After Crossing Over, I Marked the Empress

3 PM.

Intelligence personnel reported back: suspicious gatherings were detected in a private storage warehouse near the eastern port of the Third District.

So far, about 125 people had assembled, including several suspected fugitives on wanted lists.

After quickly confirming the identities of those hundred-plus individuals, the entire command post staff became energized.

The likelihood that these people were Li Jianye’s core private soldiers was very high.

More crucially, according to intelligence feedback, the enemy leader was now also in the warehouse near the port.

Barring any surprises, this time they should be able to catch Li Jianye and his group in one fell swoop!

Gu Yuwei spoke first: “Due to historical reasons, the eastern port area of the Third District is chaotic and poorly managed, with all sorts of people mixed together. Li Jianye must be planning to return to Yin Country by sea, as he has no way to break through the air routes.”

At this point, she turned to look at Gu Junwan: “I suggest we immediately dispatch a large force, secretly evacuate civilians while tightening the encirclement of the port. Even at considerable cost, we cannot let Li Jianye escape back to Yin Country!”

Yu Xiao and his deputy were also in the command post, there to back up Gu Yuwei.

Seeing her seeking consultation now, both of them frowned imperceptibly.

When they hadn’t found any information on Li Jianye before, handing over all deployment authority to Gu Junwan wasn’t a big deal.

But now that they had clearly caught the man, for Gu Yuwei to still present herself as primarily following the other’s opinion would cause major problems.

Knowing how to delegate and let others work for you is a kind of wisdom.

But knowing how to reclaim authority is the skill and resolve that a leader must possess!

Having seen Gu Yuwei’s issue, Yu Xiao couldn’t possibly publicly instruct his commander on how to act.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze was focused on Gu Junwan.

Waiting for her response, and also waiting for her to issue orders.

Today, Gu Junwan was again wearing a white military uniform, the crisp fabric making her slender back appear particularly straight.

Of course, this uniform wasn’t the one she had slept in yesterday.

Under the spotlight, Gu Junwan didn’t immediately speak.

In her golden phoenix eyes, there wasn’t the obvious excitement seen in those around her.

On the contrary, her gaze was slightly chilly, like a deep, undisturbed pool.

Even though Gu Yuwei was long accustomed to her sister’s demeanor, she still couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy.

She involuntarily straightened her shoulders and asked: “Is something wrong?”

“It’s not right.” Gu Junwan led everyone to the holographic map, looking towards the eastern port area of the Third District.

“That warehouse should be a secret base they had planned long ago. If Li Jianye wanted to sneak away from there, he has enough ability to do it much more discreetly.”

“Could it be that he’s now so desperate that he can’t care about all that? After all, once he’s out of the Free Federation’s territorial waters, we can’t openly arrest him anymore,” Gu Yuwei offered her thoughts.

“Over a hundred people obeying orders to rush from various parts of the Northern District to the port doesn’t look like the actions of a desperate man.”

Gu Junwan stared at the holographic map for a good while before continuing: “We’ll divide our forces into three routes. One team will go to the port to implement encirclement and arrest.”

“Another team will immediately rush to the border area where the First and Second Districts meet New Li Country.”

“The third team will search the Fuyang Grasslands outside the Third District.”

Hearing the Empress’s words, a low murmur of surprise immediately swept through the entire command post.

Although people didn’t dare to openly discuss, their more or less obvious sounds of pondering revealed their current confusion and astonishment.

Time was pressing, so Gu Junwan didn’t keep them guessing, directly outlining her thought process.

“I believe Li Jianye plans to use a feint to the east while attacking in the west, then slip away. The port battle is unavoidable, but since that place is also where civilians live and work, we can’t just send troops to forcefully surround and attack. We need close cooperation with local police and civilians.”

“Internal factional struggles in New Li Country are intense, with the president’s power greatly diminished. No one dares to offend anyone. I suspect Li Jianye might consider borrowing a route through New Li to return to Yin Country circuitously.”

“The Fuyang Grasslands have large mercenary organizations that care about money, not life. Li Jianye’s team has cooperated with them before in the assassination of the Northern Commander. This time, we can’t rule out the possibility that he might use their strength to break through our defenses.”

The Empress’s cool voice was like moonlight, or a spring, flowing around everyone, bringing an indescribable melodiousness.

Gu Junwan spoke clearly and precisely, giving highly convincing reasons for each of her decisions.

Her words weren’t forceful, but the power contained within gave people a sense that they couldn’t be refuted.

Shen Han stood straight behind and to the side of Gu Junwan.

Looking at the woman before her who was directing operations with such skill, the tenderness in her eyes seemed about to turn into a pool of water.

Her Omega was always so radiant!

Thinking of this, her ears secretly began to heat up.

She thought to herself: Only in her arms does Junwan become like a little lamb, allowing herself to be ‘bullied’.

The war meeting quickly came to an end.

No one raised any doubts or objections to the Empress’s decisions.

