Shen Yun’an had besieged the Turks for exactly seven days, pushing right up to the royal tent, nearly causing the Turkish Khan to cough blood to death.
“This Turkish Khan has quite the capacity for endurance,” he still hadn’t yielded or accepted Shen Yun’an’s conditions.
The Turkish royal tent was now practically in dire straits. It was because the Khan couldn’t resist the temptation that they ended up in this besieged situation with no way out. Although Shen Yun’an was gentle with the Turkish civilians and wouldn’t casually slaughter them, the Turks still complained bitterly. The supporters of the Southern Great King were particularly active, demanding the Khan abdicate his throne to atone for his sins.
Various factions were at an impasse, external enemies were watching like tigers eyeing their prey, and the lion was making excessive demands for compensation. The Turks had attacked first this time, and Shen Yueshan’s conditions after his “death” made it impossible for them to seek external aid. Particularly the Mongols, who had been restless alongside them, were now firmly suppressed by Rong Ce’s preemptive actions.
Combined with Shen Yueshan’s return, they wouldn’t dare cause trouble even with a hundred times more courage. Despite all the pressure, the Turkish Khan still held firm.
“That’s because he has ill-gotten gains in his possession,” Xiao Huayong had recovered well these past few days. Tingzhou had returned to its former bustle, with goods very cheap. Shen Xihe prepared different tonics for him daily, and even his weakest constitution had improved over these five or six days.
However, in Xiao Changfeng’s eyes, he was still the frail Crown Prince, so he only occasionally allowed Tianyuan to support him walking in the courtyard. After Shen Yueshan’s arrival, many aftermath matters were handed to him, while Shen Xihe revolved around Xiao Huayong.
This made Shen Yueshan quite jealous, and the father-in-law and son-in-law secretly competed. This time Xiao Huayong directly said: “Youyou have worked hard to keep me appearing harmless. With my current weakness, as my wife, if Youyou isn’t frequently by my side, wouldn’t Prince Xun become suspicious? Suspicious that I’m not truly weak? Youyou’s careful efforts would likely be wasted.”
This left Shen Yueshan speechless. He wanted to argue further, but news arrived that the Xue family’s dowry procession had departed and would soon reach the Northwest. They needed to quickly settle matters here, so Shen Yueshan had no time to argue with Xiao Huayong.
“Is it what Xiao Changtai gave him?” Shen Xihe had reviewed all the letters Xiao Changtai left before his death.
The wealth that could tempt the Turkish Khan to lose his head was no small sum – it was a quarter of Xiao Changtai’s fortune. Over these years, he had amassed wealth through tomb raiding, becoming quite influential. His collected treasures were shipped overseas and exchanged for exotic items to convert into money.
His accumulated wealth was countless, probably enough to make even the Emperor covetous. Speaking of which, those shops Xiao Changtai specifically used for selling foreign goods were quite good and had been taken over by Xiao Huayong, becoming another disguised message relay point.
However, the people inside were all Xiao Changtai’s men, and they would need to be completely replaced.
“Your Highness…” Just as Xiao Huayong was about to answer, Tianyuan’s voice came from outside.
Tianyuan brought in a cage, not containing a bird but a rat.
Xiao Huayong said to Tianyuan: “Try it.”
Tianyuan opened the cage, and the furry rat darted out. It showed no fear, turning its head left and right as if searching for something. After sniffing around for quite a while, it finally headed decisively in one direction, soon circling back and forth over a stack of letters.
These letters were what Xiao Changtai had left behind, and Shen Xihe looked at them with confusion.
“These letters were coated with a special potion, colorless and odorless. I only discovered it two days ago,” Xiao Huayong explained. “If you feed this type of rat the same potion for two days, it becomes addicted to it and can’t quit. No matter how far, it will find ways to locate this scent.”
After a moment’s thought, Shen Xihe understood: “You think Xiao Changtai sprinkled this kind of potion on the treasure he gave to the Turkish Khan?”
“From what I know of him, he wouldn’t genuinely give away his carefully accumulated wealth so generously to the Turks,” Xiao Huayong nodded.
Xiao Changtai had died without mentioning this point, but Xiao Huayong discovered it. Paper soaked in the potion would become more brittle and thick, feeling different from normal paper, though only someone who had used it themselves would notice.
“Has Your Highness also studied such potions?” Shen Xihe asked curiously.
“Before I had the gyrfalcon, I could only mark my letters this way,” to prevent substitution, and if they were substituted, to quickly find them. Later, after getting the gyrfalcon and then acquiring a batch of hunting falcons, Xiao Huayong used falcon messaging.
These falcons, after training, were much better than carrier pigeons that only knew to fly to familiar places.
Moreover, hunting falcons weren’t easily captured. If someone intercepted them, once their trained rhythm was disrupted, they would fly back instead of continuing to seek the recipient.
Xiao Huayong had an expression of “These are just my old tricks,” making Shen Xihe laugh softly: “Is Your Highness planning to send this rat to the Turks?”
“I’ll go personally.” Once he hijacked the wealth Xiao Changtai gave to the Turkish Khan, without that support, the Khan would be unable to appease others and would inevitably face rebellion. To keep his throne secure, he would have to bow to the court.
As long as he surrendered and accepted Shen Yun’an’s conditions, the court would naturally support him. He would lose face, but at least he could preserve his life and position.
Once he was brought down by internal Turkish forces, it would only lead to death.
“You can’t go,” Shen Xihe disapproved. Xiao Changfeng was constantly watching both Xiao Huayong and her, mainly her, but if Xiao Huayong wasn’t around, Xiao Changfeng would surely notice.
“To fool him, any excuse will do,” Xiao Huayong said dismissively.
Shen Xihe knew it would be simple for him to create an excuse that Xiao Changfeng couldn’t find fault with, but avoiding Xiao Changfeng’s suspicion would be difficult. They had finally used Xiao Changfeng to present him as an innocent little rabbit before the Emperor, and Shen Xihe wouldn’t let her hard work be easily destroyed, though she knew Xiao Huayong quite wanted to destroy it.
He didn’t want the Emperor’s blade to only point at her, but couldn’t overcome her wishes, so could only use roundabout methods.
“Let Father go,” Shen Xihe gave him a quiet smile.
Though she was smiling, and the smile reached her eyes, Xiao Huayong understood that if he insisted, he might face ten nights of sleeping alone. Just thinking about the taste of lonely nights made Xiao Huayong obediently compromise.
“You only know how to coddle your delicate husband,” Shen Yueshan mounted his horse, still grumbling irritably.
“Am I not thinking of the bigger picture?” Shen Xihe wouldn’t accept groundless accusations. “This is our Northwest’s achievement, naturally it should be Father working with Brother to make it perfect.”