Disciple's Second Marriage 14
Although Yan Hao did not tell Lei Yuan's purpose at first, Tao Yuan had already guessed that he was definitely going to withdraw his troops.
If Yan Hao wanted to withdraw his troops, he needed Lei Yuan's consent. Otherwise, he would have to wait until Lei Yuan announced his withdrawal. This was because they had agreed long ago that the two Martial Kings could expand their spheres of influence in Beiliang Pass based on their strength, but they also had their own areas of responsibility. Both parties had already written a letter of commitment and submitted it to Emperor Wen.
Now that Yan Hao was suddenly withdrawing his troops, he had to let Lei Yuan take over his territory. However, taking over his small territory wouldn't offer Lei Yuan much benefit, and as long as he refused to take over, Yan Hao would continue to lose troops and strength. Therefore, if Yan Hao wanted Lei Yuan to agree, he had to pay a price.
Last time, when Yan Hao lent him food and passage, he agreed to double the amount of food and passage he could give Lei Yuan, and ceded some of his rights to him. Now that he was begging Lei Yuan again, he naturally had to pay even more than before.
In reality, Yan Hao wasn't retreating to the capital. It would have been humiliating. He wanted to go to Bei'an City, but Lei Yuan wouldn't allow it. Even to the surrounding cities, Lei Yuan wouldn't let him go. So, after Yan Hao withdrew, he could only retreat to a place several cities away from Bei'an.
Yan Hao withdrew his troops and ceded considerable power to Lei Yuan. To say he had truly given up the struggle for power with Lei Yuan was impossible, and no one would believe it. Yan Hao withdrew to preserve his strength and wait for an opportunity. He didn't return to the capital, not only because it would be too embarrassing, but also to allow his soldiers to fully adapt to life in the north.
It was impossible for Lei Yuan not to know what he was thinking, but Lei Yuan agreed to let him withdraw his troops because he could obtain a lot of power from Yan Hao before moving the capital, and because he had enough confidence in himself, so he deliberately gave him a chance to breathe, but he would never let his idea succeed.
After Qu Feng confirmed with Yan Hao and knew that he was really going to withdraw his troops, he cried with joy for a long time. Even if he was not going back to the capital, he was extremely grateful as long as he no longer had to live in fear.
Yan Hao looked at Qu Feng, his face and heart filled with disgust. Thinking of Tao Yuan's face, he wondered what had happened to him, choosing this person over someone like that. If it weren't for the affection they had in their previous life, Yan Hao would have thrown Qu Feng away long ago, leaving him to fend for himself. He wouldn't even have kept him around now.
Because Miao Chen was about to arrive, Tao Yuan asked Lei Yuan to send him back to Hancheng and wait for Miao Chen in advance.
A few days later, Tao Yuan received a report and learned that Miao Chen had finally arrived, so he immediately went out to greet him.
"Dad!" Tao Yuan hadn't seen Miao Chen for several months and ran towards him happily.
"Ayun." Miao Chen had just gotten off the carriage and was looking at Tao Yuan who was walking towards him quickly with a smile.
"Dad, where is my brother?" Tao Yuan asked excitedly.
"He's sleeping inside." Miao Chen turned his head to look at the carriage. His servant was coming out holding the child.
"Let me hold him." Tao Yuan immediately walked over and took the child from the servant.
Tao Yuan looked at the fair and tender child in his arms and said, "Little Qu Li, do you know me? I am your brother."
"He can't recognize people yet, and he is asleep, so how can he hear you talking?" Li Miao said with a smile.
"Come on, Dad, let's go inside and talk. I asked the chef to prepare your favorite dishes. After you're full, take a good rest." Tao Yuan held his younger brother and walked in with Miao Chen.
Tao Yuan had just eaten in the morning and was not hungry yet, so he held his younger brother and talked to Miao Chen while watching him eat.
"Before I came here, I went to the palace to see Xiao'er. He has grown a lot, but his face is still as round as before," said Miao Chen.
Tao Yuan couldn't help laughing. "The king always says his face is too round. I thought babies have round faces soon after birth, so they will definitely not be round when they grow up. But when I heard what my father said, I also started to worry. What if he still has a round face when he grows up?"
