Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 110

Liu Neng was directly demoted, tightly restrained, and awaited transportation back to the capital for the Emperor’s decision. Although Liu Neng felt resentful, the fact that the token was lost from his hand, and Gu Ren was someone close to him cannot be denied. The entire army knew that they were close.

It was almost impossible for him to avoid being implicated. Moreover, with Yan Cai wielding the Shang Fang Sword given by the Emperor, it wouldn’t be impossible to have his head now if so desired.

However, Yan Cai didn’t want that. He decided to bring Liu Neng back to the capital and let the Emperor decide his fate.

The morale in the army was somewhat low, without food, it was difficult for the army to sustain itself. In such a situation, victory on the battlefield couldn’t be relied upon; efforts had to be made behind the scenes.

Jiang Manyue and Yan Cai put on Beirong people’s clothes and prepared to sneak into Beirong. Accompanying them was Chen Nan. Qingke was left in the camp, under the care of Zhu Hua, and all the guards bestowed by the Emperor were left to guard him.

They couldn’t bring their son along, so they had no choice but to choose this method. Unable to take their son with them, Qingke, who was usually precocious, cried until he became hoarse and fell asleep exhausted. It was only then that the two could seize the opportunity to leave.

They hoped that when he woke up, he wouldn’t cry again because he didn’t see them.

To avoid drawing too much attention, they didn’t bring too many people. All three of them were lightly armed. Chen Nan had been stationed in the Northern Desert for a long time and had learned some Beirong dialect, speaking quite fluently.

Chen Nan originally thought that he would be the only one who could speak the language of Beirong, prepared to act as a guide and help with translation. Unexpectedly, Jiang Manyue could also speak Beirong dialect, and spoke very fluently.

Chen Nan was surprised and said happily: “So Brother Jiang can speak the language of Beirong, which makes it much easier. When we arrive in Beirong, we can blend in better.”

Yan Cai turned his back, but he couldn’t speak it. Would he have to pretend to be mute then?

“Many people in Beirong can speak the Chen Dynasty’s language, so there’s no need to worry, Your Highness.”

Seeing his worry, Chen Nan continued, “Originally, when the situation between Beirong and the Chen Dynasty wasn’t so urgent, there were many marriages between the people of Beirong and the people of the Chen Dynasty. Therefore, the border people of the Chen Dynasty could speak Beirong dialect, and the people of Beirong could speak Chen Dynasty language. It’s just that in recent years, as the relationship between the two countries has become increasingly tense, these connections have gradually been severed.”

With this explanation, Yan Cai felt somewhat relieved. Jiang Manyue comforted him, “I’ll teach you a few simple phrases of Beirong dialect. In non-essential situations, I’ll handle the communication.”

Yan Cai nodded, that was all he could do.

Chen Nan was a little curious about how Jiang Manyue knew the language of Beirong, so he asked straightforwardly.

“I’ve learned it before.” Jiang Manyue replied casually, brushing it off, but it still left Chen Nan with some doubts.

The three of them forged Beirong’s identification documents, a thin piece of paper with a big seal, containing names, addresses, and so on. Originally, the inspections weren’t so strict, and even the people of both countries could often engage in trade with each other.

But now, the situation was extremely stringent, with several Beirong soldiers stationed at the city gate, inspecting each person one by one, not allowing any suspicious individuals to enter.

The three of them pretended to be brothers, pushing a cart as they entered.

The guards stopped them. “Halt, show your identification.”

Chen Nan pretended to be an honest person and respectfully handed their identifications to the guards. The guards took a few glances at it, then frowned as they looked at the three of them.

“Oh? Three brothers? Why don’t you three look alike?”

Chen Nan replied in Beirong dialect, “My mother didn’t eat anything good when she gave birth to me, ate too many black beans, so I turned dark. My two younger brothers are fairer. Look, don’t we resemble each other? My two brothers both resemble my mother. My mother was beautiful, so she caught my father’s eye – oh, my mother was originally from Chen.”

