Chapter 263 The Lei Family Father and Daughter, Have They Rebelled?!
By the time Tushe'er and Changwan arrived to serve, the two people in the room had completely separated. Shang Ruyi was still sitting by the headboard, while Yuwen Ye was sitting by a low table in the center of the room, drinking most of a glass of cold water, as if nothing had happened.
However, Shang Ruyi's cheeks, which were flushed from the low-grade fever, looked unnaturally red at this moment.
The two looked at each other, both feeling a little embarrassed.
When Xue Daotong left today, he not only took the Third Young Master with him, but also took away some of the "extra" manpower from the mansion. As a result, there are not many servants in the Yuwen mansion now. Otherwise, they would not have been completely unaware that the Second Young Master had already entered the mansion.
But thankfully, I didn't know.
If I were to encounter that scene like Wo Xue, that would be truly fatal!
The two women rushed forward to help. Chang Wan immediately brought Yuwen Ye a fresh cup of hot tea, while Tu She'er went over to serve Shang Ruyi a few candied fruits she had brought to cleanse her palate—although by this time, the bitterness in her mouth was probably long gone. Then she asked softly, "Miss, are you still feeling unwell?"
Shang Ruyi was too embarrassed to even look at them anymore.
After holding back for a while, he finally said softly, "Go and bring him lunch. Serve him his meal first."
"Oh, okay, sure."
So the two of them hurried to the kitchen, and soon brought in a steaming hot meal. Although there weren't many dishes, they were still quite home-style and delicious. But when Yuwen Ye saw that there was only one set of chopsticks and a bowl, he looked up at her and asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head: "I took my medicine and don't have much of an appetite. Let's talk about it later."
Yuwen Ye turned to Tushe'er and Changwan and said, "Then you don't need to serve me anymore, you can all leave."
The two immediately left the room.
So, only the two of them remained in the room. Yuwen Ye sat at the low table in the center of the room, eating with his bowl and chopsticks, while Shang Ruyi leaned against the bed, quietly watching him.
After watching for a while, she said softly, "Today, Uncle Xue came back to take away my third brother. I thought that if we were the only two left, we wouldn't need so many people, so I let him take some people with him as well."
Yuwen Ye nodded: "What did he say when he took my third brother away?"
“I explained the matter to my third brother, and he didn’t say anything.”
"Did he say anything else?"
“He said that Dad told us to take some time to visit Mom at Banyan Temple.”
"..."
Yuwen Ye's expression darkened slightly.
Indeed, ever since they enshrined Guan Yunmu's memorial tablet at Banyan Temple during the Lunar New Year, there has been a constant stream of troubles. Now that things have finally settled down, it is indeed time to go and see her.
So he said, "In a couple of days, when you're feeling better, come with me."
Shang Ruyi nodded: "Mm."
She thought for a moment, then asked softly, "The morning assembly lasted so long today, was there something important?"
Yuwen Ye looked up at her.
Shang Ruyi's heart trembled. She hadn't forgotten why the two of them had suddenly become estranged when they were fine before. Even though they had made up now, the thorn between them—or rather, that person—was still there. It was not only in their hearts, but also in the court meetings that Yuwen Ye attended.
This time, however, Yuwen Ye did not dwell on the issue. Instead, he lowered his head, took a sip of soup, and said, "Take a guess."
"Guess?"
After thinking for a moment, Shang Ruyi quickly spoke up: "Is it that the imperial court is going to conquer Liaodong again?"
Yuwen Ye asked, "How did you know?"
Shang Ruyi said, "I saw it yesterday at Tinghe Tower. Now that the warships are almost finished, the next step must be to prepare to send troops."
Yuwen Ye nodded and said, "That's right, that's what everyone thinks."
"Um?"
Shang Ruyi was taken aback. His words seemed to imply a discrepancy between reality and imagination, so she asked, "Is there something else?"
Yuwen Ye looked up at her for a moment, then slowly said, "Lei Yi has rebelled."
"Lei...Yi?"
Shang Ruyi was unfamiliar with the name and didn't immediately recognize it. But after a moment's thought, she gasped, looked up at him, and exclaimed in disbelief, "General Lei?! He's rebelled?!"
Yuwen Ye nodded.
Shang Ruyi sat on the edge of the bed, her whole body stiffening for a moment.
General Lei Yi, Left Imperial Guard...
Lei Yu's father!
Just over a month ago, when Lei Yu visited her for the last time, he told her before leaving that she was going to Hebei with her father to quell the rebellion. There had been no news since then, and Shang Ruyi didn't know if their rebellion was progressing smoothly. But she never expected that the last message she received would be like this!
Lei Yi has rebelled?!
What about Lei Yu? Is she also going with her father? And what about their future?
Shang Ruyi was both shocked and incredulous. She stood there for a while before hurriedly getting out of bed, but her legs were weak and she almost fell to the ground. Yuwen Ye reacted quickly and rushed forward to support her, frowning as he asked, "What are you doing?"
