Bing Tang was very close to Qin Yining, so she heard Qin Yining's words clearly.
When she heard that it was a war, she broke out in a cold sweat.
Although she was now a servant and had been a Daoist nun for a while, in reality, she was born into a noble family and had not suffered much since she was young. Compared to Qin Yining, who had been a noble family's young lady for less than a year, she was naturally different.
Originally, she had only heard of the horror of war, but she had never seen it with her own eyes, so her impression of it was not direct. Even the last time she accompanied Qin Yining to Xi Hua City for peace talks, she had only seen the vast number of soldiers and generals lined up like the sea.
Now, in front of her, there were so many men, women, old and young running like a swarm of bees. They were in such a sorry state that they did not even wait for people to come and kill them. Screams and cries could be heard incessantly, and this was only a short while before they passed by.
Where did they come from? Along the way, it was likely that such despairing scenes were happening one after another!
For the first time, Bing Tang experienced the fear of impending disaster up close.
"Miss, what should we do? If Little Wang Ye brings people to attack us, will they hurt you? His subordinates might not recognize you!" Bing Tang's voice was dry, and his brain was not working properly. It took him a while to form a sentence smoothly.
Qin Yining's face was pale. He held Bing Tang's hand with one hand and grabbed his lapel with the other. He rubbed the fabric of his lapel until it looked like dried vegetables before he slowly let go.
After taking a few deep breaths, Qin Yining patted Bing Tang's shoulder comfortingly, "Don't be afraid, they won't attack us so quickly. Pang Zhixi and the others have already left Liang City this time. Although the Emperor has ceded land as reparations, and the few big cities at the border have been compensated to Da Zhou and can be considered Da Zhou's territory, the Tiger Army has so many people. It won't be easy for them to attack us in the blink of an eye."
"But there are so many refugees. It's obvious that they were scared and fled to Beijing." Bing Tang wiped the cold sweat off his forehead with his sleeve.
Qin Yining said, "Let's go back first and ask Master Zhong for more information. I also want to hear the news from my father. After all, the information they get is more accurate than our wild guesses. "
Bing Tang nodded, and then her big round eyes were covered with a layer of mist. Her voice was slightly choked, "But, Miss, I still feel cold in my heart."
"Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. " Although Bing Tang was the same age as Qin Yining, she was very young. She looked like an eleven or twelve year old child. Qin Yining couldn't help but pull her into his arms. He patted her back and said, "If something bad really happens, I will let you go. When the time comes, leave the capital and head in the direction of Nanhai Yanzi. "
Bing Tang sniffed. "What about the girl?"
Qin Yining only smiled bitterly and didn't answer.
If something really happened, the masters of the Family Qin family would not be able to escape. With her father's status and reputation, how could the Emperor of Da Zhou let them go?
"Get up. Let's go back first. We'll talk after we find out more. Maybe I'm thinking too much. "Qin Yining stood up with a smile and pulled Bing Tang up.
Bing Tang wiped her tears embarrassedly. Compared to Qin Yining's calmness, she was a bit embarrassed.
Ji Yun, who was standing to the side, looked at Qin Yining and Bing Tang with a gentle gaze. Seeing the two girls calm down so quickly, she couldn't help but admire them. She came forward and carefully helped Qin Yining remove the grass and twigs from his clothes.
The three of them mounted their horses and took a small path to avoid the group of refugees. Then, they rushed back to the capital along the official road. After entering the outer city gates, they immediately rushed to Master Zhong's house.
Master Zhong was calculating and checking the accounts when he heard a servant report that Qin Yining had arrived. He went out to welcome them in surprise.
When he arrived at the door, he saw that the three of them had extremely ugly expressions.
"Boss, what's the matter? Come in and have a cup of tea. "Master Zhong hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Qin Yining and handed it to her with both hands.
Qin Yining gulped down a large bowl of warm tea. Only then did she slightly recover. She told Master Zhong in detail about what had happened just now. Finally, she said, "I think that group of people will arrive at the city gates soon. Head shopkeeper, please help me investigate their background and situation. Also, pay attention to any other movements. I also need to quickly return to the residence. My father should have dismissed the yamen by now. I need to discuss this with him. "
When Master Zhong heard this, he was also sweating profusely. He used his slightly trembling hand to wipe his face. He nodded and said, "Yes, I understand. I will immediately go investigate. If there is any news, immediately send it to the residence."
"Good. If you can't find me at the last minute, you can tell the people in my house that Bing Tang, Ji Yun, Song Lan, and Qiu Lu are all trustworthy."
"Yes." Master Zhong nodded repeatedly.
Qin Yining immediately stood up and pulled Bing Tang and Ji Yun out the door.
Ji Yun looked at Qin Yining's slender back with a complicated expression. She couldn't help but ask, "Young Lady, you still trust me?"
