Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Duodun had been in a foul mood recently. He didn't like the current impa.s.se, but the people around him couldn't think of a clean solution either. He knew the importance of being patient, but he still hoped that some of his subordinates could help relieve some of the pressure on him.
The fight for the throne was not a cause that concerned him alone. The ones who want fame and status must be the first to contribute — this was Duodun's philosophy.
More than half of the pressure on Duodun could be attributed to the Dragon King — the outsider who, originally, hadn't even been qualified to vie with him.
"The Dragon King went to scout out the battlefield?" asked Duodun severely. "Why didn't anyone tell me this earlier? He's already returned and you're only telling me about this now?"
Although Liman and Azheba had been promoted to senior generals, they still acted just as respectfully as they used to before Duodun. But Duodun's other companions now had to take care to avoid making any noise every time they breathed. Everybody clearly understood that their prince's temper wasn't going to cool down before he defeated his opponents.
Since Azheba was responsible for spying on the Dragon King, he lowered his head in remorse, and confessed, "It is my fault. The Dragon King often leaves his tent, and he didn't bring many guards with him this morning. So, I thought that this visit was no big deal and neglected to fulfill my duty."
"You thought?" Duodun tried hard to subdue his anger. He signaled his other companions to leave, leaving only Azheba and Liman in the tent with him. "Do you know why the Dragon King did all that? It's an act! He wants all the troops to get used to this idea that he — the Dragon King — is the leader of this army. This is a… life-or-death fight, and we can't afford to back off a single inch. But because of you, my opponent now has the upper hand."
The blush on Azheba's face extended to his neck as he mumbled repeatedly, "It's my fault."
Liman interjected to say, "I'm afraid that your concern is unnecessary, Your Highness. Not many people know about what the Dragon King did this morning, so it won't exert any strong influence to the troops."
Squinting at Liman, Duodun felt that he was becoming less and less fond of Liman. If it weren't for the fact that Second Consort had highly recommended him, Liman never would have reached such an important position so quickly. "How long has it been since you first met the Dragon King, Liman?"
"A couple of months… maybe half a year."
"Have you seen everything that he has done?"
"Yes."
"Is he an honorable man?"
"Not exactly," answered Liman hesitantly.
"How many unexpected actions has he made since he set foot in the Royal Court?"
"Many."
"If I say that the Dragon King's good at disguising himself as a G.o.d or a ghost, I would be right, right? I heard that it was exactly through these kinds of tricks that he managed to delude the Court Attendants Army."
"Uh-" Liman found this question difficult to answer.
"Humph! You've been deluded by him too," Duodun said disdainfully. "The Dragon King's a formidable opponent. I have to a.s.sume that everything he does has a deeper purpose. Better to be cautious than to be sorry."
"The Dragon King's a very sensible man," said Liman boldly, believing that his duty was not to lavish praise onto the prince, but rather to point out the apparent truth. "All he wants is the Western Regions —specifically speaking, Jade City. The only thing you have to do is focus on your fight against Luoluo and Shulitu. In the end, the Dragon King will naturally ally himself with the strongest one contestant."
Duodun raised his arm and put it on Liman's shoulder, his voice becoming much gentler. "You're right. But you forgot about one thing — the Khan never allies himself with anyone. And the Dragon King will never yield to anybody either. Thus, he's destined to be the enemy of the new Khan. This has nothing to do with where his ambition lies, and neither does it have anything to do with who will succeed to the throne."
The expression on Liman's face changed drastically. He wanted to kneel down, but Duodun firmly grabbed his arms and stopped him from doing so.
"You're right, Your Highness. I was wrong."
Duodun gave a gentle punch to Liman and Azheba's chests — no matter how sick of the situation he was, he could always a.s.sume an air of amiability. He smiled and said, "I might have been too hard on you two. You don't mind, do you?"
"No," the two answered staunchly at the same time.
"Shulitu's just a kid and we don't have to worry about him. We only have two real enemies — Luoluo and the Dragon King."
"Yes. Luoluo and the Dragon King," the two repeated in sync.
An intent look appeared in Duodun's eyes. Although these two people's allegiance to him were not absolute, their core had never changed, which meant they were still useful to him. "If we want to defeat the Dragon King, then we have to be as ruthless and unscrupulous as he is."
Liman and Azheba raised their heads at the same time, both having a premonition that the prince was about to sat something important.
"We have an imminent war before us. Isn't this a bad time to start competing with the Dragon King?" Azheba was confused.
"That's exactly why he won't expect it," explained Duodun patiently. Now that he had put these two subordinates under his complete control, he could disclose some of his true plans to them. "As for Luoluo, I haven't forgotten him. Actually, I've already contacted him."
Transfixed with shock, Liman and Azheba stared at their prince mutely. Neither of them could speak at this moment.
Duodun smiled. Yes, this was the exact effect that he had wanted to see.
"But… " Liman finally spoke. "Your Highness and Luoluo-"
"There will be a fight between us, but not right now. Luoluo doesn't want to waste any time here. He wants to finish this war quickly and then set out to deal with the Central-Plains army in the east. Meanwhile, I want to first eliminate my enemies in the west. So, we made a deal."
"To have the Dragon King die on the battlefield?" Liman could make a general guess about the prince's plan.
"Mm." Duodun turned around, cleaned up the papers on the desk, produced his dagger, and stabbed it into the desk. "Let's say that this is the Middle Corps, consisting of the Second Consort's 10,000 men as well as the 40,000 men a.s.signed to them by Shulitu. That old guy Mo Chu will be in command of them, and you, Azheba will a.s.sist him."
He raised his arm again. Liman and Azheba hurriedly took out their own daggers that they always carried with them.
