Qin Huaiqiu achieved an immediate victory in his first battle.
The news was sent back from the border to the capital. All the civil and military officials celebrated, and Sikuo Ting was extremely delighted. He bestowed the title of "Tiger General" on Qin Huaiqiu as a reward and promised that after Qin Huaiqiu's triumphant return, he would be enfeoffed as a top - general of the Dacheng Dynasty. His position would be equivalent to that of Dou Yuan, who was second only to the emperor. In another sense, it was equivalent to preparing to enfeoff Qin Huaiqiu as the right military general.
The left civil prime minister and the right military general were the foundation of the civil - military balance in the Dacheng Dynasty, official ranks that everyone yearned for.
Four days later, Qin Huaiqiu had led his men to reinforce the city walls in the areas of the Protectorate General to the West Regions, Yutian, and Qiuci, and had laid out defensive measures. Now, as a great general, Qin Huaiqiu arrived at the Protectorate General. To ensure that Qin Huaiqiu's command would encounter no obstacles, Qin Feng specifically stayed in the Protectorate General. In the past few days, he had almost taught Qin Huaiqiu step - by - step about the operations and plans of the entire army. Although Qin Huaiqiu was born into a military family, he had previously been in a subordinate position. He had never had any contact with details such as which place had the best - quality military rations, which city had a good relationship with the Qin family and could lend troops, and that the messages sent to the capital should not pass through the territory of enemies. This time, Qin Feng showed him all these things.
After all, Qin Feng really wanted to hand over the entire Qin family army to him.
He was old, and it was time for him to gradually relinquish his power.
In these few days, Qin Feng never mentioned the relationship between Qin Huaiqiu and Sikuo Ting again. When he had to mention Sikuo Ting during military discussions, he only spoke in a business - like tone without excessive emotional expression. He had truly accepted the relationship between Qin Huaiqiu and Sikuo Ting, which made Qin Huaiqiu extremely grateful and he became even more meticulous and dedicated in his work.
After much preparation in the Protectorate General, they finally uprooted all the hidden enemy strongholds east of the Tianshan Mountains. They also carried out a major purge of the army and found a dozen enemy spies.
Qin Huaiqiu made a prompt decision and beheaded them in public as a warning.
While Qin Huaiqiu was making preparations, the enemy was not idle either. Qin Huailian, bypassing the nearby areas, secretly sent people to find a direct route to Gengnan City.
According to Qin Huailian's plan, they needed to cross a mountain and a river to attack Gengnan City.
This was a very irrational plan from a military perspective. In terms of time, it was almost October. In the border areas, once October came, it was basically winter. After winter set in, it would be a problem to supply the troops. Gengnan City was located in a remote area. Although it was adjacent to the Kunlun Mountains, it was too far from Loulan. There was a risk of supply cut - off. If they managed to capture Gengnan City, it would be fine. But if they failed, the army might face the risk of freezing or starving to death.
Qin Huailian was confident. During a discussion with Huyelu, she directly threw a knife in front of Huyelu.
"I have my own way. Why do you care so much? Besides, do you have any other ideas? The city walls of the Protectorate General have been repaired to be three times as thick as before!" Qin Huailian said, glaring at Huyelu.
Huyelu was so angry that he pounded the table, but finally he compromised.
Part of the reason was that if the attack on the city was successful, he would not suffer a loss. If the attack failed, he could use this as an excuse to kill Qin Huailian. After all, he had long wanted to kill this woman.
On the fifth day.
In the imperial study of the Taihe Hall in the imperial city of the Dacheng Dynasty.
Sikuo Ting had been in a great mood these days. Frequent good news came from the front that the enemy had been driven out of the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains. With no major battles recently, Qin Huaiqiu wrote to him every day. They exchanged letters, sending one and then writing another, sharing their loneliness and longing for each other.
Sikuo Ting smelled the sealed envelope in his hand and loudly called out, "Xu Xian!"
Xu Xian quickly trotted in and bowed to Sikuo Ting, saying, "Your Majesty, you summoned this servant."
Sikuo Ting nodded with a smile and said, "Go and send this letter. It's still an urgent one."
"Yes." Xu Xian took the letter and backed out with his head down.
These days, the emperor always smiled while writing letters. Xu Xian didn't know what was going on, but it seemed that the emperor was very happy. In the past, if one wanted to see such an expression on the emperor's face, it usually required the efforts of Concubine De.
... By the way, why had the emperor sent Concubine De to the Huguo Temple for such a long time? It had been almost a month. Wasn't the emperor going to let her come back?
Xu Xian didn't know the reason, but since the emperor was in a good mood today, he didn't bother to think about it.
After handing the letter to the imperial messenger and carefully instructing him to be quick, Xu Xian was about to return to the imperial study to continue his duty.
Unexpectedly, the messenger suddenly seemed to remember something. He rummaged in his huge bag for a while and called out to Xu Xian, "Hey! Don't be in a hurry, eunuch. There's another letter!"
Xu Xian was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at him and said, "Oh, there's another letter. Then give it to this servant."
The emperor seemed to like these letters from the border without a signature at the end of the envelope recently. Xu Xian didn't know who sent them, but every time the emperor opened and read them, the joy on his face could not be concealed.
"Take it carefully, eunuch." The messenger bowed to Xu Xian.
Xu Xian took the envelope and looked at it for a while. It was exactly the same as the previous ones, an envelope without a signature. But for some reason, Xu Xian always felt a faint sense of unease.
"Eunuch? What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the letter?" The messenger asked when he saw Xu Xian staring at the envelope without saying a word for a long time.
Xu Xian stroked his chin and looked at it. He always felt something was wrong but couldn't put his finger on it. In the end, he didn't bother to think about it and said, "It's okay. There's no problem. This servant will leave now."
"Take care, eunuch."
Xu Xian returned to the imperial study along the same path.
He bowed slightly at the door and said to Sikuo Ting, who was still busy inside the imperial study, "Your Majesty, a letter has arrived."
"Hmm?" As expected, after hearing that a letter had arrived, Sikuo Ting's voice sounded different from his usual cold tone. He shouted from inside the room, "Quickly bring it in."
Xu Xian slowly pushed the door open and walked in. He saw that Sikuo Ting had put down his work and was looking at him with bright and expectant eyes.
Xu Xian knew that the emperor was looking forward to that letter.
He wondered what kind of smile this letter would bring to the emperor's face.
Xu Xian was secretly happy because when Sikuo Ting was happy, they servants could live more comfortably.
Xu Xian held the envelope with both hands and handed it to Sikuo Ting.
Sikuo Ting quickly took the letter and couldn't wait to open it.
Xu Xian silently stood to one side and raised his head slightly to observe Sikuo Ting's expression.
However, what Xu Xian had expected did not happen.
Sikuo Ting tore open the envelope as usual and deftly shook out the letter paper. Suddenly, his eyes fixed.
The faint smile on his lips seemed to freeze instantly. Then his whole face quickly darkened at a visible speed, and the temperature in the imperial study almost dropped to freezing point.
Xu Xian was startled. Sikuo Ting's appearance became terrifying, and Xu Xian couldn't help shivering.
What was going on? Shouldn't the emperor be very happy?
Xu Xian lowered his head, sweating cold all over his body.
Then, when he was feeling extremely nervous, he heard Sikuo Ting's low, hoarse voice filled with a fierce killing intent, "Xu Xian! Summon Dou Yuan for me!!!"