722

“My lord!”

A moment later, Meng Hun appeared before Jiang Pengji inside the tent. His forehead was covered with warm sweat.

“Please rise,” Jiang Pengji said. “I invited you here to discuss the Mengs. You have worked for the Mengs for many years, so you must know a lot about them. I would like to hear what you have to say regarding…”

Jiang Pengji got to the point right away, briefing him about the situation at the Jiamen Pass and her own theory.

Meng Hun put on a look of deep pondering. Based on what he knew about Meng Zhan, the man’s plans were unlikely to be that simple.

Meng Hun’s response showed that he really was experienced and sophisticated when it came to battle-related issues. “It’s hard to say. Meng Zhan is known for his crafty mind and clever schemes. It’s almost impossible to figure out what his plans really are. As the gentlemen here have estimated, it may take us 10 to 15 days to break Jiamen Pass. Can Prince Changshou conquer that many places and occupy the imperial city in Chenzhou within that period? If not, as soon as the alliance breaks through Jiamen Pass, it will only take one or two days to catch up with Prince Changshou’s forces. By then, their victory will not be so guaranteed in open battles.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si agreed with Meng Hun. Prince Changshou must have something else planned.

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Jiang Pengji said, “Their plan must be to divide their forces.”

The other three nodded their agreement.

They might use their main force to distract the alliance while sending their elite squad to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou.

“If that’s true, the imperial city is in great danger!” When Feng Zhen got down to business, his usual unruliness disappeared and gave way to complete seriousness. “Prince Changshou must have considered timing when he made the plan. Perhaps, by the time the alliance breaks through Jiamen Pass, Prince Changshou will have taken over Chenzhou and abducted the emperor. He then could threaten the emperor’s life to exchange for the throne. In that case…”

Feng Zhen did not finish. Everyone’s face dropped.

If that really was Prince Changshou’s plan, the alliance would be in real danger.

Jiang Pengji knitted her eyebrows and revealed some even worse news. “I might know why the Mengs helped Prince Changshou.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si were both puzzled, wondering why she’d changed the subject.

Meng Hun seemed to get it. He clenched his fists as his expression darkened. Hatred was about to rush out of his throat.

“Because of Meng Liang?”

“Yep. Could be. Chances are that Meng Zhan concluded that Meng Liang’s death had something to do with us. If Prince Changshou took the throne with his help, he would take a lot of credit and become a very powerful man. He would definitely make the Liu family pay,” Jiang Pengji said, her eyes sparkling fiercely. “Fine! Even if the Mengs don’t mess with us, we will confront them sooner or later. The years of conflict between us need closure.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si both looked lost.

“Who’s Meng Liang, my lord?”

“Meng Zhan’s beloved son. I killed him,” Jiang Pengji said.

What?

Their lord killed Meng Zhan’s son?

When did that happen?

Meng Hun looked guilty.

“If it had not been for me, my lord would not have killed that b*stard…”

“Nonsense!” Jiang Pengji said. “I do not regret killing that son of a b*tch. So what if the Mengs are mad at us? Even if he wants to bet everything on Prince Changshou to take out the Liu family with Changshou’s help, let’s wait and see if the gods are on his side or not!”

Even if she had never killed Meng Liang, other issues between the Meng family and Liu family had been going on for a long time. Issues that needed solving.

Feng Zhen tapped his knee with his finger. “If Prince Changshou has really divided his forces and sent out an elite squad to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou, the force they sent out must be of at most 20,000 men. If we go around Jiamen Pass, we may still make it. As long as they haven’t gotten hold of the emperor, we still have a chance.”

“If we decide to take action, we’ll need to notify the alliance leader. My lord, should we…”

“Get the horse ready. I’m talking to Xu Pei,” Jiang Pengji said with her usual determination.

Before taking the position of the alliance leader, Xu Pei had pictured the job as being nice and satisfying. The reality turned out to be the opposite. Now he was more than overwhelmed.

Having listened to the lords fighting all day, he thought he was going deaf.

Just when he was finally about to take a break, someone outside the tent reported that Liu Xi was there to see him.

Xu Pei bucked up; it wasn’t appropriate to refuse Liu Xi.

“Hurry, have my dear young brother Liu come in!”

After brief greetings, Jiang Pengji got straight down to business.

“You look a little concerned. Still worried about the alliance forces’ arguments?”

Xu Pei let out a long sigh. “You know me, my dear younger brother. That really is the reason. They’ve argued the whole day and we still don’t have a clue as to who should do the spearheading.”

