The elderly Duke received the letter and pondered after reading it. đ§đâŻâŻđ¤âŻđŁđâ´đđđ.đđ°đ
After thinking for a while, he said, "Itâs likely that Nanchu is thwarting Dawei, otherwise, the Daweiâs Crown Prince wouldnât discuss peace talks with us here in Daliang after capturing twelve cities. His forces are sufficient for retaliation, but he doesnât plan on fighting and primarily talks about negotiations."
Yan Huisheng nodded, "It seems so."
After reflecting for a moment, he consulted with the elderly Duke, "What do you think? Should we seek peace with Dawei?"
"Naturally," the elderly Duke agreed, "If we continue to fight, we wonât be able to afford the provisions for our troops. This is our biggest disadvantage. Weâve lacked preparation for many years, until this year we hastily prepared for this war. How can we sustain the huge consumption of this prolonged war?"
Yan Huisheng sighed. He knew that even if Daliang continued fighting Dawei, they couldnât afford to reach Daweiâs royal capital. He speculated, "I suppose Nanchuâs crisis has been resolved, and Su Rong, unable to bear the defeat, is initiating a counterattack against Dawei."
The elderly Duke agreed, "That must be it, otherwise why would Daweiâs Crown Prince hold back? Aside from the threat of Nanchu, thereâs no other reason."
Yan Huisheng immediately laughed, "It seems like we can take a huge bite out of Dawei by agreeing to the peace talks."
The elderly Duke also laughed, "If weâre not wrong, Daweiâs Crown Prince must have not just sent a single peace talk invitation, but must have also sent letters to Nanchu. We wonât haste in replying, weâd instead wait for Su Rongâs message, for Nanchu and Daliang to jointly negotiate with Dawei."
Yan Huisheng nodded, and laughingly said, "Thatâs how we should do it."
As a result, Daliang did not kill the messenger, yet did not let him go either or reply to Dawei. They put it on hold for the meantime.
At the same time, Nanchu was preparing for war.
People like Su Rong and Zhou Gu had recovered from their injuries for more than ten days. Except for the severely injured such as Ye Guixue and Fen Ling, the others were mostly healed and could at least walk, move, and ride horses.
Dr. Zhang sternly told Su Rong, Zhou Gu and the others not to conduct military operations until their injuries were completely healed, unless they had no other choice. Su Rong, Zhou Gu and the others were quite obedient. After all, they werenât lacking men to lead charges, so it wasnât problematic for them to stay in the rear.
During the attack on Dingnan City, Su Rong, Zhou Gu, Xie Yuan, Zhang Yun, Ye Guixue and the others all stayed in the rear. Cui Xingzhi, Cui Yanjin, members of the Evil Ghost Sect, Zhi Bai, along with many masters led by Zhou Shen and Zhou Che, commanding the soldiers, mainly attacked Dingnan City.
Nangong Zheng and the masters from the Nangong Family who were with him had not lost many when they followed Daweiâs Crown Prince, Yuan Zhao, because the Poison Doctor Sect was leading the charge, so they had preserved most of their strength.
There were also many masters around Helan Jue, who werenât utilised much when Yuan Zhao attacked the Heiya Pass.
Faced with the combined forces of Nanchu, Helan Jue grit his teeth and resisted for three days. Many of his masters had died by then, and just as their defeat was imminent, Nangong Zheng arrived with 150,000 soldiers, which provided a boost in combating the enemy and hence, Dingnan City, which had been on the verge of collapse, was once again held firmly.
However, even with the assistance of Nangong Zheng and his 150,000 soldiers, they managed to hold only seven more days.
After seven days, Nanchu finally breached the Dingnan City Gate and entered Dingnan City. Seeing the city broken, both Helan Jue and Nangong Zheng could only lead the Dawei army to retreat from Dingnan City after being defeated.
Su Rong did not pursue the fleeing soldiers but instead swiftly took over Dingnan City.
She was also quite exhausted, "Taking over Dingnan City was more difficult than I thought. I didnât expect Helan Jue and Nangong Zheng to put up such a strong defence. It took us ten days to capture it."
