Tuoba Gangyou glared at Liu Fang fiercely. Liu Fang raised her hand slightly and made a waving gesture, which scared him so much that he immediately retracted his fierce gaze.
Liu Fang sneered and instructed Chen Fang to keep the letter and the ransom, then turned around and led her people back.
Before leaving, she turned her back to Tuoba Gangyou and said, “Tell your third prince that the prisoners who were taken away without paying the ransom still have the poison in their bodies. If he doesn’t want them to die, he should pay up obediently. Do you understand?”
Don’t think while they were paying the ransom,they were preparing to fight again. Liu Fang didn’t have the time to keep dealing with them endlessly!
Only then did Tuoba Gangyou understand why she had insisted on forcing him to ransom the prisoners according to the list when they were the capital. She had been waiting for this moment.
He quickly went to find Tuoba Yaoheng to discuss the matter. After hearing it, Tuoba Yaoheng closed his eyes and said, “Forget it, let’s go back. As long as they don’t use their internal energy, the poison won’t cause any harm.”
Those who resisted and escaped died from the poison because they used their internal energy.
Just like him, his third uncle, and his eldest brother, they had been staying quietly and on a daily basis, there was no sign at all that they had been poisoned with such a deadly toxin.
Moreover, when they were in the capital, he had sought pulse diagnosis from Zhen Kingdom Prince Yang, but even he couldn’t detect that he had been poisoned. This showed just how advanced Liu Fang’s poison skills had reached.
In response, Liu Fang said: That’s because she had already detoxified before all of you went to the capital. Otherwise, they would have already died from the poison while traveling day and night.
However, there was no need to tell Tuoba Yaoheng about this. Liu Fang thought it was fine to let him misunderstand.
At this point, the campaign in which the barbarians attacked the Western Border officially came to an end.
Liu Fang climbed up the city wall and looked at the departing barbarians, tears streaming down her face.
When Bi Yan saw it, she was startled and wanted to step forward to ask, but was stopped by Chen Fang.
“Let Miss have some peace and quiet.”
Biyan vaguely understood and stopped her actions, standing quietly to the side.
Chen Fang also stood quietly to the side, accompanying her.
Only he knew how much pain Miss had endured to carry out everything that followed.
In a short period of time, there was so much she had to do. So, she had no time to cry and grieve. Now, everything was finally settled.
She could finally cry, to her heart’s content!
What she needs now was not comfort, but quietness. As long as she could be left alone in peace, to release all the sorrow she had been bottling up for so long, that would be enough.
Liu Fang stood silently on the city wall, tears streaming down her face. By the time the sun set, her tears had frozen on her face, and only then did the sorrow in her heart begin to subside slightly.
Father, eldest brother, second eldest brother, can you see this? This time, we really won… thoroughly, completely won!
…………
Luo Zheng was waiting outside Liu Fang’s tent, and Lin Ya had already prepared hot water, waiting for her to return.
When Liu Fang saw them, her heart warmed. She smiled and said to Luo Zheng: “Very good. You did a great job!”
Luo Zheng did a really good job by capturing the 300,000-strong army, completely leaving the barbarian tribes without soldiers to use and with no support.
Luo Zheng’s eyes turned red, he smiled and said, “It’s because of Miss’s brilliant strategy that I was able to defeat them completely.”
Liu Fang nodded slightly and said to him, “Go ahead, there are still many things waiting for us.”
Luo Zheng and Chen Fang both bowed and said, “Yes, Miss.”
After watching the two of them leave, Liu Fang turned and looked at Lin Ya.
Lin Ya’s eyes were red, she smiled and said to Liu Fang, “Miss, go wash up first. We’ll have a meal later. This time, we’ve also made lamb soup.”
Liu Fang smiled, Un, okay.”
It’s great that all of this was finally over!
…………
In the following years, Western Frontier ushered in unprecedented changes.
