After embarrassing himself, Yang Tao sat down quietly in the audience like a decoration. He looked at the wine bottle before him and felt the temptation in his stomach building up.

“Shao Yang, just let me drink a little. Just one cup, please?”

“Not even one drop.” The young scholar glanced coldly at him. Yang Tao froze up at the look. “Your injury is still not fully healed, yet you still want to drink wine?”

Yang Tao hung his head down in melancholy as he watched his father, Yang Jian, drinking boldly in front of him.

“Father, you still have a sword injury too. You shouldn’t be drinking.”

Yang Jian shot him a sharp look. “You little rascal, you dare speak up to question your old man’s business now?”

Yang Tao was stunned silent.

He’d now been stabbed twice by his own best friend and father. Yang Tao’s heart was broken and shattered!

The young scholar by the name of Shao Yang held a bottle of wine and scanned the surroundings.

Everyone was drunk or tipsy, making the atmosphere very lively.

In contrast, the people around Yang Jian completely ignored him and treated him like he was invisible.

They would look left and right, from the sky to the ground, but not at him. They were clearly isolating Yang Jian, who responded to this treatment by drinking alone.

The young scholar squinted his eyes slightly and snorted in mockery.

Despite having elected a leader, it didn’t change the fact that every faction had their own secret agendas.

He wasn’t quite satisfied with the result of this crusade.

Why would nobody discuss their next plans and strategy after electing a leader? Why chose to feast instead?

Just as he was pondering this question, he became aware that someone was staring at him.

He looked around and finally found the source of that stare…

It was Liu She.

The middle-aged man sitting in the left corner gave him a friendly smile, which for some reason caused suspicion to rise in the young scholar’s mind.

“Shao Yang, I just saw the chief of Liuzhou smile at me,” Yang Tao whispered to his friend.

The young scholar’s eyebrows relaxed as he suppressed his growing suspicion. “Yeah.”

“The governor of Liuzhou is a kind and friendly man, just as I expected him to be.”

Back when Liu She was still the chief of Hu County, the eastern gate of Zhangzhou had been a resourceless land that had to fully rely on crops and supplies from Hu County.

Thus, Yang Tao had always had a good impression of Liu She, assuming that he was a good man. If Yang Jian knew what his son was thinking, he would be coughing up blood.

Who said Liu She was a good man? Did they really think that all the supplies and resources were free?

They were all trades made by Yang Jian. Liu She was a scammer who probably took advantage of Yang Jian underhandedly. How would someone like that be considered a good man?

“The young man beside Governor Liu is Liu Xi, the one that father sent over? He looks alright but doesn’t seem to be quite fit.”

Not quite fit?

Yang Jian overheard his son’s words and almost spat out the wine in his mouth.

If Liu Xi was not considered fit, then who would meet the standard?

“Learn from their intellect, son. You’re already a grown man and barely know how to write your own name.”

Yang Tao, who’d just gotten another uncalled-for comment from his father, was stunned.

“Don’t worry, I still have Shao Yang”

Yang Tao admitted that he didn’t have the brains for studying nor strategizing, but as long as his friend was beside him, everything would be fine.

Yan Lin was Yang Tao’s real brain. Together, the two were like a custom-designed pair.

The feast lasted until late into the night.

Half of the camp was down and drunk. Jiang Pengji had also had a few drinks and was just about ready to go over to the changing room.

“District Magistrate Liu.”

She discovered that someone was following her the moment she stepped out of the tent. She stopped in her tracks.

“You are?” She squinted at the person and realized that it was the young scholar who’d been sitting beside Yang Tao.

“The name is Yan Lin, courtesy name Shao Yang.” The young scholar then asked, “The man the magistrate borrowed from us… When does the district plan on returning him?”

Jiang Pengji crossed her arms over her chest and responded with a question of her own.

“It has been barely two days since we borrowed the man. Is Chief Yang already urging a return?”

Yan Lin said, “The chief is not the one pushing for this, I am.”

“Qi Kuang seems to be a decent individual, so I’m afraid he may not return. I don’t think Chief Yang will be too concerned about the whereabouts of a small centurion either.”

Borrow?

She always took what she wanted. Even when something was borrowed, it was never meant to be returned.

Yan Lin lowered his eyebrows. Jiang Pengji’s words confirmed his suspicion.

Jiang Pengji then thought of something and said, “Mister Yan, if you have time to probe at me right now, I suggest you spend that energy on planning a way out for Yang Jiang. He is a man that was granted his position by Prince Changshou, so the people of the alliance all have their reservations against him. He’s already stepped onto the alliance’s ship, so in Prince Changshou’s eyes, he is considered a traitor. If he were to be pushed to the frontline, you’d all best be careful.”

If there was one thing Yang Jian’s troops should be afraid of, it was the possibility of being thrown to the frontlines by the alliance to test the military might of Prince Changshou.

Yan Lin’s face darkened. He understood that Jiang Pengji’s words weren’t fake. He’d personally had the same worry recently.

“Thank you for your concern.”

“No problem.”

Jiang Pengji and Liu She finished their feast and took a group of their soldiers to prepare to return.

On the way back, like the honest child he was, Li Yun said, “My lord, I feel like something is wrong with this assembly.”

Jiang Pengji asked, “What about it seemed wrong?”

“Why did they elect a leader without discussing how to strategize, or how to save his highness, or face Prince Changshou?”

Li Yun was just a young and inexperienced general officer compared to Jiang Pengji. He was in no place to voice his concerns, even if he had a full belly of questions to ask.

Because not everyone was as naïve as Yang Tao.

Dian Yan then said, “I also feel that something is off, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly it is…”

Jiang Pengji laughed as she explained it to him. “Everyone has their own agendas, and they’re all smart individuals. Whoever is on the frontline will clearly suffer the biggest loss. Who would be willing to take on that burden? You can say that while they are diligent, everyone is here to gain some sort of profit. Who wouldn’t want to effortlessly pick up a few gains without putting in the effort? We just have to wait and see who can’t hold in the suggestion of sending out troops first… If nobody brings it up and this drags on for a few more days…”

Li Yun was stumped by these words.

In his mind, the alliance forces would be made up of elite troops who would fight to be the ones to wage war against Prince Changshou.

During the banquet earlier, he’d heard many people talking about crusading against Prince Changshou and insulting him with profanities to the point that they almost wanted to dig up the grave of his ancestors to express their fury.

But in reality?

Everyone was just chanting and waiting to be the last in line on the battlefield.

Jiang Pengji concluded with a smile. “So now you see, the ending of this assembly isn’t promising.”

“My lord, what shall we do now?” Li Yun asked.

Jiang Pengji responded, “Your lord is only here to watch and observe, not to fight to the death with others. We’ll just go with the flow.”

Li Yun remained silent for a short while and said, “What a pity to Captain Meng…. he has been working so hard these last few days…”

Meng Hun had been extremely busy recently.

Aside from eating and sleeping, all his spare time was being spent on training his troops or practicing martial arts.

Even spectators would feel worried watching him put in so much time and energy into such matters.

Jiang Pengji said, “A gentleman’s revenge can take a decade to nourish. The Meng family of Hunzhou? They are destined to claim their land one day!”