That night, Bodhidharma held a grand banquet in the palace to welcome Li Yaoying and his party. He also received envoys from other states and discussed the matter of enthronement with the envoys from Wei.

Yao Ying didn't even change her clothes and said, "The war is intense now, food and fodder are almost gone, and military funds are insufficient. There is no need to dwell on these things. These angels are old acquaintances of mine, and they are not people who are fussy about details, so there is no need to exaggerate..."

As she spoke, she looked at Zheng Jing and the others.

Several people looked at each other, smiled and clasped their fists, "That's right. We are here on orders to work together with the Western Army to defeat the Northern Rong and recover the lost territory. These red tapes should be avoided if possible."

Bodhidharma was stunned for a moment, his eyes flashed with admiration, and he bowed deeply to Yaoying: "Princess, you are right, I will ask people to cancel the banquet. I often hear people say that Chang'an is good for drinking tea. I admire the elegance of Chang'an, and I would like to follow the elegance. Please ask all angels to taste our tea."

The waiter came forward and led Zheng Jing and others to a side hall to drink tea.

Yao Ying deliberately lagged behind, and Bodhidharma took the opportunity to report several important things to Yao Ying: "The envoys sent to Yanqi, Beiting, Yutian, and Guizi have returned one after another. All the states have suffered from the war and hope to recover as soon as possible. However, the current situation is still unclear, and they are looking for excuses to shirk the matter of sending troops and are unwilling to send their children to Chang'an to offer gifts."

Sending direct descendants to Chang'an at this time is equivalent to completely submitting to the Wei Dynasty. The Central Plains and the Western Regions have been at war for a long time. The various states are worried that the Wei Dynasty is unable to protect them and are afraid of retaliation by the Northern Rong, so they are still waiting and watching.

Yao Ying was not surprised at the wavering of other states. The states were weak and had to survive by sandwiching themselves between powerful forces. Switching sides was their way of survival.

"Once we recover Yizhou and connect Helong, the other states will naturally submit to us."

Bodhidharma nodded in agreement and took out the documents that Zheng Jing and his companions had brought.

Li De officially appointed Yao Ying as the governor of the Western Army, and other generals of the Western Army were also promoted. Gaochang would restore the old system and continue to use the name of Western Province. Bodhidharma was no longer the king, but the governor of Western Province.

Yao Ying raised her eyes, "Da Lang is so righteous."

Damo smiled and said with emotion: "I can't say I'm a righteous man. I was in a daze for many years and couldn't even keep my first wife... I'm just a puppet. I've always kept my father's last wish in mind so that when I go to the underworld and see them in the future, I won't be ashamed to face them..."

Seeing that he looked melancholy, Yao Ying changed the subject and asked about military affairs.

After they discussed for a while, Bodhidharma remembered something and called a few young generals over. He said with a smile, "These are the men who planned to build the Yi army with Silang. Sanlang from the Zhang family, Qilang from the Yuan family, Shiyilang from the Zhao family, Erlang from the Song family..."

The generals were dressed in embroidered robes, and they were handsome and elegant. It was obvious that they were children of noble families who grew up in a brocade forest. One by one, they came forward to greet Yao Ying.

Yao Ying secretly exclaimed in her heart, these generals were clearly the young men she met outside the city. They had just been fighting in a bloody battle and their behavior was quite restrained. Now that they were back in the city, they had changed their clothes and were much more relaxed in their gestures, but one could still tell that they were a little nervous.

Bodhidharma said, "Si Lang is busy with military affairs and cannot accompany the princess. From now on, Zhang San and his men will follow the princess and obey her orders."

Yaoying remained calm and smiled.

Bodhidharma went to the side hall first to have tea with Zheng Jing and others, and asked Yaoying to talk to Zhang San, Yuan Qi and others. Before leaving, he winked at Zhang San and others.

Zhang San and others coughed a few times and looked increasingly uncomfortable.

Yaoying noticed their eye contact and asked Zhang San and others to help her get something from Yang Qian.

