Qi Yuning and Lu Ze were packing their luggage for the army.

Lingling clung to Lu Ze's arms, sometimes asking Lu Ze to hold her, sometimes asking Qi Yuning to hold her, and was very noisy.

After packing their luggage, Qi Yuning and Lu Ze went to the dining hall. Today was the Dragon Boat Festival, and the food at Prince Qi's Mansion was very delicious.

When the Third Master and the Third Lady of the Lu family learned that their two daughters would not listen to advice and wanted to go to the battlefield, they were so angry that they did not look in a good mood at the dinner table.

A Ping's face was also full of worry.

At today's dinner, Lu Yun was the only one who could eat his meal without a care in the world.

Even Lingling no longer craved turtle legs or chicken legs.

Lu Yun was eating mutton by himself. Seeing that no one was eating, he said, "Why aren't you eating? Pingping, you are eating a lot now. Don't worry, I will take good care of you after Prince Qi leaves!"

Lu Ze looked at Lu Yun and said, "Aren't you coming with us?"

Lu Yun was so scared that the mutton in his chopsticks fell off, "I will go to the battlefield with you?"

Lu Ze nodded and said, "Brother Zhao and Brother Hui are younger than you and both went. Baoshuang and Baoxue also went. Why don't you go?"

Lu Yun walked up to Princess Pingrou and said, "Mom, you only have two sons. Wouldn't you be worried to death if both of them went to the battlefield? Besides, who will take care of Pingping if I leave?"

Princess Pingrou looked at Lu Ze and said, "Ze'er, your brother..."

"He has to go!" Lu Ze said, "He became a monk without considering the consequences. He is already seventeen years old and has no sense of responsibility. He must go to the battlefield to experience hardships and training!"

Lu Yun touched his hair unconvincedly, "Brother, please don't burn your bridges after crossing the river. If I hadn't become a monk at that time, Qi Yuning would be my princess, your sister-in-law, and Lingling would be my daughter..."

Before he even uttered the word "son", he was met with dagger-like gazes from Qi Yu'an, Lu Ze, and Qi Yuning.

Lu Baozhu kicked Lu Yun and said, "Just go if I tell you to! Why are you bringing up such a topic? You really want them to deal with you, right? This is Qi Yuning's territory!"

Lu Yun said: "But if I leave, who will take care of Pingping?"

Although Princess Pingrou was also worried about the lack of judgment in the battlefield, she was confident in Lu Ze because this child was raised by the old Duke and was calm and steady. But she was still worried about Lu Yun. But what Lu Ze said was right. Lu Yun needed to gain some experience.

"I will take care of your aunt."

Lu Yun said: "What do you mean Pingping is my aunt? She is just my grandfather's goddaughter, but she is not my aunt."

Qi Yu'an glanced at Ah Ping and said, "You didn't tell him that you are his biological aunt?"

Ah Ping said, "I told him, but he didn't believe it."

Lu Yun looked at everyone's expressions and asked Lu Ze, "Brother, is Pingping really my aunt?"

Lu Ze nodded and said, "Yes."

Lu Yun covered his heart and looked at Ah Ping, full of disbelief, "How can you be my biological aunt?"

Ah Ping nodded and said, "I am your aunt, Your Majesty, please take good care of him when you are out there."

Qi Yu'an patted Ah Ping's hand and said, "Just wait for the birth with peace of mind. If I'm not far from Beicheng at that time, I'll try my best to come back and accompany you to give birth..."

Ah Ping shook her head and said, "No, no, you should focus on the important things. I'm fine. With Princess Pingrou here, I will give birth to the baby safely. You don't have to worry about me too much."

After dinner, we finally have to say goodbye.

Qi Yuning changed into a neat riding outfit, mounted the red horse, and looked at Xiao Lingling at the gate of Prince Qi's mansion, full of reluctance. Xiao Lingling, holding the lantern, was about to cry.

Lu Ze reached out and held Qi Yuning's hand, "Let's go."

Qi Yuning rode his horse to catch up with the team in front of him, not daring to look back to see if Lingling was crying.

Qi Yuning said to Lu Ze: "When I was young, I hated my mother. Why did other mothers stay at home to raise children, but my mother went to the battlefield even when she was pregnant with my sister? Why couldn't she stay with me?"

Qi Yuning pursed her lips and said, "I've heard many people say at banquets before that Prince Qi's wife is a fierce girl from a small family. If she was a lady from a noble family, how could she follow her husband to the battlefield? How could she be so attached to her husband that she even abandoned her two children at home?"

Lu Ze said: "That's not the case."

Qi Yuning said calmly, "Some people also say that my mother is not a good mother or a good wife. As a woman, she should manage the household affairs at home and not be seen in public with men. As the consort of the prince of Qi's mansion, going to the military camp and living and eating with male soldiers is simply a disgrace to the consort."

Lu Ze said: "You don't have to listen to their nonsense."

Qi Yuning said: "When I was a child, I hated my mother for this. Later, when I was a little more sensible, I knew that my mother was a heroine and a hero of the Great Sheng Dynasty. My mother cared about the world and the people of Great Sheng with a chivalrous heart."

"My mother left me to go to the battlefield. I believe her. She must have been very reluctant to leave me, just as I am reluctant to leave Lingling now. But Beimo is coming with great force, and she needs to go to the battlefield to defend our Dasheng!

