Chapter 338 Arrogance
Historians relied on their writing skills, being extremely familiar with the handwriting of the emperor and the crown prince, and only secondarily with the handwriting of a few important officials.
The reply on this memorial was written in the Crown Prince's tone, and even the handwriting was somewhat similar to the Crown Prince's in some places, but it was not. In his panic, many thoughts began to run through his mind.
The best-case scenario, of course, is that the crown prince is unable to write and entrusts someone else to write it on his behalf.
The worst-case scenario is that the Crown Prince is in danger, and the memorial falls into the hands of someone else! That person might even hope to get away with it!
"Your Highness! The handwriting on these memorials does not appear to be that of His Highness the Crown Prince. I am deeply apprehensive and beg Your Highness to take a look!"
Before the memorial was handed to the Princess, it had to be checked by a palace servant to ensure there were no problems before it was delivered to her.
After waiting a few moments, she saw the familiar handwriting on the document, and suddenly tears welled up in her eyes.
This, this is Yu Xuan's handwriting.
She had just learned that the marriage alliance had failed and that Yu Xuan would not have to go to the marriage alliance when she saw this memorial written by her daughter. With such a tangible document in front of her, the Princess's uneasy heart finally returned to peace.
But beneath the immense surprise lay a profound emptiness and unease.
With Qi and Yue locked in battle and negotiations for peace failing, no one could give a definite answer as to what the next move should be.
The eldest princess pressed her handkerchief to the corner of her eye. "It's alright, this is the princess's handwriting."
Very few people knew about the Crown Prince's injury, partly to stabilize the court and the people's hearts, and partly to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation to harm the Crown Prince.
So she only said that one sentence.
As for who the princess was, even if she didn't mention her title, there was only that one princess who had been sent to the border for a political marriage, and no one else.
The historian looked troubled: "Then this..."
Putting aside whether it's appropriate for such an important secret to be written by a princess without any official title, should this act of writing on behalf of someone else be recorded in the records?
If she had actually written it down, Princess Chang Le would surely have been condemned by later generations for allegedly interfering in politics.
Seeing his expression, the princess's face immediately turned cold: "What, does Lord Yan think there's something wrong with the princess writing on his behalf? Or has he been writing the daily records for so many years, and now he doesn't know how to start writing and wants me to teach him?"
The historian, Lord Yan, immediately exclaimed, "Your Highness, please forgive me. I will record this immediately."
So he sighed inwardly and wrote truthfully on the blank page:
"On the second day of the eleventh month, Lord Wei, Lord You, Lord Dai... submitted a memorial to Prince Jun, and the reply to the memorial was written by Princess Chang Le on their behalf."
What happened in the capital was completely unknown to those at the border.
Now that the Crown Prince is stationed in the Qi army camp, the soldiers' morale is at an all-time high. This is the crown prince himself fighting alongside them, sharing life and death! How can this not be exhilarating?!
After resting his arm for three days, Qi Jun no longer stayed in the tent. Every morning and evening, he would go out for a walk, firstly to check the soldiers' training results, and secondly to observe the terrain of the battlefield.
He was pondering why he had previously suffered a defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese army.
In terms of numbers, they were evenly matched, with the Qi army actually having tens of thousands more troops than the Yue army.
Tactically, Duan Wei and Xiahou Zhong both knew a lot about the Yue Kingdom, so their tactics should have been fine.
Even though the Yue Kingdom has the fearsome Wu Clan, those are just small-scale operations. Just look at how only eight hundred people in Tianque Valley had the Substitute Gu a few days ago. It's impossible to equip every soldier with such a thing; the limitations are too great.
When he traveled, Qi Yuxuan accompanied him, followed by several generals. They would ask and answer questions from time to time, and they actually uncovered several problems.
First, most of the Qi army underestimated the enemy, believing that Nanyue was no match for Qi in any way. They thought that Nanyue was a small country that grew up among barbarians and was not worth fearing. They believed that as long as they were given enough firearms and manpower, it was only a matter of time before they could conquer Nanyue.
Even though they hadn't gotten the better of Nan Yue over the past two months, this inexplicable confidence just wouldn't go away. On the surface, they admitted that Nan Yue did have some skills, but deep down they still looked down on them.
The Southern Vietnamese are known for their various cunning and ruthless tactics, but people will only describe them as insidious, vicious, and ruthless; they will not truly regard them as formidable enemies.
Secondly, the weapons used in the Qi army camp were of very poor quality. Many soldiers' swords, spears, and halberds were chipped, but the camp had no means to replace them and could only make do with what they had.
Finally, there's the fighting style. The Yue people were good at using the strategy of "Tian Ji's horse racing," where the weakest soldier was often the vanguard, followed by the strongest, and the average soldier was the last.
As a result, the Qi army, which always sent its strongest soldiers to the front lines, suffered greatly. The soldiers in the front lines fought well, but the soldiers behind them could not keep up, and they were defeated one after another, a truly miserable sight.
Qi Jun and Qi Yuxuan were discussing countermeasures with the generals when they heard that they were going to tell their soldiers how strong the Yue Kingdom was. Immediately, some of them objected.
A burly middle-aged military officer spoke first:
"Princess, this is not how you fight a war. Trust me, I was already on the battlefield before you were even born. This is not underestimating the enemy, but rather giving ourselves more confidence!"
"What's that saying again? 'Whatever kind of wind it grows, it extinguishes.' You are that kind of wind."
Xiahou Yin added: "It boosts the morale of others while diminishing our own."
General Niu nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, Princess, you are the one!"
Qi Jun frowned, about to speak to remind this arrogant little general, when he felt the little girl beside him tug at his sleeve.
Qi Yuxuan smiled helplessly:
"General Niu, only by facing our own and the enemy's shortcomings can we understand where to break through. If we keep deceiving and numbing ourselves, will the Yue army's swords also deceive us on the battlefield and prevent us from killing the Qi people?"
“General Niu is right. Chang Le does not understand military strategy. Everyone has their own expertise. All of you generals are pillars of our Qi Kingdom. Chang Le is fortunate to be able to show off his skills in front of General Niu because General Niu is broad-minded and tolerant. Since that’s the case, what’s wrong with giving it a try?”
"If it is truly useful, then it is the result of the soldiers' hard work and battles, and not a single bit of it will be attributed to Chang Le; if it is not very useful, then there is no need to waste any effort, it is just a matter of talking, why wouldn't General Niu be happy to do it?"
She spoke in a gentle and slow tone, guiding people along with her train of thought. After a few sentences, she used both soft and hard tactics, and even the stubborn General Niu, who was as stubborn as an ox, softened his expression.
He turned his face away and whispered something to himself with the other two generals, but finally snorted, "Then I, Niu Zhuang, will trust the princess this time!"
"However, let me make this clear from the start: I don't know any good things to say about the Jiaozhi boy. You can write down what you want to say for me, Princess."
Qi Yuxuan readily agreed: "This is not difficult. Then Chang Le thanks General Niu for his understanding."
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