Strictly speaking, Duke Yongyi was not a military commander. He had already withdrawn from the circle of martial nobles.
The Imperial Court had spies within the Rong People's army and knew that the Rong People had retreated after Pacify Arms Mountain had nearly wiped them out.
Logically, the Imperial Court should have taken the opportunity to reclaim the lost territory. But there was a problem: how would the immortals of Pacify Arms Mountain view the Imperial Court's army? If their own forces approached the mine, would they be badly mauled just like the Rong People's army?
Of course, the Imperial Court had no intention of reclaiming the mine. That was the price it had to pay for asking the immortals to act.
Still, some ill-intentioned people believed the Imperial Court should take the mine back—after all, it was only useless iron ore. The immortals probably would not care, right?
The Imperial Court had only one response to such people: Fine, go notify them yourselves.
Those were all insignificant side matters. The issue now was how to communicate with the immortals occupying the mine.
Thus, Duke Yongyi, who had already left the military, was entrusted with the task of communicating with the immortals in this critical moment.
Feng Jun was busy mining and did not meet him at all. Instead, he ordered Zhang Caixin to handle the matter.
Little Caixin handled everything perfectly. She handed all the mine slaves and the remaining guards over to them, then pointed out that fifty li was a fine distance. Their troops should not come any closer; otherwise, if they were accidentally injured, it would not be their fault.
Duke Yongyi found those terms very reasonable. He stated that the army would establish a blockade beyond fifty li. Anyone who entered the area within fifty