Chapter 1077: Losing Both Wife and Army

Hearing his words, Lu Guanying’s face flushed crimson. He wanted to retort, but the sound of Cheng Yaojia’s sobbing voice from next door last night suddenly echoed in his ears, and he lost all confidence.

Besides, the battle was with his wife. No matter who won or lost in the end, he would be the biggest loser.

Seeing him standing there dejectedly, Song Qingshu took Cheng Yaojia’s hand and led her outside.

Cheng Yaojia trembled, her face showing hesitation, but she quickly let him lead her away.

“Where are we going now?” Once outside the Daotai Yamen, Cheng Yaojia’s mood suddenly relaxed, and she couldn’t help but ask the man holding her hand.

“To see someone.” Song Qingshu smiled mysteriously, and then, no matter how many times she asked, he remained silent.

It wasn’t until they arrived at a secluded courtyard and saw the man sitting calmly on the platform that Cheng Yaojia realized she had been summoned to meet Li Kexiu, the de facto ruler of Yangzhou.

“Could it be that Li Kexiu has secretly sided with the Golden Serpent Camp?”

Cheng Yaojia was secretly surprised. Having been part of the Southern Song delegation, she had met Li Kexiu once and naturally recognized him. Furthermore, through her experience within the delegation, she had some understanding of the current situation in Yangzhou.

Previously, neither the Southern Song nor the Mongols considered the Golden Serpent Camp a threat. After all, Li Kexiu controlled roughly the same territory in the Jianghuai region as the Golden Serpent Camp, and commanded 100,000 Green Standard Army soldiers. In fact, his strength was slightly greater than the Golden Serpent Camp’s. Therefore, everyone subconsciously felt that he would never side with the Golden Serpent Camp. But seeing the current situation…

Cheng Yaojia suddenly sighed. What did all this have to do with her now? Her relationship with her husband was already like that.

Not only was Cheng Yaojia surprised, but Li Kexiu was also taken aback. Cheng Yaojia recognized him, so how could he not recognize her? He vaguely remembered her as a member of the Southern Song delegation; how could he not be surprised?

The situation in Yangzhou was delicate. Seeing the Southern Song delegation mingling with Song Qingshu, he couldn’t help but make more connections.

Noticing his shocked gaze, Song Qingshu smiled slightly: “Uncle Li, don’t worry, she’s one of my people.” He had deliberately brought Cheng Yaojia here precisely to achieve this purpose.

Hearing Song Qingshu say she was one of his people, Cheng Yaojia blushed, unsure of her feelings. After all, she was the daughter-in-law of the Lu family, a fact that Li Kexiu knew.

Li Kexiu nodded slightly, no longer dwelling on Cheng Yaojia’s matter, and turned her attention back to Song Qingshu: “Nephew Song, why did you ask me to come out so soon?”

Song Qingshu smiled slightly: “Didn’t I tell Uncle Li about that… we should see the results today.”

“So soon?” Li Kexiu frowned, his face filled with disbelief. After all, he had only been perfunctory before, because he didn’t believe Song Qingshu could influence the Jin and Qing high-ranking officials at all. Li Kexiu, still somewhat skeptical, called over a subordinate and asked, then said rather impatiently, “Nephew, are you here to make fun of us? The envoys from Jin and Qing are clearly still in the Daotai’s office.”

Song Qingshu took a sip of tea and said calmly, “Uncle Li, why the rush? How about we play a game of chess first?”

Seeing his confident demeanor, Li Kexiu began to waver in her initial assessment. After a moment’s hesitation, she smiled and said, “Alright, let’s play a game.”

A subordinate quickly set up the chessboard, and the two began to play.

Cheng Yaojia, who had initially felt very awkward and restrained, almost burst out laughing after watching the two play for a while. Their initially serious and methodical approach had led her to believe they were both chess masters, but after watching for a while, Cheng Yaojia realized that Song Qingshu’s chess skills were probably even inferior to her own.

During this time, in her mind, Song Qingshu was a high and mighty figure, someone who toyed with her like an ant. Only now did Cheng Yaojia realize he was just an ordinary person, and she suddenly felt much closer to him.

Fortunately, Li Kexiu was also a terrible chess player. The two were truly evenly matched, a battle of equals, a fierce and chaotic contest.

“Hahaha, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this good.” Although Li Kexiu was known as a scholar-general, his true abilities lay in the military. While he wasn’t completely ignorant of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, his skill was quite limited. In the past, when playing chess, he was either utterly defeated or others deliberately let him win out of fear of his power. Never before had he felt so exhilarated, and suddenly he found Song Qingshu increasingly pleasing to the eye.

After an unknown amount of time, one of Li Kexiu’s subordinates ran up to him and whispered something in his ear, startling him so much that he stood up abruptly: “Are you sure you saw it clearly?”

The subordinate nodded, saying with certainty, “The Qing delegation left the headquarters not long ago. I followed them all the way and saw them leave the city gate.”

Li Kexiu glanced at Song Qingshu, seeing his composed expression, and immediately felt that he was unfathomable. Thinking of something else, he quickly turned to his subordinate and asked, “What about the Jin envoy?”

