Chapter 22 The Truth.

Lingyi shook her head; she didn't believe it, or rather, she didn't want to believe it.

She knew that Qin Lie had a wife from his first marriage, and she never dared to hope that she could replace her. She only hoped that Qin Lie had some affection for her, so that she could have a place to settle down for the rest of her life and not be lonely and miserable.

"Since I am so insignificant, why did you go to such lengths to collude with Manager Chen to deceive me?"

It was Xie San Niang who said that if Qin Lie had no feelings for her, why would he go to such lengths? That's why she had no choice but to threaten suicide.

Lingyi looked at him with hope, hoping that he had only spoken recklessly in a fit of anger.

Qin Lie's smile deepened: "The day you went to Ningzhou, if you hadn't shielded me from a knife, I would have thrown you back to the princess's residence to fend for yourself. After that, I would have just been there to add some fun for you. I didn't expect the princess to take it so seriously." He took her hand and placed it on her lower abdomen, his tone gentle: "It's laughable that the princess still wants to bear my child. Does the princess know that every bowl of nourishing medicine we've taken since we had sex is for contraception? I said 'we won't have to drink it anymore soon,' not because your body is recovering quickly, but because if you drink that medicine for a year or two, a woman will never be able to conceive again."

Lingyi's face was completely drained of color.

She never asked for anything, only a stable home and a child of her own. Why did he have to take even that away from her?!

She fought back tears and asked, word by word, "Why...why did you do this to me?"

Qin Lie coldly replied, "Because your birth mother was of lowly birth, a prostitute. Because my elder brother and third uncle died at the hands of your father, how could I allow you to give birth to a member of my Qin family?"

Lingyi questioned, "If that's the case, why did you still marry me?"

Qin Lie looked at her with the ignorance of a three-year-old child, "Naturally, it's because the emperor's decree is hard to disobey. When the emperor is angry, millions will die. Your father has arranged this marriage, how could I refuse?"

"I originally only intended to be your fake husband and wife, but you are naturally lewd. You drugged me on our wedding night and deliberately plotted against me after we returned to Jizhou. The princess is so enthusiastic, I can only refuse her. Isn't the princess enjoying herself too?"

From the coldness in his eyes when we first met, to his indifference after returning to Jizhou, to his visits only at night, and the various attitudes of the Qin family.

All the doubts have been answered.

Lingyi thought she would be devastated, but strangely, her mind was incredibly clear, as if a huge boulder had finally been lifted from her shoulders. She even felt a strange sense of relief, and her tears vanished.

"In that case, I beg the general to grant me a divorce."

Ling Yi said, looking at Qin Lie with clear, cold eyes, "Now that the court is in chaos, no one can restrain the general. If the general feels that divorce would be a disgrace to the royal family, I only ask for a letter of divorce and will not delay the general."

Qin Lie's eyes turned completely cold. "You've asked to step down, so where do you intend to go?"

Lingyi made no attempt to hide her feelings: "Jinzhou! Lingyi is incompetent, unable to help her elder brothers and sisters, unable to live with them, but only willing to die with them!"

"What a fine 'live and die together'!" Qin Lie roared in anger. With a flick of his right hand, he slashed the short knife at Ling Yi's neck. A strand of her hair fell to the ground, and the short knife was deeply embedded in the earth.

Lingyi subconsciously reached out and touched a slight scratch and a splash of bright red.

Qin Lie stood up and looked down at her.

"Liu Lingyi, your fate was sealed the day your father arranged your marriage."

"In life, you cannot leave Jizhou even for a moment; in death, you can only die in the princess's residence!"

The palace servants only knew that Zhao Mama had been knocked unconscious and hidden under the bed that night, and that the princess's residence had been robbed again.

The next day, the princess's residence was guarded by many more guards. They had been ordered that no one was allowed to step out of the inner courtyard.

These guards were originally soldiers in the camp. They were rude, cold, and inhumane. Within a few days, they had a minor conflict with the palace staff.

Baozhu complained, "Even though the princess's residence has been robbed time and again, we can just send more people to guard it. Why restrict our comings and goings?"

Pearl chimed in, "Princess, those guards are very fierce. When the prince consort comes again, you must complain about them and drive them away!"

Lingyi lowered her head to sew a purse: "He won't come again."

"Huh? What did the princess say?" Pearl wondered if she had misheard.

Lingyi smiled slightly, nonchalantly: "It's nothing important, it doesn't matter if you don't hear it."

