A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Xiao Guanyin shook the rattle drum for the third time, and Wei Xuan finally cried with a wrinkled face.

"It's over."

Xiao Guanyin's hand froze. Looking at the little guy in the swaddling clothes who was only a month old, her face was even more pale than when she went to the battlefield.

I shook it three times.

Tuoba Yue leaned against the soft couch, her face still pale from childbirth, but upon hearing the sound, she laughed so hard her shoulders shook.

"Is that a rattle drum? You're beating war drums for the Black Mountain Army."

Wei Xuan cried even louder.

Xiao Guanyin stared at the rattle drum in her hand, wishing she could take it apart to see if there was a knife hidden inside.

She could train cavalry, scold new recruits, and slam the table against the old fox of the Xianyuan tribe.

But she was completely helpless when faced with such a tiny creature.

Tuoba Yue reached out and took Wei Xuan from him, then gently coaxed him a few words.

The little one smelled the familiar scent, and his crying gradually subsided, until only a pitiful sob remained.

Xiao Guanyin's eyelids twitched slightly.

"He's selective about who he hires?"

"nonsense."

Tuoba Yue looked down at the child, a smile involuntarily creeping onto her lips:

"I risked my life to give birth to him, who else would he choose if not me?"

Xiao Guanyin sat back in her chair, wanting to retort, but swallowed the words back.

Tuoba Yue almost died in the delivery room that day, and no one dared to downplay this incident.

The fact that she can sit here now, holding her child and smiling, is a testament to Xie Daoning's intervention, which snatched her back from the brink of death.

Looking at Wei Xuan's small fist, Xiao Guanyin's irritation gradually subsided.

The Wei family finally has a newborn child.

But it was precisely because of this child that she felt even more distressed.

Liu Jingshuang was stationed at the front lines to oversee the troops.

Huo Qingluan calculated the enemy's supply lines in the battle formation diagram.

Xie Daoning led his medical team into battle.

Su Qingyun manages the military merit system, Fang Fuyao sets the regulations for the imperial examinations, Shang Wanqing rebuilds the Military Equipment Bureau, and Hua Jieyu and Nie Yinniang want to set up that Jinyi Pavilion.

Even Li Huai's daily house raids kept all the officials in the court awake at night.

Only she and Tuoba Yue stayed in the palace to play with the children.

What is this?

Are you waiting for someone else to conquer the world before you can enjoy life with your children?

Xiao Guanyin felt increasingly frustrated the more she thought about it.

She is not a useless person.

She was Princess Xianyuan, wife of Bage Weining. She had guarded cities, led cavalry, and witnessed how grassland tribes struggled to survive between the Central Plains and other tribes.

But now, she's like a knife hanging on the wall.

It's polished very bright.

Nobody uses it.

"What are you thinking about?" Tuoba Yue suddenly asked.

Xiao Guanyin looked up.

Tuoba Yue looked at her, his gaze light yet precise.

"You've been wanting to swear since just now."

Xiao Guanyin twitched the corner of her mouth.

"When don't I want to swear?"

Tuoba Yue held Wei Xuan in her arms, her voice lowered.

"Do you feel you can't help His Majesty?"

Xiao Guanyin remained silent for a moment before saying, "Don't you think so?"

Tuoba Yue did not answer immediately.

She looked down at Wei Xuan in her arms. The little guy was already asleep, but his mouth was still moving slightly, as if he was nursing in his dream.

Her heart softened for a moment, but she quickly hardened again.

We can't just be soft.

She is a member of the Wei family, not just a woman who only holds children.

"feel."

Tuoba Yue said, "I really think so."

Xiao Guanyin looked at her.

Tuoba Yue smiled, but this time there was little ease in his smile.

"They all have things to do. Sister Su can outwit a group of grain merchants with a single abacus, Fang Fuyao can force a noble family into the army camp with a single word, Commander Liu can suppress a city with a single sword, Sister Huo can wipe out 30,000 Red Blade soldiers with a single battle formation, and Sister Daoning can snatch people from a pile of corpses."

She paused, then gently touched Wei Xuan's face with her fingertips.

"And me? I can't even ride a horse for long now. When the palace servants see me walk a couple of steps faster, they almost want to push me back onto the bed."

Xiao Guanyin scoffed.

"You just gave birth, who can you blame?"

"I know."

Tuoba Yue raised her eyes: "Knowing is one thing, but feeling pain is another."

That's so true.

Xiao Guanyin was unable to respond.

So is she.

She didn't have children, but staying in the capital was just as unbearable for her.

She could use her old relationship with the Xianyuan branch.

But Xinwu is currently dealing with one major event after another, and no one is asking her about it.

It wasn't that Wei Zhao didn't believe her.

Wei Zhao was too busy.

So busy that he could only catch a quick glimpse of his son before rushing off to the front lines again.

Xiao Guanyin became increasingly annoyed and threw the rattle drum onto the table.

