Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play-Chapter 861 - 837: No Money
Tomorrow he will set off back to the Capital City, perhaps he never wants to step into Sanna again for the rest of his life. Xie Xun has constantly been worried that his diplomatic mission to Sannan would be extremely dangerous. Han Ziqi is treacherous and cunning, the King of Sangnan is crafty and sly; perhaps his life might be in danger, but Xie Jue’s target has never been Sannan. He is sure that the King of Sangnan and Han Ziqi would not dare to harm him, so he felt at ease during this trip to Sannan. Hence, he initially did not plan for Fang Chuning to go on the mission with him.
In his plan, Sannan’s submission was an effortless task; it was just about offering some benefits, nothing noteworthy for Beining. Neither he nor Xie Xun would care as long as Sannan surrendered peacefully. He was too arrogant, and failed to see through the High Priest’s conspiracy. Ying Yi was merely tasked with investigating the Royal Family of Sannan, so his focus was not on the Priest Court, and he thus found himself trapped in such a dire situation.
If he had been more careful and cautious, would he have seen through the High Priest’s ambition sooner? Why didn’t he notice the High Priest’s hatred after rejecting him several times? His prideful calmness relaxed his vigilance as the peace talks were about to end. He underestimated the enemy and paid a painful price.
Anning... I do not believe that you perished in that fire, not seeing your body means you are still alive in my heart.
His well-maintained calmness collapsed in the cool evening breeze.
He missed Fang Chuning terribly.
He missed him so much that he saw his shadow everywhere, and although knowing they were fake, he could still smile and embrace these empty shadows. He tortured himself, just to enjoy that moment of tenderness.
Although the peace talks succeeded, the atmosphere among the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry remained silent, without a trace of joy from the successful negotiations. The mood of the commander affected the entire Ningzhou Iron Cavalry.
Capital City.
Xie Xun was stunned upon receiving the urgent message from eight hundred miles away. How did a war break out at the border? He hadn’t received news of the Sannan High Priest’s rebellion, only knew that the Commander received Xie Jue’s order to start the battle. What was the actual situation at the border was completely unknown. Xie Xun wished he could have wings to fly to the border, or fly to the Sannan Royal Palace to see how his Second Brother was doing.
"If the Prince ordered the Commander to besiege the city, then the talks must have broken down; this doesn’t make sense." Lin Helin frowned, deeply uneasy, "Sannan couldn’t possibly refuse the talks, with border troops pressing, they wouldn’t dare massacre the Prince. What on earth happened, did the Commander provide any explanation?"
Xie Xun shook his head. It was an unclear report causing him anxiety, "The Commander only said Second Brother ordered the attack, nothing else!"
That report was sent out immediately by Xie Jue, at that time Fang Chuning hadn’t disappeared yet. During the turmoil, Xie Jue still felt everything was under control. The High Priest couldn’t stir up much trouble, but who could have expected the High Priest to completely seize the Forbidden Army and indeed create a storm.
"What is Han Ziqi thinking? Is he actually deceiving me, not truly sincere about the peace talks?" Xie Xun sat restlessly, "No, I must lead the army to war myself."
"Absolutely not!" Lin Helin stood up in alarm, "Your Majesty, Sannan has Dugu Jing and the Commander, you are too valuable to go in person, await the news. The Prince is favored by fortune and surrounded by the Iron Cavalry, no harm will come to him. If you go to the border now, the battle will be over by the time you arrive."
Xie Xun knew Lin Helin was right; by going to Sannan now, the battle would surely be over. Sannan couldn’t withstand the Beiman Army under Dugu Jing, having already been defeated once with no morale to resist. He was confused as to why the peace negotiations failed.
Upon returning to the palace discussing with Fengyu, he was puzzled, "Beining’s intention was never about peace talks with Sannan, that was a trivial matter. How could it fail?"
It was a certainty, Sannan’s refusal of the peace talks was a fool’s errand. How dared they?
"It must be that something happened to Second Brother." Fengyu was also uneasy, but they could only wait for news. Dugu Jing had already set out, so the military recapture of Sannan was a matter of time.
They are at war again!
Fengyu was extremely troubled because of the spring plowing and resettlement of Beiman people, the treasury was very empty now, everything needed revival, yet a huge amount of silver needed to be allocated for warfare. Minister Gong would be wailing again.
Fengyu just hoped this battle would end quickly. Beining has just been established, looking extremely prosperous, but inside, it was still the mess left by the Yuwen Dynasty, which couldn’t be restored without three to five years. This time is not suited for a prolonged war, it must be fast. She could only tighten the belt and squeeze out the silver.
"Is the treasury really out of silver?" Xie Xun suddenly asked.
Fengyu nodded, "After the spring plowing, there isn’t much surplus, the silver was allocated for settling the Beiman residents in the twelve provinces. This silver can’t be spared. I thought Sannan wouldn’t start a war, so I didn’t reserve much silver."
This is also due to Fengyu’s lack of experience, luckily she has the habit of storing grain, "Rest assured, it can hold for a month, I believe Dugu Jing will finish in a month."
