Chapter 184
The footsteps of spring faded away, and summer closely followed. Soon, the day of Qin Shaozong's planned military expedition arrived.
Dai Li had previously been titled Lord Wuling in Chang'an, with her fiefdom in Wuling. Wuling was located in the heartland of Jingzhou. At that time, the Empress Dowager had held her nose and granted Dai Li the title, feeling displeased, so she simply threw her a useless piece of land.
It was just an empty title, sounding nice but yielding absolutely no tax revenue.
However, Qin Shaozong had now found a different approach. The official reason for his expedition was precisely: to collect taxes in Wuling!
In name, it barely made sense. As for whether Liu Zhan would open the city gates wide to welcome this tax-collecting army, that was another matter entirely.
Dai Li would not depart with Qin Shaozong this time. She still had some matters to handle in Yuyang. Once finished, she would travel south to Chang'an with Shi Rongyue.
She would wait for his triumphant return in Chang'an.
Outside the city, the army was lined up in an orderly fashion. The stalwart man, wearing a taotie helmet and gleaming armor, looked down at his wife before him. He raised a hand to adjust the gold filigree butterfly hairpin on her head, then smoothed out its long beaded tassels. The two hunting falcons Mo Yanyun gifted us are quite good. We each have one. My lady, remember to write to me.
Dai Li felt helpless. He had said this once before going to sleep last night, and she hadn't expected him to say it again right before leaving. I will write to you whenever I have free time, alright?
That would be best, Qin Shaozong curled his lips.
Dai Li said solemnly, The journey ahead is long and arduous with mountains and rivers. Husband, take good care of yourself. There is no need to rush for success in the war. In terms of supplies and troops, our side has a great advantage. Victory is only a matter of time. I will wait for your triumphant return in Chang'an...
She originally wanted to say more, but as she spoke, she suddenly realized that this scene and these words felt very much like an ominous flag in movies and television dramas, so she quickly stopped.
The curve of Qin Shaozong's lips deepened. My lady, call me that one more time.
Dai Li paused for a moment before understanding. Qin Changgeng really loved hearing her call him husband. He had listened to it all night yesterday and still hadn't had enough; he wanted to hear it again now.
But in broad daylight, in front of a crowd, to specifically call him that...
Forget it. He was about to march off to war. She couldn't refuse him this small request.
Dai Li smiled slowly, I wish my husband victory upon the first battle and a safe return home.
This expedition will take at least half a year, and at most a year and a half. My lady, wait for my return. Qin Shaozong took a deep look at her before turning around. The wind blew his red cape behind him. The stalwart figure vaulted onto his horse, the cape billowing in a sharp arc, like a fierce tiger baring its fangs and claws.
Dai Li looked at her two sons, who were also wearing armor, and warmly admonished them. Her words might sound boring to others, nothing more than telling them to eat well, pay attention to safety on the battlefield, not to act recklessly, and to keep an extra eye out.
Qin Yanzhou and Qin Qinian listened very seriously.
We will remember Mother's teachings.
We will remember Mother's teachings.
Dai Li smiled and patted their shoulders. Go on.
As the armored cavalry rumbled away, the smile on Dai Li's lips slowly faded, and her vision blurred. She took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes, feeling a tight ache in her chest.
However, Dai Li's melancholy did not last long, because that very night, a messenger falcon flew back. She looked at the small message tube on the falcon's leg, then at the bird flapping its wings begging for food, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He had only just left.
Dai Li took the letter and unrolled it. His handwriting was as flamboyant as ever, unable to hide his wild arrogance, and the words in the letter had absolutely nothing to do with the word subtle.
We have been apart for less than a day, yet I am already madly missing you. In the past, I never found military life difficult, but now without you by my side, the iron armor feels soaked in the cold moonlight, and I toss and turn, unable to sleep. I greatly miss last night, tossing in the red waves with you to express my longing.
I think of you, I miss you, I want to embrace, kiss, and linger with you.
Write back to me. A million kisses to you.
Dai Li's cheeks flushed slightly.
This man really dared to write anything. What if the falcon delivered it to the wrong place, or the tube accidentally fell off and someone else saw it? Where would she put her face?
Though she muttered complaints about him, Dai Li still ground some ink and picked up a brush to write him a reply.
On the evening of the second day, the messenger falcon returned again.
He was somewhat dissatisfied upon receiving her reply.
