Fourth Uncle Ye was furious, "I knew it!"
After all, he was her birth father. As soon as he heard about Deng Prefecture, the first person he thought of was Twelfth Sister.
He immediately realized something was wrong.
There was no way Ye Suijin would let Twelfth Sister go with Yuan Ling's group to Deng Prefecture just as a "convenience."
There must be something fishy going on!
And indeed there was!
Ever since she was little, she had been going upstairs to take off roof tiles and going to ponds to catch turtles with her Third Brother Five Brother.
And now, she was actually taking his young daughter to do some messy business.
"Aren't you afraid of scaring her? Twelve is just a little girl!" Fourth Uncle Ye was furious, "What's the point of letting her know about these things?"
Ye Suijin rubbed her temples: "If she got scared, she would have come back already. Since she hasn't returned, it means everything is fine."
Fourth Uncle Ye looked at the thick stack of papers on the table: "These are Yuan Ling's letters, right? Did he mention Twelve..."
He reached out his hand.
Ye Suijin was quick to press it down and nonchalantly tucked it into the drawer: "No. She just went along to watch the excitement. Yuan Ling would never let anything happen to her. Besides, Er Bao is with her. Second Uncle, you know he is reliable."
There must be something she was hiding from him. It had always been like this since they were little.
Fourth Uncle Ye humphed, leaving Ye Suijin with a warning look before he left.
Ye Suijin sighed in relief and took out Yuan Ling's letters again.
She quickly flipped through them once more.
Little Twelve... Are you okay?
After another hour passed, Fourth Young Master came again.
His complexion was a little pale, but very calm. Much calmer than the last time he came.
"Give it to me." He said.
His voice was hoarse.
Ye Suijin looked at him for a while before pulling open the drawer and taking out the divorce letter.
Fourth Young Master signed and stamped, divorcing Yue Niang.
Ye Suijin asked: "What did she do?"
Fourth Young Master was silent for a long time before speaking.
"To force me to save her father, she jumped into a pond holding Niuniu." He said, "Trying to scare me."
Ye Suijin's heart tightened and she had an ominous feeling.
Fourth Young Master said: "She saved herself."
Ye Suijin looked at him.
He said: "Niuniu didn't make it."
Niuniu had grown up in her previous life.
Back then, when several children contracted the plague, Third Brother's children didn't make it through, but Niuniu survived.
Later Fourth Young Master also died in battle. Ye Suijin prepared a generous dowry for Niuniu and married her off well.
Yue Niang was still Fourth Young Master's widow.
That divorce letter was actually used by Ye Suijin to threaten Fourth Young Master and Yue Niang.
But in this life...
Ye Suijin held her chin.
Many things were different in this life.
She reminded herself that the previous life could only serve as a reference, not a dependency.
When Fourth Young Master returned home, the house was even more chaotic than when he had left.
Yue Niang had hanged herself.
The 5th Madam was crying after losing both her granddaughter and daughter-in-law.
Ye Fifth Uncle remained silent until he saw Fourth Young Master return before standing up.
"Go take a look at her." He said, "I've already sent people downtown to find beggars."
It was inauspicious for someone who committed suicide, so family members could not touch the body. Usually beggars from the streets would be paid to take the body down.
Fourth Young Master entered the room and saw Yue Niang hanging from the beam, her body swaying slightly in the wind.
"No need, I'll do it." Fourth Young Master said.
Ye Fifth Uncle's lips moved.
The 5th Madam stopped crying, wanting to stop him: "Don't, don't..."
But she couldn't stop him. Fourth Young Master had already held Yue Niang down and laid her on the bed.
He looked at her for a long time, took out a piece of paper from his arms and threw it on the ground.
Ye Fifth Uncle knew what it was.
Fourth Young Master had gone to Ye Suijin for a divorce decree.
"Let it be." Fourth Young Master said, "I won't divorce her. If I divorce her, her soul won't have a place to go. Where would Niuniu find her?"
If he divorced her, Yue Niang could neither enter the Tong ancestral grave nor the Ye ancestral grave.
In the eyes of the times, she would become a lonely ghost, which was very pitiful.
"I know she regretted it."
