Father, who is both a heir and a descendant, is still biased; the bound system has gone berserk.

"Mr. Wen, how confident are you that you can get those bandits to hold off the Snow Phoenix Army?" Yuan Fuhai asked.

Wen Lian said, "Prefect Yuan, rest assured, I am 90% confident."

"As long as they hold off the Snow Phoenix Army, Lord Yuan and my Chrysanthemum Hall can join forces and surely capture the Crown Prince and Ying Yufu."

"But what about the Marquis of Anding..."

Wen Lian smiled and glanced at Yuan Fuhai, saying, "Our Chrysanthemum Hall also has 100,000 troops on Marquis Anding's side."

hiss!

Yuan Fuhai gasped in shock. They... had quietly amassed 100,000 troops in Yuzhou.

"Things have come to this point, there's no other way but to rebel," Yuan Fuhai sighed helplessly.

The Yuan family had nowhere left to go.

Meanwhile, in the bandit camp...

A chubby boy walked up to the equally chubby bandit leader.

"Third Uncle, when can we stop being bandits and go back to slaughtering pigs?"

The chubby boy looked sorrowful.

Being a bandit is not good at all; it has a bad reputation, and he himself feels very uncomfortable about it, which is why he has lost weight.

Life is full of fighting and killing; nothing beats the freedom of slaughtering pigs.

The bandit leader, who was playing with his beloved butcher knife, said with a simple and honest expression upon hearing this:

"Wen Junshi said that as soon as the fighting starts, we should go and join the Xuefeng Army so that we won't have to be bandits anymore."

The chubby boy's eyes lit up: "Really? Did Strategist Wen really say that?"

The bandit leader reached out and slapped the boy on the head, saying, "How could Military Advisor Wen's words be false?"

The chubby boy's eyes immediately lit up with a bright light. "That's great, Uncle! I'll tell the others about this right now."

"Go ahead, go ahead!"

The bandit leader waved his hand with a smile and continued wiping his beloved pig-slaughtering knife with a rag.

As he wiped, the bandit leader sighed with a worried expression.

"Boss, why are you sighing?" A burly man walked by, carrying a sickle on his shoulder.

The bandit leader said, "I heard that it snowed in the south, but I don't know if it snowed in the north either."

Upon hearing this, the strong man's eyes lit up with hope. "Then, let's beg Princess Anguo. She is a goddess."

The bandit leader then said, "We hope the Goddess will not look down on us and will send a timely snowfall to the north, as well as the new grain seeds; we want those too."

The strong man immediately said, "That's right, boss. We'll offer all the treasures we've robbed to Princess Anguo and ask her to bestow upon us auspicious snow and new grain seeds."

Wen Lian paid no heed to the plans of these bandits. After discussing with Yuan Fuhai, he went to contact the 100,000-strong army trained by the Chrysanthemum Hall.

His expression was solemn; this army of 100,000 was the Chrysanthemum Hall's biggest trump card.

In this battle, only victory is permitted; defeat is not an option.

If they win, Chrysanthemum Hall will take Yuzhou; if they lose, they will have to start all over again.

Starting over is not that easy.

In the original residence, Yuan Fuhai gathered all his family members together.

This includes Yuan Mengli and her daughter Fang Qiuhuan.

Ever since that day when the mother and daughter spoke those truths, Yuan Fuhai's gaze toward them has been very complicated.

But in the end, Yuan Fuhai couldn't let go of his daughter and granddaughter whom he had loved for so many years.

He said, "Mengli, Huan'er, you two should stop bothering Shangguan Hong lately."

He was never meant to be part of our family.

Fang Qiuhuan's expression immediately changed. "Grandfather, does that mean even you look down on me and my mother?"

As she spoke, her eyes reddened.

Yuan Fuhai felt a pang of sadness and said, "When has your grandfather ever looked down on you? Don't you know how he treated you?"

Yuan Fuhai felt somewhat uncomfortable when he said those words.

He truly treated Yuan Mengli, his adopted daughter, even better than his own.

He was willing to abandon his own daughter for her sake.

When Yuan Mengli saw that Yuan Fuhai's expression was not right, she immediately slapped Fang Qiuhuan and said, "Huan'er, what nonsense are you talking about!"

