Feng Xiwu's breath hitched. He hugged Lu Qingwan tightly before slowly saying, "The King of Youzhou has arrived."
"Huh?"
His words and actions were completely disconnected. Lu Qingwan blinked stupidly. "What?"
"The King of Youzhou learned that my imperial brother and I were trapped in Zhongzhou. He rushed here day and night with thirty thousand troops to rescue us brothers."
Lu Qingwan was stunned. "Where is he?"
"Just outside Ziyang Pass."
Feng Xiwu released her. The tension that had been building since Lan An's rebellion seemed to finally ease.
"General Qin Shiguan is also with him."
Feng Xiwu tapped his fingers, then gently rubbed the soot off Lu Qingwan's face. "Our brothers were worried you and I would be bullied in Daqin. They followed us from the northwest all the way to Daqin, hiding in various places. When they heard about the Lan family's rebellion, they caught up immediately. Sixty thousand Xuanjia Army soldiers from the Xuanzi Camp are hidden in the mountain bandit stronghold in the East, ready to fight for us at any moment."
Lu Qingwan chuckled. "Stop joking. Six hundred would be more like it. With the help of Banyuange, Buye Zhou, and Lunhui Hall, it's plausible they could sneak in. Sixty thousand troops – they'd dare to come, but how could they hide?" Daqin was vast and rich, but sixty thousand was not sixty people. How could they follow without a sound?
Feng Xiwu removed his helmet and touched his forehead to Lu Qingwan's. "Honestly, I didn't believe it at first, but look, who is that?"
"Who?"
Lu Qingwan turned her head and saw someone unexpected.
"Wen Jiting, why is he here?"
After months apart, Wen Jiting wore a suit of silver armor and was directing the Imperial Guards to re-establish defenses. A thought flashed through Lu Qingwan's mind. "You're not going to tell me that one of the seven envoys of Lunhui Hall holds a high position in the Daqin court, are you?" To allow sixty thousand foreign troops to enter Zhongzhou undetected, how high would this person's position need to be?
Feng Xiwu shook his head. "He only told me that it was his doing that Qin Shiguan and those sixty thousand troops could enter the Eastern Mountains, but how he arranged it, he would only tell you." Lu Qingwan was already accustomed to Lunhui Hall's way of operating, like protecting rare animals, and their actions were increasingly aligning with her wishes. She had to admit, Qin Shiguan's sixty thousand troops were exactly what she needed. There was no way she would turn them away. After a moment of thought, Lu Qingwan calmly accepted.
"Fine, I always felt that Daqin's soldiers lacked proper discipline and weren't very effective. General Qin's arrival is perfect. But let's not have them reveal themselves for now. I'll have Li Jin prepare their provisions later. For now, shouldn't we go meet the King of Youzhou?"
Frankly, when he had instructed Ying Yi to inform the King of Youzhou not to change his entourage, it was only to prevent Emperor Gengshi from wrongly accusing the King of Youzhou. After all, if he brought thirty thousand men into the capital and arrived in Zhongzhou with fewer, it would easily arouse suspicion. But Lu Qingwan truly hadn't expected the King of Youzhou's reaction to be such a swift reinforcement with thirty thousand troops. If Emperor Gengshi were not unconscious, the charge of rebellion would surely be pinned on him. As a regional king, the King of Youzhou couldn't possibly not realize this. The only possibility was that the elder Lu Qingwan had never met, for the sake of his two grandchildren, had placed his own safety and that of the King of Youzhou's manor at risk.
"We should go see my maternal grandfather." Feng Xiwu took Lu Qingwan's hand and said solemnly, "Do you dare to go out of Ziyang Pass with me?"
The King of Youzhou brought his troops, and without a suitable reason, he could not enter Ziyang Pass. Once inside Ziyang Pass, the suspicion of rebellion would double. Feng Xiwu going out to meet the King of Youzhou was also to devise a mutually beneficial strategy with him. Lu Qingwan understood. "An elder dared to bring troops into the capital for us, why should I fear going out of Ziyang Pass?"
Feng Xiwu rubbed the back of Lu Qingwan's head silently and ordered loudly, "Li Jin, open the gate!"
Indeed, all the capable individuals under Feng Xiwu's command, except for Li Su who was injured, were here. The Twelve Months around Lu Qingwan were also present. After the battle of Ziyang Pass, Feng Xiwu was destined to become famous throughout Daqin's Nine Provinces, and at such a time, the people by his side were still those he brought from Daqian. His subordinates, his wife, and naturally, the King of Youzhou guarding outside Ziyang Pass, his true maternal grandfather.
As the gate of Ziyang Pass opened, Lu Qingwan and Feng Xiwu walked out hand in hand. Li Jin was worried. "Princess Consort, Princess Consort, let us follow you. What if..." Although the King of Youzhou was Feng Xiwu's maternal grandfather, everyone knew that Feng Xiwu had never even met the elder in the past twenty-three years. Who knew if he was friend or foe?
Feng Xiwu shook his head at him. "I can disregard Daqin, but I cannot chill someone's heart before they have done anything." Moreover, he had heard enough about what the King of Youzhou's manor had done for him and Si Fengming.
Li Jin fell silent. He knew he couldn't stop Feng Xiwu once he had made up his mind, but his expression was still hesitant. Seeing this, Lu Qingwan smiled. "Take a squadron of men to the city wall. Take this. If the situation turns bad, directly deploy the steel wire crossbows, and I'll escort the Prince back." This was undoubtedly a perfect solution. As she spoke, she handed Li Jin a telescope. Li Jin's eyes lit up. He nodded with satisfaction. "As you command!" With that, he immediately signaled to Li Yang, who quickly stepped forward, took the telescope, and led his men straight to the city wall.
Feng Xiwu looked at them with amusement, about to say something. Lu Qingwan quickly took his arm and walked out. "Lan An was foolish, but Lan Huaxiao is not. According to intelligence, Lan Huaxiao took twelve cannons, but we've only found eight so far. The remaining four cannons and Lan family's three thousand soldiers are still unaccounted for. Where do you think they are?" Feng Xiwu's attention was immediately diverted. "Didn't we say earlier that Lan An's hasty uprising was all a scheme by Emperor Gengshi and the King of Ji? When Lan Huaxiao was ordered to guard Ziyang Pass, he probably didn't know that the King of Ji was just bait Emperor Gengshi set for them, right?"
Lu Qingwan understood. "You mean those four cannons have been taken over by the King of Ji?"
"Not necessarily entirely by the King of Ji, but at least they are no longer in Lan Huaxiao's hands. Otherwise, Lan Huaxiao would have used them just now."
"If that's the case, why has the King of Ji remained silent until now? What is he up to?" The two of them were speechless at the chaos in Daqin. They couldn't understand how a dynasty that had not seen war for twenty-three years could be thrown into such disarray by a small rebellion. Consequently, no one could answer Lu Qingwan's question about the King of Ji's current actions.