My mother has a great love in her heart, and she cares about the country and the people. It's not that my brother and I are not important. Yu An and Yuning, what my parents have always wanted is peace in the world."

Seeing the tears in Qi Yuning's eyes, Lu Ze held her fingers and said, "Well, General Liu must have been very reluctant to leave you at that time. She must have been more reluctant to leave you than you are now because she had gone through the pain of ten months of pregnancy and had been with you for four years."

Qi Yuning gritted her teeth and held back her tears. She looked at the stars in the sky and said, "I have always been proud of my mother, and I also want Lingling to be proud of me."

Lu Ze said: "Lingling is already proud of you."

The only route the army could take from Beicheng to Shengjing was through seven prefectures, namely Liangzhou, Longzhou, Qinzhou, Qinzhou, Shanzhou, Chang'an, Shangzhou, and then to Shengjing. This route was more than two thousand miles long.

Unlike before when they could travel on horseback day and night, there are so many soldiers along the way, and they don’t know whether the provincial officials and soldiers will stop them. It may take several months to reach Shengjing.

Liangzhou borders Beicheng, and the people of Liangzhou welcome the troops of Prince Qi's Mansion with great enthusiasm. It can be said that without Prince Qi's Mansion conquering the northern desert territory for Beicheng, Liangzhou would not have had the good days in the past fifteen years.

The officials of Liangzhou did not dare to stop him and even provided a lot of military supplies.

After leaving Liangzhou City and arriving in Longzhou, the Qi family's troops were stopped outside the city.

Qi Yu'an ordered to set up camp.

After counting the military rations, Qi Yuning entered Qi Yu'an's tent and looked for Qi Yu'an and said, "I remember now. Is the governor of Longzhou from the Qin family?"

Lu Ze said, "Yes, not only is the governor of Longzhou closely related to the Qin family, but the governor of Longyou is also the son-in-law of Qin Guojiu. I'm afraid Longzhou can't be passed easily."

Qi Yu'an showed the map of Longzhou and said, "Longyou has always been an important place for Dasheng to deploy troops. There are 80,000 soldiers there. We can mobilize a total of 100,000 soldiers. We can fight, but we are afraid that the Shuofang troops will come to help. If so, we will be attacked from both sides."

Qi Yuning looked at the topography in the map, which also marked the locations of the Longyou Road soldiers. He said, "Longzhou City has so many soldiers. It looks like it will be a tough battle."

Qi Yuning clenched the Buddhist beads on her wrist. She prayed for peace, but she also knew that only by reaching Shengjing as soon as possible and eliminating the Qin family who were plotting rebellion could the world be prevented from continuing to be in chaos.

Qi Yu'an instructed Zhong Ming who was standing beside him, "Call Zhu Feng and Zhu Yang, your brothers, to discuss the siege."

When Qi Yuning heard about the siege, he left the military tent and looked at Longzhou City in the distance. He knew that the siege would surely result in a river of blood.

But if the Qin family's rebellion really succeeds, who knows how many people will die in Shengjing City.

What's more, the Qin family has killed countless people. They were capable of feeding the daughter of the housekeeper and Nanny Qin to dogs and torturing the ten-year-old Princess Shan to death. These were things worse than those of beasts. If the Qin family were to become emperor, it would be a misfortune for the people of the entire country.

"Princess."

The spy who had gathered information from Longzhou City came to the military camp and saluted when he saw Qi Yuning.

Qi Yuning asked: "Is there any important news in Longzhou City?"

"There is a piece of news. I don't know if it's important or not. The eldest son of Huang Tao, the governor of Longyou Road, died suddenly. The Huang family was in grief. They all said that Young Master Huang's wife had committed adultery and was seen by Young Master Huang. Young Master Huang was so angry that he died on the spot."

Qi Yuning was thinking about the eldest wife of the governor of Longyou Road. She felt familiar with her, so she asked, "The young wife of the governor of Longyou Road looks so familiar. Do you know which family she belongs to?"

"She is Madam Ning's adopted daughter, Shen Nian. Speaking of which, she was also the daughter of Prince Qi's mansion."

Qi Yuning suddenly remembered that back then, the Qi family was not just composed of her and her brother, but also Fourth Aunt.

As soon as the news of Fourth Uncle's death came, Fourth Aunt miscarried the six-month-old baby in her belly. For this reason, Fourth Aunt adopted a fatherless and motherless girl from the Qi family army as her adopted daughter. The girl was one year older than Qi Yuning and was named Qi Nian.

Fourth Aunt stayed in the Qi family for three years and hardly ever left the house.

After mourning for three years, Fourth Aunt's family took her back to the Ning family and betrothed her to the young master of the Shen family, a prominent family in Shuofang. Fourth Aunt also took her adopted daughter away and changed her name to Shen Nian.

Fourth Aunt was not in Shengjing City, and Qi Yuning rarely heard news about them, but she did hear about Shen Nian's marriage two years ago.

The Shen family did not send an invitation to Prince Qi's mansion to announce the good news. At that time, Qi Yuning just listened to it and did not dare to send any gifts.

After all, Fourth Aunt has remarried, and Prince Qi's Mansion is afraid that the Shen family will be unhappy if they send gifts to her adopted daughter.

I didn't expect this sister to do such a thing...