Lu Qing quickly comforted her, "How can Your Highness blame you? Nobody expected the Marshal to be so unlucky."
And for such a grown man to get lost and then be targeted by a female bandit... it's not that he's crazy, it's just a matter of luck.
Meanwhile, in Zhongqi County, Xie Ying had just arrived at her temporary residence in Anyi, intending to stay by her side and support her.
Xie Ying had barely entered the mansion when she heard An Yi's voice coming from the candlelight inside, and she was greatly surprised: "What?"
"Yuanyuan, the marshal has been kidnapped by bandits?"
"Shh, Your Majesty, don't be so loud. It might damage relations between the two countries, and then it would be a loss!" The civil official next to him was pacing anxiously.
An Yi plopped down in a chair, his expression of utter astonishment never fading: "Could it be a den of thieves heading south or northwest from Huayin?"
The civil official exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty, how did you know?"
An Yi asked, "Did the female bandits there take a fancy to the marshal?"
The civil official nodded. "It seems so?"
"Didn't that female bandit dislike women?"
"Your Majesty, how did you know?"
An Yi immediately felt extremely guilty, and then muttered casually, "This is my guess, Marshal Xie seems to be having a bit of bad luck today."
A strange sense of pride was at play in private: Damn it, that female chieftain doesn't dislike women, so why did she change her interest in the marshal!
Xie Ying, who was outside, was also very surprised. She hadn't even entered the door before she was forced to hear the news that the marshal had been taken a liking to the female bandit.
Won't this damage the marshal's image if word gets out?!
A certain mountain stronghold was like a leaky sieve, wiped out overnight by Xie Bing and the newly recruited army. The female bandit was captured by Xie Bing and dragged down the mountain, along with the other bandits in her stronghold.
When Xie Lanzhi was asked to leave the mountain, her face was terribly dark. She sat on a makeshift sedan chair and was carried back to the Jinghua Mansion, where Si Xitong was waiting for her.
Xie Lanzhi had a dark expression, and Si Xitong looked worried, but she didn't say anything and just stood in front of her with an air of superiority.
"Me," Xie Lanzhi hesitated before finally speaking, "I got lost. Then, foolishly, I tried to persuade a woman who was suicidal, and I fell from a tree."
Si Xitong stared at her silently.
"Unexpectedly, it was a trap set by the bandits. The woman fell off the cliff because of me." Then she was hanging on a tree.
Now Xie Lanzhi finally understands that when a person is down on their luck, it can sometimes harm both themselves and others, even if the people they harm are not good people.
Si Xitong paused for a moment before finally asking, "How did you get there? If you had gone any further, you might have ended up outside Jinghua Prefecture."
Xie Lanzhi looked puzzled: "I went to find Shang Guang, did I go that far?"
Si Xitong walked up to her, cupped her face in her hands, and looked at her with pity and care: "Stay by my side for a while and don't go anywhere."
"But bad luck always passes, and then we can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Jinghua Prefecture together, shall we?"
"Okay." Xie Lanzhi didn't want to think about the bad luck of today. She reached out and held her hand, feeling her warmth.
The candlelight inside the room cast their shadows together, creating a warm and comforting atmosphere that made her feel at ease and swept away the bad luck of the day.
At the same time, after meeting Anyi, Xie Ying specifically told Anyi that 10,000 iron cavalry would arrive in Huayin Kingdom in three days.
The civil officials around Anyi were trembling with fear.
Despite her tranquility, she faced the situation with composure. Perhaps the process of her restoration was unbelievable, but she genuinely wanted to reclaim her homeland and ensure that her people could live in peace and prosperity.
The thought of 10,000 iron cavalry sounds terrifying, but Anyi doesn't feel any fear.
She even said, "I will work with Marshal Xie from the inside and outside."
"No, you must go to Jinghua Prefecture to hide for a while first." Xie Ying cut off her whimsical thoughts: "You won the battle with the help of heaven, but that doesn't mean you can always be favored by heaven."
"King of Anyi, don't try to be a hero!"
Just as Anyi was about to speak, the Restoration Army outside brought scouts to report: "Your Majesty, the Northern Hu and Xiongnu are beginning to gather their troops and head towards the shore to hide on their ships!"
"There seem to be signs of them trying to escape!"
"Even the Huns and Xiongnu people near the coal mines have retreated to the riverbank!"
The Restoration Army asked Anyi whether they should gather troops to pursue the enemy, but Anyi did not agree.
Instead, she looked at Xie Ying, who looked shocked.
"Young general, I am not showing off, but the fate of the nation is at stake."
Xie Ying realized what was happening, her face contorted slightly, and she looked An Yi up and down. No matter how she looked at him, he didn't seem like a lucky person favored by heaven. But in fact, the Northern Army was evacuating.
The Northern Prefecture had always been equivalent to the Hunnic regime in the central part of Huayin Kingdom, and had been in power for twenty years, starting with the monopoly of coal mines by the old king and the old ruler.
The Hunnic people are now retreating towards the shore, clearly abandoning this base they have built up over the past twenty years.
Abandoning a place you've built up over twenty years and choosing to leave is a huge loss no matter how you look at it.
Prince Anshan of the Northern Prefecture, is he really content with this?
Anshan was indeed unwilling, but he had no choice but to obey his brother's orders. His brother told him to retreat, and he tried to refuse repeatedly, but his brother bluntly said that if he did not obey, he would be abandoned.
As a younger brother born of the same father and mother, he could only obey his older brother's arrangements.
The Hu and Xiongnu envoys had arranged for everyone to board three treasure ships, along with eighteen smaller boats, totaling eight thousand people. The Hu and Xiongnu had a large number of descendants in Huayin, totaling more than fifty thousand. Because the ships were too small to carry them all, they had to leave the lower and middle-class Hu and Xiongnu people behind.