My dearest's reply was too perfunctory, leaving my heart full of sorrow and depressed without a smile. I only hate that I do not have wings to fly back to Yuyang and teach you hand-in-hand how to write a reply.
The military journey is tormenting, but your undergarments have comforted me greatly...
Write back to me. A million kisses to you.
Dai Li covered her face with her hands, blocking her eyes, pretending she hadn't seen the line your undergarments have comforted me greatly, but the heat rising on her face was quite burning, making it impossible for her to deceive herself.
Before he left for the expedition, he had taken several of her undergarments. Fine, let him take them. It wasn't as if she didn't know what he used them for in private.
But knowing it was one thing; him blatantly writing it on paper and sending it back was another.
Dai Li wrote him back.
Qin Changgeng! You are not allowed to write private matters on paper. What if someone else sees it? Do you have no shame?
She even specifically drew a displeased emoticon on the letter paper (◣_◢)
He replied: ...The little drawing is very cute. Seeing it is like seeing my dearest. Kisses to it.
A general in the field is not bound by the sovereign's commands. The messenger falcon is extremely reliable. No one can catch even a glimpse of this. My dearest, just put your heart back in your stomach.
Write back to me. A million kisses to you.
...
In the beginning, after the army left, Dai Li received letters from Qin Shaozong every day. But gradually, every day turned into every other day, and then into every few days.
Dai Li knew that he was getting further and further away.
This time she stayed in Yuyang not only to handle the logistical work for the army but also to attend to an important matter:
Arranging the engagement for Zhou Zhou and Rongrong.
In this era, marriages among prominent families were extremely complicated. Going through the three letters and six etiquettes took a long time. The initial steps of presenting betrothal gifts, asking for the bride's name, matching the birthdates, and sending the formal betrothal gifts were all handled single-handedly by Dai Li.
By the time she finished with all these matters, a season had unknowingly passed, and time had arrived at the bountiful autumn.
Thanks to the great harvest last year, the promotion of fertilizer required no effort at all. The commoners in the north all knew that this was a powerful tool that could drastically increase the grain yield of their fields.
Since ancient times, good things had always been fought over; there was no reason to push them away. Therefore, after this year's great harvest, the new round of composting did not require Dai Li to post notices widely or beat gongs and drums to urge people on. Every household in the north was highly enthusiastic.
Composting required manure and soil. During that time, the streets of Yuyang and its surrounding cities were exceptionally clean. There were no cow or horse droppings to be seen on the roads. Even if fresh manure had just hit the ground and its heat hadn't dissipated yet, it would be picked up by someone immediately.
It had to be said that the promotion of composting had, to some extent, made a significant contribution to the city's sanitation.
...
On the other hand, Dai Li organized the grain and forage harvested this year, and then set off south to escort the supplies with Shi Rongyue and the military instructor Jin Duole. Before heading south to Chang'an, she had already received a letter from Qin Shaozong telling her that the war was about to begin.
With the battle about to start, it was no longer just a march. The letters from now on would decrease. He hoped for her understanding, and more importantly, hoped she wouldn't forget to miss him.
Sure enough, after this family letter representing that the flames of war have been ignited, the frequency of letters from the south indeed dropped significantly. Sometimes it took half a month to receive a single letter.
Though his letters came slowly, Dai Li continued to write to him as usual, one letter every seven days. Sometimes she had messengers deliver them, and sometimes she used the returning messenger falcons.
In the letter, he told him about the engagement of the younger generation, about the golden autumn in Yuyang, and also that he was going south soon.
Dai Li was also sending letters on her way to Chang'an. She learned that he successfully led the army to take Tianmen Pass, drove straight in, and broke several cities in succession; she also knew that he set a trap and killed a certain enemy leader from Jingzhou who came to sneak attack, and discovered from clues that the Qinglian Sect and Jingzhou Governor Liu Zhan were mixed together; she also knew what merits her two sons had achieved respectively.
When Dai Li arrived in Chang'an, the war in the south became more intense. The Northern Army, led by Qin Shaozong, kept its pace and continued to penetrate deeply, faintly deciding the outcome.
The advancement of the war situation brought a lot of chain reactions. The specific manifestation was that the Taiwei Mansion could receive several baskets of visiting cards every day, and those who wanted to visit were as numerous as carp crossing the river; if a family in Chang'an held a grand banquet, they would always send an invitation to Dai Li.
