Chapter 1414 The Queen’s Response!
Qiqige said this unintentionally, but An Miaoyi seemed to realize something when she heard it. She immediately slammed the table and murmured:
“What a delicate thought!”

"What's wrong with the queen? Did something happen?" Qiqige asked in confusion:
An Miaoyi ignored Qiqige's question, glanced in the direction of Pei Zhixiu's courtyard and said to herself:
"I underestimated you! I didn't expect you to fight back in this way!"

Although Qiqige said it unintentionally, with her reminder, An Miaoyi also figured out the problem that had been bothering her!

If what she thought was correct, although Pei Zhixiu suffered a loss at her hands this time, she did not choose to swallow her anger like other concubines in the palace, swallowing her anger and wiping her tears in private!
Instead, he wanted to fight back against his queen and make her understand the price of provoking her!
Based on this purpose, Pei Zhixiu recommended Bai Yuanyuan to take over the authority of assisting in managing the affairs of the palace!
But this recommendation is just a superficial phenomenon. In fact, Pei Zhixiu wants to use this recommendation to pave the way for Murong Qingwu to take over power!

Although Ye Mingsheng did not directly say who would take over the power to assist in managing the affairs of the palace at the meeting, according to the hierarchy system in the palace, those who have status and are qualified to assist the imperial palace in managing the harem are most likely the concubines who have given birth to children for Ye Mingsheng!
In other words, they are Bai Yuanyuan, Shen Yutong, and Murong Qingwu!
Pei Zhixiu was smart enough not to recommend Murong Qingwu directly, as her intention would be too obvious, so she chose to recommend Bai Yuanyuan···············
Pei Zhixiu was well aware of Bai Yuanyuan's ambition hidden beneath her submissive appearance, as well as the feud between her and Shen Yutong!
Therefore, as long as Bai Yuanyuan sees an opportunity, she will definitely not give up. She will try her best to seize this opportunity to improve her status in the palace and strengthen the power of her mother's family!

Shen Yutong also knew that her relationship with Bai Yuanyuan had always been very bad. Therefore, once Bai Yuanyuan had the authority to assist in managing the affairs of the palace, her life in the palace would become even more difficult.

So in order to prevent herself from being squeezed and bullied by Bai Yuanyuan, Shen Yutong will definitely try every means to prevent Bai Yuanyuan from gaining the authority to assist in managing the affairs of the palace!

In this way, the two people will restrain and pull each other, forming a dog-eat-dog situation, and there is a high probability that both of them will be eliminated!

Now that Bai Yuanyuan and Shen Yutong are out, it will become a situation where the fisherman benefits from the quarrel between the snipe and the clam. Murong Qingwu can reap the benefits without any effort and become the person who helps her manage the harem!

After thinking it through, An Miaoyi had to admit that Pei Zhixiu was really good at calculating!

Once her conspiracy succeeds, Murong Qingwu will take over the power to assist in managing the affairs of the harem. The things that she could do at will before will become very troublesome. Even some things from the past will be dug out by Murong Qingwu, making her very embarrassed...

But since I have realized her conspiracy, I will not sit idly by and watch your conspiracy succeed. Thinking of this, An Miaoyi pondered for a while and said to Qiqige:
"What do you think of making Jinyu a royal concubine?"

Qiqige hesitated for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty, in terms of seniority, Concubine Yu is one of the earliest women to serve Your Majesty. She has served Your Majesty wholeheartedly over the years. Even if she has no merits, she has worked hard. However, to be promoted to a noble concubine, you need to have children!"

"This Concubine Yu has served His Majesty for many years, but she just can't get pregnant. Not to mention a prince, she can't even give birth to a princess!"

"If she is promoted to imperial concubine like this, I'm afraid she won't be able to win the support of the people in the palace!"

An Miaoyi also refuted after hearing this:
"Who said that you must have children to be promoted to a noble concubine?"

"When the new dynasty was founded, His Majesty only said that all those who had given birth to children would be imperial concubines, but there was no rule that imperial concubines must have given birth to children!"

"Secondly, even if Jinyu can't give birth to a child, it's not a big deal. When your majesty is in the mood, just arrange for a beautiful palace maid to sleep with you. If a dragon seed is born, you can give it to Jinyu to adopt and let him recognize Jinyu as his mother!"

