Demoness, where are you Fleeing to? -
Chapter 871 - 723
Chapter 871: 723
The Jiang Medical Hall, Li Xuan looked at the white-clad woman sitting with her eyes closed: "How are you feeling now?"
He deliberately kept a distance of three zhang from her, only because the disciples of the Jiang Yunqi were watching closely nearby.
There was also an adopted daughter of Lady Jiang, Dugu Biluo, who was scrutinizing him with evaluative eyes from head to toe.
Li Xuan felt his dignity had been greatly insulted, thinking to himself, was he the sort of shameless lecher who only had eyes for women?
However, Shaosiming was in a state of grave injury at the moment, with a poor complexion, which added an extra fragile beauty to her.
Her beauty was by no means inferior to Hanyun’s or the Nine-Tailed Fox’s.
Had it been two years prior, before Li Xuan had mastered the energy of Hao Qi, he would have inevitably lost his composure at the first sight of Shaosiming.
"Thank you for your concern, County Prince, I am doing well now," she replied.
When the white-clothed woman answered, her brows furrowed imperceptibly.
In reality, the situation was dire. Although Jiang Yunqi had removed some of Wuyi from her, the condition inside her body was still very complicated.
The white-clad woman quickly gathered her thoughts and bowed deeply to Li Xuan: "Thank you, County Prince, for sparing me from death. I dare not express enough gratitude for saving my life; I can only wait for the opportunity to repay you."
"You don’t need to thank me for this, you should thank my father-in-law’s marvellous revival."
Li Xuan waved his hand with a smile, then his expression turned serious: "Your identity must be the Shaosiming of the Jinque Palace, and are you also the Taiwei Palace Master Yuan Taiwei? Could Shaosiming please tell me, what exactly happened to the Jinque Heaven Palace a few months ago?"
Yuan Taiwei, however, remained silent, her eyes filled with both sorrow and hatred.
Her aura was icy and desolate.
Just by looking at Yuan Taiwei’s expression, Li Xuan knew she was resistant to his questions.
He instead stepped back and asked, "Shaosiming, I heard that the ’Nine-square Divine Array of the Large Circle’ of the Jinque Palace was under your joint command with Dasiming? And there’s also the Book of Jinque—"
"Is the County Prince curious about my current influence and authority in the Heaven Palace?" Yuan Taiwei shook her head, interrupting Li Xuan, "I fear I might disappoint you, County Prince. Although I still hold the ’Immortal Slashing Order,’ Dasiming will definitely have altered the composition of the divine array. Moreover, the key lies with the people; without those dozens of heavenly levels, the Jinque Palace is nothing.
Dasiming is ruthless and unfeeling. When she made her move during the conference of the Nine Palaces, only a small number of my followers were lucky enough to escape. Now inside the palace, almost all are her supporters, with the remaining neutrals posing no threat. Even though I have the ’seal script’ of the Book of Jinque, what can I do?"
She sighed deeply after saying this, "If I could access the original Book of Jinque, I might be able to strip Dasiming and her faction of their seals, and impose punishment on them. But how could Dasiming not guard against such a possibility? Right now, I can’t do anything."
Li Xuan appeared contemplative and, after a moment, he inquired further, "So, what are Shaosiming’s plans for the future? Please don’t misunderstand, my intention is to persuade you to recuperate here at the Jiangnan Medical Hall for a while longer, to heal your injuries first.
If you need any Spirit Pills or miraculous medicines, I can provide them as well. Haste makes waste, and whatever you plan to do next, Shaosiming, you should first recover from your injuries."
His thought was that the enemy of his enemy was his friend.
Given the current stance of the Jinque Heaven Palace, Yuan Taiwei wouldn’t be able to reconcile with Dasiming at all.
If this ’half-extreme heaven’ was willing to oppose the Jinque Heaven Palace, why would he spare the expense of a few elixirs?
"I understand," Yuan Taiwei said, her expression noncommittal, "I would like to know the current situation of the Heaven Gap."
"The Heaven Gap?" Li Xuan frowned slightly, "That matter has been taken over by the Liudao Division, Shaosiming need not worry."