.

In early October, the Seventh Prince promised high-ranking official positions and generous salaries. The three prefectures of Danzhou, Hengzhou, and Xuzhou sent troops to Jinzhou. When the capital city of Jinzhou fell, the four prefectures of Shu, Wu, Jingzhou, and Ezhou, under the Crown Prince's orders, secretly sent troops to the capital under the pretext of rescuing the emperor. Only 20,000 troops remained to defend the capital. Liu Yunfei had no choice but to abandon Jinzhou and withdraw his troops to reinforce it. He was ambushed by General Shen, who was lying in wait on the road. In the end, he led more than 10,000 soldiers to retreat to Danzhou.

The fourteenth prince consort, Geng Qing, fought his way into the palace, but unfortunately, the seventh prince, Prime Minister Guo, and Consort Guo escaped the capital with Emperor Jiahe through a secret passage when the city fell, and then returned to Hengzhou.

The Crown Prince intended to press his advantage, but Hengzhou was Prime Minister Guo's hometown, and after more than twenty years of management, it was a tough nut to crack. Moreover, Liu Yunfei was leading his troops to transfer to Hengzhou.

The Imperial Guards, which the Crown Prince should have controlled, were either taken away by Liu Yunfei or killed, while the soldiers of Shu, Wu, Jing, and E provinces were perfunctory and unwilling to pursue them.

Ultimately, this was the bitter fruit of the imperial court's emphasis on civil affairs and suppression of military affairs over the years. In particular, Emperor Jiahe had repeatedly embezzled military pay in recent years, and these soldiers mostly relied on local officials for supplies. Therefore, although they did not have the intention to rebel, they also could not feel loyalty to the emperor.

The capital city is so rich and dazzling that people are too busy enjoying the rewards and honors they've earned. Who would be willing to risk their life?

Now, neither the Crown Prince nor the Seventh Prince can do anything about the other, and they exchange proclamations every day.

One accused the other of harboring wolfish ambitions, colluding with foreign officials, and plotting a rebellion.

One side claimed that the other side had kidnapped the emperor, forged imperial edicts, and harbored treacherous ambitions.

Lingyi heard news from outside more than half a month later, when Xie Sanniang disguised herself as a soldier responsible for delivering firewood to the inner courtyard.

Upon seeing Lingyi, she said with shame, "After returning, the young master gave me a severe scolding. Our orders were to secretly assist the princess only when she was in trouble, and not to disturb her at other times. I'm so sorry. If I hadn't rashly come to you, you would still be that carefree princess. How could you have ended up in such a state?"

She was unconvinced at the time—Qin Lie was willing to go to great lengths to keep the princess in the dark about what was happening outside, so he must have feelings for her. With the young master trapped in Jinzhou, she was extremely anxious and naturally wanted to try everything possible.

Her experiment left the princess's mansion, though still well-fed and clothed, utterly lifeless. Even the once innocent princess now possessed an expression as calm as the surface of an ancient well, chillingly still. The thought of the seventeen-year-old princess being confined to this mansion, withering away like a flower, filled Xie San Niang with an even deeper sense of guilt.

Lingyi comforted her, saying, "What is fake will never become real. I should be grateful to you for letting me see the truth. Please don't blame yourself."

Xie Sanniang sighed, "The young master reprimanded me that day, saying that Qin Lie was suspicious and vindictive, and that the princess, though seemingly gentle, was actually strong-willed. He blamed me for acting rashly and only making things worse, and I was still unconvinced. Now..."

Fortunately, there was still a chance to salvage the situation. She asked, "Would the princess be willing to return to the capital with me?"

Upon hearing this, Lingyi's eyes lit up: "I can go back?"

Xie Sanniang said, "I came here to take you back, but the inner courtyard of the princess's residence is too heavily guarded right now. No palace servants or eunuchs are allowed to leave. Even if soldiers come in, one person has to go out before the other can come in. Even then, they still have to be checked again after they leave. I need to wait until the security here is a bit looser before I can find an opportunity."

Will there really be a day when we let our guard down? Lingyi recalled Qin Lie's expression that day and found it hard to convince herself otherwise.

After a moment's thought, she said to Xie San Niang, "Perhaps I have a way to get out of here sooner."

While the two women were having their private conversation, Qin Lie happened to be passing by the princess's residence on horseback.

