The dawn light filtered through the felt tent, and the neighing of horses could be heard from outside.

Li Xuanzhen sat there with gritted teeth, looking haggard and with sunken cheeks, looking at Tanmarajiva's terrifying face with a determined look in his eyes.

"Return Princess Wen Zhao to me, and I will tell you where the main force of the Northern Rong is."

Tanmo Luojia met his scrutinizing gaze and said calmly: "Princess Wen Zhao is a guest of the royal court, not a prisoner of the royal court."

Yaoying turned around and looked at him.

Tanmarajiva was also looking at her, his emerald eyes slightly lowered, meeting her trusting and intimate gaze, his expression indifferent, and then he continued, "The princess's decision to stay or leave is up to her. No matter when or where, the royal court will not use Princess Wen Zhao to make any deal with the State of Wei."

If she wanted to stay, she could stay. If she wanted to leave, he sent someone to escort her away. Even though he was already filled with lust, he had no reason and should not let her stay.

If she stayed, she would be cursed by the royal court's followers.

The corners of Yao Ying's lips curled up slightly, and she blinked at Tanmaragha.

The two people looked at each other silently, one didn't smile, but his eyes were moving, his eyebrows and eyes were faintly glowing, his smile was floating, and his demeanor was charming. The other one had calm eyebrows and eyes, and a blank expression, as if his heart was as calm as still water, but his eyes revealed gentleness. There was a subtle relationship between the two of them that belonged only to them and no one else could fit in.

Li Xuanzhen's expression was gloomy, but a smile appeared on his lips: "Who are you? Can you represent the Buddhist disciples of the royal court?"

"I am the regent of the royal court and can represent the Buddha."

Tanmarajika said, looking up at Li Xuanzhen, and asked, "Can the Crown Prince represent the State of Wei? Can he represent Princess Wen Zhao?"

Li Xuanzhen's expression froze slightly.

Yao Ying turned to look at him, frowning slightly, and said, "Li Xuanzhen, if the Great Wei can seize the opportunity to attack the Northern Rong and recover the Western Regions, it will be a great achievement for the Great Wei that will benefit the country and its descendants. As the crown prince, you should know the importance of this. The diplomatic relations between the two countries are of great importance."

Li Xuanzhen frowned, "You are Princess Wen Zhao of Wei. Your safety is no small matter. I am not joking."

Yao Ying looked into his eyes with an indifferent expression.

"Li Xuanzhen, you are simply unreasonable."

"I was captured by Haidu A Ling and fled to the royal court. I was protected by the Buddha and was able to escape. The royal court has never detained me. I want to go back home and no one is stopping me! The one who is stopping me is Bei Rong! You and the royal court put forward such conditions. It is incomprehensible!"

"You are the crown prince of Wei. If you want to trade me with the Buddhist, will Li De agree? Will the court agree?"

"If I really make the deal, when I return to the Central Plains, won't my life and death, honor and disgrace be decided by Li De and you?"

"What qualifications do you have to say that?"

She paused for a moment and said in a cold tone, "Besides, whether I return home or not is none of your business."

Li Xuanzhen looked as if he had been slapped hard several times, his face turned pale and his eyes were filled with surging emotions.

He shuddered slightly, and gradually calmed down from the enthusiasm of finding her, and all the emotions were reflected in his eyes.

"It has something to do with me." He looked at Yao Ying without blinking, "No matter what you think, no matter whether you care or not, Seventh Sister, I was the one who sent you to Yelu tribe, and I will take you back."

Yao Ying was unmoved and remained silent for a while before saying, "My affairs have nothing to do with you."

She once thought that Li Xuanzhen was a good man who was brave enough to do what was right, and a good general who treated the people well, so she treated him sincerely, hoping that he could sort out his hatred and anger, but in the end she was disappointed. Li Zhongqian gave in step by step, asking for nothing else, just wanting to live a mediocre life, but he still refused to let Li Zhongqian go, and his means were mean, including poisoning him. She had no expectations for him and only regarded him as a stranger.

"I know……"

Li Xuanzhen murmured softly, his cheeks twitched a few times, and he smiled at himself and looked at Tanmaraka, "I want to talk to my sister for a few words, please step aside for a while, Prince Regent."

He emphasized: "This is a matter of Wei's confidentiality. Please forgive me, Prince Regent."

Tanmo Luojia glanced at Yaoying, who thought for a moment and nodded at him, "If anything happens, I will call the general."

He hummed, stood up and left.

Li Xuanzhen and Yao Ying were the only ones left in the waiting room. He could no longer hold on, his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and with a bang, he fell back heavily on the felt blanket, his eyebrows throbbing with pain.

