Chapter 631
Chapter 631
After saving Mulan, Wu Daozi didn't even stay for half a day before immediately leaving the Marquis of Xuanwu's estate. She left with only a single parting remark.
“Give me ten vials of your blood. And when I need you in the future, you must come running.”
Shen Lang willingly had ten vials of his blood drawn and gave them to her. Soon after, Wu Daozi was gone, and Shen Lang never got to ask the question buried in his heart.
‘Master, how exactly did you extract my prostate fluid back then?’
* * *
That night, Shen Lang took a comfortable bath, changed his clothes, and collapsed onto the bed, too exhausted to move. Over the past month, he had rushed over thousands of miles, leaving him with no strength left in his body; he felt as if he couldn't even lift an object weighing half a pound. Despite having made ample preparations, the continuous forced march had chafed his thighs raw and bloody. Shen Lang had never truly suffered like this before. Previously, his focus on saving Mulan had been so intense that he hadn't felt the pain, but now it burned like fire.
Bing'er carefully applied ointment to Shen Lang's wounds. She had originally intended to use her special techniques, but seeing her husband in this state, she decided against it. After applying the ointment, he changed into a loose robe, and two lovely, adorable babies crawled beside him. Shen Mi was almost a year old, while Shen Ye was not yet two months. A normal baby could only crawl after six months, but Shen Ye had started crawling before he was even two months old, making him seem like a little prodigy. Shen Lang had no strength left, but upon seeing his cute baby, he couldn't resist hugging Shen Mi.
‘Daddy's precious daughter. So much has happened; it's already been six months since I last held you.’
When he was in the capital, Shen Lang had held Shen Mi every day, barely able to put her down. Shen Mi opened her dark, clear eyes and looked at Shen Lang seriously.
“Dada..., Dada...”
After calling for her father, the baby even clapped her hands. She already had eight teeth. Shen Lang's heart swelled. He had somehow missed so many moments of his baby's growth.
‘Once a person has a family, don't they have to divide their heart into pieces? A piece for their parents, a piece for their wife, a piece for their children?’
Shen Ye, full of energy, crawled excitedly all over the large bed by himself, closely observing the bedsheets as he went. Then he lifted his head and saw his father holding only his older sister and not him. He immediately flipped over to sit up, pouted his little lips, and began to wail loudly. A baby who was only two months old could flip over and sit up on his own. Seeing her younger brother cry, Shen Mi pointed at Shen Ye with her chubby little hand and said,
“Baby, baby...”
Shen Lang couldn't help but kiss Shen Mi's face again.
“My baby is so amazing!”
Shen Mi started clapping her hands by herself again. When Shen Ye saw this, he deliberately gasped for breath and cried even harder. Bing'er shot Shen Lang a glare, then went over and picked up Shen Ye.
“Let's ignore our bad daddy. Mommy loves baby Xiao Ye.”
But no matter how Bing'er tried to soothe him, Shen Ye wouldn't stop crying. Bing'er had no choice but to place Shen Ye on Shen Lang's other side, and Shen Lang held the baby with his left arm. In that instant, Shen Ye's crying stopped abruptly. He even used his little hand to push his sister, who was being held next to him.
* * *
The next day, his father-in-law was both overjoyed and frowning. The joy was, of course, because Mulan was better. The frown was because of the official documents in his hand. To be precise, it was due to three documents: one from the Grand Secretariat, one from the Privy Council, and one from the Area Command of Tiannan Province. The document from the Privy Council was personally written by the Royal Uncle Ning Ji, and the one from the Area Command of Tiannan Province was personally written by Zhu Rong. Both contained the same request: for the Marquis of Xuanwu to set an example for the nobles of the realm and dispatch troops to the second battlefield. The first battlefield was the State of Nanguo; the second was the defensive line in Tiannan Province.
After the fall of Su Nan, only two marquises remained among the old nobility of the State of Yue: Zhong Yao and Jin Zhuo. Zhong Yao was currently leading an army of over a hundred thousand to defend against the State of Chu, so it weighed on Jin Zhuo's mind that he, the other marquis, had not sent troops. He felt he also bore responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation. Previously, the war with the State of Nanguo was considered a minor conflict to quell a rebellion. Moreover, the Jin Clan was facing its own crisis, so it was understandable that they didn't dispatch troops. But now, with the fate of the nation at stake, Jin Zhuo felt it was his duty to send his army. In his letter, Zhu Rong addressed Jin Zhuo as 'brother' at every turn, requesting that he dispatch two thousand men and even guaranteeing that these soldiers would not be sent to the Nanguo battlefield but would only be used to defend Tiannan Province.
But how many private soldiers did the Jin Clan, which had grown more powerful over the past year or two, currently possess? A total of six thousand. That's right. The Jin Clan still only maintained that many soldiers. After taking control of Raging Tide City, the Jin Clan had poured all its energy and resources into developing its naval fleet. With those six thousand troops, they had to defend both the Marquis of Xuanwu's estate and Raging Tide City. Given his old temperament, Jin Zhuo would have already taken two thousand private soldiers and left for Tiannan Province. But now, he had to ask for Shen Lang's opinion.
Shen Lang told him,
“Father-in-law, you should just ignore it. This war in Nanguo is being completely orchestrated by the Crown Prince's faction; there's no need for us to get involved.”
