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"Lin'er, do you think Father's hands are clean?"

Fan Zhong quickly carried the little princess back to the emperor's tent.

Emperor Xingwu was just about to instruct the Crown Prince and Qin Ren on what to do next when he saw the paper-white little princess in Fan Zhong's arms. He immediately stepped over the low table in front of him, took his daughter into his arms, and asked Fan Zhong, "What happened to Lin'er?"

"Father, I'm fine." Qingyang said reluctantly, then leaned on his father's shoulder and cried.

Six years ago, her father asked her to pretend that she didn't know about Yuan Zhaoxiong's corruption and to continue to treat Yuan Chongli as a playmate. Qingyang did as she was told, but in her heart, she already regarded Yuan Chongli and Yuan Jie as the children of a corrupt official. Although she also talked and played with the brother and sister, her relationship with them was far less than that with Meng Yao and Yan Zhenzhen.

After his father revoked Yuan Chongli's status as a study partner, Qingyang suspected he would take action against Yuan Zhaoxiong. Because his father had long been concerned about Yuan Zhaoxiong's military power, Qingyang had considered two possible outcomes for Yuan Zhaoxiong: corruption or treason. In the former case, Yuan Chongli and Yuan Jie might still survive, but in the latter...

This time, her father asked her to appease the wife of Marquis Pingliang and others, which was just a pretext. Qingyang also understood that these women would probably not be able to convince Yuan Zhaoxiong, but those people cried too pitifully, so Qingyang hoped that Yuan Zhaoxiong would stop in time. He would inevitably face the death penalty, but he could leave a way out for his wife and children.

Yesterday, the emperor's recovery of the Liangzhou army went too smoothly. Qingyang was first shocked by the emperor's majestic power, and then worried about the subsequent plan to attack the Hu. Only this morning did he finally remember Yuan Jie and others.

Exile, forced labor, extermination of three clans, and execution of nine clans, these were words Qingyang had seen in history books a long time ago, but there were only a few brief words in the history books. Qingyang had never seen the ancient people who lived thousands of years ago, and she could not imagine the cruel torture those people suffered and seldom thought about it. But just now, she thought of Yuan Jie and others who had been executed, and the scene of the Yuan family members being beheaded and their bodies being used to collect human blood to smear on the battlefield emerged in her mind. Among them, Yuan Chongli's face was the clearest.

She knew that her father or any emperor would have used severe punishments to deter officials and people from rebelling again, but she also knew that Yuan Chongli and Yuan Jie were innocent.

Qingyang didn't blame her father for being cruel, she just couldn't help but want to cry.

Seeing the Crown Prince lowering his head and the Third Prince looking at the little princess with a worried and bewildered expression, Fan Zhong mumbled, "Your Majesty, the battlefield outside is covered in the blood of yesterday's slaughtered pigs and sheep. Your Highness stumbled upon it and was frightened and vomited uncontrollably. I failed to protect you well, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

Emperor Xingwu waved his hand and asked him to leave.

As the army was about to break camp, Emperor Xingwu patted his daughter on the back, continued to instruct his two sons, and then carried his daughter to the imperial carriage.

The imperial carriage was comfortable and spacious, with a narrow couch inside. Emperor Xingwu placed his daughter, who had stopped crying, on the couch. Seeing that his daughter's little face was all red from crying, Emperor Xingwu smiled, picked up the copper kettle, poured some clean water on the handkerchief, and knelt in front of the couch to wipe his daughter's face.

After wiping, Emperor Xingwu looked at the handkerchief and pointed at the light dusty layer on it to tease his daughter: "Look how dusty it is here. Lin'er has only been out for a while and already her face is covered in dust."

The little princess, who always loved cleanliness, felt a little embarrassed by the dirty handkerchief.

Emperor Xingwu put the handkerchief aside, stretched out his right hand and asked, "Lin'er, do you think your father's hands are clean?"

Qingyang first looked at her father's clean, broad, calloused palms, then raised her eyes to look at his face. She understood his other meaning, but nodded nonetheless: "Father is clean everywhere."

Without her father, the world might still be in the midst of war, so her father was a true hero who ended the chaos and saved the people from dire straits, and was the wise and powerful founding emperor of the Great Qi.

