Li Lingyue started and lifted her head from his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Lu Changfeng did not answer. He slapped the memorial onto the desk and pushed it toward her.
Li Lingyue looked down, and her expression changed too.
"Yang Ju?"
She frowned. "The governor of Shanzhou? How dare he-"
"He's either stupid or greedy."
Lu Changfeng cut her off, his voice turning cold. "Or both stupid and greedy!"
He picked up the memorial and pointed to the line, "Though the Nine Bends has fine water and pasture, it is barren frontier land, and no great loss to relinquish." He spoke each word distinctly. "The Nine Bends has abundant water and lush pasture, ideal for farming and grazing. If Tubo gets this land, they can station troops and raise horses there, greatly strengthening their country. Does that governor of Shanzhou of yours not even know that?"
"What's more, the Nine Bends sits right at the junction of the Wei River Valley west of the Guanzhong Basin and the Hexi Corridor. If Tubo controls it, they can both contest the Western Regions with the Great Tang and directly threaten Chang'an!"
He slapped the memorial back onto the desk, suppressed anger in his voice. "A governor of Shanzhou actually dares say it's 'barren frontier land, and no great loss to relinquish'-did a donkey kick him in the head?"
At that comparison, the corner of Li Lingyue's mouth twitched. She wanted to laugh but held it back.
She had never seen Lu Changfeng so angry.
This man was usually as gentle and polished as jade, treating everything with the same breezy composure. Medicine, Sword Dao, spellcraft, Talisman Script-he mastered them all, yet never flaunted it.
She had always thought he was merely "interested" in most things in this world-if something interested him, he learned