“I’m honored to bow before you, Your Lordship.” Lian Hai paid his respects to Dugu Shan, making a bow with his hands folded in front.

“How’s everything going in the eastern suburbs?” Dugu Shan asked directly.

“It’s been confirmed there are soldiers hiding in that wood. In addition, I’ve just been informed that half of the tents in the encampment outside Youzhou Pass are empty,” answered Lian Hai.

Dugu Shan looked at him with penetrating eyes. “How did you come to get intelligence about the encampment?”

“Your Lordship, this time around, sixty percent of the food supplies for the army are provided by the Ministry of Revenue, but the rest of them are purchased from food suppliers. That is also the case for medicines. The other day, a medicine merchant of our chamber of commerce went to the encampment to deliver the medicines ordered by the army. He talked with an army physician there, slipped him some money and was told that the army was not short of medicines at all. The physician also disclosed that half of the tents there were empty. The accountant of the infirmary, without even opening any of the packages, resold the medicines to the merchant and got some kickbacks.”

The look in Dugu Shan’s eyes became alarmingly piercing. “Are you sure your source is reliable?!”

Lian Hai averred, “I’m sure.”

Dugu Shan smacked his hand down onto the teapoy. “Humph! Now that Nian Feng has gone so far as to stealthily deploy half of his men in the suburbs, I shall show him no mercy.”

Dugu Shan immediately decided to adopt the plan suggested by Lian Hai, which was to have Nian Feng deal with Mu Rongfeng first. He himself would, taking advantage of the setback and heavy loss he had just suffered, deliberately show the other two sides some of his minor vulnerabilities and slowly pull out of the melee to delude Mu Rongfeng and Nian Feng into believing that he lost his competitiveness and had to quit the rat race, but when Nian Feng took care of Mu Rongfeng, the Dugu family would make its move and eliminate Nian Feng! In order for things to go on that way, the monarch’s life must not be prolonged, which meant that the Dugu family had to stop Mu Rongfeng from giving his father any life-saving medical treatment.

“Is it your chamber of commerce that is buying those medicines for Mu Rongfeng as his purchasing agent?” Dugu Shan inquired of Lian Hai.

“Yes, we’re buying seventy percent of them for him,” answered Lian Hai.

“Suspend the purchase!” instructed Dugu Shan.

“Yes, Your Lordship,” answered Lian Hai, keeping his head down. Nobody noticed that a derisive gleam flitted across his eyes.

…

Mu Rongfeng wanted to save Mu Hengtian but was unable to have the prescription filled, no matter how hard he tried. He was consumed with anxiety and casting around for a solution when someone from the palace showed up and told him that the monarch wanted to see him. The man also disclosed that the monarch’s illness had got even worse.

Mu Rongfeng’s heart sank. Not daring delay, he went to the palace with all haste.

When entering the palace, he chanced upon his two brothers, the two princes supported by Nian Feng and the Dugu family respectively. Naturally, they all had hostility glinting in their eyes as they saw each other.

After walking into the royal bedchamber, Mu Rongfeng, at the sight of Mu Hengtian whose breathing was barely perceptible, felt his heart do a somersault with a thrill of foreboding.

“Feng,” called Mu Hengtian in a weak voice as his eyes struggled open and alighted on Mu Rongfeng.

Mu Rongfeng hurried over and got on his knees at Mu Hengtian’s bedside. “I’m here, Father!”

“How’s everything going out there?” asked Mu Hengtian jerkily, exerting himself to finish his sentence.

Mu Rongfeng’s heart felt as though it were getting heavier. He quickly filled his father in on the situation in the royal court and the war between the other two countries.

The look on Mu Hengtian’s face grew increasingly ugly as he listened. When hearing that an army led by Yuwen Tong had occupied the south of the Wan Kingdom, he almost blacked out with intense agitation.

“Feng, Yuwen Tong fooled me. If the Wan Kingdom falls, our country will be in dire danger,” said Mu Hengtian in a broken voice.

