Chapter 513
Chapter 513
Take Zhong Yao, for instance. What an arrogant man he was. He had not set foot in the capital for nearly twenty years. When Ning Yuanxian appointed Bian Wu as the Privy Councilor, Zhong Yao sent his younger brother, Zhong E, to the capital to serve as the Vice Councilor of the Privy Council. His intention was crystal clear: Zhong Yao was unwilling to serve under Bian Wu. King Ning Yuanxian had no choice but to appoint Zhong Yao as Grand Marshal.
In truth, the position of Grand Marshal had been defunct for a century. The status of the Grand Marshal in the Great Yan Dynasty was more akin to that of the Han Dynasty in China, not the Song. In the Song Dynasty, the military held a low status, so the Grand Marshal was a symbolic position that even a figure like Gao Qiu could hold (Gao Qiu was a man who rose to high office because he was good at football). In contrast, the Grand Marshal of the Han Dynasty was one of the Three Ducal Ministers, the highest military office in the empire.
Because the position was so lofty, it had been abolished in the eastern kingdoms a hundred years ago. However, to grant Zhong Yao a status equal to Bian Wu, Ning Yuanxian had no choice but to offer him this post. Su Nan's position as Vice Councilor of the Privy Council was on par with Zhong E's. Perhaps Su Nan's lifelong goal was to achieve a status like Zhong Yao's, but he had failed. He had relied on political maneuvering and the power of other factions. Zhong Yao, on the other hand, commanded a hundred-thousand-strong army; he possessed true power of his own.
Now, with Zhong Yaoyao's arrival, the title of the capital's number one scourge no longer belonged to Princess Ning Yan. Zhong Yaoyao—this was a woman even Ning Yan would yield to, avoiding conflict at all costs.
***
“Giddy-up, giddy-up!”
Shen Lang was just heading to the palace to seek an audience with the King, hoping to secure the Northern Park hunting grounds. Suddenly, the thunderous sound of hooves erupted from behind. The sound alone was enough to convey the riders' extreme arrogance.
“Out of the way! Make way!”
Several warriors with gruff voices shouted, whipping the ground and clearing everyone from the Vermilion Bird Avenue. But at that moment, only Shen Lang's party occupied the center of the grand thoroughfare. He, along with Wu Lie and a few dozen others, was riding brazenly down the middle of the avenue. His actions were against the rules, but as Shen Lang had also earned a reputation as one of the capital's greatest menaces, no one dared to interfere whenever he took the central path. But now, a small disaster had run into a big one.
Shen Lang glanced back and was momentarily stunned. A woman who seemed to burn like a flame was there. She was clad in tight-fitting red armor, and her incomparably beautiful face had ‘unruly’ etched into every feature. Shen Lang had never seen a woman with such exquisitely delicate and beautiful features, nor had he ever seen a woman with such a truly youthful face who was so tyrannical. The combination of her fiery, seductive beauty and her savage, tyrannical nature made one feel as if their whole body would catch fire just by looking at her.
In the entire State of Yue, purely in terms of face and figure, no woman was more beautiful than Mulan. Ning Yan was beautiful, but her features were a slight step down from Mulan's. The Divine Maiden Xue Yin was considered beautiful thanks to her unique aura and fame, but in terms of looks alone, she too was a little less stunning than Mulan. As for Ning Han, Shen Lang didn't even want to mention her. But this Zhong Yaoyao before him was truly Mulan's equal in many respects. They could undoubtedly be called the treasures of the east and west, beautiful beyond compare. Disregarding their inner character and aura, their appearances alone were truly fatal. Mulan was proud yet innocent, while Zhong Yaoyao was like a flame that seared the eyes.
Shen Lang had no quarrel with the Zhong Clan, but he held a grudge against Zhong Yaoyao. She had struck Mulan once. In an instant, dozens of revenge schemes flashed through Shen Lang's mind.
“Make way, make way! Get lost, get lost!”
Shen Lang's cavalry was about a li ahead of them, yet Zhong Yaoyao's riders were already berating them, fiercely striking the ground with their whips to drive them off the road. Shen Lang glanced at his own party—a mere few dozen riders—then at Zhong Yaoyao's, which numbered a full thousand. This was beyond arrogant. To openly charge into the capital with a thousand cavalrymen. Shen Lang gestured, leading Wu Lie and his men to the side of the road to make way for Zhong Yaoyao's party. As he did, his eyes fell upon her slender waist, which curved like a snake and seemed to brim with powerful strength.
“What are you looking at? Want me to gouge your eyes out?”
Zhong Yaoyao shouted coldly and raised her hand.
*Swish, swish, swish.*
A volley of crossbow bolts rained down. Wu Lie and the others quickly raised their shields to block the arrows. Shen Lang couldn't help but marvel.
‘How can such a tyrannical woman exist in this world?’
The Big Buttocks Princess could be willful, but her aim was to act tough, not to be tyrannical. She might gallop through the streets, but she would never dare to actually run down a citizen. Zhong Yaoyao, on the other hand, didn't even bother to learn Shen Lang's identity before opening fire. To be willing to kill someone in the streets without a second thought, she was a woman of boundless tyranny.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
With a thunder of hooves, Zhong Yaoyao's cavalry galloped away.
***
Shen Lang entered the palace and had an audience with King Ning Yuanxian.
“Why did Ning Han come to see you?”
