He remarried after his mother's death, seized power over the world, and slept on the emperor�

Upon hearing Ji Ling's words, Jiang Bingning's heart skipped a beat.

tricky.

In retrospect, she regretted it more than once.

She regretted that she had displayed too many skills that were not befitting a sheltered young lady at the foot of Xiufeng Mountain.

But at that time, her mother's life was hanging by a thread, so how could she care about anything else?

Looking back now, Ji Ling's suspicions were perfectly normal.

It's understandable that a daughter of a military family would know some martial arts.

But his skillful wound cleaning and bandaging techniques, especially his understanding of the toxicity of the Northern Barbarian wolf-tooth arrows, and his methods for dealing with arrow barbs...

It was something she should never have known.

With her mind racing, Jiang Bingning's face remained completely expressionless.

She raised her head, her expression calm.

"Your Highness, my father is very strict in managing the household."

Her voice betrayed no hint of guilt.

"My father often said that the border regions are not as safe as the capital, and are fraught with danger."

"Therefore, when my brother, sister, and I were young, our father asked retired soldiers to teach us some self-defense techniques and battlefield first aid methods."

"It's all so that if I encounter danger, I'll have a little more ability to protect myself."

These words were perfectly worded and made perfectly reasonable.

Ji Ling listened quietly, his face expressionless.

He didn't ask any further questions.

You can't get the truth out of this woman; the only way to find out is to ask Jiang Chengxuan.

How could a father possibly undermine his own daughter?

a long time.

His lips curled upwards, forming a smileless arc.

"Is that so?"

The hem of the dark royal robe swept across the ground in an arc, and Ji Ling turned and left.

"Miss Jiang, please rest well."

Before he finished speaking, he had already stepped out of the threshold of the main hall.

-----------------

Outside the Xinwang Mansion.

Ji Ling's face, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, was a mixture of emotions.

He stopped and gave the order in a cold voice.

"The Gray Wolf".

A dark figure appeared silently behind him like a ghost, kneeling on one knee.

"My lord."

"Go check."

"Investigate Jiang Chengxuan to see if, as she claims, he has had veterans teach his children battle tactics since they were young."

"Jiang Chengxuan's delegation from the Great Zhou should be almost at Weicheng by now."

"I need to know all the details before he arrives in the capital."

"yes!"

The shadowy figure responded and then asked again.

"Does the master suspect... Jiang Bingning's identity?"

A fierce glint flashed in Ji Ling's eyes.

"Isn't it interesting that a noblewoman from the Zhou state is so knowledgeable about the military affairs of the Northern Barbarians?"

"I need to know whether she is a 'secret spy' secretly trained by the Zhou Kingdom and sent to disrupt my Northern Di royal family."

"If that's really the case..."

He paused, but didn't say the rest of his sentence.

"Understood!"

-----------------

Two days later.

The Zhou Dynasty delegation, having endured countless hardships and humiliations, finally arrived at the garrison city of Shangjing.

This place is only a few dozen miles away from the capital.

Looking at the tall and majestic city walls before him, and the Northern Di officials at the city gate who, though still arrogant, were at least wearing official robes.

Jiang Chengxuan's tense heart, which had been pounding for two days, finally relaxed.

These past two days have truly been worse than pigs and dogs.

Recalling the faces of that Northern Barbarian captain and his soldiers, he still felt a burning hatred.

When a scholar encounters a soldier, reason is useless.

As an envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he suffered greatly when facing those soldiers who only recognized knives.

He glanced back at the carriage behind him.

The two sons had long lost the high spirits they had when they left the pass.

At this moment, the two men looked pale and thin with sunken eyes, like two eggplants that had been hit by frost.

And his Rong'er...

Jiang Cheng sighed, feeling heartbroken.

Since the day she was humiliated, Jiang Yuerong has become a completely different person.

She neither cried nor made a fuss nor spoke, spending her days huddled in the deepest corner of the carriage.

She refused to get out of the car even for a moment unless absolutely necessary.