Mu Rongfeng’s eyes dilated at these words. He was just about to say something when Mu Hengtian raised his hand signaling him to listen quietly. Then Mu Hengtian continued, “You must put an end to the infighting as soon as possible. Nian Feng is the biggest danger you’re faced with on your path to the throne. Now there’s not much I can do, but it’s within my power to do one last thing for you – I’ll recall Nian Feng to this city, summon him to my bedside, and then…”

Mu Hengtian offered to summon Nian Feng to his bedchamber, so that Mu Rongfeng could have his men surround the bedchamber and kill Nian Feng, though he himself would have to die with Nian Feng.

“Father, that’s…No, I can’t let you…” Mu Rongfeng disagreed.

Mu Hengtian abruptly gripped his son’s hand. “You have to. This is your last chance, Feng. My illness will take my life in a couple of days, anyway. Accede to the throne immediately after Nian Feng is taken care of, then mass all the troops and attack the Great Wen!”

Mu Rongfeng was stupefied. After a long moment, he said through clenched teeth with a head bob, “Yes, Father!”

…

Mu Rongfeng knew that Nian Feng was not in the encampment outside Youzhou Pass but in the capital city. With some finesse, he managed to send Nian Feng a message saying that the monarch requested his presence in the royal bedchamber.

…

In the Abode of General-in-chief.

Nian Feng didn’t want to see Mu Hengtian at all, because Mu Hengtian’s death was now certain, and all he had to do was force Mu Rongfeng into giving up his heirship, and then enthrone the prince he supported.

However, he had failed to keep it secret that he was in the capital city instead of the encampment outside Youzhou Pass, and the Dugu family had covertly waded in, so he had no alternative but to follow the order, but he had secretly taken adequate precautions.

“I’m honored to kneel before you, Sire!” Nian Feng showed up in Mu Hengtian’s bedchamber wearing armor.

Mu Hengtian glanced at him. “Nian Feng, we need to attack the Great Wen immediately. The Wan Kingdom might not be able to hold him back. Someone has to keep Yuwen Tong at bay, or our country will soon be in grave peril as well.”

It hadn’t occurred to Nian Feng that the reason why Mu Hengtian had summoned him was because Mu Hengtian really had something sensible to say to him. However, presently he wasn’t at all in the mood for going to war with the Great Wen. He had even withdrawn half of the troops and had them hide in the suburbs.

“Sire, I believe it’s totally unnecessary for us to get involved in the war between the Wan Kingdom and the Great Wen. Everybody in the three countries knows how strong the Wan Kingdom’s cavalry is. By no stretch of the imagination would Yuwen Tong be able to annex the Wan Kingdom.”

“Stupid!”

Mu Hengtian reprimanded him and then started coughing badly. Nian Feng, after a brief moment’s hesitation, still walked up to the bed and thumped Mu Hengtian on the back. “Take it easy, Sire. Your health matters a lot to this country.”

Mu Hengtian suddenly flung out a hand and grasped Nian Feng’s wrist. Taken aback, Nian Feng subconsciously tried to free his wrist, but unexpectedly, Mu Hengtian’s grip was so firm even Nian Feng couldn’t struggle free. “You–!”

Mu Hengtian gave a sneer and instructed aloud, “Guards! Restrain Nian Feng!”

Nian Feng’s face changed and with that he whipped out his saber…

…

When Mu Hengtian was busy trying to trap Nian Feng in his bedchamber and have Nian Feng die with him, Yuwen Tong had readied his army to cross the Wan River.

After all the boat-makers worked flat out for several days, the battle canoes the army needed were finally ready. The next step was to make chain nets…

All arrangements had been made for the army to cross the river. Chen Jing’s army, who were on the opposite bank in a standoff with Yuwen Tong’s army, had built various kinds of fortifications along the riverbank, intending to prolong the standoff for as long as they could, but they failed to find out what Yuwen Tong had been doing by stealth.

“Sire, the chain net is ready. When are we crossing the river?” Yuwen Jin and He Xiao excitedly swept in, itching to take action.

“There’s no hurry,” said Yuwen Tong.

There was no hurry? Yuwen Jin and He Xiao were both astonished. In the past few days all craftsmen had been working at full stretch, the army occupied making preparations. They had all believed that they would soon set off to cross the river. Why did Yuwen Tong say there was no hurry?

“The Jiahe Chamber of Commerce hasn’t delivered the smoke-tubes to us yet. The anticipated arrival time is midnight,” explained Yuwen Tong.