Several people clenched their fists and rolled up their sleeves, responded in unison, turned around and ran away, fearing that someone would get there first.

Yao Ying frowned and heard laughter behind her.

Li Zhongqian patted the petals on his body and head as he climbed the stairs: "Mingyuenu, can't you see what Bodhidharma means?"

Yao Ying sighed: "Are these people all?"

Li Zhongqian shook his head: "More than that, these are the most outstanding ones selected by him and Yang Qian from all the eligible children of noble families. If you don't like any of them, they can immediately replace them with a new group of people."

Yaoying didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

No wonder these young men would unconsciously straighten their chests when they saw her, and compete with those around them secretly. The noble families wanted to form an alliance, and they were the candidates for the prince consort. Judging from their surnames, all the local nobles participated in this competition.

"Is there anything you like?" Li Zhongqian asked.

Yao Ying let out a long sigh: "Brother, don't ask anymore, there is none."

Li Zhongqian frowned.

"They are both talented in civil and military affairs, have good character, are of noble birth, are handsome, and are about your age. You don't have to rush to make a decision."

"No need. If we delay any further, it will cause conflicts among the powerful families. I won't pick on any of them."

Li Zhongqian's expression changed slightly, and he signaled with his eyes for his guards to retreat.

"Why don't you pick any of them? Mingyuenu, do you already have someone you like?"

He asked, his voice sounding a bit serious.

Yao Ying stopped, stood on the steps, and looked back to the west. The mountains on the horizon were towering and the royal court in the distance was not visible.

She was absent-minded for a while, then looked up at Li Zhongqian, "Brother, I've wanted to ask you for a long time, why are you in such a hurry for me to get married?"

"I'll feel more at ease if you get married sooner."

Yaoying frowned slightly.

He had mentioned this before, but things are different now. She doesn't need to rely on marriage to gain a foothold. Why does Li Zhongqian still force her to get married?

Yao Ying rolled her eyes and deliberately frowned, "If I get married, will I no longer be your sister? Will you not care about me anymore? You don't want to take care of me in the future, so you are in a hurry to find a home for me?"

Li Zhongqian glared at her and said, "What are you thinking about? Whether you marry or not, you are my sister, Li Zhongqian. I will never ignore you."

Yao Ying met his gaze and said, "Then why are you urging me to get married?"

Li Zhongqian's expression softened a little, and he raised his hand to ruffle her hair: "You're going to get married eventually, so why not pick a good one now?"

Yao Ying's eyes sparkled, and she grabbed his hand, "Brother, what are you going to do? Are you hiding something from me?"

Li Zhongqian looked away.

"Brother, what did you hide from me?"

"Nothing."

Li Zhongqian said indifferently and walked away.

"Li Zhongqian!"

Yao Ying's face flashed with anger. She called him by his full name for the first time, chased him, and grabbed his arm: "Don't hide it from me... Are you planning to die with Li De?"

Li Zhongqian closed his eyes.

"As long as he's not dead, we won't have peace. Once this matter is settled, I'll go back and kill him."

He was reluctant to leave Yaoying alone in the world. If she got married early and had a husband and children, she would have someone to care for. Even if he died in Chang'an, she would still have other relatives by her side.

Yao Ying's eyes turned red. "Brother, we can think about this matter in the long run... Compared to revenge, I hope you can live well."

"Do you think that I am married and have nothing to do with you? You go to seek revenge and I can stay out of it? Brother, you are wrong. I will always be your sister. If anything happens to you, I will find you no matter where I am."

Her voice was soft, hoarse, and firm.

Li Zhongqian lowered his eyes and stared at her, motionless, his heart feeling both warm and sad. After a long while, he let out a long sigh and hugged her.

What a silly girl.

Yao Ying took his arm and said slowly, "Brother, don't worry about my marriage in the future. When I was in the Central Plains, I knew Li De's plan and thought about getting married. Later, I was stranded in the royal court and experienced a lot. Now I can finally reunite with you... I will tell you the truth, unless it is someone I like, I will not consider getting married."

