Song Wan entered the palace with Zhang Fuzheng. She didn't know that she had been conferred the title of princess. As she walked, she ate the freshly made pastries from the imperial kitchen.
Li Yu asked Zhang Fuzheng to prepare the pastries before he left the palace so that Song Wan could eat them as soon as she entered the palace.
"Eunuch Fu, would you like a piece too?" Song Wan took out a piece from her purse and handed it over. If the other party had not stared at it for a long time, she would have been reluctant to take it out.
Zhang Fuzheng smiled and shook his head, declining politely, "This is something the Emperor prepared for Miss Song."
Less than a moment after he politely declined, Song Wan stuffed the cake she was about to hand over into her mouth, mumbling, "Eunuch Fu, you are a good person."
At least I won't compete with her for food.
Zhang Fuzheng laughed again. No wonder the emperor was willing to get close to him. Even he didn't know how many times he had laughed along the way.
The two were about to enter the hall when they heard the sound of horse hooves behind them, mixed with the word "report"!
The smile on Zhang Fuzheng's face disappeared instantly. This was urgent news from the border.
Song Wan sensed a familiar breath. She turned around and was surprised when she saw clearly. Why was Zhang Sheng here? Didn’t Gu Yan anxiously say that it would take at least seven or eight days for him to arrive in the capital?
Zhang Sheng didn't have time to say hello to Song Wan. He carried the injured soldier on his back and rushed into the hall.
Zhang Fuzheng reacted very quickly and immediately asked his eunuchs to make way, without even having to report.
"Urgent news from the border!" Zhang Sheng rushed into the hall carrying someone on his back and shouted loudly.
Wei Xuezhi was the first to run over and ask, "Where's the urgent news?!"
Zhang Sheng supported the man, allowing him to breathe and speak, "It's, it's a surprise attack by the Qiang people in the northwest!"
"The Qiang people were severely damaged by the Northwest Army a few years ago. How could they launch a surprise attack so soon!" Although Wei Xuezhi was a civil servant, he knew a little about military affairs. The Qiang people's attack again so soon was like a steep cliff to them.
"Yes, yes, they have a red poison. Once it's spilled on someone's skin, it'll cause extreme pain. If it gets in the eyes, it can even cause blindness!"
The soldier knelt on the ground, his lips chapped and the right half of his face was badly ulcerated. It was originally just an ordinary knife wound, but the Qiang soldiers sprinkled red poison powder on the wound. In addition, he had been exposed to wind and sun all the way from the northwest to Beijing, and the pain had intensified by now. The wound was almost deep enough to see the bone.
Gu Yan frowned anxiously and asked the soldiers on the ground, "Do you know what the red poison powder is made of?"
The soldiers shook their heads, "Unheard of."
Wei Xuezhi submitted the urgent report and waited until Li Yu finished reading it before taking it over to read.
After reading it, he was furious. "The Qiang people! They are nothing but bandits! They are beasts!"
The urgent report said that in order to quickly capture the northwest, the Qiang tribe took advantage of the fact that the Northwestern Army was poisoned and unable to take care of itself, and a small group of people took a shortcut and robbed and looted several nearby villages. The young men were brutally killed on the spot, and the young women were all abducted!
"They don't want to attack the city at all, they clearly want to take the opportunity to humiliate Dai Viet!" Wei Xuezhi was so angry that his chest heaved up and down.
"Don't be angry, Prime Minister. The most important thing right now is to discuss a strategy." Li Yu soothed calmly.
Wei Xuezhi knew this, so he quickly calmed down. "I remember at the morning court, Gu Yan was anxious and told you that some potatoes had been stored in Guizhou. Could these be shipped to the northwest for emergency use?"
Once the war breaks out again, food and supplies will be the most urgently needed. After investigating a few corrupt officials, the national treasury is finally no longer as empty as before, but it cannot be allocated all at once to the northwest.
The Qiang people have always disliked fighting alone. Wei Xuezhi was afraid that Daye would send a large army to the southwest in the near future.
"Of course you can. I will send a pigeon to tell Jiang Zhen not to come to Beijing for the time being." Guizhou is much closer to the northwest than the capital. Gu Yan is confident that if anything happens to the Northwest Army, Jiang Zhen knows what to do.
Li Yu asked Zhang Fuzheng, who came in at this time, to bring a low stool for the injured soldiers to sit down and rest.
The man was terrified and refused repeatedly. With so many ministers and officials unable to sit, how could a mere soldier like him dare to disobey their superiors?