In fact, the situation was not good, because the number of heavenly levels in the Liudao Division was too scarce.
The battle at Tumu Fort dealt a huge blow to the Liudao Division, not just at the level of heavenly levels, but a large number of the middle-generation talents perished during the tumults caused by demons before and after Tumu Fort, creating a significant gap in their talent system.
In the last fifteen years, the Liudao Division had only Zhu Mingyue and Qiu Qianqiu successfully promoted. The rest of the heavenly levels were all ’borrowed’ from the external Taoism and Buddhism.
Li Xuan, on the other hand, had a powerful force at his disposal. However, he was currently in full opposition to the Jinque Heaven Palace and didn’t have much spare capacity to assist the Liudao Division.
"Yet ultimately, this is the responsibility of my Jinque Heaven Palace," Yuan Taiwei pondered briefly. "County Prince, although I am gravely injured, I can still handle the ’Heaven Gap’ near north Zhili. Could the County Prince lend me the duplicate of the Book of Jinque in your possession?"
Li Xuan hesitated at this request but, after weighing the options, he agreed.
The duplicate of the Book of Jinque was of no use to him; Li Xuan had thoroughly studied it and knew that he couldn’t control it or melt it down for his own use.
He had long intended to return it to Yuan Taiwei, having previously promised the Lord of Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua, to return the item to Heaven Palace after a trial period of three months with the Gelong Knife.
Strictly speaking, he had already broken his promise.
Now, by giving the duplicate of the Book of Jinque to Yuan Taiwei, he was fulfilling his pledge.
Moreover, Yuan Taiwei still held the ’Immortal Slashing Order,’ a fake divine treasure in her hands. Its divine might far surpassed that of the duplicate of the Book of Jinque.
If Shaosiming intended to be his enemy, the duplicate of the ’Book of Jinque’ would be merely a nice addition.
Seeing that Yuan Taiwei now appeared somewhat weary, Li Xuan tactfully stood up to take his leave.
He had countless things to do every day and had no time to engage in idle chat with Yuan Taiwei.
Apart from military and political affairs, Li Xuan now also had to consider both Xue Yunrou and Luo Yan, who were taking care of their babies.
He could say that today was a rare moment he could spare in his busy schedule to visit and comfort.
Just as Li Xuan left the Jiangnan Medical Hall, his expression changed subtly, and his gaze, meaningful and indistinct, turned to his back.
It was Dongfang Liang, quietly entering Shaosiming’s room.
Li Xuan felt no surprise; Dongfang Liang, that two-faced guy, had always harbored aspirations towards the Heaven Palace.
In the past, Dongfang Liang had no other option, but now with Shaosiming as an alternative, it would be odd if Dongfang Liang weren’t eager to align himself with that option.
Was this guy mostly dreaming of assisting Shaosiming to restore order and return to glory at the Heaven Palace?
However, Li Xuan subsequently withdrew his gaze and left the medical hall without concern.
His attendant waiting outside had prepared an Earth Dragon for him to ride.
Li Xuan looked at this mount, his expression slightly unusual.
He instinctively thought of Meng Qingfan again; his Jade Qilin was adrift, and he wondered how she was faring now?
Couldn’t that bastard Xuanchenzi understand the implications and send him more talisman papers with updates?
In the sickroom of Yuan Taiwei at that moment, Yuan Taiwei was holding her forehead, utterly speechless as she looked at Dongfang Liang.
Dongfang Liang appeared somewhat crestfallen and, puzzled, asked, "Palace Master, may I know where I have erred?"
Yuan Taiwei thought to herself that there were plenty of things amiss with him. Even if one yearned for the Heaven Palace, was there a need to be so obvious about it?
How would this make Li Xuan view her?
They needed to rely on others for a significant period in the future; how could they be so reckless?
"It’s nothing serious." She shook her head and then inquired, "How has County Prince Fenyang been treating you recently?"
"It’s been alright, I suppose. I haven’t lacked salary, silver coins, or elixirs," Dongfang Liang thought carefully before adding, "The guy is relatively fair in his dealings, although recently he has been busy, assigning me with quite a few tasks. Even though there’s a reward for each, I hardly have time to cultivate."
