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Zheng Yun had been pardoned by Emperor Huining as early as the winter solstice, and was no longer imprisoned in Wangji Temple for meditation, but returned to the princess's mansion. Yuan Cixian went straight to Anxingfang, feeling a little uneasy.
After all, on the first day of the first lunar month, Zheng Yun was more likely to be in the Daming Palace. If he failed in his trip to Anxingfang, it would only take time to go to the palace, but he was afraid that it would alert people like Prince Ping who had ill intentions towards the Yuan family. If the news leaked out, it would be hard to guarantee that there would not be complications.
She was worried all the way, but fortunately when she handed in her business card, she heard the servant of the princess's mansion reply that Zheng Yun was ill today and did not go out, but was still in the mansion.
Yuan Cixian breathed a sigh of relief and followed the servant to the central hall.
Zheng Yun arrived soon, looking fine, not ill at all. She held a small sandalwood wooden box in her hand, and when she saw Yuan Cixian, she said straight to the point, "The county lord's jade ring."
Yuan Cixian was stunned for a moment. But she didn't say anything yet.
She reached out to take the box, opened the lid and took a look. Inside was indeed a flawless jade-white ring of superb quality and texture. Puzzled, she looked up and asked, "How did your lord know why I came today?" She quickly realized what was going on and asked, "Are you waiting for me here on purpose, claiming to be ill?"
Zheng Jun forced a smile and said nothing.
Yuan Cixian knew that time was running out. Seeing that she didn't answer, he handed the box to Jianzhi behind him and said concisely, "Send it to southern Yunnan in a secret way, eight hundred miles away."
This jade ring had to be used before Lu Shiqing arrived in southern Yunnan, so she couldn't deliver it in person. It was more than 3,000 miles from Chang'an to the border, and it was too slow to walk alone. Lu Shiqing had walked for a day and a night, and no matter how good her horsemanship was, she couldn't catch up. The only way was to send messages through post stations, change people and horses along the way, and travel day and night without slacking for a moment.
After Jianzhi took the order and left, Yuan Cihan glanced at Zheng Yun and couldn't help feeling confused.
As the legitimate princess, Zheng Yun should be more informed about the news in the palace than her. She should have known about Lu Shiqing's trip south a long time ago. If that's the case, why is she so passive and just waiting for her here
Although this question was a bit awkward, she felt uncomfortable not asking, so she said bluntly: "Since you already knew that this jade ring would be useful to him, why didn't you give it to him before he left Beijing?"
Zheng Jun lowered his eyes and smiled, and said softly: "You will come anyway, right?"
Yuan Cixian frowned. In her opinion, Zheng Yun's behavior was really unreasonable. Just because he expected his rival to come and take the jade ring and help his beloved, he gave up this opportunity? What kind of cause and effect is this
Moreover, even if this point can be explained as Zheng Yun's non-competitiveness and magnanimity, it still cannot be explained. After all, she thought of the unpolished jade purely by chance, and it was not premeditated. How could Zheng Yun be sure that she would come
She suddenly thought of the secret letter that was sent to Shuzhou last time, reminding Lu Shiqing to be careful on the way back. At that time, Zheng Yun seemed to have learned some news in advance through some channels. Although in the end, the journey back was smooth, she did not think the news was false. Perhaps it was because the other party discovered that the plan was exposed and saw that Lu Shiqing was already on guard that he temporarily gave up the assassination.
Yuan Cihan became more and more curious about Zheng Jun, but it was very obvious that she couldn't get anything out of her at the moment. If she continued to question her, it would be rude and boring.
She could only smile and say, "Anyway, thank you very much this time, sir. I'll take my leave first."
Zheng Yun nodded and asked someone to escort her out of the house.
Yuan Cixian felt relieved and relieved. She reported the progress to her father as soon as she got home. When she came out of Yuan Yizhi's study, she ran into Yuan Yu, who asked her in surprise, "My dear sister, was that the way you went to the princess' mansion to meet your love rival?"
A ghost? Yuan Cixian pinched her cheeks in surprise.
Yuan Yu couldn't bear to look at it and said, "It's not here, it's my eyes that are swollen like walnuts and my hair that is messy like a straw bag... Oh, forget it, I'm naturally beautiful, I don't care about these things."
