54 Chapter 54

◎First update◎

"Your Majesty, why did you let Concubine Yin pass?" Princess Wei understood and didn't understand.

For her, although Yin Lifang had some old feelings for Li Cheng, last time Li Cheng would rather offend King Wei for the sake of Zheng than take a concubine. It was not easy for a man to do this.

The King of Wei said, "You don't understand. The great events of the world are often focused on a little thing." If it were normal, he would doubt whether Li Cheng liked his second concubine. If Li Cheng coveted her, he would want to kill him, even though he didn't like Yin Lifang very much. But at this time, if Yin Lifang had an old relationship with Li Cheng, it would be a great thing for him.

In his opinion, Li Cheng was reluctant to take action, partly because he himself was unwilling to mobilize troops, but also half because of the Zheng family. You know, Li Cheng used to hate Zheng Fang very much, but later he learned from Xie Jiuyi that Zheng Fang was now a high-ranking official, and the seizure of so much land was all Li Cheng's plan.

You have a beauty trap, and I also have one.

Princess Wei was shocked when she heard this. She used to feel sad that her daughter was going to marry Wei Xiao. After all, Wei Xiao divorced his original wife in order to marry Jian Jia. If her family fell into decline in the future, the Wei family might also fall into decline. But now, she saw the ugliest side of human nature. It turned out that her husband was the same.

Concubine Yin Life gave birth to the eldest son of the King of Wei. She was usually the most filial to the Queen Mother of Wei and was also respectful to herself, the king's wife. However, at the critical moment, the King of Wei could still push her out to seduce others.

Too ugly, too ugly...

But then she thought again, if there was no King of Wei, and Jiangnan was conquered, she might be taken as a trophy and become someone else's concubine or slave, which would be even worse than what she is now.

The Princess of Wei once had a handkerchief friend who was married to Han Suo, the governor of Yangzhou. Later, when Han Suo was defeated, the handkerchief friend was taken as a trophy and made a concubine.

Seeing that the Princess of Wei was silent, the King of Wei also put his hands down and thought, wondering if Yin Lifang could complete the task. The temptation he gave was great enough, and it depended on her whether she could seize the opportunity.

**

Similarly, Li Cheng understood immediately after seeing Yin Lifang. When Hua Gan saw Yin Lifang coming in, he prepared to leave. He said, "What is Empress Yin doing here? You should go to my princess."

Yin Lifang curled her lips and said, "Little Prince, I am here to give you a secret letter on behalf of you. You must not let others know."

"The princess is not someone else. Someone, please ask the princess to come over." Li Cheng only felt that after saving Li Jing last time, he had since repaid his mother and Aunt Du for raising him, as well as the so-called wish of Princess Wu before her death. He was like this in everything he did. He was unwilling to let others down, so there was no need for him to make a clean and decisive decision.

Yin Lifang didn't expect Li Cheng to cause trouble. She was a very patient person and didn't want to be too utilitarian at the moment. She just smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wait here too."

In her opinion, it is not the time for her to draw her trump card yet. The King of Wei asked her to come over to negotiate for the position of the Crown Prince, but she declined several times. However, if she really succeeded, the King of Wei might suspect that Li Cheng was colluding with her, which would be disadvantageous to her.

She grew up in Prince Wu's mansion. Prince Wu hired a famous teacher to teach the prince. Unlike her sister, she studied hard, but unfortunately she was just a girl.

Huiyin didn't expect Li Cheng to ask her to come over. After coming in, she saw Yin Lifang and was a little surprised.

Li Chengcai said to Hua Gan, "You go down first. Since ancient times, there has been a difference between men and women. Now that the princess is here, she and I are one, so there is nothing wrong with it. If it was really a military secret, I'm sure you wouldn't let Queen Yin bring it."

Hua Gan bowed, took a few steps back, and then retreated respectfully.

Huiyin smiled and said to Concubine Yin Ci: "Why didn't you come to see me? What's the matter?"

When Concubine Yin saw Huiyin coming, she stood beside Li Cheng legitimately, as if to show that they were on the same side. She didn't care, but just said, "Little Prince, Little Princess, I didn't want to come originally, but I couldn't persuade you."

Seeing that she was forced to come here, Huiyin felt very sympathetic: "Yes, we women can't make the decision on men's affairs."

In fact, Huiyin was very pleased. No matter what the King of Wei asked Yin Lifang to do, Li Cheng could directly call her over. This showed that he was sensible and cared about her performance. However, what did the King of Wei send her to do? Was it to persuade Li Cheng to fight? This was too absurd.

Yin Lifang nodded slightly, then looked at Li Cheng and said, "The prince said that he knows that you are not in a position to attack the Zheng family in Jizhou because of your in-laws, but the battle of Qingzhou caused countless casualties, and almost every family is in mourning. Now that Zheng and Fang are fighting on the northern front, we should break through the siege and capture Qingzhou. This is what we should do to comfort the people of Wei."

