Chapter 354: Between Advance and Retreat

"Slow down... drink some soup..."

Inside the small hut, Le Zhan was eating ravenously, and after taking the soup bowl from his wife, he began to gulp it down.

"Fragrant... fragrant to the extreme... the wife's craftsmanship is truly..."

Le Zhan squeezed out a vague praise while eating, not even having time to finish his sentence before a large piece of chicken leg meat, stewed until soft, entered his mouth.

Madam Le smiled and said:

"After you finish eating, take a bath, and then change your clothes..."

Le Zhan was rolling up his sleeves, head buried in his meal. Hearing this, his movements paused. He raised his head, cheeks bulging, and looked at his wife in disbelief, then struggled to swallow the food in his mouth, not daring to believe:

"Bathe... bathe? Can I still bathe? Can I still change clothes?!"

Madam Le poured a small cup of chrysanthemum wine for her husband while saying as a matter of course: "Yes, you can."

Le Zhan's eyes widened, and he subconsciously took the wine cup, suddenly remembering something:

"Eh? No, how did you get in? Did Kong Zhangyu allow it?"

He had been too excited to hear that his wife had come to visit, so he didn't delve into it. Now that he thought about it, this wasn't an ordinary imprisonment, so how could family visits be allowed?

Le Zhan pondered the mystery while drinking wine.

Madam Le said lightly:

"Who needs his permission? I went to find the Prince of Badong."

Le Zhan almost sprayed out a mouthful of wine!

"You, you, you... when did you get to know the Prince of Badong?"

"Just got to know him."

"Ah? Just... but..."

Le Zhan didn't have time to continue thinking about how his wife managed it, when he suddenly let out an "Aiya," dropped his wine cup, and wine splashed onto his body:

"You can't see the Prince of Badong!!!"

Madam Le used a towel to wipe the spilled wine for her husband:

"Aiya, why are you reacting so strongly? The Prince of Badong is not a poisonous snake..."

Le Zhan said anxiously:

"He is more poisonous than a poisonous snake right now! My wife, he is rebelling! How can you get involved with this!!!"

Madam Le's eyes were ignorant:

"Is that so? Wasn't it the Son of Heaven who issued an edict for him to gather troops to suppress the rebellion?"

Le Zhan was very anxious, but had to lower his voice:

"That's a fake edict!!! How can you—"

Madam Le looked at her husband curiously:

"How do you know it's a fake edict?"

Le Zhan said excitedly: "Isn't it obvious—"

"Have you verified the edict?"

"This, I haven't, but the Son of Heaven's edict must have—"

Madam Le squinted and waved her hand, looking light and airy:

"Don't tell me these things, I'm just a woman and don't understand..."

"How can you not—"

Le Zhan's voice paused, and he calmed down, thinking thoughtfully:

"Yes, yes, yes, you don't understand..."

Madam Le smiled:

"Of course I don't understand. Does my husband understand very well?"

"I—"

Le Zhan thought about it and said with tears in his eyes:

"I can't not understand even if I don't!"

Madam Le smiled:

"That may not be so."

Le Zhan was confused: "What does my wife mean..."

"Eat first, we'll talk after eating."

"Not eating, I'm already full!"

"Eat the dates."

Le Zhan finished eating quickly. Madam Le packed up the bowls and chopsticks while saying:

"Guess why the Prince of Badong allowed me to come?"

Le Zhan thought about it and said uncertainly:

"To let you come and persuade me to surrender?"

"There is that meaning, and also to let me pass some news from the outside to you. Now that Wang Yi has been defeated, Zhang Jue has been killed, and all the officials in the counties south of Yongning have either surrendered or fled, the Prince of Badong has swept through with great momentum, like bamboo being split. Now that he has returned to the city in great victory, he is full of pride, and the next step is to take action against the noble families."

Le Zhan's heart jumped, and he couldn't help but clench his wine cup. His voice carried a tremor he didn't even notice, as if he didn't want to believe it:

"So Wang Yi really lost? And Zhang Jue really... really was killed? It's not them bluffing?"

