One day, Lei Dan opened up the path and the Da Xia army marched forward swiftly and vigorously like a hot knife through butter.
Moreover, because the Da Xia army was disciplined, they did not kill the surrendered soldiers or disturb the common people along the way.
As a result, later on, many city garrison commanders, clearly knowing they could not win, simply surrendered without putting up meaningless resistance.
This move directly infuriated the rebel king Mou Ru.
In mid-November, the weather on the plateau was already very cold. The Da Xia army finally arrived at the Tubo royal court with 200,000 troops surrounding the city walls.
Mou Ru was finally afraid and proposed peace talks with the Da Xia crown prince.
Jing Yan pretended to accept the peace talks but actually activated a covert team to rescue the Mingyang Princess before formally besieging the city.
The covert team only knew the general area where the Mingyang Princess was held but did not know the exact location.
Therefore, they searched the entire area thoroughly but did not find anyone.
They guessed Mou Ru must have also been afraid of Da Xia's covert actions and moved the princess to another location.
Jiang Yuqing had to take action personally.
She had never seen the Mingyang Princess and was afraid of rescuing the wrong person. So she asked the covert team to paint a portrait of the Mingyang Princess.
Who would have thought the covert team had terrible painting skills and the final product was barely recognizable as a woman. On top of that, the Mingyang Princess's birth mother passed away early, and Jiang Yuqing had also never met her, so there was no way to make a facial mold either.
Left without a choice, after sneaking into the city, she could only slowly spread out her spiritual awareness to search little by little.
The Tubo royal court was not very big but also not very small. Because she did not want to miss any clues, Jiang Yuqing searched very carefully, consuming a lot of spiritual power.
After searching meticulously for over two hours, she finally saw a woman locked in a small dungeon underground in the royal palace.
The woman was extremely skinny, dressed in traditional Tubo women’s clothing.
But her skin was obviously much whiter than other Tubo women, and her facial features were softer.
She quietly sat facing the wall with a dignified yet indifferent demeanor on her face. Jiang Yuqing was not sure if this was the Mingyang Princess so she decided to approach for a closer look.
It took almost no effort for her to enter the dungeon.
After entering, she immediately set up an isolating barrier and wrote a note wrapped around a small rock which she tossed in front of the woman.
Hearing the sound, the Mingyang Princess was startled, then bent over to pick it up.
In the dim oil lamp light, she opened it to see a small poem written in Da Xia’s language: “I’m from our hometown, I know of hometown affairs. The spring grass grows green every year, has the princess returned or not?”
The Mingyang Princess was immediately emotional, tears streaming down her face, murmuring: “You’re from our hometown, you should know of hometown affairs. In days to come at the gauze window, the cold plum blossoms.”
Confirmed, this was the Mingyang Princess. Plum trees filled the entire Fragrance Pavilion where the Mingyang Princess lived before getting married.
Jiang Yuqing felt it would be bad to suddenly reveal herself and it would be hard to explain too much. Now that she confirmed this was the Mingyang Princess, she decisively waved her sleeve, using spiritual power to knock her unconscious and pull her into the spirit dimension.
To prevent the Tubo people from discovering she had gone missing, Jiang Yuqing was extra kind-hearted and cut out a small paper person, turned it into the likeness of the Mingyang Princess.
After some thought, she also took off the Mingyang Princess’s outer clothes and put them on the “princess”, perfectly disguising things.
And so, Jiang Yuqing secretly rescued the Mingyang Princess from the underground palace dungeon without anybody knowing.
When she returned to the Da Xia military camp, Jing Yan was anxiously awaiting news.
Seeing her return, he was greatly relieved and asked if everything went smoothly. Jiang Yuqing nodded and said she had rescued the person and they should speak inside the room.
Jiang Yuqing brought out the still unconscious Mingyang Princess from the spirit dimension and placed her on the couch. She asked Jing Yan: “Is this the Mingyang Princess?”
Despite not seeing her for many years, Jing Yan recognized this woman as the Eldest Princess at first glance. He nodded: “It’s her!”
Jiang Yuqing let out a breath in relief: “As long as it’s her, I was worried about rescuing the wrong person. Should we wake her up?”
“Let’s wake her up! I haven’t seen Eldest Sister in so many years and miss her dearly too.”
Her birth mother passed away early so she was raised at my Empress Dowager’s side since young. Although we don’t share the same mother, our relationship was extremely close.”
Jiang Yuqing waved her sleeve to unseal the Mingyang Princess’s five senses. After not too long, the Mingyang Princess woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes to see two extra people suddenly in the room, she was badly shocked, immediately hugging the blankets and cowering into the corner like a frightened bird.
This reflexive reaction made both people in the room distressed.
Especially Jing Yan who hated that he could not immediately go kill Mou Ru.
She had just turned thirty but her temples already had white hair. Her entire body was emaciated and worn, devastatingly thin.
Who could imagine this travel-worn and haggard woman was the famously peerless Mingyang Princess whose beauty was known all over the capital just over ten years ago.
“Who are you? Why have you captured me here?” She spoke in the Tubo language.
Jing Yan’s heart ached, this situation made him very uncomfortable. He stepped forward and grasped her hands: “Don’t be afraid! Eldest sister, I’m Yan, your younger brother. I’ve come to bring you home.”
The Mingyang Princess froze, only now clearly seeing the two people in the room wore Da Xia clothing. She was instantly emotional: “You’re Yan, my younger brother?”
“Yes.” Jing Yan nodded.
