Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
News of the battle spread like wildfire, and after only one night, without even a single defeated soldier having made it to the north coast of the Xiaoyao Lake, news about the terrible loss of the Golden Roc Army had already reached the capital of the Hui Kingdom. The rumor-mongers sounded extremely convincing, leading everyone in the city to believe them. The entire capital immediately fell into an apocalypse-like state of chaos.
It was a unique city that was filled with the royal families of each nation as well as speculators with complicated backgrounds. Most of them had placed huge stakes on the Golden Roc Army winning and never prepared themselves for the probability that things could turn out the other way.
As dawn just began breaking, a coach raced through the city gates. The horsekeeper was dressed shabbily and seemed to have been dragged out of bed into the driver’s seat. The guards at the gates were perturbed, but very quickly, one of them managed to recognize the coach. “Doesn’t that belong to the King of the An Kingdom? Could it be that the Dragon King has been defeated and he’s in a hurry to snatch the throne back for himself?”
The truth could not be further away from his theory.
The old King of the An nation created a fleeing frenzy with his actions. Before noon, the gates were already packed with people as coaches jostled past each other. There would occassionally be valuable items falling to the ground from all the commotion.
Those that managed to leave with their possessions were considered lucky. Many more who had come to try their luck now found themselves in a dilemma. They were already robbed of their livestock, which had not amounted to much anyway, and most of their goods were left behind in the city. If they left, they would be left with nothing, but it was also too dangerous to stay.
War could also serve as a business opening that, needless to say, was snapped up by the bigger suppliers, but it was also beneficial for the smaller businesses. Soldiers, who were literally putting their lives at stake in a bid to earn a living, were always feeling particularly generous before and after battles, attracting businessmen and prostitutes who were smart enough to sense a business opportunity.
Everyone was worried and tried to encourage each other. “The Dragon army also needs its share of good wine and women. We’re unlike the Meng family; we don’t have to serve only the Golden Roc Army. As long as they’re paying customers, we’ll treat them equally well. The Dragon King has no reason to ill treat us.”
It just so happened that the Meng family of Jade City reacted even more quickly than the old King of the An nation. A few days ago, they had sent out a large shipment, and rumor had it that it was made up entirely of chests full of silver and gold. It turned out that the salary doled out to the soldiers of the Golden Roc Fort had quickly returned back into the coffers of the Meng family.
At that time, there were still some people who scoffed at Meng Mingshu, thinking that it was against what being a big businessman was all about. Now, they knew that the Meng family had not become the wealthiest merchants in the entire Western Region by luck; they were always adequately prepared for any incident.
Soon, rumors abounded that the Meng family managed to avoid huge losses not because of their skill in business but rather because they were double agents. “Have you heard? Second Young Master Meng personally met with the Dragon King in private and knew how the battle would turn out before it even began. It was due to this reason that he hurriedly ordered huge amounts of his family’s money to be shipped away.”
“Really? But… why would the Dragon King let such an important source of funds slip from his grasp? Wouldn’t it make more sense to make Meng Mingshu’s money stay in this place?”
“About that… that… both parties are bound to have reached an agreement. How did the Dragon army win? Who knows if the Meng family played a part in its victory.”
Meng Mingshu was also pondering the same question. He had not fled and was at the garden in the royal palace, dispatching his people to various shops and banks to prepare their last shipment of goods. When the others in the city could not purchase pack animals even though they had money, the Meng family had scores of these animals. They could sell off the animals now at prices more than 10 times their original value, but it was pointless to get more money at this point in time as they did not have enough time to pack it along with them.
Meng Mingshu had been wondering for a few days about why the Dragon King had sent Shangguan Fei over secretly to greet him, but he still could not understand why. He could sense the Dragon King’s self-confidence through the meeting with Shangguan Fei and thus settled his customers’ outstanding accounts beforehand. He also reduced the prices of his goods and expedited his shipments, finally managing to collect most of the outstanding payments two days before the decisive battle. He then entrusted it to a unit of machetemen from the Golden Roc Fort to escort back to Jade City.
