Chapter 141: Heart Full of Little Wan
“Ashina Shali is suitable for roasting,” Su Jingzhi said. “Not suitable for steaming.”
He even seriously considered the cooking method. If they were to implement this plan, they would first need to set up a huge barbecue rack in Linde Hall.
However, even if roasted, they couldn’t really eat him; it would just be to scare the enemy.
But who would have thought the Regent would interrupt like this?
His small face scrunched up.
Wei Wanlan repeated solemnly, “Zhen wants to go to war with you. Can you take me?”
Usually, the other party would agree to whatever he said.
This made the rejection appear very blunt.
Su Jingzhi didn’t leave him any hope at all: “No.”
Wei Wanlan froze.
At this moment, he felt the palms on his waist tighten slightly, the hot hands straightening him up a bit.
“I know you are worried about this Prince, but the country cannot go a day without a monarch. Marching is very difficult; I won’t be able to take care of you.” He smiled at Wei Wanlan and added, “Did you know? The expeditionary army doesn’t have the snacks you love. We march hundreds of li a day. Little Wan won’t be allowed to sleep in at all.”
“What if Zhen can endure it?”
“Then it’s even more unnecessary. This Prince is fighting for you; why bring you along to suffer?”
Wei Wanlan’s heart was suddenly filled again.
He wanted to blurt out: Then can we not fight?
But that seemed even more impossible.
This was Great Wei’s chance to wipe out the border troubles, and it was also a process he had to go through for Mission Three. Wei Wanlan knew this very clearly in his heart.
Actually, he could already tell that even if he begged, he couldn’t change the Regent’s mind about taking him along.
Wei Wanlan didn’t want to cause trouble for Su Jingzhi before the battle. Since he couldn’t get through, he would put it aside for now.
The eagle on the rack moved with a clack-clack, changing its angle to look at them. Wei Wanlan felt inexplicably embarrassed being watched by an eagle, so he also changed his angle, dodging the eagle’s gaze and burying himself into Su Jingzhi like an ostrich.
“Report the military situation to Zhen,” his voice was muffled.
“Obeyed.” Su Jingzhi’s gaze passed over Wei Wanlan’s shoulder to the sand table. When speaking of the war, his voice took on a greater steadiness.
Wei Wanlan liked this voice and sat up straight by the sand table.
“Since Antang went to war with the Ashina tribe, the situation on the grassland has become complicated. On the surface, it seems there are only two factions, but in reality, undercurrents are surging, and many forces harbor ulterior motives.”
Wei Wanlan had guessed this.
Su Jingzhi’s finger traced across Wei Wanlan’s back, outlining the contours of the war situation:
“The tribes living within the Turkic borders who have long been oppressed by the Ashina tribe—the Wuhuan, the Xianbei… they are nominally obeying Antang’s command now and are also enemies of Ashina. These opposition forces are using the Ergun River as a boundary, fighting for control of the main Turkic river. This is the lifeline of their survival.”
“It is obvious on the sand table that Antang and his allies are at a disadvantage. To preserve his hegemony, Ashina has always guarded against them. I guess that within three to five days, Antang’s factions will show obvious signs of defeat. That will be the time for us to strike.”
“You want to let them exhaust each other?” Wei Wanlan said. “You don’t want Antang to lose completely either?”
Su Jingzhi nodded. “Mn. Once these people fight to a clear victor, I’m afraid someone even harder to deal with than Ashina might emerge. I don’t want to breed a Gu.”
This was to thoroughly exploit the enemy’s conflicts.
Wei Wanlan suddenly remembered Antang’s secret letter swearing loyalty to him.
He had answered it properly, soothing Antang’s emotions.
He vaguely felt that the reply wasn’t the end, but for a moment, he didn’t have any other clues.
Wei Wanlan changed his question to verify his nightmare:
“So that means, even if you go to fight, their combat power will be very low, and you’ll just be doing a harvesting job?”
Su Jingzhi certainly didn’t know this term came from games, but he inexplicably felt it was quite vivid. However, he said seriously:
“One must not underestimate the enemy.”
Seeing how reliable he was, the uneasiness in Wei Wanlan’s heart finally subsided by a point or two, and he sighed softly.
As a result, his earlobe was suddenly taken into a mouth.