"There's nothing to worry about. Your face is round because you're fat now. It was the same when you were a kid. When you grow up, your face won't be round anymore."
Tao Yuan smiled, looked down at Qu Li in his arms, and missed Lei Xiao even more.
"There is one thing you may not know yet." The smile on Miao Chen's face suddenly disappeared.
"What's the matter?" Tao Yuan looked at Miao Chen and suddenly became serious.
"Your second uncle is dead." Miao Chen said.
"My second uncle is dead? How did he die?" Tao Yuan was puzzled. How could a healthy person die suddenly?
"He led his troops to suppress the pirates, but was killed by them."
"He led troops? What ability does he have to lead troops?" Tao Yuan thought it was a little ridiculous. "A man who doesn't even know martial arts and has never suffered a bit of hardship actually led troops to suppress the pirates. Isn't this too ridiculous?"
"Actually, he's not the main commander. He just went along to make up the numbers and earn some credit. Because Qu Feng is the only concubine who followed King Yanwu to Beiliang Pass, and he's also the concubine with the greatest hope of giving birth to King Yanwu's eldest son, the people of Yanwu's faction want to curry favor with him, so..."
Tao Yuan smiled. He didn't care whether the original owner's uncle was dead or alive. Countless people died every day in this world. To him, the original owner's uncle was no different from those insignificant people. He even felt a bit of gloating, because the person who was most heartbroken by the original owner's uncle's death must have been the devoted Old Lady Qu.
Before, for the sake of her youngest son, Old Lady Qu was so cruel as to harm Qu Cang. Now that her youngest son is dead, she must be heartbroken. Tao Yuan felt happy just thinking about it. He didn't even have to do it himself, they started to destroy themselves. This is called evil will be punished.
Although the original owner's second uncle had two sons, they were both spoiled to no end. They were lucky enough not to cause trouble and could never achieve anything great.
Old Lady Qu was heartbroken to see her son die young, and she was bedridden. She had never imagined that the only son she loved would die before her, and her grief was so overwhelming that she fell ill.
Miao Chen rested in Hancheng for two days, and then went to Qu Cang's military camp. Tao Yuan left Qu Li behind to take care of him.
Miao Chen left Hancheng, and Tao Yuan took Qu Li to Lei Yuan's military camp.
Tao Yuan held Qu Li in his arms and watched him blowing bubbles with his eyes open. He thought he was very cute and kept looking at him with a smile on his face all the way.
After entering the military camp, Tao Yuan held Qu Li and got off the carriage with the help of Jiangshuang and Yuyue.
Tao Yuan had just stood firm on the ground, about to walk towards the tent, when suddenly a white object rushed out, as fast as lightning, and pounced directly at Qu Li in Tao Yuan's arms. Tao Yuan was shocked and didn't even have time to see what it was. He immediately exerted a huge amount of spiritual power and bounced the object away, even the people next to him were bounced away by Tao Yuan's spiritual power.
Tao Yuan was still in shock and didn't care about anything else. He quickly checked whether Qu Li in his arms was injured. Qu Li burst into tears and Tao Yuan carefully confirmed that he was not injured, but just frightened, and then hugged him and patted him to comfort him.
Frost and Rain were the first to get up. Frost endured the pain and picked up the white thing. He brought it to Tao Yuan and said, "Lord, it's a fox spirit."
"Where did the fox spirit come from?" Tao Yuan frowned and said unhappily, "Fox spirits are extremely wild and can hurt people. Why is there no one guarding them and letting these beasts run around freely?"
Because the fox spirit almost injured Qu Li, Tao Yuan was very angry. If he hadn't reacted quickly, Qu Li would have been seriously injured by the fox spirit. A child this young could have died if injured by a fox spirit.
The fox spirit was injured by Tao Yuan's spiritual power, with blood coming out of the corner of its mouth and its body twitching, but it was not dead yet.
Fang Ce happened to be passing by with his soldiers. When he saw Tao Yuan, he immediately came over and saluted Tao Yuan, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
"Commander Fang, this spirit fox..."
