Chapter 121
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The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband – Chapter 121
Translated by: Oinkoink
Chapter 121 – Going into War
This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.
According to historical records, the north-west border of Chu Country was subjected to a sudden attack when the little prince was half a year old. The three cities that were initially offered by the Qiuci kingdom as tribute were all seized back while the common people were massacred and at the same time, starving refugees swarmed over the land amid the bloodbath.
When the urgent war report was sent back to Wangdu, Chu Jinglan hurtled the jade seal on the spot.
“B*stard! A trifle small kingdom actually has the audacity to rampage as such! We will definitely demand back those thousands of lives from Quici!”
Several people present hastily spoke, “Your Majesty, please calm down!”
Even so, they themselves could not swallow this anger too — how could such a small kingdom in the Western Region have the nerve to scrap the treaty and attack the cities? It was savage to the extreme to have even killed so many people in Chu Country! If they don’t reciprocate, where will the prestige of the glorious Great Chu Country be? And where will justice and righteousness be?
At this moment, Ye Huaili and Chu Zhenghe both cupped their hands and stepped forward to speak in a deep voice, “Your Majesty, this Minister requested to go into war!”
Though Chu Jinglan was still angry, he did not agree to their request immediately. Instead, he turned his head to stare steadily at the city defense map on the imperial table. After a while, he suddenly asked, “Yuanshu, how’s the preparation of the army provisions and weaponry?”
Bowing slightly, Pei Yuanshu said, “Report to Your Majesty, this Minister has transferred some from Lingnan, which is enough to sustain 100,000 troops for the time being.”
“That’s enough.” The thin blade-like narrowed eyes of Chu Zhenghe were full of undisguised killing intent, “Quici thought we had just experienced the civil war and inevitably had undermined our constitution. With only 150,000 troops, they dare to flood Qinyang Pass with blood. Once the strong cavalry of my Great Chu rides out, they must be taught to come with no return!”
Yet Ye Huaili said, “It’s better to outflank them. They have already occupied three cities and seized a large quantity of provisions. They have plenty of time to dawdle with us. We have to think of an ingenious method as we can’t confront force with force.”
The national treasury is empty and to use the various resources in hand really need meticulous planning as well as strict budgeting.
As his words touched the crucial point, Chu Jinglan cast him an appreciative look and then said, “In recent years, Quici has made a lot of money by virtue of the Silk Road and has greatly improved its armaments and armed forces. It is no longer vulnerable like those years, thus you all must not be careless. In Our opinion, if we want to win, the only way is to sneak attack separately and break through at the same time.”
“Your Majesty’s meaning is … “
“The three cities are not far apart. With the troops evenly deployed, we can form a horizontal solidarity force. Any attack on one of the cities will attract reinforcements from the other. Since the number of our forces are small, the consequences will be inconceivable if we are being flanked. Thus, it will be better to attack at the same time. This way, the disparity in strength is within control with no fear of attacks from behind.”
After pondering for a moment, Chu Zhenghe said, “What the Imperial Brother said is right. As the saying goes, maintain the status quo to cope with whatever changes. We have to be the one in control of the situation and mustn’t let them have a chance to take the lead.”
“But even after the segregation of this Minister and Junwang, there is still one city without a lead attack. Your Majesty, you are not planning to … “
Ye Huaili feared Chu Jinglan would speak out the words — personally lead troops into battle, that he forgot the etiquette of being a minister and just looked at him while holding his breath. Yet he smiled evidently and spoke slowly, “Imperial Uncle has forgotten. Many young talents have been selected during the spring imperial examination. Top Scholar Wu, Wei Tang are both excelled in martial arts and well-read in military books, who perhaps can be of use.”
Yes, how could he have forgotten this. The royal court has now recruited a lot of fresh blood and it is no longer without any personnel available like the previous year when Chu Jinglan first took over.
Ye Huaili lowered his head and said, “It’s this Minister’s slip-up.”
“No matter.” Chu Jinglan waved his hand and said to both of them, “But after all, they don’t have much actual combat experience and it is the first time to lead the troops. You both must guide them strictly to avoid any setback.”
“This Minister understands.”
Since the people had been decided, the rest was precisely the issue pertaining to supplies allocation. After a moment of careful discussion and the thorough finalization, the few people then withdrew when Chu Jinglan specially stopped Ye Huaili.
“Go take a look at Yang’er there.”
The tip of Ye Huaili’s eyebrows jerked slightly and he said, “This Minister got it.”
