This letter was indeed written by Duke Cheng'en, but its intent was that of Emperor Yongning.
Just a few hours earlier, Emperor Yongning had still been in the Qianqing Palace with Noble Consort Guo, being all lovey-dovey and preparing to attend the palace banquet hand in hand.
When news broke that Guo Sida was leading troops to force his way into the palace—and had already breached the palace gates—the splendidly dressed Emperor Yongning found it impossible to believe at first. Then, terror-stricken, his first reaction was to flee. He ran for his life, protected by the Imperial Guards, leaving everyone else behind.
And so, he really did make a run for it.
Although Noble Consort Guo had long known Emperor Yongning was unreliable, that he would abandon her and run without a second thought still left her stunned for a moment.
Once she regained some composure, Noble Consort Guo thought it through: this worthless emperor couldn’t be relied upon, and neither could Guo Sida, her own father. She would have to save herself!
Luckily, even in such times, she still had some loyal confidants willing to do her bidding. One confidant took her letter of appeal, slipped out of the palace amid the chaos, and went searching for the youngest son of Marquess Jingwen, Yan Duan.
The Marquess Jingwen's family was not hard to find—banners fluttering, the troops in perfect order—even the Guo and Wang armies steered clear of them.
The confidant quickly found Yan Duan and was full of hope, only to discover that for some reason, the Young Master Yan had taken ill. He refused to ask Marquess Jingwen for help. Instead, he took only his fifty Personal Guards and had the confidant guide the way.
This confidant sensed trouble, but Marquess Jingwen’s youngest son was not someone to be meddled with. If he could bring back rescue, it would still count as fulfilling her duty to the Noble Consort.
Yan Duan then encountered his elder sister outside the palace’s west gate. No matter how she tried, he insisted on not leaving with her, bent on rescuing Noble Consort Guo by himself. If not for the spy following Yan Duan on orders and informing Yan Yun that the Marquess wanted the young lord to learn a lesson, Yan Yun would have knocked her little brother out and carted him away.
Not long after parting from his sister, Yan Duan found Noble Consort Guo hiding at what had been the Imperial Guard’s camp at the north side of the palace. The two barely had a moment to say anything before Empress Wang rushed in and took them both captive. At this time, the palace maids, Inner Attendants, Imperial Guards, and Imperial Guard who had switched allegiance to Marquess Jingwen had already seen Yan Yun safely out of the palace.
Duke Cheng'en arrived in time with the Wang army to join up with Empress Wang. After a tense standoff with Guo Sida, the two sides reached an understanding: Duke Cheng'en would slowly retreat north with his men.
As soon as Duke Cheng'en’s party left the city, they saw Emperor Yongning waiting for them outside the gates—that is, waiting for the Prince’s Coalition Army to arrive.
Emperor Yongning only saw Duke Cheng'en and not Marquess Jingwen. Hearing that the Marquess’s youngest son had designs on the Noble Consort, and that Virtuous Consort had already left the palace, his terror quickly morphed into rage. He ordered an Inner Attendant to “teach Yan Duan a lesson.” As for Noble Consort Guo, she was locked up in a cargo wagon.
If not for the joint persuasion of Duke Cheng'en and Queen Wang, Emperor Yongning would have maimed Yan Duan on the spot. Not long after, Emperor Yongning calmed down; he didn’t want things to spiral out of control, but his anger still demanded release.
That was why the letter Duke Cheng'en wrote to Qin Jingzhou turned out that way.
When Qin Jingzhou intercepted Emperor Yongning and Duke Cheng'en’s party of tens of thousands, Yan Duan was black and blue, his clothes bloodstained, forced to kneel by two burly Inner Attendants right in front of Emperor Yongning’s carriage.
Qin Jingzhou sat astride his horse at the front of the army, sword drawn, and upon seeing his youngest son in this pitiful state, just barely held back a laugh.
Ling Jing’s voice sounded in his mind: “In front of tens of thousands, having Yan Duan and Noble Consort Guo humiliated together, I reckon they’ll both shape up and get more grounded. Honestly, when Yan Duan tried to rescue her on his own, refusing your help as well as his sister’s, he was ready to die with Noble Consort Guo if things failed.”