Listening to An Miaoyi's words, Qiqige understood that her queen already had some ideas. Although she still had some different opinions in her heart, she nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, An Miaoyi felt more and more that nominating Jinyu might be a good move!
After all, Jinyu was a maidservant of the old empress dowager before, and she has always been the old empress dowager's favorite daughter-in-law and the old empress dowager's little cotton-padded jacket!
The Queen Mother has always wanted to make Jinyu's life better, so she recommended Jinyu to be the Imperial Concubine. On the one hand, this satisfied the Queen Mother's wishes, and on the other hand, she would definitely get her support. And when Jinyu became the Imperial Concubine, she could go with the flow and let her take on the authority to assist in managing the affairs of the palace!

By then, all the power in the palace will still belong to her. Thinking of this, a smile appeared on An Miaoyi's beautiful face.

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Yunqian, Yaonan Mountain in the east
Standing at the top of the earthen city, Zhang Meng, commander of the First Army of Daqian, looked down at the earthen city and the mountains below, and a feeling of pride and honor arose spontaneously.

During this period of time, Zhang Meng has been anxiously waiting for Ye Mingsheng's order. After several months of preparation, his army has become hungry and thirsty, and all the preparations have been almost completed. They are only waiting for Ye Mingsheng's order to be issued to officially launch an attack on Yunqian!

During that period, Zhang Meng, the commander of the First Army, could be said to have been living a miserable life, anxiously waiting for Ye Mingsheng's orders every day.

Finally, half a month ago, Zhang Meng finally received Ye Mingsheng's order to start a war!

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Zhang Meng immediately started the attack on Yunqian according to the pre-made battle plan without any hesitation!
Zhang Meng's first target was the Xiong family of Yaonanfu, one of the three chieftains of Yunqian! In fact, although Daqian had been preparing to mobilize troops against Yunqian, Sun Tzu's Art of War once said that the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities!
To defeat the enemy without fighting is the highest means!

Therefore, since the establishment of Daqian, under the instruction of Ye Mingsheng, the Ministry of Rites has been communicating with the major chieftains of Yunqian, and has achieved certain results!

These achievements include that the three major chieftains of Yunqian, Xiong, Mu, and Li, are willing to submit to Daqian and become part of Daqian!

However, it is worth mentioning that the submission here was only in name only. In fact, the three chieftains not only demanded almost complete autonomy, but also demanded a large amount of financial rewards from the court...

Therefore, in Ye Mingsheng's view, their surrender was not surrender at all, but just a verbal title that Daqian had to pay to get them!

This is also unacceptable to Ye Mingsheng. Ye Mingsheng hopes that Daqian can actually control Yunqian, so the gap between the price offered by both parties and the expected conditions can be said to be very large!
In the negotiations with Daqian, the Xiong family had the toughest attitude because they were proud of the natural barrier of Yaonan Mountain. They even stated in the negotiations with the Ministry of Rites that they could submit to the court or not, and everything was up to their will!
The Ministry of Rites reported these words to Ye Mingsheng truthfully, which made Ye Mingsheng very anxious. After learning the news, Zhang Meng listed the Xiong family of Yaonan Mountain as the first target to attack in order to make Ye Mingsheng satisfied!

Although the Xiong family is as smelly and hard as a stone in a toilet, they do have someone to rely on!

Yunqian is a hilly area, and the Xiong family’s lair is built on Yaonan Mountain, which is protected by natural barriers. If the Daqian army wants to attack, it will have to pay a huge price!
Therefore, when the battle plan was being formulated, the First Army's Lieutenant General Zhang Youzhi suggested to Zhang Meng that he should lead 3,000 elite soldiers with light equipment and a small group of soldiers to launch a surprise attack on the earthen city on Yaonan Mountain via a small mountain trail, and capture the Xiong family's lair in one fell swoop while the enemy was unprepared!

This sneak attack strategy was also approved by some people within the First Army. After all, Yaonan Mountain was steep, and it was difficult for the First Army to send heavy artillery up there. Without the help of heavy artillery, Yaonan Mountain was not conducive to the deployment of troops, and it would be difficult for the First Army to capture Tucheng...

So in this situation, a sneak attack without declaring war might be a good idea!
Although his subordinates agreed with it, Zhang Meng, as the commander, directly rejected the idea of ​​a sneak attack!
He denied it for two reasons!

