Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

To the powerful princes and generals, this was an advantageous proposal. However, to the ones that were not as wealthy, this was not an idea that worked in their interest.

Centralizing the command for military supplies meant the risk of someone else controlling the inventory. Naturally, nobody would like to take the short end of the stick.

Jiang Pengji almost choked on her snack. She chugged down a pot of water before she caught her breath.

“Whoever suggested this is a little naïve…”

This was an absolutely terrible suggestion. Ignoring the rest of the crowd, even Li Yun and Dian Yan could tell it was an unrealistic idea.

One’s soldiers, food supplies, and horses… why would anyone willingly let others take control of their assets?

Of course, one couldn’t rule out the possibility that a saint might be willing to do it. However, each faction of the alliance had their own agendas and would fight over the smallest affairs. Why would they want to suffer any losses?

Even if everyone agreed to this proposal, the differences in wealth and assets among them would still exist. What would happen if someone decided to lie about the numbers and keep a reserve of resources for themselves?

It was unfortunate that this idea was way too naïve and would be nearly impossible to properly execute in practice.

Jiang Pengji looked over curiously and saw that the foolish speaker was sitting behind Yang Jian, suggesting that he was a man from Yang Jian’s camp.

“Sit down rebel, there’s no place for you to speak here!”

Yang Jian’s elderly face was reddened in anger and embarrassment.

Jiang Pengji realized immediately that this fool was actually Yang Jian’s son.

What a family tragedy to have such a naïve and foolish son!

“Father? I…” Yang Tao wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong. He stuttered a little as he spoke in guilt.

He wanted to ask where he’d made a mistake, but he was scared that dumb questions would further enrage his old man.

A particularly handsome young scholar sat beside Yang Tao, his face revealing a difficult but faint smile.

“Zheng Ze, sit down.”

The young scholar put his hand to his forehead discreetly—how could such a stupid and naïve person be his partner?

Yang Tao lowered his head pitifully and sat down like a wronged child under the joint attack of his father and best friend.

Jiang Pengji held back her laughter. “So he’s Yang Jian’s son. What an interesting person.”

Liu She gave a small, careless response while keeping his gaze on Yang Tao for quite a few moments, observing something.

He lowered his gaze slightly. The look in his eyes carried a hint of complicated emotion.

“While he seems to be lacking in intelligence from the outside, this child seems to have remarkable talent… his potential is limitless…”

Jiang Pengji looked at Liu She in shock before turning back to Yang Tao to laugh in ridicule.

“Lacking intelligence is quite right, but as for being ‘remarkable’… pardon my inability to comprehend, but I really don’t see it in him. This person is like a clean sheet of paper that you can see through at a glance. It’s quite rare to find someone like him. I thought Chief Yang’s son would also be a respectable young general, but now that I’ve seen him, he is completely different than what I expected. Instead, he looks like the silly child of a landlord.”

Liu She laughed. “Perhaps oblivion and naivety are a blessing to them.”

The father and son chatted casually in low voices, completely disregarding the atmosphere around them.

Yang Jian was already a lone wolf within the alliance. After his silly son’s feat earlier, he felt like he’d completely embarrassed himself in front of all his colleagues.

“Those were just some silly words from an immature child, please do not mind him.”

Yang Jian forced a smile onto his face. Even the long beard he’d carefully grown couldn’t hide the awkwardness in his expression as he mentally beat up his son multiple times.

Xu Pei mediated the awkward atmosphere with a grin and forcefully pulled the conversation back to the main topic of interest.

Huang Song dreaded the comment and cursed the foolish Yang Tao in his mind to relieve his anger.

However, he also didn’t want to waste time, quickly outlining his plan in case an even dumber child popped out.

According to Huang Song’s plan, each of the 23 factions would remain in charge of their own troops and supplies. However, when an order from the commander was made, they would all take that order over those made by their respective generals and cooperate as necessary. They were not to carry their own agendas, instead making the unity of the alliance their priority. The alliance leader would have a certain amount of authority to assign and reorganize the troops but would not mess with the internal administration of each faction. Likewise, troops would not be required to make extra expenses for the alliance.

Compared to Yang Tao’s idea, the majority seemed to like Huang Song’s proposal more.

They were willing to lend out their troops and cooperate in warfare strategies, but they would not give up their military autonomy to outsiders.

For example, if the alliance leader had a secret agenda and purposely kept their military power a secret while pushing other factions up to the frontline, what would they do? They didn’t want to assume they were working alongside gentlemen with the hearts of villains, but they also wouldn’t be completely unsuspicious of each other.

Among the twenty-three factions that were currently present, who could guarantee that no personal vendettas existed in this large network of troops?

Huang Song’s proposal was exactly the kind of answer they wanted to hear. It allowed for unity among the alliance and solved their common worries.

Xu Pei said, “This is a brilliant plan. What do we all say?”

There were almost no voices of opposition. The proposal was passed virtually unanimously. After that, the highlight of the show came…

Who would be the alliance leader?

Everyone looked at each other with no intention of volunteering themselves for this position, waiting for others to recommend themselves instead.

Yes, they were waiting for others to nominate themselves!

The crowd here was filled with respectable characters, why would they do something as lowly and conceited as praising themselves?

Even if their desires were leaking out of their hearts to the point that they were tempted to hold out a megaphone and say, “choose me, choose me!” they would still cordially reject the offer on the outside.

In Jiang Pengji’s words, this was just being unreasonable. This was not humility.

Jiang Pengji thought that the first person to jump in would be Huang Song, but she hadn’t expected to hear someone come in before him and speak up first.

“I propose that Chief Wu Ma of Hu Jun is the most qualified for the position of alliance leader.”

The person that spoke up was An Cui. The moment he spoke, Xu Pei and Xu Fei’s expressions darkened. An Cui then continued, “Chief Wu Ma is a blood relative of the royal family and the uncle of the current emperor. He has a powerful army and a strong reputation. If we call Chief Wu Ma our alliance leader as the alliance troops crusades against Prince Changshou, we will be saving not only the emperor, but the people, which will bring more fame…”

Wu Ma Shang sat in the lower right corner and had maintained a negligent and wandering aura throughout the gathering, looking completely out of touch with the conversation.

Nobody was quite sure whether it was An Cui’s idea or this Wu Ma Shang’s idea to have An Cui recommend him in this fight for the crown.

Jiang Pengji looked over and leaned more towards the theory that it had been Wu Ma Shang’s idea.

It seemed like this man also had quite an ambitious heart.

She grabbed a handful of dried fruits and shoved them into her mouth, snacking in excitement.

The fruit became much tastier with the addition of this great show to watch.

“That is quite an overstatement. In my opinion, Chief Wu Ma is definitely not the best candidate.” Cheng Jing stood up from behind Huang Song and grabbed the attention of the crowd with his words.

After hearing Cheng Jing speak, the motionless Wu Ma Shang turned his eyes to gaze at Cheng Jing and ask, “Who are you?”

Cheng Jing’s personality made him dislike showing off. He answered calmly, “The name is Langye Cheng Jing, practically a nameless person.”

If this was Feng Zhen, he would immediately retort that he was Master Yuanjing’s number one disciple!

In Dongqing, using Master Yuanjing’s name would immediately make anyone become an important person.

Wu Ma Shang turned his gaze back.

“If you’re just a nobody, isn’t there no place for you to speak here?”