Mu Jin gripped Su Yi's sleeve tightly, staring intently into his eyes, hoping he would tell her that it was just a rumor and not yet confirmed to be true.
Su Yi simply held her hands in return, looking at her silently and with heartache, without giving her the answer she wanted.
“Your people must have misunderstood. Our Mu family has been loyal and virtuous for generations. Even the peace that Dongyue Kingdom enjoys at this moment is inseparable from the Mu family army’s fighting against the Beiqi people on the battlefield, sword by sword.”
"Our Mu family army would never collude with Beiqi to betray the Dongyue Kingdom. It's absolutely impossible!"
Tears welled in Mu Jin's eyes, but she gritted her teeth, her voice filled with determination. She would absolutely not allow anyone to slander the Mu family's character and loyalty.
Seeing Mu Jin's pained expression, Su Yi felt bad too. He simply held Mu Jin's hand tightly and said to her.
“Ah Jin, not only do you believe that the Mu family army would not betray the country, but I don’t believe it either. It’s just that Su Yuntian obtained irrefutable evidence of collusion between the Mu family army and Bei Qi from Bei Qi.”
"Furthermore, this matter came suddenly. When my men were rescuing Mu Yan, for some reason, the Beiqi people seemed to have foreseen it and made ample preparations, which led to the failure of the rescue. So this matter is suspicious."
Mu Jin raised her head, her eyes flashing with ruthlessness: "Someone leaked the information about rescuing my elder brother, and someone else deliberately framed my father and my elder brother?"
Su Yi nodded at Mu Jin: "I have people investigating who the traitor is. However, it seems that the Mu family army's betrayal was premeditated."
"After all, the people of the entire Dongyue Kingdom know how loyal the Mu family army is to the country and the people. Even when the emperor suppressed them, they guarded the border and maintained peace without complaint, relying on their loyalty. So unless there is irrefutable evidence, the people of Dongyue will be the first to object."
"Then what did they use to frame the Mu family army for treason?" Mu Jin asked.
Su Yi scoffed, “The so-called evidence of the crimes of the Dingmu family army that came out of the Dongyue camp this time is utterly absurd! It says that Beiqi did not actually send troops to Dongyue this time, and that all of this was just a private deal between Muwei Marquis and the people of Beiqi, deliberately creating the illusion that Beiqi was invading, so that Muwei Marquis could use this as an excuse to ask the court for reinforcements and more grain.”
"Rumor has it that the ultimate goal of the deal between Marquis Mu Wei and Bei Qi was to use the troops transported from the imperial court to Yanmen Pass to strengthen the power of the Mu family army."
"As for the grain and money, a portion of it was taken by Marquis Muwei to help Beiqi recuperate. Once Beiqi has recovered, it will assist Marquis Muwei in forcing the emperor to abdicate!"
Upon hearing the rumors about the Mu family army from Su Yi, Mu Jin was furious. She slammed her hand on the tea table and stood up, looking at Su Yi and asking, "Who is this shameless scoundrel who would try to harm my Mu family like this?"
Su Yi felt sorry for Yu Mujin's hands, which were red from slapping them in anger, and quickly took her hands and blew on them.
"Ah Jin, don't be in such a hurry. Let me tell you something first. Look, your hand is all swollen from slapping it."
Mu Jin withdrew her hand and looked at Su Yi: "Do you know who harmed my Mu family?"
Su Yi said, "I only have a suspicion, but it's pretty close to the truth. Marquis Muwei has repeatedly reported to the court that there are unusual movements in Beiqi and requested the court to send more troops and supplies, but the court has ignored it."
"I heard that the imperial court has not provided any food to the Mu family army guarding Yanmen Pass for half a year."
Upon hearing this, Mu Jin asked incredulously, "Then how did Father and his army survive?"
Su Yi slowly said, "When the Mu family army realized that the imperial court's attitude towards them was not right, they began to reduce their meals. Originally, they ate two meals a day."
"Later, when Beiqi attacked their granary, Mu Yan used a feint attack to outmaneuver the Beiqi people, not only taking back the grain but also emptying Beiqi's granary, making Beiqi's situation even more difficult."
"Although the grain supplies from Beiqi can barely last another month or so, the court has been ignoring the Mu family army, so Marquis Mu Wei plans to transfer some grain from the Southern Palace Imperial Guard stationed in the fertile fields to get through the spring planting season."
"But there was no response from the Southern Palace Imperial Guards, so in the end the Mu family army could only eat one meal a day until they ran out of food."
Mu Jin asked angrily, "Cutting off supplies? Is this how your Eastern Yue court treats these loyal soldiers who defend their country?"
"When did my father run out of food? What happened to the grain I bought for them from the Southern Shu Kingdom? It wasn't delivered to my father."
Su Yi looked at Mu Jin and said, "On the third day after the Mu family army ran out of food, we received 100,000 jin of grain from you, A Jin, which prevented the soldiers stationed at Yanmen Pass from starving to death."
"But those supplies also became evidence of collusion between the Mu family army and Beiqi."
Mu Jin was incredulous: "How can provisions be evidence of collusion with the Kitasaki people?"
Su Yi said, "This time, Su Yuntian actually found 60,000 shi of grain in the Dongyue camp! The people of Dongyue are currently suffering greatly. The fact that the Mu family army still has so much grain stored in their camp undoubtedly confirms that what the Beiqi people said is true! There is no war between Dongyue and Beiqi at all. The Mu family army is simply using the pretext of war to force the court to supply grain!"
"For the sake of the people's peace, the imperial court had no choice but to increase the taxes on the people and send the collected grain and silver to Marquis Muwei at Yanmen Pass."
Su Yi spoke with difficulty: "The 60,000 shi of leftover grain and fodder is conclusive proof that the imperial court and the people of Dongyue were deceived by Marquis Muwei!"
"If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext!" But after she finished speaking angrily, she suddenly realized something and looked sharply at Su Yi.
"It's Su Yuntian! He framed our Mu family for treason!"
Su Yi looked at Mu Jin and nodded: "Although it's just a guess, in the entire Dongyue, apart from the emperor, Su Yuntian is the only one who has a grudge against the Mu family. And I heard that after Su Yuntian was divorced by you, he acted very extremely. This time, he successfully became the peace ambassador and went to Beiqi for peace talks. It's hard to say that it wasn't his doing."
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