Chapter 642
Chapter 642
“Ning Zheng, Shen Lang, these traitors harm the nation and its people! Conspiring with Lord Su to endanger the ancestral temples and the state—they deserve to be torn limb from limb! Everyone, for the State of Yue and its people, let us kill this traitor!”
At that, dozens of young officials rushed forward in unison, fists flying as they beat Ning Zheng. They truly intended to beat him to death on the spot. At the sight, King Ning Yuanxian was momentarily stunned.
‘To think this is happening again!’
Had Shen Lang been there, he would have exclaimed in surprise, “So it’s finally come to this?” In the annals of Chinese history, brawls in the great hall were not common, but neither were they unheard of. It had happened several times in broad daylight at court, and even a commander of the Embroidered Guard had been brutally beaten to death in the great hall. Such incidents were even more common abroad. The British Parliament has a history of brawls spanning over eight hundred years, where members even drew guns on each other. But in the history of the State of Yue, such an event had occurred only once. The king, initially shocked, quickly erupted in anger.
“Li Zhun, strike them down!”
At Ning Yuanxian's command, Li Zhun led the Inner Guard, rushing in with clubs and fiercely striking the officials who were beating Ning Zheng. In an instant, dozens of officials were beaten to the ground, groaning and covered in blood. When Li Zhun went to help Ning Zheng up, he found him covered in countless wounds, his face a bloody mess. Although Ning Zheng's martial arts were not at the pinnacle, he was skilled enough to easily subdue these civil officials, yet he never retaliated. They had shown him no respect, but he had shown them the courtesy of restraint.
“Arrest all those treasonous scoundrels and throw them into the Supreme Court Prison!”
At Ning Yuanxian's command, dozens of officials were all arrested and dragged to the Supreme Court Prison. However, as they were being taken away, they were treated like heroes by the people.
“Well done! True loyalists! You beat a treacherous villain for the sake of the nation!”
“Damn the traitors!”
“Damn the traitors!”
The dozens of officials who had beaten Ning Zheng instantly became famous. Their names spread throughout the State of Yue in a flash, and countless scholars wrote poems and essays in their praise. Their families enjoyed immense glory, with esteemed officials visiting their homes one after another; they had truly brought honor to their ancestors.
Moreover, even after entering the Supreme Court Prison, they received first-class treatment. The guards of the Supreme Court Prison were the most attuned to power and profit; even Zhang Chong had nearly been tormented to death by them. Yet now, these same guards addressed the detained officials as 'sirs' and 'heroes,' even taking turns buying them wine with their own money. How could that be called a prison? It was as if they had all come to be treated like lords.
Then, on the 29th day of the eleventh month, a memorial sent to the royal palace broke this stalemate. It requested that a grand marshal be immediately dispatched to command the battlefield, as Governor-General Zhu Rong had fallen ill and his life was in danger, leaving no one to direct the larger strategy. The Zhu Clan was truly ruthless. To get the Crown Prince to go south, they had Zhu Rong feign a life-threatening illness. The king would surely dispatch a royal physician, so he had to be genuinely, critically ill. It didn't matter how Zhu Rong would later recover; for now, he had to be on his deathbed, barely breathing.
Soon after, Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao submitted another memorial. They stated that Lord Su's side had nearly exhausted their provisions, and due to poor sanitation, a plague had broken out, causing the number of barbarian troops to dwindle continuously. This, they argued, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to eliminate Lord Su. Finally, the matter had reached an unstoppable point. With Zhu Rong, the overall commander, incapacitated, there was no one to lead the situation. Who should go? No one but the Crown Prince would do. The king let out a long sigh.
* * *
“Ning Yi, I know you wish to go to the Southern Gull Nation. When I stopped you before, it wasn't because I feared you would gain merit, but because I was genuinely worried you would be in danger.”
Crown Prince Ning Yi kowtowed and said.
“Your subject thanks you for your concern, Father.”
Ning Yuanxian said, “Shen Lang is your enemy, but you must still listen to his words. He is loyal to the greater good of the nation. After you go to the Southern Gull Nation, you must be careful, careful, and then careful again.”
The Crown Prince bowed his head and replied, “Your subject will humbly take this to heart.”
“Once you have Lord Su surrounded, driving him back is victory enough. Under no circumstances should the great army of Yue pursue the enemy deep into the Great Nan Nation.”
“Your subject humbly receives Your Majesty's teachings!”
Ning Yuanxian fell silent for a long moment before speaking again.
“Ning Yi, I know you resent me in your heart. But let me be frank with you. Even if you only drive Lord Su away without eliminating him, it will still be a great victory, and your position as Crown Prince will be completely secure.”
The Crown Prince kowtowed and said, “Your subject will do his utmost!”
The next day, the Crown Prince led five thousand cavalrymen south toward the battlefield of the Southern Gull Nation. The king and his ministers saw him off, and the people of the capital also came out to bid the Crown Prince's party farewell. The scene was a magnificent spectacle, boiling with fervor.
“Victory for Yue! Victory for Yue!”
“Annihilate Lord Su! The Crown Prince will be victorious!”
“The traitors will be damned!”