“Smoke-tubes?” Yuwen Jin was confused. “What are those? I’ve never heard of them.”

“It’s a new invention. They produce large amount of smoke when opened. We’ll be needing them when crossing the river. After we fire them to the opposite bank, they’ll emit clouds of thick smoke among Chen Jing’s army, which will block their views for some time. Though the smoke might not be enough to cover the whole encampment, the wider the area it cloaks, the smaller the threat we’ll be faced with. It’ll give the vanguard more security,” responded Yuwen Tong.

Both Yuwen Jin’s and He Xiao’s interest was piqued. After being informed of what a smoke-tube was, they all looked forward to the arrival of the gadgets.

Late that night, a caravan of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce showed up, bringing with them a lot of smoke-tubes.

“It was in a tribe in the south-west where we drew the inspiration for this,” the leader of the caravan explained to Yuwen Jin and He Xiao both of whom appeared curious. “What with the short notice, we finished only a small number of them. We would have produced a lot more smoke-tubes had we been given more time.”

Yuwen Jin and He Xiao, after hearing it, were both very cooperative. The Jiahe Chamber of Commerce had become world-famous in recent years. It surprised the two of them that the organization had such consummate artisan at its command. More importantly…

The Jiahe Chamber of Commerce had actually been in direct contact with the emperor. Was there a particular connection between the organization and the emperor, by any chance?

People of the Great Wen had also been speculating about the real owner of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, but it was not until this year that some of them had had an inkling of the truth.

However, no matter how hard Yuwen Jin and He Xiao tried to nose out more details, the leader of the caravan remained tight-lipped from first to last. He only told them that it was a deal between the emperor and the chamber of commerce, that the relations between the two were nothing more than a partnership.

Yuwen Jin and He Xiao were skeptical, growing more curious about the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce.

On that very night, the smoke-tubes were transferred to the bank, where all of them were loaded into catapults before dawn.

Yuwen Tong gave the order for the army to cross the river at first light in the morning.

The whole army tensed up. They grabbed a short sleep and got up before daybreak, waiting to cross the river.

The sky had just begun to lighten in the east, and the encampment of Chen Jing’s army had just started to show signs of activity when suddenly an unknown object falling from the sky hit the head of a soldier walking out of his tent, and, immediately after landing on the ground as the soldier collapsed, cracked without warning, giving off pungent dense smoke which quickly started spreading.

Soon, one after another, a lot of unknown objects of that kind were flung into the encampment of the army on the northern riverbank. Before Chen Jing could do anything, the whole encampment was pervaded by that sort of pungent smoke. Chen Jing, who sensed danger, immediately commanded his men to get into battle formation and ready themselves to engage Yuwen Tong’s army who obviously were trying to cross the river.

“All archers get in position!”

Before the archers were in position, a lot of Yuwen Tong’s men dived into the Wan River.

They swam across the river, went ashore and promptly came at the soldiers guarding the bank. Thus, the two sides engaged.

“Kill all the enemies that have come ashore! Hurry!”

Meanwhile, on the southern bank, the fleet of canoes was ready to depart. Yuwen Tong, who had been observing the situation on the opposite bank, came to know that the time was ripe. “Cross the river!” he commanded.

After pushing the canoes into the river, the soldiers set sails, shielded the fleet with chain nets and headed for the opposite bank amid arrows raining down on them.

Thanks to the batch of killers who had crossed the river as the vanguard, the enemies on the north bank failed to transfer their flaming arrows and rocks to the bank in a timely manner. Only a couple of catapults were deployed. Those killers were no common soldiers. Every stroke of their sabers took an enemy’s life. They were targeting the catapults, killing among Chen Jing’s men like wolves among sheep. They were so ferocious that Chen Jing jumped angrily and cursed loudly, almost blacking out from fury.

Still, the volleys of arrows were still a great threat. Although the chain nets parried most of the arrows, soldiers in the progressing canoes were still being shot and falling into the river constantly. Every soldier downed was a life lost and a deduction in the combat power of his army. Watching this scene, Yuwen Tong had an icy look in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do other than to urge his men to speed up and cross the river as quickly as possible.