After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Back to Qianqing Palace.

He dismissed all eunuchs and palace maids, including the eunuch in charge of writing.

He took out that particular copy of Journey to the West and began to decipher the so-called Twelve Divine Numbers in the newspaper.

As soon as I opened Journey to the West and picked up my pen, my breath hitched slightly.

Because among the so-called twelve divine numbers, there is a number like "two hundred and thirteen," which, according to its position, represents a column number.

However, such a large number would not appear on any page of the Journey to the West, which still exudes the faint scent of ink.

She furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment before modifying her decryption method.

The previous system of using three numbers to represent one character has been changed to using two numbers to represent one character.

The first number represents the page number.

The second number represents the position of the word counting down.

The first two numbers are: "fifteen, six or seven".

She turned to page fifteen and counted to the sixty-seventh word.

"north"

The moment Her Majesty the Empress saw the character "北" written in the official script, she knew her interpretation was correct.

North, the North of the Northern Dynasties.

She felt a sense of relief at first, but then immediately tensed up again.

"Since it's a secret letter, why not go through the Embroidered Uniform Guard? And... why change the decryption method?"

Such a question instantly popped into her mind. But her hands didn't stop moving.

He picked up the pen with his right hand and wrote the first character.

With a soft rustling sound, her fair left hand rapidly turned the pages, continuing to decipher the numbers...

About fifteen minutes passed.

The six characters represented by the twelve numbers were then completely deciphered.

On a piece of paper, six neat and elegant small characters in the official script, written with a mouse-whisker brush, were still wet, and the ink droplets on them shone with a crystal-clear luster.

She put down her pen and picked up a piece of paper.

"North, land, Luo; sea, south, down."

Her red lips parted slightly, and Her Majesty the Empress softly uttered these six words.

Reading these six words, which were sent from thousands of miles away, not through the Embroidered Uniform Guard, not through official channels, but through a way that seemed to have never existed before in this world, both very public and very secretive.

A sense of uncertainty and unease rose in Zhu Cuiwei's heart.

The charcoal fire inside the Qianqing Palace burned slowly, and the temperature inside the hall was quite high.

As each word was carefully considered.

A sense of shock quietly rose in her heart.

This ominous feeling gradually became a reality, and a string in my mind was completely taut, causing a chill to rise from my body.

My first feeling was disbelief; I just felt it was impossible.

Such a big thing, such a big thing... why is there not a single word from the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

Thinking of this, a figure suddenly popped into her mind—the female Imperial Guard she hadn't seen for half a year…the fourth-rank Imperial Guard Commander Qin Yuanyao, who had gone north in September!

"Qin Qian Shi..."

Her Majesty the Empress's heart sank.

"Half a year has passed and he still hasn't returned."

His right hand hung down, and he subconsciously touched his lower abdomen through the dragon robe.

If it weren't for such a big thing...

Why would the child's father, who went north, send the message back in this way?

"he……"

Zhu Cuiwei's pupils contracted repeatedly, her heart gradually turned cold, and her fingers felt as if they were frozen.

He took a few rapid breaths... Huff... Huff...

She clenched her fingers, trying to calm herself. She stopped thinking about his current condition; he would be alright.

He summoned eunuchs and palace maids into the hall and immediately summoned Chief Minister Qin, Second Chief Minister Gao, Yan Yuqing, and other important officials.

The lights in the Qianqing Palace remained on until midnight. The Empress sat at the head of the table, while the eunuch Zhang Qi, who held the imperial pens, stood respectfully beside her.

A group of senior officials sat on either side.

Zhu Cuiwei first asked Yan Yuqing if there was any news about Qin Yuanyao. The silver-haired commander of the Imperial Guards looked somber and reported the truth:

"Your Majesty, our spies in the north have been searching, but we still haven't heard a word from Qin Qianshi and his men."

Zhu Cuiwei's heart sank immediately, and she said again:

"Has the mission sent any correspondence recently?"

Yan Yuqing nodded:

"Three days ago, we received a letter from the mission informing us that Prince Jing had arrived safely in the old capital."

Zhu Cuiwei naturally knew about this, but what she wanted to ask was whether there was any more recent news.

However, Nanjing and the old capital were extremely far apart, and the official roads in between were cut off in some places due to war, making it very difficult to send messages.

After a moment, she instructed Zhang Qi to distribute several copies of the six-character note to the high-ranking officials below her. Her calm tone trembled slightly as she spoke:

"This is a letter that my husband handed to me. Gentlemen, please take a look."

"Hmm?" Yan Yuqing frowned, her white eyebrows furrowing, a look of doubt appearing on her face as she glanced at Wang Bing.

The Grand Prince Consort always wrote letters to His Majesty through the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

She had not received any news from the prince consort in recent days.

Where did Your Majesty receive this letter from?

With doubts in her mind, she glanced at Wang Bing, assuming that the Grand Prince Consort had obtained the letter through the Imperial Censor.

The foundation of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics is far less deep than that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so how come it is now able to quietly and easily send messages from the Northern Dynasty?

Yan Yuqing pondered for a moment, then reached out and took the note Zhang Qi handed her. It was called a letter, but it only contained six words.

Although he has grown old, his eyes have become somewhat gray and are no longer the bright and piercing eyes he once had.

But after about ten breaths, Yan Yuqing's eyes flashed with a chilling light, and she suddenly stood up!

The atmosphere inside the hall changed instantly.

Several high-ranking officials also widened their eyes and stood up.

Second Grand Secretary Gao Congzhe stared at the Empress at the head of the table, his voice trembling slightly as he said:

"Your Majesty...this...this..."

Minister of War Luan Zongyuan unfolded the letter and shook his head, saying:

"Impossible, Your Majesty, this is absolutely impossible."

He stood up and bowed, saying:

"The Northern Dynasty and the Rakshasa have a long-standing feud, fighting for years in the icy wilderness. The Northern Dynasty harbors wolfish ambitions, and the Rakshasa are no less so; Aigun has already been occupied by the Rakshasa. How could the two possibly form an alliance? And how could they possibly be able to?"

How can they form an alliance? Both are tigers and wolves; how can one tiger and wolf trust another?

Gao Congzhe also nodded in agreement:

"Minister Luan is right. The Rakshasa are not to be trifled with. If the Northern Dynasty becomes embroiled in war with our Great Liang, the Rakshasa will surely break the alliance and march directly south to Ningguta!"

Gao Congzhe and Luan Zongyuan had always distrusted the Northern Dynasty, believing that the alliance initiated by the Northern Dynasty with the Great Liang was a sinister plot.

However, they only thought that the Northern Dynasty was using delaying tactics to prevent the Southern Dynasty from launching a northern expedition while they were dealing with the Rakshasa in the north.

Therefore, both men agreed with the Emperor Emeritus's plan: to strike a fallen enemy hard, not only to reclaim Huainan, but also to take the opportunity to annihilate the three major camps of the Northern Dynasty in Huainan, preventing them from returning north.

However, when it came to the fact that the Northern Dynasty was secretly plotting to form an alliance with the Rakshasa, and that they would travel south together by both land and sea, a chill ran down their spines. They felt that the Northern Dynasty could not possibly dare to, and even less could possibly have the means to, carry out such a treacherous plan.