When Zhao Hanzhang received the grass seeds, she couldn’t help but smile. She folded the letter in her hand and put it away, saying to Wang Siniang, “Have the people brought up. I’ll meet them personally. I also have a letter to entrust them to deliver to the Prince of Beihai.”

Wang Siniang silently watched her for a while, then turned to bring Liu Yi’s several guards up.

Zhao Hanzhang was very concerned about Liu Yi. She inquired in detail about his situation after returning, such as whether he’d been punished, whether he’d been attacked, whether he needed her help, and so on.

The guards felt this wasn’t confidential information, so they told her quite readily—how could their prince be punished? The emperor and empress cherished him dearly; it was too late for that.

Hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang felt relieved and wrote a letter for Liu Yi, entrusting it to the guards to take back.

Once the guards left, Ji Yuan, who had been sitting beside her like a wooden post, finally spoke. “My lady has keen eyes. Liu Yuan indeed dotes on Liu Yi.”

His eyes were extremely bright, and he already had an idea in mind. “Being so favored, how can he not advance further? What does my lady think of promoting him to crown prince of the Han Kingdom?”

Although the ministers of Great Jin were unwilling to acknowledge Liu Yuan’s Han Kingdom, they had indeed carved out territory and proclaimed themselves emperor. In terms of power, they were on par with Great Jin. So they could verbally despise them, but in their hearts they had to truly treat them as a sovereign state to deal with.

If Jin wanted to destroy the newly established Han Kingdom and recover lost territory, they still had a very long road ahead.

If the next Han Kingdom emperor was Liu Yi, who had friendship with Zhao Hanzhang, then whether internally or externally, the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks for them.

Zhao Hanzhang’s expression was calm as she directly refused. “No need.”

Ji Yuan frowned. “Why not?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Wait until after this July, then we’ll talk. If… then we’ll use this method.”

If Liu Yuan was still alive by then, she would consider using this method. Otherwise, she would give it a push and try to make the Han Kingdom even more chaotic. If they could destroy the Han Kingdom as a result, the threats they faced from the north would decrease considerably.

Ji Yuan stared at her for a while. Seeing she didn’t continue with the “if” statement, he suppressed his desire to inquire and changed the subject. “Wang Jun has already agreed to cooperate. In a few days, both Liu Yuan and Gou Xi will receive the news. My lady’s objective has been achieved. Should we continue staying here?”

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes in thought and asked, “What do you think, sir?”

Ji Yuan said, “I’m just afraid that once our army withdraws, Liu Yuan will take advantage and move south, occupying the counties we just recovered. But staying here long-term consumes a large amount of grain and provisions daily, and spring plowing is approaching…”

Their soldiers, except for the elite troops who had to train daily, ordinary soldiers all had to participate in plowing and tuntian fields.

Zhao Hanzhang pondered for a moment and said, “I understand.”

Zhao Hanzhang waited two days. After receiving Liu Yi’s reply letter again, she began quietly moving troops, having the vanguard quietly leave, then the rear army. Only the central army she led remained at the end.

Wang Siniang didn’t know what she was doing, but she still followed orders and left enough grain for a thousand men for two months before departing.

Ji Yuan left with the rear army. They would return to Luoyang to prepare for spring plowing. He turned his head to look at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan standing on the hillside seeing them off, and couldn’t help spurring his horse forward.

Zhao Hanzhang had just wanted to wave goodbye to them when she saw Ji Yuan riding up. She immediately lowered her hand and asked with concern, “What’s wrong, sir?”

But Ji Yuan looked directly at Fu Tinghan. “Tinghan, do you want to return to Luoyang with us?”

Zhao Hanzhang was staying here doing who knows what. He wasn’t too worried about her—if she couldn’t win she could still run, and she ran extremely fast. But Fu Tinghan was different. He was a treasure. What if he couldn’t run fast enough?

Fu Tinghan was stunned, then said, “I’ll stay here.”

Zhao Hanzhang beside him smiled and said, “Sir Ji, he can’t return to Luoyang. In a few days I still need to take him to see Minister Fu.”

Ji Yuan said, “Then my lady must protect him well.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded repeatedly. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave Luoyang in your and Minister Ming’s hands. The central army will return in a couple days too.”

The day after the rear army left, the central army also began leaving in batches. Beigong Chun, who received the news, also quietly withdrew his troops back to Luoyang.

Liu Yuan and Shi Lei first received news that Wang Jun and Liu Kun had surprisingly turned from enemies to friends and jointly sent troops to Qingzhou. Then they received news that Beigong Chun had withdrawn his troops and left.

Liu Yuan immediately asked, “What about the Zhao family army outside Pingyang City?”

“Still in their original position.”

Liu Yuan frowned. “Why would Wang Jun attack Qingzhou? And Liu Kun actually agreed…”

“Your Majesty, this is good news for us. Wang Jun, Liu Kun, and Gou Xi fighting among themselves—we can reap the benefits.”

Liu Yuan felt uneasy. “What about Zhao Hanzhang? She and Liu Kun are allies. With such a big movement, she couldn’t possibly not know. At this time she’s having Beigong Chun withdraw troops—is she going to send troops against Gou Xi, or does she have other plans?”

Liu Huanle saw Liu Yuan’s worry and couldn’t help feeling anxious too. “Is Your Majesty worried they’re building plank roads openly while secretly crossing at Chencang—openly sending troops to Qingzhou but actually colluding in secret to deal with us?”

“That’s impossible,” Huyan Yi beside them said. “Jin doesn’t have anyone who could persuade all these parties. Setting aside distant matters, Wang Jun alone wouldn’t cooperate with them.”

Wang Jun had wild ambitions like a wolf—how could he possibly watch Great Jin recover lost territory?

Liu Yuan felt slightly reassured. “Still, we must be careful. Send people to watch Zhao Hanzhang and Gou Xi’s movements. If they really can fight each other to mutual destruction, we’ll take advantage and send troops.”

“Yes.”

In the Zhao family army camp, the tents were still standing, but looking inside the camp was empty at a glance—only tents but no people.

Only near the main tent was there some human presence. Ting He and Fan Ying were organizing things on the desk. Zhao Hanzhang stood at the door with her hands on her hips, spacing out. Fu’an came running over. “My lady, my young master’s things are all packed.”

Zhao Hanzhang came back to her senses and nodded. “Load them on the carts.”

She turned back to look at Fan Ying. “Go call Zeng Yue.”

Fan Ying agreed and handed the final work to Ting He.

Zeng Yue quickly came running. Zhao Hanzhang’s luggage was also loaded on the carts. “Once we leave, there will only be your thousand men left in this camp. Do you know what you’re staying here to do?”

“Yes. Light fires on schedule to create cooking smoke. Patrol the camp. Send scouts to watch the direction of Pingyang City. Create the illusion that the army is still stationed here.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded approvingly. “Don’t slack off. One instance of laziness could alert the other side to something abnormal. Once they discover something’s wrong, you must immediately retreat.”

“What about Yonghe County?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “You’re to retreat to Yonghe County. You must hold Yonghe County.”

Zeng Yue’s expression became solemn as he seriously replied, “Yes!”

Zhao Hanzhang was going with Fu Tinghan via Yonghe County to see Fu Zhi, with a thousand men accompanying them.

For this military expedition, both Chang’an and Xiliang had helped. The three regions decided to strengthen communication and trade relations. Xiliang’s envoy had already passed through Chang’an. She needed to go to Fu Zhi’s camp to meet them—a three-way meeting.

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