Marquis Jin Zhuo asked,
“Lang'er, do you think we will lose this war?”
Shen Lang stood before a large map and said,
“The Zhu Clan has invested countless funds, materials, and political resources into this war. One hundred and fifty thousand troops are gathered on the Nanguo battlefield, and another hundred thousand are on the defensive line in Tiannan Province. They've painted quite a grand picture!”
It was indeed a grand picture, and the situation had developed beyond many people's expectations. Previously, Zhang Chong had told the King that they needed to reinforce the Nanguo battlefield with one hundred and fifty thousand troops just to maintain the status quo. But the King had said that he couldn't mobilize that many soldiers at the time, that even if the State of Yue went completely bankrupt, he couldn't muster one hundred and fifty thousand troops.
With Shen Lang's help, the King had acquired an unprecedented amount of military funding, but even so, he had only reinforced the Nanguo battlefield with eighty thousand troops initially, and another twenty thousand later, for a total of one hundred thousand. The subsequent establishment of the Tiannan defensive line was entirely the work of the Zhu Clan. Where did those hundred thousand troops come from? Some were mercenaries hired by the Zhu Clan with their own money. The rest were soldiers raised after the Zhu Clan used its political resources to squeeze half the State of Yue dry.
On his way home, Shen Lang had even seen Xuanwu City mobilizing a thousand soldiers. The Xuanwu City garrison was truly a rear-echelon force. Not only that, but the Zhu Clan also used its political prestige to appeal to the nobles of the realm to dispatch their armies. Of course, this came at a price. Not just monetary payment—the real price they would pay was future official positions in the court and as provincial governors.
For these aristocratic factions, sending their private soldiers was, in a sense, an investment in the Crown Prince. Everyone knew that the fate of the nation rested on the war in Nanguo, and that winning this war would be an unparalleled achievement, one that would make the Crown Prince's position unshakeable. If the Crown Prince were to ascend the throne in the future, these nobles could reap ten times their investment. By paying with future political capital, the Zhu Clan had assembled an army of two hundred and fifty thousand in the south.
So, where did the funds to maintain such a large army come from? From the Hidden Yuan Society, of course. The Hidden Yuan Society had nothing but money, and while they wouldn't lend to Ning Yuanxian, they gladly lent to Crown Prince Ning Yi. They saw this war as a battle of the State of Yue's two hundred and fifty thousand against the Qiang Kingdom's one hundred thousand. Furthermore, since Yue was on the defensive and held fortified cities, they believed it was a war they were bound to win.
Shen Lang said,
“If the State of Yue simply defends its cities and doesn't get greedy for a decisive victory, it will turn into a long war of attrition. They wouldn't lose that way, but neither the Crown Prince nor the Zhu Clan can wait that long. They don't want to just *not lose*—they want a great victory!”
It was undeniable that politics determined the outcome of war. The Crown Prince's faction was now in a position where they couldn't dismount the horse they were riding. The King had greatly elevated the Third Prince's status, so if the Crown Prince didn't achieve a great victory in this war, his position could truly be in jeopardy. Reality was pressuring him to seize victory at all costs. Otherwise, the world would judge the Crown Prince as incompetent for failing to eliminate the Qiang Kingdom's one hundred thousand barbarian soldiers despite mobilizing two hundred and fifty thousand of his own.
“There is only one crucial factor in the current military situation: the Yue army must only defend and not attack! On my journey through the Great Southern Prefecture and the State of Nanguo, I observed the Qiang army up close! They are certainly not a well-organized or disciplined force. However, their individual combat prowess is truly overwhelming, far surpassing that of the Yue army. In a siege, the Qiang army will suffer losses. But if our forces leave the cities and enter the mountains, fields, or forests—or the territory of the Great Southern Kingdom—the Yue army will be utterly annihilated!”
“Is it that serious? The State of Yue has a grand army of two hundred and fifty thousand, does it not?”
“In that environment, numbers are meaningless. It's all vast mountains and dense jungles; you can't even deploy a formation of thirty to fifty thousand, let alone two hundred fifty thousand. Moreover, once you enter the jungle, it becomes the Qiang army's world. They move like wolves, tigers, and leopards—like venomous snakes. No matter how many soldiers Yue has, only death awaits them there. The warriors of the Shaman Tribe are incredibly strong. They traverse mountains, fields, and forests as if they were flat ground, and their archery is superb.”
“Then, if the Qiang army knows it cannot win a siege, why did they come to attack the three cities of Nanguo?”
“To lure the snake out of its hole! Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao are both veteran generals. Recently, they've been turtled up, only defending and never venturing outside the city walls. So, the Qiang army's move to attack the cities with a hundred thousand troops is to use themselves—their entire army—as bait to lure them out!”
“Will Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao fall for his scheme?”
“If they were in supreme command, they wouldn't. Those two are the type of cautious commanders who would rather achieve no merit than make a mistake. But if the Crown Prince goes to the Nanguo battlefield, everything changes. The bigger the bait, the more certain it is that the Yue army will rush out to destroy the Qiang army, annihilate the Great Southern Kingdom, and achieve an unparalleled victory! That will be the Yue army's final day.”
Jin Zhuo was silent for a long time before speaking.
“Shen Lang, then shouldn't you submit a memorial to His Majesty?”
“Yes, of course I will! And not only will I submit a memorial, but His Highness Ning Zheng must also make his voice heard in the court.”