Seeing that he wasn't looking at him directly, Qin Hong asked curiously, "I forgot to ask before, but I heard that you suddenly sent people to watch over the princess's residence because it was burgled. Were the thieves caught? I'd like to see who dared to be so bold. No matter how much of a figurehead the princess is, she's still nominally a member of our royal family. Does anyone really dare to mess with us?"

Qin Lie's expression was already solemn, but upon hearing this, it became even colder. "Instead of worrying about these irrelevant people, you should think about how to report back to the Prince later."

After training the new recruits, Qin Hong went directly to Ningzhou and colluded with Sun Yuebin. Now the entire Ningzhou is under their control, but the two are still not satisfied and are sharpening their knives at Huangzhou, eager to try their luck.

A few days ago, several soldiers went missing. The centurion suspected that they had been tricked by the White Lotus Sect and wanted to go to Huangzhou to search for them. The other side refused, and a fight broke out.

Qin Hong was disappointed and dissatisfied. Why was it just one skirmish, not a full-scale battle? He blamed the soldiers who had sneaked out for a night of revelry for returning too quickly; before he could even lead his troops there after receiving the message, they were back at the camp. And the White Lotus Sect in Huangzhou was too cowardly. Their own men had been beaten so badly for no reason, yet their leader still had the audacity to smile, apologize, and offer up a pile of gifts and a group of beautiful women, forcing Qin Hong to call a retreat.

—We can't just do as Sun Yuebin suggested and secretly kill those soldiers and frame the White Lotus Cult members. After all, they are our own soldiers, and their crime of drinking and carousing doesn't warrant such a punishment.

For some reason, after Qin Lie learned of this, although he did not say a word, he wanted to return to Jizhou with him a few days later.

With just this slight movement, Qin Hong felt as if he had done something wrong, but he couldn't figure out what he had done wrong.

He had a vague feeling that his third brother had changed.

This wasn't the first time he'd felt this way.

Because of his strained relationship with his stepmother, he lived with his uncle's family from a young age. At that time, his uncle was not a prince, but a general.

When he first arrived at the general's mansion, his eldest brother had already started going to the battlefield with his uncle, and his second brother had also been taken to the military camp by his uncle for training. The only boy in the family was Qin Lie, who was three years older than him, and the two of them spent all their time together.

Both of their older brothers were outstanding, so the Qin family didn't have high expectations for them. Their grandmother also felt that swords and spears were indiscriminate on the battlefield, and the Qin family should have one or two descendants who didn't go to the battlefield. Therefore, she was quite indulgent towards them.

Qin Lie was a tyrant when he was young, but he became a demon king when he grew up to be ten years old.

The "Sixth Master" title these days is nothing compared to what they were called back then. Qin Lie relied not on the Qin family, but on his excellent martial arts skills and sharp mind.

No one can force him to do what he doesn't want to do, and he will definitely succeed in doing what he wants to do.

Until the battle the Qin family thought they would win, when Uncle and Elder Brother used themselves as bait, hoping to exchange this battle for ten years of peace on the border, more than 40,000 soldiers were buried on the battlefield. From that day on, some members of the Qin family became Buddhist monks, some turned white-haired overnight, some became despondent, some were plagued by illness, and some lost their parents at a young age.

Some people entered the army camp alone without saying a word, and worked their way up from a lowly soldier to eventually carry the banner of the Jizhou Army.

This was the first time Qin Lie had changed.

Qin Hong couldn't say when the second time was, but it was probably after he returned from the capital.

In the military, he began to promote some young generals, and outside the military, he made great use of talents like Sun Yuebin who "took an unconventional approach".

Qin Hong didn't know if his feeling was right, nor did he know what Qin Lie was going to do.

He knew one thing: following his third brother would never be a mistake or a loss!

Therefore, he has decided that if the prince asks about Ningzhou, he will take full responsibility for it.

However, he was clearly overthinking things. In the current turbulent situation, a mere Prince of Dingbei in Ningzhou couldn't possibly have anything to do with it.

"The Seventh Prince forged an imperial edict, granting the governors of Danzhou, Hengzhou, and Xuzhou the title of kings of different surnames, each of whom could annex two prefectures."

Qin Hong's eyes widened. "Are kings of different surnames so worthless? For decades, there was only one in our family, but now, suddenly three have appeared!"

The remaining people in the study looked at him speechlessly, but they had to admit that his words, though rough, were not without merit.

Qin Xu asked, "Which provinces do they want to annex?"

The prince said, "It wasn't mentioned in the imperial edict."

