Chapter 351
Chapter 351
Su Nan’s ambition was colossal, far exceeding what the King could ever imagine. The goal he sought to achieve with this gambit was truly earth-shattering. Originally, he would have needed more time, but the breakdown of his relationship with the King over the Ha Wanwan incident forced him to accelerate his plans. Although moving things forward would put the Su Clan in a more reactive position and reduce their future gains… even with diminished profits, the Su Clan would still be the biggest beneficiary of this affair.
Once this upheaval passed, the Su Clan would rise like a phoenix from the ashes, and the Jin Clan would crumble. Thank goodness that wretched Shen Lang was in the palace’s underground dungeon; otherwise… Lin Bingchong, the fearless Censor of the Palace who did not fear death, was already dead. Three days after he had framed Shen Lang for having an affair with Ning Yan, he was impeached for accepting a bribe totaling one hundred eighty gold coins. He was arrested by the Court of Judicial Review, and men from the Blackwater Terrace personally interrogated him for a full day and night. The news that followed was that Lin Bingchong had committed suicide, but Su Nan couldn’t have cared less.
Su Nan was waiting for the moment the King of Qiang would lead twenty thousand soldiers to invade the western border of Yue, the moment the grand army of Chu would draw near. When that time came, the beacons of war would be lit in every direction, and King Ning Yuanxian would undoubtedly be terrified out of his wits.
The entire Tianshu Province was currently rotten to the core. With the Su Clan and the Sanyan Gang cooperating from within and without, who could possibly stop the King of Qiang? At that point, perhaps not just a hundred thousand, but even more citizens of Yue would die at the hands of the King of Qiang. How many innocent people would be slaughtered, trampled, and captured as slaves? How many cities and commanderies would be burned to ash?
But what did it matter? For a clan to rise, it must be built upon a mountain of corpses. The moment the King of Qiang unleashed his brutality in Tianshu Province, the moment the Chu army neared the western border, and the moment the King of Wu led his troops south, Su Nan would be able to demand anything he pleased from Ning Yuanxian. When that time came, killing Shen Lang would be a matter too trivial to even mention.
‘Ah! What a pity. If I had just another half a year, I could have secured a better, a far greater outcome for the Su Clan. This is all because of that bastard Shen Lang’s machinations. My heart will not know peace until I have torn you limb from limb and flayed you alive!’
Just then, his confidant, Su Yong, rushed into the room. Su Yong’s face was deathly pale, and his body trembled.
“My lord, th-this is a secret letter from the young master. It came at great speed. More than ten fine steeds died to deliver this.”
Su Nan’s heart leaped, and a powerful sense of foreboding washed over him. He took out the secret letter and read it. Only a few distinct characters were written on the paper. They were in code, indecipherable to others. But Su Nan understood the message in an instant, without needing to decode it.
“King of Qiang, sudden death!”
In that moment, Su Nan stood frozen, as if struck by lightning, completely unable to move.
* * *
The King of Qiang would die suddenly. Shen Lang had been certain of that, but he couldn't be sure exactly when it would happen. In such an uncertain situation, could Shen Lang possibly tell the King that the King of Qiang would die a sudden death? Absolutely not. Shen Lang had to absolve himself of any suspicion of having a hand in the King of Qiang's death. Shen Lang was an exceptional physician, and the time would come when he would need to use his medical skills to treat a major figure in the royal family. Therefore, murder and medicine had to be kept strictly separate.
To be more precise, Shen Lang could kill, but he could not kill in the process of practicing medicine. If such a thing were revealed, what royal would ever entrust their treatment to him? Moreover, in this instance, Shen Lang had even delayed the time of the King of Qiang’s death. If he were to tell the King now that he was responsible for the King of Qiang’s death, the King might feel a momentary sense of triumph and joy, but he would later come to see Shen Lang as a terrifying figure. If Shen Lang could use his uncanny methods to kill the King of Qiang today, who might he kill tomorrow? Even if others were suspected, Shen Lang himself must never be revealed to be involved in this matter.
This world did have methods of causing a delayed death. For example, the Fudao Mountain’s Holy Maiden Xue Yin had used a poisoned Gu worm, and Duke Gong had induced lead poisoning in Princess Ning Luo. But those were all chronic poisons. With the King of Qiang dying so suddenly, everyone would surely suspect a culprit within the Qiang Kingdom rather than Shen Lang. The one who stood to gain the most from the King of Qiang’s death would be the one to fall under the greatest suspicion.
* * *
As the thirty-thousand-strong army of Wu moved south and approached Shangye City in Yue, Bian Wu’s grand army hastened its war preparations. The Marquis of Zhenbei, Nangong Ao, led a forty-thousand-strong army and drew near Shangye City. The armies of the two nations began a standoff, creating a tense stalemate. The King finally summoned Shen Lang, but seeing his face again, his anger flared up.
‘Didn’t I order this man to be starved for a few days? Look at his rosy face. Does he look like someone who has been starved? He looks like he’s about to burp from a full stomach. And when he opens his mouth, his teeth are white, and there’s not a speck of dirt on him. Were you not only eating in the underground dungeon but also bathing and brushing your teeth?’
However, the King ultimately did not press such trivial matters and asked about the most important issue at hand.
“The Wu army of thirty thousand has moved south and is approaching Shangye City. What are your thoughts on this matter?”
“Who is leading the troops?”
“The King of Wu.”
Hearing the King’s words, Shen Lang’s expression changed slightly.
‘Could Su Nan’s plan truly be that grand? If this were merely a threat, the King of Wu would not have come to lead the troops himself.’
The King asked.
