He fell into deep thought and asked his country's strategist. The strategist advised him that the best course of action now was to appease the people and, after the investigation was completed, to find an excuse to release the group of people from the Central Plains.
Yelü Wen didn't want to lose more than he gained, so he agreed.
He was puzzled as to who was sowing discord in the territory of the Eight Generals. He was determined to capture this person, or the consequences would be unimaginable and cause irreparable damage.
Yelü Wen's face was very grim. He left his headquarters, intending to inform his father, the Khan, about the matter so that he could make preparations as soon as possible.
No sooner had Yelü Wen left than the Eight Generals stepped forward to appease the troops and distributed the military rations that had been delayed for two months, thus quelling the unrest.
Meanwhile, A'da's son and A'er's daughter were named Yelü Qi and Yelü Qing, respectively.
The two met on the street, then went to a restaurant and ordered some simple snacks. Soon, a nine-foot-tall barbarian dressed in white robes from Luochuan entered. White robes were a symbol of nobility.
As soon as he entered, many of his retainers and local Hu people made way for him.
This nobleman from the Central Asian region was quite friendly and generously waived their meal expenses for the day.
It turned out to be the restaurant owner.
He ordered a private room and invited the two of them inside.
The two men entered and bowed respectfully to him, saying, "Boss Wu."
"You're too kind, young generals," Wu Yuejun said. "I'm not much older than you. You can call me Wu Yuejun in private from now on."
Both of them were quite surprised that a nobleman from Luochuan was surnamed Wu. And it was a surname from the Central Plains.
Moreover, the fact that she could maintain her surname from the Central Plains and still become a noble in Luochuan shows how high the status of Wu Yuejun's mother was, and she might even be related to the real royal family.
The Northern Regions are a chaotic area, containing both patriarchal and ancient matriarchal systems. The Hu people who generally maintain the matriarchal system are mostly large royal families, a group with a higher generation than the new royal family like Yelü Wen. However, the large royal families of the matriarchal system are exceptionally low-key. They are born noble, and the tribal khans will tacitly support them, so they never need to travel outside.
The two couldn't help but feel respect for the man above them: "Boss Wu."
Seeing their confusion, Wu Yuejun laughed and said, "My father was a nobleman from the Central Plains, but unfortunately he was born in a chaotic era and passed away first."
"I have invited you here today to take care of you."
Wu Yuejun had two chests of gold brought over. When Yelü Qi and Yelü Qing saw the two chests of gold, their eyes lit up, and they wished they could pounce on them right then and there.
Wu Yuejun, however, silently pursed her lips and let out a cold smile.
"You two young generals have really worked hard."
Yelü Qing and Yelü Qi nodded in agreement. They accepted the gold and said, "If you need anything from Wu Yuejun in the future, please feel free to give us your orders."
"No, no, it's very dangerous now. Your prince is starting to suspect that there's a traitor among the Eight Generals," Wu Yuejun said. "For your safety, it's best to go into hiding first."
The two agreed and quietly left through the back door with the gold.
After everyone left.
A man emerged from behind the curtain of the private room. He was from the Central Plains and wore a mask with a ghost face. Despite the mask obscuring his face, he stood tall and elegant, exuding the air of a refined young nobleman.
The young nobleman said, "Lord Wu Yue, thank you so much."
“Wu Shang, now is the time for you to fulfill your father’s last words.” Wu Yuejun said, “This is his agreement with the late emperor, and it is also an agreement between you, me and our father.”
Wu Shang remained silent, but his eyes betrayed him, revealing tension and worry: "She has grown up and learned to scheme."
"The Shi Kingdom and the present-day Yue Kingdom are a chess game she built herself."
Wu Yuejun said, "It's a perfect opportunity to assassinate the tiger and snipe. I will send someone to the border to take advantage of the chaos to capture Xie Ying..."
As he spoke, he gestured with his hand as if he were slitting his throat.
The martial arts master's eyes, hidden behind his mask, immediately sharpened and turned cold: "No, we cannot make decisions on her behalf before we are certain of Xie Ying's importance in her heart."
"Brother, you'd better think this through. If we upset her and Mother blames us, we'll all be in deep trouble."