Qin Jingzhou narrowed his eyes. “There are a few things about him I actually appreciate.”
Ling Jing was incisive as ever. “For a male lead, Yan Duan isn’t arrogant, and the female lead Noble Consort Guo is rare in her clearheadedness and lack of drama.”
Qin Jingzhou spun his saber in one hand, stabbing the blade—over half a person tall and more than a hundred pounds—into the ground, then looked to Emperor Yongning. “Your Majesty, you’re getting more and more disobedient. Back then, when you ordered my assassination, I let it go because you were young and naïve. Now you think I’m easier to push around than Guo Sida.”
His voice was not loud or sharp, but those words sent chills down the backs of Emperor Yongning’s bodyguards, the Imperial Guards, and even some Wang army soldiers.
Qin Jingzhou gave everyone a moment to react, then took up the saber with both hands and charged forward without another word.
If their lord was charging, how could his Prince’s Personal Guards stand idle?
Strictly speaking, his guards were light cavalry, but their armor gleamed, sabers shone, and morale was sky-high. Two thousand light cavalry moved as one, and with Qin Jingzhou unsmiling at the “center,” saber poised for action—
The Imperial Guards and Wang army defending Emperor Yongning gave a most authentic response. In unison, they fled to both sides, exposing the emperor’s carriage directly to Qin Jingzhou’s blade.
With so many eyes watching, would Qin Jingzhou really commit regicide?
He appeared to be aiming for the emperor, but at the crucial moment, he flicked his wrist and delivered a sweeping strike that cleanly sliced the top off the imperial carriage.
In that split second of crisis, Emperor Yongning showed a bit of quick thinking. He dragged the bound Yan Duan in front of himself as a shield, unaware that once the roof flew off, a side wall collapsed too. In his panic, he dropped Yan Duan and curled up to roll away… That wasn’t even the worst of it. Though the emperor didn’t faint from terror, he did wet himself.
So it was, in the blink of an eye, that his frightened, disgraced state was seen by tens of thousands. Once the scattered Imperial Guards and Wang army realized what had just happened, they even forgot to keep running.
Qin Jingzhou’s Prince’s Personal Guards also came to a halt, holding formation and awaiting further orders.
Qin Jingzhou looked at Emperor Yongning and recalled how, back home, the two sovereigns of the northern hunt must have been even more disgusting than this emperor.
He raised his saber and struck down the newly promoted Inner Attendants at the emperor’s side with the back of the blade. With one hand on his weapon and the other grabbing his son by the collar, he asked, “Where’s your ‘Qingqing’?”
Yan Duan fought back tears. “Father, she’s in those carriages back there.”
Qin Jingzhou turned to his confidant guards. “Go fetch Noble Consort Guo.” Then he handed his son to them as well. “So ugly.”
Yan Duan hurriedly lowered his head, for fear of shaming himself further before his father.
Now, Duke Cheng'en knew he couldn’t play dead any longer. If Marquess Jingwen suddenly got it into his head to kidnap the emperor, what then?
Their Wang family might be a major southern Noble Family, but they weren’t local kings who could do as they pleased, and the emperor—no matter how useless—was still someone whose presence cautioned all the nobles. That was why he had to keep Emperor Yongning in his grasp.
Qin Jingzhou set his saber into the ground again, his left hand clad in a metal gauntlet casually resting on the hilt, and said frankly to Duke Cheng'en, “How much are you willing to pay?”
Duke Cheng'en glanced at the trembling, cowering Emperor Yongning in the corner and replied cautiously, “A hundred thousand taels.”
Qin Jingzhou stared at him until sweat formed on Duke Cheng'en’s brow, then said, “Two hundred thousand taels, two hundred thousand jin of rice. He’s yours.”
Duke Cheng'en didn’t hesitate. “Deal.”
With just a few words, the two of them sold Emperor Yongning off.