As such, the Meng family managed to earn a considerable amount of money from the war, even though it was slightly lesser than expected.
What Meng Mingshu could not figure out was, “Why would the Dragon King do me such a big favor?”
They had indeed cooperated in Jade City before—he had helped the Dragon King poison his own Fifth Brother, while the Dragon King assassinated his eldest brother at his behest. This paved the way for Meng Mingshu to advance his plan of inheriting his family’s fortune in the future. They even had plans to build up a business network together, but ultimately, it was put on hold due to the Dragon King’s defeat at that time.
On paper, neither of them owed the other party anything now.
Meng Mingshu could not figure the Dragon King out and hoped that somebody else would offer a fresh perspective as he returned to his quarters in the evening.
There would have been a commotion in Hui City, had the arrival of Xiao Fengchai, the most famous prostitute in Jade City, been discovered. She had just arrived the previous night, unfortunately coinciding with the terrible defeat of the Golden Roc Army.
Meng Mingshu told her everything. Their relationship was growing stronger everyday, and they were no longer simply lovers; she was more like his accomplice and advisor now. She would provide him with ideas and plot, already having become his right-hand person.
Also, her beauty was peerless.
Even Meng Mingshu himself did not know her true age, but it was unimportant to him. He had already passed the age where men would dream of romance, and he admired her elegant bearing instead. He felt that she was more charming than all of the prostitutes of Pleasure Alley put together.
Xiao Fengchai was reading a letter. It was only comprised of one page, but she seemed to have spent a long time reading it.
“Who sent you the letter?” asked Meng Mingshu casually, in a tone so normal that made them seem like an old couple.
“The Dragon King,” she replied simply. She did not even try to use any tactic to attract his attention—in fact, this was an even more advanced technique of hers.
Meng Mingshu took out his handkerchief, momentarily stunned.
Xiao Fengchai was a smart woman, and it was her that pointed out to Meng Mingshu the moment she stepped down from her coach that he had made a grave mistake.
“You shouldn’t have shipped away your goods and money so hastily,” she told him last night, before news about the result of the decisive battle had traveled to Hui City. “If the Dragon King really manages to win, you’ll be in deep trouble. There are many ears in the Stone Castle, and news of Shangguan Fei’s visit to you will surely reach there.”
Meng Mingshu regretted his moment of greed, but he could not order his shipments to be returned back. He could only remedy the situation by finding a proper excuse.
She had also been clueless as to the Dragon King’s true intentions by offering his goodwill, right until she opened the letter.
Strictly speaking, the letter was not written by the Dragon King but a merchant with business connections to the Meng family. He had instructed his servant to pass it to Second Young Master Meng, but as Meng Mingshu had been busy at that time, the servant had passed it to Xiao Fengchai instead—he knew that she was trusted to make decisions on Meng Mingshu’s behalf.
The writer of the letter reminded Second Young Master Meng of ‘their deal about number one and five’ and also stressed the importance of the huge bridge at the Hui Kingdom, which spanned across the Xiaoyao Lake.
Meng Mingshu understood the meaning behind ‘one and five’; it was obviously referring to his cooperation with the Dragon King and the assassinations of the Fifth and Eldest Young Masters of the Meng family. He had kept the matter a secret from Xiao Fengchai until the Dragon King’s escape.
As such, Xiao Fengchai also understood the meaning of the letter. It was also how she managed to deduce that the Dragon King who was behind it.
“Is the messenger reliable?” Meng Mingshu asked, a little anxious. He was worried that the Golden Roc Fort was setting him up.
“I’ve sent people to check him out; he seems fine. Nobody else knows about ‘one and five’ as well. I’m more concerned about the bridge mentioned in the letter. The Dragon King seems to value it greatly.”
After all, Xiao Fengchai did not have an in-depth understanding of war and knew little about the strategic importance of the bridge. Meng Mingshu, however, was enlightened. “So this was what the Dragon King wanted me to do for him—he wanted me to protect the bridge.”
