Zhao Xin and Wei Jie both remained in Ji Province. They had facilitated the cooperation between Wang Jun and Liu Kun and still needed to receive the supplies Zhao Hanzhang was sending to achieve their tripartite cooperation.

The letter was written by Zhao Xin. By the time he wrote it, they had already sent troops to occupy Xi’an County and Guangrao County in Qi Commandery of Qing Province, and some forces had even bypassed Linzi County, heading straight for Beihai Commandery.

Linzi was the provincial capital of Qing Province, where Gou Chun was stationed.

The letter stated that the military equipment and grain supplies Wang Jun had requested had doubled, and he was asking Zhao Hanzhang for troops. If she felt the Zhao Family Army couldn’t reach Qing Province, he could deploy some of his own forces to recruit soldiers on behalf of the Zhao Family Army.

In plain terms, he just wanted the Zhao Family Army’s banner raised to march together with them to attack Qing Province.

After reading it, Zhao Hanzhang tossed the letter aside and picked up another one.

This was a letter from Gou Xi in Yuncheng. Along with Gou Xi’s letter came the Emperor’s letter and an inquiry document from the court.

Zhao Hanzhang simply opened them all together.

Gou Xi scolded her, the Emperor probed her intentions. She read them once and set them aside, but she read the court’s official document back and forth twice.

Since the court had sent her an official letter of inquiry, she needed to submit a memorial in her own defense. She had already thought about how to write the reply to the Emperor when making her decision, but the defense memorial needed to be written in response to the official document, so she hadn’t yet put pen to paper.

Zhao Hanzhang swept through the four letters. When she looked up, Fu Tinghan was still reading the letter from Yu Province. She couldn’t help but be surprised. “That thick? Who wrote it?”

Fu Tinghan looked up, his eyes and brows carrying an undisguisable smile. He handed it to her, trying hard to suppress his laughter as he said, “It’s not very thick, it’s just that the literary talent is so good that I couldn’t help reading it again. Uncle Ming wrote it.”

Though he said it wasn’t thick, it was actually the thickest of all the letters—several pages long.

Zhao Hanzhang took it and looked down. It was the regular script she was familiar with, the brushwork ancient and upright, but also somewhat different. She felt that the characters in this letter were sharper than before.

Zhao Hanzhang settled her mind to read. Sure enough, it began with questioning.

When Zhao Ming learned in Chen County that Wang Jun and Liu Kun had joined forces to attack Qing Province, a feeling of panic about the chaos that could destroy the nation had just begun rising. The chill was climbing halfway up his spine when someone told him that all of this had been facilitated by Zhao Hanzhang, and she had participated too.

A basin of cold water poured over his head. Before that chill could slowly rise, he was completely drenched inside and out, cold throughout.

He didn’t even dare let Zhao Song know. While suppressing this news, he contacted Zhao Ju, Xun Xiu, and other commanders, having them move troops to the Yan Province border to guard against Gou Xi.

Only after completing all this did he find time to write and scold Zhao Hanzhang.

Calculating carefully, since Zhao Hanzhang took office as Yu Province Inspector, Yu Province had not been peaceful for a single year—there had been military campaigns every year.

Last year alone, although Yu Province itself hadn’t become a battlefield, Yu Province had sent troops to rescue the Emperor and attack Luoyang. In the middle of the year, there were constant conflicts at the Yan Province border. At year’s end, they assisted Zhao Hanzhang in recovering various commanderies and counties of Si Province. This meant Yu Province actually hadn’t had a moment’s peace all year.

However, Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t disturbed the people or increased taxes to raise grain supplies, so the people of Yu Province weren’t deeply affected.

But once war erupted again, especially against Gou Xi, this meant the Great Jin would fracture and collapse again. He knew well that Zhao Hanzhang’s savings, as well as the income from the workshops over these years, had all been depleted by these wars. If they fought again, they would have to take military funds and grain from the people.

Wouldn’t this throw Yu Province, which had only just stabilized, into chaos again?

They had clearly discussed before that Yu Province needed several years of stable development. Why had she suddenly taken the initiative to provoke Gou Xi?

Unfortunately, this was a letter, and he also feared the letter might fall into others’ hands, so he couldn’t speak plainly. He could only scold her, remind her, and warn her in roundabout ways.

If she were in front of him, Zhao Ming would definitely ask her directly: Are you no longer concealing your ambitions, openly declaring that you want to be a treacherous subject and traitor, a sinner for all eternity?

