Chapter 628 Cao Changping’s helplessness!

“Of course they didn’t dare to quarrel in front of the old lady, but they were very unbridled in front of me…”

An Miaoyi sighed again and said helplessly:
The relationship between Bai Yuanyuan and the two sisters Su Ruyan and Su Rumeng was not good to begin with. She had seen that Su Ruyan had a good heart, so she gave her some advice and asked the two sisters to curry favor with Ye Cui. As expected, Su Ruyan performed well and was very much liked by Ye Cui.

The life would be perfect if it were only Su Ruyan, but unfortunately she has a disappointing younger sister, Su Rumeng. Seeing her sister clinging to Ye Cui's thigh, she also felt that she had a backer. After visiting Ye Cui today, she actually took the initiative to mock Bai Yuanyuan.

Although Bai Yuanyuan also disliked the Su sisters, she didn't want to cause any trouble recently because of her pregnancy. She just wanted the baby in her belly to be born safely. However, facing Su Rumeng's active provocation, she was of course not willing to be outdone, and she started to argue with Su Rumeng on the spot.

Because An Miaoyi was with Ye Cui, she didn't know about this matter at first. When she arrived, the two of them had already started to quarrel and expose each other's scars, calling each other a shameless old woman and a bastard's plaything. Because of Bai Yuanyuan's pregnancy and because Su Rumeng had taken the initiative to provoke her, An Miaoyi punished Su Rumeng specifically, fining her one month's salary and ordering her to reflect on her actions behind closed doors.

But Su Rumeng was also very fierce. Although she didn’t dare to resist An Miaoyi openly, she also put on a crying posture. What she meant was that An Miaoyi and Bai Yuanyuan had a good relationship and were in cahoots with each other, bullying them because they were helpless...

Naturally, An Miaoyi would not be polite to Su Rumeng about this. She directly increased the punishment so that the little girl Su Rumeng shut her mouth completely. Although it was considered a lesson for Su Rumeng, An Miaoyi still felt very uncomfortable with being contradicted, and her good mood for the day was ruined.

With Qiqige's words of comfort, An Miaoyi's mood also eased a lot. After a moment, she seemed to remember something and asked Qiqige:
"Have you picked up Xiao Ruolan? What do you think of her?"

Qiqige nodded. She originally wanted to find An Miaoyi to report this matter, and immediately said:
"She and Master Tian Yu are reunited, and Master Tian Yu is very happy. As for Xiao Ruolan, she is indeed a good woman, with a very quiet personality, well-educated and polite. When I came back, she even asked me to thank you!"

Listening to Qiqige's story, An Miaoyi nodded slightly. Although she knew Xiao Ruolan before, she didn't know much about her. An Miaoyi loved her only brother very much and didn't want him to get hurt, so she wanted to know more about Xiao Ruolan's character.

Although she has not yet come into contact with Xiao Ruolan, listening to Qiqige's story has dispelled many of An Miaoyi's concerns...
After pondering for a while, An Miaoyi asked Qiqige a question that she cared about most.

"Qiqige, do you think Xiao Ruolan is still a virgin?"

Qiqige was stunned at first, not knowing that An Miaoyi would ask such a question. After hesitating for a moment, she answered:
"Madam, I didn't pay much attention, but since Xiao Ruolan has already married Master Tian Yu, they should have gone through the Zhougong ceremony!"

Listening to Qiqige's words, An Miaoyi's face became very serious. Because An Tianyu had been in poor health since childhood, after rescuing him from the Inspectorate, An Miaoyi asked a doctor from the medical school to give An Tianyu a physical examination. The results of the examination were not optimistic. The doctor also emphasized that An Tianyu was born with a weak constitution and needed to be slowly nourished to replenish his qi and blood. In particular, he must remember not to have excessive sexual intercourse.

It was precisely because the doctor mentioned this that An Miaoyi was somewhat worried that An Tianyu would become addicted to it and demand more crazily, eventually exhausting his energy and blood and dying young. Even though they were siblings from the same father and mother, there were differences between men and women after all. Although An Miaoyi was worried about this matter, it was not easy for her to tell An Tianyu directly.

Seeing that An Miaoyi looked worried about this matter, Qiqige asked tentatively:

"Madam, do you want me and Xiao Ruolan to remind her indirectly?"

