Chapter 259: Winds and Clouds Rise Again

Winds and Clouds Rise Again

The Xidi Kingdom is located to the northwest of Dongling. In terms of economy and culture, it is not as focused on Central Plains culture as Dongling, Tiancheng, and other countries. But because it is a country composed of nomadic peoples, people of all ages, both men and women, in Xidi can ride horses and shoot arrows, so in terms of military power, it is second to none!

Especially the Xidi Kingdom's cavalry, which is even more brave and skilled in battle; even the Qifeng Kingdom, which has always had strong military power, does not dare to underestimate them!

It was just that some years ago, after the old Xidi monarch suddenly passed away, Xidi fell into civil strife because of the throne. So for these years, Xidi had been unable to take care of itself and naturally wouldn't have too much contact with neighboring countries. But at this very moment, they were suddenly stationing troops at the Dongling border, which couldn't help but make people feel baffled!

Therefore, upon hearing Zhongli's report, Yin Fengzhan was instantly stunned. And although Nie Jinxuan didn't know much about the situation in the Xidi Kingdom, upon hearing that a neighboring country was stationing troops at the border, she couldn't help but be startled.

But Yin Fengzhan was ultimately calm. So after a brief moment of being stunned, Yin Fengzhan immediately recovered, turned around, pulled Nie Jinxuan to sit in a seat nearby, and asked Zhongli in a low voice:

"Hasn't Xidi been in civil strife all these years? Why are they suddenly stationing troops at the border?"

"Replying to the Emperor, the specifics are not very clear yet. However, according to reports from the front, it is said that Xidi was indeed in civil strife before, but a month ago, the Second Prince and Fourth Prince of Xidi died—one died of sudden illness, and the other died in an accidental fall from a horse while out. These two princes had been fighting tooth and nail for the throne all these years, but now that they have both died one after another, the throne fell to the Third Prince, who had been at a disadvantage in the struggle for the throne. And half a month ago, the Third Prince of Xidi had already ascended the throne."

In fact, the affairs of the Xidi Kingdom were not a secret. It was just that Yin Fengzhan had been busy with government affairs during this period and hadn't had time to pay attention to these things. So upon hearing Zhongli say this, Yin Fengzhan understood immediately.

After all, Yin Fengzhan knew something about the affairs of the Xidi Kingdom back then. When the old Xidi monarch passed away, although the eldest prince had been established as the crown prince before, in the Xidi Kingdom, the Second Prince, Third Prince, and Fourth Prince had powerful maternal families. So as soon as the old monarch passed away, the three princes joined forces to kill the eldest prince, who was the crown prince.

Originally, the three had agreed to divide Xidi equally, but once the eldest prince died, the Second Prince was the first to change his mind and wanted to swallow the entire Xidi. But he thought this way, and the other two princes thought the same way, so the Xidi civil war broke out completely! And once it broke out, it lasted for several years!

It was just that the civil war that had lasted for several years had completely subsided in just one month. And the reason was actually that two princes had died one after another, which couldn't help but make people feel a bit baffled... So after Zhongli's words fell, Yin Fengzhan frowned instantly.

At this moment, Nie Jinxuan on the side also calmed down and couldn't help but interject:

"Fengzhan, I think this matter is a bit strange! I don't know what the situation is in the Xidi Kingdom. But one month... no, if you don't count the half month since the Third Prince of Xidi ascended the throne, that's half a month. But in this half month, Xidi lost two princes in succession. And both were powerful contenders for the throne; this is too baffling!"

"Hmm, that is indeed the case. However, as far as I know, the Third Prince of Xidi is not a person with deep schemes. Otherwise, Xidi wouldn't have continued the civil war for such a long time. And now that he suddenly ascended the throne in just half a month, there is clearly a big problem here!"

"Fengzhan, do you mean to say that someone is helping him from behind?"

"Hmm, it should be so! And the person who helped the Third Prince must be a master of schemes! After all, even if the Second Prince and Fourth Prince were removed in time, the forces that attached themselves to them would not compromise immediately. If that were the case, even if the Third Prince ascended the throne, it would be useless. But now the Third Prince has ascended the throne and is stationing troops at the border... I think there must be a mysterious person behind the scenes who has done a lot of work!"

