Chapter 549
Chapter 549
At Shen Lang's words, King Chu's expression changed dramatically.
*'This brat... does he have no intention of saving my face?'*
Just then, Wang Huili, the Grand Herald of Chu, spoke up.
“Who are you? What is your rank and title? Do you even have the right to speak in a place like this?”
*'Damn it. Wang Huili, don't you ever get tired of this routine?'*
Shen Lang began speaking without hesitation.
“My lord Wang Huili, you seem to have forgotten me. Was it not I who negotiated with you and signed the state credentials for this very battle? Besides, when someone exposed you for skipping out on your brothel fees, a dozen thugs jumped out and beat you. Didn't I save you then? Are your... family jewels... alright? Weren't they terribly swollen that day?”
Hearing this, Wang Huili's face changed drastically. He had never met such a shameless person in his entire life.
*'Th-th-this bastard! Do you know where you are? How dare you spout such nonsense in a place like this?'*
Shen Lang continued in a feigned tone of surprise.
“My lord Wang Huili, I don't see your beard. You didn't... have your jewels completely removed, did you? But that's fine, too. Severing your worldly roots to focus solely on the nation's affairs is a noble thing. If the day comes when you can no longer be the Grand Herald, you can always enter the Chu palace and become a eunuch. Excellent, excellent!”
King Chu stared at Shen Lang with a cold gaze.
*'So this wretched bastard is Shen Lang? He's just as irritating as they say. A single glance at that unlucky face makes me want to beat him to death.'*
Wang Huili, the Grand Herald of Chu, said no more. Though Shen Lang spewed nothing but malicious words, in a gathering of such high-ranking officials, Wang Huili had a reputation to uphold, even if Shen Lang did not. Besides, Wang Huili really had lost his family jewels.
*'How could that possibly hinder my service as a minister of Chu? I can still achieve great things for the state.'*
Shen Lang said,
“Your Majesty King Chu must beat the drum for our Great King, and Your Highness the Crown Prince must sing. The two of you must be in perfect harmony... ah, no, that's not right. The son sings, and the father follows.”
Hearing this, the king and crown prince of Chu looked as if they were about to explode, their eyes filled with rage.
*'Husband and wife in harmony? The son sings and the father follows? Both are insults!'*
Everyone fell silent. Shen Lang's gaze turned to Prince Yan of the Empire.
“Your Highness Prince Yan, are royals perhaps exempt from keeping their word? Don't they say a monarch's word is worth a thousand pieces of gold?”
Nonsense! That was just something from the books. Every monarch had to know how to change their stance as easily as flipping a page. Prince Yan did not answer. There was no need for him to act as a judge in a place like this. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Shen Lang. If he wasn't mistaken, the one who had solved that unwinnable Go game was this very man before him. Truly brilliant, and truly infuriating. The most hated people in this world were those who, confident in their own talents, acted as they pleased, seeking popularity through exaggerated words and actions.
*'So this is why everyone hates Shen Lang. Even I, having met him only once, find him this irritating.'*
Prince Yan asked,
“Ning Zheng, may I report to the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion that you were the one who solved this unwinnable Go game?”
After all, it was Ning Zheng who had publicly solved the difficult game today. If this were reported to the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, he would become an honorary scholar. For Ning Zheng, gaining such an honor would be like a thirsty man finding water. A prince who was looked down upon by others desperately needed such a distinction. Yet, Ning Zheng bowed and said,
“That won't be necessary.”
*'Since Shen Lang is on bad terms with the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, there's no need for me to endure their cold treatment just to curry favor.'*
Everyone was once again stunned by Ning Zheng's words.
*'Ning Zheng, why are you so foolish? Rejecting such a great honor? If you lose the upcoming battle, you and Shen Lang will be exiled, and your lives will be over. But if you become an honorary scholar of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, you could at least avoid exile to the wastelands and might even be able to stay within the Pavilion itself.'*
But then, Shen Lang spoke again.
“Since His Majesty King Chu has not kept his word, I suppose we don't have to keep our promise either, do we? We will not fight this battle. Men, prepare to return home! Let's go, we're leaving!”
And so, the two thousand seemingly clumsy new recruits actually began to board their carriages, preparing to leave. King Chu, instantly enraged, said coldly,
“Worthy brother, do you take matters of state for a child's game?”
Shen Lang retorted sarcastically,
“Then does Your Majesty King Chu consider his own words a child's game?”
King Chu stared intently at King Ning Yuanxian of Yue with cold eyes and said slowly,
“King of Yue, listen well. I shall beat the drum for you myself.”
Then, King Chu ascended the high platform and beat the drum, while the Crown Prince sang. Of course, he only sang three lines, and the king only beat the drum three times. Several court scribes recorded the scene.
**
Afterward, King Chu shouted loudly.
“Bring the maps, the gold, and the edicts!”
A group of eunuchs ascended the platform carrying trays. On some trays were maps, and on others, edicts. Hundreds of warriors appeared carrying gold, and soon, they began stacking ingots, one by one, upon the steps. Though the term was eighty thousand gold coins, for state trade or reparations between high-ranking nobles, large gold ingots were used instead of coins. Eighty thousand taels of gold was equivalent to fifty-six thousand catties. With each ingot weighing ten catties, over five thousand ingots were piled high on the steps of the battle platform.
