Fen Ling gave a snort.
He countered Ye Guixue, "Aren’t you Lord Ye? I wish people would call me Lord Fen one day, alas, I hold no title, no position at all."
Ye Guixue was silent, "You’re right, but there must be some reason for the princess to suddenly change the way she addresses you. Let me guess, did Lord Thursday say something? Are you concerned about the princess’s choice of address for me all this time?"
Fen Ling laughed dryly, "Don’t blame my brother-in-law. He’s a really petty person. It’s just a name, and sooner or later it had to change. In public, wouldn’t my sister have to call you Lord Ye? In the Imperial Court, wouldn’t you still be Lord Ye?"
Ye Guixue chuckled, "I never thought of it that way. Lord Thursday sure moves quickly."
"Ah, let me tell you. I’m a bit apprehensive of my brother-in-law. If he’s in a bad mood and wants to spar with me, there’s no way I can fight back," Fen Ling shuddered as he spoke, "I don’t want to offend him. You’d think that he managed to win my sister’s heart by pestering her, but in reality, it’s the other way around. It’s my sister who dotes on him and indulges his every whim."
Ye Guixue recalled how Zhou Gu and Zhang Yun had barged into the Ye Xiang Residence in the middle of the night, attempting to steal Your Majesty by initiating a negotiation and mentioning Su Rong. Their aggressive stance, unwilling to give an inch, made him laugh and say, "I’ve experienced it."
"That’s exactly it. It’s just a title," Fen Ling said, "One day you will be my sister’s most valued auxiliary minister. It will be more than a simple ’Lord Ye’ title. Though my brother-in-law has a score to settle with you because of your past relationship with my sister, he is sensible enough not to deny you a position of importance due to his own petty feelings."
"I don’t really care about this, it’s only a sudden surprise," Ye Guixue smiled, "I have never underestimated Lord Thursday. You don’t need to explain to me."
"No, no, I just wanted to share what I have on my mind," Fen Ling slapped Ye Guixue on the shoulder, "Lord Ye, let’s head into the camp for our discussions. Real issues matter more than trivial matters like this one."
Ye Guixue nodded, feeling a touch of admiration. Xie Yuan was resourceful to have found someone like Fen Ling for Su Rong — a truly talented individual.
After Fen Ling dragged Ye Guixue away, Su Rong went on to inspect the military camp and ran into Zhang Yun who was doing the same thing.
Zhang Yun leaned against his crutch, coming face to face with Su Rong and greeted her, "Princess, What are you doing here?"
"The same as you." Su Rong replied.
Zhang Yun nodded.
Su Rong advised, "You must take care of your injuries and avoid exerting yourself. Go back and recover your strength!"
Zhang Yun was sharp, "Is there another battle coming?"
"Very likely," Su Rong said, "Nangong Zheng retreated because of the Nangong Family members. But what after escorting the Nangong family to Dawei? What will happen after they take care of the Nangong family? What about Crown Prince Yuan Zhao? Yan Huisheng has taken control of Daliang, his position as the Crown Prince is stable. My position as the princess, however, is not as secure."
"Right now, the princess has less than 150,000 troops, 140,000 or so actually. A large number of troops of around 290,000 are on their way here, bringing the total to 440,000. But Dawei has deployed 500,000 soldiers at the Nanchu front. Now that Nangong Zheng has borrowed 300,000 troops from Dawei in one go, if Dawei storms Nanchu, then Nanchu is in peril," Zhang Yun said.
"I contacted the Crown Prince of Daliang and borrowed 200,000 additional troops. They are stationed on the border between Daliang and Nanchu," Su Rong said, "Even though they might not be enough to stand against Dawei, they can at least fend them off until the Crown Prince is informed and sends sufficient reinforcements."
Zhang Yun breathed a sigh of relief, "Should the princess send a message to the crown prince of Daliang right now? To let Daliang prepare as well."
Su Rong nodded, "I will write the letter right now and have a falcon deliver it to the capital city of Daliang."
It took Nangong Zheng one day to withdraw from Qihuan Mountain, leave Nanchu, and cross into the borders of Dawei.
Just as he reached the Dawei border, he was greeted by a regiment of Dawei troops. The regiment was even larger than the 300,000 troops he borrowed from Dawei’s Crown Prince, probably numbering around 400,000-500,000 men.
Looking at the huge army before him, Nangong Zheng asked, "What is this...?"
"Young Master Zheng? Why did you withdraw your troops so soon?" The leader of the troops — none other than Helan Jue — frowned when he saw Nangong Zheng leading his troops back.
Nangong Zheng saluted, "General Helan."
He explained, "Su Rong has a significant number of troops and she has captured all the members of my Nangong family. I am no match for her. I feared that my actions would cause harm to Dawei’s troops and it would be difficult to explain to the Crown Prince, thus I withdrew."
Helan Jue raised his eyebrows, "Did you not receive the dispatch from his highness the Crown Prince?"
"What dispatch?" Nangong Zheng asked.
"You were not just given 300,000 soldiers, you also had reinforcements — Our reinforcements from Dawei," Hela Jue stated.
Nangong Zheng shook his head, "I did not receive it."
Hela Jue’s expression turned grave, "The Crown Prince is here too. Since you did not receive the dispatch, you may explain the situation to him yourself!"
Nangong Zheng acknowledged.
He climbed off his steed and walked into the rank of troops opposite him. Coming before a carriage, he bowed respectfully, "Crown Prince Yuan."
Yuan Zhao poked his head out from behind the carriage curtain, looking at Nangong Zheng, "Just now I heard that you withdrew your troops? You didn’t get my dispatch?"
"Xie Yuan murdered my grandfather. Su Rong made it impossible for my Nangong family to survive in Nanchu. If I had received the dispatch about reinforcements from your highness I wouldn’t have retreated," Nangong Zheng explained.
He looked decisively at Yuan Zhao, "Even if it meant my entire Nangong family’s sacrifice, we wouldn’t hesitate. Your highness must know, I don’t engage in battles without preparation."
Yuan Zhao nodded, "A retreat is just that, it doesn’t mean we can’t launch another attack. Have you found out exactly how many soldiers Su Rong has?"
Nangong Zheng replied, "At the moment, she has less than 150,000 troops, in fact, it’s around 140,000. There’s a large number of soldiers on their way to meet her, but they should amount to less than 300,000."
"So you’re saying she has a total of 440,000 troops?" Yuan Zhao asked.
"Perhaps there might be more," Nangong Zheng said, "Your majesty secretly maintained an army of 50,000, which I dispersed leaving about 30,000-40,000. I didn’t bother with them at the time as I was chasing Su Rong and let them escape."
"In any case, it’s less than 500,000," Yuan Zhao stated, "Currently, I have 800,000 troops. There’s nothing to fear from her meager 500,000. We strike."
Looking at Yuan Zhao, Nangang Zheng said, "Naturally, I hope your highness will launch the attack. This way, I can take my revenge for my grandfather as soon as possible. But Su Rong likely has a fallback plan. She must have anticipations for Dawei, most likely she has reinforcements from Daliang at the Nanchu border." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
There’s nothing to worry about there, I’ve already ordered men to make military movements at the Daliang border. This way, Daliang will be too preoccupied to offer any aid," Yuan Zhao said, "I plan to conquer Nanchu now. I cannot allow Su Rong to have a firm footing. Otherwise, if she unites with Daliang after having established a strong base, Dawei will be in danger."
Nangong Zheng nodded, "What the Crown Prince said is right, as you have considered all aspects. This is an appropriate time to strike."
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