Wei Tingyu pretended not to notice Prince Duan's look and said nothing more.
In the following days, besides waiting for news from Liuqi, we had to wait for news from the imperial court.
The supplies that Liuqi obtained by using the grass were always limited. If they used these to fight a desperate battle with Qi Chao, they would be tough for a while, but would be useless later. Finally, they reluctantly admitted that they had not been blessed by heaven. Years of preparation were destroyed by a natural disaster. If they continued to fight with Qi Chao, they would probably be completely defeated.
So they all focused their attention and turned back to stabilize the internal situation of Liuqi.
Qi Chao Liuqi couldn't defeat them, but they still had other "neighbors". Although they had looked down on them before, the situation was different now. It would be their honor to destroy them and help Liuqi get through the difficulties.
Some people in Liuqi were very unhappy about this. They were ambitious and coveted all kinds of things from Qichao. They wanted to do things that their predecessors could not do and achieve immortal achievements. However, their plans died so young, and they were filled with anger.
Normally in this situation, we should go and vent our anger on those "neighbors", but those people are really not worth mentioning. Even if they can easily take over the territory, they are still quite disgusted. As a result, only a small number of people were transferred away, and the others were too lazy to move, calculating the minimum consumption and saving more supplies.
Although this place is not very comfortable now, it is the southernmost city compared to Liuqi and is slightly more comfortable. It's just that it does not meet the standards of a royal city in any aspect, otherwise, all the nobles of the royal family would have moved here.
People in Liuqi are very relaxed. It sounds incredible, but it is the truth.
The people of Liuqi boasted of their strong military power and every one of them was brave and good at fighting. They never felt inferior to others. However, compared with the superior position of Qi Chao, they had to admit that they had nothing worth worrying about. Therefore, they had been attacking Qi Chao tirelessly, trying to tear a piece of meat from Qi Chao. Qi Chao basically faced the enemy passively and seldom took the initiative. Even if they took the initiative, they would not go deep into the enemy's territory. Now Liuqi's army is basically concentrated here, and they don't think Qi Chao will take action. So they are really not vigilant.
Little did they know that Qi Chao had been prepared to completely cripple Liu Ge from the beginning, and had never given up even after the incident with Xiao Cao. Did the "Qi Chao rebel" whose original surname was Xiao know about this? But, unfortunately, he had already died? He died quietly, without even a splash of water.
-After he lost his usefulness, even the people behind him didn't care much about him. But he had been in the Dingbei Army for more than ten or twenty years and knew the army very well. General Li was not stupid. He knew that was his bargaining chip and would not hand over his trump card easily in an attempt to seek benefits and power.
He subconsciously used the same way of doing things as Qi Chao in Liuqi, which angered some stubborn people, and he was killed so easily. He died with his eyes open, and he probably never expected that this would be his ending.
I guess he regretted it at the moment of his death.
Just because of his death, when Xiaocao returned to Qi Chao, he only wanted Li Ruoshui, otherwise he would definitely have to add him.
Liu Kai's mentality is incredible, but the Dingbei Army understands it to some extent, and they may be able to make good use of it.
There was no war and no wounded soldiers, so naturally the hospital was not busy. However, Xiaocao was not idle either. Beicheng was not small and there were not a few people there. Treating illnesses, giving lectures, and making medicine were almost the same as the daily routine in the Kaiping Imperial City.
Compared with the news from Liuqi, the news from Kaiping Imperial City was faster. The letters were sent back and forth at an express rate of 800 miles. Xiaocao had a thick stack of letters, all from relatives and friends. It would be a lie to say that they were not heartwarming. Of course, in addition to concern, the letters naturally wanted her to go back earlier.
I accepted the first part, but as for the second part... Xiaocao wrote back and explained.
—You will only be cheated once, there won’t be a second time.
What really concerned people was the instructions given by Emperor Xuanren to Prince Duan and a group of officials. Originally, they should have returned after completing their mission, but Emperor Xuanren asked them to continue staying in the Northern Frontier, under the pretext of helping to the best of their ability.
Everything is going well in the Northern Frontier, and there is no room for them to interfere. If they really interfere recklessly, they might even cause trouble. Therefore, Emperor Xuanren's behavior is really puzzling.
The biggest guess is that Prince Dingbei had made a big mistake before, so is the emperor intending to let Prince Duan take more credit
Emperor Xuanren asked them to stay, so they had no choice but to stay. Prince Duan did not let them interfere in any affairs here, and even set an example himself by not caring about anything. No one dared to cross his line, and he was almost bored to death.
As time went by, news came from Liuqi that, as expected, a high-ranking person had the condition Xiaocao described. Because the attack was inexplicable and the cause could not be found, people just thought he had some strange disease and worried that it might be contagious. For a time, some people were even panicked. Gradually, more and more people suffered from drug addiction, and any one of them was of high status.
Some people speculated whether Qi Chao had tampered with the supplies. Most of the nobles and royal family members only took food, so they immediately turned out the grain and checked it carefully, but found nothing.
Even so, some people said that the food was inedible and even proposed destroying it.
Obviously, this is unrealistic, especially since the man was so hungry that he could eat anything. Moreover, it was only a suspected problem. Besides, there were more than one or two people who had used the same things, and most of them were fine.
How many people jumped up and down and cursed Qi Chao, saying that he was insidious and cunning, and was playing all these conspiracies and tricks. If he had the guts, he should fight with real guns.
Over the issue of food, they split into two factions, which undoubtedly made the situation in Liuqi even worse.
As the number of people increased, someone finally discovered something was wrong. Why were all the people with strange diseases people of status and position? Apart from this, was there anything else in common
The generals of Liuqi reacted relatively slowly, but as the number of people increased, people like the military advisor became extremely frightened.
At this time, Princess Anguo, who had mentioned that Qi Chao was very skilled in using medicine and that he should be careful, and the man who said that Li Ruoshui, a woman who should not be touched, stood up again and said, "Can't you see? These are the people who slept with Miss Shui."
—This statement is not absolute. For those who had "contacted" Li Ruoshui in the early days, it was probably because she was so popular that they could not get close to her. This was not a problem. These people were all of relatively low power and status.
It was Bai Qingchuan who awakened the people of Liuqi.
He was very sure of his idea. Although he had only thought it was a possibility before, he was still very shocked when it really happened. He felt respect for Xiaocao, but also felt it was really terrifying.
Looking at the current situation in Liuqi, Bai Qingchuan planned to retreat.