A person's nature will not change. And the Third Prince of Xidi was brave but had no strategy; he could never have come up with such a plan, so there must be a mysterious person helping him in secret. But who could this mysterious person be? Why must they station troops at Dongling...

For a time, both Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan fell into deep thought. But after a moment, the two exchanged a look, and then Yin Fengzhan turned to look at Zhongli and ordered:

"Continue to investigate, and if there is any unusual movement, report to me immediately!"

"Yes!"

Responding respectfully, Zhongli left with a serious face. After Zhongli left, Yin Fengzhan stood up and said in a low voice:

"Now that things have come to this, you don't need to think too much! However, you shouldn't stay in this Wangfu anymore; come back to the palace with me in a while!"

Saying this, Yin Fengzhan called Shui Yun and Nie Hong and had them go down to prepare. Watching Yin Fengzhan's solemn expression, Nie Jinxuan could only sigh slightly.

Of course, the reason Nie Jinxuan sighed was not because she was going to enter the palace. It was because, regarding the mysterious person helping the Third Prince of Xidi, Nie Jinxuan and Yin Fengzhan had both thought of one person at the same time: Nie Jinxuan's father, Nie Wenhao!

Nie Jinxuan followed Yin Fengzhan back to the palace and was temporarily arranged to stay in the Yongle Palace, which was closest to the Imperial Study.

The Yongle Palace was originally the residence of Yin Fengzhan's mother, Noble Consort Ning, and was specially built for Noble Consort Ning by the late Emperor Shuncheng. Afterward, when Yin Fenghan ascended the throne, he bestowed it upon Concubine Ming, but later Concubine Ming was executed by Empress Dowager Duan, so the Yongle Palace was left vacant.

And this time, Yin Fengzhan bringing Nie Jinxuan into the palace was very sudden. Therefore, the Yongle Palace had not been specially renovated. Fortunately, Nie Jinxuan was not a picky person, so she moved in directly. After personally settling Nie Jinxuan, Yin Fengzhan returned directly to the Imperial Study, summoned all the ministers to the Imperial Study again, and stated the news he had received.

One must know that for these years, Dongling had lived in peace with neighboring countries. Although there were frictions from time to time, they were all small matters. It had never happened that troops were suddenly increased at the border. So upon hearing that Xidi had suddenly taken such action, the ministers naturally felt terrified.

But the ministers present were all veteran officials who had been struggling in the court for decades. So after a brief moment of surprise or panic, seeing Yin Fengzhan still as immovable as a mountain, the ministers immediately found their backbone, and their minds calmed down. Then ministers stood up one after another to express their views:

"Emperor, this minister believes that Xidi is clearly harboring ulterior motives. It's just that we don't know what their intentions are, so this minister suggests that we might as well send an envoy to deliver a state letter to the Xidi monarch, and then wait to see how the other party replies before making further plans! We must not act rashly!"

"Not so! Emperor, this minister thinks that what Minister Wang said just now is wrong. The Xidi Kingdom has never been a law-abiding master. Now that the new emperor has just ascended the throne and is so arrogant, this minister believes that we should strike them head-on to dispel their wolfish ambitions!"

"Hmph! Minister Zhang speaks easily. Strike head-on?! That would be satisfying, but you must know that our Dongling has just calmed down, and the Emperor has not ascended the throne for long; everything is waiting to be done. If we send troops to crusade against Xidi at this time, wouldn't it be hurting one thousand and losing eight hundred?!"

"Hmph! Then what should we do? Just endure it like this?! And if that's really the case, then as time goes on, where will our Dongling's national prestige be?! How can we stand on the Central Plains land?!"

"You..."

Just like that, because of the matter of whether to send troops, a group of ministers began to argue. The large Imperial Study instantly turned into a vegetable market.

At this moment, Yin Fengzhan, sitting behind the dragon desk, watched the ministers arguing endlessly with cold eyes, but didn't speak immediately. He just watched quietly, and after a good while, seeing that the ministers were nearly about to fight, Yin Fengzhan suddenly raised his hand and slapped the dragon desk:

"Pa!"

Instantly, a sound, neither loud nor small, came out. Hearing the sound, the ministers were stunned first, then seeing it was Yin Fengzhan, they immediately closed their mouths, stood back in their positions, and lowered their heads in silence.

