Chapter 382
Chapter 382
From the sky, one could see Shen Lang’s procession of twenty thousand looters, a disorganized yet spirited horde, charging furiously toward the White Night Army’s main city. A few miles behind them, the Su Clan’s grand army had split into three columns, forming a massive pincer-like encirclement. If they were to charge Shen Lang’s group, they could annihilate all twenty thousand participants in the raid. Then, would that scoundrel Shen Lang flee to the heavens? Or disappear into the earth? He would surely die!
But Shen Lang already knew Su Nan’s army was behind him, ready to strike, as clearly as he knew the lines on his own palm. Of course, the looters with him were oblivious. They didn’t even know their own numbers, and while they were vaguely aware that the Su Clan’s forces were pursuing them, they had no idea how many there were, how far away they were, or when they might attack. Right now, only one thought occupied their minds: storm the White Night Army’s main city, loot to their hearts’ content, and then scatter.
***
After leading twenty thousand able-bodied men for over ten hours, covering dozens of miles, Shen Lang finally brought the White Night Army’s main city into view. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Brothers, I have men inside the city of the White Night Army, and they will have opened the gates by now. Everyone, charge in! Let’s have a glorious slaughter, a glorious plunder!”
At his words, everyone looked toward the city gates and saw a small crack had appeared in the main gate of the White Night Army’s city. Shen Lang commanded.
“Big Dummy, Wu Lie, rush the gate!”
Following Shen Lang’s command, Big Dummy and Wu Lie charged toward the gate. Big Dummy burst through in an instant, using his immense strength to wrench the gates wide open. Shen Lang roared once more.
“Brothers, charge! Enter the city and loot it until there’s nothing left!”
The tens of thousands of looters erupted in excitement at his words.
“Charge! Let’s get in there, kill, and take everything!”
Though they should have been exhausted from the long march, they were now frenzied, stampeding into the city. Several leaders of the looting bands exchanged glances.
‘What do we do after we plunder the White Night Army’s city? Do we disperse here? Or do we capture that pretty boy and present him to Lord Su Nan?’
***
At the same time.
Su Zhan, who had been encircling the band of looters from a few miles behind, gave a loud command to the allied forces.
“All forces, charge with everything you have and kill every last one of these rioters. Tear that scoundrel, Shen Lang, to shreds!”
In that instant, the three columns of the grand army rapidly picked up speed and charged forward, the massive pincer-like encirclement closing in at a maddening pace.
“Kill! Kill!”
Thousands of cavalrymen galloped like lightning toward Shen Lang’s column of looters. The three supreme masters—Grandmaster Banya of Chu, Ascetic Kunan of the Great Calamity Temple, and Su Zhan himself—rushed forward at an even greater speed.
‘With the three of us supreme masters here, even if you are protected by Li Qianqiu, Shen Lang, you are a dead man! If I cannot bring your head to the Marquis Zhenyuan’s Estate today, I will have no face to show my lord.’
Although Su Nan had not yet officially rebelled, the first major confrontation between Su Nan and the State of Yue was about to formally begin.
***
On the surface, everything in Raging Tide City seemed normal, but dark undercurrents were surging. A frightening rumor was spreading: the Marquis of Xuanwu, Jin Zhuo, had been assassinated by a master from the State of Wu and was already dead. At first, many merchants scoffed at the rumor.
‘Are you joking? Marquis Jin Zhuo is a martial arts master himself, and he’s protected by countless other masters. To assassinate him, you’d need a powerhouse of the Grandmaster level. And what Grandmaster in this world would stoop to being an assassin?’
In a way, that made sense. The six Grandmasters of Yue, at the very least, had never accepted any official titles from the court and basically kept themselves apart from worldly affairs. If it weren’t for saving his wife, Li Qianqiu would never have agreed to Shen Lang’s request to assassinate Su Nan. Besides, this wasn’t the first time a rumor of Jin Zhuo’s death had circulated, so no one believed it to be true. But as time went on, things began to feel strange. It was a fact that Marquis Jin Zhuo had not appeared in public for a long time.
For the lord of Raging Tide City to be out of sight for three days was highly abnormal. Afterward, the person who appeared on behalf of the Marquis of Xuanwu’s Estate was the young lord of Raging Tide City, Jin Shiying. Jin Shiying’s expression was always blank, making it impossible to discern his thoughts, so one could not learn of the Marquis’s fate from him.
However, there was one very clear sign. The Marquis of Xuanwu’s Estate had drastically reduced its fleet. Some ships returned to the docks of Raging Tide City, but others returned to the Jin Clan’s docks in Tiannan Province. The Heaven’s Path Society’s maritime merchant fleet also officially ceased operations. This was undoubtedly abnormal. The Heaven’s Path Society’s trading fleet earned mountains of gold and silver with every voyage, so why would they suddenly suspend operations without reason? Something big must have happened. In the end, many people began to speculate that the Marquis of Xuanwu, Jin Zhuo, might have truly been assassinated.
Just as these terrifying speculations were spreading, the Marquis of Xuanwu, Jin Zhuo, reappeared. He was seen from a great distance, clad in armor. It would have been better if he hadn't appeared at all; his appearance only fueled even more sinister speculation among the masses.
‘The Marquis of Xuanwu must really be dead. Otherwise, why use a double to appear before the people? This is abnormal, extremely strange.’