After she finished speaking, before Li Cheng could even open his mouth, she said, "Actually, I don't understand anything about such a big thing, but I have Jing'er, so there's nothing I can do."

Huiyin thought that Yin Lifang had really been fighting with Yunhui, Yin Liyi and others for several times. Yin Lifang must have agreed to this matter before coming here, but she was so frank. Probably no one would blame her, right?

As expected, Li Cheng relaxed his brows and said, "Empress Yin, I have a letter for you to take back to Uncle Wei. Now is not the right time to take action. It is precisely because of the great defeat last time that I must be more cautious and must not start a war lightly."

"Well, okay." Yin Lifang said nothing.

Li Cheng also breathed a sigh of relief. He had no intention of quarreling with the King of Wei at the moment. If Zheng Fang was really defeated in the battle on the northern front and retreated to Jizhou, and did not ask him for help after being badly beaten, then he would wait until Zheng Fang was almost exhausted and then it would not be too late to conquer him.

After he finished writing the letter, he put it aside to dry. Yin Lifang said nothing and turned away after receiving the letter. Huiyin thought that she was not stupid. If she were stupid, Li Cheng would definitely fight with her if she exposed the matter now. Now she had the attitude of leaving after finishing the work, so Li Cheng would naturally not make things difficult for a woman.

On the way back, Bigan asked Yin Lifang: "How is it?"

Yin Lifang shook her head: "It's my incompetence."

She thought that this time Li Cheng deliberately let Zheng Huiyin be here because he was unwilling to agree to this matter. The reason why she did not speak out and did not mention their old relationship was because she saw that Li Cheng was indeed unwilling. At the same time, by not doing so, she also subtly washed away the matter between her and Li Cheng so that King Wei would no longer have any doubts.

Sure enough, when she returned to report, she said with a humble look, "It is really my incompetence."

The King of Wei took the letter and glanced at it, then said calmly, "It's okay, you have done your best."

Yin Lifang stood there looking very depressed, as if she was sad that she had not been able to convince Li Cheng. The King of Wei thought that he had not expected this person to be so incompetent. He had originally thought that she had some relationship with Li Cheng, but it was of no use.

The King of Wei waved his hand to let her leave, and went to Concubine Xu. Don't say that women in the harem cannot interfere in government affairs. As long as someone can solve his problems, he will look up to that person. He originally thought that Yin Lifang was different from other women, but he didn't expect that it wouldn't work.

Half a month later, Zheng Fang and Zheng Wuheng sent letters separately, both saying that Lu Wei's subordinates were causing chaos at the Jiahu Pass border and that these people had already fled elsewhere. They were sending people to capture them and all the relevant personnel were punished. They also sent thick funeral gifts to the soldiers who died on Li Cheng's side.

In this way, the crisis was resolved, but Huiyin was also very clear that Li Cheng and King Wei would eventually be separated.

Li Cheng had always been in charge of the military training in Poyang waters, but this time he gave the task to Guo Fei, a relative of Concubine Wei. Li Cheng remained silent after hearing this.

Huiyin looked at him and asked, "How are you?"

"What's going on?" Li Cheng asked.

"Now the King of Wei has made it clear that he doesn't trust you. In the future, let's just guard Xuzhou and Qingzhou, okay?" Huiyin said.

Li Cheng smiled and shook his head: "I just feel that I am under the control of others. Even if I work hard, if I make others unhappy, I can take back everything I have at any time. But if I only have it myself, no one can take it back."

Huiyin comforted him, saying, "The King of Wei may have had the intention to cultivate you at first, but compared to his position and his family, you are nothing."

Even Xuzhou was conquered by Li Cheng himself. Originally, Li Cheng was only a general in the army. He was not even given any territory. The Guo family had only fought on the battlefield a few times, and they all occupied important roads.

Li Cheng had not thought much about this before, but now that he remembered it, he nodded: "Yes, you are right, Uncle Wei was also very nice to me at first. But life is always changing, and I don't know what I will become in the next moment."

"In fact, this is a common thing. Life is a series of stages. We may be of the same mind today, but we may become enemies tomorrow." Huiyin took these things lightly.

Li Cheng felt that he was very lucky because he always had someone by his side.

Huiyin stood up and said, "This concubine Yin may not want to use their old relationship to control you, but when she saw you called me here, she knew you had made up your mind, so she didn't say a word and portrayed herself as a victim. She is really a smart person."

"Do you think she is like this?" Li Cheng felt that sometimes he didn't quite understand women.