Yuan Taiwei surmised that this was as it should be; if Dongfang Liang harbored intentions of betrayal, Li Xuan would naturally keep him busy.
She heaved a silent sigh, but outwardly she nodded indifferently, "You must do your best with the tasks County Prince Fenyang assigns to you, and not let down the salary and protective kindness he has shown."
Her tone then shifted as she looked outside the window, "What about your junior sister, Meng Qingfan? She should be at the County Prince’s Mansion, serving as Li Xuan’s mount, right? Have her come see me."
Yuan Taiwei thought to herself that these two siblings, one more foolish and peculiar than the other, were an utter disgrace to the Jinque Palace.
If it weren’t for the fact that she had few people at her disposal, she really wouldn’t want to deal with these two at all.
Dongfang Liang’s expression, however, became odd: "My junior sister? She has run away from home; I don’t know where she is."
※※※※
After leaving the medical hall, Li Xuan went to a military camp outside the city.
Just a few days prior, Shenji Camp had completed the expansion of its troops.
The original Shenji right and left camp had been split and six new battalion camps had been established, bringing the total number of soldiers close to 130,000.
Among them, 20,000 were categorized as ’auxiliary army.’
This did not violate the last decree of the Jingtai Emperor. However, these auxiliary forces needed only to pick up their guns to exhibit powerful combat strength on the battlefield.
All the guns and cannons manufactured by the Shenqi Union had also been delivered successively, and the original 40,000 guns had been refurbished, with their lifespan extended to 700 rounds.
Li Xuan, within several months, had not only quelled the rebellions of Prince Ning and Prince Xiang without significant expense but had even earned a considerable profit for the Court. With the generous donation from Shaofu Yu Jie, the Ministry of Revenue readily paid the full outstanding amount without installment payments, as initially anticipated.
In addition, Li Xuan struck another deal with the Shenqi Union, collecting the well-conditioned runed firelock guns from the military and handing them over to the Shenqi Union for modification.
They were to fit rifling to the barrels without damaging the runes engraved in the gun bodies and convert them to breach loading where possible.
Li Xuan estimated this could result in 170,000 improved muskets for the army of Weisuo.
Though their effective range was only 200 paces, half that of the runed flintlock guns, it could nonetheless significantly enhance the combat capability of the frontline Weisuo army.
However, their lifespan was extremely short, lasting less than 300 rounds.
By this time, numerous Qingliu factions within and outside the Court had come to know of his relationship with the Shenqi Union and continued to submit impeachments against him.
Li Xuan, however, paid them no heed. His situation was now akin to that of Yu Jie’s, with over a hundred petitions arriving daily at the Tongzheng Division, making him immune to the sensation like a person no longer itches with too many fleas.
The regent minister and the Ministry of War had nothing to say. They were not ignorant of the relationship between Shenqi Union’s Lady Leng Yurou and Li Xuan, nor did they lack the desire to divert the order elsewhere.
The problem was that neither the Junqi Bureau of the Ministry of War nor the Inner Weapon Staff Bureau of the Neiguan Bureau could manage to reduce the cost of the ’runed rifled flintlock gun’ to below 1300 silver taels.
The price from the Shenqi Union, however, was a mere 600 taels.
Li Xuan had always taken the affairs of Shenji Camp very seriously. It was not only his confidence in future battles against the Yexian of Shiwei and even sweeping the plains but also the cornerstone upon which the power of the Jin Dynasty was stabilized.
Therefore, he seldom entrusted the affairs of Shenji Camp to others.
Even during the busyness of late winter politics, Li Xuan regularly made time to participate personally in the training matters of Shenji Camp.
He stayed in Shenji Camp for several hours, not leaving until dusk approached, and then he hurriedly mounted his horse to visit one of the Shenqi Union’s workshops outside the city.
This was because their second Yunzhong warship had been repaired and completed the previous day.
There was also another personal order he had placed with the Shenqi Union—in total, five Yunzhong warships were set to be constructed, with their dragon keels to be laid down that day.
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