Yuan Cixian touched her hair and laughed dryly, but she didn't mind these trivial matters too much. As long as the work was done, anything was fine. She turned to ask him: "Brother, are you here to see my father?"
Yuan Yu pulled her away mysteriously and whispered, "My father asked me to come here. I guess he's going to ask me about you and Lu Zishu again."
As a poor kid who just got divorced, he only got a few words of comfort from his parents these days, and then he was constantly asked about Yuan Cixian and Lu Zishu's situation. Poor him, for the sake of his sister's lifelong happiness, he had to speak well of that guy, saying how the two of them shared hardships and were in love.
Yuan Cihan said quickly: "Then you have to keep it a secret. If someone asks me about my feelings, don't let him say that I pursued Lu Shiqing because I wanted to have him as a backer." It was not easy to get to this point. If her father knew that her original intention was to save the Yuan family, this marriage would most likely be in vain.
Yuan Yu glanced at her and said, "Father asked me to find out about Lu Zishu. Why would he ask you about your feelings? In our Yuan family, anyone who is not blind can see your feelings."
Yuan Cixian was stunned: "Ah?"
Yuan Yu looked at her as if she were a fool and patted her shoulder: "Silly sister, you are in a difficult situation. You should be more careful. Don't be kidnapped without knowing it."
Yuan Cihan looked at his back as he turned away, blinked three times, and her heart was pounding.
*
Ten days later, the Nanzhao garrison camp on the southern border of Yunnan was suddenly attacked at night.
In recent days, the morale of the local army of the Great Zhou was low due to the lack of a strong backbone. The Nanzhao army had almost an absolute advantage in the rapid march, marching northwards towards Yizhou and conquering most of Jiannan Road. The defenders, including the crown prince Xiju, stayed behind to ensure the retreat of the vanguard.
But just the day before yesterday, the food and fodder shipped here from Nanzhao was accidentally intercepted. Several generals in the military camp got the news and proposed to move their position on the grounds that the location of the military camp might have been exposed, but Xiju did not respond.
His meaning was simple: the position of the defending camp had not been exposed.
This batch of food and fodder was not baggage shipped to the front line, but only food supplies for the defenders. Due to the small number, there were indeed few soldiers sent to escort it, so it is not impossible that someone took advantage of it.
However, the enemy's purpose was obviously not to take this small batch of food and grass that was unimportant to Nanzhao, but to make them mistakenly believe that the location of the military camp had been exposed, inducing them to evacuate urgently, so as to spy on the movements of the defenders.
This was the opponent's strategy of luring the snake out of its hole. If they did not move, perhaps everything would be calm, otherwise, they would truly expose themselves.
But the problem was that the strategy that Xiju could see clearly was not clear to his generals. They argued with him for most of the night, and when they saw that he did not respond, they immediately sent the military report back to the capital of Nanzhao to seek the opinion of the King of Nanzhao.
The day after the grain and grass were intercepted, that is, yesterday, the King of Nanzhao ordered the garrison to move immediately, and Xiju had to obey. On the night of the move, as he expected, he was attacked by a large Zhou army.
The defending army camp was in chaos and was in an emergency battle with the night attack army. At this time, in the huge golden tent, Xi Ju, standing majestically in black armor, issued a military order: ceasefire.
The shouting and screaming outside suddenly stopped. It was obvious that the Great Zhou army had given up the attack after seeing that he chose to cease fire.
He sighed, and after a long silence, he picked up his sword and walked out of the tent. From a distance, he saw a man in a crane cloak sitting high on his horse outside the camp gate. Seeing him, he seemed to smile and said lightly, "It's been a long time since we last met at Shangzhou Post Station. How are you, Your Highness?"
It was Lu Shiqing who intercepted Nanzhao’s grain and grass the day before yesterday.
Xi Ju did not deny it, and answered in not very fluent Chinese: "When I didn't see Minister Lu, I was always fine."
"Hearing what Your Highness said, I feel deeply sorry. In fact, I am also confused as to why every time I see Your Highness, there is always such a scene of fighting and killing."
He smiled, revealing his shiny white teeth in the night: "You Han people have a word called 'bad fate'."
