The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

49

I apologize for not uploading for a long time, I've been busy with my personal matters lately. So as compensation here are 3 chapters!

______________________________________________________

When Xiao Zhige and An Chang Qing returned to the General's Manor, Zhou He Lan had managed to invite a craftsman back.

Yanzhou was not a prosperous land. Even the rich lived frugal lives. As such, there were only two jewelry stores and their products were mostly gold and silver with small pieces of jade inlaid for design.

After inquiring one by one, Zhou He Lan was able to find an old craftsman with decent skills to bring back.

The old craftsman took a long time to carefully study the emerald stones and concluded, "There's no mistake, this is jade. But some are of a pure color and translucency while the rest are of poor qualities, these cannot be sold for much."

He then separated the dozen or so stones into two piles; the larger pile was the inferior jade and the other consisted of clear and flawless Imperial-grade jade. But even so, the few pieces of precious stones could still be sold for lucrative sums in Yejing.

The business-minded Zhou He Lan who had always been calm was starting to get excited.

By the time An Chang Qing and Xiao Zhige came back, Zhou He Lan had arranged a place to rest for the old craftsman. Seeing them, he reported the findings.

An Chang Qing fiddled with the jade pieces, feeling like a pie had suddenly dropped from the sky. He looked at Xiao Zhige with bright, sparkling eyes.

Xiao Zhige considered briefly and asked Zhou He Lan if he remembered the location of the mountain range with the jade mine so he could have Chang Zai Chang send troops to survey the land.

Zhou He Lan searched his memories and came up with a rough location. He drew a topographic map and described the shape of the mountain range. Xiao Zhige then personally wrote a letter and placed his private seal on it before having it sent to Liangzhou with speed.

Liangzhou was right next to Yanzhou and a round trip would take only three days. Xiao Zhige informed An Chang Qing, "We should receive a reply in three days."

However, on the third day, there was still no reply from Chang Zai Chang. Even the messenger had not returned. A scout came to report that Hu Yan Xun's army, which Xiao Zhige had previously driven back, had regrouped and was preparing for an attack.

Xiao Zhige gathered his lieutenants to discuss the countermeasures. At present, although the food crisis had been temporarily resolved, it would not last for long. In addition, the spring harvest was approaching. During this time, the soldiers were also responsible for assisting the farmers with plowing the fields in between battles. If this war was dragged out, the Beidi people could afford to feed their army through any means necessary but Yanzhou could not force its citizens to do the same.

"We have to make a quick decision," Xiao Zhige said authoritatively.

"But Hu Yan Xun will not withdraw easily this time," Qi Wei noted solemnly, "Our spies reported that the Beidi territories had suffered too heavily from the snow disaster. Their sheeps and cattle were killed by the cold and more recently, they lost their spring harvest due to crop infections. This all-out battle against Yanzhou was them fighting with their backs against the river.1 If they cannot conquer Yanzhou, as the supreme commander, Hu Yan Xun will be condemned by the Beidi Court."

Otherwise, Hu Yan Xun would not have continued to join the subsequent battles after his loss of an arm and the defeat at Hongya. Like a cornered beast, even in death, he had to at least take a bite of Yanzhou.