It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"That's right. Yanqi is a good girl, and she only asked for a betrothal gift of eight gold coins, which is very unworthy for a blacksmith's daughter. But Yunye can't afford this price. Among the nearby villages, only the butcher's family in the next village is relatively well-off and is willing to pay this price to marry Yunye. If you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again. Although he is much older than Yunye, the older a man is, the more reliable he is. I don't think there is a more suitable marriage than this."

Seeing that Yunye didn't say much, the woman put on a smiling face, walked to one of Yunye's brothers, squatted down, and asked:

"Yunqi, do you want to get married in the future?"

The little boy bit his finger and nodded, answering in a baby voice:

"think."

The woman continued:

"If you want to get married, you have to marry your sister off. Are you willing to let your sister get married off?"

The woman smiled smugly, like a human trafficker using lollipops to trick children.

She knew that Yunye cared most about her younger brothers and sisters, and as long as they spoke, Yunye had to agree even if she disagreed.

Unexpectedly, the little boy shook his head and answered crisply:

"No! I don't want my sister to get married."

"you!"

The woman was choked and turned around to yell at Yunye:

"Did you teach him to say that? You even take advantage of your own brother. You've really grown up."

Yunye defended in a low voice:

"I do not have……"

The woman's voice instantly rose several degrees:

"No? No one taught him, he could say these words on his own? He also learned to lie, you've learned well, Yunye. But you don't do anything serious, and you use the skills you learned to deal with your parents, you're really good at it."

Yunye clutched her skirt tightly and said nothing. But the little boy named Yunqi suddenly said loudly:

"No need for sister to teach me! I don't want my sister to marry a butcher. Everyone says that butchers beat their wives. I won't allow him to beat my sister!"

After saying that, the little boy ran to Yunye, hugged her slender legs, and said in a crying voice:

"Sister, sister, I'm not looking for a wife anymore, please don't leave..."

Before Yunye could answer, the woman grabbed the boy by the collar, dragged him back, and pointed at his younger sister who was still standing beside him and said:

"Well, after all this, I, as a mother, have become the bad guy, right? You guys teamed up to deal with me, how can that be justified? Let me tell you, if your sister doesn't marry that butcher, she will marry that butcher! All of your sisters will have to get married, and marry to the ends of the earth, and you won't be able to see them again in this life! Ask them if they are willing?"

The sisters were so scared that they were trembling and looked at Yunye with eyes asking for help.

The father didn't say anything either, he just puffed on his cigarette.

The scene was dead silent. Yunye raised her head and looked around the house. The small house was empty, full of holes and patches. Everything was so old. The lighting was not good. It was dark and looked like it was eating people. There were a few dishes on the table, but there was no oil or water. The brothers and sisters were not only pale and thin, but also frightened by such a quarrel.

Yunye smiled and said with red eyes:

"...I agree."

The woman was not satisfied. She stood up, rolled her eyes, and said:

"If you act so reluctant, people who don't know will think I'm forcing you to do it. If you're angry or dissatisfied, just say it directly. Don't be so irritated. I don't like it."

The man put down the cigarette in his hand and said:

"If you really don't want to get married, then we won't get married."

Yunye raised her head and looked at her father, but the middle-aged man did not look at her, but silently looked away. Yunye retracted her gaze and looked at her frightened brother and sister. The corners of her mouth raised, her eyes curved, and her face was full of happiness:

"No, no, I'm really happy. After all, many people would beg for such a marriage but can't, it's my blessing."

The woman snorted and said:

"That's pretty much it."

Yunye's facial expression relaxed a little, and she whispered:

"But, not yet, I have to go out again..."

This time, before the woman could speak, the young man named Hu Luo stepped forward to stop her and said:

"No, this won't do! What if you run away?"

His words and eyes were full of distrust towards his sister.

Yunye smiled bitterly and said to her father:

"I have to go to Yuxi City the day after tomorrow. Lord Yunyang specifically asked me to go. The prince has been captured, and someone is needed to negotiate... Sister Zi Pu only gave me two days to prepare. Today is over. I will stay here for one night and go back tomorrow. Otherwise, it will bring great trouble to this family."

After hearing Yunye's words, the woman looked at her doubtfully and said:

"Why didn't Lord Yunyang ask anyone else for this matter, but only you? It's not your problem. Did you offend someone and he doesn't like you?"

Having said that, when it comes to Lord Yunyang, the woman can only grit her teeth and say:

"I will go back to Lingyun City with you tomorrow to see if this is the case. If you dare to lie to me, just wait, I have plenty of ways to make you regret it. Even if you really want to go to Yuxi City, you will probably be back in less than ten days or half a month. By then, hurry up and hold the wedding with the butcher. Your brother is still waiting for money."

Yunye nodded.

She really wanted to ask the woman in front of her if she could successfully negotiate to bring back Li Yi from Yuxi City and receive some rewards from Lord Yunyang, would she not have to get married.

But she didn't say anything in the end.

This is an unnecessary question. Never mind the source of the money. If she really had the money to marry Hu Luo, she would naturally not have to marry a butcher.

