A rebellious minister forced me to be a foolish king

Chapter 702 Retired General

The woman became more and more excited as she spoke. She held up the red-lettered iron certificate, knelt on one knee, and saluted Yuan Wuyou:

"This was given by the Queen of Wei thirty years ago. I heard that the young master will succeed the Lord of Suxing Mansion, so I came to pay my respects to you!"

Upon hearing this, the young king showed surprise:
"You are actually an old subordinate of my mother?"

Even though her mother had issued countless red-lettered iron certificates, it was the first time that Yuan Wuyou had experienced a minister of the previous dynasty holding up a red-lettered iron certificate in front of her in public.

Yuan Wuyou reached out, took the red seal and iron certificate, and looked at it carefully.

The piece of cast iron was about the size of a palm. When the red-lettered iron certificate was first cast, in order to gain trust and prevent counterfeiting, the iron roll had to be split in half, with the court and the princes each keeping half. So the half in her hand was one of them.

But this half has obviously been weathered. Not only has the cinnabar writing faded and mottled, leaving only the indentations of the engraving, but even the edges and corners are worn into uneven pits and dark in color.

As the empress settled in Western Wei, decades passed in the blink of an eye, and only the heavy feeling of metal remained of the red seal and iron certificate.

But upon closer inspection, the iron certificate still shone brightly. It was all polished and patinated! On one side was engraved "Xingling Order of the General of the Suxing Mansion", and on the other side was "Emperor Wei Wudi conferred the title in the tenth year of Datong". The title and date were correct, and it was indeed given by her mother.

Seeing that the red-lettered iron certificate was as solid as a mountain and it was a done deal, Yuan Wuyou should no longer be negligent and hurriedly leaned over to help!
"Old General, you are so righteous! You sacrificed your life for your country and made great contributions to the pacification of Wei. It is time for me to pay you a visit."

Even though the stench of rotting corpses filled his nose, Yuan Wuyou endured it and remained generous and friendly.

The second lady wanted to refuse, but because her legs were like tree branches and it was inconvenient for her to stand up, she had to trouble the young prince to support her.

As she stood up, she said ashamedly:
"Thank you, young master... It is a blessing for the people of the world that you and your daughter have revived the Han Dynasty! It's a pity that I became disabled in the Jiangling battlefield and can no longer follow the Khan into battle..."

"How can this be possible? You were injured on duty. How can I allow a first-class meritorious official who has been awarded a red seal and a certificate of honor to retire due to illness? My mother should be the one who takes care of you."

Yuan Wuyou immediately found the key point of her words and bluntly criticized his own mother for not giving enough preferential treatment to her former subordinates after they retired.

Regardless of whether her mother, an old subordinate, wanted to complain or not, Yuan Wuyou had to think of all kinds of developments and comfort her in every possible way. After all, his mother had been buried, and no matter how much he dragged her out to be scolded, it would not have any impact.

But the second lady in front of him is different. She dares to walk around with a dead body in her arms and a skull in her bare hands. How cruel and fierce a warrior she must have been back then!
Fortunately, the second lady was a straightforward and honest person. When she heard this, she waved her hand and said,
"Young Master, please don't misunderstand the Khan! I resigned because I didn't want to occupy the toilet without doing anything. Otherwise, outsiders might think that the first twelve stars of the Suxing Mansion are disabled."

Yuan Wuyou felt relieved when he heard her eager to protect his mother, and continued:

"Then how did you end up in Mulan City? Where are your family members? Were they all killed by the Tanguts?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the little girl beside the second lady.

"That's not it."

Then, the second lady said sincerely,
"My husband was a clerk guarding the city of Mulan County. He died for his country two years ago with Aunt Zheng. The Qi State considered my family traitors and wanted to kill all of us since we were left with only orphans and widows. However, I was the strongest at killing pigs, so those people didn't dare to push my mother and me too far."