Yao Ying immediately asked, "Is my brother seriously injured? Has his martial arts skills recovered? When you separated from him, were you sure he was safe?"

Li Xuanzhen looked at the ceiling of the tent and said nothing for a long time.

After a long time, he closed his eyes.

"Seventh sister...it hurts so much..."

There was only Li Zhongqian in her heart and eyes. Even if he was injured and almost died in pain while saving Li Zhongqian, she would not feel sorry for him.

He didn't want to hear her asking about Li Zhongqian's safety over and over again.

Yao Ying frowned slightly, stood up and walked to the long table, found a piece of paper and pen, and wrote a letter while asking, "What does the prince want to tell me? Does the prince want to form an alliance with the royal court?"

Li Xuanzhen's lips curled up, feeling a little pain, but also felt that this was more like her, "From the current situation, if we want to return to the Central Plains, we must pass through the territory of the Northern Rong. In the long run, the Northern Rong is a strong enemy of the Wei Dynasty. The Northern Rong is getting stronger day by day, and will definitely threaten the Central Plains in the future. Of course, I want to form an alliance with the royal court to weaken the Northern Rong."

Yao Ying said without even looking up, "Why did the prince propose such a ridiculous condition just now? If the prince wants to form an alliance with the royal court, he should show his sincerity instead of questioning the royal court for detaining me after being rescued. The royal court is too far away from the Central Plains and can completely ignore the Central Plains. If the prince really cares about the people of the Western Regions and wants to establish an unprecedented legacy, he should be careful in what he says and does in the future."

Li Xuanzhen supported himself on the blanket with one hand, climbed up with difficulty, and leaned back on the small table: "That is not an absurd condition... I just want to test the royal court."

Yaoying didn't look up.

Li Xuanzhen looked at her hair and said, "Seventh sister... Wang Tingfuzi did save you, but he is the monarch of another country after all. Have you ever thought about what would happen if he refused to let you go?"

If the rumors were true, and a beauty like her used all her tricks to please the monk, what if the monk wanted her to stay and serve him? Li De was eager to make friends with the royal court. If the royal court made a request, Li De would order her to marry again without hesitation.

In some places in India, there are young women who serve the elders in the temples. It is said that unless the elders are tired of it, those women cannot leave the temples.

On the way to find Yaoying, Li Xuanzhen felt guilty and painful whenever he thought of how she had disregarded her self-respect and seduced a monk in order to survive.

Was the monk good to her? Did he... did he force her to do those things?

But when he really found Yaoying, Li Xuanzhen didn't dare to ask her how she was doing.

Only Li Zhongqian is qualified to care about her.

When he brought up those things, it was like rubbing salt into her wounds, which only angered her and made her feel more painful and humiliated.

So, he didn't ask a single question. He had to think of the worst possible scenario and resolve all the problems before forming an alliance with the royal court so that she would leave without any worries.

Yao Ying stopped writing and said, "Don't worry about it, Prince. The Buddha is compassionate, upright and noble, not an ordinary person. The Buddha has shown me great kindness."

Tanmarajiva was so good to her, why would he force her to stay?

Li Xuanzhen smiled bitterly: "Seventh sister, you are not a man, but monks are also men. I know men's minds better than you do."

Yao Ying frowned.

In her heart, Tanmarajiva had no selfish desires and would never have any feelings for her beyond sympathy and pity.

She sat there in a trance for a while, ignoring Li Xuanzhen. She finished writing the letter to Yang Qian and Xie Qing, put it in a small copper tube, and handed it to the guards outside the tent, saying, "I have written a letter. You can copy it and send one every three hours."

The Northern Rong would shoot the messenger eagle, so writing just one letter is not enough.

The personal soldiers should be.

Yao Ying returned to the felt tent, looked at Li Xuanzhen, poured a bowl of water in front of him, took out a map of the emperor and spread it out.

"Crown Prince, the Buddha is the monarch of a country and cares about the people. The matter between me and the Buddha will not affect the alliance between the two countries, and it has nothing to do with you. I am now discussing the alliance with the Royal Court with the Crown Prince of Wei as the representative of the Western Army. If the Crown Prince continues to meddle with the matter between me and the Buddha, there will be nothing to talk about between you and me."

Li Xuanzhen raised his eyes to look at her and sighed helplessly, "Okay, I'm just asking about your personal affairs."

Yao Ying asked: "Do you know where the main force of Beirong is?"

"I know. The closer we get to the royal court, the more concerns Wakhan Khan has. The northern Rong nobles are arguing among themselves, thinking that he is too cautious and afraid to confront the Buddhist disciples head-on."

