Chapter 39

"Yunzi, you have avenged us greatly. I don't think the head of the family will blame you for privately mobilizing the troops, right?" Lady Kongtong finally spoke up.

Privately mobilizing troops is a serious offense.

Now that Li Yunzi no longer has the status of a Lady, she still managed to gather her subordinates in the west, which is essentially no different from rebellion.

Of course, even a serious offense depends on the situation.

If Li Yunzi hadn't privately mobilized those old subordinates and captured that raiding force, the four western cities might have already been lost. After all, the most mobile Flying Bird Regiment had already been dispatched to the east, and there was nothing left to turn the tide.

This is why Li Ying remained silent all along.

He was very clear about how dire the Li family's situation was when the fortress city was breached. The most terrifying thing was that the Lingxiao City-State had never intended to negotiate. The proposal to make the Lady a concubine was purely a ruse, a way to divert attention while waiting for the eastern fortress city to be breached, then to advance with a large army!

No matter how muddled Li Ying was, he couldn't fail to understand this.

"Yunzi, you did well. Those military guards will still be under your command," Li Ying finally said, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

At the time, Li Ying had taken away Li Yunzi's military guards to completely strip her of her military power, but Li Yunzi had reclaimed her guards in this way.

How could Li Ying possibly punish her?

Without her guards, the western border would likely have been hit from within and suffered heavy losses!

"Yes, the military guards should still be under Yunzi's command, after all, they are her old subordinates."

"The Lingxiao City-State is truly despicable!"

"Speaking of which, why didn't we know that the Dongxu Fortress had been breached?" a general asked.

"A traitor has appeared in our army!" Li Ying said solemnly.

"Let's quickly invite that student from the Dragon Taming Academy to the hall. He should have arrived by now," Kongtong said at this point.

"Yes!"

In fact, Li Ying had already guessed, but he still wanted to hear it.

With the major threat in the west now under control by Li Yunzi and the capture of the Lingxiao City-State's eldest son, the Zulong City-State now had a significant bargaining chip. How could the Lingxiao City-State dare to act recklessly again?

Next was the issue of the eastern rebel army, which needed to be dealt with as soon as possible!

...

The pine trees stood tall, and the wedding procession, dressed in bright red festive attire, looked lifeless, no different from a funeral procession.

News from the hall had already spread, and they were firmly controlled by the palace guards, making it unlikely they would leave the Zulong City-State alive.

Zhu Minglang walked along the palace courtyard, up the steps, and into the Li family's council hall. He looked at these people from another city, dressed in bright colors, with some confusion...

Upon entering the hall, Zhu Minglang saw the Li family members seated on both sides, their expressions complex, as if they had just experienced something significant.

At that moment, they were all looking at him.

Zhu Minglang saw Li Yunzi, who was standing at the front of the hall.

She slowly turned around, seemingly surprised to see him. Her beautiful eyes sparkled with an unreadable light.

"Isn't this Zhu Minglang, the man who impersonated one of our clan members and returned from the wasteland with Yunzi?" Kongtong immediately recognized Zhu Minglang and spoke up.

Li Ying also recognized Zhu Minglang, but at the time, he hadn't even bothered to ask.

Zhu Minglang had no intention of arguing with this woman. If it weren't for his compassion for the people of Ronggu City and his concern for the frail scholar in the rain, he wouldn't even be in this hall.

"Lu Xiao killed all the messengers..."

Zhu Minglang recounted the events and informed the Li family that Ronggu City still had survivors.

The city lord of Ronggu City, Zheng Yu, was desperately holding the narrow pass that led directly into the Lichuan Plain!

"Nonsense! If the fortress city had fallen, how could a small city like Ronggu City possibly withstand the tens of thousands of rebel troops? Does the city lord have the power to move heaven and earth?!" Li Pinghai, a young general of the Li family, angrily retorted.

Zhu Minglang had no energy to deal with such foolishness today. His gaze fell on Li Yunzi, who was wearing light armor today, a stark contrast to her usual frail appearance. There was a heroic aura about her that was hard to ignore.

"Yang Xiu," Li Yunzi spoke.

"Here, here..." the envoy had completely lost his backbone.

"Have you drafted the ransom letter?" Li Yunzi asked.

"It's done, but the Lady hasn't yet informed me which city we must cede to ensure the safe return of our young master," Yang Xiu asked respectfully.

Li Yunzi took the ink brush and personally wrote the name of the city on the document drafted by Yang Xiu.

Yang Xiu took it and looked at it carefully, but his face showed confusion after reading it.

Before Yang Xiu could ask, Li Yunzi had already walked to where Li Ying was, approaching the main seat in the hall, and said, "Father, give me the command token for the Flying Bird Regiment. I will quell this rebellion."

"Even with a sword, you can only kill a limited number of rebels. Let General Wu of the Flying Bird Regiment handle this," Li Ying said.

Li Yunzi stood in front of Li Ying, her eyes fixed on her father, showing no intention of backing down. For a moment, they were at an impasse in the hall.

"Yunzi, although you have done a great service this time, military power..." Kongtong spoke up again.

"I am not asking for permission," Li Yunzi said firmly, cutting off Kongtong's words.

Lady Kongtong was almost furious.

Li Ying's expression was also grim. Hadn't this scene played out before?

"Li Ying, Yunzi exposed the Lingxiao City-State's marriage plot and saved the four western cities for us. Yunzi is capable of handling important tasks. We old men have discussed it, and we believe that the title of Lady should be restored to her, and she should be given command of the Flying Bird Regiment to quell the rebellion in the wasteland," the matriarch spoke up.

The matriarch had been silent all along, like a deaf old lady, quietly observing everything in the council hall.

"Yes!" Li Ying dared not oppose the matriarch and handed over the command token of the Flying Bird Regiment to Li Yunzi.

The Flying Bird Regiment had already set out. It was a very fast-moving force, riding on pseudo-dragons, and should be able to reach Ronggu City in about a day.

Each soldier of the Flying Bird Regiment possessed great martial prowess, and the pseudo-dragons themselves were formidable in combat. A thousand of them could match ten thousand soldiers, the true elite of Zulong. No wonder Li Ying was reluctant to hand over this command!

With the token in hand, Li Yunzi quickly walked out of the hall.

"Minglang, let's go," Li Yunzi said to Zhu Minglang.

Zhu Minglang's attention was still on Yang Xiu. He had barely caught a glimpse of what Li Yunzi had written but couldn't make it out clearly.

Hearing Li Yunzi call his name, Zhu Minglang finally came to his senses.

"Oh, coming," Zhu Minglang responded, quickly following Li Yunzi. "Where are we going?"

"East," Li Yunzi answered.