Qin Yining stopped in her tracks. She turned around and asked strangely, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"I was given to Young Lady by Little Wang Ye. I also frequently report Young Lady's recent situation to Little Wang Ye. I thought that if a war really broke out, Young Lady wouldn't trust me. "
Qin Yining's expression was somewhat complicated. He stared at Ji Yun for a while before saying, "This is a different matter. I can clearly distinguish between them. Moreover, Pang Zhixi was already Da Zhou's Prince Zhongshun from the first day I met him. He had already led the Tiger Army to flatten many mountains and rivers in Dayan. It wasn't the first day I found out about his identity. He also didn't become like this all of a sudden. "
At this point, Qin Yining faintly sighed. "In the end, we are from different countries. We just have different standpoints. With Emperor Zhou's ambition, he won't be content to stay in one corner of the country. It's also expected that he would target Dayan. Not only Dayan, but even the Tatan in the north. Even if Da Zhou's national strength isn't enough now, this doesn't affect his desire to conquer. "
Ji Yun looked at Qin Yining and felt heartfelt admiration for him.
No wonder Wang Ye valued her so much and pampered and protected her like she was the apple of his eye. She was quick-witted and calm when faced with problems. She wasn't like other girls who were confused by a few things. She looked at things rationally and was able to calmly deal with problems.
At this point, Ji Yun had already regarded Qin Yining as her second master. There was no longer any resistance in her heart.
The three of them got on their horses and headed towards the Marquis of Anping's residence.
The city was still bustling with activity. The passersby still didn't know that a war was about to happen. There were still stalls and people selling goods in the market. There were still children in tattered clothes chasing and playing on the side of the road. There were also women who pushed open old wooden doors and stuck half of their bodies out to call their children to eat … …
Seeing all this, Qin Yining's heart tightened.
She didn't know what the future would be like. The capital was probably the only place left in the Dayan that had such a pure land. Were they about to lose the last pure land in the Dayan?
The three of them returned to the marquis's residence. As usual, they walked through the outer courtyard's south gate and first sent the horses to the stable. Then, they walked through the corner gate and entered the outer courtyard.
Qin Yining casually asked the servant boy in the outer courtyard, "Has the marquis returned?"
"Fourth young mistress, the marquis is currently in the outer courtyard's study."
Qin Yining nodded and quickly walked towards the study.
Who knew that just as she reached the study, she would see Qin Huaiyuan come out to greet her.
"Father. Are you going out? "Qin Yining saluted.
Qin Huaiyuan smiled and said, "I'm not going out. I'm going to see the old madam. Your grandmother punished a few servants today. She's probably still angry right now. I saw that the group of rooms in the west was in a mess for a while. Someone said that they were going to hang themselves or jump into the river. I was afraid that your grandmother wouldn't handle it well, so I wanted to go take a look. "
The group of rooms in the west were all occupied by Family Qin servants. Some of the servants who brought their families along lived in those rooms. They would only enter the residence when they were on duty.
Qin Yining thought about how the outside world was about to become chaotic and how the family was still entangled in these trivial matters. His expression became somewhat ugly.
"Father, the matter with the old madam isn't urgent. Daughter has something important to tell you."
Qin Yining's expression was extremely grave. Even Qin Huaiyuan's expression was solemn.
"What's wrong? Did something happen outside? "
The first thing that came to Qin Huaiyuan's mind was that the Empress was up to something to harm his daughter!
Ever since the Empress's attempt to preserve her beauty with Qin Yining's flesh and blood failed and instead harmed Consort Shu and Concubine Xiang, not only did the Emperor not punish the Empress, he even doted on the Empress more and more. Qin Huaiyuan had become even more guarded against the Emperor and the Empress.
In addition, he had been in the limelight more and more recently, forming a strong contrast with Cao Guozhang, whose disciple had been demoted and had no official position. Cao Guozhang had once wanted to win him over as his son-in-law, but now it seemed that he wouldn't be able to win him over. The enmity between the two families probably wouldn't be resolved for the rest of their lives. If the Empress and Cao Guozhang worked together, who knew what kind of evil scheme they would come up with.
Qin Yining shook his head and said with a serious expression, "Father, I'm afraid that the war has already begun."
When Qin Huaiyuan heard this, his usually calm face became grave for a moment.
Qin Yining once again described in detail what he had just seen.
Qin Huaiyuan paced a few steps with his hands behind his back. His expression became more and more serious. After a long time, he said, "I'm afraid that things are as you have guessed. The war is really about to begin. However, the people from Little Wang Ye might not have actually come to the capital. I'm afraid that we can find some clues from those refugees. "
Qin Yining saw that Qin Huaiyuan didn't seem to be surprised. He couldn't help but ask hesitantly, "Father, aren't you surprised by what happened today?"
Qin Huaiyuan smiled bitterly, "I'm not surprised. In fact, when the peace talks began, I was already worried that this day would come. Da Zhou used the peace talks to trick our Emperor into compensating them with gold and silver. They used the silver we offered to feed their army before attacking us. These words sound like Da Zhou's people are too crafty and cunning, and they don't keep their promises. However, all is crafty in war. If I were an official of the Zhou Dynasty, I would have done the same thing if I knew that the Yan dynasty's Emperor was timid and cowardly. However, since we are in the Yan dynasty, we have no choice but to listen to the Emperor's orders. Today, Da Zhou's envoy has already left Dayan with the last batch of gold and silver as compensation. It's not surprising that the war has begun again. "
For the latest novel updates, please visit the website.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
