Hua Yuanyi finally met Yun Ci.
Seeing Yun Ci seated in a wheelchair, he felt a lump in his throat. “General, it’s been a long time.”
Yun Ci smiled. “It certainly has. Sit.”
Hua Yuanyi worked hard to compose himself. Only after bowing respectfully did he take a seat.
He had once served under Yun Ci, spending more than two years in the Northeastern Military Headquarters before being transferred back to Dingyang.
Later, when the First Prince was enfeoffed as the Prince of Jiji in Sizhou, Hua Yuanyi was transferred there by the emperor as well.
“Your leg?” he asked hesitantly.
Yun Ci had long since come to terms with what had happened to his leg, and his voice was easygoing. “I can’t stand anymore, but my lord took pity on me and had this wheelchair made. I can still get around fairly well.”
“That’s good.” Hua Yuanyi could tell that Yun Ci did not want to discuss the matter further.
“I hear your girl is serving in the military now?” Yun Ci said with a smile and a sigh of emotion. “Like father, like daughter.”
Then he changed tack. “Although, I think your daughter is even better than you. At the very least, she has better judgment.”
Back then, Hua Ruo’s twin blades had been tempered by the Armory.
Hua Yuanyi: “…”
Was Yun Ci insulting him, or the First Prince?
“Ah Ruo is indeed serving in the Jinyang Army,” he said with an awkward chuckle, unable to hide his pride.
Hua Ruo was already a battalion commander. After these few battles, it would not be long before she was promoted to regimental commander.
Still, once she reached the rank of regimental commander, advancing any further would be difficult.
Shuangjiang, for instance, had rendered outstanding military service, yet was still only a regimental commander.
Of course, not all regimental commanders were equal. The number of troops under Shuangjiang’s command was far greater than the standard regiment of just over a thousand soldiers.
Yun Ci gave a soft hum. “Since you’ve come to Ge Feng, you should stay a while. Take the opportunity to look around and see more of the place.”
“All right,” Hua Yuanyi agreed. Then, remembering something, he asked, “Is the Grand General also with the Jinyang Army?”
Yun Ci nodded. “That’s right. But he’s currently with the lord in Shouli County of Liuxiang Commandery. It will probably be several more days before he returns. If you’re in a hurry to see him, you can go to Shouli County yourself.”
Hua Yuanyi shook his head. “I was only asking.”
Yun Ci stroked his beard. “Did you come here for some particular purpose?”
Hua Yuanyi froze. For a moment, he genuinely could not remember why the First Prince had sent him to Fengzhou.
What had he come to Fengzhou for?
Oh, right—to investigate the situation and discuss cooperation.
The events of the past few days had been so intense that he had nearly forgotten his actual mission.
Before Hua Yuanyi had departed, the First Prince had sought him out in private and hinted that, if possible, he should obtain the Jinyang Army’s repeating crossbows.
Sizhou had iron mines, along with the finest blacksmiths and weaponsmiths.
The First Prince believed that as long as he acquired the blueprints for the repeating crossbows—or simply got his hands on one or two of them—he would be able to reproduce them.
What had Hua Yuanyi said in response back then?
After thinking for a moment, he remembered. He had said that he would do his best.
But the problem now was not whether he had tried his best. Of the five thousand soldiers he had brought to Fengzhou, only around a thousand wounded men remained. Fewer than two hundred were still fit for battle.
How was he supposed to explain this to the First Prince?
Seeing him fall silent, Yun Ci asked in confusion, “What is it?”
Hua Yuanyi sighed. “The First Prince wants to negotiate an alliance with Princess Jinyang.”
A flicker of mockery passed through Yun Ci’s eyes. “What kind of alliance?”
Hua Yuanyi was quite frank. “Naturally, he wants the north and south to join forces against the barbarians. Ideally, our powerful weapons and equipment would also be shared between us.”
Yun Ci immediately understood that he was referring to the repeating crossbows. He was not surprised by the First Prince’s actions in the least. Indeed, any ruler who learned of such a formidable weapon would want to claim it for himself.
What surprised him was Hua Yuanyi’s candor. For the moment, the two sides were not enemies, but neither were they allies.
Hua Yuanyi sighed. “Even if I said nothing, you would have figured it out.”
“Besides,” he added helplessly, “all of you seem to have forgotten that I’m not actually one of the First Prince’s men.”
Yun Ci was stunned for a moment before finally remembering Hua Yuanyi’s true position.
Back then, the emperor had indeed ordered Hua Yuanyi to accompany the First Prince to Jiji Commandery in Sizhou.
But he had not handed Hua Yuanyi—and the army under his command—over to the First Prince. Instead, he had sent Hua Yuanyi to assist the First Prince in governing Jiji Commandery.
In theory, if the First Prince managed his fief properly, Hua Yuanyi would be his staunchest supporter, helping him maintain the security and defenses of Jiji Commandery.
But if the First Prince developed other ambitions, Hua Yuanyi would become a blade in Emperor Yan’s hand, ready to be turned against him at any moment.
Of course, this arrangement had not been devised by the emperor himself. It had been decided by Grand General Zhou Sui and the Imperial Secretariat Chancellor at the time, with the emperor’s approval.
Thinking of the emperor, Hua Yuanyi’s feelings grew complicated.
Especially when he remembered the emperor’s enormous golden bed—its extravagance had been almost unbearable to behold.
Put simply, if the national treasury contained one hundred thousand gold pieces, the emperor alone would use ninety thousand of them. Only the remaining ten thousand would go toward national defense and the people’s livelihood.
But if one said the emperor was a bad ruler, that would not be entirely fair either. He had his own methods of judging people and could usually distinguish loyalty from treachery. Toward those who were loyal to him, he generally gave them free rein.
Just as he had with Grand General Zhou Sui’s proposals, the emperor accepted most suggestions—except requests for money.
In short, his attitude was: “There’s no money to give. You can have my life instead. No one is allowed to lower my standard of living. As for everything else, handle it yourselves.”
After the emperor’s death, everything had changed.
Even Hua Yuanyi himself had come to believe that he was a man of the First Prince.
After all, the only person who could preserve the last remaining territory of the Yan Kingdom—Sizhou—was the First Prince.
Until Hua Yuanyi arrived in Fengzhou, that was.
Now he realized that perhaps there was another choice.
Yun Ci’s expression grew complicated, yet there was also a hint of relief. Hua Yuanyi’s words clearly carried another meaning.
He nodded. “That’s right. You are not one of the First Prince’s men. You are a general of the Yan Kingdom.”
Hua Yuanyi fell silent. After a moment, he asked solemnly, “Did you follow Princess Jinyang because you already knew her identity?”
Yun Ci picked up the cup on the table and took a sip before answering slowly, “Yes and no.”
“At first, it was indeed because she was the emperor’s daughter. Later, I realized that her imperial lineage was merely the icing on the cake.”
“Even if she were an ordinary person, she would still possess grain that could feed the people, repeating crossbows that could make enemy armies tremble, and, above all, a heart filled with compassion and a talent capable of shaping the world. It is only right that she become the ruler of this realm.”
Hua Yuanyi was astonished. He had never expected Yun Ci’s opinion of Princess Jinyang to be so high—
so high that he was willing to cast aside the imperial bloodline and replace the ruling dynasty.