"She must regret listening to her brother."
Yue Niang loved Niuniu the most, how could she have thought of jumping into a pond holding Niuniu?
It must have been instigated by her uncle.
He probably thought that with so many servants in the house, they would be rescued quickly. The risk was controllable.
But Niuniu had drowned badly.
With just one gulp of water, blood came out of her nose and mouth.
There was no way to save her like this.
She drowned with just one gulp of water.
Fourth Young Master grasped the hilt of the sword behind him. "Where is her brother?" He asked.
"Ran away!" Ye Fifth Uncle said angrily, "That turtle grandson! The moment I looked away, he escaped."
Fourth Young Master hadn't let go of the sword hilt.
"Kill them." He lowered his eyes, "The Tong family should be killed."
In the past few days, news from Deng Prefecture came in batches. Many people in Biyang couldn't sit still and would come to Ye Suijin to bother her.
Ye Suijin didn't meet with these people and went directly to Tangbei Fort with He Lian uncles and nephews.
Looking at the location of Tangbei Fort on the map, He Lian Xiang Yun asked her: "You're stockpiling troops here? What are you trying to do?"
Tangbei Fort and Biyang were like horns pointing at the capital.
"Just in case." Ye Suijin said, "In case the Emperor wants to deal with me. The Later Wei's downfall was certainly related to the military governors. What if this Emperor wants to vigorously eliminate these problems?"
It wasn't a lie.
The fall of Later Wei naturally had reasons of central government corruption, but the separatist rule of the military governors directly accelerated its demise.
When Ye Suijin was Empress, she had been discussing with Zhao Jingwen about how to centralize power in the central government rather than locally.
This was certainly something every emperor wanted to do.
He Lian Xiang Yun said: "The Emperor is old and busy building the imperial city and imperial tombs."
"It's a bit early." Ye Suijin said, "But let him build if he wants to build. Whether it can be used or not, if he builds it now, it saves effort for those who come after him."
Indeed, because Renzong had renovated extensively during the Jin Dynasty, she and Zhao Jingwen did not have to build extravagantly afterwards, minor repairs were good enough.
What was meant by "can be used or not", "those who come after him", He Lian Xiang Yun couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
When they arrived at Tangbei Fort and saw the five hundred warhorses, He Lian Feiyu went crazy.
He whipped his horse and shot off like an arrow released from a bow, rushing into the herd of horses and galloping with them.
Everyone watched as he stood up directly from his horse and jumped onto the unsaddled Liangzhou horse. Grabbing the mane trying to control the fierce horse.
The fierce horse neighed and reared, but he clung on tightly and did not get thrown off.
Ye Suijin called the grooms over.
The grooms' Mandarin had become more fluent than a month ago. They earnestly reported how many mares were already pregnant and isolated for special care, when they would give birth, and how many horses were being prepared for breeding.
After listening to the report, He Lian Xiang Yun suddenly spoke Turkic with them.
With mixed ethnicities, languages were also mixed. Three out of the ten slaves could communicate fluently with him.
They talked for a while before He Lian Xiang Yun said to Ye Suijin: "These few are not bad."
"Indeed." Ye Suijin was also very satisfied.
General Guan did business very honorably.
"How about it?" She asked him, "Can you lead a cavalry battalion for me?"
Ye Suijin had very high requirements for "cavalry". In her eyes, the cavalry in the Ye army now were just "infantry riding horses".
True cavalry were not just cavalry because they rode horses.
But there were many limiting conditions.
However, the most basic condition now - horses, had been initially resolved. Just give her a few years to breed and train them well.
He Lian Xiang Yun's eyes were bright.
"Give me men, give me horses, give me fodder." He promised, "I can."
But he paused and asked: "Do we have iron?"
He already knew Ye Suijin had grain, manpower, and now horses.
But he observed that the Ye army armor was mainly leather. And the number of armors was also limited.
She may not have iron.
Ye Suijin said: "It's still better than Pei Ze's tattered bunch right?"
He Lian Xiang Yun said: "That's why his territory has never been able to expand."
The conditions at Pei Ze's place were even more limited, so limited that Yan Xiao found everything in the Ye army extravagant and excessive.
