Chapter 138
It was the beginning of the ninth lunar month, and the nights in Yichun were quite cool, requiring a thin blanket. Therefore, even if two people slept close together, they wouldn't feel hot.
That's what Yao Chunnuan did. Her sleeping posture was not really good. The thin blanket covered her waist, and she was half lying on Qi Yingshan's body, with one of her long legs resting on his leg.
As for Qi Yingshan, he slept properly and was able to sleep even though he was being entangled like this.
At dawn, the sound of roosters crowing in the military camp came from afar.
When Qi Yingshan opened his eyes, he saw the snow-blue tent ceiling, which made him dazed for a moment. When the person in his arms rubbed against him when she was about to wake up, he looked down and saw Yao Chunnuan's sleeping face and the looming scenery, and the memory of last night instantly came back to him.
"Yao-Yao-" Little Yao Xi woke up and immediately thought of her mother. The little girl was only nine months old. She knew Yao Chunnuan was her mother, but she couldn't pronounce the words correctly and kept yelling.
Luo Suyi was holding her in the yard and playing. Seeing her pointing at the master's door and wanting to come over, she quickly coaxed her in a low voice, "Little master, wait a moment. Your mother hasn't woken up yet. Let's have some porridge first, okay?"
Luo Suyi's voice was faintly heard outside, which instantly woke up Yao Chunnuan, who was still a little confused. Then she naturally noticed that the body of the person under her stiffened. She raised her head and met Qi Yingshan's gaze.
Qi Yingshan's eyes widened as if he had not expected her to wake up suddenly.
"Good morning." Yao Chunnuan greeted with a smile.
Qi Yingshan cleared his throat and said, "Good morning."
"Are you going to get up?"
"Get up." Qi Yingshan said slowly.
Yao Chunnuan was sleeping on the outside. She turned over and sat up, picked up the robe beside her, put it on and tied it.
Qi Yingshan also sat up and wrapped a thin blanket around his waist with some embarrassment.
Yao Chunnuan noticed this scene and remembered that her thigh had accidentally touched his standing little brother when she stood up. She held back her laughter and handed him a robe, "This should be new. Put it on first. I'll send someone back to get two clean clothes later." Judging from the material of the robe, it should be the same color as hers. It was probably made by Luo Suyi.
Qi Yingshan leaned slightly sideways awkwardly and put on his robe.
Yao Chunnuan turned around with amusement and went to wash up. Honestly, after trying it, she was quite satisfied with Qi Yingshan's penis. Ahem, thick, long and full. He was also in great working order, a very energetic young man. As for the time, about two quarters of an hour, she thought it would be enough.
As for your unfamiliar skills, you can just practice more. It's not a big problem. As the oil seller said, practice makes perfect.
"Come here, bring another basin of water for your son-in-law," Yao Chunnuan said to the servant. They had already eaten everything. Although they couldn't get married, at least changing their name would be a way of giving them some explanation.
Since she had spoken, the servants naturally changed their tune.
Yao's mother was also there during breakfast. She had just seen Qi Yingshan staying overnight and wanted to say something to her daughter, but seeing her radiant daughter, Yao's mother suddenly felt like saying nothing. Well, let the young people solve their own problems.
After breakfast, the two of them got on the car and headed to the City Lord's Mansion.
When they arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, the two went to their respective departments, and Yao Chunnuan got into work mode.
Early that morning, their senior management planned to hold a meeting.
Because of their big movements, everyone outside focused their attention on them, and Marshal Zhu and the others were subconsciously ignored.
Outsiders ignored Marshal Zhu and his men, but Xing Changfeng, Yao Chunnuan, and the others didn't. While the atmosphere in Yichun was ablaze with excitement over the impending grand reward, that was only superficial. The army was still under martial law, and Yichun was actually a state of relaxation on the outside, but tension on the inside. They wouldn't assume that the recent quiet in the Yichun camp meant they could live in peace.
Now, after dealing with the most important matter, how to deal with the relationship with the Yichun camp is on the agenda. Apart from other things, how can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed?
Although they possessed military settlements and occupied the main city of Yichun, their combined territory only encompassed 40% to 50% of Yichun. Marshal Zhu's Yichun Camp occupied 20% of the territory, while the surrounding counties and towns held about 30%. They hadn't even had time to explore the surrounding counties and towns yet. Once they had settled their relationship with the Yichun Camp, they would have to sort out the counties and towns within Yichun's jurisdiction.
The city lord said first, "Let's send Marshal Zhu a meeting invitation."
"Yes."
Everyone agreed that they and Marshal Zhu needed to sit down and have a good talk about the issues between them.
As for what the final outcome would be, they also made some predictions.
The best outcome, of course, would be for Marshal Zhu to lead his troops in submission. However, the probability of this outcome was less than 20%. After all, Marshal Zhu's troops were numerically comparable to theirs, so how could he possibly surrender? At least not at the moment.
As for turning against them? Not really. If Marshal Zhu really wanted to fight, he would have attacked them as soon as he confirmed they were planning a rebellion. Since they didn't move then, they've already regrouped and are unlikely to move again.
The result of the negotiations would most likely be that they would draw a line with Marshal Zhu over the land of Yichun.
How to draw the line, and where to draw it? That was something they needed to discuss. Giving in too much would be painful, but giving in too little would be fearful of Marshal Zhu's disapproval, which would then lead to trouble. Their current military strength was primarily focused on defending against an imperial encirclement and suppression campaign.
Yao Chunnuan spoke up, "Actually, we can just be more assertive and give him some sweet treats. Too much will only do harm."
"Then in your opinion, how much should be given to him?" The city lord took out the map and asked.