In those past years, it was always Ye Huaiyang who sent him off, but this time she is not well enough to do so and will be bound to feel upset for a while. So in order to set her mind at ease, he should go and bid her farewell.
Thinking of such, Ye Huaili turned and walked towards Taiji Palace with a silhouette resembling the wind that left an ink-like vague shadow.
He had really come at the right time since Ye Huaixin happened to be here too. When Yue’ya led him into the hall, the two of them were beside the rocking bed playing with Chu Xiang and after careful listening, their conversations were simply both funny and extremely embarrassing.
“Hey! Why did he pounce into my arms?”
“Xiang’er, Mother is here. That’s your uncle, don’t be mistaken by him!”
Ye Huaili’s face twitched a few times before he lifted the bead curtains to walk in. Sure enough, he saw Chu Xiang clambered and crawled in the wobbling rocking bed towards Ye Huaixin. Even after Ye Huaiyang carried him back to sit properly, he would start kicking again a few seconds later. He is simply tenacious that perhaps no one in the entire Ye family is as lively and active like him.
Ye Huaiyang soon gave up reasoning with him and simply stuffed him into Ye Huaixin’s arms.
“Then just go and see if he smells as good as Mother.”
Chu Xiang chuckled, then using his little chubby hand that was just in his mouth to grab Ye Huaixin’s nose. With his face stained with saliva, he dodged woefully while Chu Xiang was even more excited and left another string of crystals on his lapels. He wanted to cry without tears and could only plead for Ye Huaiyang’s help.
“Elder Sister, hurry up and take him away, please!”
Ye Huaiyang was so happy having her hand-off, she not only didn’t help him but instead pretended to be helpless and said, “Who asked you to look similar to me? There is nothing to be done except to let him have enough fun.”
“Then I can’t go out to face others!” Ye Huaixin fumbled to pull that chubby hand off. When he looked up and saw Ye Huaili, his eyes lit up instantly, “Big Brother, save me!”
Ye Huaiyang looked back in surprise and smiled radiantly at once seeing that dashing figure.
“Elder Brother, what brings you here?”
“Came to see you and Xiang’er.” Saying so, Ye Huaili walked over to the side of the rocking bed. His usually stern face actually revealed a touch of affection, “Xiang’er is getting more and more mischievous.”
“That’s right. Big Brother hurriedly helped me teach him a good lesson.”
Saying that, Ye Huaiyang quickly moved Chu Xiang into Ye Huaili’s arms. Gathering him up promptly, he merely felt as if a heavy lump of small meatball was in his arms, which was heavier than the sword he usually held. Sizing him up carefully, the bottom of the purple buttoned shirt could barely cover him as half of the white round fleshy belly was already on display, which was really amusing.
And Chu Xiang just let him look and totally not mischievous like before. He just quietly ate his own hands while occasionally raising his tenderly delicate little face to look at him. This blinking of the big round eyes led to the movement of his densely long eyelashes which made him appear all the more lovable and roused others to love him dearly.
Ye Huaili suddenly remembered Ye Huaiyang as a child.
He was already eight years old and at the age of knowing a little of everything when she was born. Seeing his mother’s belly gradually swelled into a ball and deflated suddenly with the arrival of two identical pink dumplings in front of him, when one of them opened its eyes and smiled at him. Though wrinkled, he fell in love at once.
Later, that pink dumpling gradually grew up and was able to walk and jump, then all the more like to cling to him. The soft little body always pounced into his arms and was quite heavy, just like Chu Xiang now.
Time really flows like water. The pink dumpling had given birth to a little dumpling. If there’s anything that he is not satisfied with, then it must be Chu Xiang’s looks — who totally takes after that man’s and doesn’t inherit the least bit from Yang’er.
Nevertheless, he still loves him very much.
“Xiang’er, this is Big Uncle, do you recognize him?”
Under Ye Huaiyang’s guidance, he tilted his head to look at him for a long time then suddenly drew back the corners of his toothless mouth and grinned. He even presented to the side of Ye Huaili’s mouth his wet fingers, as if he wanted to feed him and Ye Huaiyang immediately became jealous.
“You don’t even give when Mother wants to eat it, but are inclined to give your uncle to eat!”
Ye Huaili appeared helpless but his heart was delighted as he raised a hand to touch Chu Xiang’s head and said, “Good Xiang’er.”
After saying that, he sat down on the side with Chu Xiang in his arms, who curiously played with the adornments around his waist without making any noise or trouble. Hence, the few adults talked about serious matters.