Wei Wanlan instantly shivered from the heat, a current of electricity running through his whole body, the numbing sensation making him tremble.
He had to turn his head to the side, but this facilitated Su Jingzhi’s actions, exposing a larger area of his neck. His right hand involuntarily gripped Su Jingzhi’s lapel tightly.
“What nightmare did you have? Tell this Prince.”
Sure enough, once the serious business was done, only unserious business remained.
A man like the Regent, ascetic in public, was deadly when he let loose in private.
Wei Wanlan only felt his neck tickling. Their relationship had already reached a very deep level. If Su Jingzhi got fired up, his dragon claws would be sore.
Yes, hand soreness.
Wei Wanlan quickly put his hands behind his back.
Because he didn’t want to say the content of the nightmare was the total annihilation of the expeditionary army, knowing that saying such words would inevitably shake the army’s morale.
Everything was executed according to the standard of not causing trouble for the Regent.
Wei Wanlan had a flash of inspiration:
“You locked Zhen in Zichen Hall again.”
Wei Wanlan said, and then grunted sullenly, very much in character: “You let so many, so many Jinwu Guards watch Zhen at the door. Zhen couldn’t go anywhere and could only stay in the room waiting for you.”
As a result, Su Jingzhi actually considered the scene described in this dream. He could only think about it in his heart; the current Little Emperor was the true ruler of Great Wei.
If he locked up Wei Wanlan, who knew how many commoners would actually rise up to protect the King and suppress the rebellion.
Su Jingzhi said, “Then this Prince apologizes to you on behalf of the bad guy in the dream.”
“No need to apologize. Just kiss me again, and Zhen will be fine.”
Separation anxiety had reached a severe level.
Su Jingzhi looked down at Little Wan, who was gazing at him eagerly. His heart felt sweet and inexplicably sour. He kissed his forehead this time, hoping he would find peace.
Wei Wanlan settled down, but only a little bit.
At this moment, a second eagle cry came from high in the sky.
The eagle wasn’t stupid. It turned and flew into the council hall through the window, fluttered a full circle around the room, and finding no one could spare the time to pay attention to it, it had to stand on the crossbar first, lining up side by side with the eagle from just now. Their heads tilted left and right respectively.
Wei Wanlan only had the time of one eagle left.
Even if he wanted to be alone with Su Jingzhi longer, he couldn’t take up any more of the Regent’s time for handling military affairs.
These last few quarters of an hour appeared rare and precious.
Seeing him actually getting distracted looking at the two eagles, Su Jingzhi knew he was feeling a sense of time urgency.
Su Jingzhi gently rubbed the corner of his mouth, pinching the little dummy’s face until it was red:
“In this remaining time, whatever request you want to make, this Prince will try his best to satisfy you.” Su Jingzhi added a restriction, “Except leading the expedition personally.”
Wei Wanlan opened his arms toward Su Jingzhi.
Su Jingzhi froze. He originally thought Wei Wanlan wanted him to hug him, but just as he was about to pick Wei Wanlan up, he heard Little Wan whisper earnestly in his ear:
“Lean on Zhen and sleep for a while.”
“…”
He had thought just now that no matter what condition Wei Wanlan proposed—even if it was filling Zichen Hall with toys and storybooks, or saying he didn’t want to attend court for three days—Su Jingzhi would try his best to facilitate it.
But he completely hadn’t expected that Little Wan’s final condition would actually be wanting him to rest for a moment.
It was hard to describe the kind of heat flow that instantly filled Su Jingzhi’s blood.
He was about to boil over.
His whole person seemed to ignite!
When everyone admired his value, but only this one person cared about him, Su Jingzhi felt that the home he had once lost had returned in this moment.
The emotions filling his heart became words almost tangible enough to touch:
Like Little Wan.
Like Little Wan, like Little Wan…
His liking made him forget all fatigue.
He leaned forward, squatting and kneeling before Wei Wanlan, tugging at the little dummy’s belt.
But his wrist was pressed down by Wei Wanlan. Wei Wanlan shifted his butt on the sand table, the tips of his ears trembling as if about to fly away:
“N-n-no-not that kind of sleeping QAQ”
This sleeping is not that sleeping!
The expression that something was wrong was very obvious.
But a certain Regent just took it as playing hard to get.