"Brother, you raised me. You know my personality. I don't like being constrained or staying in the backyard all day. The books I read are unorthodox... Aristocratic families have many rules and regulations. I can't bear to care about those things and won't compromise just to get married."

"Before, I couldn't decide my own marriage. Now I can decide for myself, why should I still force myself to marry just for the sake of marrying?"

"What if I never get married?"

Li Zhongqian heard this and knew that she had made up her mind. He stopped and asked, "Are you really not going to choose a consort?"

Yao Ying smiled, her face brightened: "If you don't like it, then don't take it."

"Anyone you like?"

"Then I will like him very much."

Li Zhongqian was lost in thought for a moment, "Okay, brother won't force you to choose a prince consort."

Yao Ying looked him in the eyes and said, "Brother, promise me that you won't do stupid things alone. If you have anything to discuss, please talk to me. We all need to live well."

Li Zhongqian patted the top of her head.

"Okay, brother, I promise you."

Yao Ying heaved a sigh of relief and walked into the side hall. The aroma of tea was wafting in the air. Zheng Jing and a few others were holding cups of tea with butter, cheese and salt in them, drinking them while chatting and laughing with Bodhidharma.

When she walked in, Zheng Jing immediately stood up, took out the imperial edict, read it, and after some politeness, she asked about sending troops.

Zheng Jing said: "The court has to guard against Southern Chu, and cannot withdraw too many troops for the time being. Now only the Liangzhou Army of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can be mobilized at any time. But Princess, you can rest assured that the court will do its best to raise food and supplies so that the Western Army will not have to worry about the consequences."

Speaking of marriage, Li De had already selected several women from royal families, canonized them as princesses, and married them to the sons of noble families who were about to return to the throne. He also proposed marriage to Bodhidharma's daughter for the son of the prime minister.

Li Zhongqian sneered, thinking that Li De was planning to win over the powerful families through marriage.

Yao Ying had long expected Li De to do this and did not say anything. Although marriage is useful, it is not a panacea.

After finishing the business, Zheng Jing and others took their leave.

Yaoying discussed matters with Bodhidharma and Yang Qian who had hurried over. After a while, he called his personal soldiers, spread out paper and ground ink, wrote several letters, took the seal sent by the court, stamped it, signed his seal, and issued a series of imperial edicts.

"Go to various places in the name of the Western Army to publicize the imperial will and comfort all the people who have sent food and money to the Western Army."

"The Western Army distributed food and medicine to the tribes that had just experienced war."

"A list will be compiled to register the population. Those who were previously framed and imprisoned by the Northern Rong people will be released after the facts are clarified. Those who escaped from other places will not be punished."

"There are many believers in the Western Regions. Find the monks, elders and priests who are highly respected and have them come forward to appease the monks. This is done whether it is Buddhism, Taoism, Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism or Manichaeism."

"Officials from all regions, whether they are Hu or Han, whether they used to obey the Northern Rong or the Protector General, as long as they have prestige in the local area, do practical things for the people, and have a good reputation, can retain their official positions at the discretion of the court."

"Send envoys to the people and let the people from all over the country report to the emperor. Once those officials who abuse their power, enslave the people, and commit serious crimes are found out, they will be punished according to the law."

…

He gave orders one by one, and the personal soldiers holding the imperial edict plunged into the twilight.

Yaoying was so tired that she was sweating profusely.

The war must be fought, and the people must be comforted. Only when the people feel the real benefits and grace can they support the Western Army from the bottom of their hearts.

In the next few days, Yaoying became busier and busier.

As the imperial edict was implemented, her and the Western Army's popularity among the people grew.

Bodhidharma saw that she didn't like those captains, so he quickly replaced them with a group of young men.

Every day someone showed affection to Yao Ying in various ways, but she tactfully told Bodhidharma that she had no intention of getting married.