Whether she arrived or not was another matter, but they would definitely invite her.
Dai Li accepted very few of those visiting cards that fluttered like snowflakes, and only went to banquets two or three times, participating little. Seeing that they couldn't invite her, the prominent families simply changed their way and sent gifts.
If the person couldn't be invited, the gift had to arrive.
Gold, silver, jewelry, and rare treasures should always be liked!
With the current war situation, the northern forces were likely to grow further. When her husband returned in triumph, the universe might be changed. Now giving more gifts to his wife and letting her blow pillow talk when the time came would be good.
The abacus was loud, so loud that it reached Dai Li's ears, and was directly rejected by her.
She was not interested in precious ornaments, but she liked jewelry very much. However, there were plenty of them in the Marquis's Mansion. Which of the pieces in the makeup box in Dai Li's room was not priceless? As for other things, no matter how rare they were, they couldn't be rarer than modern high technology.
Therefore, Dai Li's heart was completely still.
The days passed like flowers and plain, and in a blink of an eye, the severe winter had passed, and it entered the chilly early spring.
Holding hot tea, Dai Li curled up in the snow-white fox fur cloak, her thoughts scattered. Calculating the time, it had been more than half a year since Qin Changgeng went to war. He said that the shortest time was half a year, and the fastest time was a year and a half. Now half a year had passed, and she didn't know how the war was going over there.
His last letter was more than a month ago, and this time the interval was longer than before. Alas, communication in ancient times was really inconvenient. How good it would be if there was a mobile phone...
The hot tea in her hand unknowingly lost its temperature. Dai Li put down the cup and grabbed the teapot on the small charcoal stove next to her to pour tea for herself.
But she was distracted when pouring water. The mouth of the pot was not aimed at the teacup. The boiling hot tea poured on the table and quickly scraped down along the table surface.
Dai Li sat next to the table. It was not until the boiling water on the table scraped down onto her leg that she shook violently, suddenly threw away the teapot, and hurriedly stepped back.
"Madam!" Nianxia went to the kitchen and saw this scene when she returned. Her face changed in shock, "I'll go call the mansion doctor over."
Dai Li stopped her, "The clothes are thick, so I didn't get burned much."
"Quickly change your wet clothes." Nianxia hurried inside to find clothes for her, and couldn't help complaining: "Where is Bipo, why isn't she serving by your side?"
"It's normal for people to have three urgencies. She went to the toilet. Besides, this is also my own carelessness." Dai Li took off her cloak and took off the wet dress one by one. Looking at her slightly red thigh, she reached out and touched it.
It hurt a little, but it was bearable.
Looking at her red skin, Dai Li's heart beat fast. For some reason, she felt inexplicably panicked.
"I'll go get you some ointment." Seeing that she didn't want to see the mansion doctor, Nianxia had to say.
This time Dai Li did not refuse.
After a long while, Bipo ran back excitedly, "Madam, the Taiwei has sent a letter!"
Dai Li was startled, and then overjoyed. After she came to Chang'an, the letters from the south were much fewer. Including today's, she had only received two letters from Qin Shaozong.
Unable to wait for Nianxia to come back, she went directly to the hall.
The travel-stained messenger saw Dai Li, first bowed and greeted her, and then took out an envelope with sealing wax from his arms, "Mistress, the Marquis said that everything is fine in the army, and asked you not to worry. Please check the letter."
Seeing that the dark circles under his eyes were heavy and he looked tired, Dai Li called the mansion guards to take him to rest. After the messenger left, she didn't take the letter back to the main courtyard to read, but opened it directly in the hall.
The weight of the letter was not much different from that sent by past messengers, but after unfolding it, Dai Li found that something was wrong.
Qin Shaozong's handwriting was easy to recognize, with iron strokes and silver hooks, penetrating the back of the paper, and that arrogant spirit was exactly the same as him. However, the handwriting of the letter in her hand was much more restrained, and the strokes restrained the sharp edge, which was clearly her son Qin Yanzhou's own handwriting.
Zhou Zhou used to write letters to her, but his own and those he wrote on behalf of Qi Nian accounted for at most 30% in total, and the remaining 70% belonged to Qin Changgeng. Sometimes the father would even eat alone, leaving no room for his son at all.
But now, there was no trace of Qin Changgeng's handwriting on the paper.