“Your mother was from the Chen Dynasty? No wonder you don’t look alike.” The guard didn’t care much about this; there were many examples of intermarriage between the people of Beirong and the people of Chen, so it wasn’t surprising. There were even relatives in his own family who had married women from the Chen Dynasty.

The guard stroked his chin, smirked lewdly, and said, “Miss, the women from the Chen dynasty are indeed more attractive, with fairer skin. Even these two big men, if they have a mother from the Chen dynasty, their skin would be much fairer.”

The guard’s lecherous smile made Yan Cai shiver with disgust for a moment. The guard’s eyes were sharp, and he immediately noticed it. His expression suddenly became much fiercer.

“What are you looking at? Not satisfied, huh!? What’s on the cart!?”

He swung his big knife forward, but Jiang Manyue quickly pressed it down. “Brother, no need to be so irritable.”

The guard withdrew his knife, coldly chuckled twice. They even dared to press down on his knife. These foolish commoners.

Chen Nan’s forehead dripped with sweat. Don’t cause trouble! What’s up with the Tanghua today? being so irritable? Just endure it, it’ll pass. The guard couldn’t possibly really stab someone.

Originally, it was him who was usually impatient, but today the Tanghua seemed even more agitated than he was.

Although he couldn’t understand what the people were chattering about, Yan Cai knew why Jiang Manyue was so agitated. It was because the guard’s knife was pointed right at him. Since his ability suddenly disappeared, although Jiang Manyue didn’t say anything, it was evident that compared to before, he was much more cautious than before.

Jiang Manyue was worried about him. Yan Cai patted him on the back from behind, telling him that he was fine. Jiang Manyue’s tense back relaxed a bit, and the fierce expression on his face softened.

“I’m sorry, two sirs. We’re just farmers from the outskirts, coming to sell some vegetables to make a living.” Jiang Manyue’s face returned to a calm expression, lifting the canvas covering the cart to reveal the wilted vegetables inside. “Times are tough now, and our family can barely make ends meet.”

The guard paused for a moment, feeling that Jiang Manyue seemed quite sincere and respectful now. Perhaps he had misunderstood earlier, and the fierce expression on his face might have been a mistake.

Probably so. Who wouldn’t want to live and dare to touch the official’s things? In this place, he is the law. No matter who passes by, they have to listen to him.

However, he still held some grudge, feeling offended by the ignorant commoners. He didn’t want to easily let them leave like this.

“The identification is fine, but…” The guard smirked, gesturing with his finger, implying something.

Although Yan Cai couldn’t understand, he could tell that this guy was asking for money. The gesture of asking for money clearly implied a stance of ‘this road was built by me, this tree was planted by me, if you want to pass through, leave some money’.

He really didn’t want to give them any. However, he couldn’t afford to offend these people just because he was angry.

Jiang Manyue’s acting skills came in handy at the critical moment. He hesitantly took out a patchy cloth bag from his pocket, shaking his hand as he reluctantly opened it. He fumbled inside and took out a few coins, then put them back in his pocket. He looked extremely reluctant, hesitating for a long time before begrudgingly handing over a few copper coins. The guard couldn’t wait any longer and snatched it from Jiang Manyue’s hand.

“Hand it over—Tch, just this little? You pauper.” The guard sneered, looking down on Jiang Manyue’s apparent reluctance. He thought there might be more silver inside, but it turned out there were only a few copper coins in total. No wonder they could only sell such vegetables.

Whether they could sell them was still a question.

The guard spat and cursed. The curse was spoken in the language of the Chen Dynasty. Yan Cai was taken aback and pushed in by Jiang Manyue.

Chen Nan pushed the cart ahead, while Jiang Manyue and Yan Cai followed behind. As they departed, Yan Cai caught a glimpse of the cold smirk on Jiang Manyue’s face, suddenly realizing something and swiftly turned back.

They were getting further and further away from the city gate and he could not see clearly what was going on over there. Yan Cai suspected that there was more than just money hidden in the bag, but at this point, he had no way of finding out.

