Zhao Jingwen knew this beating was inevitable. For marital disputes like this, it was unavoidable for the uncles to beat up the son-in-law. The more vicious ones would even take away the daughter and her dowry, leaving only the child with the man.
Unless Zhao Jingwen avoided meeting the Ye family for the rest of his life, sooner or later he would have to take this beating. Between him and Ye Suijin there was no dispute over money or dowry, so once this beating was over, the matter would be considered completely settled.
He was mentally prepared.
The next day, with his bruised face, he still made an appearance. Everyone seemed to both see and not see.
Since he was here, Pei Ze did not let the opportunity go to waste and incorporated him into the army, with unified command.
But when they were assembling the troops, Zhao Jingwen was still shocked.
The Ye family army.
When did the Ye family army become like this? With such momentum, such scale?
He still remembered that when they first marched out to fight Du Jingzhong, eight hundred men were already magnificent and stirring.
Compared to that time, this was now like a complete transformation.
And all this had happened without him knowing.
Zhao Jingwen looked at the Ye family army, stunned speechless.
Yan Xiao and the others looked at him with strange expressions.
To be honest, Pei Lian was indeed a beauty. And her father did control a territory, with soldiers under him. In these chaotic times, that could be considered having some power.
If he was penniless and without status, being ambitious in pursuing her would not necessarily be wrong or contemptible.
But the premise was, you could not already have a wife like Ye Suijin.
That was Ye Suijin.
Yan Xiao and the others were all military commanders, but Pei Ze and Ye Suijin were commanding talents.
Between these two, there was still a gulf. The more outstanding the general, the more they understood this.
So while the Ye family fellows respected Pei Ze, the Pei family generals also respected Ye Suijin.
From the perspective of marriage, she was so beautiful she grabbed men's eyes, the kind that made men unable to look away once they saw her.
She controlled two prefectures, commanding six thousand troops.
And it was obvious that she was very good at governing too. According to Yan Xiao's description, Deng Prefecture and Tang Prefecture were very prosperous.
With such wealth and power! For someone to give her up and instead pursue Pei Lian.
Cough, not to look down on his own wife, but one had to speak according to conscience.
So no one could in good conscience say that Zhao Jingwen had made a clever, farsighted, admirably discerning choice.
Right?
So wouldn't you say Zhao Jingwen's brain was a bit, hmm, you know... hmm.
Leaving aside Zhao Jingwen's complicated feelings for now, Zhushan had been under siege for six or seven days without falling. The Pei-Ye allied forces still had to keep charging.
Zhao Jingwen was assigned to the Pei family army.
Pei Ze also wanted to see his ability in commanding troops. It was true Zhao Jingwen had ulterior motives, but in any case, he was his son-in-law now.
He had also left him hanging for a while, but could not possibly never use him again for the rest of his life.
It was just that, with Zhao Jingwen's too many schemes, Pei Ze would never rely on him or place expectations and trust in him like he did with He Lianxiangyun in the past.
But unexpectedly, on the battlefield, Zhao Jingwen managed to turn everyone's impression of him around with his own efforts alone.
It wasn't that no one expected this.
Ye Suijin of course could expect this. She had seen all sides of Zhao Jingwen, including his performance on the battlefield.
After all, the two of them had also once fought back-to-back, entrusting each other with their lives.
The Ye family were also not surprised. Zhao Jingwen's abilities were something they never denied.
But the entire Pei family forces' impression of him greatly improved.
He was someone brave and fierce on the battlefield, fearless of death.
For career soldiers, being fierce and fearless of death was already enough to make many convinced.
Including Pei Ze. When withdrawing the troops, he nodded to Zhao Jingwen and said, "Your men still need more training."
Morally lacking when it came to relations between men and women. But in the world, many men lacked morals like this, he was not the only one. Usually when something did not concern them personally, men could laugh it off and scold it as "unscrupulous". Only when it really harmed their own interests would men put aside their empathy and fly into a violent rage.
Zhao Jingwen did have ability and talent, Pei Ze was not completely blind when choosing him as a son-in-law.
Zhao Jingwen respectfully said, "They were only recruited for a short time, and this is their first time fighting such a fierce battle, please give me more guidance, father-in-law."
Pei Ze nodded, and said no more.
Ignoring the bruises on Zhao Jingwen's face.
Ye Suijin rode over on horseback.
Although fully armored, her build was still slender compared to the men.
In the words of Pei's men: Dashing!
There were some specks of blood spray on her cheeks, like red plum blossoms in the white snow.
Matching the red cherry blossoms of her Nine Bend Spear.
Beautiful yet powerful.
Zhao Jingwen's gaze did not move away in time, until Pei Ze glanced at him lightly.
He quickly lowered his head.
The others had much more freedom compared to him. Yan Xiao very fawningly went over to take Ye Suijin's horse when she dismounted. Ye Suijin dismounted: "Lord Pei, they were a bit conservative today, we need to be on guard tonight."
Ye Suijin's abundant battlefield experience and alertness had impressed Pei Ze more than once.
He nodded: "I was thinking the same."
Since they had not removed their armor yet, the two quickly discussed for a few sentences, then Ye Suijin mounted her horse again and returned to her own camp.
Yan Xiao watched her dashing back and hooked his waist: "Ah, ah~"
After everyone had removed their armor and changed into dry clothes and eaten, they gathered again to arrange the night defenses.
Once the assignments were given out, they each left to their own places.
A few young fellows found an empty area and gathered together.
Duan Jin said: "Me? I didn't go."
Instantly several people moaned in disappointment.