Looking at his half-brother, Wu Yuejun sighed helplessly, "Your older brother did all this for you."
"After all, you and she are... "
Finally, Wu Yuejun's words were interrupted as the sounds of soldiers raiding shops came from the street outside the window. Soldiers were arresting people in a menacing manner. Across the street, a shop owner was being interrogated in the street, asked if two people from the Central Plains had stayed there three days ago.
The shopkeeper quickly agreed and gave the room number to the soldiers. The soldiers searched and found a pile of burnt ashes, and the two Central Plains men had disappeared.
The soldiers left disappointed, smashing up the shop and looting everything. Faced with the sudden loss of their ten-year-old business, the owner and his family of three sat on the street, weeping bitterly.
Wu Yuejun couldn't help but frown: "Those bastards are still the same as ever, they don't treat the people as human beings."
"The pressure created by the eight generals' power not only affected their soldiers, but also their children, who began to seek other ways out."
The Eight Generals and Yelü Wen probably never imagined that the real traitor wasn't one of their retainers or a passing Central Plains person, but rather their young general. It's understandable that these two young generals were bribed by Central Plains spies. Their lifestyles were extremely extravagant; they kept mistresses or gigolos, requiring substantial expenditures.
As the father of the Eight Generals, he demanded that they diligently uphold the spirit of dedication to defending their homeland. They ate, drank, and lived with their soldiers, and even when the soldiers were short of money, they had to hand over military silver as subsidies. Because the two young generals had suffered hardships since childhood, they were looked down upon by the common people of Luochuan. The Eight Generals, who were awe-inspiring throughout the land, were privately referred to as a beggar army by their own people.
The fathers were honest men willing to dedicate themselves to the Northern Region, and growing up in this extremely unbalanced environment forced them to develop ideas that were completely opposite to those of their fathers.
That means they can enjoy themselves whenever they want. They risk their lives to defend the border, so why should they live a life where they barely have any clothes to cover them?!
Wu Shang said, "Those two Central Plains spies can't be kept any longer. Quickly send them out of the Northern Region."
Wu Yuejun said, "The spies she trained are indeed top-notch."
"Now I have to admire her. If she really had no feelings for Xie Ying, then her instigation of war between the Shi Kingdom and the Yue Kingdom, forcing Xie Ying to leave the capital to protect the border, would have been killing three birds with one stone."
Two secret agents from the Central Plains took a boat early in the morning and then visited Xieji.
Upon hearing that the person was one of their own, Xie Ji immediately hid him. He couldn't be sure if Li Li's men were completely loyal, so he was being cautious.
The two spies told Xie Ji about their mission, including their plan to bribe the two young generals.
Xie Ji clapped his hands in admiration after hearing this.
"May I ask how to address you two secret agents?"
The two spies replied in unison, "Sun, Moon."
Sun and moon are metaphors. Xie Ji clasped his hands in greeting and said, "I would like to trouble you two to obtain useful intelligence as soon as possible and send it to the border. I, the Grand Marshal of the Xie Clan, am still guarding the border for the Southern Central Plains."
"I fear the Huns and Xiongnu will take advantage of the situation and invade."
The two secret agents, Sun and Moon, said, "To be honest, His Highness ordered us to split into eight groups to create chaos in order to block the gap between the Northern Region and the Yue Kingdom and prevent other countries from entering the country to buy firearms."
"Now Yelü Wen is in a hurry to find the traitors and has no time to deal with the border. Those small countries naturally dare not force their way in. As long as we delay them for a day, we can quickly relieve the pressure on the marshal."
Xie Ji was worried and clearly uneasy. He also thought that this might be the mistress's plan, and that she might have already discussed it with the marshal in private. It would be presumptuous of him to interfere.
He said, "My spies, please inform His Highness after you return to the capital that I am safe for the time being, but the North-South alliance may face a new situation because of the Crown Prince."
Li Li was already planning to break ties with Bei Luo because of his sister. As a man, Xie Ji admired him, but as someone with vested interests, Xie Ji hoped Li Li would let go, or at least prioritize his own interests.
