All she could do was give a cold warning: "The empress dowager must not interfere in politics!" After that, Emperor Pingjia left her Lanxinzhai fully clothed.

That very night, Feng Wan sent the message to Li Qingchen via carrier pigeon. Li Qingchen burned the note, his gaze fixed on the leaping flames, and a solution for when this was absolutely necessary popped into his mind.

He still has the Eighteen Linked Fortresses of Yandang Mountain as a strategic piece, but he cannot easily use it until the very end. Because once it is used, the Emperor, in his rage, might raze Yandang Mountain to the ground at any cost, and then the power he has cultivated over the years might not be available for him to use.

But when I think of Pan Wei's lifelong loyalty to the country, Pan Wenjun's ten-year wait for Sun Xingjian before they finally got together, and Wei Shuwan's tearful, earnest gaze at him...

Li Qingchen felt that he absolutely had to get involved in this matter.

So the next day at dawn, Li Qingchen went to Tianlu Pavilion right on time. Although he arrived early, Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian arrived even earlier and had been pleading with the Emperor inside for half a day.

Perhaps tired of hearing it, and feeling that Li Qingchen's arrival was timely, Emperor Pingjia did not keep Li Qingchen waiting outside for long, and directly ordered Eunuch Cao to lead him in.

When Li Qingchen went in, he saw Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian kneeling on the ground. They looked haggard and pitiful. Not only had they not slept all night and had just cried bitterly, but they had probably also kowtowed for a long time, which was why their foreheads were so swollen.

When Li Qingchen paid his respects, both of them were quiet for a while. But after he finished, Sun Xingjian seemed to have no choice but to kowtow three times to the ground.

"Your Majesty is well aware of the hatred the Ziyi royal family harbors towards Envoy Pan. Years ago, they sent people to forcibly abduct Lady Pan. They are using the pretext of peace negotiations to ask for Lady Pan's hand in marriage, clearly harboring ulterior motives! Your humble servant begs Your Majesty to rescind the decree and not bestow upon Lady Pan the title of Princess for a peace marriage."

Hearing this, Li Qingchen knew that Sun Xingjian had not yet made it clear that he and Pan Wenjun were in love, but was only asking for help from the perspective of their friendship while stationed at the border, which was reasonable.

It was fortunate that he did so. If Sun Xingjian had directly revealed that he and Pan Wenjun had secretly pledged their lives to each other, not only would it have changed nothing, but it would have also made Emperor Pingjia the first to suspect him when the Eighteen Linked Fortresses made their move later.

It is a grave offense for a border general to collude with mountain bandits. Even without concrete evidence, as long as the emperor becomes suspicious, he will punish the general according to the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

At this moment, Emperor Pingjia coldly glanced at the prostrate Sun Xingjian, and couldn't help but feel a little suspicious: "Marquis of Pingyang, why do you seem to be reacting even more strongly than Pan Wei, the father? Could it be that you and Pan Wenjun..."

Sun Xingjian kept his head down for a long time, then suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with determination. He opened his mouth to confess his relationship with Pan Wenjun, but before he could speak, he was interrupted and suppressed by another voice: "Marquis of Pingyang!"

Sun Xingjian looked at Li Qingchen with confusion, and Emperor Pingjia's gaze also fell upon him. Li Qingchen then began to lecture him righteously and sternly: "In public affairs, you are a meritorious official who has guarded the northern border of my Great Ye for nearly twenty years! In private affairs, you are my fiancée's uncle. For both reason and emotion, I cannot stand idly by. I have a few words from the bottom of my heart that I must speak out!"

"You and Commander Pan have been loyal and fearless in the face of danger for many years, and your military achievements are outstanding. You are both loyal and capable ministers of the country. With you, it is a blessing for Da Ye and a boon for the people. But after so many years of fighting against the Zi Yi Kingdom, have you ever done the math?"

"In order to stop the invasion of the Yi people and protect the people on the border, how many soldiers have died and been wounded on the border over the years? How much grain and fodder have been consumed in the continuous wars to expand the barracks? You have shed your blood on the border. Every soldier who died was a man with fathers, mothers, wives and children. Every tael of silver spent was the hard-earned money of the people."

"Now the opportunity for peace is right in front of us. We no longer need to have people die every year, nor do we need to spend huge sums of money. We can exchange peace between the two countries with just one princess sent for marriage. Isn't this a worthwhile deal?"

Li Qingchen's words pierced Pan Wei's heart. No matter how much Pan Wei was reluctant to part with his daughter, he couldn't say that the soldiers should die to protect her. In the end, he gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and the veteran general, over fifty years old, silently shed tears like a wronged wife.

Sun Xingjian stared wide-eyed at Li Qingchen, his face contorted with anguish. Every word he spoke was fair, and he couldn't refute it. Yet, Li Qingchen clearly knew the whole story of his relationship with Wenjun. How could he have changed his tune overnight and become the lobbyist for the eldest prince of the Ziyi Kingdom?

Seeing the two in pain, Li Qingchen felt sorry for them, but he could only harden his heart and look at the matter from Emperor Pingjia's point of view.

His words indeed pleased Emperor Pingjia, who nodded in satisfaction and finally sent Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian away. Afterwards, the emperor praised Emperor Pingjia, appearing as if father and son were of one mind.

Li Qingchen, who had finally put Emperor Pingjia at ease, had the opportunity to advise him not to rush into bestowing the title of Princess Wenjun upon him for a political marriage. After all, Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian were both meritorious officials, and their hearts should not be truly broken. Moreover, even if the officials did not say it outright, they all understood the matter clearly. Everyone knew that the princess would not have a good ending after going to Ziyi Kingdom; this was clearly just a means for the Ziyi royal family to humiliate the Pan family.

Emperor Pingjia was well aware of this principle, but as Li Qingchen said, he simply weighed the pros and cons and felt that sacrificing a princess for a marriage alliance was more worthwhile than sacrificing thousands of soldiers.

Therefore, he was able to listen to Li Qingchen's advice at this moment and agreed not to bestow the title of Princess for a peace marriage upon Pan Wenjun, giving everyone some time to accept and digest this matter.

This matter was delayed again by Li Qingchen. After all, even if he wanted to arrange for the bandits to kidnap Pan Wenjun, he needed a plausible excuse. Otherwise, even a fool could see that this was a scheme set up by the Pan family to protect their daughter.

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