"Just sit down." Song Wan came over and easily pushed the man down to sit down, "Let me see your injury."
Gu Yan, who was standing by, couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Ah Wan, can you cure this injury?"
Song Wan observed carefully for a while and gave an answer, "It can be cured, but his face will become bumpy in the future."
But why did she feel that the wound looked familiar, and there seemed to be a faint smell.
It was too faint to be smelled, but she always felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.
Except for Li Yu, everyone present was surprised. When did this girl from the Song family become proficient in medical skills?
Gu Yan was anxious and thought that she was going to use her mental power to force the poison out of the man's face. She was afraid that she would consume too much energy in order to save him, so she changed the subject and asked, "Is the poison deep in his body?"
"Poisoned?" Song Wan was confused. "He's not poisoned."
Song Wan had finished all the pastries outside before coming in, so she didn't hear the first half of the urgent report. She thought that the wound on the man's face was caused by a sword and he didn't receive timely treatment. In addition, he had been in a hurry and the wound unfortunately became infected, eventually becoming like this.
"But I did plant the red poison powder." The soldier on the stool said while enduring the pain.
"What is red poison powder?" Song Wan asked while secretly using her mental power to recheck. She was sure that the man was not poisoned.
"It's a poison powder recently invented by the Qiang people. It causes unbearable pain on the skin if it touches it. If it gets into the eyes, there's a risk of blindness." Gu Yan hurriedly explained the soldiers' explanation to Song Wan. "Tens of thousands of soldiers in the Northwest Army have already been infected."
The more Song Wan listened, the more familiar this description seemed to her. She asked again, "Is red poison powder red? What does it look like?"
"I only know that it is a red powder, probably made from some fruit." The soldier's scalp began to tingle when he recalled the burning pain when his wound touched the powder.
Unable to remember, Song Wan had to give up, but she was sure it wasn't poison. "He'll be fine. I'll detoxify him later, and then he'll have to rest well and wait for the wound to heal."
"Since it's not poison, the Northwest Army can still hold on for now." Gu Yan was eager to believe her judgment, "It's just that they have to endure a little more pain."
The soldiers who brought the urgent military report to Beijing had originally prepared themselves to die of poisoning on the way, but unexpectedly they met Zhang Sheng and others on the way. Not only did they enter Beijing smoothly, but they were also told that they would not die at all and would only be disfigured at most.
He didn't have any broken arms or legs, only half of his face was destroyed. This was undoubtedly a great fortune for a Northwest Army soldier.
Aside from Gu Yanji, only Li Yu completely trusted Song Wan's conclusion. "Sister Wan, if you need any herbs, I'll ask Eunuch Fu to find them for you."
Before the morning court today, Qi Fu suddenly entered the palace and handed over all the property and dowry left to Queen Qi by Li Yu's grandfather, Qi Fu's father, to Li Yu.
At this time, apart from Gu Yanji who was present at the scene, even Song Wan had not had time to know that Li Yu now had a private treasury that was rich enough to rival a country.
"Just some medicinal herbs to heal wounds will do." Song Wan was afraid of being exposed, so she immediately gave Gu Yan a look of anxiety after she said that.
Gu Yan quickly understood, and turned to Li Yu and said, "Your Majesty, the palace still has many precious medicinal herbs that you have gifted us. Those are enough. The most important thing now is the war in the northwest."
Li Yu understood, and then he asked Zhang Fuzheng to call back all the ministers who had just returned home from the morning court to discuss the matter.
He is young and has been able to hold on until now despite several major events in succession, which has made Gu Yanji, Wei Xuezhi and others very relieved.
In fact, Gu Yanji had long understood that as long as A Yu sat on the throne, this day would come sooner or later. He just didn't expect that the Qiang people couldn't even wait for this year and sent troops to attack so quickly.
The Northwest now has no commander-in-chief and only relies on several old generals who once fought with Song Yan. In a short period of time, the Northwest defense line will not be breached, but a commander-in-chief must be sent immediately to take command.
"I am willing to go to the northwest to fight against the Qiang people!" Gu Yan knelt down firmly.
As soon as the ministers who were summoned back came in, they heard Gu Yan's urgent and powerful voice and were frightened for a moment.
How come it’s less than two hours after the court session that the war is about to begin?
To be honest, Li Yu didn't want Gu Yanji to go, but at the same time he knew that there was no one more suitable than Gu Yanji at the moment.
"Then I want to go too!" Song Wan raised her hand. She had to find out what that red poison powder was.
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