The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 707: Shock
Chapter 707 Shock
Old Mr. Min Qianqiu shook his head and smiled, then lowered his eyes and started writing.
On November 6, the sixteenth year of Xuanjia, there was a great epidemic in Huayang City. The crown prince ordered the city to be closed. Three imperial physicians, led by Huang Taiyi, volunteered to enter Huayang City and summoned doctors from the people to go to Huayang City to treat the epidemic.
On November 8, the 16th year of Xuanjia, Daliang and Wei attacked Yan from both the north and the south. In just five days, Wei captured the two cities of Mingdu and Yufeng of Dayan, and Daliang then attacked Huyi of Dayan.
On November 13, the 16th year of Xuanjia, a large number of refugees who had escaped from Huayang City were ambushed by the imperial guards sent by the crown prince before they could get close to the capital. All their bodies were buried in a mass grave. Those who had escaped by chance all fled to Shuoyang and were placed in a treatment center outside the city. Upon hearing the news, refugees rushed to Shuoyang. On the 20th of that month, thousands of victims were placed in a temporary treatment center.
On November 26, the 16th year of Xuanjia, the envoy Liu Rushi of Jin arrived in Daliang and demanded that Daliang return the cities that it had promised to cede to Jin. In the Daliang court… the emperor of Daliang refused to admit that he had promised to cede the cities, and refused to recall the army to attack Yan, saying that Daliang’s attack on Yan was Daliang’s national policy and that foreign ministers were not allowed to interfere. The envoy Liu Rushi of Jin left in anger.
On November 27, the 16th year of Xuanjia, Jin and Daliang issued a declaration of war. On the 29th of the same month, Liu Hong, a general of Jin, led his troops to attack Daliang and captured Fenguan and Hongquecheng. Daliang lost six cities in a row. On the 13th day of the twelfth lunar month, it recalled soldiers from Yan and Liang to resist Jin and recaptured two cities. Jin was outnumbered and dispatched the garrison of Anping Camp to Hongquecheng overnight to provide assistance.
On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixteenth year of the Xuanjia reign, Princess Gaoyi Bai Jinzhi led two thousand soldiers to march day and night, attacked Guandu City at lightning speed, and recaptured Guandu overnight.
At the same time, Dayan recaptured the lost cities of Mingdu and Yufeng, and launched a counterattack against Wei. The troops were divided into two groups. One group was led by the brave general Xie Xun, who was invincible and captured the cities of Pingxi and Lan’an from Wei. The other group was led by the second prince of Dayan, Murong Ping, who marched out from Kuangping and marched straight to the Beiguan city of Wei. All the other countries were shocked.
Bai Qingyan sat in front of the flickering candlelight on the window frame, reading the military newspaper. He lit the paper calmly and threw it into the brazier at his feet. His eyes were calm and indifferent.
The once weak country of Dayan was defeated by the State of Wei and lost cities and territories. People from all countries thought that Yan would have no chance to fight back this time. However, unexpectedly… while the State of Jin was attacking Daliang, Dayan suddenly rose up and counterattacked, leaving the State of Wei helpless.
The nations were shocked, but more than that, they were afraid.
Dayan, once a powerful country, has been poor and weak for so many years. In the past few years, it was almost destroyed several times. After lying dormant for so many years, it showed its sword for the first time and faced the powerful Wei State, and defeated Wei State without any resistance.
At this point, if the other countries still fail to react and realize that the reason why Yan pretended to be beaten and unable to fight back was to drag Jin and Liang into the war, then the courtiers in the courts of the other countries… are probably all stupid.
The Yan State, which had kept its power secret for many years, finally showed its sword this time, and its power was so cold and intimidating that it could not fail to terrify other countries.
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince of Jin beat his chest and stamped his feet, regretting letting Murong Li go. Now there is nothing that can restrain Dayan.
