Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

154. Ten Cities as the Betrothal Gifts to Prince Rui

Translator: Flying Lines

“General Xuanlie.” Having had someone take care of the unconscious Yu Che, Su Jie entered the military accounts and called Vice-general Yan.

“Yes, sire.”

“Save the etiquette. I came here to…” He paused for a moment. Although, with the disguise, his facial features were ordinary, the corners of his mouth formed a very bright style and his eyes were as clear as always, but the depths of his eyes were cold.

Only the Guqin Master, who was familiar with the Sharp Swords, knew that this was the expression that a Sharp Sword would show every time he received a mission.

Like a hunter who smelt the scent of the prey and who was about to launch the cruelest hunt for the prey.

Su Jie’s voice was slow and firm.

“I’ll dispatch troops.”

Dispatch troops?

Vice-general Yan’s breathing became sluggish. He had been wondering why the Emperor would come all the way to the border. It seemed that…there was a secret order?

Why did the Emperor want to dispatch troops?

Even though Vice-general Yan had so many questions he wanted to ask, he just replied with a solemn expression, “At your service, sire”

Su Jie nodded, knocking on the table with his index finger bent. Then he continued, “I’ll attack State YanHui.”

Vice-general Yan’s eyelids twitched.

“I’ll lead the troops personally.”

Vice-general Yan’s heart started to twitch.

At first, he thought that the Emperor only wanted to mobilize troops for a drill to inspect whether the soldiers had been lax recently. He didn’t expect that the Emperor was going to start a war, and he would even personally join the battle.

The war was not important, but the safety of the Emperor was important. Now State YanLing had just been stabilized, if something happened to Su Jie while he led the army…

Vice-general Yan dared not think more about it. If anything happened to the Emperor, even if he had 10,000 heads, it would not be enough to compensate.

State YanLing has just been peaceful for a few months. The new emperor had ascended the throne, and the descendants of the gods had reclaimed the power. It was not an exaggeration to say that after Su Jie became the emperor, the people around the state had obviously changed.

First of all, more incense was burnt in the memorial temples for the Gods, and with that, the society had become more stable.

In the past ten years under Lan BuHui’s rule, whether it was a coincidence or not, both natural calamities and man-made misfortunes had occurred one after another, and the people had all believed that the Gods were angry. Finally, they saw the return of the young man with the bloodline of the gods, and many people believed that the gods would bless State YanLing.

Who’d know that the teenager who was now the emperor had rested for just a few months and was going to start a war against State YanHui.

“I’ll take ten cities in State YanHui within 20 days.”

His tone suggested that he would not take any rejection.

Vice-general Yan felt like that something was buzzing in his brain.

To be honest, he was quite supportive of the Emperor’s plan, but he was only good at training soldiers, but was very lacking in terms of the art of war and the use of arms. He was not good at leading troops on battlefields by nature.

“General Xuanlie, I’ll come up with the strategies for the assaults. You just need to introduce the right men for me. I swear that I’ll take ten cities from State YanHui!”

His words were full of confidence. His bright eyes were sparkling just like the Galaxy. Even though, after disguising himself, Su Jie’s appearance was not outstanding, his aura could not be underestimated.

He was the most powerful Man of Sacrifice cultivated by the Guqin Master! He was the best assassin!

He had fought along with General Ju Liandao. Not only would he be the inspiration to all the soldiers, he was also the strongest warrior who had been baptized with blood!

This time, Su Jie would occupy ten cities of State YanHui in the simplest and cruelest way.

Su Jie had no ambition to rule the whole world. When he was Man of Sacrifice, his biggest wish was to live a peaceful life. Now he became the emperor, besides managing the country, he also needed to protect the most important person to him–

Xiao Shengnian!

When he thought of the fact that the person he’d been missing was deposed for no reason at all, Su Jie burst into anger. He was not a person to be messed around, and now, Su Jie was completely annoyed by the way the Emperor of State YanHui suppressed Xiao Shengnian.

Since the Emperor of State YanHui had the nerve to depose Prince Rui, Su Jie couldn’t care less about attacking State YanHui. And he would take 10 cities of State YanHui!

