The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

45

Qi Wei brought along a few soldiers to welcome An Chang Qing's group into the city.

The travel-worn An Chang Qing was then invited to rest at the General's Manor together with the Imperial Supervisor.

The General's Manor was void of habitants. There were no servants and hence, the soldier who had led them in had to take over and served tea to the guests.

An Chang Qing thought that he could meet Xiao Zhige once he reached Yanzhou but the person was nowhere to be found. He asked the attending soldier, "Is Wangye not in the city?"

The soldier replied, "The General has left the city!"

An Chang Qing grimaced and asked, "When will he return?"

"I do not know."

Seeing that he could not get any other information from the soldier, An Chang Qing decided to wait till he met the vice lieutenant for further enquiries.

An Chang Qing and the Imperial Supervisor finished their tea, only then did Qi Wei come in.

Due to what happened to the previous batch of grains, Qi Wei had personally gone to check on the newly delivered batch. When he found that there were only 20,000 buckets, he was slightly riled.

They had requested 100,000 buckets but only 20,000 were delivered. Just how long could 20,000 buckets sustain an army?

The previous excitement turned into indignation. Qi Wei saw the disappointment in his subordinates and flung his hand, "Let me ask what's going on!"

Facing the two head figures, Qi Wei knew to show his respect. He bowed and lowered his voice to ask, "Two sirs, if the grain count is correct, 20,000 buckets is far from enough to support the entire army through the war."

The Imperial Supervisor looked briefly at An Chang Qing before answering sternly, "This is a donation from Wangfei. Your request had reached His Majesty. His Majesty had decreed that an investigation be carried out on the arson case and if confirmed to be legitimate, the court will make up for the lacking quantity."

Qi Wei had not registered which Wangfei he was referring to when he heard that the arson was to be investigated. In a moment, his anger flared up, "The evidence is clear as day, what is there to investigate?! By the time you're done with the investigation and the grains are delivered, the soldiers of Yangzhou will have long starved to death!"

"Qi Wei!" A majestic male voice came from behind.

Xiao Zhige heard about the arrival of the provisions the moment he returned. Without even taking off his armor, he immediately went to the General's Manor. When he arrived and heard Qi Wei's exchange with the Imperial Supervisor, Li An Ming, Xiao Zhige hurriedly blocked his words.

He handed his spear to the soldier at the door and strode in.

"Minister Li, investigate if you must, but this..."

Xiao Zhige's words were stuck in his throat the moment he saw the person sitting next to Li An Ming.

It took him a while to find his voice to ask, "Why are you here?"

An Chang Qing had been staring at the door ever since he heard his voice. Because there were people around, he had to suppress his excitement and keep himself from standing up.

The other person had lost a lot of weight and looked much rougher than before. Maybe because he had just returned from the battlefield, his armor was still stained with dried blood. Coming closer, one could even smell the scent of blood.

This was the first time that An Chang Qing had seen Xiao Zhige with this rugged appearance. However, his eyes were still sharp and dignified. This is the General guarding over the Da Ye Empire – his General.