Shen Yungan had besieged the Turks for a full seven days, pressing straight to the royal tent and infuriating the Turkic King to the brink of spitting blood and dying.
"This Turkic King possesses considerable forbearance." He still hadn't relented, refusing to agree to Shen Yungan's demanded terms.
It was worth noting that the Turkic royal tent was now in dire straits. Because the Turkic King couldn't resist temptation, they found themselves trapped in an unbreakable siege. Even though Shen Yungan treated the Turkic civilians with relative gentleness and refrained from indiscriminate slaughter, discontent was widespread among the Turks. Supporters of the Southern Prince were particularly active, leaping about and demanding the Turkic King abdicate to atone for his crimes.
With various factions at a stalemate, external enemies watched covetously, making exorbitant demands for compensation. Since the Turks had initiated the conflict, Shen Yueshan was determined to secure his conditions, making it impossible for the Turks to seek outside aid—especially from the Mongols, who had been itching to move but were preemptively suppressed by Rong Ce.
Moreover, with Shen Yueshan's return, even if they had a hundred times the courage, they wouldn't dare cause trouble. Despite numerous pressures, the Turkic King held out until now.
"That's because he possesses a fortune of ill-gotten gains." Xiao Huayong had been recuperating well these past few days. Tingzhou had regained its former bustle, with goods being sold quite cheaply. Shen Xihe varied his nourishing meals daily, and even the weakest constitution would have recovered after five or six days of such care.
However, in Xiao Changfeng's eyes, he remained the frail Crown Prince. Thus, he only occasionally allowed Tianyuan to support him as he walked around the courtyard. After Shen Yueshan's arrival, most of the aftermath handling was handed over to him, leaving Shen Xihe largely occupied with attending to Xiao Huayong.
This made Shen Yueshan quite jealous, and the father-in-law and son-in-law secretly competed. This time, Xiao Huayong stated bluntly, "Youyou has taken great pains to ensure I remain uninvolved. Given my current frail state, if Youyou, as my wife, doesn't stay by my side frequently, wouldn't it arouse Xun Wang's suspicion? He might doubt whether I'm truly weak. All of Youyou's efforts would then be in vain."
This left Shen Yueshan speechless. Though he initially wanted to argue further, news arrived that the Xue family's wedding entourage had already set off and would soon reach the northwest. This meant they had to swiftly resolve matters here, leaving Shen Yueshan no time to bicker with Xiao Huayong.
"Are those the funds given to him by Xiao Changtai?" Shen Xihe had read all the letters Xiao Changtai left before his death.
The wealth capable of tempting the Turkic King into such folly was no small sum—it amounted to a quarter of Xiao Changtai's fortune. Over the years, he had amassed wealth through tomb raiding and had become quite established. His accumulated treasures were shipped overseas, exchanged for exotic goods, and then converted into money.
His accumulated wealth was immense, enough to make even His Majesty covet it. Speaking of which, those shops Xiao Changtai specifically used for selling imported goods were quite profitable. Xiao Huayong had taken them over, gaining another cover for transmitting messages.
However, the people inside were all Xiao Changtai's followers, and they undoubtedly needed to be replaced entirely.
"Your Highness..." Just as Xiao Huayong was about to answer, Tianyuan's voice sounded outside the room.
Tianyuan entered carrying a cage, but inside wasn't a bird—it was a mouse.
Xiao Huayong said to Tianyuan, "Test it."Tianyuan opened the cage, and the furry little mouse scurried out. Unafraid of strangers, it turned its head left and right as if searching for something. After sniffing for a while, it finally headed decisively in one direction and soon began circling back and forth over a stack of letters.
These were the very letters left behind by Xiao Changtai. Shen Xihe glanced at them with a puzzled expression.
"These letters were treated with a special, colorless and odorless liquid. I only discovered this two days ago," Xiao Huayong explained. "If you capture such a mouse and feed it the same liquid for two days, it will develop an addiction to it. No matter how far away, it will do everything possible to seek out that scent."
A thought occurred to Shen Xihe, and she understood: "You suspect that the treasure Xiao Changtai sent to the Turkic Khan was also sprinkled with this liquid?"
"Knowing him as I do, he would never truly be so generous as to give away the wealth he painstakingly accumulated to the Turks." Xiao Huayong nodded. Though Xiao Changtai was dead and hadn't mentioned this, Xiao Huayong had still uncovered it. Paper soaked in this liquid becomes more brittle and thicker, differing in texture from untreated paper—something only someone who had used it themselves would notice.
"Your Highness has also studied this kind of liquid?" Shen Xihe asked curiously.
"Before I encountered Haidongqing, I had to mark my letters this way," he replied. It was to prevent them from being swapped out, and if they were, to quickly recover them. Later, after acquiring Haidongqing and a batch of hunting eagles, Xiao Huayong began using eagles to deliver messages.
These trained eagles were far superior to homing pigeons, which stubbornly flew only to familiar places. Moreover, hunting eagles were difficult to capture. If intercepted, disrupting their trained rhythm would cause them to fly back instead of continuing to search for the recipient.
Xiao Huayong wore an expression that seemed to say, "This is all child's play to me," making Shen Xihe chuckle softly. "Does Your Highness intend to send this mouse to the Turks?"
"I will go myself." Once he seized the treasure Xiao Changtai had sent to the Turkic Khan, the Khan would lose his leverage. Unable to pacify his followers, he would inevitably face rebellion. To retain his throne, he would have no choice but to submit to the court.
If he surrendered and agreed to Shen Yungan's terms, the court would naturally support him. Though he would lose face, he could at least preserve his life and position. If he were overthrown by internal forces in Turkic territory, his fate would be sealed.
"You cannot go," Shen Xihe objected. Xiao Changfeng was now closely monitoring both Xiao Huayong and her—primarily her—but if Xiao Huayong were absent, it would certainly not escape Xiao Changfeng's notice.
"To fool him, any excuse will do," Xiao Huayong said dismissively.
Shen Xihe knew it would be simple for him to fabricate an excuse that Xiao Changfeng couldn't disprove, but avoiding suspicion altogether would be difficult. Having painstakingly used Xiao Changfeng to portray himself as an innocent, pitiable figure in front of His Majesty, she was not about to let him ruin her hard work so easily. Of course, she also knew that Xiao Huayong was quite eager to do just that.
He didn't want His Majesty's blade aimed solely at her, but since he couldn't sway her, he resorted to indirect tactics.
"Let Father go," Shen Xihe said, giving him a calm, knowing smile.Though his smile seemed genuine and reached his eyes, Xiao Huayong understood that if he insisted, he would likely be left to sleep alone for ten days. Just the thought of those lonely, sleepless nights made Xiao Huayong obediently give in.
"You only know how to pity your delicate husband," Shen Yueshan grumbled as he mounted his horse, unable to resist a few more disgruntled words.
"Am I not considering the bigger picture?" Shen Xihe refused to accept such baseless accusations. "This achievement belongs to our Northwest—it must be accomplished through Father and Brother's joint efforts to achieve perfection."
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