But she actually knew very well how low the success rate of this negotiation was.

She didn't know the past grievances between Li Yi and Li De like Zi Pu did, but no one in the entire Yunyang Lord's Mansion knew Yuxi City and Li De better than her. She had repeatedly studied Li De's deeds and had talked with merchants who had been to Yuxi City. She knew very well that Li De was not as weak as he looked, and Yuxi City was not really a group of ridiculous weirdos in the eyes of the world.

So she had advised Li Yi not to act rashly, but unfortunately Li Yi did not listen and agreed to lend Li Neng troops to attack Yuxi City. This move not only lost 1,500 troops in vain, but also gave Kaiya and Norn an excellent reason to raise the price, causing Yunyang to suffer more losses.

Reed is like this, coiled there like a hibernating snake, usually lazy, but when encountering a threat he will rush out in an instant, devouring the opponent first, leaving not even a bone behind.

Now, she had to negotiate with the snake she knew.

Yunye barely slept all night. Every time she was about to fall asleep and thought about what happened today, she couldn't stop crying. She was afraid that someone would hear her crying, so she bit the quilt, and gradually her pillow became wet.

When the sky was getting light, Yunye fell into a short sleep and had a dream during this short period of time.

She dreamed again of the handsome, rich, young nobleman who often appeared in girls' fantasies. He pressed her against the wall, and when he raised his hand he dropped countless gold and silver jewels. He looked at her lovingly and slowly approached her until he was about to kiss her on the lips.

The difference was that when she had such unrealistic dreams before, she would always wake up quickly, smile and tell herself that it was unrealistic. But this time, she didn't want to wake up, and just wanted to stay in such a beautiful dream for a little longer.

But she woke up anyway.

After waking up, Yunye turned over and sat up, staring blankly for about ten minutes. Then she took a deep breath, and her eyes gradually returned to normal, even brighter than usual.

She must be brave enough.

She had to summon more energy than usual.

No matter how tired, wronged, or sad she was, she had to put on a smile and cheer up again, because she was the special envoy of this visit to Yuxi City, because this was her only chance to save her fate, no matter how slim the hope was.

55. One shoulder

Yunye returned to Lingyun City accompanied by her mother.

Seeing Yunye return safely, Zi Pu finally breathed a sigh of relief. She actually felt a little regretful. If Yunye ran away secretly, she probably wouldn't be able to find her back in a short time. But rescuing Li Yi couldn't be delayed. At that time, the mission to Yuxi City would fall on her head again. Just thinking about it gave her a headache.

Therefore, after meeting Yunye, Zipu exchanged pleasantries and gave her great encouragement, almost giving her a small red flower to pin on her chest. Yunye's mother couldn't get a word in, and looked at Yunye and Zipu with some suspicion, not knowing why her daughter seemed to be quite popular.

Yunye asked Zipu to borrow all the information about Lid in recent years and took it with her in the carriage to read it slowly. Although Yunyang's Anbu organization was average in ability, it had a large number of members and many sources of information, and collected a lot of information, but there was no focus, all of which were trivial things.

In addition, because Lide had no precautions against the Anbu organization that was following him when he was in Lingyun City, a lot of information from that period was still preserved. Of course, there was no part about Li Yi assassinating Lide in these materials. Most of them were information such as "Today, the Fourth Young Master won three consecutive games of chess with an old man on the street", "Today, the Fourth Young Master stared at the breasts of a beautiful woman passing by for a long time", "Today, the Fourth Young Master asked someone to take out the bird to look at", etc., like an elementary school student's composition, with dozens of running accounts on a page, adding up to a large pile.

Most people would not want to read this pile of stuff, but this is all the information Yunyang has about Lid. Yunye accepted everything that came, and after personally moving the pile of documents to the carriage, she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was still wearing a very cheap set of clothes, her light gray hair was tied into a somewhat rustic braid hanging behind her, and her hands, which had nowhere to go, were tucked into her coat pockets.

Zi Pu looked at Yun Ye, pursed his lips and remained silent for a while, then ordered the members of the envoy group around him to pick out a set of clothes for themselves.

The carriage stopped at the gate of the manor. Zi Pu also lived in the manor, so this didn't take too long.

This time, the members of the envoy group took a set of better clothes. The material was quite expensive and the design was quite sophisticated. It was considered fashionable and sophisticated clothes in this era. It was intellectual and had a natural charm, making it a versatile choice.

"Take it. When you go to Yuxi City, don't let the people there look down on you."

After saying that, Zi Pu took the clothes from the girl from the envoy group and stuffed them into Yun Ye's hands.

Yunye's mother was a little jealous, thinking that the clothes alone were probably worth a lot of money. If she gave them to the blacksmith's daughter, she would probably save a lot of money on the betrothal gifts. So she instinctively reached out to grab the folded clothes, but found that everyone was looking at her, so she could only withdraw her hand and watch Yunye put the clothes on the carriage.

Yunye kept bowing to Zipu:

"Thank you, Sister Zi Pu. I will wear it carefully and will definitely not damage it. When I come back, I will definitely wash it and return it to you."