Shang Ruyi grabbed his arm and asked urgently, "They really rebelled? Why did they rebel?"
"..."
Yuwen Ye was silent for a while, then sighed, helped her sit down at the low table, and slowly said, "We still don't have any definite news about why they rebelled, but I can tell you that this kind of thing is not uncommon. Of the many generals that the court sent to the south to quell the rebellion, six or seven out of ten, even if they didn't openly rebel, were already no longer under the control of the court."
"..."
“Even my trip to Xingluocang this time almost turned into ‘leading my troops to flee.’”
Shang Ruyi was speechless, feeling cold all over and shivering.
Seeing her face gradually turn pale, Yuwen Ye frowned, sat down beside her, and reached out to pull her into his arms.
In fact, when he heard the news at the court meeting, although he had already anticipated some things, he was still shocked. When he returned, he was even somewhat relieved that Shang Ruyi might have already left the Eastern Capital and did not have to know this bad news so quickly.
Unexpectedly, she stayed, and this news struck her like a bolt from the blue, leaving her completely stunned.
Seeing her panicked and uncertain appearance, Yuwen Ye remained silent for a while before lowering his head and saying softly, "In this world, no one is without self-interest."
Shang Ruyi's heart skipped a beat, and she looked up at him.
Only then did she vaguely remember that Lei Yu had told her before leaving that he was going to Hebei with his father to quell the rebellion, and that he had left her with the last sentence: "In such a chaotic world, the little army we have is what we rely on for survival."
She thought for a moment and said softly, "You mean that when the father and daughter went to Hebei to quell the rebellion, they may have encountered the same situation as you did in Xingluocang?"
When Yuwen Ye attacked Xingluocang, his military rations were seized, the court distrusted him, and there were even military supervisors who interfered.
If it weren't for him, an ordinary general would probably have already perished there.
Yuwen Ye sighed and said, "Even if it's different from mine, it's not much different. In recent years, the court has been building the Great Wall, constructing the Eastern Capital, opening the Grand Canal, and launching three campaigns against Liaodong. In addition, there are more than a dozen other battles every year. What do you think all of this is built from? It's not just money and grain, but also human lives."
"..."
"We have to quell the rebellion on one hand, conquer Liaodong on the other, and there are so many construction projects to be done. How can we possibly have enough people when there are only so many in the country?"
"..."
"Nowadays, the imperial court's manpower is far from sufficient, so we can only poach from the hands of various princes and generals."
"..."
Shang Ruyi didn't say anything, but she already understood.
This time, Yuwen Ye was imprisoned and interrogated at the Dali Temple. In the end, wasn't it only by having the Duke of Sheng personally intervene and weaken himself that his son was safe?
She suddenly remembered that on the night before Yuwen Yuan left Dongdu, when he summoned the two of them to his study to discuss matters, his expression was somewhat strange when he mentioned the Lei family's father and daughter's efforts in suppressing the rebellion in Hebei.
Looking back now, perhaps Yuwen Yuan foresaw this outcome much earlier than all of them.
She then asked, "So, are General Lei and his men now establishing their own independent force, or—"
Yuwen Ye said, "I heard that they have defected to Liang Shide."
"Liang Shide? Is that the leader of the rebel group they went to quell?"
"Um."
"Does this Liang Shide really have that much ability?"
Yuwen Ye glanced at her and said, "Liang Shide's influence in Hebei is not to be underestimated, but indeed, he alone is not enough to force the Lei family father and daughter to rebel against the court and join him. Judging from the news sent back from Hebei, he may have also contacted two other forces."
"Those two?"
"Wang Gangjun, and the Turks."
"Wang Gangjun?!"
Shang Ruyi frowned immediately. The Turks had been stirring up trouble in the north for years. Apart from their siege of Yanmen Pass during the emperor's northern tour, several rebel groups in the north had actually grown in strength with their secret support, which had caused considerable trouble for the court.
But Wang Gangjun? Didn't Xiao Yuansui just suffer a defeat at Xingluocang?
Hearing her ask this, Yuwen Ye calmly said, "I also felt before that Xiao Yuansui retreated too quickly. Although he was indeed unable to do anything at Xingluo Granary at that time, when we counted the grain later, I found that in addition to the more than 30 carts of grain that he transported back to Wanggang Village, a large amount of grain was missing from the granary city."
"That is—"
"Now it seems that he used that grain to curry favor with Liang Shide."
"...!"
Shang Ruyi took a deep breath. It seemed that they had underestimated Xiao Yuansui. Although he had captured Xingluo Granary and then lost it, he did not just regard it as a granary, but as a strategic resource.
Yuwen Ye said, "Now, Wang Gangjun, Liang Shide, and the Turks are all united in Hebei."
"..."
"The imperial court has completely lost Hebei Province."
Shang Ruyi remained silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "So what should the court do next?"
Yuwen Ye looked down at her: "What do you think the court will do?"
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