Now that the ship had set sail, the Hun envoy noticed that the prince was in a bad mood. He then advised, "Prince, the iron cavalry coming to Huayin is your brother, Apochi's army."
"If he runs into you, he definitely won't let you go."
Apochon, one of the three kings, had always been a political enemy of Achina. After Achina ascended the throne, Apochon was the first to rebel against him. Had it not been for the intervention of his two elder brothers, Apochon would likely have stormed the White Urn Palace and fought Achina to the death.
Anshan thought of Apochi, and his face turned pale: "Isn't he just looking down on my mother, who is a maid, because of her high status as a concubine?"
"Why should he? I'm better than him in both ability and looks, so why does he look down on me?!"
The Hun envoy dared not speak further. He couldn't very well remind the prince that they had an army, and that their troops were all Huns, who were the people who most hated dealing with people from the Central Plains.
Anshan and Wang's mother were women from the Central Plains, so they were naturally looked down upon by Apochi.
"Hmph, let him fight Xie Ying then! Let them fight to the death!" Anshan clenched his fists, turned around and went into the cabin.
Chapter 147 Si Xitong's Destiny
The following day, news that Anshan had abandoned the Northern Prefecture and the Xiongnu people and had already headed north by waterway caused an uproar throughout the capital and the north.
Everyone found it hard to believe that the Huns would abandon the gold mine.
But more importantly, the people of Huayin reclaimed their hometown, and the people of Huayin were immersed in the joy of the enemy's withdrawal.
When Xie Lanzhi heard about this, her expression became extremely solemn.
Si Xitong was also in a state of doubt.
Even Lu Qing was incredulous, saying, "That greedy guy, Anshan Jun, actually abandoned the coal mine and fled back to his motherland?"
Qianqian was munching on sunflower seeds, sending the shells flying everywhere. She was having a great time.
Hearing her puffing sounds, Xie Lanzhi rubbed her head. When she felt her mind clearing up, she finally voiced her doubts: "If it weren't for Aqina's orders, Anshan wouldn't have been so obedient in withdrawing from Huayin Kingdom."
"Although I don't know what Aqina's purpose is, the fact that he is willing to give up the interests of the entire Huayin Kingdom means that he has other purposes."
Or perhaps it was a greater interest than coal mining, or a matter of cutting losses in time. They believed they couldn't afford to go head-to-head with Little Phoenix anymore, and thus lost to Little Phoenix.
Now that Little Phoenix has risen to prominence and is at the height of its power, it seems to have everything going for it, both in terms of luck and skill. Therefore, it's actually a wise move for Aqina to step back.
However, the retreat was far too rapid.
Si Xitong asked, "Lanzhi, what is Aqina's purpose?"
"I heard that he sent his iron cavalry down to Huayin, and it was another iron cavalry force."
Xie Lanzhi tapped her fingers on the table, finally fixing her gaze on the newly arrived cavalry.
"The man who came is called Apochi, the elder brother of Achina. He is also one of the three kings and the most anti-Achina force."
Si Xitong continued, "That is Aqina's enemy."
Upon hearing this, Lu Qing was still in a daze, watching the couple work together seamlessly, their eyes shining, seemingly in perfect unison. She remained completely oblivious.
“Well, Prince Apochi is indeed the king’s enemy, but so what?” Lu Qing said, “Does the king intend to use the coal mine to make peace with Apochi?”
Xie Lanzhi smiled without saying a word. She picked up her teacup, about to drink it all in one gulp, but the cup was covered in melon seed shells.
She looked helplessly at Qianqian, who spat out another sunflower seed shell. Although her little mouth was facing down, a strange gust of wind blew the shell in and smeared it all over Xie Lanzhi's face.
Xie Lanzhi: "......"
Qianqian pouted, quietly put down the sunflower seeds, and dared not eat any more. Ugh, no matter how many times I spit out the sunflower seed shells, they never fall to the ground! So annoying!
She will never eat sunflower seeds again!
Lu Qing quickly offered an apology.
Xie Lanzhi wiped the melon seed shells off her face and said, "It has little to do with Qianqian."
"Qianqian, do you want an apple?" Xie Lanzhi took an apple from the fruit plate and gave it to the little girl. Qianqian immediately jumped off Lu Qing's lap to take the apple.
Qianqian took a bite with delight, and a green worm emerged from the apple, still wriggling.
Qianqian: "Ugh!"
Lu Qing looked at Xie Lanzhi in horror: Good heavens, her bad luck is absolutely terrible! She's dragged everyone down with her!
She quickly picked up her daughter, moved five steps away from Xie Lanzhi, and then said, "Marshal, actually I was planning to say goodbye to His Highness. We are going back to Tianjing today."
Xie Lanzhi felt that this was a dangerous place, and she didn't need Lu Qing and her daughter for the time being. Keeping them here would also be dangerous.
She agreed. And she instructed Little Phoenix to send newly recruited soldiers to escort her and her daughter back.
After Lu Qing and her daughter left the house.
Si Xitong said helplessly, "There's no need to be so secretive about organizing your own army."
After Xie Lanzhi woke up, she heard about the misfortunes that had befallen the Xie family in New Tianjing, especially Xie Guang, who had almost contracted a terminal illness but fortunately escaped unscathed.
There are other Xie clan members, and it is said that thousands of people have been injured or killed because of her influence.
Xie Lanzhi fell silent. She didn't want anyone else to be implicated, so it was better to stay out of the way.
Fearing that she might become withdrawn like she had been a few days ago when she got lost, Si Xitong changed the subject, saying, "The fact that we both think of Apochon's iron cavalry means that the overall situation is still under our control."