When Li Tianfu said she wanted to learn dancing, father emperor and mother empress would summon Xiliang’s best dancers to teach her, seeking only to make her happy!
When Li Tianfu said she wanted martial arts, the father emperor and mother empress would have Xiliang’s most formidable warriors teach her!
But what about her? Just because she was the eldest daughter, when she also said she wanted to learn dancing, father emperor said that one day she might have to shoulder Xiliang’s heavy burden and shouldn’t learn things according to her personal preferences.
She also wanted to study martial arts properly like Li Tianfu, but father emperor, said… she had people to protect her, knowing the basics was enough, there was no need to put effort into martial arts. She should use that time to read more history books instead.
She loved her sister and envied her sister, so she wanted to use all her abilities to love her sister, to preserve her sister’s carefree life, letting her forever be Xiliang’s happiest princess. It seemed that watching her happiness allowed her to experience that joy herself.
Thinking of this, Li Tianjiao shook her head, forcing herself not to dwell on it, dispelling the gloom in her heart. She would consider… when her sister killed even mother empress for the throne, that sister had died together with mother empress.
From the beginning, the mother empress was wrong to send Li Tianfu for a political marriage.
If she hadn’t sent her sister for the political marriage but kept her by her side, found her a prince consort, and let her make whatever trouble she wanted with Lu Tianzhuo, perhaps… the two sisters wouldn’t have reached today’s life-and-death outcome.
Now, the reason Great Zhou’s army could capture Xiliang’s cities so easily was because Li Tianfu was in Great Zhou’s hands.
Li Tianfu had previously ascended the throne as emperor with Tianfeng’s support, while she, Li Tianjiao, was treated as the incompetent ruler who led Tianfeng into Xiliang.
Now, many Xiliang people and generals defending Xiliang cities believed that the late emperor’s second legitimate daughter, Li Tianfu, had allied with Great Zhou and Yan to drive away Tianfeng. Li Tianfu was the hero who drove Tianfeng away from Xiliang, so they were all willing to serve Li Tianfu loyally and overthrow her, the sinner of Xiliang.
If she hadn’t finally managed to mobilize General Cui Shanzhong, who had tremendous influence in Xiliang, where would she have gotten so many troops now? But… this was also Xiliang’s last foundation.
She hoped that Bai Qingyu could become Xiliang’s final hope for national survival.
Li Tianjiao remembered how Li Zhijie, before departing, had grasped her hand and used his last breath to tell her that if things didn’t work out in the end, she should submit to Great Zhou—at least the nation could survive!
Because Li Zhijie felt that Yan, with such an empress dowager and young ruler, plus a regent eyeing the throne covetously, didn’t seem like a nation capable of unifying the world.
Instead, Great Zhou’s Bai family, with the whole family working together in unity and the military and people united in purpose, had the bearing of a great nation capable of unifying the world.
Later, when Li Zhijie’s mind became unclear, he began speaking nonsense, saying if he had known earlier, he would have agreed to submit to the Great Zhou sooner, then so many soldiers wouldn’t have died!
Li Zhijie hoped that in his next life, he could see a peaceful and prosperous age with no more wars.
Thinking of Li Zhijie’s death, Li Tianjiao’s eyes ached with swelling. She took a deep breath and turned to leave the sleeping chamber where Bai Qingyu was housed.
On the luxuriously gold-decorated carved wooden bed, Bai Qingyu’s eyes were tightly closed. The candle flame placed on the high table of aloes wood suddenly extinguished and then lit up again, flickering.
Xiao Ruohai had already silently descended from the main hall’s crossbeams. He knelt on one knee on the bed’s step stool, took out a white jade porcelain bottle from his chest, poured out a pill, and placed it in Bai Qingyu’s mouth, then waited quietly beside him.
After half a cup of tea’s time, Bai Qingyu, on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes. His brows furrowed tightly as he covered his chest and sat up, glancing toward the outside.
Xiao Ruohai lowered his voice and said quietly: “Fifth Young Master, everything is clear now! Yun Capital and Yun Capital’s imperial palace… are roughly similar to the blueprints Ninth Young Master provided, except perhaps due to Ninth Young Master’s previous assassination attempt on Xiliang’s emperor, some places have been modified. This subordinate has already figured it all out, including the timing of guard changes at Xiliang’s city gates…”
As he spoke, Xiao Rongyan took out the blueprints he had drawn of Yun Capital and Yun Capital’s imperial palace from his chest, even marking many details so precise that probably even Li Tianjiao herself wouldn’t know about some dog holes and such places.
The blueprints of Yun Capital and the imperial palace were given by Bai Qingyun when the army departed.
Bai Qingyun had once lurked in Xiliang’s imperial palace and dealt a fatal blow to Xiliang’s emperor, which had triggered the chaos in Yun Capital.
Bai Qingyu endured the discomfort of just waking up, unfolded the blueprints Xiao Ruohai had drawn, and looked at them. A smile appeared between his brows. He had always known that his eldest sister’s milk brother was capable—his father had mentioned it before, too—but he hadn’t expected him to be this capable.
“Next is getting Xiliang soldiers’ uniforms and getting our Bai family army soldiers out of prison without anyone knowing. Is the prison easy to enter?” Bai Qingyu asked.
“It’s manageable. Through connections made by the people Third Miss left in Xiliang, I’ve already scouted the prison once. Our Bai family army brothers can speak simple Xiliang words well enough, but if they say too much, they’ll still be exposed!” Xiao Ruohai said.
“That’s sufficient. Let’s set it for tomorrow!” Bai Qingyu pointed at Yun Capital’s granary with his finger, then pointed at the armory. “First, set fire to these two places, then burn the other locations where General Cui Shanzhong has hidden grain in the city. At the same time, have our people change into Xiliang military uniforms, pretend to be capturing escaped Bai family army soldiers, and fish in troubled waters to escape!”
“That would require sending Xiliang soldiers’ uniforms in advance, which is extremely risky…” Xiao Ruohai was also worried. “Sending things in might expose the people Third Miss left behind!”
“This will test the capabilities of the people Third Miss left behind. Tell them this is the final life-and-death battle—they must give their all! This matter… must succeed; failure is not permitted, and it cannot be exposed. Success means being heroes who pacified Yun Capital!”
“Yes!” Xiao Ruohai responded, then quickly took out a brown porcelain bottle from his chest, seeing Bai Qingyu’s uncomfortable appearance. “Fifth Young Master, take this medicine first…”
Bai Qingyu waved his hand: “I estimate the imperial physicians will start coming more frequently from tomorrow. It’s better to keep the pulse chaotic! You go handle the important matters first. Grind the medicine and smear it in the pot they use to brew my medicine!”
By smearing the pill in the medicine pot, as long as medicine was brewed, the medicinal power would seep into the medicine.
Xiao Ruohai worried that Physician Hong’s medicine might react with the Xiliang imperial physician’s prescriptions, saying quietly: “But… what if there are any medicinal interactions between this medicine and what the Xiliang imperial physician prescribed? Wouldn’t that be unsafe? Let me find an opportunity to personally feed it to Fifth Young Master!”
“Don’t waste time on these trivial matters! Go do the most important things!” Bai Qingyu looked at Xiao Ruohai. “Once everything is arranged, immediately leave carefully through the moat and tell Third Brother to have Third Brother lead troops to the north gate at the time you set!”