Lin Kangle nodded and continued: “Perhaps Princess Zhenguo knows that General Liu fought this battle to clear his reputation of only knowing how to retreat, so Princess Zhenguo doesn’t want to compete with General Liu for credit. After all… Princess Zhenguo has never been someone who covets merit! Otherwise, in the Battle of Weng Mountain… why would she have been willing to remain anonymous, disguising herself as a man to go to the battlefield! Later… if the Crown Prince hadn’t pushed Princess Zhenguo forward because he didn’t dare take responsibility for the burning and killing of one hundred thousand prisoners at Weng Mountain, who would have known that the great victory over Western Liang was fought by Princess Zhenguo!”

Wang Xiping quickly elbowed Lin Kangle, signaling that there were people around: “Why do you say everything that comes to mind? Don’t you have any control over your mouth! Aren’t you afraid someone will report you to the Crown Prince?”

Lin Kangle looked around guiltily and chuckled: “What’s there to fear? Haven’t I said this many times before? If the Crown Prince was going to know, he would know by now!”

“Better safe than sorry—still better to say less!” After Wang Xiping finished speaking to Lin Kangle, he cupped his hands toward him. “General Liu just ordered me to check on the prisoner camp. I’ll go first… You do as you please!”

Lin Kangle also cupped his hands toward Wang Xiping.

Inside the command tent, Liu Hong braced his hands on the edge of the desk, looking at Bai Qingyan. After some thought, he asked: “Princess Zhenguo doesn’t want me to mention you in the memorial. Is it… because you know this battle was originally my intention to wash away the reputation of retreating, so you’re yielding the credit to me?”

“General Liu is overthinking.” Bai Qingyan’s voice was calm as she picked up the hot tea beside her and said to Liu Hong, “This battle was indeed not planned by me, so Bai Qingyan dares not claim credit.”

Liu Hong’s hands, braced on the desk edge, tightened slightly, then he asked: “Then… does Princess Zhenguo not want His Majesty, the Crown Prince, or even everyone in the Jin Kingdom to know… that the troops Princess Zhenguo trained in Shouyang are not the rabble others speculate them to be, but rather… rare elite troops in this world? Is Princess Zhenguo afraid that if His Majesty and the Crown Prince knew you commanded such elite troops, yet still haven’t been able to clear out the mountain bandits, they would suspect… that Princess Zhenguo harbors disloyal intentions?”

Liu Hong finally asked what he had wanted to ask.

During the dawn assault on the city, the bravery of the soldiers Bai Qingyan had brought was truly shocking. That was the world’s greatest stronghold… yet the elite troops led by Bai Qingyan had charged straight up in a frontal assault.

What kind of formidable bandits could such elite troops have encountered that they still couldn’t be eliminated? Liu Hong thought… There shouldn’t be such powerful bandits in this world.

If there were, they would be soldiers under Bai Qingyan’s command!

Or perhaps Bai Qingyan was unwilling to clear the bandit troubles because she needed to use the bandit threat as an excuse to train troops without arousing suspicion from His Majesty and the Crown Prince.

Liu Hong couldn’t help but feel chilled in his heart, fearing that Princess Zhenguo might have developed rebellious intentions because of the deaths of her grandfather, father, and brothers.

If someone like Bai Qingyan, who excelled in strategy, possessed superior intelligence, and had the talent to train common people into elite troops, truly harbored rebellious thoughts, the capital would be in danger.

“Yes…” Bai Qingyan nodded, responding straightforwardly without hiding anything from Liu Hong. She then placed her teacup on the desk in front of her and turned to face Liu Hong directly. “His Majesty is deeply wary of the Bai family—General Liu surely knows this better than anyone! Bai Qingyan simply doesn’t want His Majesty to know, not that she doesn’t want the Crown Prince to know!”

Liu Hong was somewhat confused: “Please enlighten me, Princess Zhenguo.”