Within these ten days, even Cui Xingzhi was injured by Nangong Zheng, of course, Nangong Zheng wasnât lightly injured either.
Without waiting for Su Rongâs instructions, Dr. Zhang and Qin Feng accompanied by Lan Zhi and Bi Qing immediately surrounded the injured people to give them medication and bandages.
Zhou Gu gestured to her, "You go and rest, weâll handle things here."
Zhang Yun added, "Princess and Brother Zhou Gu should both go and rest. Youâve been planning military strategies and modifying them continuously day and night for many days, unlike us who at least had some decent sleep."
Zhou Gu thought about this and agreed, immediately grabbing Su Rongâs hand, "Alright, weâll leave, you guys handle things here."
Without any objections, Su Rong left with Zhou Gu to find a place to rest.
Zhang Yun, Zhang Mao, Ning Ze and others together cleared the battlefield, tallied the losses, and managed all affairs in the city.
Once they entered the Generalâs Residence, Su Rong ordered someone, "Boil some hot water. I need to bathe. I havenât bathed since being injured. Now that weâve achieved a victory, I need to take a bath first. Only after my body relaxes, I can drink a couple glasses during our celebration."
Zhou Gu burst her bubble, "You are not fully recovered yet, Dr. Zhang wonât let you drink."
Su Rong turned around to look at him, "Youâre such a party pooper, canât you let me enjoy the moment for a while?"
Zhou Gu laughed, "Isnât winning the battle already delightful enough? What does not drinking wine have to do with anything? While youâre taking a bath, weâll have people put some flower petals in your bath. I heard that the lady of this Generalâs Residence loves flowers. Letâs have them pick all the flowers sheâs grown for your bath."
Su Rong clicked her tongue, "The people are guilty, not the flowers. Who did those flowers offend?" After saying this, she giggled blissfully, "Well then, tell them to start picking the flowers immediately. If there are lots of flowers, you should also take a flower petal bath."
Zhou Gu agrreed with a laugh, "Alright."
The two of them agreed happily and proceeded leisurely into the courtyard.
Soon, some people boiled the water, others picked the flower petals. Su Rong saw a basket full of flower petals, indicating the previous owner really loved flowers. However, in the face of life and death, even the greatest love could be abandoned.
It was not unfair that these flowers were plucked by her.
She had some of the flowers poured into her bathtub. She climbed in and soaked herself amongst the flower petals, closing her eyes in satisfaction.
At the same time, separated by a wall, Zhou Gu also poured some flower petals into his bathtub. Just like Su Rong, he also got into the water and started bathing in the flower petal bath.
So when Cui Yanjin came looking, he was told his cousin and his cousinâs wife were bathing. He nodded obediently and quietly waited in the drawing room. While he was waiting, he noticed more than half a basket full of fresh flower petals. He was puzzled and asked, "Are these flowers freshly picked? What is their purpose?"
The guard explained, "Young Master Yanjin, Princess and Fourth Master recently ordered the flowers to be picked for a flower petal bath."
"Ah?" Cui Yanjin was stunned, "Really?"
In his opinion, his cousinâs wife could be excused for being so particular since she was a lady. But his cousin, a man, also took a flower petal bath? What was the justification behind it? Was it that a fragrant smell on a man was more appealing to his cousinâs wife?
He scratched his head, picked up a petal and sniffed it, "It does smell a bit fragrant."
He put down his hand and questioned the guard "Was my cousin in the habit of taking flower petal baths when he was in the Duke Residence?"
The guard shook his head, "Fourth Master has never done this before."
"Then why start now?" Cui Yanjin was puzzled.
The guard suggested, "Maybe taking a flower petal bath can help get rid of bad luck!"
Cui Yanjin considered that he had killed quite a few people and was bathed in much blood, which indeed gave out a feeling of bad luck. He immediately stood up, "I also want to use these flowers for my bath."
As he was saying so, he scooped up a bunch of flower petals with his sleeve, considerately leaving some for others, and went to find a place to take his bath.
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