“I thought the Dragon army was thinking about destroying it.”
“In the past, yes. But now that the tables have turned, so have the positions of each side. Now, the party that wants the bridge destroyed is the Golden Roc Fort.”
Smooth passage was something coveted by victors. For losers, they would logically want the paths leading to them destroyed as much as possible.
Meng Mingshu did not feel relieved in the least bit after realizing what the Dragon King’s true intentions were. He did not wish to break completely from the Golden Roc Fort now, since it would put his life in danger.
“The Dragon King is giving you a choice. He’s made his stand known, and now it’s your turn,” Xiao Fengchai told him. She had managed to guess what he was thinking about.
Meng Mingshu lowered his head as he remained deep in thought and raised it only after a long while, still undecided. “What should I do?”
“The best way to handle this would be to protect the bridge without anyone knowing that it was you who did it. I believe there will be a fair share of people in Hui City wanting to get in the Dragon King’s good books now?”
Meng Mingshu suddenly thought of an idea on the spot.
At the same time, in a room not far from Meng Mingshu, another group of people were plotting to destroy the bridge before the Golden Roc Army.
“We’ll let them kill each other at the south coast. The revival of the Kang Kingdom and the Xiaoyao Lake region shall be decided by the fate of the bridge,” said the Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom. He was so excited that his cheeks were red from exertion.
He was completely siding with Shang Liao, the new King of the Kang nation, now. They had come up with a drastic plan together: to destroy the bridge before the arrival of the defeated Golden Roc army and to send out ships to patrol the lake in an attempt to stop anyone from crossing the lake. Then, they would quickly gather troops and block the two passage ways leading in and out of the Xiaoyao Lake, so as to regain the sovereignty of their kingdom.
“What about those people in the Hui Kingdom?” asked Shang Liao. He was much more composed; he did not feel the need to get overly happy before their plan succeeded. It was hard to predict its outcome, and they would have to be ready to improvise.
“The King of the Hui nation is already close to being driven insane with fear; all he thinks about is escaping along with the Golden Roc Army to Jade City. Everyone under him is worried about their future, and a few high-ranking military officers are willing to serve Your Majesty. I’ve tested them—they’re even willing to support your bid to become the ‘king of the Xiaoyao Lake region’.”
Shang Liao grunted softly. The title had been thought up by the Prime Minister; he had already begun dreaming of becoming the ‘Prime Minister of the Xiaoyao Lake region’ even before their plan had taken shape.
“We’ll make our move between 1 to 3 a.m., otherwise, it’ll be too late. I still feel a little insecure,” said Shang Liao. He had been hiding in the royal palace for many days, almost always staying indoors; he was talking about being insecure about something else.
“Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I assure that Your Majesty will be ‘safe’ when we’re destroying the bridge,” said the Prime Minister.
“I want to see solid proof of that.”
“Yes, you’ll be able to see it very quickly, Your Majesty. At most in another two hours’ time, in fact.”
The proof Shang Liao was referring to was the head of the old King. He did not wish to return back to his life of an ‘ordinary’ member of the royal family after succeeding with his other plans. If that happened, he might even be in trouble for having accomplished more feats than the old King of the Kang nation.
The Prime Minister respectfully took his leave to prepare the ‘proof’. He needed the only navy in the Xiaoyao Lake as well as the new king’s smarts; it was crucial to the success of his entire plan.
Immediately after the Prime Minister left, Shang Liao took out the secret report again. It said that the Dragon King had sent out a 1,000-person unit to set sail across the Xiaoyao Lake, their likely destination the Kang Kingdom.
“It’s not easy to deal with the Dragon King. He acted even sooner than I had expected, but to realize my ambitions, I guess I have to undertake a huge risk at some point in time,” With that in mind, Shang Liao decided that he would go all in.
“After all, how many people in this world would have such a chance?” he thought.
That very same night, both parties who wanted to protect and destroy the bridge respectively were kept busy.
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