Wei Huaixu was bound and taken to the mountain stronghold. The stronghold chief was a tall, burly man dressed in a tiger-skin coat. He sat in the head seat and looked down at Wei Huaixu.
"Are you a military general?"
Wei Huaixu stared directly at him and said coldly, "The war at the front is critical. It's one thing for you to not support us from the rear, but you even dare to hijack military supplies. As citizens of Donglin Kingdom, you really don't care about national affairs at all!"
"Bah!" the chieftain scoffed. "Even if we care about national affairs, who cares about our lives? Those nobles in the capital are adorned with gold and silver, while we ordinary people can't even solve our basic needs. Our families are destroyed, and we are dying. How can we talk about the country?"
"His Majesty has already opened the national treasury and allowed cities to take in displaced people, so why do you still act as bandits?"
"The money sent from the national treasury all went into the pockets of corrupt officials. How could we have gotten a single penny? They say they are accepting refugees, but even after entering the city, they still have nowhere to live and can only beg on the streets. Some starve to death, and some die of illness. What kind of good policy is this? Those high-ranking officials take salaries paid by the people, but have they ever truly gone among the people? They just talk a lot of high-sounding words, but they don't do a single practical thing!"
“How could this be…” Wei Huaixu’s heart trembled as he listened to his words.
"You're the son of a high-ranking official, so naturally you wouldn't understand." The chieftain curled his lips in a mocking smile, then ordered his men to loosen the ropes binding him. He said, "I won't kill you. As you said, there's a war going on at the front, and you're a general. Killing you would shake the morale of the army. Although I'm not a virtuous person, I wouldn't do such a wicked thing that would harm the country. However, since we've already seized the supplies, you can only take half."
Now that Wei Huaixu was in their hands, he naturally had no confidence to negotiate with them.
Just as he was about to admit defeat, people from the village suddenly ran over in a panic, shouting, "Report—report to the village chief, someone has broken in!"
Wei Huaixu never expected that he would see Wei Dongchen again under such circumstances.
A young man in armor rode a tall steed, his dark hair tied up high with two crimson ribbons fluttering in the wind. He held a red-tasseled spear, the bloodstains on it still fresh.
Approaching from afar, a familiar and flamboyant smile spread across his face. "Crown Prince, it's been a long time!"
...
They ultimately recovered nearly 90% of the supplies.
Wei Huaixu then learned that Wei Dongchen had also left Pandu City on the second day after the army set off. He had changed his name and infiltrated the army, and thanks to his outstanding performance on the battlefield, he had now risen to the position of centurion.
"So you're the young General Huaiying that's been all the talk in the military lately."
"I wouldn't dare call myself a general; it's just something the soldiers call me jokingly," Wei Dongchen said with a smile, scratching his head.
Wei Huaixu lightly punched him in the chest and said with a smile, "Well done, secretly joining the army and hiding your merits and fame. If your father knew about your achievements now, he would probably burn some incense in front of the ancestral tombs overnight."
"However, he would probably give me a good scolding beforehand, yelling at me for running around fooling around again."
"Uncle is not such an unreasonable person."
Wei Dongchen shrugged indifferently. "Never mind him. You have to keep this a secret for me for now. I'm not called Wei Dongchen in the army now. I'm called Huaiying."
"Alright, since you saved me today, I'll keep it a secret for you for now."
"It's still my Crown Prince who understands me best."
As they approached the military camp, Wei Dongchen prepared to resign, saying, "I received the news and secretly led people to help you. I'll go back and be punished now."
"I will report this to the General when I return, and you will not be punished."
"In that case, thank you very much, Your Highness." Wei Dongchen bowed to him from his horse, then headed off in another direction with the soldiers who had come with him.
As promised, Wei Huaixu returned to the military camp and explained the situation to Liu Yu. However, Wei Dongchen's unauthorized departure from the military camp was a serious crime, which could be punished even if he was spared the death penalty.
Finally, Wei Huaixu defied public opinion and took the blame for him, enduring thirty strokes of the military rod and lying in bed for half a month before the wounds on his back scabbed over.
Wei Dongchen only found out about this later.
...
Pandu City.
As May approached, the weather gradually warmed up. Early one morning, Qingying went out to pick a basket of fresh loquats and loquat leaves covered in morning dew.
Drinking water boiled with loquat leaves can clear the lungs, relieve cough, and stop vomiting.
Although she simplified her diet after the war started, she still gained a lot of weight and no longer looked like she could be blown away by a gust of wind.
"Miss Xie has arrived." Tong Xia walked in and reported.
As soon as she finished speaking, Xie Jiaoying, dressed in a pale yellow dress, stepped into the courtyard. Before she even arrived, her voice preceded her: "I've come to see what delicious food Sister Liu has here."
Qingying smiled and looked over, saying, "I picked some loquats early this morning and had Yuyue make loquat almond cheese. Would you like to try some?"
"You said you'd try it, how can I not?" Xie Jiaoying walked over, fanning herself with a round fan, and sat down opposite her.
Yu Yue quickly brought out the loquat and almond cheese she had made. Xie Jiaoying took a bite, her eyes lit up, and she praised, "Yu Yue is such a good girl, she's skillful and her cooking is superb. I like her."
Qingying also took a bite and said with a smile, "No matter how much I like her, she can only be mine."
"Look how smug you are." Xie Jiaoying stopped eating after a few bites, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and said, "More good news has come from the front. The general has already entered Yingzhou, and the army's triumphant return should not be far away."
“I already knew last night.”
"Tsk tsk, His Highness the Crown Prince's messages arrive even faster than mine."
Qingying smiled gently, put down her porcelain spoon, took a sip of tea, and asked, "Is there any news about Princess Anyang now?"
"Where would she be? She fled during her marriage alliance, and there's probably nowhere for her to stay in either the Northern Yue Kingdom or the Eastern Lin Kingdom."
Moreover, the people blamed her for the war, and the Yan family was implicated as a result. Jin Heng was released from confinement before the spring and was able to attend court normally without any impact on his position, while Yan Xiuji was restricted in every way.
"They are pitiful, merely victims of the power struggle."
Xie Jiaoying disagreed, "She must have benefited from this. She's probably hiding somewhere under an assumed name, far away from the filth of the capital, and living a carefree life."
Qingying thought about it and felt that it made sense. Although she hadn't spent much time with Yan Zhiyun, she could tell that the woman was definitely not a pawn to be manipulated.
Xie Jiaoying suddenly slapped her forehead and said, "Look at my memory! I brought some fresh secrets with me this time."
"Oh?" Qingying immediately became interested. "Tell me about it."
"Princess Yongning is about to be betrothed again."
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