"Xue Ji!"
Before Tao Yuan could finish his words, he was interrupted by a shout. Tao Yuan turned around and saw a handsome boy with a face as white as jade running towards him quickly. Behind this boy was another person who looked exactly like him.
Tao Yuan thought to himself, twins?
"Xue Ji! Give Xue Ji back to me!" The boy ran over and tried to snatch the spirit fox away, but was dodged by Jiang Shuang. Without Tao Yuan's order, Jiang Shuang could not return the spirit fox that almost hurt Qu Li.
Qu Li was crying so hard that Tao Yuan felt very distressed and didn't want to let this fox off easily.
"I asked you to return Xue Ji to me, did you hear me?!" Sang Wen shouted at Jiang Shuang with anger on his face.
"Awen, calm down." Sang Yun grabbed Sang Wen and advised.
"Brother, they hurt Xue Ji, how can you expect me to stay calm?!"
"They are..." Tao Yuan looked at Fang Ce and asked.
"Reporting to the king, these two are the royal ministers of Sang Kingdom. They were brought here by the crown prince of Sang Kingdom." Fang Ce said.
"Is this your spirit fox?" Tao Yuan asked Sang Wen.
"So what if it's my fox spirit? Hurry up and return Xue Ji to me. If anything happens to my Xue Ji, I want you all to be buried with her!" Sang Wen glared at Tao Yuan and said loudly.
"How dare you!" Fang Ce shouted at Sang Wen, "How dare you let our king be buried with a beast? Do you, Sang Nation, want to go to war with our Donglai Nation?"
Sang Wen and Sang Yun were immediately stunned. They didn't expect that Tao Yuan was the King of Lei Wu. Sang Wen was too excited just now, and Sang Yun was in a hurry to persuade Sang Wen, so they didn't hear Fang Ce call Tao Yuan the King.
"It turns out to be His Royal Highness the Prince. We were rude. I hope Your Highness the Prince will be magnanimous and not take it to heart." Sang Yun bowed slightly to Tao Yuan, then pulled Sang Wen's sleeve, signaling him to apologize quickly.
Sang Wen looked at the fox with heartache, then bowed quickly and reluctantly.
Tao Yuan glanced at them, then carried Qu Li straight into the tent.
Jiangshuang was still holding the half-dead fox in his hand. He asked his servant to find a cage, put the fox in it, and then walked into the tent carrying the cage.
"Xue Ji..." Sang Wen wanted to follow and get the fox spirit back, but Sang Yun held him back.
"Awen, don't forget the purpose of our coming here, and don't forget what the emperor told us before we came. The emperor said that King Lei Wu loves his king very much. If we offend him now, he will whisper in King Lei Wu's ear, and our marriage to King Lei Wu may not be possible."
"But Xueji was given to me by my father. I've raised her for so many years. Am I just going to watch her die like this?!"
"Which is more important, Xue Ji, or our future happiness? Didn't you say that after meeting King Lei Wu, you made up your mind to marry him?" Sang Yun looked at him seriously and said, "I told you a long time ago that you indulge Xue Ji too much. If Xue Ji really hurt the child in his arms today, it would be a disaster."
"Do I really have to give up Xue Ji?" Sang Wen has raised Xue Ji for so many years and has developed feelings for her. He can't bear to let her go.
"Don't even mention one Xue Ji. Even if it's ten Xue Ji, I have to give them up today. If you can't bear it, I'll tell my brother to send you back. I'll let my father find a suitable husband for you in the court. I'll stay and marry King Lei Wu."
"No!" Sang Wen's eyes widened, and he spoke in a low voice excitedly, "We agreed to marry King Lei Wu together. This was the original plan. We look exactly the same, so it would be easier to seduce Lei Wu together. How can you be the only one to marry him?!"
"If you don't want to be sent back, come with me later to apologize to that king. You must do everything I say. Got it?"
"I understand. I'll listen to you." Although Sang Wen has a spoiled and domineering temper, he is not a completely brainless person. He knows very well that Sang Yun is smarter and calmer than him, so it will definitely not be wrong to listen to him.
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