“How’s your waist, Yang’er?”
Ye Huaiyang smiled thinly and said, “It’s already much better.”
Here we go again. Every time when she was asked, she would say she’s fine. But it has been half a year since she consumes the medicine and is bound with a girdle, yet still not knowing how long this will take. Seeing how strenuous it was for her to carry Chu Xiang and her every movement was not as nimble as she used to be, Ye Huaili really felt tugging pain in his heart.
She thought he didn’t know that her accidental abduction by the White Lotus Sect was precisely because she wanted to buy him a birthday gift which since was the root cause of this ailment.
The melancholy that Ye Huaili felt was not noticed by Ye Huaixin, who instead asked curiously, “Big Brother, weren’t you discussing military matters with His Majesty? Why do you have time to come here?”
“The discussions are over.” Ye Huaili paused, then looked down at Chu Xiang in his arms, “Tomorrow, Junwang and I will lead our troops to Qinyang Pass. I’m afraid we won’t be able to attend Xiang’er’s first birthday ceremony.”
“Leaving in such a hurry?” Ye Huaiyang was slightly startled that the hand which was wiping Chu Xiang’s saliva paused too, “There’s incessant sand blown by the northwest wind and common appearance of skaapsteker and other poisonous creatures, you must be careful while on the move. As it happens, Lu Heng will be sending the medicine over, I will ask him to give you some specially made antidote.”
As she said that, she was going to ask Yue’ya to make a trip to the Imperial Hospital and even wanted to give Ye Huaili the soft hedgehog armor and the bronze protective plate which were tributes offered by the vassal states, but was quickly stopped by Ye Huaili who said, “It’s not the first time I’m leaving home to war. What can happen? Don’t bustle about, just be completely at ease.”
Then followed by Chu Xiang’s exclamation who then started spitting bubbles at Ye Huaiyang, causing her to feel both amusing and annoying at the same time.
“You don’t even understand what Mother and Uncle are talking about, why are you meddling about.” Ye Huaiyng squeezed his chubby little face then turned to look at Ye Huaili and sighed faintly, “Then you must pay attention to safety and dispose of those barbarians quickly. We will wait for your return.”
“Okay.” Ye Huaili smiled lightly with full certainty.
He has always known that forewarned is being forearmed in the matter of defending the frontier and the common people, while Ye Huaiyang understands this is where he belongs. She can’t slow him down due to the fear of danger since that will not be right.
Taking Chu Xiang back into her arms, she raised his little hand and said to Ye Huaili, “Xiang’er, quickly wish Uncle a valiant retreat of the enemy and to return home in great victory!”
Chu Xiang waved his hands excitedly, as if he really understood what she was saying and prompted all the adults to burst out laughing.
Caressing his soft tender face, Ye Huaili sighed softly, “Xiang’er will probably have become a big baby when Uncle comes back and not knowing if he will still recognize Uncle.”
Ye Huaiyang replied with a genial smile, “Of course he will. Xiang’er likes Uncle the most, right?”
“Pffffffff — “The bubble-spitting monster answered with pragmatic actions.
Author spoke her mind:
Chu Xiang (with a dumbfounded face): How come there are two mothers?
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband – Chapter 121
Translated by: Oinkoink
Chapter 121 – Going into War
This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.
According to historical records, the north-west border of Chu Country was subjected to a sudden attack when the little prince was half a year old. The three cities that were initially offered by the Qiuci kingdom as tribute were all seized back while the common people were massacred and at the same time, starving refugees swarmed over the land amid the bloodbath.
When the urgent war report was sent back to Wangdu, Chu Jinglan hurtled the jade seal on the spot.
“B*stard! A trifle small kingdom actually has the audacity to rampage as such! We will definitely demand back those thousands of lives from Quici!”
Several people present hastily spoke, “Your Majesty, please calm down!”
Even so, they themselves could not swallow this anger too — how could such a small kingdom in the Western Region have the nerve to scrap the treaty and attack the cities? It was savage to the extreme to have even killed so many people in Chu Country! If they don’t reciprocate, where will the prestige of the glorious Great Chu Country be? And where will justice and righteousness be?
At this moment, Ye Huaili and Chu Zhenghe both cupped their hands and stepped forward to speak in a deep voice, “Your Majesty, this Minister requested to go into war!”
Though Chu Jinglan was still angry, he did not agree to their request immediately. Instead, he turned his head to stare steadily at the city defense map on the imperial table. After a while, he suddenly asked, “Yuanshu, how’s the preparation of the army provisions and weaponry?”