Lu Shiqing seemed a little surprised and said "Oh" softly: "I didn't expect that Your Highness is so knowledgeable. Then I think you must have heard of the Han Chinese saying "Turning swords into plowshares"."
Xi Ju laughed out loud: "It's too difficult to understand."
Lu Shiqing stretched out his hand and pointed to the golden tent: "In that case, you might as well allow me to enter and listen to my explanation."
Upon hearing this, Xiju glanced at the elite cavalry team of more than 3,000 men behind him.
He naturally understood his concerns, turned around and smiled and ordered: "Retreat a hundred feet, and do not approach without my order."
This cavalry unit was a local army of Chongzhou in Qianzhong. In order to avoid being conspicuous, Lu Shiqing did not lead his troops out of the capital. When passing through Chongzhou, where the garrison was relatively strong, he mobilized this cavalry unit with the military token given to him by Emperor Huining in advance.
As early as the beginning of the war, Qianzhong and Lingnan, which were adjacent to southern Yunnan, had sent troops to support. However, due to improper tactics, they were frequently blocked outside southern Yunnan by the local people. It was not until Lu Shiqing led these 3,000 people to make a detour and launch a surprise attack, intercepted the Nanzhao army's report, that they broke through his defense line without making any noise.
It was for this reason that when Xi Ju heard that the food and grass were suddenly intercepted, he knew that the enemy must be a strong one. As they had just encountered a night attack, he simply gave up the confrontation to avoid unnecessary casualties.
After all, he guessed that Lu Shiqing's goal was not to capture the garrison camp, but to negotiate with him. Because he received something in advance.
A few days ago, a Nanzhao soldier on the southern border of Yunnan handed over a jade ring to the camp, saying it was sent from Chang'an. He immediately understood the cause and effect, knowing that the person who sent the jade ring was trying to show goodwill to him and remind him of the fire in his backyard.
However, he did not understand the reason why the other party was showing goodwill at that time. It was not until he combined it with Lu Shiqing's night attack that he thought that this sincere jade ring was expressing the friendly intentions of the envoy from the Great Zhou and hoping to avoid a confrontation between the two sides.
Since the other party doesn't want to fight, why should he endure this battle
Lu Shiqing followed Xiju into the Golden Tent alone to show his sincerity in the peace talks. After sitting down, he brushed off the dirty mud on his clothes and asked, "Your Highness, can you lend me a clean handkerchief first?"
Xi Ju asked someone to bring him a silk handkerchief and said seriously, "It doesn't matter if you don't wipe it. Your current attire is much more decent than when you were at the Shangzhou Post Station."
Lu Shiqing choked, remembering what Yuan Cixian had done. He gritted his teeth in hatred, but lied with his eyes open: "Oh, Lu's fiancée is indeed quite naughty. She burned my outer clothes when she was unhappy."
This time it was Xiju who choked.
Although he forced the marriage purely for political purposes and not because he was in love with Yuan Cixian, he ultimately failed, and even failed to kidnap people in Shangzhou, so Lu Shiqing's words seemed to be enough salt to rub on his scars.
Xi Ju suddenly glanced at the jade ring on the table and suddenly realized, "It turns out that the person who gave me this jade ring was Minister Lu's fiancée."
Influenced by foreign countries, the Great Zhou has the custom of using jade rings as tokens of love between men and women. Lu Shiqing raised his eyelids and frowned. What is this person with a dark complexion that can't be seen at night talking about
Xi Ju put the jade ring on her little finger and felt it fit her well, so she didn't take it off and said, "Minister Lu, please start your explanation."
Lu Shiqing sneered in his heart. He no longer had the patience to talk to him in a roundabout way, so he said bluntly: "What I want to say is very simple. If Your Highness continues to attack the north, there will be two disadvantages. The first is for you - you will lose the support of the army, the people and the emperor one after another. You know that the generals around you are not completely loyal to you, otherwise you would not have fallen into the trap I set."
"Besides them, the people of your country and your father do not fully support the war you initiated. The reason is that Nanzhao can no longer afford such a protracted war."
"You have been fighting frequently with the Great Zhou in recent years. The wars and military conscriptions have caused a sharp decline in your population, and the people are unable to farm normally. At the same time, the food, weapons, and horses needed for the war have continued to increase, and the treasury of Nanzhao has become increasingly empty. If this continues, you, the crown prince, will probably be abandoned by the people, and your father will choose a more suitable person to replace you."
