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

"Tuoba Yue?"

Wei Zhao's fingers stopped on the table, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He remembered the name.

He had stayed in the Taoist temple for fifteen years. Except for the time when his eldest sister-in-law, Liu Jingshuang, married into the temple and he was taken down the mountain to see her once, he had never been down the mountain again. To him, his nine sisters-in-law were all memories of those few hours in the mourning hall, plus the faint fragments of impressions remaining in this body.

Tuoba. This surname is not a Han Chinese surname.

Wei Zhao looked at Huo Qingluan, waiting for her to continue.

Huo Qingluan didn't speak, but Su Qingyun put down her abacus and spoke first.

"Xiaoyue is the only daughter of the King of Xiqiang."

Su Qingyun spoke very softly, but the tent was quiet, and every word could be heard clearly.

"The princess of the Western Qiang".

Wei Zhao's brows furrowed even more.

Did the Western Qiang princess marry into the Wei family?

Su Qingyun seemed to sense his confusion, but continued speaking without pausing.

"Back when the Western Qiang and the Great Wei were on good terms, the fourth brother was in charge of being sent as an envoy to the Western Qiang."

Her tone was flat, as if she were recounting an old story.

"The fourth brother met Xiaoyue in the Western Qiang King's tent. The two of them... how should I put it, it was love at first sight."

A faint smile appeared on Su Qingyun's lips, but it was tinged with bitterness.

"Speaking of which, Xiaoyue came to live with us without going through a formal marriage ceremony."

"There was no bridal sedan chair, no formal marriage ceremony. The fourth brother brought the woman back from the grasslands, brought her home, kowtowed to his mother, and that was it."

As Wei Zhao listened, a blurry image slowly surfaced in his mind.

He remembered.

He was thirteen years old that year, and for the first time ever, he was taken down the mountain from the Taoist temple.

It wasn't anything major, just the fourth son's wedding—if you can even call that a wedding.

A girl wearing a sheepskin coat, with colorful stone beads adorning her braids, stood in the courtyard of the Wei residence, grinning broadly.

He laughed very loudly and brightly.

Wei Zhao found it strange at the time, wondering how the daughter-in-law of the Wei family could have such a personality.

When the other sisters-in-law entered the house, weren't they all well-behaved and submissive? But this one, she just stood there confidently, looking at everyone as if they were her own brothers.

"He is indeed a straightforward person," Wei Zhao thought to himself.

But—her identity.

Princess of the Western Qiang.

Now, the Western Qiang are the enemies besieging Yumen Pass.

Wei Zhao didn't voice his concerns, but his brow furrowed slightly, and his fingers tapped unconsciously twice on the table.

The people inside the tent were all shrewd; these subtle facial expressions couldn't fool anyone.

Huo Qingluan glanced at him and, unusually, took the initiative to explain.

"It is true that Xiaoyue is a princess of the Western Qiang."

Her voice was cool and clear, but it lacked the aloofness that usually kept people at arm's length.

"The Western Qiang have indeed maintained friendly relations with the Great Wei for nearly a century. But this battle—"

Huo Qingluan pointed to the location of the Western Qiang royal court on the topographic map.

"It wasn't led by the King of Western Qiang."

Wei Zhao stopped tapping his fingers.

"What do you mean?"

"The King of Western Qiang is ill." Huo Qingluan's tone was flat, as if she were reading a military report.

"He is very ill and has been bedridden for more than half a year."

She raised her head, a complex emotion flashing in her clear, cold eyes.

"This alliance of five tribes and invasion from all sides was orchestrated by the eldest prince of the Western Qiang—Xiaoyue's own brother."

The eldest prince.

Wei Zhao leaned back in his chair, his mind racing.

Commander Yiqianyi's brain almost instinctively began to dissect this information.

The Western Qiang king advocated peace, a policy he maintained for nearly a century. The eldest prince, however, advocated war and seized power while his father was seriously ill.

Therefore, the Western Qiang were not a monolithic entity—there must have been divisions within the royal family, with pro-peace and pro-war factions.

This crack is the entry point.

"Yumen Pass has been besieged for over a month, but it hasn't been breached yet," Huo Qingluan said, looking into Wei Zhao's eyes, word by word.

"It's probably also thanks to Xiaoyue."

Wei Zhao's eyelid twitched.

"She was in the Western Qiang army, not captured?"

"No." Su Qingyun shook her head, lowering her voice even further. "She went back on her own."

There was a moment of silence inside the tent.

Wei Zhao didn't speak, but he had already pieced together the whole picture in his mind.

The fourth son died in battle. Tuoba Yue lost her husband and also lost her strongest support in the Wei family.

She was a princess of the Western Qiang, a status that served as a bond in times of peace but became a ticking time bomb in times of war.

What do those soldiers in the Wei family army think of her? A woman from another tribe, her husband is dead, and her people are attacking the border of the Great Wei.

Perhaps some people are already gossiping behind my back—"They're just a different race after all."

And what about the Western Qiang? She married into the Wei family, the leading military family of the Great Wei. In the eyes of the Western Qiang's pro-war faction, she was a traitor.

He's caught in the middle.

But she did not remain a widow in the Wei family.

She chose the most dangerous path—returning to Western Qiang alone.

"After Xiaoyue returned, she found the former subordinates of the King of Xiqiang." Huo Qingluan's voice finally warmed up a bit.

"Those old ministers and generals who fought alongside the old king their whole lives and advocated for friendly relations with the Great Wei."