Bowing slightly, Pei Yuanshu said, “Report to Your Majesty, this Minister has transferred some from Lingnan, which is enough to sustain 100,000 troops for the time being.”
“That’s enough.” The thin blade-like narrowed eyes of Chu Zhenghe were full of undisguised killing intent, “Quici thought we had just experienced the civil war and inevitably had undermined our constitution. With only 150,000 troops, they dare to flood Qinyang Pass with blood. Once the strong cavalry of my Great Chu rides out, they must be taught to come with no return!”
Yet Ye Huaili said, “It’s better to outflank them. They have already occupied three cities and seized a large quantity of provisions. They have plenty of time to dawdle with us. We have to think of an ingenious method as we can’t confront force with force.”
The national treasury is empty and to use the various resources in hand really need meticulous planning as well as strict budgeting.
As his words touched the crucial point, Chu Jinglan cast him an appreciative look and then said, “In recent years, Quici has made a lot of money by virtue of the Silk Road and has greatly improved its armaments and armed forces. It is no longer vulnerable like those years, thus you all must not be careless. In Our opinion, if we want to win, the only way is to sneak attack separately and break through at the same time.”
“Your Majesty’s meaning is … “
“The three cities are not far apart. With the troops evenly deployed, we can form a horizontal solidarity force. Any attack on one of the cities will attract reinforcements from the other. Since the number of our forces are small, the consequences will be inconceivable if we are being flanked. Thus, it will be better to attack at the same time. This way, the disparity in strength is within control with no fear of attacks from behind.”
After pondering for a moment, Chu Zhenghe said, “What the Imperial Brother said is right. As the saying goes, maintain the status quo to cope with whatever changes. We have to be the one in control of the situation and mustn’t let them have a chance to take the lead.”
“But even after the segregation of this Minister and Junwang, there is still one city without a lead attack. Your Majesty, you are not planning to … “
Ye Huaili feared Chu Jinglan would speak out the words — personally lead troops into battle, that he forgot the etiquette of being a minister and just looked at him while holding his breath. Yet he smiled evidently and spoke slowly, “Imperial Uncle has forgotten. Many young talents have been selected during the spring imperial examination. Top Scholar Wu, Wei Tang are both excelled in martial arts and well-read in military books, who perhaps can be of use.”
Yes, how could he have forgotten this. The royal court has now recruited a lot of fresh blood and it is no longer without any personnel available like the previous year when Chu Jinglan first took over.
Ye Huaili lowered his head and said, “It’s this Minister’s slip-up.”
“No matter.” Chu Jinglan waved his hand and said to both of them, “But after all, they don’t have much actual combat experience and it is the first time to lead the troops. You both must guide them strictly to avoid any setback.”
“This Minister understands.”
Since the people had been decided, the rest was precisely the issue pertaining to supplies allocation. After a moment of careful discussion and the thorough finalization, the few people then withdrew when Chu Jinglan specially stopped Ye Huaili.
“Go take a look at Yang’er there.”
The tip of Ye Huaili’s eyebrows jerked slightly and he said, “This Minister got it.”
In those past years, it was always Ye Huaiyang who sent him off, but this time she is not well enough to do so and will be bound to feel upset for a while. So in order to set her mind at ease, he should go and bid her farewell.
Thinking of such, Ye Huaili turned and walked towards Taiji Palace with a silhouette resembling the wind that left an ink-like vague shadow.
He had really come at the right time since Ye Huaixin happened to be here too. When Yue’ya led him into the hall, the two of them were beside the rocking bed playing with Chu Xiang and after careful listening, their conversations were simply both funny and extremely embarrassing.
“Hey! Why did he pounce into my arms?”
“Xiang’er, Mother is here. That’s your uncle, don’t be mistaken by him!”
Ye Huaili’s face twitched a few times before he lifted the bead curtains to walk in. Sure enough, he saw Chu Xiang clambered and crawled in the wobbling rocking bed towards Ye Huaixin. Even after Ye Huaiyang carried him back to sit properly, he would start kicking again a few seconds later. He is simply tenacious that perhaps no one in the entire Ye family is as lively and active like him.
Ye Huaiyang soon gave up reasoning with him and simply stuffed him into Ye Huaixin’s arms.
“Then just go and see if he smells as good as Mother.”
