marshal."

After a while, Yao Yi came in and said, "Marshall, are you looking for me?"

"In a few days, I'm going to find out the hideout of bandits. You stay and give Ling Family a hand if anything bad happens."

"Got it, Marshal. You going there in person?"

"Right."

Although Ling Zhang could take advantage of Yuwen Tong's power, he never relaxed himself at all. After dinner, he went back to his study and studied how to arrange the twelve guards in the most appropriate position in the Trap and Kill Formation of Twelve; after looking at the several options he had previously considered, he was trying to make more plans.

The Trap and Kill Formation of Twelve had twelve different variations, each of which could turn into a new one; these formations looked completely different, but in fact, they were all connected with each other and they were also flexible. Now even Ling Zhang found it difficult to apply and grasp this formation completely, so it was impossible for those guards to do the same. They could only practice it one by one.

The problem was, in addition to the most basic formation, which formation should he choose for the guards to begin with?

Once Ling Zhang immersed himself in his thinking, he would forget the passage of time.

"Marshal, the light in the childe Ling's room is still on."

The guard of Green Bamboo Mansion squatted on the wall between the two courtyards, turning his head to shout toward the Green Bamboo Mansion.

Yuwen Tong didn't sleep either. On his desk was a map of Tanyang and some detailed topographic maps of each county of Tanyang, which were collected in special ways by Yaoyi these days. One of them was a topographic map of Qi County, which was located in the southwest of the Tanyang city. This map was specially marked with a big red circle by Yuwen Tong.

Hearing the guard's words, Yuwen Tong put the map aside, and glanced at the water clock. It was already in midnight.

He had wanted to get up but gave up the idea after some thought. Ling Zhang was no longer a child and had his own way of handling matters. So he couldn't decide everything for Ling Zhang. He thought that it was hard for Ling Zhang to have a good sleep before getting rid of Zhang Chong. Why not let him do what he wanted? Maybe keeping busy would make him feel a little at ease.

In the early morning of the next day, Ling Zhang showed up at the residence of the guards on time. Wang Dashan had expanded the original training ground according to Ling Zhang's orders, and he had removed all the sundries around the ground.

"Young master, are you still going to train our cooperation today?"

"Yes."

In order to follow Ling Zhang's instructions, the guards did nothing else but continue to practice the cooperation with each other. It was not until evening that their practice worked a little.

For the next two days, Ling Zhang continued training the guards' ability to cooperate with each other.

Yuwen Tong was not in the Mansion these days, and Ling Zhang didn't know and hadn't asked where he had gone. Yunwen Tong would tell him if he wanted to. Since Ling Zhaowen was almost framed last time, now there were more than three attendants accompanying him to Yamen every day. He was quite safe under the protection of these attendants these two days.

On this day, Fu Caiwei came to tell him that Jiang's Herbs had sent those two herbs here and all the herbs he needed had been collected.

Yuwen Tong was not here, so Ling Zhang was not in a hurry to start the medicine bath. "Aunt, I am really sorry to trouble you. In a few days, I will visit Jiang's Herbs and express my gratitude to them in person."

"That's a good idea. Well, Lord Yuwen is away lately, do you know where he's gone?"

Fu Caiwei looked at Ling Zhang with her probing eyes.

Ling Zhang knew what his aunt was thinking. He knew that she was wondering if the relationship between he and Yuwen Tong had developed in a good way and if Ling Zhang might change his mind to break the engagement. Instead of exposing her, he replied, "He doesn't tell me, and I didn't ask him, either. But the guard said he will be away for a few days."

Ling Zhang's answer almost perfectly avoided what Fu Caiwen wanted to know, which made her feel a little disappointed. She was quite satisfied with Yuwen Tong; she thought her nephew, Ling Zhang, was good enough, too, and only a man like Yuwen Tong could deserve Ling Zhang; however, she also understood that it was all Ling Zhang's choice to make.

Fu Caiwei left with disappointment. Ling Zhang stood for a while before going to the residence of the guards.

Xia Feng had come back from Yanzhou the day before. He checked Liu Yi's background and found nothing suspicious.

So they were officially going to start practicing the Trap and Kill Formation of Twelve.

However, things did not go as smoothly as Ling Zhang had expected. It took Ling Zhang half a day to explain the Trap and Kill Formation to the twelve guards. If he wanted them to keep every position in mind, he needed to impart some basic knowledge about formations to them.

Ling Zhang pulled a long face the whole morning. And the guards were silent with guilty.

"Young master, we are all uneducated boors who know nothing about formation. Please don't be angry with us. I will urge them to practice hard and grasp the knowledge you taught us as soon as possible." For fear of provoking Ling Zhang, Wang Dashan said cautiously.

Ling Zhang knew that it was all because of his own thoughtlessness. After taking a deep breath, he said, "Suspend the afternoon training. I'm going to teach you the basics of orientation discrimination, location selection, terrain identification and distance measurement. I was too hasty today in this matter, so it's not all your fault. Have a rest now. I will come again this afternoon."

The guards felt a sense of relief. Qiu Bing scratched the head, saying, "Young master, do we need to bring brush and ink?"

Other people were concerned about it, too. Compared with practicing martial arts, reading and writing were more difficult for them!

"No, I will tell you what to do."

"Got it, young master, we'll study hard this afternoon."

Ling Zhong nodded, letting them to have a rest. Then he had a talk with Wang Dashan and Liu Yi. "You have to keep watch tonight, can you stand it?"

"That's OK. We will take turns at night, so that we will both have good rest and keep energetic at day. Don't worry about us."

Both Wang Dashan and Liu Yi said that the training would not have an impact on their evening activities. If they were really tired, they would tell Ling Zhang on their own initiative.

Ling Zhang found that they didn't seem to be in low spirits, so he didn't say anything more. After leaving the guards' residence, he passed on a message to the servants in the kitchen that they should provide more nutritious meat dishes to the guards every noon.

Although the person in charge of the expenditure of the kitchen was Fu Caiwei, she had said that as long as it was Ling Zhang's request, they had to follow even if it would cost more money. So the servants in the kitchen promised him right away.

At noon, there were a few more meat dishes in the food for the guards, which deeply touched the group of men.

At the moment they were very happy, but Ling Zhang was not. After helping himself some lunch, he began to write down the knowledge points to be taught to the guards; then he sorted out and refined these points one by one. He had been sitting here since he started doing this. Not until the appointed time came did he take the things he prepared to the guards' residence.

"That will keep Childe Ling busy for a while. These guys are a group of illiterates. It will take a lot of effort to let the knowledge sink in."

Yao Yi, who was on guard on the roof of the Green Bamboo Mansion, looked at what was happening in the residence of the guards in the distance while complaining to the other guard.