The baptism and shock to Ning Ze’s small heart had shaken him to his core, and it took him a while to digest the feeling of achievement that he and Su Rong had just made such a big decision by themselves.
He looked around and suddenly remembered, "Princess, where is Brother Qin Ruo?"
Su Rong said, "He, along with the elder son of the Ye Xiang Residence, is escorting my father and Ye Xiang back to the Royal Capital."
Ning Ze responded with an "Oh," "No wonder I didn’t see him."
He then looked around surreptitiously, "What about Brother Zhou Gu and Brother Zhang Yun?"
"They’re in the carriage behind." Su Rong said: "Their injuries are too severe, they have not recovered yet, they can’t ride horses."
Ning Ze nodded and fell back a few steps. He waited for the carriage to come forward and knocked on the carriage door, "Brother Zhou Gu, Brother Zhang Yun."
Zhou Gu peered out from behind the carriage curtain and looked at Ning Ze, "What’s up?"
Ning Ze wanted to say, "I missed you guys." However, one of them is the husband of the princess and the other is the almost devilishly clever Zhang Yun. He swallowed his words and said instead, "The princess just mentioned that you two can’t even ride horses now, so I wanted to check on you. It’s been ages since I last saw you."
Zhou Gu said: "It’s not so serious that we can’t walk, she insisted that we sit in the carriage. Actually, we could ride horses."
"You’d better stay! You guys just sit in the cart! The carriage is pretty fast, faster than the soldiers on foot." Ning Ze said.
Zhou Gu nodded.
Zhang Yun, who had been studying the terrain map of Nanchu, put down the map and popped his head out of the carriage to look at Ning Ze. He asked, "Where’s my big brother?"
"He’s here, he came too." Ning Ze tugged on the horse’s reins to move away from the carriage window, giving his spot to Zhang Mao.
Zhang Mao came over and called out "Brother Zhou Gu" and then "Third Brother". He then sighed in relief, "We’ve heard about how you two nearly died multiple times protecting the King. It’s a great fortune that you’re still safe."
Zhou Gu nodded, "We do indeed have a lot of luck."
Zhang Yun asked: "Big Brother, how did you deal with the task I left you, of transferring the lion’s share of General Jibei’s assets to Nanchu to supply military salaries?"
Zhang Mao immediately replied: "I received news a few days ago that almost everything has been transferred. The military salaries prepared can feed five hundred thousand soldiers for two months. It is winter and it’s difficult to gather military salaries and grain. The military salaries previously stored by the Jibei’s residence were handed over to the Imperial Court when he submitted. Now these are hastily arranged from the hidden assets you’ve gotten your hands on afterwards."
"Two months will suffice for the time being. Let them continue to prepare." Zhang Yun said.
Zhang Mao nodded, "That’s what I ordered. Don’t worry!"
The two brothers chose to side with Su Rong together. With no more barriers in between, they were no longer prepared to stumble each other, but instead cooperated together, hand in hand, in the same boat.
Jiang Zhu came over to greet, "Brother Zhou Gu, Brother Zhang Yun."
Zhou Gu asked: "Would you like to come inside the carriage to talk?"
Although Jiang Zhu was very curious about what had happened to Zhou Gu and Zhang Yun over the past few months, he still shook his head, "We’ll catch up when we arrive at Heiya Pass. Now is not the time to talk. The carriage with just the two of you can travel fast, but with us three additional people, it won’t be able to move so quickly."
Thinking about it, Zhou Gu let it be.
After a while, Su Rong remembered her senior sister, Shen Yi, and immediately went to the head of Shen Yi’s carriage.
When Shen Yi heard someone knocking on the carriage window, she lifted the curtain and saw Su Rong on her horse outside the carriage. She looked her up and down and said, "I thought you had forgotten about me."
Su Rong shook her head, "How could I."
Of course, she wouldn’t tell her that she had almost forgotten to consider her until her memory was jogged. After all, they were being pursued by an army of 800,000 led by Yuan Zhao and Nangong Zheng.
Shen Yi snorted lightly, "Do you want to come in and talk?"
Su Rong nodded, dismounted from her horse, and directly got into Shen Yi’s carriage.
Shen Yi, out of jealousy, looked at her tender and delicate little face still fair and beautiful despite days of exposure to the elements. She stretched out her hand to pinch Su’s face, "What kind of skin do you like? Look at this tender face, even the chilly wind of Nanchu couldn’t wrinkle it."
Su Rong answered by pinching back, not wanting to be at a disadvantage. "Sister, you’re also quite kind-hearted. You’ve been travelling day and night, and you’re pregnant with my nephew. Yet you haven’t lost weight from the hardship but gained a whole layer. Your skin is also very smooth."
Shen Yi slapped her hand away, jokingly scolded, "I’m sitting in this carriage all day, unlike you who have to kill and fight. Why would I lose weight from exhaustion? And besides, your nephew is really considerate, not creating any fuss, very well-behaved. Makes it easy for me and for you too."
"That’s indeed the case." Su Rong playfully touched her belly, "In such a short time apart, your belly has rounded quite a bit, just like a inflated balloon."
Shen Yi stuck out her belly, "With an army of eight hundred thousand chasing us, you still have the mood to be playful. If you want to touch, go ahead and touch all you want."
Su Rong unceremoniously touched it again, then withdrew her hand, sighed and said, "It’s really hard for my nephew in this chaotic war. If I had known, I should have sent you a letter in advance to take the people to the royal capital. Now that my father and Ye Xiang have returned to the capital, there is no need for this bumpy ride."
"No problem, I can now ride a horse while swinging a sword." Shen Yi snorted, "I’m not a weak woman."
"Okay, sister is the most powerful." Su Rong smiled and asked, "Have you replenished your golden needles on the road? Can I borrow some?"
"Sure, there’s plenty. I’ve gotten needles not only for you, but also for Fen Ling. I know you’ve used yours up and don’t have time to replenish." Shen Yi reached over and pulled out a large iron box for Su Rong.
Su Rong opened it and took a look, this was quite a load, probably ten or so pounds, enough to use indeed.
She unceremoniously scooped up a thousand or so with her sleeve, then pulled back the carriage curtain to call Fen Ling over and handed the box to him.
Seeing it, Fen Ling’s eyes lit up. He immediately grabbed half in his sleeve, then turned to Shen Yi and thanked her with a smile, "Thank you, Sister."
Shen Yi looked at him, "You’ve been busy for so long, yet you are still energetic, lively, and pleasing."
Fen Ling chuckled, "I must not lose my sister’s face."
As the curtain fell, Su Rong handed the box back to Shen Yi, and said to her, "I’ve already sent a letter to the Crown Prince, informing him to take the opportunity to attack Dawei. As for Yuan Zhao’s army of 800,000, it will be up to us to deal with."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yi immediately straightened up, "Even the fastest Hawk Messenger from Nanchu to Daliang, will take ten days and nights. The Crown Prince, after receiving the letter, will need at least three days to prepare military salaries. To launch an attack on Dawei, it will take at least another half a month to start fighting on the border. In total, it will take at least a month. Can our army of 500,000 hold on?"
"I had asked the Crown Prince to prepare 200,000 troops on the border of Nanchu beforehand. These 200,000 troops will first be dispatched to support us in Nanchu, and have an early skirmish with Yuan Zhao’s 800,000 troops. Then, when the timing is right, the 200,000 troops will withdraw and go to the border between Daliang and Dawei, catching Dawei off guard." Su Rong said.
Shen Yi nodded, "That’s a good strategy. Let’s do it this way."
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