Chapter 201 Can I see her?
Shen Qingci looked out the window at the woman's heart-wrenching cries, and at the numb and desperate faces of the refugees, her brows furrowing tightly.
She turned her head and saw that Chu Jichen had somehow managed to get to her side in his wheelchair. He was quietly gazing out the window, his deep phoenix eyes filled with a cold silence.
Shen Qingci lowered her voice, her tone filled with barely suppressed anxiety: "Wasn't the news of the Northern You Kingdom's war with our Great Zhou Kingdom sent back to the capital many days ago? His Majesty... is he really not planning to send troops to reinforce us?"
Chu Jichen sneered, his laughter filled with endless mockery: "He's wary of me, and he's also wary of Liu Wenyuan. With the situation in the capital unclear, he certainly wouldn't send away the few troops he has at this critical juncture."
“But…” Shen Qingci’s brows furrowed even more. “But are we just going to ignore it all? Let the soldiers on the border fight bloody battles while innocent civilians are displaced?”
Chu Jichen suddenly turned his wheelchair around. He didn't answer Shen Qingci's question, but instead called out, "Yuanbao!"
Yuanbao's figure immediately appeared inside the private room.
"Go to the Sixth Princess immediately," Chu Jichen's voice was icy cold. "Strengthen security! Tell her... under no circumstances, to leave the house recently!"
He paused, his eyes instantly darkening like an abyss: "I told you... they're looking for her everywhere."
Yuanbao accepted the order and disappeared in a flash.
Chu Jichen turned his head and saw Shen Qingci looking at him with a surprised expression.
He pressed his thin lips together, his voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible irritation: "Chu Yuening... was already uneasy because she had escaped from the Northern You Kingdom, and felt that she had let down the Great Zhou."
"She has a soft heart. If she were to see this scene and hear the cries of those people, she would surely take all the blame for this war upon herself."
Shen Qingci's eyelashes trembled slightly, uncontrollably.
“But I heard,” she said softly, with a hint of confusion, “that the Sixth Princess was not favored when she was in the Great Zhou Dynasty.”
"Because she was not favored, she was sent away to marry a foreign prince in the north."
"Moreover," a cold rage flashed in Shen Qingci's eyes, "wasn't the reason she fled because that dog emperor of Beiyou Kingdom was cruel and heartless, beating and scolding her at every turn, and even... extending his reach to innocent children?"
"She ran away to save her own life and to protect her child! Protecting the people of Great Zhou was never her responsibility!"
“Moreover,” Shen Qingci’s voice suddenly rose, “she has done enough! At least, she exchanged several years of her youth and freedom for several years of peace on the border between the Great Zhou and the Northern You!”
"Now that trouble has broken out on the border, if the people want to hold someone accountable, they should hold that tyrannical emperor responsible!"
"Clearly, it's his incompetence that forced a woman to marry far away for the sake of her country. That's why our Great Zhou princess was humiliated like that in a foreign land!"
"Now that Bei You has torn up the agreement, instead of thinking about how to defend against the enemy, he only knows how to push all the responsibility onto an unarmed woman! He doesn't reflect on his actions, nor does he send troops!"
Shen Qingci grew angrier as she spoke. She suddenly turned her head and looked at Chu Jichen: "When Great Zhou went to war with Northern You before, it lost. In the past few years since the Sixth Princess was sent to marry a foreign ruler, has she... made no progress in her preparations?"
Chu Jichen's lips slowly curved into a mocking smile: "Yes."
"In recent years, I have repeatedly requested that the border defenses be strengthened. Despite the opposition of Emperor Yongming and Liu Wenyuan, I have dispatched a large number of troops to the border and allocated a considerable amount of silver and manpower to build defensive fortifications."
“But,” his voice was filled with endless sarcasm, “Emperor Yongming was absurd, and Liu Wenyuan was a civil official; they… never thought that military generals were that important.”
"So, they first thought your father's achievements overshadowed the emperor, then listened to slander and accused your father of treason, which led to chaos in the defense of the southern border."
"It was Huo Yunzhan who volunteered to go to the battlefield again, wanting to make military achievements and stand out in the court. But he..." Chu Jichen sneered, "He probably only realized how hard it is to earn military merits after he actually went to the battlefield."
"So they tried every means to lure Huo Yunting to the battlefield, kill him, and then faked their death to return to the capital, busying themselves with vying for power and profit."
"There were originally quite a few troops stationed on the border with the Northern You Kingdom, and they were all elite troops. If those troops had been able to defend properly, it would have been impossible for the Northern You Kingdom to have breached several cities in such a short period of time."
“But,” a cold killing intent flashed in Chu Jichen’s eyes, “in order to contend with me, Liu Wenyuan colluded with the garrison commander there and secretly transferred a portion of his troops back to the capital.”
"And Emperor Yongming," he sneered, "probably thought that since the Great Zhou had signed a peace treaty with the Northern You Kingdom, there would be no more war, and the border wouldn't need so many people. So, he cleverly recalled a portion of the army, intending to... seize power from me."
"But unexpectedly, the Northern You Kingdom took advantage of the situation and exploited the loophole."
Shen Qingci's eyes widened. She had no idea that there were so many unknown secrets behind this!
“In that case,” she frowned deeply, “the matter of the Northern You Kingdom is not…at all the Sixth Princess’s fault!”
"Heh..." Chu Jichen scoffed, his laughter utterly cold-hearted. "If nothing had happened, it would have been fine. But now that this has come to light, do you think, given Emperor Yongming's personality, he would admit to being at fault?"
"He will only try to pin all the blame on Chu Yuening!"
"Even without the humiliation Chu Yuening suffered and the forced escape from Beiyou for the sake of her child, Beiyou would still have attacked Dazhou. They must have already known that Dazhou's northern border was undefended!"
"Chu Yuening is just a convenient excuse they came up with at random."
“Moreover,” a cold sneer flashed in Chu Jichen’s eyes, “even without Chu Yuening’s involvement, if Bei You attacked Da Zhou and Da Zhou couldn’t resist, the emperor would still blame everything on Chu Yuening!”
"He would say that it was Chu Yuening's incompetence that led to the falling out between the two countries, as she couldn't even win over a man!"
Shen Qingci remained silent for a moment. What Chu Jichen said did make sense.
No matter what, they will definitely try to pin all the blame on Chu Yuening.
She remained silent for a long time before slowly raising her head to meet Chu Jichen's cold eyes: "May I go see the Sixth Princess?"
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