I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

Xuanque Pass.

Hundreds of brightly feathered eagles circled incessantly atop the Xuanque Pass, occasionally swooping down at high speed to harass the Zhou soldiers on the city wall. If they weren't careful, they would get their faces scratched, much to the Zhou soldiers' annoyance.

They also tried to shoot down these beasts with bows and arrows.

But these eagles flew too high for the arrows to hit.

Standing atop the city wall, at the far end of the line of sight, the Northern Mang army had been stationed on the flat ground for quite some time.

Wang Hu, dressed in military uniform, stretched out his large hand and slapped the city wall hard, grinning as he said:

"Perfect timing! We didn't get enough fun last time, so let's have some real action this time!"

"Do you really think that our Great Zhou's northern border is still as fragile as before? Under my command, the Great Zhou's northern border is now completely transformed and as solid as a rock. If the Northern Barbarians dare to attack again, I will make them taste the bitterness of having their teeth broken."

Hearing Wang Hu's voice, a female general standing beside him gently shook her head.

"General, don't be too optimistic. If a war really breaks out, it's not certain who will win or lose. The northern border of our Great Zhou has only just begun to be rebuilt."

Wang Hu was naturally a hundred percent dissatisfied, and he looked at Wei Hongying and said:

"It is true that our Great Zhou border has just been rebuilt, but the Northern Barbarians are not much better off. Besides, we have a way to deal with the Iron Pagoda, so we don't need to be afraid of them at all."

Seeing that Wang Hu wouldn't listen to reason, Wei Hongying had no choice but to resort to her trump card. She said, "The Crown Prince has ordered that no one is allowed to leave the city to engage in battle. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."

Upon hearing this, Wang Hu's burning fighting spirit was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

However, he still made one last attempt: "As the saying goes, a general in the field may disobey orders from others."

Wei Hongying replied, "This humble general was sent by the Crown Prince to monitor the General."

Seeing that reasoning with him was ineffective, Wang Hu resorted to his trump card.

He first waved away the unimportant soldiers around him, then suddenly reached out and put his arm around Wei Hongying's shoulder.

"Nephew's wife, stop undermining your uncle. He's a great general, after all. Give him some face."

Wei Hongying said expressionlessly, "As long as Uncle doesn't leave the city, Uncle will always be the Great General."

Wang Hu grew impatient and said, "We're all soldiers. Don't you want to achieve something? What's the point of always staying cooped up in the city?"

Wei Hongying said, "Uncle, of course I want to make a name for myself, otherwise I wouldn't have given up the good life in the capital to come to the border to suffer. But the problem now is that this battle cannot be fought."

"What's wrong with hitting them?"

Wang Hu waved his hand and said, "If you ask me, we have hostages now, so we're not afraid that they won't comply."

"It's good that we have hostages, but the other side also has hostages," Wei Hongying said.

Wang Hu expressed his confusion, saying, "Nephew's wife, if I were you, I would want the other party to kill me."

"You're not even pregnant yet, and he's already given birth. How can you tolerate that?"

"And the other party is a woman from another race, which makes it even more intolerable."

Wei Hongying looked straight ahead and said, "What's so unbearable about this? I like Qin Li as a person, it has nothing to do with how many women he has. Besides, he has more than just the Northern Mang Empress as a woman. Didn't he have another one just a few days ago?"

Said that Cao Cao Cao Cao arrived.

No sooner had they finished speaking than footsteps sounded behind them.

Who else could it be but Pei Qingluan, who had just arrived at Xuanque Pass?

"What are the General and Sister Hongying talking about? They're acting all mysterious," Pei Qingluan said with a smile as she walked over.

"No, it's nothing."

Wang Hu was not as close to this nominal Crown Princess as he was to Wei Hongying.

He couldn't understand how Qin Li could go to Jiangnan and bring back a woman who was now the Crown Princess.

In his opinion, the Crown Princess should be Wei Hongying.

Unlike Wang Hu's attitude towards Pei Qingluan, Wei Hongying greeted Pei Qingluan with a smile when she saw her arrive:

"She didn't say anything, so why is Sister Pei here?"

Pei Qingluan first looked at the situation outside the city before saying, "The Northern Mang delegation has left the capital. Qin Li sent a message instructing us to make sure the hostage exchange is completed in the next few days."

Wei Hongying nodded.

Seeing that the two women wanted to talk, Wang Hu didn't want to make a fool of himself, so he made an excuse and went down from the city wall.

After Wang Hu left, the two looked together at the Northern Barbarian army camp outside the city.

"After this matter is over and we return to the capital, I will relinquish the position of Crown Princess," Pei Qingluan suddenly said.

She knew the story between Qin Li and Wei Hongying, and that Wei Hongying was the true Crown Princess.

"Why bother, sister?"

Wei Hongying refused, saying, "My sister is the Crown Princess."

Pei Qingluan gently shook her head and said, "You and I both know that among Qin Li's women, I dislike him the most, and he dislikes me the most too."

"He only made me the Crown Princess because of my background."

"Of course I know."

Wei Hongying said.

"You still do it even though you know?"

Pei Qingluan expressed her confusion.

Wei Hongying explained, "It is precisely because I know this that I cannot compete with my sister for the position of Crown Princess. If Qin Li were an ordinary person, I would definitely fight for the position of the first wife, but he is the Crown Prince, second only to the emperor, so the choice of Crown Princess must be appropriate."

"And my older sister is the most suitable candidate!"

"You mean I have no blemishes on my record, and therefore, as Empress, I will be able to command respect?"

"Yes."

Pei Qingluan is not like Wei Hongying, who is currently burdened with the title of the Seventh Prince's fiancée, nor is she like Xiao Xue'er, who once tried to poison Qin Li.

Pei Qingluan is very clean, and with her background in a prestigious family, she is the most suitable candidate for Crown Princess.

No one objected to her becoming the Crown Princess.

"Don't you feel wronged?"

Pei Qingluan asked.

If she were Wei Hongying, she would have gone through so much with Qin Li and given him everything.

In the end, she wasn't made the Crown Princess, and she must have felt wronged.

Wei Hongying replied, "What's there to feel wronged about? Besides, I'm not someone who cares that much about titles or status."

"I, Wei Hongying, have not lived my life for a man. I have my own ideals!"

"To achieve great things?" Pei Qingluan asked.

"Yes," Wei Hongying replied, "to achieve great things."

"In this respect, she is better than Xue'er. I don't know what kind of bewitching potion she's been given, but she only wants to have children for Qin Li, and have as many as possible."

Wei Hongying laughed, "Then she'd better hurry up, after all, there's another one outside who already has a child. You know, a man usually loves his first child the most."

Pei Qingluan knew that Wei Hongying was referring to Qin Li and the Empress's child.

Pei Qingluan couldn't help but ask, "Boy? Girl?"

"girl."

"You've seen it before?"

Wei Hongying nodded. "Before Sister Pei arrived, the Empress and that child were escorted to the front lines. She was very beautiful, with big eyes, and looked more like the Empress."