She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

Zhao Yi sensed the anxiety in the scout's tone and realized something was wrong. A sense of unease arose in his heart, and he immediately summoned the scout into the tent to ask, "What has happened to the Princess?"

The scout reported, "Your Highness, news has come from Yuncheng that the Princess Consort ate a few mouthfuls of soup a few days ago and immediately lost consciousness. The royal physician and doctors from outside have been summoned to treat her, but they all say that the Princess Consort has been poisoned, and they are all helpless."

A chilling aura emanated from Zhao Yi's eyes, and he already had someone he suspected in mind.

Previously, when Lin Youwei surrendered to him, he had already realized that Lin Youwei harbored ulterior motives and intended to get rid of him.

Shen Qingtan said to him, "Husband, Lin Youwei's master instructed him to lie in wait by your side. Since you have seen through Lin Youwei's intentions, why not keep him by your side? In a critical moment, we can use him to counterattack them."

Zhao Yi wanted to get rid of Lin Youwei because Shen Qingtan was staying in Yuncheng, and he was worried that Lin Youwei would be a threat to Shen Qingtan.

Shen Qingtan noticed his hesitation and continued to persuade him, "I have many guards protecting me where I live. I don't go anywhere except to check the grain in the granary. I just wait for your good news in the mansion."

Then, she held up a few fingers to assure him, "Also, I test all my food for poison with a silver needle every day. If you're worried that the silver needle can only detect a few types of poison, then I'll have someone catch a few more rats and raise them to test for poison first."

It was because of Shen Qingtan's guarantees that he spared Lin Youwei's life.

Now that Shen Qingtan is in trouble, is it a deliberate attempt to create a false impression, or is she truly poisoned due to a momentary lapse in attention?

Zhao Yi dared not think too deeply and immediately opened the bundle, only to find several letters inside.

-

At the same time, the Ningcheng Commander also received a letter sent by Lin Youwei. After reading the contents of the letter, he went to the city wall and climbed the siege tower to check the enemy situation.

The nest car can accommodate two people and has twelve observation holes on its four sides.

The commander observed Zhao Yi's army through the lookout hole and set up many tents on the open ground nearby.

The guards nearby also noticed this and asked anxiously, "Sir, could it be that the Prince of Guangling has expanded his army again? There are at least dozens of new large tents set up, and at least several hundred or a thousand new soldiers, right?"

Suddenly, the guard saw a dark mass of horses in the opposite stable, as if many more warhorses had been added, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly.

The garrison commander said in bewilderment, "Where would a mere prince like Guangling get so much money to buy provisions and warhorses? Could it be that the Great Zhou is secretly supporting him?"

Upon hearing the garrison commander's words, the commander took a closer look and realized that the horses in the stable were not warhorses at all, but clearly cattle.

His first thought was of Lin Youwei's letter, and he couldn't help but ponder: Could it be that Zhao Yi was concerned about Shen Qingtan and had already secretly returned to Yuncheng with a group of men?

They were just worried that the enemy would find out, so they deliberately arranged for the soldiers to set up camp and used large yellow oxen to impersonate warhorses, in order to bluff and intimidate them.

How can we deter them from making any rash moves?

Thinking of this, the commander ordered, "Continue to observe, and report to me immediately if the enemy shows any unusual behavior."

In his view, with the war now so intense, even if Zhao Yi valued Shen Qingtan highly, he wouldn't abandon his soldiers and return to Yuncheng. Even if he did return to Yuncheng, it would only be for supplies and to redeploy troops in case the rear was lost.

After all, apart from engaging them in battle at the beginning, Zhao Yi and Wang Qiaoxin had remained inactive, clearly intending to stall until their supplies ran out and achieve victory without a fight.

Therefore, Zhao Yi had to ensure that they had enough food supplies.

However, it cannot be ruled out that Zhao Yi took advantage of Shen Qingtan's accident to pretend to leave the front line and lure them out to kill them.

Therefore, before discovering the specific enemy situation, the commander-in-chief planned to hold back his troops.

The garrison commander replied, "Your subordinate obeys."

The commander ordered his soldiers to place all the repeating crossbows and catapults inside the city on the city walls. He then arranged for some soldiers to split into four groups and lie in ambush on the small roads around the city to prevent the enemy from encircling them.

After making all the arrangements, the Commander-in-Chief returned to his residence and wrote a letter to Lin Youwei.

"Report!" the scout reported from outside the house: "Sir, the enemy has brought heavy siege weapons and sent cavalry to challenge us before the battle, trying to demoralize us."

The commander's expression was solemn, and he was increasingly inclined to believe that Zhao Yi had secretly returned to Yuncheng. He deliberately had Wang Qiaoxin, who remained at the front line, create a false impression to mislead them.

Although that's what he thought, he knew that military campaigns allowed no room for error and required utmost caution; he couldn't act rashly.

So he ordered, "Investigate again."

As evening fell, a scout reported: "My lord, I have discovered that the Prince of Guangling led a troop away from the front lines at the hour of Wei (1-3 PM)."

Upon hearing the scout's report, the commander-in-chief was almost certain that the enemy was bluffing. He immediately summoned his officers and soldiers to the sand table to discuss battle strategy, preparing to seize this opportunity to capture the enemy's camp in one fell swoop.