The little princess, having seen blood, still loved her father so much and showed no fear of him. Emperor Xingwu was very relieved and sat by the couch, looking at his hand with his daughter, which had once caught mice with a hoe and wielded a sword and spear to kill enemy soldiers. "Actually, it's not clean at all. Father has killed too many people, and his hands are stained with too much blood. Even if those people deserved to die, their shadows are deeply engraved in your heart, and they pop up from time to time, reminding me of what they looked like when they were alive."

"Father told you about Liu Wenzhi. He saved me, but I still killed his son according to the law without showing him any mercy."

"Let's talk about Yuan Zhaoxiong. He's a fierce general who followed my father halfway. My father holds him in high regard, so much so that even your uncle Wang and Deng Chong are jealous and constantly picking on him. My father backs him up, putting his arm around his shoulder and saying he's also my father's good brother. Your uncle Wang then grumbles, saying he should be called Xiong's younger brother."

At this point, Emperor Xingwu laughed, and Qingyang, who had been looking at his father, saw full of nostalgia in this smile.

Qingyang held his father's hands in both hands, not wanting to make his father sad.

Emperor Xingwu turned to look at his daughter, his eyes calmly speaking: "Don't worry, father won't cry. From the day father sat on the dragon throne, father has regarded all the brothers who lived and died with him in the past as his subjects. Father rewarded them with high positions and generous salaries according to their military merits, and appointed them generals and ministers out of trust in them. This is what they deserve, and it is what father should give them. But the monarch and the ministers are the monarch and the ministers. Whoever dares to break the laws and rules set by me will be dealt with by me. Father will not tell you those empty words about being a wise ruler for the people of the world. Father is just trying to make himself happy. A brother who betrayed father first, a brother who stole millions of taels of silver from my treasury, why should I tolerate him?"

"Lin'er is still young and can't bear to see his familiar companions die. But have you ever thought about this? If Yuan Zhaoxiong's ability to command troops was greater and father was a little dumber, in today's battle, Yuan Zhaoxiong would have killed father and proclaimed himself emperor. If he really won, even if Yuan Chongli and Yuan Jie were willing to shed a few tears for you siblings, they would still happily become their new princes and princesses in the future."

"So, when you feel soft-hearted, think about the alternative outcome of letting the other person ride on your head. The more you think about it, the harder your heart will become."

"Lin'er, Father would rather you learn from me and get your hands dirty than keep them clean and let others bully you."

.

The car body swayed rhythmically, and Qingyang fell asleep on his father's dragon bed until he heard someone talking nearby.

"Your Majesty, the Magistrate of Jing County, Qu Qinglin, has led all the county officials to welcome you."

"Bring Qu Qinglin here."

Just as Qingyang was about to turn over, the quilt on her body suddenly moved. It was her father who helped her lift the quilt that had slipped down to her shoulders and covered her tightly, leaving only her head exposed.

Qingyang pretended to be still asleep.

After a while, the car door was opened by He Yuanjing, and the light inside the car became bright.

Qingyang turned his back to the car door and listened to County Magistrate Qu outside tremblingly expressing his loyalty to his father, saying that he had not dared to summon the militia to rescue the emperor because he had been coerced by Yuan Zhaoxiong.

The emperor sneered, "If you had saved me in time, my second prince might not have died. Take him away and chop him off."

"Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty..."

Qingyang quietly clutched the quilt in front of him.

It is nearly four hundred miles from Luhe Town to Wuwei City. The army passed through two counties in total. County Magistrate Qu of Jing County, who obeyed Yuan Zhaoxiong's orders obediently, was beheaded, while County Magistrate Guo of Gu County, who was imprisoned by Yuan Zhaoxiong for opposing him, was commended.

On the eighth day of September, the 30,000 remaining troops of Emperor Xingwu, who had won a tragic victory, finally entered Wuwei City, which had been surrendered by Lu Zan who had attacked them earlier.

Yuan Zhaoxiong's general's mansion had been cleaned up by people sent by Lu Zan. The three siblings of Qingyang moved into the courtyard in front of their father. Qin Hong lived in the upper room, Qin Ren lived in the east wing, and Qingyang lived in the west wing. This was to concentrate the guards for defense.

The Crown Prince went to his father's court to hear the matter. Qin Ren slipped over to his sister and whispered, "We haven't seen any Yuan family prisoners all the way to Wuwei. Now we've even given them the Yuan family's general's mansion to live in. What about the people who used to live here..."