The military strength grew stronger year by year, under Liu Fang’s hard work and dedication, the people’s lives finally began to improve. The grain production gradually increased, and some by-products were also developed.
For example, natural firewood could be made into charcoal. Not only did it produce no smoke, but it also burned slowly and had strong firepower. It was highly favored by the Crown Prince of Cheng Kingdom, Jin Manshan.
That’s right, Liu Fang allied with Jin Manshan, Princess Zhaoyang and Ximen Linghan of Qu Kingdom.
One helped her send goods from the Western Border to be sold and exchanged them for anything she wanted. Another became a military doctor in Western Border, assisting Liu Fang in teaching more people to become doctors and save the lives of injured soldiers. The last one worked with Guo Wei outside, searching for orphans and bringing them to the Western Border to increase the manpower of Western Border.
That’s right, Liu Fang finally left Guo Wei and Hong Zang in the capital. The intention was for one to gather information from various places, while also looking for suitable orphans to send to the Western Border. The other was tasked with managing her properties and estates in the capital, as well as keeping an eye on the movements within the city.
In addition, the commanding officers of the main city, Hui Cheng, and the two deputy commanders of Liang Cheng gradually began to privately associate with Liu Fang, sharing resources with each other, whether it was armaments or various pieces of information.
On the surface, these three people submitted memorials to Emperor Yanqing every day, accusing Liu Fang of being tyrannical and overbearing. In reality, they were all like Liu Fang, trying to deceive everyone around them. Quietly amassing wealth, strengthening the military power of the Western Border, and improving the lives of the people there.
Emperor Yanqing, who was far away in the capital, had no idea that right under his nose, the entire Dayan Kingdom and the imperial court were undergoing subtle yet significant changes.
He still believed that he was the supreme emperor, revered and obeyed by all the people.
Liu Fang no longer needed to worry about the Dayan Kingdom. The barbarians had been very obedient in recent years. The ransom was paid every year without any delay.
Naturally, Liu Fang had also given them the antidote they needed.
However, there was still one person that everyone had probably almost forgotten, and that was Liu Zhi.
When Liu Zhi heard Liu Fang’s intention to kill her, she was cowardly and afraid of death, so she ran away.
This was something Liu Fang had long anticipated, so she had deliberately scared her, making her run away on her own.
Her purpose was actually to let the barbarians capture her. In fact, this was just a bait she had deliberately set. A sister whose actions resembled treason, by the enemy and used as leverage to threaten her, and then she righteously killed her in the name of justice. Didn’t it all seem perfectly logical?
Even if Liu Zhi was not killed later, Liu Fang’s reputation, as well as the Liu family’s reputation would not be tarnished because of Liu Zhi. They would still be deeply respected by the people of Dayan Kingdom.
It was precisely because Liu Fang had such a sister in the enemy’s country that her own background seemed even more tragic, it aroused sympathy.
Sometimes, the more weaknesses a person had, the more sympathy and pity others would have for her.
Liu Fang had deliberately let Liu Zhi go for this very reason.
Of course, the most important point was that Liu Zhi was quite full of herself. And since she was Liu Fang’s sister, even though the barbarian tribe might have felt she wasn’t of much value, they still didn’t dare to kill her outright.
On the contrary, the smarter people, the more they wanted to use Liu Zhi.
Tuoba Yaoheng was just like that.
He even married Liu Zhi as his concubine, and Liu Zhi agreed to it. This made Liu Fang speechless. This eldest sister must have read too many time-travel novels. How could she so easily forget her nation’s grievances and her family’s hatred, marrying the very person who killed her father? It was truly ridiculous.
As for how she knew?
Haha, it was very simple!
The most trusted personal maid by Liu Zhi’s side was actually Liu Fang’s person.
This was also the most important reason why Liu Fang let her go. The aura of a time-traveling woman has always been quite powerful, and she wanted to see if that was truly the case.
As it turned out, it was indeed the case.