An Miaoyi was moved by Qiqige's proposal, but after thinking for a moment, she shook her head. Although she and Qiqige were like sisters, Qiqige was an outsider in this kind of family affairs after all, and some words should not come out of her mouth. After realizing this, An Miaoyi immediately said:
“I’d better let me tell the story myself!”···························
･･････････
Licheng, Caofu

Cao Changping, who looked slightly tipsy, drank one cup after another with the help of two heavily made-up concubines. Although the dozen or so delicacies prepared by the chef in front of him were delicious, and the concubine in his arms was charming and her words were extremely seductive, Cao Changping still had no interest. His face was full of sorrow and he did not have the spirit to make decisions on the military and political affairs of a province at all!

It can be said that Cao Changping now hates Xu Zhaojie to the core!
To be honest, Cao Changping really didn't want to go against the Fengwu Army, and didn't want to fight with Ye Mingsheng. He had bought firearms from the Fengwu Army and knew how powerful the Fengwu Army was. So even though the Fengwu Army annexed Hebei and Henan, although he was very angry, he didn't think about really fighting with the Fengwu Army. Under Su Yi's appeasement and promised benefits, he was still thinking that after the Fengwu Army annexed Hebei and Henan, he would stop and strategically turn to the west for a decisive battle with Shangguan Hongyuan, so that he could survive and stay safe in Qi and Lu.

Even under Xu Zhaojie's instigation later, Cao Changping felt more and more threatened by the Fengwu Army, and his heart gradually began to lean towards Xu Zhaojie's proposal. He did not dare to stand up and attack the Fengwu Army together with Xu Zhaojie. You must know that Xu Zhaojie's original plan was not to use 5,000 cavalry to raid Zhuo County, but to pull Cao Changping with him to form a coalition force of tens of thousands of people to attack Zhuo County!
If things really develop like this, even with the Seventh Division’s protection, facing the coalition force of tens of thousands of people led by Cao Changping and Xu Zhaojie, it is hard to say whether Ye Mingsheng can survive...

However, Cao Changping did not think much about Xu Zhaojie's proposal and rejected it outright. In his opinion, Xu Zhaojie's proposal was to push him into the fire pit. If he really formed an alliance with Xu Zhaojie to besiege Zhuo County, he didn't know whether they could kill Ye Mingsheng, but he, Cao, was definitely dead!

If Ye Mingsheng had not died in Zhuo County, with Qi and Youyan so close, Cao would definitely have to face Ye Mingsheng's crazy revenge. Although Cao Changping was very confident in the strength of the Qi army, he did not think that the Qi soldiers under his command could stop the ferocious Fengwu army. Obviously, it would be good enough if Xu Zhaojie did not step on him at that time, and he would certainly not help him share the pressure from the Fengwu army!
Even if their plan succeeded and Ye Mingsheng was killed in Zhuo County, then with Ye Mingsheng's supreme prestige in the Fengwu Army, the Fengwu Army would definitely avenge Ye Mingsheng before the civil strife. Xu Zhaojie was blocked by Qi Lu and Ji Yu, and the Fengwu Army could not hit him, so the Fengwu Army could only vent their anger on themselves, and in the end he, Cao Changping, would still die!
It was based on this idea that Cao Changping flatly rejected Xu Zhaojie's idea of ​​forming a coalition force to besiege Zhuo County. He would not rush forward and be used as a gun by Xu Zhaojie. After thinking about it, Cao Changping made the decision that he would regret most in his life!
Although he didn’t dare to go against Ye Mingsheng directly, but in view of the threat posed by the Fengwu Army, Cao Changping still planned to join forces with Xu Zhaojie to stab Ye Mingsheng in the back. So the final version of the plan was that Cao Changping pretended not to know about the Anqing Army cavalry’s raid, and then provided logistical support in secret...
To be honest, Cao Changping was very satisfied with this plan. In his opinion, no matter whether Xu Zhaojie's plan succeeded or not, he would be able to reap the benefits. Even if the Fengwu Army blamed him, he could just hand over the head of Xu Zhaojie's cousin Xu Kai and surrender, and he would probably be able to get away with it.

However, Cao Changping never expected that his traitor Xu Zhaojie was not stupid either. He had already planned to assassinate Su Yi directly, forcing Cao Changping into a desperate situation. In the end, Cao Changping had no choice but to muster up the courage to fight against the Fengwu Army!