At a gesture from Ning Yuanxian, a group of eunuchs from his side also brought out maps and edicts. Hundreds of warriors carried fifty-six thousand catties of gold and stacked it on the steps on the other side of the platform. The platform instantly glittered, looking like a pyramid made of gold. The envoys from the various states present had seen all manner of spectacles, but they trembled at the scene unfolding before their eyes.
*'What a magnificent sight. How much money is that!'*
Both sides had not only refused to save face for the other but had torn it to shreds. In the battle to come, neither nation would stop until the other's army was completely annihilated.
“Verify the maps!”
Prince Yan led the imperial envoys to verify the maps presented by Yue and Chu. The maps clearly marked which territories would be ceded—an area extending twenty li from the border—and which twenty-three fortresses were included. Once the border battle was over, the victor would immediately take possession of the territory twenty li beyond the border and dispatch troops to garrison it. There was absolutely no room to evade or negotiate the outcome.
“Verify the edicts!”
These were edicts of apology, written by the King of Yue and the King of Chu respectively. The monarch of the losing side would not only have to read this edict of apology before the masses, but its contents would be spread throughout the world. The king who wrote it would lose all face.
“Verify the gold!”
The delegation from the Great Yan Empire personally selected several ingots from both sides for inspection, checking their purity and weight. After a quarter of an hour, all verifications were complete. Prince Yan of the Empire made one final attempt at mediation.
“King of Yue, King of Chu. When soldiers clash, swords know no eyes. Harmony should be cherished above all!”
Of course, these words of mediation were merely a formality. There were instances in history where battles were called off at the very last moment. Hearing this, King Chu laughed viciously in his heart.
*'How could I resist eating such a large, juicy piece of meat laid out before me?'*
“The bow has been drawn; the arrow must be loosed.”
King Chu spoke, but King Ning Yuanxian of Yue simply nodded without a word. Prince Yan said,
“Then let the battle officially begin!”
King Chu's blood boiled within him.
*'This border battle is one we are certain to win, a battle with no risk of defeat. But it will also be the starting point of our Chu's path to supremacy. From this day forward, Chu will officially suppress Yue and establish itself as the hegemon of the southern Great Yan Dynasty. As for Yue? It's a state on the verge of collapse. Ning Yuanxian, did you think I would be satisfied if you willingly handed over those benefits? Did you think I would let you go? You're dreaming. The day my proud army sweeps across the south will be the day your State of Yue is destroyed. Ning Yuanxian, just you wait. In a moment, my grand army will slaughter every last one of your two thousand useless soldiers. Just try not to collapse from a stroke again!'*
* * *
Dum, dum, dum, dum.
The sound of drums echoed at a steady beat.
“Army of Chu, advance!”
A herald shouted, waving a military banner.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The grand army of Chu made its entrance. Two thousand elite infantrymen, so heavily armored that not even their teeth were visible. They were battle-hardened soldiers with extreme combat prowess. In recent years, they had fought against the State of Liang, the new State of Jian, and various states of the Western Regions, achieving nine victories in ten battles. They were the elite of the elite. These two thousand men formed up in twenty orderly phalanxes.
Where the army passed, even birds and insects fell silent, hiding in crevices and trembling. From a great distance, one could sense the astonishing killing intent emanating from them. Moreover, they looked at everyone as if they were already dead. A single glance was enough for everyone to see that the combat strength of these two thousand elite Chu soldiers surpassed even Yue's finest Imperial Guard. An army after a war is completely different from one before it, and an army that has survived amidst piles of corpses is even more different from an ordinary one.
But why had Chu only mobilized two thousand men? Could it be that King Chu intended to fight fairly? Just as the onlookers were wondering, the ground began to shake, and a troop of cavalry surged forward like a tidal wave. Three thousand armored horsemen charged into the hunting grounds in an orderly and imposing manner. Their momentum was like a dark cloud rolling overhead, like a towering wave crashing down. Everyone looked at King Chu in disbelief.
*'Is this real? Not only did he mobilize two thousand of Chu's most elite soldiers, but also three thousand heavy cavalry? Isn't this too much? The two thousand Chu soldiers alone could crush Yue's two thousand new recruits in an instant. But to bring heavy cavalry into the fray... they'd be unstoppable. If they charged into the enemy lines, they would break Yue's new army as easily as snapping rotten wood.'*
King Chu's intention was crystal clear. The two thousand elite soldiers would engage in combat, while the three thousand heavy cavalry would stand behind the lines to support them. The three thousand heavy cavalry would likely not engage in the slaughter themselves; they were there as a contingency. In the border battle, Chu was allowed to mobilize five thousand troops. However, having heard that Yue had only managed to gather two thousand new recruits from the dregs of society, King Chu felt that winning with all five thousand troops would be dishonorable.
*'Let's make it a two-thousand-versus-two-thousand battle. Against Yue's two thousand useless new recruits, Chu wouldn't even need two thousand elites; two hundred would be enough. Even fighting two thousand against two thousand, we could win in an instant with our eyes closed!'*