Chu Xiang chuckled, then using his little chubby hand that was just in his mouth to grab Ye Huaixin’s nose. With his face stained with saliva, he dodged woefully while Chu Xiang was even more excited and left another string of crystals on his lapels. He wanted to cry without tears and could only plead for Ye Huaiyang’s help.
“Elder Sister, hurry up and take him away, please!”
Ye Huaiyang was so happy having her hand-off, she not only didn’t help him but instead pretended to be helpless and said, “Who asked you to look similar to me? There is nothing to be done except to let him have enough fun.”
“Then I can’t go out to face others!” Ye Huaixin fumbled to pull that chubby hand off. When he looked up and saw Ye Huaili, his eyes lit up instantly, “Big Brother, save me!”
Ye Huaiyang looked back in surprise and smiled radiantly at once seeing that dashing figure.
“Elder Brother, what brings you here?”
“Came to see you and Xiang’er.” Saying so, Ye Huaili walked over to the side of the rocking bed. His usually stern face actually revealed a touch of affection, “Xiang’er is getting more and more mischievous.”
“That’s right. Big Brother hurriedly helped me teach him a good lesson.”
Saying that, Ye Huaiyang quickly moved Chu Xiang into Ye Huaili’s arms. Gathering him up promptly, he merely felt as if a heavy lump of small meatball was in his arms, which was heavier than the sword he usually held. Sizing him up carefully, the bottom of the purple buttoned shirt could barely cover him as half of the white round fleshy belly was already on display, which was really amusing.
And Chu Xiang just let him look and totally not mischievous like before. He just quietly ate his own hands while occasionally raising his tenderly delicate little face to look at him. This blinking of the big round eyes led to the movement of his densely long eyelashes which made him appear all the more lovable and roused others to love him dearly.
Ye Huaili suddenly remembered Ye Huaiyang as a child.
He was already eight years old and at the age of knowing a little of everything when she was born. Seeing his mother’s belly gradually swelled into a ball and deflated suddenly with the arrival of two identical pink dumplings in front of him, when one of them opened its eyes and smiled at him. Though wrinkled, he fell in love at once.
Later, that pink dumpling gradually grew up and was able to walk and jump, then all the more like to cling to him. The soft little body always pounced into his arms and was quite heavy, just like Chu Xiang now.
Time really flows like water. The pink dumpling had given birth to a little dumpling. If there’s anything that he is not satisfied with, then it must be Chu Xiang’s looks — who totally takes after that man’s and doesn’t inherit the least bit from Yang’er.
Nevertheless, he still loves him very much.
“Xiang’er, this is Big Uncle, do you recognize him?”
Under Ye Huaiyang’s guidance, he tilted his head to look at him for a long time then suddenly drew back the corners of his toothless mouth and grinned. He even presented to the side of Ye Huaili’s mouth his wet fingers, as if he wanted to feed him and Ye Huaiyang immediately became jealous.
“You don’t even give when Mother wants to eat it, but are inclined to give your uncle to eat!”
Ye Huaili appeared helpless but his heart was delighted as he raised a hand to touch Chu Xiang’s head and said, “Good Xiang’er.”
After saying that, he sat down on the side with Chu Xiang in his arms, who curiously played with the adornments around his waist without making any noise or trouble. Hence, the few adults talked about serious matters.
“How’s your waist, Yang’er?”
Ye Huaiyang smiled thinly and said, “It’s already much better.”
Here we go again. Every time when she was asked, she would say she’s fine. But it has been half a year since she consumes the medicine and is bound with a girdle, yet still not knowing how long this will take. Seeing how strenuous it was for her to carry Chu Xiang and her every movement was not as nimble as she used to be, Ye Huaili really felt tugging pain in his heart.
She thought he didn’t know that her accidental abduction by the White Lotus Sect was precisely because she wanted to buy him a birthday gift which since was the root cause of this ailment.
The melancholy that Ye Huaili felt was not noticed by Ye Huaixin, who instead asked curiously, “Big Brother, weren’t you discussing military matters with His Majesty? Why do you have time to come here?”
“The discussions are over.” Ye Huaili paused, then looked down at Chu Xiang in his arms, “Tomorrow, Junwang and I will lead our troops to Qinyang Pass. I’m afraid we won’t be able to attend Xiang’er’s first birthday ceremony.”
“Leaving in such a hurry?” Ye Huaiyang was slightly startled that the hand which was wiping Chu Xiang’s saliva paused too, “There’s incessant sand blown by the northwest wind and common appearance of skaapsteker and other poisonous creatures, you must be careful while on the move. As it happens, Lu Heng will be sending the medicine over, I will ask him to give you some specially made antidote.”