Bodhidharma took a different approach: "Does Duke Wei intend to marry?"

As he spoke, he called out the names of more than a dozen young ladies in one breath.

Yao Ying raised her eyebrows and refused on behalf of Li Zhongqian. His concern was about arranged marriages and he would not marry for this reason.

During this period, battle reports were continuously sent back, indicating that the battles in Shazhou, Ganzhou, and Suzhou were going smoothly. Once Heliang was pacified, the Western Army would be able to concentrate its forces to recapture Yizhou.

At the same time, Yao Ying and his men were also closely following the military situation in the royal court. Mobido was chasing after the remnants of the Northern Rong and successfully encircled the elite troops of Wakhan Khan near the Shahai Road. The two armies were in a stalemate for a while, and the Northern Rong army's food and grass were exhausted. Mobido was about to launch an attack.

That night, Yaoying was busy in front of the lamp, and Yuanjue stood beside her and fanned her.

After a while, the personal soldier asked to see him. He wanted to send a holiday gift document to the royal court, and asked Yaoying if she had any letters to send along.

"No." Yao Ying lowered her head to write, and said calmly, "The communication between the royal court and the Western Army is important. I will let the chief secretary convey military intelligence and requests in official documents. In the future, I will not send any private letters to the Holy City. Don't ask me again."

The personal guard agreed and left.

Yuanjue opened his mouth and felt a chill in his heart.

The princess is no longer the Queen of Modanga, and she has actually cut off all ties with the Holy City!

During this time, he stayed with the princess, but she never mentioned the Holy City or the king. The Western Army sent letters to the royal court almost every day, all of which were cold and formal documents.

Yuanjue's fanning hand trembled.

The princess really did what she said and stopped pestering the king. She did it so cleanly and efficiently and never mentioned the king in private. He should be happy, but the princess was so heartless that she completely forgot about the king in the blink of an eye... He didn't know why, but he felt a little uncomfortable.

He still remembered that the princess stepped into the fire altar without hesitation for the king. How could the princess forget the king so quickly?

Could it be that the princess is bewitched by those handsome men who surround her?

The more Yuanjue thought about it, the more he felt like his treasure had been stolen. He coughed and said, "Princess, I need to report this to General Ashina. Is there anything you want me to say to you?"

Yao Ying lowered her head without blinking, "No."

Decisive, calm, cold and ruthless.

Yuanjue's shoulders slumped and he went back to his room to write a letter.

The letter was addressed to Ashina Bisa. He was in a casual relationship with Bisa and could not help but write some extra information at the end of the letter that was irrelevant to the main topic.

…

A few days later, the carrier pigeon brought the letter back to the holy city, and Bami took the scroll and took it directly to the cave.

The man sitting in front of the Buddha statue holds Buddhist beads in one hand and unfolds a paper scroll with the other.

The letter first reported the military situation in the Xizhou area, then some minor frictions between the royal court and the Western Army, and then it was all gossip.

Several young men from noble families who admired Princess Wen Zhao traveled thousands of miles to Gaochang just to confirm that she was still alive. All of a sudden, all kinds of sad stories spread throughout the states, and the people talked about them with relish, guessing who the princess would choose as her husband.

The local noble families were not convinced and tried all kinds of ways to please the princess. One day a young man would hunt a bear for her, and the next day he would pick a rare lotus for her, each showing off their special talents.

Zheng Jing, who was almost engaged to the princess, has not yet married... It seems that he is still unwilling to give up.

Such idle talk filled the paper.

Finally, he said: Princess Wen Zhao has forgotten her feelings for the king and has not mentioned him at all for many days.

Tanmarajiva's fingers trembled slightly. He finished reading the letter, then read it again from the beginning. He raised his hand, placed the paper roll in front of the candle and burned it.

She is a person in the world of mortals, with a beauty that can conquer a country and a city, so naturally she has many admirers.

She forgot about him.

Just as the scripture says, lightning and morning dew are all like this.