Following the crowd through several twists and turns, they arrived at an empty alley. Once inside the city, Yan Cai noticed that the streets and alleys of Beirong were surprisingly similar to those of Chen Dynasty.

Seeing Yan Cai’s curiosity, Jiang Manyue explained, “Beirong originally learned everything from Chen Dynasty, so it’s normal to see many similarities. That’s why many Beirong people can speak a bit of Chen Dynasty dialect.”

The latter half of the sentence was an explanation for Yan Cai regarding the guard’s use of Chen dialect curse word.

“No wonder,” Yan Cai breathed a sigh of relief. This indicated that if necessary, he could still speak communicate using the Chen Dynasty language.

Chen Nan crouched under the cart and retrieved the luggage tied underneath. As for the cart, they planned to abandon it there.

“Now what?” Yan Cai asked.

Jiang Manyue analyzed, “We need to create chaos within Beirong itself. The breakthrough point is the King of Beirong. He ascended to the throne only a few years ago. He has a rash and aggressive personality, and extremely vengeful, showing no tolerance towards others.”

“Coincidentally, his relationship with Zhuogu Xierli is extremely tense. Xierli also has a claim to the throne and enjoys a good reputation among the people of Beirong. He has many supporters and is more loved by the people than the current King of Beirong. Therefore, the King of Beirong has always been very wary of Zhuogu Xierli, fearing that he might threaten his reign. The King of Beirong is the best breakthrough point.”

What he said was true, but the palace of Beirong wasn’t as easily accessible as its city gates.

Chen Nan then expressed his doubts.

“The palace may be difficult to enter, but there are other places that are not.” Jiang Manyue drew a circle on the ground and wrote a name inside it. “This person is a favored minister of the King of Beirong, but his relationship with Zhuogu Xierli is not good either. Back then, when this favored minister did not have his current status, he was criticized and mocked by Xierli as a sycophant. The two became enemies. If we can persuade him and have him whisper some sinister words in the King of Beirong’s ear, such as…”

Jiang Manyue paused, and Yan Cai continued.

Yan Cai tilted his head, coming up with an excuse. “For example, Xierli is secretly gathering troops to plot a rebellion. I believe King Beirong would be furious.”

To be honest, this idea was difficult to execute and not guaranteed to succeed, so Jiang Manyue has always kept it at the bottom of the box. It was only now that he considered using this plan.

When Chen Nan heard this, he felt that it was very feasible. With Xierli and the King of Beirong at odds, the whole of Beirong would fall into chaos. Xierli was the most capable fighter in Beirong, and if it weren’t for him being the defender of the city, they wouldn’t have been in a stalemate for so long.

The truth was that Xierli was a person with enduring and far-reaching schemes, and it was difficult to shake him. It wasn’t impossible to defeat him, but it would take time. Initially, the Chen army had been primarily geared for distant warfare and couldn’t afford to waste time. Xierli had been avoiding confrontation, wearing down the morale of the Chen Dynasty’s soldiers.

If Xierli were to be overthrown, who would lead Beirong into battle?

According to Chen Nan’s investigation, most of Beirong’s capable fighters were old generals who couldn’t take to the battlefield, and there were few young generals worth mentioning. Xierli was somewhat of an upstart.

“But how can we get that favorite minister to work for us? We can’t even find this person,” Yan Cai questioned.

“That is indeed a problem. We can’t approach him directly, or he’ll be suspicious. We need an intermediary, but I don’t know any Beirong people,” Chen Nan shook his head. He had always disliked the people of Beirong and had never associated with them. Where would he find a Beirong person who could connect them with the King’s favorite official?

But this is Jiang Manyue’s idea. It’s impossible for him not to have a plan. Yan Cai pats his shoulder, urging him not to hold back. He doesn’t believe that Jiang Manyue suddenly thought of this plan out of nowhere. Chen Nan is surprised.

How does Jiang Manyue have friends in Beirong?