Madam Le put all the bowls, dishes, and utensils into the food box, leaving only the wine pot outside, not intending to put it away. She answered seriously:

"It's true, not bluffing. Badong and Jianping counties were the first to surrender, and Tianmen and Nan Yiyang counties didn't make a sound, which is equivalent to default. Nan Yiyang is a small county with weak power and too few county soldiers. Tianmen County is the front line of suppressing barbarians and cannot look after others. Even if the Prince of Badong conscripts soldiers, he won't conscript them. Now the Prince of Badong has controlled the overall situation, and there is no rival in Jingzhou. The city gates of Jiangling have been opened. Although the inspection is strict and the soldiers are not slack, it is no longer like an iron bucket as before, and the news is not cut off..."

Le Zhan felt a chill in his heart. The city gates were opened, which meant the overall situation was settled, and he had nothing to fear.

He had originally hoped to hold on until the Prince of Badong collapsed, at which point people's hearts would change, and the situation in the city would naturally disintegrate. But now it seems that this crisis is not so easy to resolve.

He is now not only worried about the country, but even more worried about his family. Worrying about the country goes without saying; if the Prince of Badong succeeds, the country will have many difficulties from now on. However, he is powerless about this, and worrying is in vain.

Compared to worrying about the country, worrying about the family is real. Zhang Jue was from the Zhang family of Wu Jun, and he was killed just like that. Although it was on the battlefield, the Zhang family was not a local Jing family, but the Prince of Badong is moody, acts without scruples, and has always been arrogant. Now that he has the prestige of a new victory, he is even more incredible. If it really comes to that step, he won't care about your Le family or not. His son is in the hands of others, and although his wife is temporarily safe, she can't get out of the city. Whether to arrest her or not is just a thought of the Prince of Badong. If he doesn't surrender, the whole family might suffer. But if he surrenders, when the imperial court settles accounts in the future, he will still suffer.

Between advance and retreat, there are cliffs.

It's difficult!

Le Zhan raised his cup to drink but drank empty. He looked down and found that there was no wine in the cup.

Madam Le picked up the wine pot and poured a cup for her husband. Le Zhan was full of sorrow and drank two cups in a row. When he wanted a third cup, he was rejected by his wife: "You have already had too much today."

Le Zhan sighed:

"'Drinking wine to comfort myself, raising the cup to cut off the difficult road of singing.' My wife, it's already this time, let me drink a few more cups!"

Madam Le said softly:

"Then I will drink a cup with you."

She took out a wine cup, filled both cups, shook the wine pot, and smiled:

"There is really no wine left this time."

Then, without allowing any refusal, she put the wine pot into the food box.

Le Zhan only had one cup of wine left, so he didn't drink it hastily like the first two cups, but sipped it in small mouthfuls, his brows full of unresolved worries.

"Is my husband now in a dilemma, not knowing how to choose?" Madam Le asked.

"Yes. What does my wife think I should choose?"

"What I say... is better not to choose."

Le Zhan was stunned:

"Not choose, can I not choose?"

"Yes, not choosing means watching how others choose first. If someone comes to force my husband to express his position, don't resist hard, just ask one sentence: 'I don't know what Mr. Yu means.' Seeing Yu Yi is the leader of the Jingzhou noble families. If he hasn't loosened his mouth yet, even if you have the heart to surrender, it is 'not good to compete for the first.' So no matter what the opposite side says, my husband should not express his position, just ask for Mr. Yu's meaning. Since they want to win people's hearts, they naturally have to let Mr. Yu nod to count as success."

Le Zhan felt enlightened and couldn't help but ask:

"And then?"

"Then see if Seeing Yu Yi can hold on. If the Prince of Badong can't take Seeing Yu Yi, he can only blame his own incompetence. If he really takes Seeing Yu Yi and forces him to surrender, then my husband following suit is also forced by the situation, a helpless move. After all, even Yu Youjian has surrendered, what can my husband do? It's just following the trend.