Yan Xiao was overjoyed: "Note it down, note it down. We'll settle accounts when we return."
Someone said indignantly: "Aren't you Lady Ye's personal first guard? How could you not go?"
He had lost money because of this.
Tenth Son said angrily: "I called him to go, but he wouldn't go."
Duan Jin calmly said: "Beating the lousy son-in-law is the uncles' business. I'm not an uncle. The mistress didn't order me to hit him either."
Tenth Son said: "You're becoming more and more dull."
Duan Jin just smiled without replying.
Yan Xiao actually quite liked Duan Jin.
Although Duan Jin was only half a year older than Tenth Son, he gave a completely different impression.
By Ye Suijin's side, it was obvious he was someone she nurtured and relied heavily on.
He was also very fierce on the battlefield, much to Yan Xiao's taste. Even Pei Ze had praised him: "A good sapling."
Speaking of which, Yan Xiao said: "Zhao Jingwen also seems decent."
The Ye family fellows unanimously harrumphed, but did not deny it.
Duan Jin earnestly said: "Zhao Jingwen does have ability."
Previously he had often been biased against Zhao Jingwen in his heart, but now he was deeply influenced by Ye Suijin, able to objectively recognize an opponent's strengths.
Also, if Zhao Jingwen had no ability at all, it would make Ye Suijin look bad too.
Zhao Jingwen did have ability, it wasn't that Pei Ze had been completely blind when choosing him as a son-in-law.
Yan Xiao and the others nodded. At night, as expected, the enemy raided at night.
The Pei-Zhao allied forces were prepared. They had even dug pits in advance.
As they drove back the enemy in the melee, whenever someone fell in it was into a pit. Wails and screams rose from the bottoms of the pits.
Ye Suijin was delighted: "They're all mine!"
Even with allies, accounts had to be clearly settled.
Ye Suijin wanted captives.
These Fangzhou people harbored deep hatred against Pei's army. Killing them was no good, but not killing them was also no good.
If they did not kill them, they would still have to provide food, and devote manpower to guarding them.
Giving them to Ye Suijin made this campaign very cost-effective for both families.
So choosing the right ally, mutually assisting and supporting each other, with mutually beneficial exchanges, how relaxing.
But when you thought about it carefully, it was also subtle.
Such a good ally was found because of Zhao Jingwen.
The various generals of the Pei and Ye families all had very complicated feelings.
Zhao Jingwen ignored how others looked at him.
Trapped in a plight, nothing was more important than breaking free of it.
Now, the Ye family could no longer turn back. They could only go all the way.
He had to gain Pei Ze's admiration and trust.
For a man like Pei Ze, Zhao Jingwen now understood, he could not play mind games with him, he had to give it his all sincerely.
In the firelight, his long spear moved like a dragon.
Ye Suijin's three years of guidance, teaching him hand-in-hand, forcing him to train relentlessly. All that sweat that flowed, the pain in his muscles and bones, the weakness from exhaustion, it all answered the saying that heaven rewards diligence.
Ye Suijin and Pei Ze observed the battle from a viewing platform set up, controlling the overall situation, seeing everything clearly.
Ye Suijin only twitched the corner of her mouth.
Pei Ze saw it and felt that twitch of Ye Suijin's mouth corner contained complex emotions that were not simple. He said: "He's still useful."
"He's your son-in-law not mine," Ye Suijin said. "Up to you."
Pei Ze said, "You're saying you don't want it anymore?"
Pei Ze's family was small, with few people he could use, so when he saw someone capable, he still valued their talent.
Ye Suijin laughed in the firelight.
"If I had fought for him back then," she said, "how could Lord Pei be by my side tonight?"
"It was a matter of choice."
"Where there is gain there is also loss."
A nighttime battle amid flames and light had ended.
Zhao Jingwen took off his helmet and sat on a corpse to catch his breath.
Glancing up, he saw many people going to report on the battle to Pei Ze and Ye Suijin.
The two of them stood side by side, both leaning on the swords at their waists, their expressions intent.
No one was paying attention to him now, and the firelight was behind them. At last he could look at her steadily for a little while.
In life there were choices to be made. This time he had foolishly thought he could have both, balancing left and right. He hadn't expected his boat to capsize so thoroughly.
He didn't speak of regret or remorse. Zhao Jingwen had always felt it was pointless to agonize over things that had already happened.
He just took advantage of the night to look at her a little longer.
The terrain of Mount Bamboo was difficult to maneuver. After half a month they had finally taken it.
Ye Suijin could finally soak in a hot bath in the city, and let out a satisfied sigh.
Soaking in the water, she calculated that now they had taken Mount Bamboo, if they could also take Shangyong, then the Tuo River defense line would be under Pei Ze's control. But there were too many mountain ranges here, and far less arable land than in Deng Prefecture and Tang Prefecture, which greatly limited his development.
She also thought, if they could build a canal, linking Tuo River and Zhi River, then the efficiency of grain transport would greatly improve.
But as soon as she thought this, she realized how laughable it was.
She wasn't an empress now, Fang Prefecture wasn't her territory, and she didn't have nearly enough manpower for such a massive engineering project as building a canal.
Why was she worrying about this?
For now, first settle accounts with the Pei family.
Then rest well. Deploy more ships, transport as much equipment as possible to Shangyong, so they wouldn't have to struggle as hard as with taking Mount Bamboo.
Rest well, and next up, Shangyong.
One step at a time, moving forward.
As for the final destination, the ultimate goal? Who could say clearly in such chaotic times.
Just take each step as it comes!