Li Xuanzhen's mouth curled up. "In the Northern Rong army, many people changed their beliefs and secretly worshipped the Buddhists in the royal court. Li Zhongqian and I spread rumors and incited the slaves to make trouble. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Wakhan Khan killed a group of slaves who believed in Buddhism in public."

This was not the first time that he and Li Zhongqian had caused trouble in the Beirong Army. They were very familiar with the sport. There was already a rumor in the army that Buddhists were blessed by the Dharma and were invincible. The two of them merely added fuel to the fire, and the rumor became more and more outrageous.

Wakhan Khan acted decisively and shot those soldiers in public on the pretext of "spreading rumors to confuse the people", but this still failed to stop the spread of the rumors.

At this time, Li Xuanzhen and Li Zhongqian discovered that someone within the Northern Rong was fanning the flames, causing the rumors to become unstoppable.

Yao Ying raised her eyelids when she heard this: "Is it Haidu Aling, or other nobles from the Northern Rong clan?"

Li Xuanzhen said: "They are from the Northern Rong noble family."

Yao Ying understood it clearly.

The conflict between Wakhan Khan and the northern Rong nobles has always existed, and there are also conflicts between nobles from different tribes.

The last time there was internal turmoil in the Northern Rong, Haidu Aling did not cause any trouble. Instead, the nobles almost established a new chieftain. The Northern Rong almost fell apart and the contradictions intensified, so Wakhan Khan had to defeat the royal court to establish his ruling position. Many tribal chieftains among the nobles could not read a word, and their minds were full of gold, silver, treasures, cattle, sheep and land. They had long been dissatisfied with the cautious Wakhan Khan, and they were short-sighted. It was not surprising that they would drag their feet at this time.

Li Xuanzhen went on to say: "The northern barbarians were uneasy. To seek stability, Haidu Aling persuaded Wakhan Khan to change his route and asked for reinforcements from the west. Wakhan Khan's army was divided into about six teams, each led by his son. He led the main force to rush to the Sam Valley."

Sam Valley?

Yao Ying was familiar with this place name. Sultan Gu and Bisha had mentioned Sam Valley several times and had even sent a scout to explore it.

To the east of Sam Valley are towering mountains, to the west are endless Gobi grasslands, to the north are two large rivers that nourish oases, and to the northwest are deserts and inner lakes. In general, Sam Valley has a flat and vast terrain, with high in the east and low in the west. To the east are snow-capped mountains, and to the west are canyons with gullies.

If Wakhan Khan had seized the advantageous terrain first and then lured the royal court to send out troops, he could easily trap the royal court army in the canyon and then divide his forces to attack the holy city. The royal court knew that the Sam Valley was a dangerous place, but it had to send troops because if Wakhan Khan made a desperate move, crossed the Sam Valley, united with the tribal states in the west, and attacked the royal court from the west, then the royal court would be in danger, and the holy city would be even more dangerous.

For Wakhan Khan, this was indeed a very safe choice. In the eyes of the world, Sultan Qajar was already dead, and he caught everyone by surprise and was sure to win.

However, he never expected that Sultan Kumar was still alive, and that the royal court had already dispatched troops to respond in the shortest possible time.

Even if Wakhan Khan had guessed the movements of the royal army, he could not change his strategy. The arrow was on the string and had to be shot. He had no choice.

Yao Ying pondered for a moment and said, "The war between the Northern Rong and the royal court will definitely loosen the blockade of the eastern territory, which is our opportunity. Li De wants to recapture Shazhou and Guazhou, but he wants to send troops to attack Southern Chu and complete the unification. The court cannot spare too many troops."

She looked at Li Xuanzhen.

"We must seize this opportunity. The Western Army has secretly united with other states to start an uprising. However, the Western Army lacks supplies, and even if they take the city, they won't be able to hold it for long. The court must send troops to cut off the cavalry stationed in the grassland by the Northern Rong, so that Shazhou and Guazhou will not become isolated states."

Li Xuanzhen narrowed her eyes slightly. Even though she was not in Central Plains, she could still accurately describe the situation in Central Plains.

"You are right. I have observed the various states in the Western Regions in the past few months. The people in various places are deeply oppressed by the Northern Rong and are living in poverty. The people are looking forward to returning to the East. The Western Army's uprising will get a lot of support, but due to the oasis terrain, no tribe can send out an army of tens of thousands of people. The Western Army can capture the city, but once the Northern Rong turn around, the city will still change hands. The Western Army needs the court to back it up..."

He looked at the map and asked, "What if the imperial court sends troops?"

Yao Ying shook her head: "Haidu A Ling understands the situation in the Central Plains, he must have made arrangements in advance. I suspect that Nanchu has already started a war with Wei. The court will never send troops to support a few righteous armies and put itself in a situation where it is attacked from all sides."

She raised her head and looked at Li Xuanzhen.