Because he couldn’t ask directly, he could only quote classics and allude to his questions in the letter.

Fu Tinghan read it with great interest. There were some allusions he didn’t understand, so he thought this letter had particularly excellent literary quality.

Zhao Hanzhang set the letter aside and picked up the one from Luoyang. Ji Yuan told her that the main army had returned to Luoyang. He had already prepared the military equipment and grain supplies needed for Qing Province and sent them off. He asked if she wanted to prepare double the military equipment and grain supplies that Wang Jun had requested.

Zhao Hanzhang snorted and tossed all the letters together. She said to Ting He, “Prepare writing materials. I need to write several reply letters.”

Ting He acknowledged and paused her current task to prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for Zhao Hanzhang.

Fu Tinghan asked her, “Are you going to send troops to Qing Province?”

“No,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Zhao Xin and Wei Jie are just in Ji Province, and the court and Gou Xi already had such a strong reaction. If I send troops to Qing Province again, everyone in the world will curse me to death.”

“When negotiating the cooperation, we agreed that I would only provide grain supplies and military equipment. Wang Jun is pushing his luck, going back on his word. Hmph, he wants me to send troops? Fine. I want Donglai Commandery and Beihai Commandery!”

Supporting with grain supplies and military equipment was one thing; sending troops was another. If her troops went out, they couldn’t return empty-handed. As long as Wang Jun was willing to give her Beihai Commandery and Donglai Commandery, she would… they could talk about it then.

Hmph, at worst she’d just demand one more commandery.

However, based on her understanding of Wang Jun, he definitely wouldn’t agree.

Zhao Hanzhang first replied to Zhao Xin, then wrote replies to the Emperor and Gou Xi. She told both of them that regarding Wang Jun and Liu Kun’s attack on Qing Province, she was completely baffled.

She had sent envoys to see Wang Jun to persuade him to stop attacking Liu Kun. She had absolutely no idea why they would attack Qing Province. How about you write to Wang Jun and ask?

To Zhao Ming, she explained that this was entirely a helpless measure. Wang Jun was impervious to both soft and hard approaches. They could only divert his attention, otherwise Liu Kun would really be beaten to death.

As for attacking Qing Province…

Even if Wang Jun didn’t attack Qing Province, she had planned to submit a memorial requesting the Emperor replace the Qing Province Inspector. Since Gou Chun took office as Qing Province Inspector, the people of Qing Province had been living in dire suffering…

She told Zhao Ming to rest assured that she knew what she was doing and wouldn’t start fighting with Gou Xi. She understood that stability should be the priority now. She was a Jin minister and wouldn’t make things difficult for the Jin Emperor.

Finally, she began writing the defense memorial to the court.

This one was for the hundred officials to see. She needed to carefully consider how to deflect responsibility and equivocate so that people wouldn’t be too angry, while still believing her somewhat.

Not many in the court trusted her. Wang Jun and Liu Kun had been fighting so fiercely—how could they suddenly turn to attack Qing Province?

Someone must have mediated in between. And it just so happened that Zhao Xin and Wei Jie had arrived in Ji Province at that time. To say this had nothing to do with them—who would believe it?

Even Liu Yuan in Pingyang City across the way didn’t believe it!

His news came a bit late. When he received word that Liu Kun and Wang Jun had joined forces to attack Qing Province, it was already three days later. He immediately sent people to investigate the Zhao Family Army camp, only to discover that the place was already empty.

Only the side facing Pingyang City had dozens of tents; the rear had long been cleared out. The scouts touched the cooking stoves and found they still had faint warmth. They immediately said, “The people haven’t gone far. Chase them!”

They chased fifty li before finding traces of the Zhao Family Army, but they only had a few hundred men. They couldn’t very well chase after them, could they?

Moreover, the traces didn’t seem quite right. How could an army of a hundred thousand retreat with only this much disturbance? They could only send people back to report.

Liu Yuan understood with a moment’s thought. Zhao Hanzhang’s forces had withdrawn in batches early on. He sighed with regret, “We’ve missed an excellent opportunity.”

There was no point in chasing now. Liu Yuan could only have his men return and ordered them to closely monitor the situation in Qing Province. “If only Zhao Hanzhang and Gou Xi would also turn against each other. Once both sides are severely weakened, we can send troops.”

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