Zi Pu forced a smile and said:

"I'm giving it to you. You don't have to return it."

Yunye said in surprise:

“How can this be——”

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by his mother:

"That's good, that's good. If someone gives it to you, just accept it. There's nothing wrong with that."

Zi Pu shook her head and said nothing. She knew very well that once Yun Ye left Ling Yun City, she would also hand in her resignation and run away. Not to mention that Yun Ye would probably not come back, even if Yun Ye came back by chance, she probably would not see Zi Pu.

Yunye thanked Zipu again, but Zipu had already left with the people around him without looking back.

So Yunye also tried to climb onto the carriage, but just as she stepped on it, her arm was grabbed by her mother. Yunye's mother carefully peeked at Zipu's back as she left, and after making sure she was far away and out of earshot, she leaned forward and said to Yunye in a low voice:

"Hey, looking at them like that, they really think you can accomplish something."

Yunye forced a smile. She didn't know what to say at this moment.

The woman looked experienced and shrewd. She looked at Yunye and made a "tsk tsk" sound. She shook her head and said:

"I'm telling you, don't be so cunning. If you can't reach an agreement, just come back early. I don't know what you are capable of. If we really rely on someone like you to rescue the prince, then the Yunyang Territory will be in great disgrace."

Yunye nodded and said:

"Mom, I understand."

The woman reluctantly glanced into the carriage again. The clothes that Zi Pu had given Yun Ye were neatly stacked on top. She was thinking about how to get the clothes and give them to the blacksmith's daughter. If the girl wore such clothes at the wedding, it would definitely make her son Hu Luo proud. She didn't understand diplomatic negotiations. She just thought it was just a group of people getting together to drink tea and chat. What difference did they make if they wore good or bad clothes? Of course, it was not as important as her son's wedding.

Yunye's mother was thinking about her own things, but the driver had already urged her:

"Ready to go!"

Before the woman could speak, Yunye had already gently broken free of her arms, said "I'm leaving", and quickly stepped into the carriage and lowered the curtain. The woman stamped her feet, but could only watch as the coachman whipped the horse, and the carriage slowly started and drove out of the city.

Speechless all the way.

Before arriving at Yuxi City, Yunye spent most of her time looking through the information that Zipu had found for her. She wanted to get enough sleep, so she would go to bed early every night, but she could never fall asleep right away. When she closed her eyes and was half asleep, she would suddenly feel a panic in her heart, and then she would be completely awake, and she had to get up and read by lamplight.

She had studied Lid before, but she had never analyzed it as hard as she did now. She had to go over every clue in her mind, fearing that she would forget something. When she finally arrived at Yuxi City, Yunye finally read everything completely.

And now, she closed her eyes and cleared all irrelevant things from her mind.

Now her mind is full of Reed and she can't think about anything else.

When getting off the carriage, Yunye set foot on the land of Yuxi City for the first time.

She raised her head and saw herself standing at the gate of the City Lord's Mansion. She reached behind her back to untie her pigtails and shook her hair gently. Her light grey hair swayed in the sun and finally fell on her fair and smooth back. Yunye, who had changed her clothes in advance, was wearing a long dark blue dress, and the wind made her skirt flutter slightly.

Yunye walked into the City Lord’s Mansion.

From now on, the future of Prince Yunyang depends on her.

56. The battle over iron ore

Before Yunye came to Yuxi City, Lord Yunyang called her to his study and pointed to a map and gave her some instructions in private.

Li Yi must be rescued. He is the prince of Yunyang and holds the right to inherit the Yunyang territory. He cannot be ignored. But how much Yunyang can make concessions in order to rescue Li Yi needs to be determined in advance. It is impossible for Li De to have everything he says. If he wants to be the prince of Yunyang, can the lord of Yunyang really satisfy him?

That would be putting the cart before the horse.

So Lord Yunyang gave Yunye a bottom line, and this bottom line was the ten cities to the east of Lianbo City.

——"This area, starting from Nanyan City and ending at Xiaxin City, is called the Six Cities of Nanyan. This is the remaining part of Lize's fiefdom. Except for Jiling City and Songguang City, which are somewhat decent, the other cities are very ordinary. Generally speaking, they are dispensable, so it's nothing to give them to him."

——"But the part further east is much more important. Black Steel City and Sword Forging City produce iron, and Blast Furnace City produces coal. These are the three most important cities in western Yunyang. The coal in Blast Furnace City is almost exhausted, so we can give it to him, but Black Steel City and Sword Forging City must not be lost. Although he has eight cities now, he doesn't have a single iron mine, so he can only buy from Yunhai and us. In the future, I can use this to strangle his lifeline."

——"Gaolu City... plus the surrounding Zhaoyue City, Mu'an City and Qiuyuan City, together with the six cities of Nanyan, there are exactly ten cities. If he is still not satisfied, then there is no need to talk further. Even if I have to sacrifice my old face, I will personally lead 30,000 soldiers to the west to bring my son back!"

When saying these words, Lord Yunyang's expression was not very good.