Dai Li read the sentence "My father has been very busy recently, so I wrote it on his behalf" in her son's letter twice, and her brows frowned deeper and deeper.
Wrote on his behalf?
This was something that had never happened before.
Thinking of what the messenger said, Dai Li couldn't help but ask someone to bring back the messenger who had just been taken to rest.
"Mistress, what are your orders?" The messenger lowered his head.
Dai Li looked at him unblinkingly, "The Marquis had an accident on the battlefield, didn't he?"
This was a question, but there was not much doubtful tone.
The messenger subconsciously looked up, his face changed drastically, "Mistress..."
Seeing his appearance, Dai Li understood everything. She fell into an ice cellar in an instant. It was clearly early spring, but the sunshine outside couldn't dispel the chill. That invisible cold wind poured into her lungs, making her cold all the way to the depths of her spine.
"Tell me the truth!" Dai Li said in a deep voice.
Having been with Qin Shaozong for a long time, even Dai Li herself didn't realize it. At this time, her expression and surrounding aura were a bit similar to him, with sharp cold light in her eyes, angry and majestic, very powerful.
The soldier was startled, and forgot the instructions he was given when he came for a moment, and couldn't help saying, "The Marquis was shot by an arrow on the battlefield..."
Dai Li's brain buzzed, and the blood color on her face faded. If it wasn't for Bipo supporting her in time, she might not have been able to stand firm.
After the first sentence was finished, the soldier knew it was bad. But the spilled water couldn't be recovered, he had to quickly say: "The Marquis was wearing the Mingguang armor, and the enemy already knew its power, so that arrow was not aimed at the vital parts."
Dai Li bit her lip, using the pain to dispel her dizziness, "How is the Marquis now?"
The soldier actually shook his head and said he didn't know exactly, but said, "Since the Marquis was shot, he has never been out of the military tent, but Mr. Ding said that the injury is not serious, but he needs to rest."
Dai Li also asked other things, such as the frontline war situation after Qin Shaozong was injured, and the reactions of high-ranking military generals in the army, as well as the frequency of Mr. Ding entering and leaving the main tent.
The most important things were not hidden, and the messenger answered all the subsequent questions asked by Dai Li.
So Dai Li learned that the battle that injured Qin Shaozong ultimately resulted in a great victory for the Northern Army. A group of military generals represented by Qiao Wangfei performed their respective duties after breaking the city.
And the military doctor Ding Lianxi didn't stay in the main tent all the time except at the beginning. The time he went in and out subsequently was also very regular, once in the morning, noon, and evening, for half an hour each time.
Daili frowned in deep thought.
The messenger suddenly remembered something. Before I left, the Marquis instructed me to ask you for some letters so I could bring them back with me.
Daili asked, Did you see him?
The messenger shook his head and said no, explaining that he was only passing on a message.
Daili said, You have endured a hard and exhausting journey. Go and get some rest for now.
She walked slowly back to the main courtyard. Upon returning, she spread the letter out again and read it carefully once more. The letter made absolutely no mention of Qin Changgeng being injured; it merely spoke of various matters following victories big and small, reading much like casual family chatter.
Daili tapped her fingertips absently against the desk.
For now, it seemed the army's morale was still stable, and Mr. Ding was not guarding him day and night as one would a patient whose life hung by a thread.
Looking at it this way, his injuries could not be too severe.
Rationally, Daili knew he was likely not in imminent danger. After all, the protective capability of the Mingguang armor was not made of paper; it absolutely lived up to its reputation as the finest armor of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Emotionally, however, another voice kept whispering in her ear:
If his life was not in peril, why would a proud and unyielding man like Qin Changgeng remain inside his military tent for days on end, failing to show his face before the soldiers?
Taking a step back, even if the injury was a ruse to confuse the enemy, should that not only involve the battlefield? Why would he deceive her as well, all the way in Chang'an?
So it definitely was not a ruse!
Something had truly happened to him...
Daili felt restless and anxious. As she turned the possibilities over and over in her mind, an idea emerged from the hazy fog and gradually became clear.
She looked out the brightly lit window at the delicate, beautiful flower buds slowly coming into bloom, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
Bipo, help me pack a simple travel bag. Nianxia, go invite Mr. Jin over. Tell him I want to make a change to the personnel assigned to deliver supplies to the army.