Looking at the dark sky outside, Qingying felt a deep, unyielding melancholy in her heart.
Large raindrops pattered down from the sky. Qingying reached out and caught a drop; it was icy cold.
"Winter is almost here, young lady, you should take care of yourself." Yu Yue draped a fox fur cloak over her shoulders from behind.
Qingying nodded, turned around and went back into the house. "Close the window and have someone heat up some charcoal. I'm a little cold."
"yes."
At this moment, Granny Zhang walked in from outside, carrying a porcelain cup that was wet with rainwater.
Qingying glanced at it and asked, "What is this?"
Zhang Mama smiled and said, "The young master brought back pigeons yesterday, and I made pigeon soup for the young lady."
Liu Chengfeng had been sent by Liu Yu to Quzhou on business for a while and only returned yesterday. That was the closest city to Pandu, and also where Liu Yu first started his career.
Since the autumn hunt, Ayan had completely disappeared without a trace. Few people in the capital knew her to begin with, and the fleeting glimpse she made at the autumn hunt could not withstand the passage of time. More than a month had passed in the blink of an eye, and no one paid any attention to which maid in the General's Mansion was skilled in riding and archery and had won first place at the autumn hunt.
The real Shuoyue, however, was promoted to a first-class maid because of this incident and lived a life of great joy.
Qingying never interfered in matters within the household. Although she disapproved of Shuoyue's actions, she wouldn't expose him directly to avoid causing herself unnecessary trouble.
Granny Zhang placed the pigeon soup on the table in front of her, just as Yu Yue brought in a charcoal brazier from outside and bent down to place it at her feet.
Qingying then warmed herself by the fire while drinking soup.
"His Highness the Crown Prince hasn't come for a long time," Tong Xia sighed.
Since that day they parted, they had never seen each other in private.
Qingying knew he was very busy, and said indifferently, "The envoy is about to leave the court, and he'll be very busy lately."
The northern region of Vietnam is cold, and after December, the land is covered in ice and snow, making it difficult to travel. Therefore, the envoy had to leave Pandu and head north back to Yuancheng (the capital of the northern region of Vietnam) before mid-November.
Yu Yue asked, puzzled, "Why hasn't that peace agreement been signed yet?"
Qingying stopped after drinking half a bowl of soup, sighed, and said, "I'm afraid... it's not going to be signed."
The three of them stared at her in shock, but she smiled without saying a word.
Actually, it was only after she had some free time recently and thought things through carefully that she finally figured out what was going on.
After years of consolidation, the Eastern Kingdom is now powerful, and relatively speaking, the Northern Yue should be the least willing to start a war. Furthermore, with Wei Huaixu and Yuchi Wuyou both being poisoned, Qingying gradually unraveled the mystery.
It's likely that the Emperor never intended to sign any peace agreement with North Vietnam from the very beginning.
...
Qingying's conjecture was soon verified.
A peace treaty is considered truly successful only if both emperors affix their imperial seals to it. In other words, when Princess Anyang went to marry the emperor, Donglin would also send an envoy to accompany her, carrying the treaty stamped by the Donglin emperor to Yuancheng, and finally bringing it back.
Unfortunately, Princess Anyang disappeared on her way to the marriage alliance, along with the peace treaty stamped with the emperor's imperial seal.
The great war between the two countries was triggered for such a strange reason.
Qingying then understood why Wei Huaixu had said that there was not much time left. It was because Liu Yu was the commander-in-chief for this campaign, while Wei Huaixu and Chu Lingyu were appointed as deputy commanders.
He had long known that such a battle would take place, and he understood that the Crown Prince of Donglin Kingdom would definitely lead the campaign in person. He feared that he would not be able to return before she came of age, so he had obtained the imperial decree of marriage early on and branded his mark on her name.
“He knew that I couldn’t make my own decisions about my marriage, which is why he started planning so early. He was afraid that in the future, he would be thousands of miles away while I married someone else here, and he would be powerless to help me.”
Yu Yue exclaimed, "His Highness the Crown Prince has truly foreseen the future."