***
Although rumors of Jin Zhuo’s death were rampant in Raging Tide City, even Zhuo Xiao’an couldn’t be certain if he was truly dead. Gu Duhuan had not come to see her. This pointed to two possibilities. First, Gu Duhuan had failed to kill Jin Zhuo and was too ashamed to face her. Second, Gu Duhuan had already killed Jin Zhuo but was filled with regret afterward for his wrongful act and thus did not come to see her. Jin Zhuo’s life or death was a crucial variable in the unfolding situation. But whether he was dead or alive, Raging Tide City had to be attacked. The Hidden Yuan Society was determined to seize it.
Thanks to the glass mirrors, the Heaven’s Path Society had regained dominance in trade in many places, causing the Hidden Yuan Society to suffer enormous losses. The fall of Raging Tide City had been a devastating blow on top of that. Currently, Raging Tide City was not only the trading hub of the eastern waters of Yue, but it was also rumored to be the place where the glass mirrors were produced. This was a crucial point for the Hidden Yuan Society. Whether it was to reclaim their maritime trade or to seize the workshop producing the glass mirrors, Raging Tide City had to be retaken. If Jin Zhuo was dead, retaking it would be that much easier.
***
Raging Tide City could still be called a city of freedom, just as it was before the Jin Clan took control. This did not change even after the Jin Clan gained governance. The city had no walls, allowing merchants from any nation to come and trade, which naturally led to its prosperity. However, this also resulted in a complex and tangled mix of inhabitants, making it impossible to know who was behind the shops doing business in Raging Tide City.
In the secret basement of a certain leather shop.
Zhuo Xiao’an secretly met with Shu Tingyu, a secret envoy from the Hidden Yuan Society.
“Gu Duhuan hasn’t come to see me again, so I can’t be sure if he killed Jin Zhuo.”
Shu Tingyu was lost in thought and said nothing. Zhuo Xiao’an spoke again.
“Jin Mulan is not good at hiding her emotions. Should I go to the Xuanwu Estate myself?”
Shu Tingyu shook his head.
“No, absolutely not. This is a matter of great importance. His Highness the Crown Prince must not be implicated in any way.”
Retaking Raging Tide City was a strategy of the Hidden Yuan Society, but supporting the Crown Prince of Yue was a solitary strategy of the Xu Clan. Shu Tingyu said.
“Thirty thousand troops have been assembled. Whether Jin Zhuo is dead or alive, the battle must be fought.”
‘Thirty thousand troops? To mobilize such a large force to attack Raging Tide City, where did they all come from?’
Zhuo Xiao’an said.
“According to the Crown Prince’s secret intelligence, the Heaven’s Path Society sensed the danger long ago and has been continuously dispatching warriors to Raging Tide City.”
And was that all? This was like a massive chessboard. The army of Chu was on the verge of starting a war at the border, and Zhong Yao’s army, facing a formidable enemy, was on high alert. The border between Chu and Yue grew more heated by the day, with over two hundred thousand troops in a constant standoff, inching closer. War could break out at any moment.
In the south of Tianxi Province, King Kang, A’luotai, had already set out with his forty-thousand-strong army and would soon invade Yue territory. Su Nan’s twenty thousand troops had also finished assembling. Once the Su and Kang forces joined, they would form a colossal army of seventy to eighty thousand. It would be a cataclysmic event, and in a month at most, the southern part of Yue’s Tianxi Province would fall.
In the north of Yue, King Ning Yuanxian had arrived at Shangye City to personally lead the punitive expedition. The King of Yue had not only drawn away a significant portion of the Great General of Zhenbei Nangong Ao’s tens of thousands of troops but had also taken half of Bian Wu’s army from Yanzhou. It was a clear sign that he intended to have a decisive battle with the King of Wu. Thus, the eyes of the world were all focused on the border between Wu and Yue. It was a showdown between the two kings.
And in the south of Yue, the General of Pingnan, Zhu Lin, was desperately consolidating his defensive lines, firmly holding the capital of the Southern Gull Kingdom. King Gong took this opportunity to lead the army of the Four Barbarian Tribes to reclaim their lost territories. Truly, crises loomed in every direction for the State of Yue—east, west, north, and south. And who would have thought that the one to ignite this fatal crisis would be Su Nan?
The Emperor of the Great Yan Empire had already sent three groups of envoys to the camps of the King of Wu and the King of Yue, urging them that peace was precious. But this was merely a formality. In his heart, the Emperor of the Great Yan Empire was eager to flush all these vassal states down the toilet. While other nations were hesitant to implement the New Policies, the Great Yan Empire was pushing them fiercely, targeting not only the old aristocracy but also civil and military officials. The most frightening thing was that the New Policies of the Great Yan Empire were already nearing their final stages. Once they were complete, the power of the empire would rest solely in the hands of the emperor. By then, the vassal lords of the world wouldn't even dare to look the emperor in the eye.
Returning to the main point, the Great Kingdom of Yue had now become a giant chessboard, with various games that seemed independent but were, in fact, intertwined. The war for Raging Tide City was like a drawn bow; the arrow had to be released.
Shu Tingyu asked.
“Do you know how much money Ning Yuanxian has borrowed from our Hidden Yuan Society?”
“How much?”
“Two million three hundred thousand gold coins.”
Zhuo Xiao’an gasped in shock at the amount.
‘He borrowed so much money all at once?’
The Hidden Yuan Society had once lent Count Jinyu a million gold coins, and the Heaven’s Path Society had lent Shen Lang a million, so it might not sound like an astronomical sum. However, they had mortgaged tangible assets, so there was no worry about repayment. In contrast, King Ning Yuanxian had not mortgaged any tangible assets when borrowing from the Hidden Yuan Society. Moreover, the king had already borrowed a great deal from them in the past, and without repaying it, he had borrowed such a large sum again.