The Jingchu noble families are intertwined, from the counties down to the capital, with veins connected and branches supporting each other. If all the noble families yield, how can the imperial court investigate them all? The law is relaxed by the public will, and the law bends to the public sentiment. If Jingzhou is boiling and the chaos is just settled, it is time to open the door for repentance to stabilize the situation. So even if the imperial court wins, it will only ask for the chief culprit and will not carry out extensive involvement.

Even if they really want to ask for my husband's crime, they won't blame him deeply, it's just losing an official position. Therefore, once forced, my husband doesn't need to worry, as long as it's not a letter of persuasion, whatever they ask my husband to sign, just sign it, and whatever they ask my husband to issue in the name of the Assistant Governor's Mansion, just let them do it. But there are three things my husband must not do no matter what—"

Le Zhan only felt enlightened, and the worry and fear in his heart went away a lot. He immediately asked what the three things were.

Madam Le said:

"First, don't write letters to persuade people to surrender. Second, don't assist the army with troops. Third, don't offer strategies. If asked about military and political affairs, just recite poetry to prevaricate."

Le Zhan thought about it slightly, and his joy was overflowing, clapping his hands:

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Getting my wife is like a fish in water!"

Then his expression condensed, and he said it was a shame, saying that he was unworthy of being a top official, and was far inferior to his wife.

Madam Le restrained her sleeves and performed a meticulous official salute to Le Zhan, imitating the appearance of a subordinate official meeting a hall official in the state government.

Then she smiled and said:

"Didn't I say before, my husband is the hall official of the state department, and I am like a subordinate minor official. The minor official only cares about offering strategies, but whether it can be done or used depends on the wise judgment of the Assistant Governor!"

Le Zhan laughed loudly, and the fear and sorrow since being detained seemed to have vanished in this hearty laugh.

After laughing, he remembered his son who didn't worry about him, and asked:

"Can you find a way to send some dishes to our boy?"

Madam Le had tried ways, but didn't succeed. Although she was worried, she didn't show it in front of her husband, but comforted him instead:

"Gao Er is young, it's good to suffer a little. Besides, he is fat, so just treat it as losing weight."

At this time, in another small hut in the Prince's Mansion, Yuyang Le Pang was leaning against the wall with his hands behind his back, bumping backward one by one, and after bumping for a while, he asked Yu Yuling, who was closing his eyes and reciting silently:

"Do you think I've lost weight?"

Yu Yuling opened his eyes and looked at Yuyang Le Pang, then closed them again:

"No."

Yuyang Le Pang didn't dare to believe it:

"Really not? Take another look!"

Yu Yuling opened his eyes and looked again, surprised:

"You seem to have gotten a bit fatter."

Yuyang Le Pang was stunned!

"How is this possible! Are you teasing me?!"

Yu Yuling said indifferently:

"What's impossible about this? During the Jin dynasty, Wang Wan, the son of Wang Rong, was fat, so Wang Rong let him eat bran to lose weight, but he didn't expect him to get fatter the more he ate. You might be like this too."

Yuyang Le Pang seemed to have heard some Arabian Nights, opened his mouth and froze for a while, then showed joy, shook his head and sighed:

"I didn't expect that I would be so blessed. When we go out, you guys will be like beggars and monkeys, but only I will have a fierce figure and a blessed appearance. Those who know will say I was locked up, and those who don't know will think I was invited to a feast every day! It's quite a face! Aiya, why does heaven treat me so well?"

Yu Yuling and Yuyang Le Pang had been together for a long time, his knowledge didn't increase, but his ability to complain increased day by day. At this time, he casually replied:

"Maybe because you are shameless..."

Yuyang Le Pang: ＜(｀^′)＞

——————

Note: *Mao Xing Langya*, Chapter 56 "Strange Transfer Order": "Tianmen County is located in the barbarian territory, the barbarians are probably even more rampant. But I am a soldier household, so I shouldn't be picky about whether it's dangerous or not..." ===== CHAPTER 355 =====