"God help her, she must not get hurt!"
"Our entire Southern Central Plains relies on the Marshal for support. If she weren't here, could we still be the same as we are now?"
"Everything will be alright! I'm going to burn incense and pray to Buddha today. Let's go pray to Buddha together."
"Yes, we pray to Buddha to bless the Marshal. He has survived this calamity and will surely be blessed with good fortune!"
Xie Shangguang of Lanzhang Palace had his eyelids twitching early in the morning when he heard the news that the marshal was seriously injured. He wished he could lead the troops out himself.
Not only was he pacing around in circles, but everyone else was too. For example, when Xie Guang, the gatekeeper, heard that the marshal was seriously injured, he became listless and knocked on the wrong door when he got home, startling the neighbors. When he got home for dinner, he took Yelü Qiqi's bowl of rice.
Xie Ying stared in astonishment at her father and at Qi Qi, who was biting her chopsticks and looking at her with a wronged expression. She left her own food for Qi Qi.
Xie Ying couldn't help but say, "Father, the Marshal is a lucky person, she will be alright."
The marshal is cunning by nature; perhaps the news of his serious injury was deliberately leaked. Since it's been leaked, it's bound to shake morale. The marshal couldn't possibly have overlooked this. The lack of news now is actually good news.
If the army tries to maintain morale by claiming the marshal is alright, the battle might break out again the next day. Therefore, the border troops should avoid any suspicious actions that could lead to irreparable consequences.
Xie Ying saw it very clearly.
Xie Guang said, "I know, Marshal, she's definitely alright."
"Father only regrets that he cannot lead the charge for the Marshal. Your third uncle is maintaining order in Weidu, and your fifth uncle is protecting our interests in the capital."
"With none of the three generals by the Marshal's side, there are probably not many people under him who can truly understand his thoughts, leaving the Marshal to bear the pressure on the front lines all by himself."
After hearing this, Yelü Qiqi lost her appetite. She thought about how her sister, the Marshal, might be injured. She worried that her sister, the Princess, would be very anxious.
Maybe my sister is already itching to go to the front lines and bring the marshal back.
Meanwhile, the people at Jianzhang Palace were still reviewing memorials and discussing next year's spring planting with the Minister of Agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture and Wu Qiu kept glancing at the princess's face, afraid that she might collapse under the strain.
Now that the marshal is at the border, they cannot afford to lose another leader.
Once His Highness falls, the entire Southern Central Plains will descend into chaos.
Wu Qiu couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, you didn't sleep last night, why don't you go and rest for a while?"
The officials in charge of agriculture nodded in agreement.
Si Xitong glanced at them and said, "I am fine, you don't need to worry."
"You should be happy about the great victory at the front."
Upon hearing this, Wu Qiu was dumbfounded. Had he heard correctly? The officials in charge of agriculture all lowered their heads, not daring to interfere in His Highness's private affairs.
"Go down." Si Xitong flicked her sleeve, got up, and turned back from the back hall to Lanzhang Palace.
After Wu Qiu left the palace, a large group of officials surrounded him, discussing the news: "Lord Wu, we heard that the Marshal was seriously injured at the front. Is this true?"
"Lord Wu, what are His Highness's instructions?"
"Lord Wu, what do you think?"
"Do we in the Southern Central Plains...?"
Wu Qiu was surrounded by people, and their chatter gave him a headache. He quickly covered his ears and squeezed out of the crowd, but a large group of people followed him and kept asking him questions.
When news of Wu Qiu being harassed by the officials reached Si Xitong's ears, she was on her way back to Lanzhang Palace when she saw Xie Shangguang loitering around her from time to time, making obvious advances.
She ordered Xie Shangguang to go to Bingzhou.
Xie Shangguang asked, "Mistress, what are you sending me to Bingzhou for?"
Si Xitong calmly ordered, "The Marquis of Yong'an needs an assistant."
Xie Shangguang: "Raising...pigs."
After planting sweet potatoes, is he going to raise pigs now?!
QAQ The mistress is so annoying! The marshal is injured, the situation at the front is unclear, and she still wants me to raise pigs!
Meanwhile, on the border of the Yue Kingdom, Qiankun, while monitoring Aba and Xie Lanzhi, discovered that Xie Lanzhi had suddenly disappeared.
Qiankun and the other man were immediately puzzled.
"Is Master Xie going to Aba for a meeting?"
"It doesn't seem likely. She previously advocated for the destruction of the Yue Kingdom and had no intention of cooperating with Aba Na."
Zhang Ju had already arrived at Mingbao. After finding Xie Ming, he discovered that he had missed the marshal again.
It turned out that he had just arrived when the marshal left.
Where did the marshal go?
Chapter 174 An Unexpected Twist Arrives
Zhang Ju simply stayed in Mingbao and didn't go anywhere else.
At this moment, the two secret agents from Qiankun finally discovered the problem: Xie Zhu, whom they had been watching, had vanished before their eyes. As for where she went? Nobody knew.
Qiankun's task is to observe the battle situation and then report accordingly.
They just didn't know what Xie Zhu was thinking. If he ran off like this, who would be in charge of the battle?
That's utterly absurd.
Xie Ming and Zhang Ju concealed Xie Lanzhi's absence from the outside world to avoid undermining morale.
In the cellar of a small house on Jiguang Island, there was a simple bed, and a candle was lit on a small wooden table next to it. The faint candlelight illuminated the woman lying on the bed.
Xie Lanzhi folded her hands over her chest, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep. Outside, two Xie soldiers dressed as islanders stood guard.
As for why she's here?
