I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

Half a month is enough time for the proclamation against the traitor issued from the capital to spread throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Xuanque Pass also received the proclamation to punish the rebels, but no one dared to accept it, and the person who came to deliver the proclamation was beheaded.

Early that morning, a cold wind was blowing on the city wall.

Winter is approaching, and the weather is getting colder day by day, with snowflakes falling sporadically.

Qin Li stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance.

This time, he wasn't looking north, but south, towards the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

No one knew what Qin Li was thinking, and no one dared to go up and disturb him.

Suddenly, a pair of delicate hands draped a cloak over his shoulders.

Thank you.

Qin Li only had two words to say in response.

The one who draped the cloak over him was none other than the Empress.

The Northern Mang army hastily broke camp and retreated north, and the Empress did not lead her troops in pursuit.

Although she longed to catch up with Murong Qingcang and seek revenge, she thought it better to stay at Xuanque Pass and spend more time with her daughter, Huayang.

Huayang is already three years old, and she was absent from Huayang's childhood.

Next, all she wanted to do was spend quality time with Huayang.

"What do we do next?"

The Empress looked south with Qin Li, her beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed as she asked.

"What else can we do?"

Qin Li tightened the cloak on his shoulders and laughed self-deprecatingly, "Of course, we'll wait until the army has occupied the entire territory of Northern Mang and the situation in the north has completely stabilized before heading south."

Aren't you worried?

The Empress asked.

It would take at least two or three years to conquer the entire territory of Northern Mang.

Two or three years is neither a long nor a short time.

But a lot can happen in two or three years.

Qin Li has very important people in the capital, yet he's willing to give them up?

"Of course I'm worried," Qin Li said. "But what's the use of worrying? Now that we're returning to the capital, we're in a predicament of being attacked from both sides."

"Although Murong Qingcang hastily retreated north, he still has the strength to fight. If he learns that I have returned, he will definitely find a way to raise an army and come back again."

"I will not give him that chance, nor will I give Wang Long that chance."

"A steady and methodical approach, advancing step by step, is the best strategy."

"As for my Consort and my Empress, I trust them, and I also trust that Wang Long would not dare to touch them easily."

The Empress nodded and then asked, "Before leaving the capital, did you foresee that Wang Long would rebel?"

Qin Li gently shook his head. "No."

This is the truth.

Wang Hu and Wang Bao were both extremely loyal.

In Qin Li's heart, Wang Long was the same.

He never expected that Wang Long would take advantage of his absence from the capital to launch a rebellion.

"The General is still unaware of this?"

The empress asked knowingly.

"It was the Grand General who was ordered to pursue Murong Qingcang this time; I had someone deliberately keep it from him."

Qin Li said.

If we're talking about who has the best and closest relationship with Wang Long, aside from the brothers Wang Hu and Wang Bao, there's no one else.

Qin Ligai was afraid that Wang Hu would be distracted if he learned of Wang Long's rebellion, so she had someone deliberately keep it from him.

His only task now is to catch up with Murong Qingcang.

"Where is Wang Bao?"

The Empress asked again.

"I did not take him with me on this personal expedition. He has been in the capital for the past few years. I left him in the capital because I was afraid that someone would have designs on the capital while I was away. Unfortunately, the one who made the move was Wang Long."

"So Wang Bao rebelled too?"

The Empress asked.

Wang Bao played an indispensable role in Wang Long's successful capture of the capital.

Qin Li shook his head and said, "Based on my understanding of Wang Bao, he will not rebel. He is just hesitating and doesn't know what to do."

The Empress nodded: "It seems that the matter will truly have to wait until you return to resolve it."

Qin Li shook his head again: "There is another way."

"Oh?"

The Empress immediately became interested: "Tell me about it."

Qin Li spoke eloquently: "Seventh Prince has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command on his way back to the capital. Wang Long did not use his Liangzhou troops in this rebellion, because the Liangzhou troops have been suppressing the Western Regions for generations and very few can be transferred. Instead, he used soldiers under Wang Bao's command, which numbered only about 40,000. Although Qin Feng is no match for the experienced Wang Long, as long as another force comes from Xuanque Pass, Wang Long will be in trouble and will have no choice but to close the city and not come out."

The Empress immediately understood Qin Li's meaning: "You mean, you want me to lead the army south?"

There is no better candidate than her now.

Of course, Wei Hongying could also do it.

However, in terms of seniority and status, Wei Hongying cannot be compared with Liangzhou Wang Long.

Only she, who once served as Empress in Northern Mang, could stand against Wang Long in the capital.

"Why should I go? I'm still waiting to kill Murong Qingcang." The Empress did not want to go.

The Empress now has only two obsessions.

One is her daughter, Huayang.

The other was killing Murong Qingcang.

Nothing else could pique her interest.

Not to mention, it was a thankless and arduous task like leading troops to the capital.

Qin Li suddenly reached out and hugged the Empress.

The Empress was startled and quickly told Qin Li to let go of her, but Qin Li only hugged her tighter.

The Empress was filled with shame and indignation, and she shouted in a low, stern voice:

"Don't think that I'll help you just because you say that. I won't go, I'd rather die than go!"

Qin Li remained silent, staring intently into the Empress's eyes as he drew closer and closer.

The Empress quickly retreated and shouted:

"What are you trying to do? Let me tell you, don't do anything reckless. I'm not your concubine! And I will never submit to your tyranny."

Qin Li remained silent, moving closer and closer until they could both feel each other's breath.

The Empress panicked and said, "I'm telling you, you really... don't do anything reckless! If you keep doing this, I'm really going to get angry!"

Qin Li remained silent, which angered the Empress so much that she reached out and shoved him, trying to break free from his embrace.

But Qin Li was already a grandmaster, how could the empress be his match? Instead, she was held tighter and tighter.

The surrounding soldiers, seeing this, all smiled silently, with expressions of anticipation for a good show.

The Empress was utterly panicked and said in shame and indignation:

"Let me go, I promise you, okay?"

Qin Li still didn't let go until their lips met.

Their lips intertwined, their touch warm and sweet as honey.

The empress, who had been resisting, suddenly froze, as if she had been frozen in place.

It was a long time before Qin Li finally released the Empress.

When they looked again, the Empress's face was as red as a peach, and she really wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

She clenched her small pink fist in annoyance and punched Qin Li a few times, then wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "What's the use of me going? People might look down on me because I'm just a woman."

Qin Li replied, "You are a woman, that's true, but you're not an ordinary woman. There's a woman like you who was once an emperor!"

"Only if you lead the troops there can I feel at ease."

"Maybe if you go, it will have a miraculous effect!"

"What miraculous effect?"

The Empress asked.

"You'll find out when you get there. Right now, even I can't explain it clearly."

……

Time flies.

Two months later.

Two large armies, one from the north and one from the south, seemed to have planned it beforehand, and approached the capital. The soldiers on the city walls were immediately thrown into panic.

"Your Highness, what should we do?"

"We've investigated thoroughly. One group is led by the Seventh Prince, and the other by the ever-victorious General, the former Empress of the Northern Barbarians!"

Upon hearing this report, Wang Long remained expressionless, but everyone knew that he was not in a good mood.

The proclamation against the traitors has been issued for so long, and I originally thought there would be a response from various places.

Who knew there was absolutely no response? Even if there was, it was either suppressed by the Seventh Prince's troops or by the Empress's troops.

After all, one of them came from the south and the other from the north.

They would encounter all the forces that responded in various places.

"No one is allowed to leave the city to fight without my order."

After saying that, Wang Long descended from the city wall.

Outside the city, the two armies joined forces and set up camp to cook.