"Even if Qi has an old feud with the Eastern and Western Wei, it should not treat the widows of its own martyrs like this?" As he said this, Yuan Wuyou glanced at the Gao brothers next to him, his eyes full of intimidation.

Hearing her change of tone, directing the conflict to Qi State, and even saying every word was fair, Gao Changgong suddenly felt sweat pouring down his back, staring at her with his dark phoenix eyes, and opening his lips to speak but stopping himself...

Gao Yanzong simply crossed his arms and didn't care.

After hearing this, the second lady waved her hand and tried to smooth things over, "Don't worry, young master! I think the county magistrate has no time to take care of my family. It is also thanks to Grandma Zheng's help and support over the years that my mother and I are still alive today."

"To put it bluntly, the local officials just don't care about the matter? General, don't worry, I will take care of this matter. I will go through it from beginning to end and find out who made the hero bleed and cry!"

"Not really! My only hope right now is to hand over my great-grandmother's remains to my aunt so that they can be sent back to Mulan City and buried again."

Seeing the old general's loyalty and courage, and his wholehearted efforts in redressing the grievances of his benefactor Grandma Zheng and burying her in peace, Yuan Wuyou couldn't help but feel emotional.

"The general ran thousands of miles at night, and left the bones alone. The girl is really the Mulan of the modern age! It is my Yuan family who feels ashamed of our former subjects. I swear in front of the general today that I will never leave the Central Plains until I take back Mulan City!"

After saying that, Yuan Wuyou immediately twisted his waist and bowed to the ghost-faced man beside him, "I have something to ask Lanling Wang to mediate."

The Ghost-faced General asked in a deep voice, "What can I do?"

"Please tell me that I want to discuss with the Lord of Qi. If you give me Mulan City after the success and escort the general and Grandma Zheng back for burial, I will fight for Qi and personally defeat the Dangxiang and recapture Mulan City."

Before Lanling Wang opened his mouth or responded, King Ande suddenly widened his peach blossom eyes and said to Yuan Wuyou in surprise:
"Fight the Tanguts? You want to fight them?"

Yuan Wuyou ignored him and just looked up at Gao Changgong. His long eyelashes fluttered under his ghost mask and his dark phoenix eyes were as bright as stars.

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Gao Changgong said solemnly, "Mulan City has fallen into enemy hands, and Da Qi will naturally attach great importance to it, but the matter of ceding the city does require the consent of the emperor. Please follow me back to the Qi camp immediately."

One of them called him "Prince Lanling" and the other immediately called him "Lord of the Kingdom".

The two lovers, who were known to everyone, instantly returned to their separate ways, being respectful to each other, and without any gnashing of teeth for revenge, just pure politeness.

But the matter was made clear in just a few words.

Yuan Wuyou thought that the general and his daughter had difficulty moving, so he asked the governor of Xiangyang to get a sedan chair for them, and he followed on horseback.

After the arrangements were made, Gao Yanzong sneaked up to her side and asked worriedly, "Why, are you really going to fight the Dangxiang?"

"That's called closing the door and beating the dog. After all, I couldn't control my own subordinates, and allowed the flood to wash away the Dragon King Temple. It was my own family fighting against my own people. It was my dereliction of duty as the Khan of the suzerain state."

"The sudden attack by the Tanguts on the Great Qi must have something to do with that kid. He is always pretending to be weak, but in fact he is vicious."

Having laid the groundwork for this, Gao Yanzong said worriedly, "You... are definitely going to ask him for justice, right?"

Yuan Wuyou glanced at him and asked, "Why, are you jealous again?"

Gao Yanzong bit his lip and said, "No, I'm embarrassed for you."

She was about to make a few remarks when Gao Changgong, who was standing beside her, led her horse over and told her to continue talking on the way.

But on the way, the ghost-faced man rode a white horse with a golden saddle side by side with Yuan Wuyou, and he hooked his hand at her, asking to talk to her alone.

Yuan Wuyou naturally cooperated.