"You're involved with the Long family?" The national advisor seemed extremely agitated. "No wonder. Well, the great Marshal of the Su family's army is actually colluding with the Long family."
"National advisor, I've only had a personal acquaintance with Xiaojiu. We met by chance in the Jin Kingdom. Please don't misunderstand," Su Wan'er explained in a flurry, fearing that the trust she had built up in recent days would be destroyed in an instant.
"Heh, why bother? Anyway, it's you who holds the military power now. Why do you need to explain to me? If you want to stop the war between the two countries, do you think the war can still go on?" There was a hint of sarcasm in the national advisor's words, which annoyed Su Wan'er.
She was worried about Xiaojiu at the moment. Naturally, she was even more annoyed by his act of taking revenge in public. However, the relationship was so complex that she couldn't really blame the national advisor.
"The person corresponding with me is just a young girl. The national advisor doesn't need to link this with the war between the two countries," Su Wan'er thought. Since the national advisor was so sensitive about this kind of thing, if he knew that the letter was from the Holy Maiden and that the Holy Maiden was involved in her and Si Junlin's plan, he might misunderstand even more. It would be better to tell him directly that it was just an irresponsible child.
"Originally, I have no right to interfere in the marshal's private affairs. But I still want to remind you that since you're the person in power in the Jin Kingdom, it's not a good thing to get too close to the people from the Southern Border. Moreover, most of the people from the Southern Border have ulterior motives. You'd better be careful," the national advisor still said in a bad tone.
"What the national advisor said is rather arbitrary. If judged like this, isn't the national advisor himself a person with ulterior motives?" Su Wan'er couldn't help but retort.
But unexpectedly, the national advisor didn't rush to deny it. Instead, he stared at Su Wan'er for a few seconds. "Does the marshal think I'm not?" After saying that, he ignored Su Wan'er and walked out directly, giving a feeling that there was no point in talking when there was no common ground.
"..." Su Wan'er was speechless.
Indeed, this man even dared to start a rebellion in the capital. How could he not be a person with ulterior motives?
In the following days, Su Wan'er still wanted to ease the relationship between herself and the national advisor. But it seemed that the national advisor was most concerned about the Long family and was unwilling to compromise no matter what. The atmosphere between them became tenser day by day. If Su Wan'er hadn't been on guard in time, the Grand Elder might have done something unfavorable to the Southern Border.
Early one morning, Su Wan'er just returned from military training. As usual, she discussed with Gu Jingtian and the other generals about strengthening the defense.
Suddenly, a scout came from outside to report that there was a woman in the Southern Border attire outside the camp gate who wanted to see her. Su Wan'er subconsciously thought it was someone sent by Xiaojiu. But when she went out to have a look, it was actually Xiaojiu herself, being held by two soldiers of the Su family's army.
"Xiaojiu, why are you here? Did you escape?" Su Wan'er was surprised. She quickly ordered the soldiers to let her go, briefly explained a few words to the others, and then led her into the tent.
"Yes, I escaped. Uncle Emperor, I'm afraid I'll have to stay with you for a few days," Xiaojiu seemed exhausted, out of breath from running, but her hands were still protecting her belly.
"What's going on? Didn't Si Junlin write in his letter these days that the secret agents had almost eliminated those in the Yuwen family who were against you?" And the letter also said that because it was secretly instigated by the Grand Elder and the Grand Elder seemed to have acquiesced in this matter and was very kind to Xiaojiu, Si Junlin could make such smooth progress.
Su Wan'er had read the letter and thought that the matter was almost settled. But why did Xiaojiu escape in such a sorry state today?
"I ran out secretly without telling him."
The "him" in Long Xiaojiu's words was naturally the Grand Elder. Su Wan'er was even more puzzled. That meant the Grand Elder didn't allow her to come out. Didn't the letter say a few days ago that she got along very well with the Grand Elder?
"Xiaojiu, were the things you said a few days ago all lies to me? Why did you say that you were living well with the Grand Elder and now you've escaped? If... if he forced you and you didn't want to be with him, you don't have to force yourself," Su Wan'er said. Originally, their plan didn't include the Grand Elder. The Jin Kingdom was strong enough to make the Yuwen family lose completely. At that time, as long as Xiaojiu controlled the situation in the Southern Border, what did it matter to the Yuwen family?
"No, it's not because of this. I've already had a husband - wife relationship with him. But... but now he doesn't want the Southern Border to submit to the Jin Kingdom. He even said that he'd rather die on the battlefield than let the Southern Border become a vassal state living under someone else's protection."
"What?" Su Wan'er was also very surprised. It was actually because of this. Was the Grand Elder really so brave? Then this matter would be difficult to handle. "What does he think? Does he really want the 100,000 people in the Southern Border to die on the battlefield with him? It doesn't matter that he only has one life, but does he not care about the lives of the people in the Southern Border at all?"
"He wants to borrow troops from the Western Xia on the side," Long Xiaojiu said. This was what she was most worried about. The Western Xia was not weaker than the Jin Kingdom, but its policy towards vassal states was many times harsher. Now the Western Xia seemed to only require the return of the borrowed troops and didn't need other terms. But if they really allied with the Western Xia to fight against the Jin Kingdom, even if they won in the end, the Southern Border would still suffer losses. Then it would be easy for the Western Xia to take over the Southern Border.
In this way, the Western Xia would be the one who reaped the benefits. But even the Grand Elder knew this truth, yet he still didn't want to submit to the Jin Kingdom now.
"He's crazy," Su Wan'er said excitedly. If he really did this, wouldn't it make the Jin Kingdom and the Southern Border lose both, and let the Western Xia reap the benefits?
"Indeed, that's exactly it. So I ran out. As long as I run out, he'll be busy looking for me. And then Uncle Emperor, you have to protect me. In this way, he won't dare to take such a risky move again," Long Xiaojiu seemed to have a well - thought - out plan.
"You mean... you're going to force him," Su Wan'er immediately wanted to dispel this idea of hers. "I can naturally protect you, but why do you have to do this? He's such a reckless person. It's better to let Si Junlin's secret agents there solve him now." It would be better to simply give up on him and avoid the absurd situation where he really borrowed troops from other countries and made the two neighboring countries lose both.
"Uncle Emperor, I beg you not to do this. Now that he dares to do such a thing, you can see that his prestige in the Southern Border is extremely high. Having such an elder in the Southern Border is also an explanation to the outside world."