For her, the cramped, swaying carriage was still better than those dirty, smelly thatched huts.

"Are the visitors an envoy from the Great Zhou Dynasty?"

At the city gate, a Northern Di official dressed in a scarlet robe asked in a loud voice.

Jiang Chengxuan quickly straightened his clothes, which had been disheveled by the wind, took out the letter from the Great Zhou Dynasty from his sleeve, and presented it with both hands.

"Your humble servant Jiang Chengxuan has been sent as an envoy to your country by order of His Majesty the Emperor."

The official took the letter of state and glanced at it briefly, his attitude finally becoming somewhat more polite.

"Lord Jiang, you must have had a long journey."

A polite remark made on official terms almost brought tears to Jiang Chengxuan's eyes.

He immediately spoke up, and the first thing he did was to file a lawsuit.

"My lord, I have something to report! A captain from your country has been making things difficult for our delegation along the way, doing everything he can to humiliate us. I hope you will..."

"Oh?"

The official from the Ministry of Rites raised an eyebrow, interrupting him.

"Rest assured, I have taken note of this matter and will investigate it thoroughly!"

"As for the present, since you have come from afar, I have prepared a simple banquet in the city to welcome you and wash away the dust of your journey. I hope that you will do me the honor of attending, Lord Jiang."

Upon hearing the words "strict investigation," Jiang Chengxuan knew that the matter would most likely be dropped.

Upon hearing the second half of the sentence, "a banquet will be held to welcome him," most of his pent-up frustration dissipated.

He returned to the team and told his children the news.

"What? There's a banquet?"

Jiang Siyuan and Jiang Luwei's eyes lit up instantly.

The next moment, the two of them excitedly hugged each other and burst into tears, waving their arms and legs like two idiots.

Inside the carriage, Jiang Yuerong, who had been silent all along, finally showed a glimmer of life in her empty eyes.

banquet?

Will there be hot meals, clean tables and chairs, and well-dressed noblemen from the Northern Di?

Thinking of this, her lifeless heart seemed to come alive again.

She immediately perked up and began rummaging through the chests and drawers in the carriage.

She wanted to find her most gorgeous clothes hidden at the bottom of her trunk and put on her most dazzling jewelry.

She's going to shine at the banquet!

-----------------

Half an hour later.

When the Jiang family, who had dressed up meticulously, were taken to the so-called "banquet venue," everyone was so shocked that they were speechless.

Before me lay a vast, empty sandy plaza.

On the north side of the square, there is a simple awning.

Several officials from the Northern Di Ministry of Rites were sitting under the shed, chatting and laughing around a low table.

They waved enthusiastically when they saw Jiang Chengxuan and the others.

"Lord Jiang, please take a seat!"

Jiang Chengxuan looked in the direction he was pointing.

In the open space in front of them, there was only a roll of straw mat that smelled musty.

There wasn't even a table.

Are these their seats?

Jiang Chengxuan's face instantly darkened.

"My lord, what does this mean?"

The official from the Ministry of Rites maintained his smile.

"Oh, Lord Jiang, please calm down. This is a custom of our Northern Barbarians; sitting on the ground is a sign of true heroism!"

This is clearly a blatant insult!

Jiang Chengxuan was so angry that he was trembling and about to explode.

Suddenly, a series of neat and heavy footsteps sounded.

A group of soldiers dressed in black, wearing wolf-head masks, strode quickly from one side of the square.

The leader was not wearing a mask, revealing a young and cold face.

He was carrying a basket and walked straight up to Jiang Chengxuan and the others.

He bent down, took four old, broken porcelain bowls from the basket, and placed them on the straw mat.

He raised his head and swept his gaze over the crowd as if they were bedbugs, then coldly shouted.

"You think you can act all high and mighty just because I invited you to dinner?"

"Get over here and eat right now!"

Jiang Chengxuan's gaze was fixed on the four bowls.

That's not a porcelain bowl at all!

That's clearly a food bowl for feeding dogs!