Chapter 650
Chapter 650
Eventually, Crown Prince Ning Yi decided to deploy the grand army to the second battlefield for a decisive battle in Tiannan Province. He resolved to force Jin Zhuo to dispatch his troops, ensuring the Jin Clan wouldn't be allowed to sit back and reap the benefits.
'The flames of war are about to engulf Tiannan Province. As the largest and most established noble family there, would it be right for the Jin Clan to refuse to send troops? Once they do, they cannot blame me for wanting to see their blood shed. I will seize this opportunity, this war, to annihilate their entire clan.'
Then, Crown Prince Ning Yi placed a hand on his chest and asked himself: Even at a moment like this, must I think politically? Must I scheme and plot to strike down my political rivals? He soon found a firm answer.
'Yes, I must. This is politics—a world filled with coldness and cunning, where there is no room for naivety or romanticism. Shen Lang is the enemy. When things are going well, I must attack him. When I am facing adversity, I must attack him even more fiercely. Otherwise, he will use this as an opportunity to tear me to shreds.'
Ning Yi asked.
"Have you sent the memorial accusing Shen Lang of arbitrarily releasing Su Nan and colluding with Prince Gong?"
"We have!"
"Good. Write another one! Pin the blame for losing the capital of Nanguo on Shen Lang as well. If he hadn't colluded with Prince Gong, how could we have lost the city so easily?"
However, doing so would require a great deal of imagination. Establishing a causal link between the two would take over a thousand characters. Zhu Lin said.
"Is that even an accusation? It's the truth! Our army had achieved a great victory, but Shen Lang colluded with Prince Gong, planting numerous spies in the Nanguo capital to inform him of the city's vulnerabilities. Furthermore, he poisoned and plotted against our great Yue army, which is how Prince Gong was able to seize the capital and force our main army to relocate to Sicheng. Shen Lang is the main culprit for the loss of the Nanguo capital this time."
'Hah!'
Nangong Ao couldn't help but be impressed.
'Grand Marshal Zhu Lin, you truly live up to your reputation as a military man with a civil official's background. Your skill at shifting blame and framing others has reached its peak.'
This time, Ning Yi chimed in.
"Not only that, but my royal sister, Ning Luo, being captured is also Shen Lang's fault. Wasn't Princess Ning Luo taking medicine prescribed by Shen Lang for a long time?"
Zhu Lin replied.
"Indeed, she was."
"That medicine was poisoned. At the critical moment, the poison took effect, causing Princess Ning Luo to be defeated by Prince Gong and suffer the tragic fate of a captive. This, in turn, led to the loss of Nanguo. Therefore, Shen Lang is the greatest sinner."
Li Nanfeng also couldn't help but be impressed. Crown Prince Ning Yi was truly a prince raised by civil officials; his every instinct was optimized for political maneuvering. He had pushed the art of shifting blame to its absolute limit. They knew this narrative wouldn't deceive King Ning Yuanxian, but it would allow them to gain an advantage amidst the chaos, fool the countless commoners, and the scholars of the realm would surely want to believe such a story. But what about the King? In truth, with an army of over a hundred thousand at their command, even the King would have no choice but to feign ignorance. After all, the entire southern war effort now depended solely on the Zhu Clan's massive army.
'Shen Lang, don't blame me. Who told you to become my enemy? Who told you to be hated by everyone under heaven, to be condemned by all? If you don't take the fall, who will?'
Just then, a group of riders galloped toward them like a volley of arrows. They wore expressions of confusion and panic, and the one at the very front was the commanding general of Sicheng. Crown Prince Ning Yi's heart began to pound again.
'Please, no more bad news. Absolutely not! I really can't take any more of this!'
The warrior galloped right up to Ning Yi and knelt.
"Your Highness, it's a disaster! A disaster! Prince Gong has seized the Sicheng pass!"
Upon hearing those words, everyone froze as if struck by lightning. For a moment, all sound seemed to recede into the distance, the hair on their necks stood on end, and they plunged into an endless, cold darkness. Sicheng was the northernmost city in Nanguo; further north lay the territory of Yue. Crown Prince Ning Yi had originally planned to lead his grand army to garrison Sicheng. But now, even Sicheng had fallen.
'Th-that damn Prince Gong! That bastard. Hasn't this madman finished his games yet? Are you—are you just trying to insult my intelligence? You madman, you absolute madman!'
Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao also felt they had suffered a great humiliation.
'The Nanguo capital is the heart of the state, a city of utmost importance to Prince Gong—his very lifeline. Yet you recaptured it only to immediately turn around and leave for somewhere else? You... weren't you afraid we would attack it? After you left, who in the world is defending the Nanguo capital?'
Zhu Lin asked in a trembling voice.
"How many men did Prince Gong have when he attacked Sicheng?"
The warrior replied.
"About a thousand men. There were roughly two or three hundred collaborators inside the city."
'Collaborators... again?!'
Sicheng was defended by a garrison of about seven thousand. For a force of seven thousand to fall to a mere thousand enemies attacking in concert with collaborators from within... Nangong Ao asked, his voice trembling with rage.
"Are you—are you all useless? Seven thousand men couldn't defeat a thousand?"
The commander of the Sicheng garrison said.
"Prince Gong was too strong. He fought at the head of his soldiers with unparalleled bravery! The people inside Sicheng all rose up in support of him."
