Song Qingshu gave an awkward laugh. "Wasn't it because I trusted your ability and knew that with you guarding Yangzhou, Xia Quan could never break through? Things turned out just as expected. You even seized the fleeting opening in the coordination between him and Liu Zhuo, sending troops to strike him until he was bruised and battered."
"You don't need to butter me up," Zhou Zhiruo said with displeasure. "During this time, I didn't even dare to sleep, worrying day and night for fear of losing your Yangzhou. And look at you—instead of coming back to help, you ran off to enjoy yourself carefree with other women."
Song Qingshu was speechless. "Didn't I go to the Red Tunic Army precisely to help?"
"Is that so?" Zhou Zhiruo grew increasingly indignant. "I simply don't believe that with you, Great Prince Song, sitting in command, Liu Zhuo would have dared to be so insolent! And as for that mob under Xia Quan, how could they have dared to attack once they saw you in Yangzhou City?" She was not speaking falsely; in recent years, whether through his martial arts or several great battlefield victories, Song Qingshu's renown shook the world. With him here, Xia Quan might not have dared to launch an attack.
Song Qingshu could only explain, "If we had done that, Xia Quan would simply have retreated into the mountains and forests, and where could we have caught him? We can't possibly guard against thieves every single day. I figured that stopping the boiling water by adding cold water is inferior to drawing the firewood from the bottom of the cauldron, so I went to the Red Tunic Army specifically to solve this problem once and for all." As he spoke, he pointed toward the mountain valley. "Look, now Xia