As she said that, she was going to ask Yue’ya to make a trip to the Imperial Hospital and even wanted to give Ye Huaili the soft hedgehog armor and the bronze protective plate which were tributes offered by the vassal states, but was quickly stopped by Ye Huaili who said, “It’s not the first time I’m leaving home to war. What can happen? Don’t bustle about, just be completely at ease.”
Then followed by Chu Xiang’s exclamation who then started spitting bubbles at Ye Huaiyang, causing her to feel both amusing and annoying at the same time.
“You don’t even understand what Mother and Uncle are talking about, why are you meddling about.” Ye Huaiyng squeezed his chubby little face then turned to look at Ye Huaili and sighed faintly, “Then you must pay attention to safety and dispose of those barbarians quickly. We will wait for your return.”
“Okay.” Ye Huaili smiled lightly with full certainty.
He has always known that forewarned is being forearmed in the matter of defending the frontier and the common people, while Ye Huaiyang understands this is where he belongs. She can’t slow him down due to the fear of danger since that will not be right.
Taking Chu Xiang back into her arms, she raised his little hand and said to Ye Huaili, “Xiang’er, quickly wish Uncle a valiant retreat of the enemy and to return home in great victory!”
Chu Xiang waved his hands excitedly, as if he really understood what she was saying and prompted all the adults to burst out laughing.
Caressing his soft tender face, Ye Huaili sighed softly, “Xiang’er will probably have become a big baby when Uncle comes back and not knowing if he will still recognize Uncle.”
Ye Huaiyang replied with a genial smile, “Of course he will. Xiang’er likes Uncle the most, right?”
“Pffffffff — “The bubble-spitting monster answered with pragmatic actions.
Author spoke her mind:
Chu Xiang (with a dumbfounded face): How come there are two mothers?
The Noble Woman's Guide On How to Tease One's Husband Chapter 121Translated by: OinkoinkChapter 121 Going into WarThis novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.According to historical records, the north-west border of Chu Country was subjected to a sudden attack when the little prince was half a year old. The three cities that were initially offered by the Qiuci kingdom as tribute were all seized back while the common people were massacred and at the same time, starving refugees swarmed over the land amid the bloodbath.When the urgent war report was sent back to Wangdu, Chu Jinglan hurtled the jade seal on the spot.B*stard! A trifle small kingdom actually has the audacity to rampage as such! We will definitely demand back those thousands of lives from Quici!Several people present hastily spoke, Your Majesty, please calm down!Even so, they themselves could not swallow this anger too how could such a small kingdom in the Western Region have the nerve to scrap the treaty and attack the cities? It was savage to the extreme to have even killed so many people in Chu Country! If they don't reciprocate, where will the prestige of the glorious Great Chu Country be? And where will justice and righteousness be?At this moment, Ye Huaili and Chu Zhenghe both cupped their hands and stepped forward to speak in a deep voice, Your Majesty, this Minister requested to go into war!Though Chu Jinglan was still angry, he did not agree to their request immediately. Instead, he turned his head to stare steadily at the city defense map on the imperial table. After a while, he suddenly asked, Yuanshu, how's the preparation of the army provisions and weaponry?Bowing slightly, Pei Yuanshu said, Report to Your Majesty, this Minister has transferred some from Lingnan, which is enough to sustain 100,000 troops for the time being.That's enough. The thin blade-like narrowed eyes of Chu Zhenghe were full of undisguised killing intent, Quici thought we had just experienced the civil war and inevitably had undermined our constitution. With only 150,000 troops, they dare to flood Qinyang Pass with blood. Once the strong cavalry of my Great Chu rides out, they must be taught to come with no return!Yet Ye Huaili said, It's better to outflank them. They have already occupied three cities and seized a large quantity of provisions. They have plenty of time to dawdle with us. We have to think of an ingenious method as we can't confront force with force.The national treasury is empty and to use the various resources in hand really need meticulous planning as well as strict budgeting.As his words touched the crucial point, Chu Jinglan cast him an appreciative look and then said, In recent years, Quici has made a lot of money by virtue of the Silk Road and has greatly improved its armaments and armed forces. It is no longer vulnerable like those years, thus you all must not be careless. In Our opinion, if we want to win, the only way is to sneak attack separately and break through at the same time.Your Majesty's meaning is The three cities are not far apart. With the troops evenly deployed, we can form a horizontal solidarity force. Any attack on one of the cities will attract