"What should we do then? We can't both go to Guiping. If you leave the city, Sister Su can send someone to carry you back, bed and all."

Tuoba Yue's eyes twitched.

"I may not be unable to get things done even if I don't travel far."

Xiao Guanyin looked up.

"Do you have a solution?"

Tuoba Yue gently pressed her fingers on the edge of the couch, her eyes gradually brightening.

"I can't travel long distances or go to the front lines right now. But I can write letters, send people, and get things moving in the Western Qiang region."

Xiao Guanyin frowned.

"Western Qiang?"

"It's not just the Western Qiang."

Tuoba Yue looked at her.

"The Northern Rong, Western Qiang, Eastern Hu, Southern Man, and Xianyuan are the five major ethnic groups."

Xiao Guanyin's expression changed.

"What do you want to do?"

Tuoba Yue said, word by word, "Make them jointly pay homage to Xinwu and submit to Wei Zhao."

The teacup in Xiao Guanyin's hand stopped in mid-air.

She didn't quite understand the intricacies of the court in the Central Plains.

She had a headache just listening to the military merit system, the abolition of old nobility, and the imperial examination system.

But she understood this one sentence.

Five foreign tribes submitted to the emperor.

This is no small matter.

This is not as simple as sending a few horses and hides to the border and sending an envoy to say a few nice words.

If the five ethnic groups were to simultaneously pay homage to the Xinwu Dynasty, it would be tantamount to acknowledging that Wei Zhao was the supreme ruler of the world and that the Xinwu Dynasty could control both the Central Plains and the border regions.

If this succeeds, it will be of great help to Wei Zhao.

It's much bigger than just having a few more plots of land or a few more tribes.

How many years have the Central Plains fought with foreign tribes?

They kill each other, rob each other, and defend against each other.

If they could bring the five ethnic groups to the front of the Xinwu court, make them kneel down, form an alliance, register them, allow them to intermarry, establish trade, register households, and even allow warriors from other ethnic groups to join the Xinwu army and exchange land for military merits...

Xiao Guanyin's fingers slowly clenched.

This is no trivial matter.

This helped Wei Zhao eliminate a major problem at its root.

Tuoba Yue could tell from her expression that she understood.

"I am from the Western Qiang, and you are from the Xianyuan. If others did this, the first reaction of the five tribes would be that the emperor of the Central Plains is trying to trick them into entering the pass to kill them. But we are different."

Xiao Guanyin gave a cold laugh.

"They will also call us traitors."

Tuoba Yue nodded.

"meeting."

She knew it all too well.

There are definitely still people in the Western Qiang region who are cursing her, saying that by marrying into the Wei family and giving birth to Wei Zhao's child, she had completely sold herself to the Central Plains.

Xian Yuan felt the same way about Xiao Guanyin, believing that her helping the Wei family meant disregarding the fate of her tribe.

What's the point of scolding?

Will cursing make your people eat their fill?

Can insults prevent the Western Qiang from being swallowed up by the Southern Barbarians?

Can insults prevent Xianyuan from being attacked from both the Northern Rong and the Central Plains?

Tuoba Yue's eyes turned cold.

"They cursed us because they still thought they could profit from chaos. But things are different now. Lu Song is dead, Emperor Yuanxi is dead, and Luo Shao is dead. Emperor Wei Zhao is not the kind of emperor from the old Wei who only knew how to write edicts for marriage alliances."

She glanced down at Wei Xuan.

"He will give land, military merits, medical camps, and he will also kill people."

Xiao Guanyin's lips twitched slightly upon hearing this.

Are you praising him or criticizing him?

"It doesn't matter."

Tuoba Yue's voice was soft, yet steady.

"If the five tribes are willing to submit, Xinwu can give them a way out. Trade, military registration, pastures, registration of border residents, enrollment of children of other tribes in schools, and enlistment of warriors. But if they refuse, once Wei Zhaoteng takes action, it will be no longer negotiable."

Xiao Guanyin did not speak.

She could tell.

Tuoba Yue's decision was not a spur-of-the-moment thing. She genuinely wanted to integrate the non-Han ethnic groups into the rules of the new martial arts.

It's hard.

Does Xiao Guanyin get a headache just from thinking about it?

The Northern Rong had just been decimated, the Western Qiang were still in turmoil and not fully stabilized, the Eastern Hu were fickle, the Southern Man were separated by the miasma-ridden land, and the Xianyuan were the most adept at reading the winds.

Getting all these people to bow down at the same time is more troublesome than getting several powerful families to hand over their land.

If it really happens...

Xiao Guanyin's throat moved.

"This is something the two of us can't handle."

Tuoba Yue nodded.

"So we need to find Sister Su and Fang Fuyao."

Xiao Guanyin stood up and gave direct instructions to the palace maids.

"Go and invite Lady Su and Miss Fang. Tell them we have urgent business with them."

"This servant will go right away."

After the palace maid finished speaking, she quickly turned and left.