Watching the scene of all the people cheering for him, the Crown Prince felt his heart surge and couldn't help but look at Ning Yuanxian. At that moment, Ning Yuanxian was not standing perfectly straight, making him look slightly hunched. The king was truly exhausted now. Seeing this, Crown Prince Ning Yi sneered inwardly.
‘You've grown old; just wait for me to take your place. Once I return after eliminating Lord Su, no one in this world will be able to stop me—not even you, my royal father! When I go to the Southern Gull Nation this time, I'll have two hundred thousand troops at my command. Who can stop me then? Shen Lang? He's nothing but a rampant clown. My arrival in the Southern Gull Nation is like a flood dragon entering the sea. I, Ning Yi, shall soar like a phoenix this time!’
“Depart!”
At Crown Prince Ning Yi's command, the five thousand cavalrymen majestically rode south. The king stood in place, watching and watching until Ning Yi's back was no longer in sight. Ning Yuanxian found himself looking east and muttered.
“Shen Lang, you wretched brat. I hope your cursed mouth is wrong this time. You wretched, wicked boy!”
Ning Yuanxian entered the grand imperial carriage.
‘Let it be, just let it be! Whether thunder strikes or storms rage, whether glory awaits or I become a traitor to the nation, I shall let it all be!’
* * *
Inside the Estate of the Marquis of Xuanwu.
“Young Master, the Crown Prince has gone south!”
A warrior from the Blackwater Terrace reported, and Shen Lang slowly closed his eyes as if savoring the moment.
‘What a truly grand spectacle. The curtain has finally risen on the great performance! Hahahaha! Ning Yi, I'll just be waiting for news of your army's total annihilation.’
* * *
The Crown Prince led his five thousand cavalrymen south with great speed, marching nearly two hundred li a day in a textbook example of a forced march. They were elite cavalry, so skilled that each man could handle two horses. Moreover, the cavalry column had no need to carry supplies, as provisions were delivered to them from all sides along the way. A hundred li before their arrival, the next post station would already have prepared not only military rations but also hot baths and delicious food. The Crown Prince needed only to stop for a moment to enjoy the lavish treatment.
And that was not all. At every stop, columns of elite knights came to pledge their allegiance. The sons of powerful and noble families in the State of Yue personally brought their clans' most elite warriors, and some even traveled great distances to request joining the procession. They saw this war as a golden opportunity, a stepping stone to reap rewards. With public sentiment currently favoring the Crown Prince, these groups were simply there to earn merit. They believed that making an appearance before the Crown Prince now would yield a tenfold return on their investment.
Everyone knew that the State of Yue's army on the Southern Gull Nation's battlefield numbered over two hundred thousand. Lord Su's barbarian army was less than forty thousand strong, their supplies were cut off, and a plague was rampant. This was a war they couldn't lose even if they wanted to.
Before Crown Prince Ning Yi even reached Tiannan Province, the cavalry following him had swelled to eight thousand. It seemed as though half the nobility of Yue had sent their warriors. Furthermore, whenever the Crown Prince's army passed a city, countless scholars and commoners would invariably come out to greet him. The scholars, of course, came out voluntarily. This was because the Crown Prince's interests were synonymous with the scholars' interests, as his power base was the civil officialdom. The civil officials had even opposed the king to secure the Crown Prince's position. It was unclear how the commoners had been mobilized, but they too showed fervent welcome and support.
Moreover, from the day the Crown Prince left the capital, all the civil officials began to manipulate public opinion. Public opinion grew day by day, portraying the war in the Southern Gull Nation as the greatest war in a century, even claiming it was more important and grander than the Yue-Wu War of two decades ago. They said that winning this war and eliminating Lord Su would bring decades of peace and stability to the State of Yue. While there was some truth to this, the war was exaggerated to the point of being elevated to a holy crusade. The scholars were always eager to stir people into a frenzy with such exquisite words.
When the Crown Prince entered Tiannan Province, the manipulation of public opinion reached its peak, burning ever more fiercely and clamorously. Countless commoners were swept up in the scholars' campaign, becoming intoxicated with excitement. Soon, the Zhu Clan felt they had pushed too hard and tried to cool the atmosphere, but it was impossible. By now, even if the Zhu Clan and the civil officials stopped their campaign, the scholars of Yue had entered a state of self-induced frenzy.
The literati support the Crown Prince, some martial men support the Third Prince, and fools support Ning Zheng. This saying had become deeply ingrained in people's minds. The literati of Yue believed that for the Crown Prince to maintain his current position, all of them had to lend their strength. In truth, they were not fighting for the Crown Prince but for the interests of the scholars, which was why they voluntarily promoted this great decisive battle led by him.
They desperately wrote poems and novels, or paid storytellers to frequent taverns and inns to recount tales of the war in the Southern Gull Nation. In an instant, with tremendous momentum, everyone in the realm was focused on this war. Even the old farmers in the most remote mountains knew that a holy war, upon which the fate of the nation rested, had broken out, that His Highness the Crown Prince himself had gone to war to annihilate the State of Yue's greatest enemy, Lord Su, and that only by destroying the enemy nation in this war could Yue achieve decades of peace and stability. Even fools were shouting loudly in the streets.
“The Crown Prince comes, Lord Su perishes! The Crown Prince comes, Great Nan falls!”
Marching with such immense momentum and hailed by the people, the Crown Prince finally led his cavalry into Tiannan Province.