The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 313 Fear

Qi Yongji, a man from the Brown Kingdom, managed to hide a batch of valuable items in Liaozhou that could allow him to turn his life around, despite the seemingly lax but actually tight security of the Dayong Kingdom.

This was an utter disgrace to the Great Yong Dynasty.

In particular, He Wuyu, who was stationed in Liaozhou, punished himself with fifty strokes of the military rod after the matter was over.

Even though the punishment was somewhat diluted with the tacit approval of all parties, He Wuyu still lay in bed for two months before recovering.

When did Qi Yongji hide the items in Liaozhou?

It was during the time he kidnapped Zheng Jiao.

It must be said that he was extremely bold, and if he hadn't suddenly decided to take Zheng Jin away, he wouldn't have revealed his whereabouts at all.

Thus, a difficult problem arose before everyone—how to handle this transaction.

In response to this matter, the court was divided into two factions. One faction, concerned about Qi Yongji's future plans, supported fulfilling the agreement, while the other faction, unwilling to become Qi Yongji's ally, firmly supported breaking the agreement.

In the end, the faction that broke the contract prevailed.

Unfortunately, no matter what they choose, it will have no impact on Qi Yongji.

Because his shipment was never in Liaozhou.

Since the decision has been made to break the contract, Dayong should naturally do it thoroughly.

Once the plan was decided, He Wuyu requested a team from Zheng Xun to search for Qi Yongji's goods in eastern Liaozhou.

Out of caution, Zheng Jiao led another team to search the western part of Liaozhou.

After all, Qi Yongji is so cunning, who knows how much of his words are true?

However, as soon as they arrived at the location Qi Yongji had told them, they ran into the army of the Brown Kingdom's emperor.

Yes, the other party already knew the location where Qi Yongji had hidden his things. The reason they sent people to Liaozhou at great risk was to find out what Qi Yongji had hidden.

Moreover, the emperor of the Brown Kingdom and Zheng Jiao had the same idea and sent people to both the east and west.

It was at this moment that He Wuyu realized something was wrong.

"We always thought Qi Yongji would have a backup plan, but what if he didn't?"

Her adjutant asked doubtfully, "No backup plan? He can't really be gambling on General Xu's character, can he?"

"Qi Yongji is now forced to hide by the emperor of the Brown Kingdom and has risked coming to Dayong. If he runs into our people, he will definitely lose a lot of strength. With the balance of power shifting, the emperor of the Brown Kingdom may gain the upper hand. He is not that stupid."

The lieutenant's expression changed drastically: "Is he lying to us?"

He Wuyu's gaze gleamed with a hint of sharpness in the dim night: "What if he himself revealed the location of the hidden goods? Wouldn't the Emperor of the Brown Kingdom and we be hooked now?"

Thinking about it this way, things start to make sense.

Qi Yongji did not hide any goods in Liaozhou at all.

He was betting that Dayong would definitely break the contract, and that after he released the news, the emperor of Heguo would definitely come to intercept him.

In this way, when the two sides clash, as long as either side suffers losses, his objective will be achieved.

"So, those goods never existed at all." The lieutenant's face was grim.

"Perhaps there really is such a batch of goods, but it is hidden within the territory of the Brown Kingdom. Qi Yongji's previous actions were just to confuse the public."

"Then what are we going to do?"

He Wuyu narrowed his eyes.

"Send a team to cause trouble for Qi Yongji, don't let him have it too easy."

"Wouldn't it be too dangerous to venture deep into the Brown Kingdom?"

"Our soldiers lack training, are you aware of that?"

The lieutenant looked up in disbelief: "General?"

"The two countries will eventually go to war. Although we have never slacked off in our training, it is different when we face each other with real weapons."

"But……"

"As you can see now, our opponents are intelligent and decisive. If we don't make adequate preparations, we will only suffer more casualties when facing such an enemy."

The deputy general was speechless. He couldn't persuade He Wuyu, nor could he be as decisive as her.

He could only drink pot after pot of strong liquor late at night.

Having seen through Qi Yongji's scheme, He Wuyu ultimately chose not to avoid him.

As long as there is war, death is unavoidable.

Others were unaware of the details of the matter, only knowing that Da Yong had been tricked by Qi Yongji, resulting in the sacrifice of many soldiers' lives.

Because of this incident, both inside and outside the court, there was deep resentment towards Qi Yongji.

Back to the present, Zheng Xun interrupted Cen Wan after she had said more than a dozen sharp words: "Alright, I didn't expect He Yan to be able to hold off Qi Yongji for long anyway."

Cen Wan looked disgusted: "However, Mu Zhuo sent a message saying that Qi Yongji seems to have become suspicious of him."

Zheng Xun slowed down his movements as he sorted through the documents: "What's going on?"

"Qi Yongji was lucky. He just happened to want to eat pigeon meat, and who knew that he would shoot down the carrier pigeon that Mu Zhuo was sending messages."

Zheng Xun was not surprised at all.

It's normal for the main character to be lucky.

How did you come to suspect them?

In this era, there were only a few ways to communicate, so it was quite normal for the powerful and wealthy to keep pigeons.

Mu Zhuo and his team would never openly write down information in their messages; they used coded language, so ordinary people wouldn't be able to detect anything unusual.

Cen Wan's tone was subtle: "Mu Zhuo's letter looks like a very simple poem, but the content of the poem... is a bit explicit."

Mu Zhuo's wife faked her death and left, and is now living comfortably in Dayong.

As for Mu Zhuo, who remained in the Brown Kingdom, it seemed quite reasonable that his wife had passed away and he sought a new love.

The person who contacted Mu Zhuo was not some lover, but a delicate young woman.

However, Qi Yongji thought that Mu Zhuo was lonely, so he gave him several girls instead.

Mu Zhuo pretended to be deeply in love with Jiao Lian and didn't get close to these people. However, with so many eyes openly watching him in the mansion, no matter how careful he was, he couldn't help but give himself away.

“Bring him and Jiaolian back.”

Cen Wan remained silent.

Zheng Xun put down the folded document and looked at her: "Do you feel it's a pity?"

"Lord Mu has finally gained Qi Yongji's trust... and he is too much of a target. Bringing him back will probably take a lot of effort."

It's not easy to cultivate such a hidden storyline.

What worried her more was that doing so would arouse Qi Yongji's suspicion.

"Mu Zhuo has done enough for Dayong. I cannot let him down. As for your concerns..." Zheng Xun leaned on the table and said slowly, "You don't think Dayong will always be on the defensive, do you?"

Cen Wan: "Huh? Isn't that right?"

After blurting out those words, she realized that her mindset was not quite right.

When facing Qi Yongji, Zheng Xun's stance was always to avoid him if possible, and never confront him directly.

They had also clashed with the Brown Kingdom several times, both openly and covertly, but they lost more often than they won, and sometimes they even inadvertently helped Qi Yongji.

For example, most of the death row inmates sent there to stir up trouble ended up in Qi Yongji's hands.

After Qi Yongji dealt with those people, his reputation actually increased.

As a result, the court officials and officials became increasingly cautious in their treatment of Qi Yongji.