The Virgin Mary in the Book: I Decide My Life with Two Swords

Cang Yue Kingdom - Capital - Royal Courtyard

The quiet morning was interrupted by a drooping voice: "The imperial edict has arrived, King Wen, please accept it."

Nangong Che returned to his sickly state, and Guangyi, the father-in-law who was serving him, helped him slowly kneel down.

The father-in-law read aloud:

According to heaven’s destiny, the emperor issued an edict:

Today, plague is rampant in Quezhou, and the people are suffering greatly. I am deeply concerned and have specially dispatched Prince Wen, Nangong Che, to escort medicinal materials and disaster relief funds to Quezhou to alleviate the suffering of the people.

King Wen, Nangong Che, is known for his benevolence. We hope he will uphold justice and properly distribute medicinal materials and disaster relief funds to ensure that every patient receives timely treatment. At the same time, we must work closely with local officials to jointly formulate epidemic prevention measures to prevent the further spread of the epidemic.

I fully understand the arduous nature of this mission, but I believe that King Wen Nangong Che will live up to expectations and successfully complete the mission. Once the epidemic subsides, I will reward you accordingly.

Admire this!

"Your son obeys the order." Nangong Che raised his hand to receive the order.

“Your Majesty, please stand up quickly.” The eunuch helped Nangong Che up: “His Majesty asked the imperial guards to escort you all the way, and asked two imperial doctors from the Imperial Hospital to accompany you to ensure your health and safety.”

"I understand, thank you for taking the trip." Nangong Che's character is to treat everyone kindly, regardless of their status.

"Your Highness, please excuse me. Your own safety is paramount. As for the disaster relief funds and medicinal materials, I'll just deliver them to you as a matter of principle. After all, you don't know how to cure the plague, so you have to rely on the Imperial Hospital."

"Thank you for your advice, sir."

"The old slave is leaving."

After the father-in-law left, Nangong Che’s face changed immediately: “See, I said it last night, and the imperial edict arrived today.”

Black Hawk took the imperial edict and asked, "What did this eunuch just mean?"

"He meant that I only needed to escort the medicinal herbs and silver to Quezhou and show my face to let the people know that the court sent a prince to rescue them. That's enough. The emperor didn't expect me to be able to cure the plague."

"So that's what it means!"

"Let's pack up! The Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Hospital must be ready. Guangyi, go inform them and we'll set off at noon."

"Yes," Guangyi bowed and left.

Half an hour later, in the palace, Nangong Chen strongly objected: "Father, how can Fifth Brother go to treat the plague when he is in such poor health? I am willing to go in his place."

"That's right, father, fifth brother's body can't handle it," Nangong Zi also disagreed.

"How dare you!" Nangong Hanyi said displeasedly, "Do you want me to take back the imperial edict?"

"Your son dare not." Nangong Chen and Nangong Zi both knelt on the ground.

"Hmph! Yesterday you all stood up for Ye Tingzhan and targeted the Crown Prince, and today you're questioning my imperial decree again. I think I've been too indulgent with you two. Nangong Zi, you'll go back and continue your military training tomorrow. Nangong Chen, you can't enter the palace without a trick, so leave!"

"Yes, I'll take my leave." The two of them walked out of the imperial study in shame.

Nangong Zi was furious: "Father just thought the plague was terrible and sent my fifth brother there. He was dispensable to begin with. Even if he was unfortunately infected, no one would feel sorry for him."

"I will have the elite imperial guards escort you all the way, and the best doctors will be sent from the Imperial Hospital. Fifth brother is blessed by heaven, and he will definitely come back safely." Nangong Chen tried to comfort himself.

"I'm going back to train. I know you're concerned about Ye Ling's matter, but don't be too eager for success. Father is a dictator. If you make things worse, the one who will be proud will be the one in the East Palace."

"I know, don't worry, Third Brother. But you have to be careful too. He's gone crazy now and even dared to kill me, his brother from the same mother."

“It’s so chilling!”

At noon, Nangong Che led the team to set off, and Nangong Chen and Nangong Zi accompanied them all the way to the city gate.

Nangong Che covered his mouth, his face pale, looking like a gust of wind could blow him down, and said weakly: "Third brother, seventh brother, I have sent you a thousand miles, but we must say goodbye. You go back! I will definitely cure the plague."

"What are you treating?" Nangong Zi was unhappy: "You'd better take care of yourself and don't rush forward. Remember, you are a prince."

“Okay, listen to Third Brother.” Nangong Che looked at Nangong Chen: “Seventh Brother, I’m leaving. I have a few words to say. Don’t be angry when you hear it.”

"Fifth brother has spoken, and I am all ears." Nangong Chen respected his fifth brother very much.

"I know I will definitely overturn the verdict for General Ye, but there is one thing, don't rush into it, be careful not to make things worse. Father doesn't seem to agree with this matter. You have to judge the situation and protect yourself first. Only when you are fine will you have the opportunity to do other things, understand?" Nangong Che said earnestly.

"Did you hear that? This is the same thing I said this morning. Your fifth brother and I just don't want you to get too involved in this," Nangong Zi echoed.

Nangong Chen felt very lucky to have two such brothers: "Thank you for the reminder, brothers. I will remember it."

“Let’s go.” Nangong Che forced a smile and got into the carriage with difficulty.

The huge team set off, and Nangong Chen and Nangong Zi watched them go.

"Alas~" Nangong Chen sighed helplessly: "We were defeated at the border, and my father didn't allow me to garrison there. Now, one crisis has not yet subsided, and there is a plague in the country. Quezhou is the garrison of the Huqi Army. If something happens to the Huqi Army, it will be bad."