Huiyin said, "Loyalty may seem hypocritical, and kindness may seem evil. When we make friends, we would rather choose someone with some flaws than someone who is too perfect. The real master is the one who can calculate people's hearts. If I were her, I would not want to pretend to be sick, or if I really wanted to do it for my son, I would say a few words to you about establishing a crown prince. But she changed all her minds the moment she saw me."

Xun Rou's despicable method was too crude, and Yun Hui was also a hypocritical person, but she lost her temper and her desire was finally exposed. Yin Lifang was indeed scheming and made decisions in a moment, and those with weak minds would be deceived by her.

Li Cheng smiled and said, "Huiyin, I think you are really determined. Concubine Xu tried to please you in every way, but you didn't fall for it at all. Concubine Yin seemed to have no desires, but you didn't believe it at all."

"Because these people have vested interests with us. If not, I wouldn't delve into it too deeply. I probably think that Concubine Xu is a kind-hearted person, and Concubine Yin is a good person," Huiyin said with a smile.

It was rare for a couple to be able to communicate calmly like this. Li Cheng looked at her belly, then looked at her and said, "It will only work if you use your beauty trick on me."

Huiyin blushed, which was rare for her: "What nonsense are you talking about."

A few months passed, during which Li Cheng was always in Xuzhou and Qingzhou, spending time with his wife and children whenever he was free. When Huiyin was pregnant, it was Li Cheng who went into the delivery room to help her give birth. The couple were looking forward to having a daughter, after all, they already had a son, but they didn't expect to have a son.

Huiyin's childbirth this time was much smoother than the last time. The couple had already chosen a name for their son when he was born, a single character "Zhan".

However, before the child was a full month old, it was heard that Zhao Hong of Yongzhou led an army south and fought all the way to Yizhou. After successfully conquering Yizhou, he began to compete with the King of Wei for Jingzhou. The governor of Jingzhou was originally Li Da, a descendant of the Daye royal family. Li Da was deeply loved by the local people for his governance of Jingzhou, but now he is dead. The crown prince is still young, and the King of Wei has long been in his pocket, but no one expected that Zhao Hong would come along halfway.

Zhao Hong rushed to Jingzhou first, and the King of Wei sent Xie Jiuyi there. Since the death of Li Da, Jingzhou had been leaderless. Some of these people defected to Zhao Hong, and the other part defected to the King of Wei. The two sides simply started a war in Jingzhou.

Huiyin thought that she had only focused on her own affairs before and had no idea how some wars were fought, but now she understood it very clearly.

"How strong is Zhao Hong?" Huiyin asked Li Cheng.

"Of course it's good. Otherwise, this man is just a small governor of Yongzhou, but he has annexed Yizhou and is about to annex Jingzhou. He can be said to be brave and invincible." Li Cheng said.

Huiyin looked at him and said, "If I send you, can you beat him?"

Li Cheng smiled and said, "That's hard to say. Many things on the battlefield change rapidly."

After saying that, Li Cheng went out first, while Huiyin leaned on the pillow, feeling as if a storm was about to come.

Yin Liyi also felt the same feeling. Xie Jiuyi was leading his troops to fight again. The last time Xie Jiuyi went to Qingzhou to fight, he almost died on the battlefield. She didn't know what would happen this time.

Unfortunately, this time there was a famine, and the granary was burned by Zhao Hong. Zhao Hong used wild methods, and no one knew how he fought. In the past, the King of Wei dominated the south of the Yangtze River, and the food was sufficient. But now it was different. Xie Jiuyi's food and grass were burned. Although he won a battle, it was urgent to collect food and grass.

She, who had always been very energetic, was now frowning and unhappy. Even when she went to see Concubine Yin Ci on her nephew Li Jing's birthday, she was absent-minded.

Concubine Yin Ci comforted her, "Don't worry, there will definitely be a way."

There is indeed a solution, that is, the King of Wei makes Xie Jiuyi marry Cao Ping, the sister of a big merchant in Jianye, so that the Cao family will happily provide food. Although merchants are usually looked down upon, they are the most needed in war. The Cao family originally wanted to monopolize the food in Jingzhou, but now they have reached a tacit understanding with Xie Jiuyi.

When Yin Liyi realized what was going on, she suddenly felt dizzy.

Concubine Yin Ci helped her sister sit down: "What's wrong with you?"

"Sister, how could my husband take a concubine? He promised my father that I would be his only child for the rest of his life. You must have known this a long time ago, but you kept it from me." Yin Liyi couldn't accept it.

Concubine Yin smiled and said, "Don't worry, this marriage is just a matter of mutual benefit. The female official sent by the King of Wei went to help preside over the wedding. The female official is familiar with me and specifically told me that my brother-in-law would not go to her place at all."

Yin Liyi was happy again instantly, but she didn't know why, she felt very uncomfortable. Her husband was forced to take a concubine, and she must have felt worse than her.