"Yes." She looked at the half-finished embroidery pouch in her hand and sighed, "I'm afraid I won't be able to deliver it to him before he goes to war."
Tongxia smiled and said, "Miss, you're overthinking it. Even if you don't finish embroidering it before sending it over, His Highness the Crown Prince won't mind."
“Of course, how could he possibly look down on what I embroider?” Qingying said with a smile.
That's what she said, but she still picked up her needle and thread and continued embroidering the remaining patterns.
For the Northern Yue Kingdom, fighting in winter was undoubtedly more harmful than beneficial. Although they had started stockpiling food early in order to survive the winter, fighting was not part of their plans. Therefore, when the fighting actually started, they did not have much military reserves available.
But for the neighboring country to the east, the situation is quite the opposite.
Over the years, the Eastern Kingdom has been stockpiling military strength, determined to reclaim Yingzhou.
What kind of place is Yingzhou?
It was a city bordering the Northern Yue Kingdom, the Eastern Lin Kingdom, and the Western Regions.
In the early days of the establishment of the Donglin Kingdom by Emperor Taizu, Yingzhou City, which is located near the northwest, was part of the Donglin Kingdom. However, Donglin was defeated in the war with Beiyue and ceded this land as a bargaining chip for fifty years of peace.
The war in which Prince Xian died was also near Yingzhou. At that time, it was to win over a small country in the Western Regions. Originally, the army could have directly attacked the enemy's capital by passing through Yingzhou. However, because the fifty-year truce agreement signed between Donglin and Beiyue had not yet expired, they could not arbitrarily invade Beiyue's territory and could only go around it by going around the mountains next to Yingzhou.
However, because they were not familiar with the terrain and there was a traitor in the army, they were beset by internal and external troubles. The troops led by Prince Xian were ambushed and wiped out.
In fact, the so-called peace agreement has always been a humiliating thing for the Eastern Lin Kingdom. After all, the agreement was made because the Eastern Lin Kingdom was defeated in the war. It seems to be a constant reminder that the Eastern Lin Kingdom is a defeated country.
Whether it is the current emperor or the late emperor, they probably both harbor the idea of recovering Yingzhou.
This personal campaign by Wei Huaixu is a good opportunity for him to establish his authority in front of the people. It seems that although the emperor does favor the seventh prince on the surface, he has never really thought about deposing the crown prince.
Having figured this out, Qingying felt at ease staying in the capital to wait for his return.
On the day Wei Huaixu set off for the expedition, Qingying went to the city gate to see him off.
He wore a suit of silver armor, riding a gleaming black steed. His long hair was tied up high with a dark blue ribbon. The cold light shone on his iron armor, and he had changed his usual gentle demeanor, becoming more sharp and ruthless.
Upon seeing Qingying, he dismounted from his horse and smiled somewhat childlikely, "You came to see me off."
"Hmm." Qingying took out a red rope and presented it to him with both hands. "This is what I got from Chongfu Temple the other day. Although it is exactly the same as the one you have, I made it myself. Take it with you and it will keep you safe."
He took it and treasured it like a precious gem, then suddenly said, "I heard you also embroidered a purse for me."
Qingying scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly, "It's not finished yet."
Did you bring it?
"I brought it."
"Let me see."
Qingying asked Yuyue to bring up the purse and handed it to her, explaining, "When I chose the style, I only cared about its beauty and forgot to consider its difficulty. I rushed to embroider it for half a month and only managed to finish one mandarin duck. The other one is only half-finished."
The purse was indigo blue, with a locust flower embroidered on both sides. On one side, there were two mandarin ducks gazing at each other under the tree. Just as she said, one of them was only half-embroidered.
"Is there a talisman in here?" Wei Huaixu asked.
"How did you know?" Qingying asked, somewhat surprised.
"I guessed." With that, he put the purse away.
Just as Qingying was about to stop him, she heard him say, "I want double the peace. I'll come back and marry you after we win the battle."
Qingying didn't ask him to return it, but smiled and said, "Then you must take good care of yourself and strive to return in triumph as soon as possible. Then I will embroider an even better one for you."
"good."
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