Honestly speaking, at the very beginning of the war, Cao Changping was so worried that he couldn't sleep, fearing that the Qi army would collapse at the first touch. However, under the command of veteran General Duan Yanfeng, the 30,000 Qi troops fought tenaciously with one heart. Relying on the solid fortifications of the camp, they prevented the Fengwu Army soldiers, who were protected by artillery and cavalry, from taking a single step beyond the line!
Cao Changping in Licheng was also deeply encouraged when he heard the news. He felt that he had made the right move by asking veteran General Duan Yanfeng to take action against all odds. In order to enable the soldiers on the front line to better fight against the Fengwu Army and achieve satisfactory results, Cao Changping gritted his teeth and concentrated all the resources at hand to support the front line, hoping that Duan Yanfeng would bring him an exciting victory!

However, facts proved that Cao Changping was overthinking. Although the Qi army hiding in the camp fortifications brought great trouble to the Fengwu army and caused considerable casualties, that was all. The Qi army itself also suffered considerable casualties. At the beginning, they could still fight back, but as the casualties increased, they could only hide in the camp fortifications and passively defend...
If the war had continued like this, Duan Yanfeng might have been able to hold out in Hebei and Henan for a longer time at the cost of heavy casualties. However, the fall of Yujing allowed the Fengwu Army to free up its hands and concentrate more forces to deal with the Qi Army. To be honest, the Fengwu Army had planned to annihilate the entire army at the beginning, but it must be said that veteran Duan Yanfeng was lucky enough to learn the news unexpectedly.

In order to avoid being annihilated, Duan Yanfeng had no choice but to make a heroic decision. Although the veteran decided to break out immediately, without the protection of the camp fortifications and facing the constant pursuit and harassment of the Fengwu Army's cavalry, the Qi army's retreat gradually turned into a major defeat, and in the end only barely 10,000 people escaped.

Although Cao Changping was very disappointed with this disastrous defeat, he knew very well in his heart that Duan Yanfeng had nothing to blame for this defeat. In fact, if it were not for Duan Yanfeng's command, the Qi army would not have been able to hold out in Hebei and Henan for such a long time, nor would they have caused so much trouble to the Fengwu army, and it would have been impossible for tens of thousands of people to return despite the pursuit of the Fengwu army!

Cao Changping knew all of this very well!
But a crushing defeat is a crushing defeat. No matter how many reasons there are, they cannot cover up this result!
Such a devastating defeat required someone to stand up and take responsibility. Moreover, he asked the retired Duan Yanfeng to take action, which broke the balance of power within the Qi army. This was accomplished in the face of many objections and against all odds. This was a gamble by Cao Changping with his own prestige. If he won, Cao Changping’s prestige would rise to a higher level, but if he lost, his prestige would fall to the bottom...

The current result undoubtedly shows that Cao Changping lost the bet. Although he knew that this was unfair to Duan Yanfeng, in order to preserve his last bit of face, Cao Changping could only feel guilty and deprive Duan Yanfeng, who had been kind to him, of his military power, making this nearly 70-year-old veteran bear the blame for the defeat.

Cao Changping, who was defeated miserably on the battlefield, could only watch Ye Mingsheng take Ji and Yu into his pocket. Then, on the one hand, he made preparations for the Fengwu Army to invade Qi and Lu, and on the other hand, he hoped to surrender to Ye Mingsheng and ask for peace through peace talks!

Honestly speaking, although he sent people to ask for peace with the Fengwu Army, Cao Changping did not hold out much hope for this. After all, in his opinion, Ye Mingsheng was used to being domineering, and he had backstabbed him and almost killed him, so Ye Mingsheng would most likely not make peace with him.

However, what surprised Cao Changping was that the feedback he got from the Fengwu Army was that Ye Mingsheng agreed to make peace. Seeing the hope of a peaceful solution, Cao Changping was so happy that he didn't care that he was old enough to be Ye Mingsheng's father, and he immediately wrote a very flattering handwritten letter to Ye Mingsheng.

In the letter, he denounced Xu Zhaojie, saying that he was temporarily bewitched by Xu Zhaojie and did such an outrageous thing. He hoped that Lord Ye Mingsheng would not bear grudge and would not hold grudge against him. Both the Fengwu Army and the Qi Army were troops of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so they should not fight against each other and do things that would make their relatives sad and their enemies happy...
(End of this chapter)