The Mingyang Princess’s shriveled hands gently caressed Jing Yan’s face. Rarely, Jing Yan did not push her away.
Seeing this appearance even more outstanding than her father Emperor's, she finally believed her younger brother had come to bring her home.
The Mingyang Princess laughed and then cried from laughter: “Yan, eldest sister has finally waited until this day!”
Back then, when she bid farewell to her father Emperor and mother Empress wearing her wedding dress at the palace gates, pearls and gems all over head, in the prime of her beauty.
Despite her deep reluctance, she still pulled the young him with eyes brimming with hot tears, saying: “Younger brother, after elder sister leaves, you must be filial to father Emperor and mother Empress, study well, and in the future become Da Xia’s most outstanding crown prince.”
The young him nodded gravely, his little face very serious as he told her: “Eldest sister, if you don’t have a good life in Tubo, write me a letter. I will come get you to bring you home!”
At the time, she only felt it was a child’s joke. She didn’t expect he truly remembered it in his heart. Over ten years later, when she was desperate, he really came to bring her home.
Jing Yan gently patted the Mingyang Princess’s shoulder: “Eldest Sister, don’t worry, it’s all in the past now.
The present Da Xia is powerful now. From now on, we will never marry another princess for a political alliance!”
The Mingyang Princess cried hard for a while before recalling there was another person in the room. Somewhat embarrassed, she wiped her tears and asked: “Yan, who is this young lady?”
Jing Yan gently held Jiang Yuqing’s hand and told the Mingyang Princess: “She is my Crown Princess, Jiang Yuqing. The imperial edict has been issued, we will be married after she comes of age.”
Jiang Yuqing quickly stepped forward to pay her respects: “Greetings to Princess.”
The Mingyang Princess held her hand, looking her up and down carefully, eyes full of gratification: “What a nice girl. I’ve long heard of you and know all you’ve done for Da Xia. Your family has also made outstanding contributions to Da Xia. I thank you on Da Xia’s behalf, I thank your family.”
“You flatter me, Princess. I’m a Da Xia person so I should contribute what little strength I have for this country.”
The Mingyang Princess smiled: “Good girl, having you by his side is Yan’s blessing.”
Jiang Yuqing looked up at Jing Yan and smiled: “It’s also my blessing.”
After over ten years living on the harsh plateau, the Mingyang Princess’s health was already tremendously depleted. And suffering consecutive major blows, her condition now was disastrous.
After only talking for a short while, she was already exhausted and somewhat unable to carry on. Jiang Yuqing quickly helped her lie down to rest.
She then used the opportunity of taking her pulse to cast a few Spring Returning techniques to help her body regain vitality internally.
After the Mingyang Princess fell asleep, the two exited the tent. Jing Yan asked her: “How is eldest sister’s condition?”
Jiang Yuqing shook her head: “I used Spring Returning techniques on her. But you should know, physical wounds are easy to heal while psychological ones may never recover in this lifetime.”
Jing Yan held her hand as they walked side by side under the starry sky. He sighed: “The previous dynasty brought such great calamity to this land that when Da Xia was founded, it was in utter shambles with wounds all over, possessing nothing.
Internally, bandits and pirates ran amok everywhere while externally, the Xiongnu and Tibetans eyed us covetously like tigers watching prey, besieged by troubles internally and externally without cease.
Several generations of our ancestors sacrificed themselves without regard for themselves, working vigorously to govern this land until the reign of my father Emperor when Da Xia finally showed some promise.
Therefore, when Tubo proposed marriage, although Father Emperor was reluctant, for the sake of peace between the two countries, he still married my eldest sister to them, in hopes that Tubo and Da Xia would get along forever.
But things rarely go as one wishes. Tubo eventually still became a place of right and wrong, and in the end made my eldest sister suffer.
Jiang Yuqing patted the back of his hand: "When a country is backward, it will get bullied. This is not your fault." Then,
she held her head high and said: "Rather than wallowing in self-blame and unable to pull yourself out, you might as well start now to govern Da Xia into the strongest country.
That way, I'd like to see who still dares to talk loudly to us."
Jing Yan raised his hand and pinched her straight little nose, chuckling softly: "You're right, my crown princess!"
Seeing that he finally smiled, Jiang Yuqing finally relaxed: "Let's go tell everyone the good news!"
"Alright."
Hearing that the Mingyang Princess had been rescued by the Crown Prince's "guards", the generals were relieved.
They were afraid that tomorrow when attacking the city, that scoundrel Mou Ru would take the princess hostage to threaten them.
If that happened, they would be in an awkward position whether they attacked or not.
Now that the princess has been rescued and returned, the generals have been completely freed from worry.
At dawn tomorrow, if Mou Ru surrenders obediently then fine, but if not, they will send him straight to heaven with artillery shells.
Damn him!
Everyone wanted to pay their respects to the princess, but Jing Yan stopped them: "My eldest sister is extremely exhausted, she is already asleep. Her attendants have been rescued, there is no rush to pay respects tomorrow."
Hearing this, they agreed it made sense, so they held off for the time being.
That night, Jiang Yuqing sat on a stool by Mingyang Princess' couch, meditating the whole night. Surprisingly, she did not wake up either. This would be good for her recovery.
The next day at dawn, Mingyang Princess finally awoke. There was a moment of blankness after opening her eyes.
Then suddenly sitting up in bed, touching the new Da Xia clothing she had not worn for a long time, she suddenly covered her face and laughed.
Realizing last night was not a dream after all.
