*
More than a month had passed before Nanqing, who was far away in the capital of Wei, received news of his campaign against the three kingdoms.
Along with the message came a small wooden sculpture, which was crudely carved. It took her a long time to realize that it was a sculpture of herself.
The wood is the most common pear wood. The carving is clumsy, but the edges of the wood carving have been carefully polished, and the surface is smooth and warm, without a single burr.
She held the small portrait in her palm, a smile in her eyes, and asked softly:
"Tell me, how did he hand this wood carving to you?"
The guards kneeling in the hall bowed their heads respectfully and said:
"Your Highness, as is customary, I was infiltrating the Regent's residence to record his daily activities. That night, he suddenly appeared behind me..."
"At the time, the Regent was only wearing a single layer of clothing. He handed the box to his subordinates and told them to take it to His Highness."
"Okay, you can go now."
She looked closely at the small portrait in her hand, her fingertips tracing the engravings. It seemed that the storybooks her amusing little guard had found for her were actually quite useful.
As for him declaring war on three kingdoms by himself?
Although Liang's military and financial strength were not as strong as Wei's, it still had a million soldiers. Of the three small states, only the Northern Di on horseback were a troublesome threat; the other two were not a concern.
Just as Nan Qing had predicted, Pei Linmo personally led his troops straight to the northern border.
The Northern Di people lived on the vast grasslands, based in tribes, worshipped the wolf as their totem, and believed themselves to be descendants of the "Heavenly Wolf God".
Today, the Northern Di Khan Temugo is in his prime. He ascended to the throne by stepping over the corpses of his brothers and unified the various tribes of the grasslands that had been divided for many years with bloody means. His bloodthirstiness made him famous among the seven major tribes of the grasslands.
Northern Desert City.
After the military meeting ended, the camp returned to silence. Pei Linmo rubbed his throbbing temples. Since deciding on the plan to conquer the three kingdoms, he had been leading his army straight to Beimo City almost without stopping.
Western Chu and Eastern Ying are both small places, and can be easily deterred. However, the Northern Di are different. The Pei family has been stationed in the Northern Desert for generations to resist the Northern Di and has dealt with various tribes of the grasslands. Since Temugo unified the various tribes of the grasslands, the Northern Di cavalry has become even more powerful. This battle will be no easy task.
The continuous running around had left him looking tired, but he did not rest. Instead, he moved to the table and sat down, taking out a palm-sized piece of wood and a file from his wooden box.
As the candlelight flickered, he picked up a file and began to carefully carve the unformed piece of wood.
Wood shavings fell softly, accumulating in a thin layer on the table. Occasionally, the knife tip would slip, leaving tiny scratches on his fingertips, but he paid no attention, continuing to carve intently by candlelight, his mind filled with that figure and face.
He tried needlework, but the mandarin ducks he embroidered were always mistaken by Su Jing for wild ducks. He also tried painting, but he felt that he could never capture the liveliness in her eyes.
This wood carving, though rough, is still pleasing to the eye.
"Your Highness..."
Su Jing lifted the curtain and came in. Upon seeing this, he immediately lowered his voice.
"The scout reports that Temugo has sent someone again..."
"We'll talk about it tomorrow."
Pei Linmo didn't even look up, his fingertips gently stroking the emerging outline of the face on the wood.
Su Jing was not surprised. He bowed and withdrew. Since leaving the capital, the prince had tried many of the stories in the novel. He would spend a long time carving this wood carving every night. He didn't know how many he had carved before he sent the best one to the Crown Princess.
Hopefully, the Crown Princess of Wei will not let their prince down.
In the following two years, the Liang Kingdom and the Northern Di engaged in dozens of fierce battles on the vast grasslands. Although the Liang army won many battles, it was never able to completely wipe out these horseback tribes.
Whenever the war went against them, the Northern Di people would disperse and vanish like the wind. When the Liang army relaxed its guard, they would gather again and attack from unexpected directions. The grasslands were vast and it was difficult to find their tracks, so the war dragged on and on.
Another harsh winter has arrived. Inside the Northern Di King's tent, the charcoal fire blazes fiercely, yet it cannot dispel the heavy chill within. The leaders of the seven tribes gather here, their faces etched with resentment.
"Khan!"
The chief of the Hunxie tribe slammed his fist on the table and stood up, the silver knife at his waist clanging.
"Why did we provoke the Liang Kingdom in the first place? Now that trade routes are cut off, our tribe can't even gather enough iron pots to cook meat!"
Other tribal leaders echoed this sentiment.
The old chieftain of the Tuoba tribe stroked his white braid and sighed:
“Our grassland men are indeed brave, but what about our food, salt, iron, and medicine? Don’t we rely on trade with the Central Plains for all of them? My tribe hasn’t seen any new tea for three months.”
There was a great deal of discussion in the tent. Temugo held a wolf-head wine cup in his hand, his face terribly gloomy.
Even the high priest, Ahmu, said softly, "Khan, the women and children of all the tribes are starving. If this continues..."
"Enough!"
The wolf-head wine glass was smashed to the ground, splashing wine everywhere.
"So what do you want? To wag your tails and beg for mercy from the Liang Kingdom?!"
High Priest Ahanmu bowed respectfully, his hand on his chest: "Great Khan, perhaps we should negotiate peace for now, and wait until next spring when the grasslands have recovered their vitality..."
"Shut up!"
Temugo kicked over the table in front of him, walked towards Ahanmu, grabbed the old priest by the throat, and lifted him into the air.
"You also want to betray the Azure Wolf God?"
The old priest's face turned purple, but he couldn't speak.
Just when everyone thought the old priest was doomed, Temugo suddenly let go and let out a chilling laugh. He licked his lips and his eyes flashed with madness.
"Great! Excellent!"
"I will go and meet this Regent of Liang."
"Send someone to Liang and tell them that the Northern Di want to negotiate peace!"
He spoke the words "peace talks" with particular bloodlust, and then pulled a jeweled scimitar from his waist, pointing the tip at Ahanmu, who was slumped on the ground.
"As for you, you old fool, just wait and see how I, the Khan, will hang the heads of the Liang people one by one on the flagpole as a sacrifice to the heavens!"
Outside the tent, the wind and snow howled, and Temugo's laughter mingled with the howls of wolves. The old chieftain of the Tuoba clan quietly helped Ahanmu up, and the two exchanged a worried look.
They all knew that this so-called peace talks would inevitably result in bloodshed.
A few days later, at Liang's army camp.
Pei Linmo stood in front of the sand table, his fingertips lightly pointing to the last few possible hiding places of the Northern Di.
The charcoal fire inside the tent was burning brightly, making people feel drowsy. Su Jing couldn't help but yawn.
"Your Highness, in this awful weather, the Northern Barbarians are probably all frozen to death in some corner..."
“No.” Pei Linmo raised his eyes. “They should be here soon.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than hurried footsteps sounded outside the tent, and the guards burst in.
"Your Highness, the Northern Barbarians have sent an envoy, saying... saying they want to negotiate peace!"
Su Jing immediately came to her senses and turned to look at the prince standing in front of the sand table, while Pei Linmo seemed to have expected it and was not surprised at all.
"Your Highness, is the Northern Barbarians negotiating a peace?"
Su Jing's face was filled with disbelief.
He and the prince grew up in Beimo City, and they were very familiar with the character of the Northern Di people. They would meet and make peace.
Pei Linmo neither said yes nor no, but simply said, "Let's see."
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