"Xiao Ao is not useless. He will defend the border. At worst, he can resist and won't lose the city again." Nangong Zi hesitated for a moment before speaking again: "It's just that this plague has been difficult to cure since ancient times! You said there was no natural disaster, so how could the plague suddenly break out?"

"I sent a secret letter back to Anzhuang in Quezhou, saying that there was a sudden plague and the source could not be found."

"Fortunately, we have Grand Tutor Leng in the court, otherwise it would be a mess. Only his words can be listened to by the emperor, and no one else can even think about it."

The two of them walked back while talking, both of them had endless worries to share.

On Nangong Che’s side, there were only him and Guangyi in the spacious carriage.

Black Hawk flashed into the carriage at the speed of light and said, "Your Highness, our people have already gone to Quezhou. It will be safer for me to accompany you."

“With Guangyi here, it’s actually very safe,” said Nangong Che.

"No, no, no," Guangyi disagreed. "Your Highness, you must let Black Hawk stay. Only then will this old servant feel at ease. Who knows if the Crown Prince will do something bad along the way?"

"Guangyi is right. I must never leave early. The last time Nanlai left early it was because Yuekun was there. Now that Yuekun is not here, I must not leave." Black Hawk disagreed a thousand times.

Nangong Che straightened his sleeves: "You are all overthinking it. The prince is busy dealing with Ye Ling and King Beichen right now. How can he have time to care about this useless person like me?"

"Master! You can't just talk about yourself. By the way, King Beichen's guard Xuan Lei just gave me two lists. One is the locations of several secret villages of King Beichen in Quezhou, so that you can ask them for help if you have any problems. After all, they are locals and are familiar with the matter. The second is the list of His Majesty's spies on this trip. There are five people in total. We must be careful with these five people," Guangyi said.

Nangong Che took it and checked it: "Seventh brother is really thoughtful. For a moment, I felt a little sorry for him. It's a pity. If he was not the queen's son, I might be able to open up to him. It was his mother who killed my mother. This is a blood feud that is irreconcilable."

"Your Highness, please... take care of yourself. You have come through all these years, just bear with it for a while," Guangyi said with a distressed look on his face.

"We will definitely avenge the princess." Black Hawk was also very angry when he mentioned this matter, because he was the little guard who was sent as a dowry to protect Princess Showa. He was only thirteen years old when he came to Cang Yue Kingdom.

"Have you sent a letter to Jingchuan? Tell him that I went to Quezhou and ask him to protect himself first before discussing anything else."

"Don't worry, I sent someone to send a message last night, and with White Wolf here, nothing will happen," said Black Hawk.

"Each of us shall make our own camps, for the dawn is not far off."

"Your Highness, I have a question that I have been asking for a long time. Isn't it time to ask it?"

"ask"

"Why isn't the Leng family included in your plan? The Leng family plays a very important role in the court and has military power. What if they get in the way in the future?"

Nangong Che smiled slightly: "You still don't understand the Leng family. They are only loyal to the court. Father's ruthlessness has long displeased Master Leng, and my brother is even worse. Master Leng has long wanted to replace this candidate for the crown prince, so they deliberately approached King Beichen. Because my seventh brother is very upright, getting close to him instead of joining him is also a way to protect themselves. Father doesn't like his generals to join any prince. After our great cause is accomplished, the Leng family will make their own choice. Master Leng, a veteran of three dynasties, he is not a fool."

Black Hawk nodded: "I see, they are only loyal to the reigning king, and don't care who the king is?"

"If there is a new emperor, as long as they don't touch the power of the Leng family, there will be no conflict. Moreover, Grand Tutor Leng is about to retire. He is too old to continue serving in the court. To show his benevolence, the emperor will definitely give the Leng family a title without real power."

"Leng Aoyun only needs to do his job as a marshal and guard the border of Xidu. No matter who is the emperor, he is still the marshal."

"That's right, that's why I won't take the Leng family into account. They are a rare loyal family in the court, and the Cangyue Kingdom will need them in the future. Over the years, the one that makes me feel most sorry is Ye Tingzhan. If he were there, Da'e would not win this time even with Cangyue's military deployment plan. It's too difficult. He is a genius in fighting. It's a pity that there is no Marshal Ye in the world anymore." Nangong Che was also very sorry when he talked about Ye Tingzhan, because who doesn't love talents.

"Without Ye Shuai, there is a female master from the Langya Bang who can fight back from the Falcon Prison. She is unprecedented. This woman is too fierce. In time, she will probably be the best in the world," said Black Hawk.

"Ah! Black Hawk, I have known you for more than ten years. This is the first time I see you praising someone, and it's a woman?" Guangyi was surprised.

"She is very strong. I couldn't guarantee that she could escape from Falcon Prison, but she did it," Black Hawk replied honestly.

Nangong Che thought of another thing, “Speaking of the Falcon Prison, our people have found out that it was not bought by the prince, and the one who went there was a eunuch, so… the one in the palace can be basically confirmed.”

"I think so too. The emperor probably wants to silence us and bury this matter."

"Most of all he wants is to protect his son, or to side with the Crown Prince! He's not hesitant to use a Jianghu assassin to kill a woman. It's truly ridiculous."

"They didn't succeed. According to the rules of the Falcon Prison, they won't take action again. Moreover, Ye Ling is now the envoy of Langya Pavilion."

"This Si Shi is much more useful than the Princess."

The carriage moved slowly forward as several people chatted until the sun set in the west.