Duodun stuck the second dagger to the left of his dagger. "This is the left wing, which is positioned in the north. My 60,000 cavalrymen are here, and Liman will command them."
The third dagger was heavily smashed to the right of the two daggers. Duodun pointed at it and said, "This is the right wing, which will consist of Shulitu's less than 50,000 men along with the Dragon King's 20,000 men. Li Shun and that one-armed man will be the commander. The Dragon Army will be positioned right beside Heavenly Mountain as the right wing."
"The reason for this arrangement is because we thought that the Dragon Army wouldn't be effective enough on its own. So, we decided to a.s.sign them to the innermost area," said Liman. So far, Prince Duodun hadn't said anything special yet.
"This place is also a dead end. Fleeing will be the Dragon Army's only choice."
Azheba had also begun to understand the plan. "So we'll let the Dragon Army face Luoluo alone?"
Most of the soldiers in the Dragon Army were new recruits from the Shule Kingdom and they barely had any fighting experience to speak of. They were particularly not adept at horseback archery and were originally only supposed to play a peripheral part in the war. Without their allies' backup, they would surely be wiped out.
Duodun nodded.
After exchanging a brief glance, both Liman and Azheba felt a wave of confusion rise in their minds, though the former spoke first. "Shulitu's army will be the reinforcements of the Dragon King. Are we going to watch him die as well?"
"Of course not. Shulitu's soldiers are my soldiers. I've already made some arrangements. On the right side, Shulitu's troops will be a bluff as they won't join the fight." The more amazed the two people beside him became, the more intense the sense of satisfaction in Duodun's heart was. "And with regards to the Middle Corps, the Second Consort's 10,000 cavalrymen will be under your command, Azheba. You know what to do."
"Yes."
"But your task is more than that. You have to control Mo Chu and order all the troops of the Middle Corps to stay put."
Biting at his lips, Azheba mulled it over for a while before answering, "I can do that."
Duodun gave a heavy slap to his shoulder as he exclaimed, "This is the valiant general I need."
With regard to the left wing, Liman would be the commander and Duodun would be there himself. Thus, they didn't need to discuss anything special about it.
Liman pointed at the area opposite the three daggers, "What if this is all a trap set by Luoluo? If he launches an all-out attack, all three armies will be reduced to a pa.s.sive position."
"Of course, I won't trust Luoluo so easily, which is why we have to be prepared for both eventualities. Besides, Luoluo also gave me a guarantee." Duodun grabbed a ball of waste paper and placed it at the furthest left position. "Here is the Naihang Tribe. They're here as spectators. Luoluo promised me that he would order his Middle Corps and Right Corps to turn around and attack the Naihang Tribe's army as soon as the war starts. This will be the only time that we need to watch on."
"The Naihang Tribe?" Azheba became even more astonished by Duodun's plan.
Duodun pulled a dagger out and stabbed it into that ball of paper, "The Naihang Tribe dared to be arrogant enough to interfere in the compet.i.tion for the throne. Both Luoluo and I want to eliminate them. Luoluo's army will attack them, and we'll open our gates — any soldier of Naihang Tribe will be welcome to surrender to us."
This was a well-planned conspiracy that even Liman couldn't find any flaws in. His only concern was that the Dragon King wouldn't fall for it that easily. "Does the Second Consort know about your plan, Your Highness?"
Duodun's face darkened. "Did the previous Khan tell everything to his woman?"
Liman went quiet, and then Duodun said in a gentler voice, "The Second Consort's a smart woman, but she's been strongly influenced by the Dragon King, and the best move she could come up with was to merely to force the Dragon King into taking my side. We have to keep this plan a secret from her. Once the war starts, any orders from her should be ignored. Understand?"
"I understand," Liman and Azheba answered. Actually, at this moment, this Prince Duodun before them seemed more like the Lord of the Prairie they had always imagined in their mind.
Duodun then said to Liman, "Zhe Su's your father and I'll spare him for your sake. However, the Naihang Tribe must be punished for their arrogance."
"I have made it clear to my father that we will serve our own respective masters. He didn't take Your Highness's side out of consideration for me, and I won't hesitate because of our father-son relations.h.i.+p either."
Duodun nodded in satisfaction and then said to Azheba, "Don't screw this up because of women. I've already forgiven you onc,e and I hope you won't disappoint me again. I'm betting half of my life on you."
Azheba flushed red and wanted to kneel down, but the prince stopped him again. "Please rest a.s.sured, Your Highness. I won't do anything that goes against your interests."
Duodun said to the two, "Both of you appreciate the Dragon King and that's a very normal thing. Actually I myself believe that the Dragon King's a valuable talent. However, he's just too proud, and he is demanding even more than the Naihang Tribe. So, my only course of action is to eliminate him first so that I can focus on my compet.i.tion against Luoluo for the throne. Can you forget the Dragon King for me?"
"Yes," the two almost raced to utter this word.
"Now, the only issue is to incite the Dragon King into starting the war as soon as possible. That way, we can minimize any chances of unexpected trouble. However, this requires our concerted efforts. I heard that the Dragon King brought back two Central Plainsmen. Maybe I can do something with that."
Both Liman and Azheba shared Duodun's opinion. They should either wholeheartedly ally with the Dragon King or kill him in one blow. All of Prince Duodun's previous attempts had failed, but this time, they believed the odds were stacked much heavier in their favor.
That afternoon, Duodun and the others prepared themselves for an intense debate, where their aim was to switch the allied forces' strategy from "confronting the enemies but not fighting them" to "having a showdown as soon as possible."
Unexpectedly, the Dragon King had antic.i.p.ated their move.
"Tomorrow." Gu Shenwei's eyes swept around, looking for potential objectors as he said, "I suggest that we issue a letter of challenge immediately and start the final showdown tomorrow."