"Hurry up and apologize to your maternal grandfather!"

Fang Qiuhuan lowered her head and said sullenly, "Grandfather, I'm sorry, I was wrong."

Yuan Fuhai then looked at his two daughters-in-law and granddaughter and said, "The Yuan family is already disliked by His Majesty and the Crown Prince. Liangyi has already been arrested. Next up is the Yuan family."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Mengli's expression immediately changed.

She was completely unaware of this news.

Looking at the expressions of her two sisters-in-law, they showed no surprise whatsoever, clearly indicating that they already knew.

Yuan Mengli sneered inwardly. See? She wasn't his biological daughter after all.

Their whole family knew about this big thing, except for him.

Yuan Mengli's resentment grew stronger. Her father forbade Qiu Huan from marrying Shangguan Hong, but she insisted on doing so.

The father did this simply because he didn't want me to harm Yuan Mengtong.

She sneered, "Yuan Mengtong wants to get rid of me and live a good life? She can forget about it."

She will live in her shadow for the rest of her life.

But after what happened that night, Shangguan Hong refused to stay at the Yuan family home anymore.

He moved to the military camp of the Marquis of Anding outside the city.

Marquis Anding and Shangguan Jian were good friends, and he took good care of Shangguan Hong, a junior.

After returning, Fang Qiuhuan and Yuan Mengli discussed how to find Shangguan Hong in the military camp.

That night, under the cover of darkness, the mother and daughter packed all their valuables and sneaked out of the Yuan residence.

At night, a hundred-man squad from the Chrysanthemum Hall infiltrated the Marquis of Anding's military camp. They were discovered by the Marquis as soon as they entered, and a battle ensued. At that moment, Yuan Mengli and Fang Qiuhuan burst in.

Seeing their comrade captured, the soldiers of Chrysanthemum Hall turned around and arrested Yuan Mengli and her daughter Fang Qiuhuan.

"Let us go, or I'll kill them!"

Shangguan Hong was standing beside Marquis An Ding when he saw that the people being held hostage were actually Yuan Mengli and her daughter. He immediately sneered, "Kill them all!"

Then he said to Marquis Anding, "My lord, there's no need to worry about it. These two men died without cause."

Yuan Mengli turned pale with fright.

Fang Qiuhuan was not to be outdone; she shrieked, "Shangguan Hong, I'm your fiancée!"

Shangguan Hong sneered, "Still dreaming? I've never seen such a shameless woman as you. You're the only one so desperate to get married!"

Fang Qiuhuan was so humiliated that she was overwhelmed with fear and shame, and she couldn't help but cry.

Marquis An Ding frowned slightly.

He was strict in disciplining his troops, and he would never do something like standing by and watching someone die.

Just as he was thinking of ways to rescue the hostages, two arrows whizzed by and pierced the chests of two Chrysanthemum Hall soldiers with perfect accuracy.

With the two dead, Yuan Mengli and her daughter Fang Qiuhuan were saved.

Marquis An Ding and Shangguan Hong looked up and saw a group of people approaching under the cover of night.

Leading them were the Crown Prince and Princess Anguo, followed by a group of the Eastern Palace guards.

The two archers who just shot the arrows were the Crown Prince's personal guards.

"Your Highness, Princess Anguo!"

Upon seeing the two, the Marquis of Anding was somewhat excited and stepped forward to pay his respects.

His gaze toward the crown prince was filled with fervor.

The Crown Prince clearly noticed that the way Marquis Anding looked at him was different from before.

Previously, his relationship with the Marquis of Anding was fairly good.

But never before had the look in his eyes been so intense, the kind of fanaticism a subject has for his monarch.

The words and actions of the Crown Prince and Ying Yufu in Huizhou have been reported back to Yuzhou, and Marquis Anding has naturally heard about them.

Having witnessed the Second Prince's disgraceful behavior, the Crown Prince... is practically the future of Bei Xuan.

He didn't even care how long the crown prince would live.

At least for now, the crown prince is the monarch he has chosen.

"Lord Lin, throw these two out of the military camp," the Crown Prince said.

Marquis An Ding immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness!"