Qingyang looked at his third brother's face, which still showed some reluctance, and said bluntly, "Yuan Zhaoxiong rebelled, and the emperor sentenced him to extermination of his entire clan. He had already carried out the execution before we entered the city."

Some were executed on the spot outside Luhe Town, and some were killed in Wuwei City in front of officials, civilians and merchants, including Hu people's spies.

Qin Ren fell into a chair. They were really dead. Yuan Chongli, Yuan Jie...

Qingyang knew that his third brother was kind-hearted, so he took out the handkerchief in advance and prepared to give it to him.

Qin Ren just sat there blankly. After a while, he sighed deeply and turned to ask his sister: "So you knew it a long time ago. Did you cry?"

Qingyang: "...I thought you would cry. You cried when your second brother and the others went to the battlefield."

Qin Ren: "How can it be the same? Second brother is my biological brother, Zhang Su is my good brother, and the Yuan family, the Yuan family committed a crime, and the whole family ended up like this, which can only be said to be reaping the consequences." The crime of treason will bring disaster to the whole family. This is clearly stipulated in the law, and it is not something that can be interfered with by human feelings.

All he could give Yuan Chongli was a sigh.

Qingyang thought that his third brother must not know the specific way Yuan Chongli and Yuan Jie died, otherwise he would not be so calm.

Qingyang didn't plan to say it out loud. She had already let it go, so why should she make her third brother feel bad?

She looked out the window. Compared to the dead, she was more concerned about whether the bait thrown by her father could catch the big fish of Xihu.

.

A hundred miles from Wuwei, in a makeshift Hu tent on a grassland, a sentry who had just returned from the front lines excitedly said, "Two generals, the news the king received earlier is indeed true. I saw it with my own eyes. Of the five chariots of the Qi emperor, only two remain. The one the emperor was riding in is fine, but the one behind him is covered in sword scars. The twenty thousand infantrymen behind the emperor are also covered in dust and dirt."

"Also, the Emperor of Qi was furious when his son died. He ordered his men to bring all of Yuan Zhaoxiong's concubines, children, and close associates to the city walls and chop off their heads one by one. That section of the wall was dyed red."

"The little princess of Qi was frightened on the battlefield and had nightmares that made her unable to walk. The Emperor of Qi personally carried her to the General's Mansion."

Several Hu generals who were listening burst into laughter.

General Zuo hesitated and said, "Even so, the Emperor of Qi was able to unify the Central Plains, so he must be extremely wise. This time, he actually took such a great risk to attack Yuan Zhaoxiong. No matter how you look at it, it's strange."

The bearded Right General said, "I don't find it strange. The King said, 'Arrogant soldiers will be defeated.' The Emperor of Qi underestimated Yuan Zhaoxiong and us because his conquest of the empire was going so smoothly. He really thought his tens of thousands of troops could rely on the Great Wall to stop us. How could he know that? We didn't even fight him seriously in the past few years."

"That's right, General Zuo, stop overthinking. In my opinion, since the Emperor of Qi has arrived in Wuwei, our 200,000 cavalry should charge directly into Wuwei City tonight and capture the Emperor of Qi alive!"

"Yes, with the Emperor of Qi in our hands, we are not afraid that Qi will not surrender!"

General Zuo frowned and stopped everyone, saying, "Wait a moment, I need to confirm one thing."

An hour later, another sentry returned and said happily, "General Zuo, our men have been keeping watch for half a month. The Qi troops from Wuwei to Huaiyuan have been staying inside the area the entire time, and there's no sign of them leaving."

General Zuo raised his eyebrows, unable to contain his surprise, and said, "The Emperor of Qi really didn't summon the nearby border troops to protect him?"

Right General: "Why protect the emperor? He was confident he could defeat Yuan Zhaoxiong, and he did, even though he lost a son and two generals. The Emperor of Qi also didn't expect us to concentrate 200,000 troops to wait for him. With his remaining 30,000 troops, plus the 30,000 Liangzhou troops Yuan Zhaoxiong left behind to guard the border, they were more than enough to deal with our previous minor conflicts."

Since all the generals agreed to attack Wuwei at night, and this was also the purpose of the king sending them out, General Zuo slammed the table and said resolutely: "Alright, without further delay, tonight, let's go and kill the Emperor of Qi by surprise!"

【Author’s words】

The next chapter will be finished [Come on], 100 red envelopes, see you tonight~