Jiang Pengji then gave her advice. “Well then, what if we have each force send part of their force out for the attack? That should be fair. The arrangement will, of course, be based on the size of each force. No matter what, the alliance is already here. We can’t just sit here forever and never make a move, right?”

Xu Pei’s headache was instantly alleviated. His young brother Liu had turned out to be way better than those excuse-making buck-passing guys.

But of course, he would change his mind very soon.

“I have one more favor to ask,” Jiang Pengji said.

Xu Pei’s eyelid twitched. He put on a soft smile and asked, “Whatever you need. Tell me.”

Jiang Pengji then told him what their plan was. She asked to take her 10,000 men to go around Jiamen Pass.

Xu Pei complained to himself that this alliance leader job was way too hard.

Yang Jian had threatened to withdraw from the alliance not long ago. It had taken him a lot of effort to get him back. Now Liu Xi wanted to go solo too? What was the matter with them?

“Well, what you’ve told me, my young brother, is still only your theory,” Xu Pei said. “There’s no solid evidence to prove that Prince Changshou plans to divide his forces to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou. If that turns out to be the case, then, of course, that’s awesome. But if that’s not what’s really happening, don’t you worry that others will blame you for this? So the way I see it, we’d better plan for the long run. How about we give it some time and send more scouts to check it out?”

Jiang Pengji, determined, her face glowing with justice, did not give up.

“This is too urgent to wait. To keep the imperial court safe, I would go through fire and water and do whatever it takes.”

Xu Pei outwardly kept his cool, but he was quite frustrated.

“If you leave in the middle of the mission and act on your own, how am I supposed to explain it to the other forces?”

Jiang Pengji compressed her lips, staring at Xu Pei.

As they were locked in this stalemate, a soldier outside reported that Yang Jian wanted to see Xu Pei.

Xu Pei hadn’t seen that coming. What was he doing here?

Had he found the arguing at the meeting earlier annoying and now wanted to make another scene?

“Please have County Military Chief Yang come in.”

Yang Jian hadn’t shown up alone. A young man wearing a bamboo-green Confucian gown followed him in. It was Yan Lin, a scholarly advisor.

Jiang Pengji furrowed her brows upon seeing them.

Did those two have the same plan as her?

“My lord!”

A moment later, Meng Hun appeared before Jiang Pengji inside the tent. His forehead was covered with warm sweat.

“Please rise,” Jiang Pengji said. “I invited you here to discuss the Mengs. You have worked for the Mengs for many years, so you must know a lot about them. I would like to hear what you have to say regarding…”

Jiang Pengji got to the point right away, briefing him about the situation at the Jiamen Pass and her own theory.

Meng Hun put on a look of deep pondering. Based on what he knew about Meng Zhan, the man’s plans were unlikely to be that simple.

Meng Hun’s response showed that he really was experienced and sophisticated when it came to battle-related issues. “It’s hard to say. Meng Zhan is known for his crafty mind and clever schemes. It’s almost impossible to figure out what his plans really are. As the gentlemen here have estimated, it may take us 10 to 15 days to break Jiamen Pass. Can Prince Changshou conquer that many places and occupy the imperial city in Chenzhou within that period? If not, as soon as the alliance breaks through Jiamen Pass, it will only take one or two days to catch up with Prince Changshou’s forces. By then, their victory will not be so guaranteed in open battles.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si agreed with Meng Hun. Prince Changshou must have something else planned.

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Jiang Pengji said, “Their plan must be to divide their forces.”

The other three nodded their agreement.

They might use their main force to distract the alliance while sending their elite squad to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou.

“If that’s true, the imperial city is in great danger!” When Feng Zhen got down to business, his usual unruliness disappeared and gave way to complete seriousness. “Prince Changshou must have considered timing when he made the plan. Perhaps, by the time the alliance breaks through Jiamen Pass, Prince Changshou will have taken over Chenzhou and abducted the emperor. He then could threaten the emperor’s life to exchange for the throne. In that case…”

Feng Zhen did not finish. Everyone’s face dropped.

If that really was Prince Changshou’s plan, the alliance would be in real danger.

Jiang Pengji knitted her eyebrows and revealed some even worse news. “I might know why the Mengs helped Prince Changshou.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si were both puzzled, wondering why she’d changed the subject.

Meng Hun seemed to get it. He clenched his fists as his expression darkened. Hatred was about to rush out of his throat.

“Because of Meng Liang?”