Everyone gathered together and reserved a good seat for Yao Chunnuan.
Yao Chunnuan looked at the map and pointed to three places. "Marshal Zhu's Yichun camp currently occupies Jiayin County, leaving it untouched. We will also cede Wuiling Town, Tangwanghe Town, and Xinqing Town to him. Then we will agree with him to stay out of each other's way."
The reason for ceding the above three towns was that Jiayin County was directly bordering Di Luo, and Wuiling Town and other three towns were adjacent to Jiayin County where Marshal Zhu's Yichun Palace was located. Giving these three towns to him was also a sincere gesture of goodwill.
The senior officials looked at the map. These three towns were quite small. Even if these three towns were ceded, overall, their Yichun City Lord's Mansion still occupied seven-tenths of Yichun's land.
"Will he agree? He won't fight us with a knife, will he?"
Yao Chunnuan said affirmatively, "He will agree."
Due to their frequent exchanges, Yao Chunnuan had long since thoroughly understood Zhu Dashuai's character. Having fought for most of his life, Zhu Dashuai, at his age, no longer had the daring drive to gamble and fight. He preferred playing it safe. He didn't want to take sides and hated making choices. To put it in perspective, Zhu Dashuai was a man trying to step down from the gambling table. He had already won a few chips, and now he just wanted to keep them. He was afraid of losing, and he didn't want to continue. But the casino wouldn't let him leave, forcing him to play. Now, with no risk involved and an extra share of land, he'd be happy.
"Then give it a try."
It would be good if they could reach an agreement with Marshal Zhu on ceding the three towns. Seven-tenths of Yichun is also a large area, and they need to digest it well. If nothing unexpected happens, Yichun will be their base and the foundation of their development, and they need to manage it well.
After discussing this, Yao Chunnuan brought up another matter. "Also, Lord City Lord, the aristocratic families and merchants of Yichun have sent representatives to us, saying they want to talk to us. We'd better make time to meet with them."
It would be fine if they organized themselves now and asked to see them. Even if they didn't do so, Yao Chunnuan would call them together to meet him when he had time.
These people were still very useful to Yichun's development. Although the wealth was accumulated through their own hard work, if they were allowed to leave and take away a large amount of property, then Yichun would be weakened. Therefore, what their City Lord's Mansion needed to do was to keep them in Yichun as much as possible.
Yao Chunnuan smiled and said, "Lord City Lord, you can choose not to meet some people, but there are some people we'd better meet. And you must be prepared to give up the positions of two concubines." Two positions are enough, more than that will be worthless.
For small and medium-sized merchants from aristocratic families, if Yichun can provide a stable and peaceful environment, along with appropriate tax and policy concessions, that's enough for them to stay. But for the established aristocratic merchants entrenched in Yichun, it's not enough. They want to make money, but it's not what they value most. These aristocratic merchants have their own demands. And the best way to retain them is to be united in common interests.
Xing Changfeng glanced at her and shook his head helplessly. She was just looking for trouble.
Speaking of this, Meng Yi and others began to joke.
"My Lord City Lord, this is great news! Getting promoted, getting rich, and getting married are the three greatest joys in life."
"Not a wife, just a concubine!"
“Same as before.”
"Don't worry, you can't escape."
Speaking of taking a concubine, everyone present couldn't help but think of the Huo family. Previously, the couple had been in love and the concubine had almost reached the final step of the wedding. Now that the city lord had taken the lead in rebellion, could this marriage still be considered?
When Xing Changfeng received the message from Yao Chunnuan asking him to return quickly, he had already expressed his intention to General Huo before returning. As for whether the marriage between the two could continue, Xing Changfeng handed the initiative to the Huo family.
Now, they can only wait for the Huo family to make a choice.
After they started the rebellion, the Gaoshan tribe sent congratulatory gifts at full speed, but there has been no response from the Huo family so far.
After some laughter and joking, before the meeting ended, the City Lord asked again about the reward, "The reward needs to be finalized as soon as possible and then issued!"
Yao Chunnuan and Yu Chen exchanged a glance and accepted the order, "Yes!"
Today is the third day of their uprising.
On the first day, he killed Lei Peng and launched the rebellion in front of the witnesses of the two armies. Then he occupied the main city of Yichun and took over the defense.
On the second day, sacrifices were offered to heaven at Dongyang Mountain and a manifesto was read out to inform the world.
The third day, which was today, had actually been a frantic three days for the Military Merit Calculation Department and the Exchange Office. They had been calculating the total merit points of the soldiers, as this would be a key factor in determining rewards and promotions. Calculating the merit points of tens of thousands of soldiers was a massive undertaking, not to mention the payment of compensation and other benefits to the casualties, which couldn't be delayed. Now that the City Lord had ordered them to expedite things, there was no other choice but to work tirelessly.
Another thing that puzzled Yao Chunnuan was the court's reaction. Logically, with the three factions rebelling simultaneously, the court should have been furious, issuing an imperial decree and dispatching troops to suppress them. Even if they didn't receive the news on the first day, they should have received it by the second day, right? After receiving it, they would have summoned all the ministers, discussed it, and made a decision. According to her reasoning, by the third day, the other side should have come up with a countermeasure. However, the court seemed to have lost its voice and remained silent until now.
Yao Chunnuan had no idea that the Crown Prince's delay in arriving had made their rebellion inevitable. This outcome had infuriated him, and he immediately developed a high fever. Before he fainted, he instructed his subordinates to remain in the capital and not return. He also sent an expedited letter, eight hundred miles away, back to the capital, instructing his men to suppress the Regent and silence him for the time being.
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