reinforcements from the other. Since the number of our forces are small, the consequences will be inconceivable if we are being flanked. Thus, it will be better to attack at the same time. This way, the disparity in strength is within control with no fear of attacks from behind.After pondering for a moment, Chu Zhenghe said, What the Imperial Brother said is right. As the saying goes, maintain the status quo to cope with whatever changes. We have to be the one in control of the situation and mustn't let them have a chance to take the lead.But even after the segregation of this Minister and Junwang, there is still one city without a lead attack. Your Majesty, you are not planning to Ye Huaili feared Chu Jinglan would speak out the words personally lead troops into battle, that he forgot the etiquette of being a minister and just looked at him while holding his breath. Yet he smiled evidently and spoke slowly, Imperial Uncle has forgotten. Many young talents have been selected during the spring imperial examination. Top Scholar Wu, Wei Tang are both excelled in martial arts and well-read in military books, who perhaps can be of use.Yes, how could he have forgotten this. The royal court has now recruited a lot of fresh blood and it is no longer without any personnel available like the previous year when Chu Jinglan first took over.Ye Huaili lowered his head and said, It's this Minister's slip-up.No matter. Chu Jinglan waved his hand and said to both of them, But after all, they don't have much actual combat experience and it is the first time to lead the troops. You both must guide them strictly to avoid any setback.This Minister understands.Since the people had been decided, the rest was precisely the issue pertaining to supplies allocation. After a moment of careful discussion and the thorough finalization, the few people then withdrew when Chu Jinglan specially stopped Ye Huaili.Go take a look at Yang'er there.The tip of Ye Huaili's eyebrows jerked slightly and he said, This Minister got it.In those past years, it was always Ye Huaiyang who sent him off, but this time she is not well enough to do so and will be bound to feel upset for a while. So in order to set her mind at ease, he should go and bid her farewell.Thinking of such, Ye Huaili turned and walked towards Taiji Palace with a silhouette resembling the wind that left an ink-like vague shadow.He had really come at the right time since Ye Huaixin happened to be here too. When Yue'ya led him into the hall, the two of them were beside the rocking bed playing with Chu Xiang and after careful listening, their conversations were simply both funny and extremely embarrassing.Hey! Why did he pounce into my arms?Xiang'er, Mother is here. That's your uncle, don't be mistaken by him!Ye Huaili's face twitched a few times before he lifted the bead curtains to walk in. Sure enough, he saw Chu Xiang clambered and crawled in the wobbling rocking bed towards Ye Huaixin. Even after Ye Huaiyang carried him back to sit properly, he would start kicking again a few seconds later. He is simply tenacious that perhaps no one in the entire Ye family is as lively and active like him.Ye Huaiyang soon gave up reasoning with him and simply stuffed him into Ye Huaixin's arms.Then just go and see if he smells as good as Mother.Chu Xiang chuckled, then using his little chubby hand that was just in his mouth to grab Ye Huaixin's nose. With his face stained with saliva, he dodged woefully while Chu Xiang was even more excited and left another string of crystals on his lapels. He wanted to cry without tears and could only plead for Ye Huaiyang's help.Elder Sister, hurry up and take him away, please!Ye Huaiyang was so happy having her hand-off, she not only didn't help him but instead pretended to be helpless and said, Who asked you to look similar to me? There is nothing to be done except to let him have enough fun.Then I can't go out to face others! Ye Huaixin fumbled to pull that chubby hand off. When he looked up and saw Ye Huaili, his eyes lit up instantly, Big Brother, save me!Ye Huaiyang looked back in surprise and smiled radiantly at once seeing that dashing figure.Elder Brother, what brings you here?Came to see you and Xiang'er. Saying so, Ye Huaili walked over to the side of the rocking bed. His usually stern face actually revealed a touch of affection, Xiang'er is getting more and more mischievous.That's right. Big Brother hurriedly helped me teach him a good lesson.Saying that, Ye Huaiyang quickly moved Chu Xiang into Ye Huaili's arms. Gathering him up promptly, he merely felt as if a heavy lump of small meatball was in his arms, which was heavier than the sword he usually held. Sizing him up carefully, the bottom of the purple buttoned shirt could barely cover him as half of the white round fleshy belly was already on display, which was really amusing.And Chu Xiang just let him look and totally not mischievous like before. He just quietly ate his own hands while occasionally raising his tenderly delicate little face to look at him. This blinking of the big round eyes led to the movement of his