When he had decided on the spur of the moment to turn the tables and enter Yun Capital, he hadn’t had time to make many arrangements. He could only perform the act completely, having Xiao Rongyan’s guards send word back not to tell his brothers and sisters in the Great Zhou military camp first, lest they reveal some flaw that would let Cui Shanzhong see through something and leave him captured by Xiliang for nothing.
Third Brother and the others must be worried sick!
“But… Fifth Young Master, do you want to stay in the palace? It’s too dangerous!” Xiao Ruohai was still uneasy.
Bai Qingyu was leaving himself in the imperial palace so that when the Bai family army created chaos in Yun Capital, Li Tianjiao would think Bai Qingyu was still here, think she had a way out, and thus wouldn’t make the Xiliang soldiers fight desperately to the death or simply flee Yun Capital.
Now that Li Tianfu was already in Great Zhou’s hands, only by completely resolving Li Tianjiao in Yun Capital could Xiliang be considered thoroughly pacified. Otherwise, if Li Tianjiao escaped like the former young emperor of Wei, the Great Zhou would not only have to hunt down Li Tianjiao everywhere, but wherever Li Tianjiao went, if she gathered anti-Zhou forces, they would have to send troops to suppress them. Though unlikely to amount to much, it would be very troublesome.
Therefore, Bai Qingyu wanted to resolve all of Great Zhou’s future troubles in this one move. As soon as the Bai family army succeeded in setting fires and opening city gates in Yun Capital, Bai Qingyu would personally capture Li Tianjiao.
“Additionally, before our people take action, have them put drugs in as many water jars used by Xiliang soldiers as possible! There’s no need to take the lives of Xiliang soldiers—these soldiers might be useful to the Great Zhou in the future. Sleeping drugs, laxatives… these non-lethal drugs that can weaken Xiliang soldiers’ fighting capacity, gather them in the city, and use whatever can be used!” Bai Qingyu said while thinking. “Control the timing well, not too early, not too early, and General Cui might notice something amiss. This is just an auxiliary method… not our main method for attacking the city. Focus mainly on the soldiers guarding several city gates and the Imperial Guards in the palace!”
“Yes!” Xiao Ruohai nodded. “Then we’ll put drugs in the water jars after they’ve had their last meal of the day. After the guard change, the Xiliang soldiers will always need to drink water.”
Bai Qingyu nodded.
“There’s one more point that must be told to our Bai family army brothers!” Bai Qingyu moved closer to Xiao Ruohai and said quietly, “Once the city gates open and they see our Great Zhou army or Yan army entering the city, if the brothers… are still alive, they should pretend to be Xiliang army and loudly surrender!”
Since the Bai family army soldiers could wear the Xiliang military armor that the Great Zhou people in the city had worked so hard to obtain, they must make the most of their efforts.
War was really about morale. Once someone among the defending army surrendered, then fear would spread like a flood, engulfing every defending soldier. Fear of death… was human instinct!
If everyone were unafraid of death and fought to the death, then even if the soldiers were afraid in their hearts, they would follow and fight bloodily to the end.
If someone feared death and surrendered without fighting, then, except for a few with firm will and soldiers and officers with protective faith who could hold fast, the rest of the ordinary soldiers would probably surrender as well.
Surrender was something that once someone started, others would find easy to follow, after all… between death and life, everyone would choose to live.
Moreover, the Great Zhou didn’t massacre cities upon entry. The Xiliang army had surely heard that the Great Zhou, upon entering Xiliang cities, accepted Xiliang people, even distributed grain, treated Xiliang people like their own citizens by giving them farmland, and implemented new policies. Precisely because of this, the cities the Great Zhou had taken… were very stable, with no rebellions occurring.
What were soldiers and officers? Just four words… protect the nation and people!
Since the people didn’t need them to sacrifice their lives for protection, and the nation was about to fall, naturally, at this time, they should protect their own lives!
Xiao Ruohai understood Bai Qingyu’s meaning and nodded in agreement.
Xiao Rongyan had people watching the north and east city gates day and night.
He naturally also knew about the continuous small skirmishes between the Great Yan and the Great Zhou armies in private.
But… fortunately, Xiao Rongyan had subsequently communicated privately with Bai Qingqi, telling Bai Qingqi that Bai Qingyu would use fireworks as a signal to open the north and east city gates.
After Bai Qingqi learned this, he had originally prepared to have someone send a letter to the capital to tell eldest sister not to worry, but Xiao Rongyan said he had already sent someone to deliver a letter, and specifically instructed… that Bai Qingqi should just know this matter himself and not spread it further, lest leaked information threaten Bai Qingyu’s safety inside Yun Capital.
Bai Qingqi knew the importance of the matter and didn’t even tell Bai Jinxiu and the others about it, only making preparations in secret.
Xiao Rongyan looked at the wild goose hairpin in his hand. After Yue Shi returned, he said Bai Qingyan had given premature birth to dragon and phoenix twins, and despite the children and her recent delivery, she wanted to come to Xiliang to rescue Bai Qingyu and the seventh Miss Bai, even having already deployed troops toward Yan.
His fingers caressed the wild goose hairpin as he closed his eyes. A’Bao had promised him that she would always prioritize the children and her health in the future. She had always been someone who kept her word. This time… was she going to break her promise to him?
Having seen the letter he sent, knowing that Bai Qingyu was turning the tables, was she still so worried? Did she not trust that her other brothers and sisters could rescue Bai Qingyu and the seventh Miss Bai? Did she not trust… that he would keep her brothers and sisters safe?
“Master!” Yue Shi entered with a stern face, knelt on one knee in salute, then stepped forward to take a letter from his sleeve and hand it to Xiao Rongyan.
Yue Shi had just been intercepted by Bai family guards, who specifically instructed him to deliver the letter to Xiao Rongyan, and specifically reminded him that the eldest miss had said Yue Shi was someone who couldn’t hide his feelings, telling him to keep a stern face when entering, so as not to let the people sent by the Yan Empress Dowager to watch Xiao Rongyan discover anything and ruin the eldest miss’s plans.
Only then did Yue Shi enter with a stern face, though he was very happy inside. If the eldest miss was sending someone to deliver a letter to his master, she must have thought things through.
Seeing Bai Qingyan’s handwriting on the envelope, Xiao Rongyan quickly put the wild goose hairpin in its box and opened the letter. Bai Qingyan’s elegant handwriting came into view.
“A’Yan, my husband, seeing these words is like seeing you…”
Seeing these eight characters, the corners of Xiao Rongyan’s lips had already unconsciously turned up.
Seeing his master’s expression, Yue Shi couldn’t help but feel happy too.
In the letter, Bai Qingyan described the children’s condition to Xiao Rongyan in detail, her words full of self-reproach.
Bai Qingyan also said she had not come to Xiliang. She said… she would take good care of her health for Xiao Rongyan’s sake and would also take good care of their children, because she believed Xiao Rongyan would rescue her brothers and sisters, because he was that person… willing to shield her from wind and rain, someone she could depend on! Mother and A’Yu also trusted him!
The smile at the corners of Xiao Rongyan’s eyes grew deeper.
Regarding deploying troops to Yan’s borders and publicly claiming to come to Xiliang, Bai Qingyan had also written everything clearly in the letter.