A nation’s imperial family is that nation’s cohesive force.

Ye Shouguan lowered his eyes to look at Sima Ruodan, who was still crying and sobbing. After a long while, he turned his head and spoke to his guard: “Go, take her away first and keep her under strict watch!”

“Yes!” Ye Shouguan’s guard responded, walked to Sima Ruodan’s side, and said, “Miss Cousin, please come with me!”

Sima Ruodan responded, kowtowed once more to Ye Shouguan, chokingly pleaded repeatedly for Ye Shouguan to quickly go save her parents and younger brother, then followed the personal guard out of the study.

The personal guard led Sima Ruodan along the winding corridor, asking about her mother’s situation.

Upon hearing this, Sima Ruodan’s steps paused. She glanced at the armed soldiers following behind her, remembered Bai Qingyan’s words, and calculated that it should now be near the end of the chou hour.

She spoke in a low voice: “Could I trouble you to speak privately for a moment?”

The personal guard was slightly stunned, glanced at the armed soldiers behind them, and smiled: “Miss Cousin, if you have any needs, please speak directly. If it’s something I can handle, I’ll certainly do it for you, since you are the general’s niece after all.”

Sima Ruodan bit her lip, held the jade pendant at her waist, and asked tearfully: “Do you… know the origin of my mother’s jade pendant?”

The personal guard’s palm tightened, and he smiled while making a gesture for Sima Ruodan to proceed: “Having grown up in the Ye residence, I naturally know…”

Sima Ruodan walked while shedding tears, lowering her voice: “Mother told me to bring this jade pendant to find you, saying you’re the only person in this world I can trust. Please save my mother! Uncle and mother have deep-seated grievances – he absolutely won’t be willing to save mother! You’re the only one I can rely on now! I should kneel and beg you, but with so many people and eyes here, I’m afraid of causing you trouble, so I can only speak to you like this!”

The personal guard’s throat worked. He hadn’t expected that his young miss would tell her daughter that he was the only person in the world she could trust.

Knowing that those Bai family soldiers hadn’t entered the city, Sima Ruodan spoke boldly: “When I escaped with my younger brother, we were caught by the Great Zhou’s Emperor. The Great Zhou’s Emperor kept my brother and sent people to escort me here, intending for me to steal my uncle’s token and open the city gates when they come to attack! Otherwise… The Great Zhou’s Emperor will kill my parents, younger brother, and His Majesty!”

The personal guard felt his head buzz. He turned to glance at the armed soldiers following behind, restraining his disbelief: “Miss Cousin, do you know what you’re saying?”

“I dare not tell anyone except you. They’ve already chopped off one of my father’s hands. I’m afraid they’ll hurt Mother, so I agreed to come quickly. Mother said to find you, that you’re the only person I can trust. Please… help me! I must… save mother, father, and younger brother! Please!” Sima Ruodan cried until she could barely breathe. “Great Zhou’s Emperor promised that once the city gates open, they won’t harm the common people or hurt Uncle! Please, for the sake of my mother thinking of you her whole life, save her!”

Upon hearing this, the personal guard felt tears welling up. She had thought of him her whole life…

He still remembered before the young miss married, she had cruelly spoken words of severing all emotional ties with him. Later, he had inadvertently overheard the young miss talking with her personal maid, saying she would rather he hate her than hope he would think of her for life and remain unmarried for her sake.

Because of the young miss’s words, he had never married in this lifetime. He had been hoping and enduring… hoping that someday he could outlive that prefect, and perhaps he and the young miss could be together.

But now, the young miss’s life hung by a thread. If he didn’t help the young miss’s daughter, forget about being together – the young miss’s life would be lost!

The personal guard’s steps remained steady as he responded: “I understand! I’ll handle this matter! Miss Cousin, rest easy!”

“Thank you! Thank you! My parents’ and younger brother’s lives depend entirely on you!”

Sima Ruodan was settled in a guest room with armed guards watching – she couldn’t leave the room at all.

At this time, Ye Shouguan’s deputy general was still kneeling on the ground, requesting that Ye Shouguan let him lead troops to Suining City to rescue Li Tianfu.

Listening to Deputy General Zhao’s repeated requests, Ye Shouguan sat before the brazier in silence for a long while before speaking: “Setting aside the fact that Great Zhou’s Emperor is in Suining City, Great Zhou certainly has heavy troops guarding it. The Great Zhou Emperor leading the troops, Bai Qingyan, is herself a skilled military commander – a talent for generalship that Bai Weiting once praised. Even General Yun was no match for this Bai Qingyan! Ye Yingyan’s daughter escaped from Suining City – could the people she sent to pursue Ye Yingyan’s daughter… not notice that Ye Yingyan came to Yecheng Pass? Bai Qingyan may now be waiting for us to lead troops to rescue His Majesty, having already deployed troops in ambush along the way!”

Ye Shouguan had studied Bai Qingyan’s warfare methods. This person seemed not to excel at formation warfare but preferred setting ambushes and using deception.

But on the battlefield, all stratagems are fair in war-winning is the hard truth.

Deputy General Zhao thought about it and realized this made sense.

“Moreover, that Bai family’s third son… Bai Qingqi, though young, has proven himself a formidable figure in several major battles!” Ye Shouguan shook his head. “So we should be even more cautious!”

“But are we not going to rescue His Majesty? General… that’s our Western Liang Emperor! If we don’t rescue him and truly let Great Zhou hang His Majesty at the front of their army as a shield, how will the Western Liang soldiers and people… view us soldiers of Yecheng Pass?” Deputy General Zhao clasped his fists again. “This subordinate is willing to sacrifice his life to go to Suining City and rescue His Majesty! Please grant permission, General!”

Ye Shouguan looked up at his deputy general and said, “Stand up! I know you’re loyal to Western Liang… to His Majesty! But the more urgent the situation, the more we must keep our composure and not fall into others’ traps! Yecheng Pass is different from other cities – it’s the most important city and the most crucial pass aside from the capital. Now that Western Liang faces internal and external troubles with wolves circling, if we lose Yecheng Pass… Western Liang’s morale will be completely lost!”

More importantly, Ye Shouguan vaguely felt something strange about this whole affair. If Great Zhou truly had their Western Liang Emperor in their grasp, shouldn’t they now be sending envoys to negotiate terms with him?

Moreover, how could Ye Yingyan’s daughter escape from the heavily guarded Suining City? Ye Shouguan still had unresolved doubts in his heart.

“General!” Deputy General Zhao’s throat worked, his eyes reddening – anxious both for the Western Liang Emperor being in Great Zhou’s hands and for Ye Yingyan’s life. Now that General Ye Shouguan was unwilling to even care about His Majesty for the sake of defending Yecheng Pass, he certainly wouldn’t care about Ye Yingyan’s life. “Now all the city-defending soldiers know that His Majesty has been captured by Great Zhou! It’s probably already spread everywhere by now. If we don’t go to rescue him, it will surely cause widespread speculation throughout the army!”