First, although the three chieftains of Yunqian were not smart, they were not fools either. After the negotiations reached a deadlock, the First Army and the local governor made a lot of pre-war preparations. Those chieftains were not blind or deaf, so it was impossible for them not to know!

Therefore, while the First Army was collecting intelligence on Yunqian, they also secretly sent a number of spies to gather information and spy on the First Army's strengths and weaknesses!

Therefore, launching a surprise attack without fighting may not be concealed!

In addition, if they want to launch a surprise attack on Yaonan Mountain, they need to go deep into Yunqian for 270 miles. Nearly 70% of the roads are mountain roads. The three chieftains are the local tyrants. They are very familiar with the mountain roads. If they want to launch a surprise attack under their noses, the risk of failure is very high!
Secondly, the First Army's powerful combat capability needs to be supported by strong logistical supplies. Once the logistical supplies are missing, the power of the First Army's firearms will be greatly reduced, and may even be worse than fire sticks!
If they wanted to launch a surprise attack via a small path, firstly, they would not be able to carry heavy artillery, and secondly, they would not be able to provide logistical supplies for these 3,000 people.

Now Yunqian is at the end of the rainy season, and it rains basically every two or three days. It will take at least seven days for this special force to reach the foot of Yaonan Mountain, and the gunpowder they carry with them will inevitably get damp!
Therefore, even if Zhang Youzhi successfully led 3,000 special forces and attacked the earthen city of Yaonan Mountain when the Xiong family was unprepared, it would be questionable how much combat effectiveness they still had.
Based on the above two points, Zhang Meng did not choose the tactic of sneak attack, but formulated a new battle plan. When the Daqian army approached the Yunqian border, he showed off the power of firearms wantonly. Those small chieftains were unable to resist and could only flee in defeat.

After seeing the power of firearms, the Xiong family also wanted to strengthen the defense of the Yaonan Mountain Earth City!
Therefore, with the advice of his subordinates, he decided to attract many defeated small chieftains' soldiers and horses, and enter the Yaonan Mountain Earth City to jointly resist the Daqian army!

Three days ago, Zhang Meng led the soldiers of the First Army and attacked to the foot of Yaonan Mountain. Although Zhang Meng had known through reports from some spies that Yaonan Mountain was difficult to attack, it was only after he actually saw Yaonan Mountain that Zhang Meng realized the seriousness of the problem!
However, Zhang Meng was not worried about this. He had never thought of attacking the earthen city of Yaonan Mountain by force from the beginning!

Under the bombardment of heavy artillery, the soldiers of the First Army led by Zhang Meng safely captured several peaks outside the earthen city of Yaonan Mountain, and issued an ultimatum to the Xiong family. However, Xiong Ping, as the chieftain of the Xiong family, was still tough and was determined to fight to the death to defend his rights as a chieftain!

After getting a negative answer again, Zhang Meng did not hesitate and immediately organized several exploratory attacks. Due to the steep terrain, the heavy artillery that the Fengwu Army relied on most was difficult to move up the mountain. Therefore, in the absence of heavy artillery cover, the several exploratory attacks did not make much progress.

And an hour ago, Zhang Meng once again ordered the soldiers of the First Army to launch another attack on the earthen city of Yaonan Mountain.

Tusi Xiong Ping was dismissive of the Daqian army's attack this time. In his eyes, this attack by the Daqian army would be the same as the previous ones, and after sacrificing dozens or hundreds of lives, it would return in disgrace without any progress!

The chieftain, who was very confident in his own natural defenses, was also very optimistic and believed that only if this situation continued for a period of time, the Daqian army would have to accept the outcome of failure and withdraw!

However, just as Xiong Ping had a playful smile on his face, waiting to see the embarrassed look of the Daqian army, a red firework suddenly rose into the sky from the Daqian army formation. This firework was very bright and beautiful, and it can be said that it left a deep impression on Xiong Ping.
Just when Xiong Ping was somewhat curious about why the Daqian army was setting off fireworks, those small chieftains' soldiers who were absorbed into the earthen city, led by their chief, launched a counterattack!
Faced with this sudden scene, Xiong Ping was also dumbfounded. Although he was furious and wanted to kill all these traitors, he was simply powerless to save the situation with rebellion within and powerful enemies outside!
The only thing he could do was to watch the traitors open the gate of Tucheng and let the Daqian army into Tucheng!

And with the Daqian army entering the city, everything was settled without any suspense...