Volume 4, Chapter 23: A Priceless Letter from Home (1/2)

Volume 4, Chapter 23: A Priceless Letter fro, Marquis of Wen of the fourth rank, cains In the twenty-fifth year of Gaozu’s Wuwei era, he was rescued and taken in by Major Jiang Zhe of the Prince of Yong’s residence At the ti was employed as a servant in the Cold Courtyard Afterwards, E bestowed Zhe’s for remained in the Cold Courtyard as a servant He would frequently sneak peeks at the manuscripts and documents that Zhe had left behind, and was discovered by the Princess of Zhaohua Taking pity on him, the Princess wrote a letter to the Marquis of Chu about thisof it, Zhe washer find a teacher to instruct Cong Afterwards, when Zhe returned fro Cong as his disciple

—raphy of the Marquis of Wen</blockquote>

At the end of the twelfth ’s Wuwei era, the Zezhou main army encampment was filled with jubilation After years of deadlock, they had finally won a great victory All of the soldiers and officers of the army beamed with happiness at this victory and the hefty rewards that the emperor had bestowed The purses of the entire army overfloith money Victory and rewards filled everyone present with elation

After Long Tingfei had retreated froe of the clear weather and lack of snowfall to set up ca struggle, the three hundred thousand Yong soldiers and two hundred thousand co as porters had constructed a camp that was a hundred oing to per Zezhou

With the new year approaching, the soldiers and officers were allowed to take turns co, yet Zezhou’s h there weren’t any towns or villages nearby, o established a tes of the market were si restaurants, brothels, and casinos, a other entertainoods and co sold

The Prince of Qi did not oppose the existence of the market After all, without their existence, it would be difficult to endure the winter However, for security purposes, the Prince of Qi ordered the ar Northern Han spies froh no orders had been issued, everyone knew that an invasion of Northern Han would be launched in the spring

In the main tent of the ar letters which I had received from home This time, the emperor had dispatched an iht along letters frole and Roulan had written h I was deeply curious as to what Roulan had written, I was cole As a result, I opened her letter first Princess Changle’s letter was very long, filling seven pages From the ink marks that were old and new, it was clearly not written in one sitting

It was probably written as things came to herhanded to the imperial envoy

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This servant’s journey went smoothly Only because Shen’er was under the care of Great Master True Compassion was this servant unable to see him many times Shen’er is already able to walk, but cannot stand for long When husband returns, you will be able to see Shen’er walk on his own

Third brother treats Lin’er coldly Although this servant is dissatisfied since the two of us have not met in many years, third brother was on orders from the emperor to escort this servant back to the capital, so it was inconvenient for this servant to intervene I could only ensure that Lin’er and Roulan did not leave my side This servant worries heavily At present, third brother’s power reaches the Heavens and yet his rancor towards sixth brother still rele between brothers will happen again

Received a secret edict frohout the capital of the grave defeat at Zezhou Knowing that husband is at Zezhou, this servant knew that it would be impossible But wherever the rumors spread, the common people panic This servant had no choice but to slow her journey and receive the families of the local officials of the lands which she passed

We elcomed at the outskirts of the city by the Crown Prince This servant was a bit eh the Crown Prince is young, he is intelligent and kindhearted Roulan and the Crown Prince were childhood friends Their reunion showed that they both retained their affection froh Lin’er is proud and aloof, the Crown Prince treated him with sincerity Lin’er treats the Crown Prince as his elder brother Imperial Brother has ordered Lin’er to acco to critical s within the capital

There is a matter that has left this servant uneasy Lady Sihter of a fornant Talented Lady Although stopped by the e birth The Second Prince is piteous His mother’s status was petty and low, innocent and yetupheld justice and reached out to save them Imperial Sister-in-Law has already ordered that the Second Prince take Concubine Cheng as his mother Since Concubine Sima tried to murder a prince andto national law and palace regulations, she should be beaten to death

This servant has learned that the Southern Chu ar Pass Imperial Brother has dispatched third brother back to the Hanzhong region This servant is uneasy Husband’s previous letter mentioned the heartlessness of Lu Can That child hails froenerations, and was personally taught the art of war by husband This servant is afraid that the Hanzhong region cannot be defended In addition, the schism between third brother and the imperial household still exists This servant feels that third brother’s mind is o region It is normally inappropriate for this servant to show an interest in these ion falls into chaos and the ith Northern Han has not ceased, this servant cannot bear to have husband be away for so long It ying secretly entered the capital, requesting an audience with this servant, asking to take Head Maid Zhou as his wife This servant has long known of the deep affection between the two It is only that Head Maid Zhou’s naistry Merchant Hai frequently sails the high seas, and htly from profit, so this servant had so Merchant Hai’s sincerity, this servant has agreed The day before last, I asked for Mother E’s na for the end of the year Although the household affairs are handled by Supervisor Dong and Xiaoliuzi, the inner residence requires wo from within the palace to proh this is a special grace, this servant does not know husband’s intentions and so was not willing to per the letter, I sighed softly Changle was overthinking things, worried that the ee for someone by my side to monitor me In fact, the total number of household troops and servants in the princess’s residence numbered at least several hundred In addition, all of the a few spies would have been easy What need was there to e selected by the empress would definitely be capable and efficient She would definitely be able to relieve the heavy responsibilities on Changle’s shoulders Allowing her to stay could only be of benefit It did notthe princess’s residence I didn’t have anything that needed to be concealed or hidden Besides, fro of Concubine Sile as a capable assistant With this, there would definitely be some secrets that needed to be trans, ould have a more than suitable communications channel, which was exactly as needed

Picking up the brush, I wrote a response, having Changle preside over the wedding between Hai Zhongying and Head Maid Zhou In addition, I told her that we needed to accept the empress’s kind intentions I did notI did not want Changle to be bothered by matters of state The es In addition, I had no intention of going to the Hanzhong region What a joke! My reputation there was probably extre of Shu However, the Eion and in Sichuan However, I had not received any particular intelligence regarding those territories in recent days It seee