He wouldn’t see the little dummy for a long time, so he had to deal with the little dummy properly now.
Under the little dummy’s slightly panicked gaze, he made the little dummy instantly lose his reason, seizing control over him.
Wei Wanlan’s dangling toes swung beneath the sand table, and tears immediately seeped from his eyes. The two eagles on the crossbar were blurry, but he could see them hopping back and forth on the bar.
Why must we be watched by eagles?
…
When the third eagle flew back, the generals, having finished resting according to military orders, returned to the council hall one after another.
An Ruyi came in first, hurriedly opening the doors and windows wide, then rushed over to wipe the sweat off the unsteady Little Emperor Wei Wanlan with a handkerchief.
Wei Wanlan’s heart was still beating very fast. He spared a thread of thought to examine Su Jingzhi’s lips.
The result was that the other party’s demeanor switched to incomparable seriousness the moment outsiders entered the room. As if reporting military affairs should be just like this—a broad, open road, a heart full of light. As if the Regent hadn’t done anything absurd in front of him just now.
It seemed he was the only one dying of shyness.
Wei Wanlan was simply speechless.
Three eagles brought three secret military letters.
The chief officer of the Ministry of War proceeded to open them one by one.
The eagles tilted their heads in unison, adorkably extending their claws to be manipulated, opening their beaks to wait for feeding.
Then, with all three letters removed and new missions issued, the eagles flapped their wings and flew away.
Of the three secret military letters, two were about changes in the situation.
After the chief officer finished reading the letters to the generals, he adjusted the sand table again according to the battle situation. The layout on the sand table changed accordingly: he picked up the blue flag representing Antang’s tribe and moved it further back from the river bank, retreating to the plains behind the grassy hills.
“Ashina Shali is indeed salvaging the situation; Antang is already showing signs of decline,” a general said at this moment.
Li Jiucheng of Shangzhou, a trusted aide who had also been named by the Regent to go on the expedition to the Turks, slapped the edge of the sand table fiercely:
“Sigh, this Antang is also a waste! Fight! He bullied your old mother so much; if you don’t beat him until he blossoms like a peach, you’ll be letting down all the suffering your mother endured in his felt tent…”
“In terms of cattle, sheep, and population, he indeed doesn’t have as much as him, but he’s ten years younger than Ashina. Fists fear the young and strong—how did he get cowardly?”
The words were rough, but everyone wanted to say them.
After all, as long as the internal war among the Turks was chaotic, the military pressure on Great Wei’s side would be that much smaller.
Li Jiucheng slapped the sand table again in his anxiety.
The sand table shook, and the gravel rustled.
Su Jingzhi lowered his eyes and cast a glance over, scaring Li Jiucheng into shivering and standing at attention immediately:
“This general was wrong, Prince, forgive my sin!”
Tang Tuan added with a grin from the side, “If you have that strength, don’t use it on the sand table. Can this sand table withstand your tossing? If you break it, the entire Great Wei can’t find a second one. Selling you wouldn’t be enough to pay for a few catties of sand…”
Li Jiucheng retorted unconvinced, “Nonsense! How can it break so easily? It looks sturdy no matter how you look at it.”
Saying this, he knocked on the frame of the sand table. “I reckon it can even withstand a person sitting on it.”
Tang Tuan said, “Is that a place for sitting?”
Li Jiucheng: “Anyway, if you sat on it, it would definitely collapse!”
The two exchanged words back and forth.
This made Wei Wanlan, whose heart palpitations hadn’t settled, feel even more guilty. He didn’t even know if these two were insinuating something about him. The absurd scenes from his mind just now resurfaced frame by frame.
He curled his toes.
His face turned even redder.
Seeing the Regent looking at him solemnly, he quickly turned around to change the subject:
“Stop arguing. Hurry up and see what the third letter says, alright?”
Su Jingzhi had already opened the third letter.
Although it also came from the Turkic borderlands, this letter was obviously different in paper quality from the other two.
Looking at the back of the letter, the ink and calligraphy were not like Great Wei’s secret military reports, but looked extremely like the secret letter from that night in the Imperial Garden.
Su Jingzhi rubbed the paper. His eyes first lit up, then darkened. Finally, he placed the paper on a plain on the sand table.
The generals were all puzzled: “What is going on?”
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