On the second day, Su Rong woke late.
She walked out of her military tent, seeing soldiers building fires and cooking, the whole camp was filled with the atmosphere of civilian life.
Patting her somewhat flat stomach, she suddenly remembered, she’d not eaten yesterday, then fell asleep out of tiredness, and nobody had woken her since.
She went to Zhou Gu’s tent to look for him, but no one was inside. She then came out and asked a soldier, "Where’s Zhou Gu? Where did he go?"
The soldier answered, "Lord Thursday went to see Master Xie early in the morning."
Su Rong nodded, then asked again, "When did he go to sleep last night?"
The soldier, who had been guarding the tent all the while, replied, "Replying to the princess, after you left, Lord Thursday went to the central military tent to discuss matters with some lords, and half an hour later returned and went to sleep."
Su Rong nodded, "I see."
She smiled, knowing it would have been hard for him to sleep last night after she left.
She waved her hand at the soldier and headed to Xie Yuan’s tent.
In Xie Yuan’s tent were only Xie Yuan and Zhou Gu. When she arrived, food from the food camp had just been served. She ordered someone, "Get me a set of chopsticks and a bowl."
Someone immediately responded and hurriedly went to do so.
Su Rong sat down, looked at Xie Yuan, then Zhou Gu, seeing the harmonious atmosphere between them, she felt relieved and asked Xie Yuan, "Uncle Xie, how did you sleep yesterday?"
"I was fine." Xie Yuan glanced at her, "As long as you didn’t resent me so much that you couldn’t sleep, that’s good."
Su Rong immediately showed a wronged expression with a thick face, "I had a hard time falling asleep alone."
Xie Yuan turned a blind eye, "It’s indecent, with so many eyes watching you, you guys have not yet had your grand wedding, living together, what will people say if word gets out? As if I didn’t teach you manners."
Su Rong grunted, "I am already a princess, isn’t my behavior proper enough?"
Xie Yuan ignored her, and asked Zhou Gu, "Do you also think what she said is right?"
Zhou Gu immediately shook his head, did not look at Su Rong, and firmly stated, "I think what Uncle Xie said is more correct, I was just going to discuss with you, you know how Xiaoqi’s temperament is, she doesn’t have much patience. How about we have the grand wedding as soon as we return to the royal capital?"
Su Rong turned to look at Zhou Gu, thinking that’s right, you know who the elder is, and you’re tactful enough to seize the opportunity to arrange the wedding.
Xie Yuan nodded, not making it difficult for him, "Well, it’s good to get married as soon as possible so you can start a family."
Zhou Gu was delighted, "Thank you, Uncle Xie."
Su Rong looked at Zhou Gu with a new appreciation, wondering what had happened that morning to make their conversation so harmonious.
Someone brought a bowl and chopsticks, and Su Rong silently began to eat.
Zhou Gu first served Xie Yuan a bowl of porridge, and then served Su Rong a bowl. Before he could serve himself, Su Rong held his hand down and served him a bowl of porridge herself.
Zhou Gu’s eyes were full of smiles, he was in extremely high spirits.
Xie Yuan glanced at the two of them, "It’s rare that you can understand and support each other. But it’s easy for a moment, it’s hard for a lifetime, you two should consider it carefully."
Zhou Gu immediately said, "Of course."
Su Rong also nodded, "Uncle Xie, don’t worry! We’re not kids, we know what we want."
Xie Yuan was relieved, "Indeed, you’ve grown up."
After breakfast, the three of them sat in the tent drinking tea. Xie Yuan said to Su Rong, "By right, you should go to the royal capital immediately. But Ye Guixue was correct in his deliberation, Crown Prince Yuan Zhao of Dawei, whether it’s towards Daliang or Nanchu, is plotting chaos secretly. After two attempts, he still didn’t succeed, so he must be very frustrated. There is no guarantee that he will not invade Nanchu. After all, Nanchu is currently in a messy state, it is a good opportunity. If Nanchu regains its vitality, it will be difficult for Dawei to invade."
Su Rong said, "Anyway, my father and Ye Xiang have already set off to return to the capital. I’m not in a hurry to go back. I might as well stay at the border for a few more days, train our troops on the one hand, and observe the situation in Dawei on the other. If Dawei mobilizes its troops, we will be able to respond in time. If Dawei does not mobilize its troops, it will be even better. Then we can understand the current scattered situation of each state and county as soon as possible, let the Imperial Court get back on track quickly and recover from the damage Nanchu has suffered."
Xie Yuan nodded, "This place is two hundred li away from the border, so let’s march forward from today."
"Shall we wait for the large number of troops behind us?" Zhou Gu asked, "We have received news from Jiang Zhu, Zhang Mao and others that they are two hundred li away. Two days’ march."
"Fortunately Nangong Zheng, with his youthful age, is not impulsive and withdrew his troops. Otherwise, with how slow they are moving, if a real fight breaks out, the damage would definitely be not small." Su Rong sighed, "Why are they so slow?"
"It’s already not slow, the soldiers of Daliang have just arrived and are not familiar with the climate changes in Nanchu. They are very prone to getting sick from the local conditions. I received news that if it were not for Doctor Zhang in the army and the abundant herbal medicine from the dense forests and mountains in Nanchu, the journey of these large numbers of troops would have been slower." Zhou Gu said, "The reason why the five thousand cavalrymen you led hadn’t suffered from sickness was that the cavalry soldiers’ training was different from the infantry, they were stronger in every aspect of their body. And on the journey into Nanchu, you have already trained them and that’s why your journey was not delayed."
"Let’s wait two more days then!" Xie Yuan said, "I see that the Dawei soldiers led by Nangong Zheng had no discomfort."
"I have already found out that in these years, the Crown Prince Yuan Zhao from Dawei has been colluding privately with the Nangong family for a long time and is very familiar with the mountainous terrain of Nanchu. The soldiers have also been trained specially. If it weren’t for the Nangong family and the large number of troops behind us that intimidated Nangong Zheng, yesterday would have been hard to wrap up." After entering Nanchu for so long, Zhou Gu and Zhang Yun had not wasted their time with all the fighting along the way, and they had also learnt a lot.
Su Rong said, "So, attacking the heart is the best, yesterday you guys came at the right time, I handed the negotiation to Guixue."
Zhou Gu suddenly asked, "What official rank does Brother Guixue hold in Nanchu?"
"He occupies the fourth-rank official position, Minister of Personnel." Xie Yuan said.
"So, you should call him Lord Ye or Minister Ye." Zhou Gu said seriously to Su Rong, "Don’t call him Guixue all the time, it seems too intimate."
Su Rong: "..."
She had gotten used to calling him that and had overlooked it.
She nodded, "Alright."
Zhou Gu saw that she listened and poured her another cup of tea, "Drink it! It’s not hot."
Su Rong nodded, picked up the tea and drank it, then continued the previous topic, "If we want to quickly understand the situation in various parts of Nanchu, we have to send people to each state, county and district to understand the specific situation as soon as possible. We need to prepare supplies and military salaries urgently. If we’re going to fight Dawei, it won’t be a minor battle. We must have enough supplies, and the military gear can’t be short."
Zhou Gu said, "The people of the Nangong family have withdrawn, taking everything they could with them, and presumably destroyed whatever they could not. The Nangong family has a large influence in Nanchu, now that they’ve fled in defeat, the loss to Nanchu is incalculable. We need to prepare as soon as possible and not fight without certainty."
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