"Can the prince mobilize the Liangzhou Army?"

Li Xuanzhen looked at her.

"How do you know I can mobilize the Liangzhou Army?"

Yao Ying said calmly: "Can I or can't I?"

Li Xuanzhen stared at her for a long while, then nodded: "I have already sent a letter to Liangzhou on my way to the royal court. I can mobilize Liangzhou's troops... At the court, I can persuade Li De to change his mind."

Nanchu can be handed over to Du Sinan. The stakes he planted in Nanchu can come in handy.

Li Xuanzhen changed the subject, "But if I do this, I will have to take a huge risk."

Yao Ying said without thinking: "The prince will choose to take the risk because you are determined to take Guazhou and Shazhou, and this opportunity is rare. The Western Army and the Royal Court are both your allies. If you miss this opportunity, the prince will regret it for the rest of his life."

In the book, he was still obsessed with recovering the lost territory until his death. Unfortunately, Tanmarajiva died young, and the Northern Rong quickly became strong. The ministers in the court did not want to take risks, and he missed several good opportunities and failed to fulfill his wish of leading the army in person.

As she spoke, she raised her hand from time to time to brush her hair, with a serious expression.

Li Xuanzhen couldn't help but think of the time when he deliberately harmed Li Zhongqian in front of her because he hated her. At that time, she looked at him with eyes full of hatred, and the more angry she was, the more pleased he felt.

Now that he thinks about it, what he hated was not her, but her identity as the Girl of Fulfillment.

He was overwhelmed with emotions and smiled: "Yes, I chose to take the risk. The Liangzhou troops should be ready by now."

He had felt vaguely long ago that she understood him.

Yao Ying pointed to the map of state. Li Xuanzhen had been a general for so many years and had been deep in the Western Regions for so long. He would not be completely without ambition. She was not surprised that he had secretly mobilized the Liangzhou Army.

"The royal court will fight a decisive battle with the Northern Rong, and the Northern Rong army will be restrained. The Western Army will take the opportunity to start an uprising. The Crown Prince will lead the Liangzhou soldiers to intercept the grassland cavalry and provide support. If things go well, the combined forces will launch a surprise attack on the Northern Rong... Once the alliance is formal, there is no regret. The Crown Prince should make a careful decision."

Li Xuanzhen sat up, stretched out his hand, and covered the back of her hand on the map.

"Seventh sister, I agree to form an alliance."

Yao Ying frowned and pulled her hand away, "Li Xuanzhen, please don't call me Seventh Sister. I don't want to have a brother like the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince doesn't want to have a sister like me."

Li Xuanzhen withdrew his hand and remained silent for a long time.

"good."

Yao Ying put away the map and said, "The journey is long. Once the prince's injury recovers, we must set off immediately and rush to join forces with the Liangzhou army before the war ends. Otherwise, the alliance will be meaningless. I will ask the Regent to send elite troops to escort the prince."

She got up and left.

"Li Yaoying."

Li Xuanzhen's hoarse voice came from behind.

Yao Ying stopped and turned around.

Li Xuanzhen stared at her, his eyes were covered with a layer of gloom: "What I said just now was absolutely true. I did come to the royal court to save you, and I sacrificed myself to save Li Zhongqian several times because of you. You should understand that even if there is no revenge for my mother, Li Zhongqian and I have reached the point of no return. Now we are both outside the domain. He is obsessed with finding you and will not kill me for the time being. When we return to the Central Plains, he will not let me go, and I will not sit and wait for death. But I can assure you that I will not kill Li Zhongqian..."

As long as he is strong enough.

Yaoying's eyes were calm, without a trace of emotion.

Light and shadows moved, and Li Xuanzhen's pupils were outlined like ink. He said slowly: "Three years ago, Li Zhongqian went to war and separated from you. We have been separated for more than two years... I thought you were dead, but later I found out that you were still alive and fell into the hands of Haidu A Ling. I went to Yizhou to look for you, and learned that you escaped and met Wang Ting's Buddhist son..."

He didn't want to go through all the suffering and regrets during that period again.

"Now I am going to Shazhou to lead the troops to recover the lost territory. You stay in the royal court and wait to reunite with Li Zhongqian."

He looked straight at Yao Ying.

"I'm lucky, and it won't be that easy to die, but I'm still afraid that I'll miss the chance to explain to you. I don't want to be like last time, when I hadn't said what I wanted to say, and everything changed after we parted. So I didn't lie to you, and I told you the truth."

"Trust me, I'm here to save you."

"Whether you accept it or not...I can't let go."

There was no expression on Yaoying's face. She let down the felt curtain and went out.

Li Xuanzhen fell back onto the blanket exhausted, curling up in pain.