“She requested that I join the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion as a nominal disciple of the Left Master of the Pavilion and withdraw from the struggle for the throne.”
Hearing this, Ning Yuanxian frowned.
“Was that the sole reason for her return this time?”
Shen Lang nodded.
“I believe so.”
Ning Yuanxian's expression soured further. This was not because of Shen Lang, but because of Ning Han. He felt that his daughter had infringed upon his authority.
‘Ning Han, besides being the heir to the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, are you not my, Ning Yuanxian's, daughter? The matter of succession belongs to the King's authority. How dare you overstep your bounds? Shen Lang is my subject, and naturally, I will govern him. It is not the place of your Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion to dictate his actions. The matter of the succession struggle, even more so, rests entirely on my, Ning Yuanxian's, absolute authority. I will not tolerate the interference of others.’
In that respect, the King was extremely fond of Shen Lang. This fellow had the gall to declare at every turn that he would crush the Crown Prince and the Third Prince and put Ning Zheng on the throne. At the time, Ning Yuanxian had found his words utterly absurd and was on the verge of exploding with anger. But deep down, he was very pleased with Shen Lang. Because Shen Lang had spoken the truest words to him, and had not tried to go through others or use external forces to pressure him.
He had stated it clearly: I will lead Ning Zheng to create one miracle after another, astounding onlookers until their eyes pop out, and in the end, I will change Your Majesty's mind and make you establish Prince Ning Zheng as the Crown Prince. The King still thought those words were incredibly absurd, but he did not stop Shen Lang. Because Shen Lang had given him, Ning Yuanxian, the full authority to decide whether Ning Zheng was crown prince material. As a monarch, how could he not even give a subject a chance to try?
But what Ning Han had done was to use the authority of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion to pressure Shen Lang into backing down. That was an infringement on Ning Yuanxian's absolute authority. However, Ning Yuanxian could not reveal his inner thoughts to Shen Lang. Whether it was the back of his hand or his palm, it was all his own flesh. Ning Han was naturally closer to him, his palm, but Shen Lang could now, with some stretch, be called the back of his hand. He had, after all, allied with Shen Lang to thoroughly humiliate the world, and it had been immensely satisfying.
Ning Yuanxian asked Shen Lang.
“You scoundrel, you never set foot in the palace unless you have business. Why have you come to see me today? Speak!”
“Your Majesty, do you still remember what I spoke to you about yesterday?”
“You mean how you refused the two thousand elite soldiers I offered, insisting on recruiting and training soldiers from scratch to forge the strongest army in Yue, an invincible elite force, in just a few months? And how you said you would have me send your army to participate in a border skirmish to defeat Chu?”
“Yes. Now that Chu is in league with the Jin clan, the King of Chu will never bow his head at the negotiating table. And we cannot afford a decisive battle with Chu, so resolving the conflict with a border skirmish is the only way.”
“The states of Yue and Wu have a tradition of holding border skirmishes. But there is no such tradition between us and Chu, is there?”
“Correct. Therefore, the King of Chu will not agree to a border skirmish, and even if he does, he will not concede much. So we must make him feel that Chu is guaranteed to win. Only then can we cloud his judgment! If our two thousand new troops face five thousand of Chu's elite soldiers, everyone will think Chu is sure to win. The King of Chu will likely be unable to resist the temptation of a great victory and will agree to the skirmish. Then, we can make exorbitant demands, and he will accept them. For example, the cession of the twenty-three forts they occupy, a personal apology from the King of Chu, or reparations of eight hundred thousand gold coins.”
“Boy, the terms must be equal. If we lose, wouldn't we have to cede twenty-three forts, offer a personal apology, and pay eight hundred thousand gold coins in reparations?”
“But I am confident of victory. My new army will be strong, invincible, and unprecedented.”
“Who will be the commander of this new army?”
“Prince Ning Zheng, of course. He will personally command the border skirmish.”
“And then, Ning Zheng will rise to prominence in one fell swoop, is that right?”
“Correct. But the greatest beneficiary of this will still be Your Majesty. You will once again awe the world. Though you have just defeated the King of Wu, the King of Chu is formidable; you have yet to defeat him and have only suffered losses. If you defeat the King of Chu in this border skirmish, our State of Yue will achieve victory without a full-scale war and gain immense benefits. And as a monarch, Your Majesty's reputation will once again reach its zenith.”
Ning Yuanxian sneered.
“Don't boast about things that haven't even taken shape yet.”
“Your Majesty, everything I have boasted about has come to pass.”
Ning Yuanxian frowned. He knew the flaw in his character. He hated mediocrity and loved excitement and taking risks. In the past, when the State of Yue faced a fatal crisis, he had taken great risks and achieved great victories. But he knew in his heart that he shouldn't treat everything like a gamble, especially when things were going smoothly; he shouldn't wager the fate of the nation. If he were ever to suffer a reversal, the consequences would be unimaginably dire. But he found it hard to resist the temptation to gamble once more.
“Let's discuss that matter later. The method you speak of is too absurd to be taken as fact. Tell me, what is the real reason you came to see me today?”
“Your Majesty, if I am to recruit two thousand private soldiers, the current Marquis of Changping's estate is too small. Moreover, it is difficult to conduct secret training with everyone watching. Since Your Majesty does not enjoy hunting anyway, it is a great waste to leave the Northern Park hunting grounds deserted. Why not lend it to me for the time being?”