Unfortunately, we are all emotional people, not cold, hard stones, capable of using our own family without feeling. And she is my own sister, born of the same mother.
The secret agents from both the Sun and Moon Sect nodded in agreement.
The political landscape is shifting once again. What once happened in the Central Plains is now a game in which everyone is caught up in the intricacies of the situation.
The chessboard was intricately laid out, like a vast net enveloping the northern region, involving the Yue Kingdom, the Shi Kingdom, and other small states. The players sitting opposite each other at the back were the new Tianjing and the Northern Hu Xiongnu.
Aqina dispatched a variety of mercenaries, spreading them throughout the southern Central Plains, with the main force heading towards the border of Yue.
Their target was Aba and Xie Lanzhi.
Xie Lanzhi happened to receive a secret letter from Si Xitong at the border, which instructed her to return to the Southern Region to command remotely and not to travel alone.
Xie Lanzhi believed that there were only two options: either destroy Yue or make Yue submit. The matter could not be delayed any longer. If it dragged on, the war would only benefit Aqina.
And then there's Aqina; lately, she keeps dreaming about the second half of the future empress's story every night.
Sometimes it's vague, sometimes it's detailed down to every pore. Every time she wakes up, she feels as if the story in the original novel has been decoupled from her, the villain, and is now all about the Empress laying a trap and winning a huge fortune.
Her joy was followed by a sense of loneliness.
Her and Xie Ying's loneliness.
They are all excluded by the will of Heaven; they have neither a purpose nor a future.
Now, she is filled with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow.
Xie Lanzhi burned the letter. She then summoned the two spies who had arrived to the main account.
The two spies were called Gan and Kun, and judging from their code names, they were not low-level operatives.
Xie Lanzhi dreamt of the role the Western Guard played in the Empress's life. She foresaw that the Empress would have six legendary spies—Sun, Moon, Heaven, Earth, and Mo Ce—who would become the progenitors of modern intelligence agencies. Their military strategies and infiltration tactics have been inherited and updated by later generations. And despite constant changes in technology, their core principles remain unchanged: the strategy of winning hearts and minds is applicable in any era and any field.
Now Qiankun and the other person have appeared.
She said, "I have never seen you before."
Qiankun said in unison, "We have only been in the Western Guard for a year."
"One year?" Xie Lanzhi smiled faintly and remained silent: "Without sufficient loyalty and ability, you would never be granted such a title."
Xiwei must have secrets she doesn't know.
As for what the secret was, she didn't care. Xiwei was destined to be closely linked to the Empress and drive its development; they could not escape the mission bestowed upon them by history.
Qiankun and the other man said, "Marshal, there are more than just the Mohists and Confucians in the world."
The two men stopped there and said, "Please carry out His Highness's orders, Marshal."
"Follow Her Highness's orders?" Xie Lanzhi's smile faded. She understood their thoughts. In their eyes, the Empress was the only true master, and she didn't count. Even she, she had to obey the Empress.
She said, "You are military strategists."
After he finished speaking, the two of them looked up and then fell silent.
Xie Lanzhi knew she had guessed correctly. A complex feeling welled up inside her, but even more so, she felt a sense of pride.
It turns out that, sometime and sometime in the past, her little phoenix—no, her future empress—had already learned the method of using a variety of approaches. While she was fighting on the front lines, the empress was constantly figuring out the method of using a variety of approaches from the rear, relying on her experience and the lessons of her predecessors.
To the Empress, the Mohists were not just the Mohists, but one of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
Xie Lanzhi said, "Thank you for your hard work."
"However, I will have to disappoint the expectations of the two strategists behind me."
"Xie Lanzhi cannot back down at this moment. Even if she becomes a common soldier, a common soldier has his own mission."
Xie Lanzhi was not afraid at all about being on the execution list.
"It is my responsibility to guard the border and ensure that the lights of thousands of homes in the Central Plains never go out."
Upon hearing this, the two secret agents, Qian and Kun, thought to themselves that this marshal was indeed as unpredictable as the intelligence had described. No wonder their master had specifically instructed them not to forcibly take her back to the Southern Region, even if she refused.
Gan said, "Marshal, the front line is very dangerous."