The Ugly Empress by Yun Guo Shi Fei / 丑娘娘 by 云过是非

Chapter 29 - If You Were a Man

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When Teng Yun heard Xue Junliang's words, he wanted to laugh. Sure enough, a king always wished to possess everything, even a troop of one thousand soldiers he could not let go. That aside, Xue Yu bringing one thousand soldiers; these soldiers must be his main source of strength and his must trusted aides.

Xue Junliang deliberately wanted to give the Empress an impossible problem to solve. He saw with his own two eyes the Empress and Xue Yu were talking just now. He was sure she would never find solutions, and therefore could not prove she and Xue Yu had no connections.

But never would have he thought the Empress would actually smile.

He already knew this Empress was smart, but no matter how smart she was, she was still a woman of the Imperial Harem. Docile and obedient women would not know anything about military tactics.

But Xue Junliang didn't know Teng Yun. Teng Yun might be able suffer hardships in silence, but he was always talented and far-sighted. When it came to competing for favors with Xue Wang's other wives, he chose to sit still. But when it came to military and war tactics, no one was more capable than Teng Yun.

Teng Yun said, "Your Majesty could just forcefully seize his soldiers, only need a few words."

Xue Junliang said, "I want Xue Yu not be able to refuse."

"When you want something, you have to give something first. Since the old times, no rulers granted someone with favors for no reason. If Your Majesty wants to take Marquis Zhenjiang's soldiers, why don't you give him something sweet first?"

Only with these few sentences, Xue Junliang's mind cleared and he could already see what he planned to do, but he still wanted to hear more from the Empress, so he said, "Carry on."

Teng Yun said, "Marquis Zhenjiang's purpose of coming to the capital city is to hold an Worship Ceremony for the ancestors. After the ceremony, he will return to the border. Before he returns, Your Majesty can hold a military evaluation and deem his soldiers as not good enough. Then Your Majesty can hand over twelve to twenty personnel from your own personal Imperial Guards to escort Lord Marquis."

Hearing this, Xue Junliang couldn't help smiling, "I never expected Aifei to be this cunning."

"It's just a thought," Teng Yun said, "Your Imperial Majesty handing over your own personal Imperial Guards, it's such a great favor to whoever receives it. Lord Marquis will not be able to say no."

"Right, then I can use these twelve to twenty personnel of Imperial Guards as an exchange for a thousand soldiers, it's a good bargain, indeed."

Xue Junliang reached a hand to catch a few loose hair on the Empress' cheeks and put them behind her ear. His touch was extremely gentle. Then he said softly, "I never expected I'd have a woman who, not only has intelligence not inferior to men's, but is also very resourceful, as my Empress."

Hearing those words, Teng Yun's heart chilled. Using his current identity as Feng Country's Grand Princess to talk about military tactics, he would definitely attract suspicions.

However, Xue Junliang didn't continue wondering about the Empress' unusual knowledge, instead opened a new topic, "Gu almost forgot about another thing... The date for Triennial Selection is approaching. I want Aifei help me organize and supervise the event so it can run smoothly according to the rules."

Xue Junliang thought the Empress would be nervous when she heard about the Triennial Selection. After all, the Empress still had no child to rely on, hadn't even consented to bed with him. Hearing about the Triennial Selection should've given her a sense of crisis.