“The silver for training troops in Shouyang is said to come from my Bai family, but… the one who truly escorts silver to Shouyang each time is the Crown Prince. It can be said that most of the military funds for training troops in Shouyang come from His Highness the Crown Prince. Is there any falsehood in what Bai Qingyan says?” Bai Qingyan looked at Liu Hong.

Liu Hong nodded. Even before Bai Qingyan was injured while shielding the Crown Prince from an arrow, he had regularly sent people to deliver silver to Shouyang for Bai Qingyan’s troop training. Liu Hong’s mind turned: “So you’re saying that His Highness the Crown Prince knows about having such elite troops in Shouyang, and it was His Highness the Crown Prince who authorized Princess Zhenguo to train troops in Shouyang?”

“A nation’s heir apparent… a nation’s crown prince, while His Majesty still lives… what would he be doing commanding heavy troops? Therefore, even if the Crown Prince knows about this matter, he cannot know, and it certainly cannot be recorded in military reports for His Majesty to see!” Bai Qingyan spoke slowly. “General Liu, by the Jing River in Nan Jiang… I once asked the Crown Prince about his life’s ambition. The Crown Prince answered… ‘My aspiration is for all people to live in an era of peace and prosperity.'”

Liu Hong was astonished. He had known the Crown Prince for quite some time—did the Crown Prince truly have such aspirations?

“The reason I asked the Crown Prince this was because His Majesty once told my grandfather that his ambition was to rule the realm. My grandfather was loyal to His Majesty, therefore… he planned and calculated for His Majesty’s ambitions, bringing the Bai family sons to the battlefield for training, preparing for His Majesty’s future conquests of various states!” Bai Qingyan spoke clearly and forcefully. “But, to speak words that may offend superiors, His Majesty betrayed the loyalty of the entire Bai family! Therefore, I must ask clearly about the Crown Prince’s aspirations. If he harbors ambitions for the realm and seeks unification, I cannot merely plan for defending the nation, lest ruler and minister not understand each other and the tragedy of the Bai family’s loyal deaths occur again!”

With Bai Qingyan speaking thus, Liu Hong understood and believed more… that with Bai Qingyan’s boldness, she would dare to speak such words before pledging loyalty to the Crown Prince.

“Therefore, I train elite troops for the future… unification of the realm!” Bai Qingyan looked at Liu Hong solemnly. “Not a single word of what Bai Qingyan has said is false.”

Indeed, not a single word of what Bai Qingyan said today was false, but… she had simply been very selective in telling Liu Hong the truth, guiding Liu Hong to think about things the way she wanted him to.

“Does the Crown Prince… truly have the ambition to swallow the entire realm?” Liu Hong still found it somewhat hard to believe.

“General Liu can certainly go ask the Crown Prince directly to see what His Highness said by the Jing River back then!” Bai Qingyan made a casual gesture, then continued: “But this matter of the elite troops in Shouyang cannot be recorded in bamboo slips or military reports. His Majesty is already suspicious by nature, and now in his later years, he’s even more obsessed with elixirs, seeking the Dao and immortals! Having experienced the chaos at Wude Gate, his wariness has grown even heavier! If General Liu reports this matter… either I, Bai Qingyan, will die, or… the Crown Prince’s position might not be secure, and the capital will face chaos again.”

Liu Hong slowly sat back behind his desk, his fingers stroking the edge of the table as he carefully considered Bai Qingyan’s words.

If the Crown Prince truly had such grand ambitions, he wouldn’t be unfit as a wise ruler. Moreover, among His Majesty’s adult sons currently, besides the Crown Prince, there was no other more suitable candidate. Oh… that’s right, there was also Prince Liang!

But Prince Liang…

Liu Hong thought it better not to mention him.

Princess Zhenguo had made one point correctly, though—if His Majesty knew that the Crown Prince had secretly ordered Bai Qingyan to train troops, suspicion would surely arise. Both the sovereign and the heir apparent were rulers… if suspicion arose between the sovereign and heir apparent, it would certainly destabilize the court in the capital. If the court were unstable… then the nation would be restless.