And then, Su Jie would use the ten cities of State YanHui as a dowry and propose to Prince Rui.

Right now, the Emperor of State YanHui didn’t know that he would offend the legendary descendant of the Gods in State YanLing by just giving up one son.

As a person who had lived in State YanHui for many years, Su Jie was actually not willing to attack State YanHui. Besides, he didn’t like war. After all, starting a war would only cause the people in State YanLing to suffer and it would be a waste of money too, but it involved Xiao Shengnian, which was like pricking the most sensitive nerve ending on Su Jie’s body.

Su Jie clearly understood what a deposal meant to a prince –life imprisonment.

Although Su Jie knew that Xiao Shengnian had the ability to save himself, Su Jie just wanted to be willful this time and he also wanted to be the shoulder that Xiao Shengnian could rely on.

Moreover, Su Jie’s actions were not reckless. After hearing what Yu Che said, Su Jie was angry but he also rationally analyzed the current situation.

The soldiers of State YanHui had gotten tired from the attack of State Liukong, but it was still a great country with a solid foundation. Even if its military was weakened, it was not easy to break into.

However, who would have thought that the Emperor of State YanLing would suddenly lead troops to attack State YanHui?

After all, State YanLing had just been unified. In the eyes of the normal people, the new emperor of this country should’ve been focused on the internal affairs, so that the country could recover and build up strength before considering expanding its territory.

However, Su Jie, a Man of Sacrifice who did not play it by the book, obviously couldn’t be understood by the ordinary people.

What happened to Prince Rui made Su Jie furious.

And the fury of an emperor would result in millions of deaths. Su Jie didn’t need so many deaths to calm his anger. He only needed ten cities in State YanHui.

“Anyways, I’m giving away ten cities as the bride price. I’ll take them from State YanHui first, and then return them to State YanHui.” The young man murmured, and a smile appeared on his face like a flower blossoming.

Seeing that Vice-general Yan was still kneeling and not responding, Su Jie added, “General Xuanlie, I learned the art of war from General Gongsun and has practical combat experience. You don’t need to worry. In this battle, I will definitely not lose.”

He sounded a little overconfident and even arrogant, but Vice-general Yan knew that the person in front of him had the capital to be arrogant, because he was the emperor of State YanLing! He was the descendant of the Su family who was blessed by God!

“At your service, Your Majesty!”

Vice-general Yan chose the best soldiers according to Su Jie’s requirements and selected the best archers. Because they could only get to State YanHui by passing State Xi, Su Jie couldn’t bring too many soldiers. The initial attack could be a surprise win, catching State YanHui off guard.

While Vice-general Yan was preparing, Su Jie was not idle. He went to see Tuoba Qingheng in the City of Divine Traces.

To Su Jie’s surprise, Tuoba Qingheng’s spice business was very popular. Those who bought his spices were usually women of wealthy families. Tuoba Qingheng’s spices were divided into a dozens of flavors, which fully satisfied the needs of people with different tastes. Therefore, Tuoba Qingheng’s have got what he wished for and earned his first bucket of gold in State YanLing.

Of course, Tuoba Qingheng did not forget Su Jie. He only kept 20% of the profit for himself and gave the rest to Su Jie.

Su Jie accepted it with a smile. Although Su Jie had the backing of the National Treasury, there was no reason for not taking the money he had earned. However, because Tuoba Qingheng wanted to open another shop, the money Su Jie earned slipped out of his hands in the blink of an eye.

“I need to go out for a while.”

Su Jie talked briefly to Tuoba Qingheng and left Yue Wanzhi and Xiao ShengXian in the City of Divine Traces.

Because it was State YanHui he was about to attack, Su Jie naturally couldn’t tell these two people from State YanHui about this. At first, he was worried about for what reason he could kick Yue Wanzhi and Xiao ShengXian out of the military camp. But then he heard from the soldiers responsible for scouting that Xiao ShengXian had a lover in the City of Divine Traces.

Moreover, Xiao ShengXian’s lover was a courtesan from a local brothel. The best part was that Xiao ShengXian had bought back her freedom and also bought a house for her to stay in the City of Divine Traces.