The Northern Rong already had troops stationed in the Yan Kingdom, and they were even more uneasy. They were planning to take advantage of the fierce battle between the Yan Kingdom and the Wei Kingdom to destroy the Yan troops stationed in the Northern Rong Kingdom. However, if they destroyed the Yan troops, they were afraid that the Southern Rong, who were eyeing the Yan Kingdom, would invade and no one would help them. The King of the Northern Rong Kingdom was caught in a dilemma.
At this time, another major event happened in Yunjing, Xiliang.
The Queen of Western Liang issued an edict to vigorously promote students from poor families, but was opposed by the aristocratic families. Prince Yan Li Zhijie and General Yun Poxing took charge of the matter. Yun Poxing led his troops to station in Yunjing to intimidate the six major families of Western Liang.
In the Xiliang court, the power of the six major family surnames is intertwined. Although the Yunjing Rebellion started with an assassin’s attempt on someone’s life, the reason why it escalated and almost caused the imperial court to fall apart was, after all, caused by the game of interests and power among the six major family surnames.
The Queen of Xiliang saw it clearly. If the six major families really united, it would be easy to overthrow the imperial power. If she wanted to consolidate the imperial power and truly have the final say in government affairs, she had to promote people from humble backgrounds. These people had no family power to rely on, so they could only rely on the emperor… rely on the imperial power. The Queen of Xiliang wanted to support and rely on these people from humble backgrounds to compete with the aristocratic families and gradually bring power into her hands.
Bai Qingyan dared to assert that if other countries did not intervene in Xiliang, many years later… in addition to Yan State, Xiliang would become another strong enemy of Jin State.
On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Shuoyang welcomed the first heavy snow of the year.
The white snow covered the ancient green bricks, green tiles, flying eaves and carved beasts.
The red plum blossoms in the plum garden of Bai Mansion are in full bloom. There are few buds on the plum branches on both sides of the bluestone path. The red plum blossoms are blooming freely in the falling snow. When the cold wind blows, the snowflakes fall from the branches, revealing clusters of fiery red.
The Meixiang Pavilion was brightly lit. The floor was covered with a sandalwood carpet embroidered with five bats. In the middle was a three-foot-tall bronze Boshan incense burner with cloud patterns, slowly emitting bluish-white smoke.
The dragon head inside the pavilion was burning very vigorously, and in the brazier covered by the copper carved stove cover… the silver frost charcoal was burning red, and occasionally there was the sound of sparks crackling.
Chuntao took the medicine brought by the maid and came in from the outer room through the curtain. She saw her eldest daughter, with a white velvet blanket on her legs and her back leaning against a bag, reading a book on the soft couch by the window. The bright yellow candlelight reflected the beautiful girl with a fair complexion, looking magnificent, quiet and beautiful.
Chun Tao put the still hot medicine in the bowl aside, and used a handkerchief to pad the handles on both sides of the copper stove cover, moved the copper cover away, added a few pieces of charcoal to the brazier, covered the copper cover, washed her hands, and then walked to Bai Qingyan with the medicine, whispering, “Miss, the medicine is not hot anymore, you can drink it.”
Bai Qingyan put down the book, pinched his brows and asked, “Uncle Ping went outside the city early this morning to check on the victims. I wonder how they are doing?”
Today is the Little New Year. On behalf of the Bai family, Lupin sent vegetables and meat to the people now living in the shelter so that those refugees can have a good Little New Year.
“He hasn’t come back yet!” Chuntao said.
The refugees from Huayang City who had been treated by doctors and were not infected with any disease and were willing to join the army had been sent to the military camps. However, some of them had contracted the epidemic, and there was no good way to treat them. They either had to rely on medication and wait for their condition to improve, or they would die of fever.
The method that Aunt Bai Suqiu used to treat the epidemic was not very effective, so Doctor Hong is now working day and night to find a new method.
Bai Jinxiu sent a message saying that one of the three imperial physicians accompanying Imperial Physician Huang had also been infected with the disease. Some ministers in the court had already proposed that if the disease could not be controlled, those infected in Huayang City should be killed to prevent future troubles.
Second update, continue to ask for monthly votes!