Bai Qingyan squeezed Liu’s hand and turned to instruct: “Chun Tao, you attend to Second Madam’s washing and changing of clothes. Have Wei Zhong personally escort Second Madam home.”

“Yes!” Chun Tao smiled and accepted the order.

When Bai Qingyan arrived at the study, Bai Qingyu, Bai Qingqi, Bai Jinxiu, and Bai Jinzhi had already arrived and were having tea and snacks.

Seeing Bai Qingyan enter, Bai Jinzhi wiped the snack crumbs from her mouth, stood up, and bowed: “Elder Sister, why are you only coming now?”

“Second Aunt missed me and just entered the palace. I went to speak with Second Aunt first, then changed into regular clothes!” Bai Qingyan sat down at the desk with a smile, looking toward Bai Jinxiu: “Jinxiu, this time I’ll have to trouble your Investigation Bureau people to look into who was behind the scenes helping to create obstacles for Shen Tianzhi.”

Bai Jinxiu came to her senses and responded affirmatively…

Bai Jinxiu felt that Mother’s palace visit to see Bai Qingyan was not as simple as missing her. Otherwise, she could have come any time—why come so urgently early this morning?

Moreover, these past few days, Mother had always seemed absent-minded. Bai Jinxiu felt Mother had something on her mind but hadn’t told her about it. She suddenly thought of the rumors circulating in the marketplace these past few days about Tianfeng’s national treasure jade cicadas—when paired together, they could reverse time.

Could it be that Mother entered the palace to find Elder Sister because of this matter?

“Is Elder Sister planning to deal with these people privately?” Bai Jinzhi asked.

Bai Qingyan shook her head: “Keep their names in mind, don’t use them again in the future, and find opportunities to gradually replace them one by one. I’ve already established authority just now, so this matter must end here on the surface. Our new dynasty hasn’t been established for long. I don’t want this incident to cause panic and turn all court officials into people who only know self-preservation. For a nation to prosper, it needs collective wisdom, not turning the court into my echo chamber.”

“Elder Sister speaks truly!” Bai Qingqi nodded. “This time can be considered killing the chicken to warn the monkeys, but we must know when to stop. I imagine they won’t dare slack off on Shen Tianzhi’s requests afterward. After this period passes, we can slowly find suitable people to replace them. However… I do think that if one of us could be sent to Yan to oversee the situation, the court ministers wouldn’t dare be negligent.”

“Sending any one of you would fulfill the Yan Empress Dowager’s wishes. I trust that Shen Tianzhi can handle this well.” Bai Qingyan pulled out three sealed reports from the desk and handed them to her siblings: “Secret reports from spies placed around Prince Hancheng, intelligence reports from Dongyi spies captured by Hancheng, and Prince Hancheng’s memorial. This Dongyi… does indeed seem quite restless.”

Dongyi was causing provocations. This tiny nation dared to drive away the Great Zhou’s fishermen. Though there hadn’t been direct conflict yet, according to Prince Hancheng, the coastal people had been fishing here for generations and had never been driven away before.

These fishermen were all unarmed civilians. When the opposing navy came out to drive them away, they could only haul in their nets and return.

Regarding the fishermen’s fishing, I’ve previously researched many historical records and collections. Generally speaking, there are long periods of half a month to a month, and short periods of three to five days. Until Liu Rushi completes negotiations with Dongyi, have the fishermen temporarily fish short distances with naval escort protection. I believe Dongyi wouldn’t dare act rashly.” Bai Qingyu passed the secret report in his hand to Bai Jinzhi and looked up at Bai Qingyan. “Unless Dongyi wants to fight!”

“I agree with Fifth Brother’s assessment!” Bai Jinzhi quickly spoke up.

In Bai Jinzhi’s view, if Dongyi dared to expel their Great Zhou people from fishing at sea, they should just fight directly without wasting words.

Moreover, Bai Jinzhi noticed that on Elder Sister’s desk, besides books and collections about coastal fishermen, there were also naval military treatises written by several famous naval commanders from Great Liang. From these, one could see that Elder Sister probably also wanted to fight Dongyi.

“We still need to inform Liu Rushi about this matter, so when he arrives in Dongyi, he can adapt accordingly and know how to deal with Dongyi.” Bai Jinxiu said.

“I’ll have someone immediately send a letter to Prince Hancheng about this matter, and I’ll also tell him he doesn’t need to report everything in the future—let him make his own decisions.” Bai Qingyan picked up her teacup, her voice serious. “However, we still need to prepare for war. Have all the soldiers tighten up, and also… if we do fight, one of you will probably need to go there to oversee things.”

“I’ll go!”

“I’ll go!”

“I’ll go!”

Bai Qingyu, Bai Qingqi, and Bai Qingjue spoke in unison.

Only Bai Jinzhi, who usually loved joining in the excitement, didn’t clamor along this time. After all, Elder Sister said someone was needed to oversee things, and she had enough self-awareness to know she probably wasn’t suitable.

“If we do fight, I’ll go…” Bai Qingyu looked at Bai Qingqi and Bai Qingjue. “It’s just overseeing, not charging into battle.”

“I should go instead!” Bai Qingqi spoke up, looking at Bai Qingyu and Bai Qingjue. “It would be best if we didn’t have to fight, but if we do, let this elder brother go first! These days, being at home, Mother has been pressuring me too hard because of my age. If I leave… You two can use the excuse that Third Brother hasn’t been matched yet to postpone marriage discussions.”

Bai Jinzhi couldn’t help covering her mouth to stifle a laugh, then turned to complain to Bai Qingyan: “Elder Sister, you don’t know—the elders in our family are all busy trying to settle our life’s major events and won’t listen to anything we say. Especially Fifth Aunt… these days, she doesn’t know how many portraits of noble ladies she’s shown Third Brother. When Third Brother refuses one, Fifth Aunt finds portraits of suitable girls from distinguished families. Third Brother can hardly hold out anymore.”

The serious tension about discussing war suddenly disappeared, and even Bai Jinxiu couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“You’ve all had a hard time at home these past few days!” Bai Qingyan also held back her laughter and sighed.

Before the brothers had returned, the aunts had already started making arrangements, let alone now that they were all back…

“However, when men come of age, they should marry, and when women come of age, they should wed. You should all consider your life’s major events.” Bai Qingyan suppressed her smile. “Aqi, Ayu, and Ajue can’t delay, and I see Ayun can’t delay either! Little Four… can be put off for now!”

“Elder Sister, with major affairs still unsettled, what’s there to discuss about romantic matters?” Bai Qingqi’s ears rarely turned red.

“Cultivate oneself, regulate the family, then govern the state and bring peace to the realm…” Bai Qingyan looked at Bai Qingqi. “If you have someone in your heart, tell Fifth Aunt. Fifth Aunt isn’t the type who only looks at family background, and does our Bai family now need to consider family background to determine marriages? Elder Sister only hopes that for the rest of your lives… You can find someone with mutual affection to support each other through life!”

“Elder Sister, now is when Great Zhou and Elder Sister need us most. How dare we be distracted?” Bai Qingjue frowned.