Everyone became honest. At this moment, Yin Fengzhan didn't blame everyone, but his deep gaze turned, looked at the ministers, and finally landed on Duke of Qi, Qiu Mubai, who was standing in the corner but hadn't spoken much:

"Minister Qiu, regarding the Xidi matter, do you have any views?"

In this situation, Yin Fengzhan naming Duke of Qi, Qiu Mubai, also had special significance. After all, unlike the group of civil officials present, Qiu Mubai, although a First-Rank Duke, was a military general by background. For many years, he had guarded the border and accumulated quite a bit of experience. Added to the fact that Qiu Mubai himself was very shrewd, Qiu Mubai's opinion was very important at this time.

At this moment, hearing Yin Fengzhan's inquiry, Duke of Qi, Qiu Mubai, stepped forward a few steps and said respectfully in a low voice:

"Emperor, this minister believes that Xidi stationing troops at the border must harbor evil intentions. And suddenly doing so must mean that some situation we don't know about has occurred behind the scenes, so this minister believes that this matter cannot be underestimated!"

"Then according to the Duke's meaning, should we fight or not?"

"We must fight, but we must be prepared before we fight!"

Duke of Qi, Qiu Mubai, gave a special answer. Hearing this, everyone present was stunned, and Yin Fengzhan pursed his lips slightly:

"Go on!"

"Yes! This minister feels that whether it is Minister Zhang or Minister Wang, their suggestions were not wrong. After all, our Dongling is indeed not suitable for war now. But even so, we must never be a soft persimmon that lets others handle us, otherwise, our national prestige will not exist! So, if Xidi really has the intention to fight, then we must fight this battle!"

"And as the saying goes, troops and horses move, but food and fodder come first! So, once we decide to fight, we must first solve the problem of food and fodder. But now our Dongling has just recovered from political instability, the north is suffering from drought, and we have already allocated quite a bit of silver for disaster relief, so now..."

Duke of Qi, Qiu Mubai, said seriously, and speaking of this, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the Minister of Revenue, Li Xian, on the side.

Li Xian was over fifty years old and very capable, but because his personality was too upright, he had offended the Duan family and was once demoted from the capital. It was only after Yin Fengzhan ascended the throne that he was promoted again, even rising several levels and being entrusted with important tasks.

And regarding the national treasury, it was originally the business of the Ministry of Revenue. So hearing Qiu Mubai mention it, before Yin Fengzhan could speak, Li Xian stood up and said truthfully:

"Replying to the Emperor, when the late Emperor Shuncheng passed away, the national treasury was indeed very full. But ever since the successor, the late Emperor Xing-shun, ascended the throne, he renovated several gardens, and the treasury silver was sharply reduced. Added to other miscellaneous things, the treasury was depleted by more than half. And of the remaining treasury silver, 300,000 taels have already been allocated to the north for disaster relief, and 100,000 taels have been allocated to the Ministry of Works to renovate the Imperial Ancestral Temple and some halls in the harem that were destroyed in the palace change. So there are only 220,000 taels left... And these 220,000 taels must be reserved for building dikes on the Huai River, otherwise, by summer, the Huai River will definitely flood again! So now... now there is really no money..."

Yin Fenghan had depleted more than half of the national treasury in just a few months, which couldn't help but make people feel shocked. But no matter what, Yin Fenghan was already dead, so Li Xian didn't say anything more.

However, no matter what, the current situation was that there was no money. And regarding this situation, I think Qiu Mubai also knew it in his heart, and it was precisely because of this that he said: "Send troops, you can! But be prepared before sending troops!" And the so-called "prepared," to put it plainly, was to prepare the silver first, because only with money could they prepare food and fodder, and only with food and fodder could they send troops!

The matter was just that simple. But preparing food and fodder for the army was not a small sum of money! Then where would this money come from?!

So for a time, the ministers present also considered this problem, but couldn't think of a way for a time, so in the blink of an eye, the large Imperial Study became quiet again.

No one spoke anymore, because they couldn't think of a way. At this moment, Yin Fengzhan's gaze narrowed, and after a moment, he suddenly said:

"Back when my father first ascended the throne, Xidi took advantage of our Dongling's internal political chaos to annex the Rong and Jin cities at the border. My father considered the overall situation back then, and since Xidi had no other actions afterward, our Dongling didn't say anything more. And twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now Xidi has suddenly stationed troops at the border... So, this battle with Xidi must be fought! And it must be fought fiercely, and thereby take back the Rong and Jin cities that our Dongling lost!"