"Second, for Nanzhao, you will be a bride for Tubo and will end up hurting yourself. You know very well that the main force of this battle is your Nanzhao army, and the reason why Tubo, which was originally friendly with the Great Zhou, was deceived by you and agreed to cooperate with you is that they want to use you to attack all the way north, get their hands on Hexi, which they have long coveted, and get a share of the Great Zhou."
"But you must remember that Tubo is not only close to the Great Zhou, but also to you. Tubo, which gets Hexi, will become more and more prosperous, and when Tubo prospers, Nanzhao will decline. In order to accumulate enough strength to compete with the Great Zhou, the powerful Tubo will sooner or later turn its military force against Nanzhao. When that happens, the Great Zhou will be very happy to see the snipe and the clam fighting so that it can reap the benefits."
"After talking about the disadvantages, let me talk about the two gains you made from this battle. First, you struck the King of Southern Yunnan. Second, you occupied Jiannan. But this tiny benefit is really not worth mentioning compared to the disadvantages that I mentioned. And you might as well ask yourself whether your subjects can understand the great sacrifice you made for a mere prince of a different surname and a tiny piece of land."
"Finally, I want to tell you the benefits of withdrawing your troops. You only need to make Tubo give up the alliance with you first, and you can have the upper hand in this cooperation and even in future political relations with it, so as to obtain a steady stream of benefits - food, gold, silver, labor, and even land. Even if you are defeated, you can use these benefits that can be truly seen, accepted, and understood by the people to appease the people at home. Da Zhou is willing to give you this opportunity to profit and recuperate. After tonight, Lu can go to Tubo for you and induce them to withdraw their troops, as long as you agree to this peace talk now."
"Of course, if you still insist on not withdrawing your troops after hearing these words..." Lu Shiqing smiled faintly, "I am not afraid of being killed by your sword, but judging from the situation in your country, I am afraid that you will meet me in the underworld soon and continue our fate. You also said that you were always very nice before you saw me."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at the jade ring on Xiju's little finger and said, "Your Highness, are you satisfied with what I have said tonight?"
*
Five days later, Tubo broke the agreement and withdrew its troops, giving the Great Zhou a chance to counterattack, forcing Nanzhao to retreat and driving the enemy out of the country. Thus, the war, which lasted only 20 days, came to an end.
When the news reached Chang'an, the whole court was filled with joy and shock. Yuan Cixian was so excited that he almost picked up his bag and went south to meet Lu Shiqing, but was stopped by Yuan Yizhi with an axe.
She had no choice but to count the days until he arrived, never leaving the house, and asking him every morning and evening if he had received any news from the south. But Lu Shiqing was really something, and he never brought her any accurate news from beginning to end. She was so angry that she lost her patience and simply stopped asking.
The first month of the lunar year is drawing to an end, and February is the time when red apricot blossoms bloom outside the wall. It’s up to him whether he wants to come or not.
On the eighth day of the second lunar month, Yuan Cixian took his brother and mother to Hibiscus Garden to relax and step on the green grass that had not yet fully emerged. He had originally planned not to think of Lu Shiqing, but after walking around the garden, he unknowingly climbed up to the bamboo building he had been to before.
At that time, she came here to see Zheng Zhuo, and when she reached the top floor, she first saw Lu Shiqing in a striking silver-vermilion suit.
She suddenly became very curious. She had invited Zheng Zhuo to eat lychees and had also been on a boat with Zheng Zhuo that day. If Lu Shiqing remembered these things now, what would he think
She sat quietly beside the long table in the small room, imagining his feelings with a little joy, and giggling foolishly. When she came to her senses, her mother and brother who had accompanied her to the bamboo house had disappeared.
She is so awesome.
Yuan Cixian was stunned and quickly stood up to look, but she saw a person standing with his hands behind his back at the end of the long corridor outside the small room door, as if he had been looking at her for a long time.
Seeing her looking at him, the man curled his lips and asked with a smug and arrogant tone, "Yuan Cixian, why are you sitting here alone and grinning like an idiot?"
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