Marrying the Crown Prince

Li Ziyan looked at the group of burly bandits, and his first thought was that these were no ordinary bandits; his second thought was that he looked at Yang Yu'an, who had been ordered by the Duke of Dingguo to escort him back to the capital.

Yang Yu'an drew his sword immediately, his voice colder than the winter wind, "You are not people of Chen Kingdom!"

“Young man of the Yang family, you have a good eye. No wonder Old Man Yang asked you to escort the Crown Prince of your Chen Kingdom.” The leader remained completely calm.

Yang Yu'an's eyes were deep as he scanned the area before turning to Li Ziyan and speaking softly, "Your Highness, I will fire a signal flare. You should run towards the main camp later, and I will do my best to hold them off."

Yes, the only option is to stall.

Because the enemy has more than twice the number of troops, if we don't run, we're guaranteed to lose.

We lost, but we have absolutely no chance of surviving!

Li Ziyan wanted to refute, but couldn't come up with a better way.

"Your Highness, rest assured, they cannot spare my life," Yang Yu'an said with great enthusiasm, seeing Li Ziyan's worry.

But despite saying that, his heart sank to the bottom.

These Ling people were not ordinary soldiers...

They were strong and robust, each capable of fighting ten men, and were the strongest army in the Ling Kingdom. Fortunately, their numbers were small, otherwise this frontier would have been captured long ago.

Li Ziyan knew this wasn't the time to be sentimental, so she made a quick decision: "Don't worry, I know what's important."

He doesn't know martial arts, nor can he draw a bow. He's never even killed a chicken, let alone killed a person. If he stays here, he'll only be a hindrance and won't be able to do anything.

It would be better to run far away and hide in a completely safe place, so as not to disturb Yang Yu'an and distract him on the battlefield.

With shouts of battle, a great battle was about to break out.

Yang Yu'an pulled out a signal flare, lit it, and roared, "If you're from the Yang family army, follow me and kill all these Ling Kingdom traitors!"

"kill--!"

Li Ziyan pulled on the reins and led his personal guards back towards the camp.

only……

They had been walking for a whole day, and it was almost impossible for them to run out in a short time and get reinforcements.

Yang Yu'an launched the first attack, his sword flashing like lightning, instantly taking the life of a Ling soldier.

He stood there like a god of death, declaring, "Anyone who crosses this line will be killed without mercy!"

This sight, however, caused the people of Ling to burst into laughter.

General Ling, speaking in broken Chinese, said, "Hahaha, kid, do you think you're your father? Even your father wouldn't dare say that!"

"General, why waste words with him? Just catch him later, chop him up, and feed him to the dogs."

"That's good, that's a good idea."

Their voices were booming as they discussed the matter loudly, their large machetes whistling as they wielded them.

Yang Yu'an raised his hand to block one of their knives, but the shock he felt made his arm go numb.

He knew things were going badly, but he gritted his teeth and persevered—he had to make sure His Highness the Crown Prince had run far enough away to ensure his safety.

After an unknown amount of time, Yang Yu'an's vision began to blur. He had wounds all over his body and back, and the blood from the wounds had soaked through his armor.

He bit his tongue hard to bring himself back to his senses.

Yang Yu'an glanced around, looking at the few remaining men and the corpses scattered everywhere, and felt a deep sorrow in his heart.

But the Ling people before them were menacing, their eyes gleaming with ferocity, like wolves that hadn't eaten for over ten days, just waiting for them to relax their guard so they could pounce and tear them apart.

He calculated the time and finally gave his last order: "Retreat! Retreat quickly! Everyone must return alive!"

A rumbling sound came from the gloomy sky, and a torrential downpour washed away the bloodstains on the ground.

The wind howled and roared, whipping up rain that mercilessly lashed the ground and people.

The Duke of Dingguo led his army to collect the corpses scattered all over the ground.

Soon, someone exclaimed, "It's General Yang!"

The Duke of Dingguo stopped in his tracks, then slowly walked toward the direction of the sound.

His steps were heavy, splashing water as he stepped on the muddy ground.

He walked over to Yang Yu'an, squatted down, reached out, and gently stroked his cold, stiff face, wiping the rainwater away from it.

At this moment, he was no longer the towering, invincible general; he was just an old father.

The sky seemed to have a hole in it, and endless rain poured down, lashing against people's bodies and faces.

The Duke of Dingguo wiped his face, his hands were wet and heavy, as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

Soon, the battlefield was almost cleared up, and the deputy general reported, "General, there are a total of 321 people, including 98 of our soldiers and 223 of the enemy."

The deputy general's voice reached his ears, and the Duke of Dingguo quickly came to his senses.

He straightened up and transformed back into the fearless and spirited general he once was.

“Take everyone back and give them a proper burial; as for these beasts, cut off their heads and send them all to the Ling Kingdom.”

"Yes!"

Inside the Chen Kingdom's palace, outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, a commotion erupted once again.

Zuo Jin looked at the various concubines in the harem, his forehead twitched and his face twitched. He simply couldn't understand why the emperor wanted to take in so many concubines.

With so many women arguing back and forth, he was about to have his head explode.

Unfortunately, we can't resort to violence; we can only stop them.

"How is it?" Zhou Zhou looked at Chang Yi, who was waiting at the door for news.

Indeed, it's too conspicuous for Wei Yi to go out, so she asked Chang Yi to go and check on her.

Chang Yi cautiously looked up at Zhou Zhou, and seeing her indifferent expression, she spoke softly.

"The ladies of the Western Palace say that serving the Emperor is their duty, but you, as a daughter-in-law, have been serving him all along. It is truly absurd."

"You could even say that it was your seductive charm that bewitched the Emperor, leading him to..."

"Insolence!" Zhou Zhou shouted angrily.

Wei Yi and Chang Yi quickly knelt down, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger."

Zhou Zhou felt his blood surging, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "What a cruel heart, what ruthless methods!"

Wei Yi and Chang Yi lowered their heads even further.

She took a deep breath, her violent aura subsided, and she became calm as still water once more. "Eunuch Weiyi, I'd like to trouble you to make this trip."

"Your Majesty, please give me your orders."

Soon, having received his orders, Zuo Jin reluctantly made way for him.

The concubines rushed in and headed straight for the bedchamber.

The leading concubine raised her foot, about to kick open the door, but the person inside opened it on their own initiative.

She lost her footing and fell flat on her face.

"Oh, isn't this the Imperial Concubine?" Zhou Zhou looked at the Imperial Concubine lying on the ground with great concern. "What happened? Why are you performing such a grand ceremony?"

The imperial concubine struggled to her feet. "It really was you! You were really here!"

Zhou Zhou made a shushing gesture, "Your Highness, please keep your voice down. Father Emperor just took his medicine and has just fallen asleep."

As soon as she said this, the concubines who had rushed in fell silent.

Zhou Zhou glanced around, then looked at one of the concubines, smiling sweetly, "It's unexpected, but also makes sense—to see you here."