Ye Suijin resentfully said: "I'll find a way."
He Lian Xiang Yun nodded.
It was Ye Suijin's territory, Ye Suijin's army. So how to find a way, what way to find, was Ye Suijin's business.
He Lian Xiang Yun didn't worry about it.
The most stable thing in a structure was everyone minding their own business.
He Lian Feiyu rode over on the unsaddled Liangzhou warhorse at full gallop, pulled abruptly, the warhorse reared and neighed as it stopped.
"It's a Liangzhou horse!" He Lian Feiyu was overjoyed, "Uncle, it's a Liangzhou horse!"
He was extremely excited, and kept saying: "Why didn't Tenth Son come! It would have been great if Tenth Son came too!"
Then he ran off again.
He Lian Xiang Yun glanced at Ye Suijin.
Ye Suijin said: "You're not Mingjie, don't talk with your eyes."
He Lian Xiang Yun rubbed his nose and said: "Did you leave all the Ye family in Biyang?"
On this trip to Tangbei Fort, Ye Suijin didn't bring a single person surnamed Ye.
Ye Suijin asked: "Do you know why?"
He Lian Xiang Yun said: "I just train soldiers and fight wars. I don't care about anything else."
Ye Suijin said: "Your mind is only focused on fighting, it's a waste."
He Lian Xiang Yun said: "As long as I have it, whether I use it or not is my business."
He paused and said: "In fact, by bringing the young masters here, I could have kept them away from those messy affairs."
"That won't work," Ye Suijin said. "You are my subordinate general, you can just focus on training soldiers and fighting wars."
"They are my younger brothers, they need to grow up."
"This way they'll grow up faster."
He Lian Xiang Yun looked at her again.
Ye Suijin sighed: "What are mouths for?"
He Lian Xiang Yun said: "You are very much like Pei Gong."
Ye Suijin said: "Misery loves company I guess."
They both have children to raise.
Ye Suijin glanced at He Lian Xiang Yun.
He Lian Xiang Yun: "?"
Ye Suijin said: "If you're willing, I can also take you as my adopted son."
Duan Jin and Qiu Sheng both choked and started coughing.
The corner of He Lian Xiang Yun's mouth twitched: "That won't be necessary."
Ye Suijin looked up at the sky.
"Right now in Deng Prefecture, they must be killing people."
Everyone fell silent.
Deng Prefecture.
Ye Jingyi scrubbed his face hard and went out to sit in the magistrate's seat.
Yuan Ling sat next to him.
This was the execution ground. Common people surrounded them in three inner and three outer layers.
After waiting for a while without him speaking, Yuan Ling called: "Magistrate Ye?"
Ye Jingyi took a deep breath, reached into the inkstone case on the table and tightly grasped a warrant.
Kneeling pressed on the stand was the former chief of Zhongyuan Hall, his own uncle on his father's side.
Busy with his own affairs, he was unaware that this uncle had been illegally occupying fields in large amounts under the Ye family name.
And had driven several people to their deaths.
Even more hateful than taking lives was that he had done it using the Ye family's name.
He was a bona fide member of the Ye family, there was no escaping association.
The impact of his actions was too damaging.
Yuan Ling communicated with Ye Suijin every three days.
Ye Suijin's instructions were to execute him.
Everyone knew her blade was sharp, but didn't expect it to be so sharp even against her own family.
Yuan Ling reminded him again: "Magistrate Ye, it's time."
Ye Jingyi's palms were sweaty.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and fiercely flung out the warrant.
"Execute!"
In the turmoil in Deng Prefecture, the young county magistrate clearly felt the diverging interests and divisions within the clan.
Everyone had their own interests and private motivations.
Who were his own interests tied to in the end?
Zhongyuan Hall?
No... it was Ye Suijin.
The executioner's blade rose and fell.
The head of a Ye family member with a name and face fell to the ground.
The commoners roared in acclaim.
Yuan Ling looked back.
Behind the screen, Twelfth Sister had revealed half her face.
Expressionlessly watching all this.
She was too little.
Still just a young lass.
Yuan Ling felt somewhat guilty and regretful for having brought Twelfth Sister along.