“Do you think this is all related to Su Nan?”
“Your Majesty, if this is all connected to Su Nan, then a terrifying outcome will unfold. Su Nan's scheme is immense.”
The King nodded.
“The King of Wu is young and full of vigor. I can only hope that he is merely creating a small border friction to boost his nation’s morale after a recent victory.”
“Your Majesty, one must always prepare for the worst.”
“The worst? Then what is the worst-case scenario you envision?”
“The grand army of Chu is approaching our western border, pinning down the army of the Marquis of Zhenxi, Zhong Yao. The thirty thousand soldiers from Wu are just the beginning; the King of Wu will continue to increase his forces, leading a grand army to the border to completely tie down Duke Bian Wu and the Marquis of Zhenbei. In that situation, if the King of Qiang were to invade the western border, it would be as if he were entering an undefended land. When that time comes, Marquis Su Nan will be able to demand anything he pleases from Your Majesty.”
The King’s face twitched. He had considered such a scenario but had hoped things would not escalate to that point. He said gruffly.
“When that time comes, the first thing Su Nan will do is kill you.”
“Your Majesty, that is not the worst-case scenario. Su Nan is an old fox; he would never orchestrate such a situation on impulse. It must have been planned for a long time.”
The King nodded, and Shen Lang continued.
“He must have thought he would succeed in harming me this time. Therefore, the failure of the Ha Wanwan incident was outside his expectations, which means that he planned this situation not as a passive response to the current events at court, but rather as a deep conspiracy hatched in advance.”
The color instantly drained from the King’s face.
“Are you saying he intends to create a new Yanzhou tragedy?”
Ning Yuanxian was exceptionally clever and grasped the core of the matter in an instant.
“Su Nan has long been in collusion with Chu and has continuously provided financial aid to the Qiang Kingdom. And Chu, in turn, has continuously provided financial support to the Su Clan. This has been going on for many years, involving astronomical sums of gold. Why would that be?”
That was Ning Yuanxian’s greatest fear. It was why he had tolerated the Zhong Clan’s rampages—to use them as a check against the Su Clan. The Zhong Clan and Chu were mortal enemies with a feud so deep it could never be resolved, so there was no chance the Zhong Clan would ever defect to Chu.
“Even so, the Su Clan’s territory is not adjacent to Chu, so it would be difficult for them to defect even if they wanted to. Besides, Zhong’s hundred-thousand-strong army is to the north of the Su Clan. If Su Nan dared to betray us, Zhong Yao could march south at any time and annihilate the Su Clan.”
“The army of the Marquis of Zhenxi, Zhong Yao, is separated from the Su Clan’s territory by a mountain range. Although the distance is short, it would not be easy to send troops to destroy them.”
“Even if sending troops is not easy, are my forces not stationed at Baiye Pass, between the Su and Zhong territories?”
The Su Clan’s base, Baiye Commandery, and the Zhong Clan’s territory were separated by a massive mountain range. A previous King of Yue had paid an enormous price to build a pass in that mountain valley, which was Baiye Pass. That pass hung over the Su Clan’s head, serving as a check on both the Zhong and Su clans simultaneously. Currently, the one stationed at Baiye Pass, guarding it, was the army of the General Who Pacifies the West, Zheng Ta—the father of Jin Hui’s wife, Zheng Hongxian. He was one of the King’s direct generals, the second-in-command of the Western Army of Yue.
“Your Majesty, many people in Yue misjudge one point. Everyone thinks the Qiang Kingdom and the Su Clan are separate, but what if, at a critical moment, the Su Clan and the Qiang Kingdom become one? Then they would share a border with Chu.”
The King narrowed his eyes, skeptical of the possibility.
“A man as unruly as the King of Qiang would never be subordinate to anyone. And how could a man as cunning as Su Nan pledge fealty to the King of Qiang? The possibility of the Su Clan and the Qiang Kingdom uniting is not high.”
“To prepare for even the slightest chance of such a thing happening, your humble servant believes it is necessary to arrest Su Nan immediately, or at the very least, place him under house arrest.”
The King hesitated for a long time before shaking his head. Arresting Su Nan now would instantly turn the situation on its head and lead to consequences too severe to contemplate. Time was needed to de-escalate the situation.
“Men! Order the Blackwater Terrace to double the number of personnel monitoring and surrounding the Marquis Zhenyuan’s estate! No one from the Marquis’s estate is to take a single step out of the capital.”
“Yes!”
King Ning Yuanxian, of course, had an ace up his sleeve. He was waiting for word from the Qiang Kingdom to confirm whether the King of Qiang had decided to invade the western border. He would decide his course of action after receiving definitive intelligence.
* * *
Let us now return to a few days prior. After the King of Qiang’s sudden death, the upper echelons of the Qiang Kingdom were thrown into instant chaos. There was a tradition in the Qiang Kingdom that a new king must kill his brothers upon ascending the throne. King A'Luqiang had done the same. Immediately after taking the throne, he had killed several of his brothers who posed a threat. After the King of Qiang’s sudden death, his many capable sons, fearing they would suffer the same tragedy as their father’s generation, immediately formed an alliance. That way, even if they couldn't contend with A'Lutai for the throne, they could at least protect their lives or secure greater benefits. In an instant, the gleam of swords filled the Qiang palace.
Normal people would assume that upon seeing King A'Luqiang’s sudden death, Crown Prince A'Lutai and the other princes would first investigate the cause of death. However, that did not happen. After the king died, the various princes were first greatly shocked by their father’s death, but then they immediately began a fierce struggle. The King of Qiang’s corpse, thrown onto a table, received no one’s attention.