Xie Lanzhi was trying to figure something out. Ever since she was punished by heaven and saw Aqina's dream, she had been having fragmented precognitive dreams. At first, she didn't pay attention to them, thinking it was just a coincidence that allowed her to glimpse the secrets of heaven. But the more people she killed on the battlefield, the more frequent her dreams became. She even dreamed about herself during her lunch break yesterday.
She was more like Xie Ying than herself. After that, she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she tried. Occasionally, when she was tired from fighting on the battlefield, she would encounter the Black Boss and feel sleepy.
The reason for choosing Jiguang Island this time is that it will become the most important battlefield in the future. It is also the first port island where the Anluo people came to the East, and one of the most rampant bases of the sea monsters.
So she wanted to try places related to the future to see if they could help her enter her dreams again.
Xie Lanzhi felt somewhat helpless, as if she were dabbling in some mystical stuff. She had no idea whether she could even get any results.
Facing the darkness, her familiar drowsiness made her feel like an insect caught in a spider's web, stuck and unable to move.
She soon fell asleep, but this time she dreamed of Aimin.
In a fleeting moment, Aimin's face vanished. Then came the familiar sound of chains and dripping water, gradually building up, starting mostly as background noise and fading away, as if in deathly silence. A state of nothingness.
Finally, a bright yellow royal tent became clearly visible. Then, he felt someone get up from the bed. A royal physician came in to take his pulse, and then the person wanted to call the royal shaman.
A man dressed as a wizard appeared and respectfully began writing something to him. Strangely, the wizard spoke, yet his voice was inaudible. The person on the bed, however, spoke clearly and distinctly.
"Anshan is still in Weidu."
The shaman said something, I don't know.
"Killing Anshan will buy us another three years, and then it's that little girl's turn."
The national shaman nodded, his lips moving, but unfortunately, nothing could be heard; his voice seemed to be muffled.
Finally, the person on the bed said, "The people I have sent are arriving in Yue soon. They will resolve this unexpected situation in Aba as quickly as possible."
"At this moment, you should send someone to mediate between Aba and Xie. If the two of them meet, just wipe them out in one fell swoop. Use the Grand Master's family heirloom."
The sorcerer uttered a string of inaudible words, and the person on the bed quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Afterwards, the royal shaman deliberately lifted the curtain of the royal tent to take a look, and then went out to give orders. The people outside seemed to believe his words without a doubt.
A knock on the door interrupted Xie Lanzhi's dream. She opened her eyes and saw that the candle had burned down to the bottom, so it must be dawn.
She had instructed the guards to knock on the door after dawn before she came in, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon.
Xie Lanzhi got up and blew out the candle. Light shone through the crack in the door. She pushed open the door and walked out of the cellar. She stood in the yard for a while, looking at the sun hanging overhead, thinking that the short dream could have taken so long.
She slept all day.
"What's the situation in Minneapolis?"
The guard said, "Reporting to the Marshal, according to the scouts, someone has been secretly sneaking into Mingbao, trying to get close to your room, but they have all been driven away by the chief clerk of the Shenxing Division."
The Department of Cautious Punishment? (The term "Chapter and Sentence")?
Xie Lanzhi lowered her sharp eyes, her expression instantly turning sinister. Could it be that something happened in Tianjing?
She immediately led her men to Mingbao. Mingbao had a back door that allowed her to come and go as she pleased. After she entered Mingbao, Xie Ming, who was waiting nearby, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her return.
"Marshal, you're finally back."
"The person from Tianjing is one of your trusted confidants in the Censorate. Judging from his nervous appearance, something important must have happened."
Xie Lanzhi quickened her pace to enter the fortress, and happened to encounter Zhang Ju near the main fortress. Upon seeing her, Zhang Ju was about to bow.
Xie Lanzhi helped him up and asked, "What happened in Tianjing?"
Zhang Ju quickly whispered in her ear, "Your Highness suddenly has a fiancé, and Your Highness even sent someone to pick him up. He should arrive in Tianjing today."
"I haven't found out who that man is, but I feel I should tell you immediately."
Upon hearing this, Xie Lanzhi's expression remained unchanged, but her fist clenched tightly in her sleeve, making a cracking sound. She had long known that Xiao Fenghuang had a fiancé, and that this fiancé had been cheating Xiao Fenghuang from beginning to end; he was a complete scumbag.
Little Phoenix isn't the type to actively seek out scumbags. If she cares about her so-called fiancé, she'll definitely make things clear to him first. She'll probably only go to rescue him depending on her mood.
But Little Phoenix never mentioned this fiancé from beginning to end. It was only when she came to the front line that a fiancé suddenly appeared.
What is Xiao Fenghuang's purpose? Xie Lanzhi knows best, but she doesn't think Xiao Fenghuang would deliberately use the trick of creating a love rival with a scumbag to force her to go back.
Little Phoenix must have had ulterior motives for inviting that scumbag over at such a crucial moment, and provoking her was just one of them.
Despite knowing that his wife wouldn't do anything reckless, Xie Lanzhi was still provoked.
She loosened her fist, casually pinched the bridge of her nose, and thought for a moment. If she didn't go back, who would know what kind of scumbag he was? Even if his wife didn't have any other intentions, that guy was different.
In the original story, even a scumbag like him would sell out the Empress for a meager meal. Now that we see the little phoenix making a strong comeback, who knows what other thoughts he might have?
Xie Lanzhi felt it would be better to go back. She could travel directly by water to Weidu and then to Tianjing, which would only take three days.
In these three days, she must figure out who the little girl Aqina was talking about really is. Besides Anshan, he has a third stand-in, and the third stand-in seems to be more special than she imagined?
Which poor soul will it be?