Furthermore, the woman was three months pregnant.

Su Jie frowned and thought for a while when he heard the news. According to Xiao ShengXian’s personality, he wouldn’t commit himself to any women. In addition, Xiao ShengXian had no children for so many years. It must be that he didn’t want any, but now he was willing to let a courtesan carrying his baby, which indicated that he was in love with her.

No wonder Prince Xian didn’t follow his seventh brother back to State YanHui. He’d got someone who he cared about here.

After figuring that out, Su Jie ordered someone to send Xiao ShengXian back to his lover. As for Yue Wanzhi, Su Jie arranged for him to protect Tuoba Qingheng. Although Tuoba Qingheng was smart, it was necessary for him to have a personal guard beside him.

At the same time, Su Jie repeatedly urged Yue Wanzhi not to tell Tuoba Qingheng that he was the Emperor of State YanLing as he couldn’t have his real identity exposed.

After getting everything in order in the City of Divine Traces, Su Jie returned to the military camp and formulated a detailed attack plan. He had decided on the 10 cities which he was about to attack. The only thing that he should pay extra attention to was to make sure he passed through State Xi without alerting the enemies so he could give a deadly blow to the border of State YanHui.

*

The Emperor of State YanHui never imagined that his move to depose Prince Rui would bring him the biggest shame and humiliation of his life.

On the court one day, the Emperor of State YanHui suddenly received a secret letter from the border. He opened it and almost fainted.

The army of State YanLing attacked frantically, and they’d already taken the border and one city.

In the next ten days, urgent letters were sent to the palace non-stop.

The second city was occupied by the enemy…

The third…

……

When the tenth city was taken, there also came a gilded letter.

The handwriting on the letter was free and forceful. Every word was written very seriously.

The letter said that: I had admired Prince Rui, aka Xiao Shengnian for a long time. I made the promise to Prince Rui that I would have no other concubines in my palace except for him. With ten cities as the betrothal gifts, I now propose to Prince Rui. I’ll love him for the rest of my life and share my throne with him. –From Su Jie of State YanLing.

“Share his throne?!” The Emperor was so angry that he started laughing. The loss of ten cities had already made him furious, and the words “Prince Rui” in Su Jie’s letter stimulated the Emperor of State YanHui even more.

Prince Rui had been deposed, so there was no Prince Rui in State YanHui, but Su Jie called him Prince Rui, which clearly showed that he had a problem with the Emperor of State YanHui deposing Prince Rui.

There was no one who wouldn’t get angry when provoked, but at this time, State Liukong also made a move to invade State YanHui in a big way.

Under the attack from two parties, the Emperor of State YanHui must choose to compromise with one party in order to gather the army to deal with the other.

Moreover, even if State Liukong didn’t make the situation trickier by choosing to attack now, the Emperor of State YanHui would choose to compromise because he had not given up on the idea of uniting the world. If his son went to State YanLing, according to the promise of the Emperor of State YanLing, his son would share the throne with him in State YanLing.

Without a doubt, the Emperor of State YanHui chose to send Xiao Shengnian to State YanLing.

Moreover, he had to restore the royal title of Xiao Shengnian.

It was a real slap in the face to the Emperor of State YanHui. His son, who had been deposed by him, had regained his title as Prince Rui, and he also needed to comfort his son.

“Youguang, why did the Emperor of State YanLing ask me specifically for your hand?”

“Because… he’s Wen Nianxuan.”

“Wen Nianxuan?” The Emperor felt that he had heard this name somewhere before. He suddenly remembered that he had once bestowed marriage on Youguang, and that Youguang’s future consort was Wen Nianxuan.

I see!

No wonder he asked me specifically for Youguang’s hand!

“Youguang, I’ve always treated you well. When you get to State YanLing…”

The Emperor of State YanHui knew that his son had always been gentle and that he had always been obedient to him.

“I dare not forget your kindness to me,” Xiao Shengnian had always known that his father was not a kind-hearted person. As his biological father, he mercilessly abandoned him, and now he got him back because he had value to him. Unfortunately, some things wouldn’t ever come back once they were lost.