The crown prince cheered right up!

He said, with a perfectly straight face, "Father Emperor, could it be that Ning Chen has too many women around him and something's gone wrong with his health?"

The Xuan Emperor nodded slightly. The crown prince had a point.

There had been no news from Huai'an's belly all this time, and it might really have to do with all the women around Ning Chen.

"The Fallen Phoenix Court has stood empty since Huai'an married out... Ning Chen, why don't you and Huai'an move into the Fallen Phoenix Court for a while?"

Ning Chen went numb. Is he going to lock me up to make babies?

"Father Emperor, your child marches out in two days!"

The Xuan Emperor blinked. "Then when you're back. You and Huai'an will move into the Fallen Phoenix Court, and you can go home when Huai'an is with child."

Ning Chen said, "..."

The crown prince said cheerfully, "Teacher, hurry up and thank Father Emperor for his kindness."

Come on then, let's hurt each other!

Ning Chen shot him a glare, then bowed with a pained smile. "Your child obeys!"

Fine, we'll live there. Whether we get pregnant is up to us... Ning Chen said it inwardly.

Three days went by in a blink.

Ning Chen set out at the head of the Ning'an Army and the modao army.

Before they moved, he had already sent word to Tong Yuanzhou to pull fifty thousand men off the southern frontier and take them to Chongzhou.

The Ning'an Army was superbly equipped, and every horse under it had been picked out of thousands, so it moved fast.

Even so, reaching Chongzhou's borders took a month and a half.

By then the spring was warm and the flowers were out.

By the time he came back, in all likelihood, the snow would be falling again.

Ning Chen joined up with the southern army at a place called Shili Slope.

Tong Yuanzhou hadn't come himself. He was watching Nanyue.

The man leading them was called Wang Xingyuan. He was around thirty, one of Tong Yuanzhou's…