densely long eyelashes which made him appear all the more lovable and roused others to love him dearly.Ye Huaili suddenly remembered Ye Huaiyang as a child.He was already eight years old and at the age of knowing a little of everything when she was born. Seeing his mother's belly gradually swelled into a ball and deflated suddenly with the arrival of two identical pink dumplings in front of him, when one of them opened its eyes and smiled at him. Though wrinkled, he fell in love at once.Later, that pink dumpling gradually grew up and was able to walk and jump, then all the more like to cling to him. The soft little body always pounced into his arms and was quite heavy, just like Chu Xiang now.Time really flows like water. The pink dumpling had given birth to a little dumpling. If there's anything that he is not satisfied with, then it must be Chu Xiang's looks who totally takes after that man's and doesn't inherit the least bit from Yang'er.Nevertheless, he still loves him very much.Xiang'er, this is Big Uncle, do you recognize him?Under Ye Huaiyang's guidance, he tilted his head to look at him for a long time then suddenly drew back the corners of his toothless mouth and grinned. He even presented to the side of Ye Huaili's mouth his wet fingers, as if he wanted to feed him and Ye Huaiyang immediately became jealous.You don't even give when Mother wants to eat it, but are inclined to give your uncle to eat!Ye Huaili appeared helpless but his heart was delighted as he raised a hand to touch Chu Xiang's head and said, Good Xiang'er.After saying that, he sat down on the side with Chu Xiang in his arms, who curiously played with the adornments around his waist without making any noise or trouble. Hence, the few adults talked about serious matters.How's your waist, Yang'er?Ye Huaiyang smiled thinly and said, It's already much better.Here we go again. Every time when she was asked, she would say she's fine. But it has been half a year since she consumes the medicine and is bound with a girdle, yet still not knowing how long this will take. Seeing how strenuous it was for her to carry Chu Xiang and her every movement was not as nimble as she used to be, Ye Huaili really felt tugging pain in his heart.She thought he didn't know that her accidental abduction by the White Lotus Sect was precisely because she wanted to buy him a birthday gift which since was the root cause of this ailment.The melancholy that Ye Huaili felt was not noticed by Ye Huaixin, who instead asked curiously, Big Brother, weren't you discussing military matters with His Majesty? Why do you have time to come here?The discussions are over. Ye Huaili paused, then looked down at Chu Xiang in his arms, Tomorrow, Junwang and I will lead our troops to Qinyang Pass. I'm afraid we won't be able to attend Xiang'er's first birthday ceremony.Leaving in such a hurry? Ye Huaiyang was slightly startled that the hand which was wiping Chu Xiang's saliva paused too, There's incessant sand blown by the northwest wind and common appearance of skaapsteker and other poisonous creatures, you must be careful while on the move. As it happens, Lu Heng will be sending the medicine over, I will ask him to give you some specially made antidote.As she said that, she was going to ask Yue'ya to make a trip to the Imperial Hospital and even wanted to give Ye Huaili the soft hedgehog armor and the bronze protective plate which were tributes offered by the vassal states, but was quickly stopped by Ye Huaili who said, It's not the first time I'm leaving home to war. What can happen? Don't bustle about, just be completely at ease.Then followed by Chu Xiang's exclamation who then started spitting bubbles at Ye Huaiyang, causing her to feel both amusing and annoying at the same time.You don't even understand what Mother and Uncle are talking about, why are you meddling about. Ye Huaiyng squeezed his chubby little face then turned to look at Ye Huaili and sighed faintly, Then you must pay attention to safety and dispose of those barbarians quickly. We will wait for your return.Okay. Ye Huaili smiled lightly with full certainty.He has always known that forewarned is being forearmed in the matter of defending the frontier and the common people, while Ye Huaiyang understands this is where he belongs. She can't slow him down due to the fear of danger since that will not be right.Taking Chu Xiang back into her arms, she raised his little hand and said to Ye Huaili, Xiang'er, quickly wish Uncle a valiant retreat of the enemy and to return home in great victory!Chu Xiang waved his hands excitedly, as if he really understood what she was saying and prompted all the adults to burst out laughing.Caressing his soft tender face, Ye Huaili sighed softly, Xiang'er will probably have become a big baby when Uncle comes back and not knowing if he will still recognize Uncle.Ye Huaiyang replied with a genial smile, Of course he will. Xiang'er likes Uncle the most, right?Pffffffff The bubble-spitting monster answered with pragmatic actions.Author spoke her mind:Chu Xiang with a dumbfounded face: How come there are two mothers?