Qin Xu asked in confusion, "Wasn't it mentioned?"

Not mentioned.

"That means... whichever province he can swallow, he will take." Qin Lie commented, "This seventh prince has truly run out of ideas."

Of the twenty-one northern prefectures, some large, some small, some strong, some weak, if the Seventh Prince were to forge an edict specifying which prefecture to annex, it would serve no purpose other than to force that prefecture to side with the Crown Prince. By leaving it unmentioned, he tacitly approved the three large prefectures of Danzhou, Hengzhou, and Xuzhou to arbitrarily annex two smaller prefectures.

No wonder that in addition to Hengzhou, the other two prefectures also sent troops to attack Jin; it seems there was an agreement beforehand.

Qin Xu sighed, "The north will be in chaos! No, I fear the whole country will be in chaos!"

This move is tantamount to sending a signal: as long as the Seventh Prince is supported, small states can be swallowed up to strengthen oneself. How many governors of large states would not be tempted?

Qin Lie asked, "How will the Crown Prince defend himself?"

The prince said, "The cabinet has drafted an edict stating that the emperor has been held hostage by treacherous individuals, and the crown prince will temporarily oversee the country. The annual tribute paid by the four prefectures of Shu, Wu, Jing, and E will be reduced by 50% over the next three years. Several generals who have come to the capital have also been appointed. In particular, the fourteenth prince consort, Geng Qing, has been appointed as the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, succeeding Liu Yunfei."

Qin Xu praised, "The Crown Prince's side has quite a plan."

The Seventh Prince made a foolish move because he had nothing but Emperor Jiahe.

The Crown Prince, on the other hand, had the entire imperial court. Originally, the court collected a fixed amount of grain and silver from each state annually based on the population and land area of ​​each state, with the tax rate within each state determined by the state itself.

For example, Jizhou stipulated that farmland tax was one-fifteenth of the land tax, commercial tax was one-tenth of the land tax, and the annual poll tax was approximately 150 coins for adults and 30 coins for children, with corvée labor also included.

Apart from the grain and silver collected and handed over to the imperial court, the remainder was used by the family.

After Qin Shiyan was enfeoffed as the Prince of Dingbei, he was in charge of taxes, grain, and corvée labor, and only needed to pay a small amount of silver to the court each year.

Jizhou is located on the border, so it doesn't have to pay much to the imperial court. The Qin family distributes taxes to the people within a reasonable range, and they never increase taxes unless there is a major disaster year.

Some states were different. If the previous governor of Huangzhou hadn't increased the land tax to one-third, driving the disaster-stricken people to the brink of despair, the White Lotus Sect probably wouldn't have been able to expand so quickly.

The Crown Prince's reduction of annual tribute was undoubtedly an attempt to win over the hearts of the people.

Those larger states were often more prosperous, and it was more tangible to have something in hand than to obey a false edict and send troops to attack the surrounding small, impoverished states. The officials of the smaller states were naturally on his side, and with the gratitude of the people, the crown prince had already achieved an overwhelming victory in terms of reputation.

Unfortunately, he still had no troops at his disposal.

That's why he appointed Geng Qing as the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard.

Geng Qing was not only brave and skilled in battle, but also came from a poor background. Apart from the governor of Shu Prefecture who had helped him, he had no other connections in the court.

As the son-in-law of the emperor, it is perfectly legitimate for him to remain in the capital. Naturally, there will be soldiers who desire wealth and status willing to stay with him. By first stabilizing the situation in the capital with them, and then recruiting more soldiers, all problems can be easily solved.

Such profound foresight and skillful use of minimal effort are reminiscent of the work of the former chief minister.

Even the prince couldn't help but sigh, "The old prime minister may not have produced any good students, but he certainly has a fine grandson!"

But Qin Lie sneered, "In my opinion, he's just being clever for his own good. As the saying goes, it's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away. Geng Qing is not someone to be trifled with."

He was usually taciturn and rarely spoke like this, so the prince glanced at him before continuing, "Although Danzhou, Hengzhou, and Xuzhou do not border us, if war breaks out in Bingzhou and the people are displaced, we may not be able to remain unscathed. I have summoned you here today so that you will be more vigilant. The border is peaceful these days, so you do not need to go to the military camp. You must guard the borders of Chongzhou and Tongzhou!"

Qin Xu, Qin Lie, and Qin Hong stood up in unison, clasped their hands in greeting, and said, "As you command!"