Duke Cheng'en knew perfectly well that Emperor Yongning wasn't worth two hundred thousand taels, but paying in silver and grain as ‘protection money’ was real security for two or three years. He could now understand why Guo Sida had tried to avoid a direct confrontation with Marquess Jingwen after just one clash… Without crack troops enough to challenge the Marquess, he would avoid him too!
Since Duke Cheng'en yielded sincerely, the transfer of silver and grain went smoothly.
When Qin Jingzhou’s guards finally brought out Noble Consort Guo, Duke Cheng'en presented a portion in banknotes and cash on the spot and had Emperor Yongning, traumatized as he was, settled elsewhere.
He promised the grain would be shipped via boat to the West Gate Pass, gave a cupped-hands salute to Qin Jingzhou, then led several tens of thousands—including a few Imperial Guards and Wang soldiers—southward.
At Ling Jing’s indication, Qin Jingzhou looked over and saw his pork-chop son and Lady Guo, both freshly bandaged and standing shoulder to shoulder in silent tears. Like a pair of little mandarin ducks, they wore identical expressions of survivors.
Yan Yun, holding a hand warmer, scolded her little brother: “If you weren’t Father’s son, you’d be a corpse lying in a mass grave by now.”
Yan Jun just nodded, clearly in agreement.
Before his father, stepmother, elder brother and sister, and especially his beloved, Yan Duan didn’t care how much his injured face hurt. Even slurring his words, he hurried to explain, “I didn’t mean to burden Father and you, sister. I just felt our family would do fine without me, but if Qingqing didn’t have me, maybe… she wouldn’t survive.”
Ling Jing stifled a laugh and sent a message, “He’s truly self-aware, knows he’s a bonus-track family member.”
Qin Jingzhou spoke too. “Don’t make me see this again, or I’ll deal with you myself.”
Yan Duan bowed his head. “Yes.”
He took Qingqing’s hand beside him. With her here, he would probably never be so reckless again.
Lady Guo smiled, sincerely.
From now on, even if not leaping fish in an open sea, at least she need not live in fear.
If Marquess Jingwen really managed to win the land, she would rise along with him. Being a princess consort was far more carefree than being a noble consort or crown princess. As long as she kept Yan Duan’s heart, the Marquess and his wife would not pick at her faults. Indeed, even with a bruised and swollen face, Yan Duan still looked so much better than Emperor Yongning.
Everything went as Lady Guo anticipated. Their journey was smooth and uneventful, and she accompanied Yan Duan to Marquess Jingwen’s “main camp.”
She was set up in the courtyard right next to Yan Duan’s by the marquess’s wife. Lady Guo felt at ease and free of worries, and naturally had a good night’s sleep. The next day, refreshed, she dressed up a little after breakfast and went to greet the marquess’s wife.
Just from their brief interactions along the road, Lady Guo suspected the Marquess’s wife might be a fellow transmigrator… Marquess Jingwen himself should be “native,” so she wasn’t at all surprised the wife was over twenty years younger than the marquess and yet the couple was still on such good terms.
As for Ling Jing, she couldn’t care less about ‘keeping up appearances.’ She was quite happy to “claim kinship” with Lady Guo.
After all, the big players’ three-way division of the world with Guo Sida and Duke Cheng'en was just a stopgap. Rapidly rebuilding the land, securing stability, amassing troops, and launching their bid for the throne as soon as possible were the true priorities. There was never such a thing as too much talent… If she had to do everything big and small herself, she would wear herself out.
When Lady Guo finished her bow, Ling Jing had her sit right in front of her, and got straight to the point. “Truth is, it was the marquess who saved your life, and he won't tolerate any deceit—I think you realize that. I won’t put any obstacles in the way of your marriage to Yan Duan. I’ll also persuade the marquess to accept you as his daughter-in-law. So, how are you planning to thank me? You know, 996 is the minimum.”
Lady Guo: …
She struggled, “Madam, is there overtime pay?”
Ling Jing laughed. “No. Pass probation and you’ll get shares. If you show up but slack off, just don’t blame me for making life hard for you.”
Lady Guo: …
Although she felt a little heavy-hearted, she had to admit she’d much rather be a corporate drone than play loving consort to a muddleheaded emperor like that.