After Liu Zhi went to the Barbarian Tribe, she used her portable space to do many incredible things, which caught Tuo Ba Yaoheng’s attention. He then took her as a concubine and was even willing to let her keep the maid she had saved as her personal attendant.
This was exactly what Liu Fang wanted. The maid was sent specially so that she could stay by Liu Zhi’s side, becoming the person closest to Tuoba Yaoheng and the top nobles of the barbarian tribe.
Then, she would relay information back at any time.
…………
When news came from the capital that Emperor Yanqing was seriously ill, Liu Fang was harvesting rice before the winter in the military fields.
Liu Feng was already thirteen years old and looked very similar to his father Liu Kuan. Under Liu Fang’s guidance over the years, he had grown very quickly. Now he had begun to take over Chen Fang’s position and worked beside Liu Fang.
“Aunt, there’s news from the capital!”
Liu Fang stood up, put down the harvested rice, and walked over with a sickle in her hand. She took the bamboo tube from him with one hand and handed him the sickle with the other hand, while asking, “Have you completed today’s tasks?”
Liu Feng bowed and said, “have already completed it, Aunt.”
After saying that, he flashed a flattering smile at Liu Fang.
As soon as Liu Fang saw him like this, she knew that he had gone out to make trouble again, “Did you go with Cheng Huo this time?”
Liu Feng awkwardly scratched his head, “Aunt…”
Liu Fang rolled her eyes and said unhappily, “Suit yourself. Anyway, if you’re eager to go court death, so be it. Humph!”
Liu Feng was startled by her words and quickly bowed, saying, “Aunt, I would never dare have such intentions! It’s just that those barbarians are truly despicable. After all these years, they still show no restraint or learn their lesson…”
Liu Fang calmly interrupted him, “Barbarians have always been like this. Over the years, they’ve sacrificed more, their lives have become harder, so they’ve become even more reckless. Are you planning to throw your life away too?”
Year after year, they have to pay ransom. Although the barbarian tribes dared not default on the payments, it’s clear that it’s quite difficult. One could say that the common people at the bottom have been squeezed dry by the noble and can no longer survive.
These barbarians finally came in groups of three or five to plunder Dayan Kingdom or Ling Kingdom. Liu Fang would basically capture them all, lock them up, give them medicine, and force them to open up wasteland and farm. She would capture whoever came.
But this did not solve the fact that the barbarians continue to cause trouble.
Liu Fang was also aware that after seven years, the barbarians had regained their strength and were ready to cause trouble again.
However, the Western Border was no longer what it used to be. Over the years, the ransom paid by the barbarians had been withheld by her and used as military funding for the Western Border.
Although Emperor Yanqing was frustrated, Liu Fang’s prestige had not diminished over the years, and the reasons she provided were sufficient. As an emperor, he couldn’t seize the ransom by force.
Most importantly, over the years, Liu Fang had sent people to deliver supplies to various places in the Dayan Kingdom for disaster relief. The common people all know that Grand Princess Ronning had used the barbarian ransom for the benefit of the people, with every penny spent on helping them. Naturally, they supported her, and Emperor Yanqing had no way to deal with it.
He could only watch Liu Fang openly keep the enormous ransom, using it to develop Western Border.
Now that Emperor Yanqing was seriously ill, the barbarians must have learned about it and would definitely take this opportunity to cause trouble.
Liu Fang ignored Liu Feng who was standing aside with an embarrassed expression. She opened the bamboo tube, took out the note and read it. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Feng’er, since you want to do it, this time, I’ll let you. But you have to remember: if you fail, it won’t just be your life at stake, but the lives of all the people in the Western Frontier. Do you understand?”
Liu Feng’s face lit up with joy. He solemnly bowed and said, “Aunt, you can rest assured. Feng’er will never fail your trust. I will definitely defend the entire Western Border!”
“Un, very good. Go ahead, gather everyone, and let’s prepare the arrangements for what comes next.”
“Yes, aunt!”