Yin Fengzhan said it decisively. Hearing this, the ministers present were stunned, and then couldn't help but be happy, but afterward, thinking of the food and fodder, they hesitated again:

"The Emperor is wise! But Emperor, regarding the matter of food and fodder..."

"Regarding the matter of food and fodder, I have a plan in mind; I will find a way myself!"

After saying this, Yin Fengzhan stood up on his own and walked out directly.

……

That night, when Yin Fengzhan returned to the Yongle Palace, it was already past midnight. Yin Fengzhan originally thought Nie Jinxuan had already gone to sleep, but he didn't expect that as soon as he entered the gate of the Yongle Palace, he would see a young eunuch standing on the side holding a lantern.

Clearly, this was sent by Nie Jinxuan to wait for him. Seeing this situation, although Yin Fengzhan's expression didn't change, his gaze softened quite a bit in an instant.

Afterward, led by the young eunuch, Yin Fengzhan came to the sleeping palace. At this moment, Yin Fengzhan discovered that Nie Jinxuan hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"What's wrong? It's so late, why haven't you slept yet?"

Frowning slightly, Yin Fengzhan was a bit puzzled. Hearing this, Nie Jinxuan smiled slightly, then went up to personally help Yin Fengzhan take off his dragon robe and dragon crown:

"I slept all day, so I can't sleep at night~!"

"That won't do, you need to rest more now."

"Still resting? Wouldn't I become a pig?"

"......"

Blocked by Nie Jinxuan and unable to speak, Yin Fengzhan simply closed his mouth. Seeing Yin Fengzhan not speaking, Nie Jinxuan laughed. Shui Yun sent up a late-night snack, and Nie Jinxuan accompanied Yin Fengzhan to eat together.

And while eating the late-night snack, although Yin Fengzhan was the same as usual, with nothing special, Nie Jinxuan still sensitively discovered that Yin Fengzhan was a bit abnormal. So afterward, Nie Jinxuan put down her chopsticks, dismissed the palace servants serving in the room, and then looked at Yin Fengzhan and asked:

"What's wrong? Did you encounter trouble with the Xidi Kingdom matter?"

Yin Fengzhan was not a person who liked to talk, but Nie Jinxuan was different. At this moment, seeing Nie Jinxuan ask, Yin Fengzhan also put down his chopsticks and told her about what happened in the Imperial Study today.

After knowing the ins and outs of the matter, Nie Jinxuan finally realized and nodded on her own:

"Hmm, this is indeed a problem. Then Fengzhan, you said you would find a way yourself; I wonder if you have already thought of one?"

"I want to take out the private silver I had before! But even so, I reckon it's still not enough. After all, the Xidi cavalry is famous throughout the four countries, and we must be prepared to win this time. So what is needed is not a small sum of money!"

Yin Fengzhan's expression was depressed. Seeing him like this, Nie Jinxuan couldn't help but pull his hand:

"It is indeed not a small sum of money. But we can find a way! It's just that I want to know, besides sending troops, I wonder if Fengzhan has any other plans?"

"I do, it's just not certain whether this is feasible..."

Yin Fengzhan's words were a bit mysterious, which aroused Nie Jinxuan's curiosity. Then Yin Fengzhan leaned over close to Nie Jinxuan and told her his thoughts. After hearing Yin Fengzhan's thoughts, Nie Jinxuan's eyes instantly lit up:

"Good idea! I think it's feasible!"

"Really?"

There is nothing in this world happier than being seriously agreed with and supported by the person you love. So at this very moment, even Yin Fengzhan laughed rarely.

Afterward, Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan discussed the matter overnight, and finally, until the east turned white, they went to sleep. Early the next morning, not long after Yin Fengzhan went to court, Nie Jinxuan also got up and changed her clothes on her own.

Watching Nie Jinxuan get up so early, and even looking all dressed and ready to go, Shui Yun couldn't help but be puzzled and couldn't help but pursue the question:

"Princess, where are you going?"

"Leave the palace, go to the Pei residence!" ===== CHAPTER 260 =====