Suddenly, an inexplicable emotion surged in his heart. Tanmarajiva frowned, turned the beads, silently recited scriptures, and calmed his mind.

The sound of footsteps approached from far away outside the corridor, and Bisha's smiling voice came over: "King! Great victory on Shahai Road! Wakhan Khan fell off his horse and died! Mobhido has led the army back!"

Tanmarajiva opened his eyes.

The bronze bell of the royal temple was struck, and the news of the great victory quickly spread to every corner of the holy city. People ran around to tell each other, dancing with joy.

The guards could not help but beam with joy, and excitedly discussed whether Mobhido would take over as regent in the future.

The ministers in the court reacted quickly and submitted memorials one after another, asking about Mobito's marriage.

Is the king preparing to arrange a marriage between Princess Wen Zhao and Mo Biduo?

I heard that Mo Biduo will marry Princess Wen Zhao after his triumphant return?

After Tanmarajiva finished reading all the memorials, the hand holding the pen suddenly trembled, leaving a winding mark on the paper.

…

Two days later, news of the great victory at Shahai Road reached Gaochang.

Everyone was ecstatic: with the death of the old Khan, the Northern Rong were in disarray, and the resistance to their regaining lost territory was suddenly reduced. Next, they could gradually regain other states and counties!

Yang Qian immediately sent an urgent letter to Shazhou, asking them to prepare to gather troops to attack Yizhou.

Li Zhongqian began to reorganize his troops. He had been to Yizhou and could work with the Western Army in Shazhou to attack the remnants of the Northern Rong in Yizhou from the east and west.

Just two days after they were happy, a horse galloped over from the west in the morning: "Princess, a letter for help from Yanqi! Their city lord responded to your call and prepared to send an envoy to Chang'an, but was besieged by a traitor promoted by the Northern Rong people. The soldiers and civilians in the city have held out for several days, but they can no longer hold on!"

After discussing for a while, they decided that Yang Qian would lead 3,000 people to Yanqi to rescue the city lord.

Three thousand Western Province soldiers marched out in a mighty force, with dust flying everywhere.

The city returned to peace. Yaoying and Damo returned to the palace and continued to discuss the attack on Yizhou. They were busy until the afternoon when a scout came to report: "A large army passed by Luanshitan, a hundred miles to the north!"

Bodhidharma asked doubtfully, "Is Yang Qian back?"

Yao Ying shook her head: "Yanqi is in the west, and Yang Qian went west. It can't be Yang Qian."

"Who could that be?"

Bodhidharma frowned and ordered the people outside the city to withdraw, closed the city gates, and imposed strict security in the city.

Everyone was puzzled and stood in the corridor waiting for news. After a while, another scout came to report that the army was getting closer and closer to Gaochang, and it was obvious that they were heading for Gaochang.

Yao Ying's heart skipped a beat: "A feint to the east and attack in the west?"

Bodhidharma's face darkened: "Yanqi is just a bait?"

Yaoying's palms went numb, she calmed down and said, "We'll know soon."

On this day, when the golden dusk fell, the sound of horse hooves outside Gaochang City roared like thunder. In the sky, black torrents rolled and surged, surrounding Gaochang City like a tsunami.

Bodhidharma stood on the top of the city wall, his face as pale as gold paper: "How could it be the Northern Rong people?!"

He froze as he looked at the Northern Rong cavalrymen outside the city, who were surging in like a black mass, covering the sky and the earth.

"Ask the royal court for help?"

Where did this well-organized Northern Rong army come from? From the intelligence they collected, it was impossible for so many Northern Rong cavalry to appear near Gaochang.

"It's too late." Yao Ying looked at the battle formation of the Northern Rong cavalry, looking for Haidu Aling's flag, clenched her fists, and calmed herself down. "Send a warning first, so that the nearby Xizhou soldiers can rush back to help."

The sound of the trumpet was heard, and the atmosphere was murderous.

The author has something to say: Happy Children's Day to everyone, stay forever young and beautiful, everyone is a fairy~

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