“There’s been no movement from the Jin delegation. Seeing that the Qing delegation had left, we secretly had the officials in the Daotai’s office investigate. They found that the Jin delegation had already vanished. They seemed to have left in a great hurry. There was a man left in the courtyard, cursing Tang Kuo Bian…” the man replied.

“What?” Cheng Yaojia looked at Song Qingshu in surprise. She had no idea that the Jin delegation would be leaving today. Judging from their description, the one who had been cursing Tang Kuo Bian must have been her husband, Lu Guanying.

Song Qingshu quietly patted Cheng Yaojia’s hand and whispered, “I’ll explain later.” This was indeed his arrangement. Zhang Hongfan had already been secretly moved out, waiting for the father of the Loyal Army to come and pay the huge ransom. His subordinates had also been secretly notified. Once he and Cheng Yaojia left, everyone would quietly depart, and by the time Lu Guanying realized what was happening, everyone would be gone.

Cheng Yaojia was naturally gentle, so hearing his words, she could only suppress her questions and stand silently to the side.

“Nephew, you’ve really impressed me today,” Li Kexiu said, giving him a complicated look.

Song Qingshu smiled slightly, “You flatter me. As long as Uncle Li remembers his promise, that’s fine.”

Hearing him mention this, Li Kexiu’s expression changed slightly, but he quickly recovered and said with a smile, “Of course.” Then he paused, gave Cheng Yaojia a meaningful look, and said to Song Qingshu, “However, there’s something I’d like to trouble you with, my dear nephew…” He stopped there.

Song Qingshu knew what he meant; he was probably still concerned about Cheng Yaojia’s status as a member of the Southern Song delegation, and also didn’t want her to know too many secrets. So he said to her, “Yaojia, you wait for me outside.”

Cheng Yaojia was already preoccupied with her husband’s affairs, and besides, she had no interest in these national matters. Hearing this, she nodded and withdrew without any objection.

Watching her figure disappear through the doorway, Li Kexiu looked at him with amusement: “Nephew, you are indeed incredibly resourceful. Not only can you influence the political situations of the Jin and Qing dynasties, but now you even have people in the Southern Song delegation.”

Song Qingshu was pleased with his misunderstanding and didn’t explain, simply smiling: “I wonder what’s troubling Uncle Li.”

“It’s like this,” Li Kexiu paused, as if considering how to phrase it, “I can bring the Jianghuai region to join the Golden Serpent Camp, but what will I get in return?”

“A hereditary, perpetual title of Iron-Cap Prince,” Song Qingshu answered decisively, “If the world is unified in the future, your Li family will enjoy the glory of the empire for generations.”

Li Kexiu immediately gasped; this promise was indeed grand. Due to historical reasons, Han Chinese empires rarely granted princely titles to non-Han men. The Southern Song was slightly better in this regard, but the title of prince was merely an honor, without any real power.

In contrast, the Qing Dynasty was far more generous in this regard, bestowing various princely titles as if they were free upon surrendered warlords. This incentivized the warlords, who fought valiantly for the Qing, allowing them to quickly conquer the Ming Dynasty with their base of tens of thousands of Eight Banner soldiers.

However, even in their generosity, the Qing Dynasty only granted ordinary princely titles. There were only eight “Iron-Cap Princes,” all sons and nephews of Nurhaci, who had made unparalleled contributions in the wars to unify the country.

The reason Iron-Cap Princes were so rare was that most titles were either lifelong, revoked by the court upon the holder’s death, or inheritable, but with each succession reducing the rank to the lowest level. Iron-Cap Princes, however, had one unique characteristic—they were hereditary! No matter how many generations passed, the title remained unchanged.

Having come from a later era, Song Qingshu naturally absorbed the lessons of past dynasties. Therefore, he was extremely generous from the outset. Even if problems arose later, he could emulate the Qing Dynasty’s methods of dealing with surrendered warlords once the situation was settled.

Although Song Qingshu’s promises seemed like empty promises, they still greatly tempted Li Kexiu. He knew he could never obtain a hereditary princely title, whether in the Qing, the Mongols, or the Southern Song.

“Nephew, you are indeed generous,” Li Kexiu remarked, “but I need another promise.”

“Please speak!” Song Qingshu’s expression turned serious.

“Your future empress position must be given to Yuanzhi,” Li Kexiu said solemnly. If his daughter became empress, his grandson would become crown prince, meaning the Li family would own half the empire. For such a great benefit, he was willing to take such a great risk, abandoning the Mongols and the Southern Song, and choosing the weakest of the three, the Golden Serpent Camp.

Song Qingshu raised an eyebrow, and finally said slowly, “Everyone in the world knows I already have a wife, Zhou Zhiruo, the leader of the Emei Sect. Furthermore, we have a very good relationship, so the Empress’s position should rightfully belong to her. I don’t want to lie to Uncle Li, but I can promise that the position of Imperial Concubine will definitely be your daughter’s.”

“Isn’t an Imperial Concubine just a concubine in the end?” Li Kexiu sneered. “Nephew, you should think this through. How many people are there in the Emei Sect? What can they do for you? How can they compare to my 100,000 Green Standard Army soldiers?”