Gu Yuwei took charge of one team, responsible for negotiating with New Li Country while closely investigating the border area between the two.

Yu Xiao was in charge of operations on the Fuyang Grasslands.

That no-man’s land had always been ruled by whoever had the strongest fist. Having this iron-blooded leader go there to negotiate was most appropriate.

Gu Junwan would command the enemy engagement in the eastern port area of the Third District.

After much consideration, she finally decided to personally go to the war zone.

To avoid alerting the enemy, they didn’t take military hoverships directly.

Instead, they switched to ground armored vehicles to continue advancing before reaching the port.

On the way, Shen Han found an opportunity to quietly advise Gu Junwan: “You don’t actually need to go there yourself. Like previous times, you could command the overall situation using real-time communications.”

With heavy troop protection, Shen Han naturally wasn’t worried about her being in danger.

She just felt sorry for her having to rush about with the troops like this.

She had only just recharged for one night, and under the fatigue of travel, that charged energy would be greatly consumed again.

Gu Junwan blinked at her Alpha, saying in a voice only the two of them could hear: “With you accompanying me, I don’t feel tired.”

Hearing this, Shen Han immediately lost it.

With bright red ear tips, she pressed her lips together, delighted for quite a while, then turned to get a water cup for the other.

At this time, Xu Zhao happened to come report something to the Empress.

Even from several meters away, she could feel a certain Alpha’s current happiness.

Special Assistant Xu: “…” The Empress is getting better and better at this, look how happy she’s made the house dog.

At the speed Gu Junwan’s team was marching, they arrived at the eastern port area that night.

But due to the need to secretly evacuate non-combatants, the encirclement battle didn’t officially begin until the next evening.

Gu Junwan sat upright in the command vehicle, barely interfering with the battle situation.

The guard team members didn’t need to charge into battle either. Their task was to guard around the Empress, ensuring her safety.

Reports of victory after victory were delivered to the command vehicle, but all the confidants staying near her could clearly feel that the Empress didn’t have the slightest sense of relief.

“Is Li Jianye among those captured, fleeing, or dead?”

“Report, the target individual’s whereabouts have not yet been discovered.”

“Who is commanding the enemy’s battle?”

Hearing the Empress’s question, the reporting soldier immediately pulled up the video footage they had just obtained.

In the video, an elderly woman was rapidly coordinating attack and defense while shooting.

Although the reconnaissance drone couldn’t capture the woman’s voice, just from her orderly command, one could see that her skills were not inferior.

If not for this, those hundred-plus armed personnel wouldn’t have been able to withstand the firepower of the army group.

Gu Junwan stared at the woman’s every move on the screen.

Suddenly, her golden pupils began to contract slightly.

She felt a strange sense of familiarity with the woman commanding the battle.

Whether in body outline or unconscious habitual movements, she was very similar to the Zhang Qi in her memory.

“She’s the person cooperating with Li Jianye’s actions, also the fake wife who has lived with him for many years.”

“Pass down the order, make every effort to keep this person alive!”

The soldier accepted the order and left.

Gu Junwan fell into deep thought.

The appearance of Li Jianye’s fake wife further corroborated her earlier guess about a “golden cicada shedding its shell”.

Because this woman’s level of importance was second only to Li Jianye, only such a figure would have the ability to command armed forces to attract the attention and troops of the army group.

Even after knowing Li Jianye wasn’t in the port area, Gu Junwan didn’t immediately leave.

She needed to quickly end the battle here, then extract information from that fake wife’s mouth. Only then would this journey not have been in vain.

Just as Gu Junwan was pondering deeply, her personal phone in her jacket pocket suddenly vibrated.

Looking at the screen, it was actually a message from Shen Han.

[Junwan, that person is likely a suicide soldier. Capturing her alive is impossible.]

[But if you want to get some information about Li Jianye from her, there’s only one way. Let her know that you’re personally commanding this battle. It’s best if she can see you.]

There were still army officers and intelligence group personnel in the command vehicle.

Given Shen Han’s position, it wasn’t convenient to voice such a suggestion to the Empress, so she could only find a corner in the back to send her a message.

How could Gu Junwan not be intelligent?

With Shen Han’s reminder, she immediately understood the key point.

For that woman to voluntarily come here to attract firepower, she definitely didn’t plan to continue living.

When pushed to the end of the road, she would certainly end her life by suicide.

Just like that Zheng Xiang who had shot himself in front of Shen Han at Yusheng Manor before.

Gu Junwan’s appearance naturally wouldn’t make her directly reveal information about Li Jianye, but it could stimulate her to leak some hidden information.

Psychological warfare happened to be Gu Junwan’s area of expertise.

She didn’t reply to the phone message.

After pondering for a minute, she then stood up.

“Pass down the order, stop firing when there are only 6 enemy personnel left.”

“Intelligence group, Xu Zhao, and Guard Team 1 members prepare. You’ll accompany me to the battlefield shortly. I want to talk with the enemy leader!”