“Yep. Could be. Chances are that Meng Zhan concluded that Meng Liang’s death had something to do with us. If Prince Changshou took the throne with his help, he would take a lot of credit and become a very powerful man. He would definitely make the Liu family pay,” Jiang Pengji said, her eyes sparkling fiercely. “Fine! Even if the Mengs don’t mess with us, we will confront them sooner or later. The years of conflict between us need closure.”

Feng Zhen and Yang Si both looked lost.

“Who’s Meng Liang, my lord?”

“Meng Zhan’s beloved son. I killed him,” Jiang Pengji said.

What?

Their lord killed Meng Zhan’s son?

When did that happen?

Meng Hun looked guilty.

“If it had not been for me, my lord would not have killed that b*stard…”

“Nonsense!” Jiang Pengji said. “I do not regret killing that son of a b*tch. So what if the Mengs are mad at us? Even if he wants to bet everything on Prince Changshou to take out the Liu family with Changshou’s help, let’s wait and see if the gods are on his side or not!”

Even if she had never killed Meng Liang, other issues between the Meng family and Liu family had been going on for a long time. Issues that needed solving.

Feng Zhen tapped his knee with his finger. “If Prince Changshou has really divided his forces and sent out an elite squad to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou, the force they sent out must be of at most 20,000 men. If we go around Jiamen Pass, we may still make it. As long as they haven’t gotten hold of the emperor, we still have a chance.”

“If we decide to take action, we’ll need to notify the alliance leader. My lord, should we…”

“Get the horse ready. I’m talking to Xu Pei,” Jiang Pengji said with her usual determination.

Before taking the position of the alliance leader, Xu Pei had pictured the job as being nice and satisfying. The reality turned out to be the opposite. Now he was more than overwhelmed.

Having listened to the lords fighting all day, he thought he was going deaf.

Just when he was finally about to take a break, someone outside the tent reported that Liu Xi was there to see him.

Xu Pei bucked up; it wasn’t appropriate to refuse Liu Xi.

“Hurry, have my dear young brother Liu come in!”

After brief greetings, Jiang Pengji got straight down to business.

“You look a little concerned. Still worried about the alliance forces’ arguments?”

Xu Pei let out a long sigh. “You know me, my dear younger brother. That really is the reason. They’ve argued the whole day and we still don’t have a clue as to who should do the spearheading.”

Jiang Pengji then gave her advice. “Well then, what if we have each force send part of their force out for the attack? That should be fair. The arrangement will, of course, be based on the size of each force. No matter what, the alliance is already here. We can’t just sit here forever and never make a move, right?”

Xu Pei’s headache was instantly alleviated. His young brother Liu had turned out to be way better than those excuse-making buck-passing guys.

But of course, he would change his mind very soon.

“I have one more favor to ask,” Jiang Pengji said.

Xu Pei’s eyelid twitched. He put on a soft smile and asked, “Whatever you need. Tell me.”

Jiang Pengji then told him what their plan was. She asked to take her 10,000 men to go around Jiamen Pass.

Xu Pei complained to himself that this alliance leader job was way too hard.

Yang Jian had threatened to withdraw from the alliance not long ago. It had taken him a lot of effort to get him back. Now Liu Xi wanted to go solo too? What was the matter with them?

“Well, what you’ve told me, my young brother, is still only your theory,” Xu Pei said. “There’s no solid evidence to prove that Prince Changshou plans to divide his forces to strike the imperial city in Chenzhou. If that turns out to be the case, then, of course, that’s awesome. But if that’s not what’s really happening, don’t you worry that others will blame you for this? So the way I see it, we’d better plan for the long run. How about we give it some time and send more scouts to check it out?”

Jiang Pengji, determined, her face glowing with justice, did not give up.

“This is too urgent to wait. To keep the imperial court safe, I would go through fire and water and do whatever it takes.”

Xu Pei outwardly kept his cool, but he was quite frustrated.

“If you leave in the middle of the mission and act on your own, how am I supposed to explain it to the other forces?”

Jiang Pengji compressed her lips, staring at Xu Pei.

As they were locked in this stalemate, a soldier outside reported that Yang Jian wanted to see Xu Pei.

Xu Pei hadn’t seen that coming. What was he doing here?

Had he found the arguing at the meeting earlier annoying and now wanted to make another scene?

“Please have County Military Chief Yang come in.”

Yang Jian hadn’t shown up alone. A young man wearing a bamboo-green Confucian gown followed him in. It was Yan Lin, a scholarly advisor.

Jiang Pengji furrowed her brows upon seeing them.

Did those two have the same plan as her?