For a moment, Crown Prince Ning Yi swayed on his horse, looking as if he might fall.
"Your Highness, Your Highness..."
Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao rushed forward, but Ning Yi managed to stay on his horse, supported by Li Nanfeng at his side. It was a long moment before Ning Yi regained his composure. They were all silent. The three of them had truly been played like puppets in the palm of Prince Gong's hand. Why would Prince Gong secretly abandon the capital to seize Sicheng? Because he had accurately predicted that Ning Yi's great Yue army would be too afraid to attack the Nanguo capital. It was a gamble, but it was also a strategy born from knowing himself and knowing his enemy. Ning Yi, Zhu Lin, and Nangong Ao had all acted exactly as he had foreseen. What seemed like an incredibly risky move was, in fact, an action Prince Gong had taken with complete confidence.
'Humiliating. This is utterly humiliating! What do I do now? What is the next step? Do we continue north to retake Sicheng? Or do we march south to recapture the capital? Or do we flee completely and retreat into Yue territory?'
But they couldn't retreat. The great Yue army was not composed of Shaman warriors; they couldn't march through the deep mountains. The road back to Yue necessarily passed through Sicheng. Otherwise, they would have to make a four-hundred-li detour, heading east to Luoye City, and from there, turn north to enter Yue territory. Once again, Ning Yi was faced with three choices.
Zhu Lin said in a trembling voice.
"We must either march north to attack Sicheng, march south to attack the Nanguo capital, or change direction and make the four-hundred-li detour to Luoye City! Your Highness, you must make a decision."
Crown Prince Ning Yi nearly screamed.
'Damn it, you want me to make the decision again! Before, when things were going smoothly, you told me not to decide. Now that the situation is perilous, you insist that I be the one to decide? I am the Crown Prince. I am a sovereign. Am I supposed to be your shield?'
Ning Yi had reached the point where he feared the very word 'decision.' His last decision had been perfectly predicted by Prince Gong, leading to their current disastrous situation. If he had listened to Zhang Zhao and attacked the Nanguo capital without a second thought, they wouldn't be in this mess. Without Prince Gong, the Nanguo capital would have less than ten thousand defenders; they might have even been able to take it. But in the end, he had feared the wolf before him and the tiger behind him, and now he was trapped in a dilemma.
Zhu Lin said.
"Your Highness, I know it is incredibly difficult to make a decision, but you must. It is too dangerous for the grand army to remain idle in the open field. As dusk falls, the danger will only increase."
That was right; in a few hours, night would fall. Ning Yi truly felt like he was about to break. He never knew making a decision could be this difficult. He had been so brutally mocked by Prince Gong that he had no confidence left. To have his every decision perfectly predicted, to walk right into every trap the enemy set.
"Your Highness, we implore you to make a decision!"
"Your Highness, you must decide!"
Crown Prince Ning Yi finally lost his patience and said in a furious voice.
"Why must I be the one to decide? Do you not have opinions of your own? The State of Yue has nurtured you for decades, yet at this critical moment, you cannot even voice your own counsel?"
Zhu Lin replied in a sorrowful voice.
"Your Highness, we are old, and our thinking has become limited. But Your Highness is young!"
Only then did Ning Yi realize. Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao had also been shattered by Prince Gong and had no confidence left either.
"Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao, come here."
The Crown Prince thought of Zhang Zhao. The opinion he had voiced a few days ago had been correct. A moment later, Zhang Zhao appeared before Ning Yi.
"Zhang Zhao, you tell me. Should we march north and attack Sicheng, or march south and attack the Nanguo capital? Or should we head east to Luoye City?"
Zhang Zhao did not look smug, nor did he say anything about how this was the result of them not listening to him. He wore a grave expression. He, too, was unsure of what decision to make now. Logically, since Prince Gong had only just recaptured Sicheng, he couldn't have many troops under his command. This made it the perfect opportunity to attack Sicheng. If they were lucky, they might even be able to kill Prince Gong right there.
However, Sicheng was a small fortress, one built into the mountains. Without collaborators, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack. To be precise, Sicheng was less a city and more a fortified pass. An army of over a hundred thousand would be unable to deploy its formations there, whereas the Shaman warriors could traverse such terrain as if it were flat ground. On the other hand, with Prince Gong absent from the Nanguo capital, now was the perfect time to attack it. Zhang Zhao was a man of extremes, and since he had previously advocated for attacking the Nanguo capital, he had a certain fixation on it.
"Your Highness, once something is started, it must be finished. Only then can one find a way out even when cornered! If we march south, attack the Nanguo capital, and take it, we can turn this defeat into a victory. No matter what cunning tricks Prince Gong pulls in Sicheng, he won't be able to turn the tables then."
Hearing Zhang Zhao's words, Crown Prince Ning Yi asked.
"But wouldn't that bring us closer to Su Nan's main army? What if he attacks us from the rear?"
Zhang Zhao roared.
"This subject will take fifty thousand troops and guard the rear. As long as I live, Su Nan will not take a single step into our camp!"
At that moment, another thought surfaced in Crown Prince Ning Yi's mind.
'Perhaps we should attack Sicheng directly after all?'
Zhang Zhao bellowed.
"Your Highness, is this fear of everything, this dread of every option, the mark of a future sovereign?"