Jian Qiao wrongly blamed Xiao Rong. When he first heard Qu Yunmie say he was going to climb the wall himself, Xiao Rong’s mind went blank—he even had the urge to pick up a chair and smash it at him. Jian Qiao was speaking to him at the time, which gave Xiao Rong a moment to calm down, and once he did, he realized—

He was fine.

The system’s judgment rules were baffling. The same event could have many trigger points, each leading to another, but the system would just randomly pick one to warn Xiao Rong. As for the rest of the logical chain of events, it completely ignored them, but there was one exception.

That exception was Qu Yunmie himself. As soon as he made up his mind about something, there was no need to wait for a trigger. The system would take immediate action. Even a second’s delay in warning Xiao Rong would be considered disrespectful.

…

So, Xiao Rong felt extremely confused. If such an absurd and foolish plan didn’t reduce Qu Yunmie’s fortune, didn’t that mean it might actually succeed?

Xiao Rong kept his head down and said nothing. He was pondering the crux of the matter. Meanwhile, under Jian Qiao’s lead, almost everyone present opposed Qu Yunmie’s idea.

Qu Yunmie thought he would only need to explain it to Xiao Rong. Who would have thought so many people would consider the plan unwise? Even so, Qu Yunmie truly believed it would work. If his own people couldn’t imagine that he would sneak into Shengle personally, then the people of Shengle would be even more caught off guard. Taking them by surprise was already half the victory. After that, he would kill all the guards on the city wall, and before more Xianbei reinforcements could arrive, he would quickly open the city gates. Then, the Xianbei would have no chance to fight back.

As for how he would kill so many guards alone, or how he would open the city gates, or how the outside forces would bypass the Xianbei army to reach the gate and wait there—these were things Qu Yunmie hadn’t figured out yet. Regardless of that, he believed that getting into the city was the hardest part. Once that was solved, everything else would fall into place.

The atmosphere in the royal tent grew more and more intense. Qu Yunmie went from trying to explain his idea to everyone, to falling gradually silent. He stared fixedly at Yu Shaoxie. Though Jian Qiao had been the first to oppose him—and very strongly so—Jian Qiao’s combat ability wasn’t as strong as Yu Shaoxie’s, so he quickly backed down and quietly watched Yu Shaoxie charge forward for him.

At that moment, Yuan Baifu felt that Qu Yunmie resembled his old self.

In the past, when he fell silent like this, it was always the prelude to killing someone. Yu Shaoxie was a loyal and devoted scholar, but Yuan Baifu didn’t want to save him.

In truth, Yuan Baifu roughly understood that Yu Shaoxie wouldn’t die here. First, because Yu Shaocheng was sitting right beside him. He wouldn’t just watch the King kill his brother. Since Yu Shaocheng had once saved the King’s life, Qu Yunmie wouldn’t embarrass him in the short term. Second, Xiao Rong and Yu Shaoxie had a good relationship.

Yuan Baifu wanted to see how Xiao Rong would calm down Qu Yunmie in the face of his rage.

Even though Xiao Rong had been here for a while, due to Jian Qiao’s intentional or unintentional guarding, Yuan Baifu had rarely seen Xiao Rong and Qu Yunmie interact. He only knew that Qu Yunmie trusted Xiao Rong deeply, but didn’t know why or how that trust had developed.

He also wanted to know if the King’s trust in Xiao Rong was the same as his trust in him.

Yuan Baifu blinked, his thoughts spinning through his mind. Meanwhile, Yu Shaoxie was still speaking passionately. Qu Yunmie desperately wanted him to shut up—ideally by chopping off his head.

Despite that, he didn’t move. He just held back with effort. When he couldn’t bear it anymore, he glared fiercely at Xiao Rong.

Others might have thought he was taking out his anger on Xiao Rong, but in truth, his thoughts were: Are you just going to sit there while he speaks about me?! If you don’t stop him, I really will kill him!

…

At that moment, Xiao Rong finally snapped out of it. He hadn’t noticed Qu Yunmie’s look, nor that Yu Shaoxie had stood up. He simply asked Qu Yunmie, “Your Majesty, was this plan an impulsive decision, or do you genuinely believe it will work?”

Qu Yunmie’s face darkened. “Naturally the latter. I am no longer impulsive!”

Xiao Rong let out a vague hum, without indicating whether he believed it. “Barehanded, Your Majesty truly believes you can climb a 13 meters high city wall?”

Qu Yunmie pressed his lips together. “Yes.”

Xiao Rong asked again, “What if you’re discovered halfway up by the guards above?”

Qu Yunmie answered with patience, “I’ll try to make no noise. The city wall stretches for dozens of li, there must be weakly guarded spots. I’ll find a place with fewer people and act accordingly.”

Xiao Rong said, “The weaker spots will be far from the gates, especially not near the southern gate. That means a much longer detour. If you want to coordinate from within, you’ll have to travel far once inside, and our small outside force will need to find a hidden spot to wait.”

Qu Yunmie pondered for a moment. “The north.”

Xiao Rong was puzzled. Then Qu Yunmie suddenly looked up. “The southern gate has Northern troops. The western gate faces Shuofang, which is restless during the Xianbei chaos—the Emperor of Xianbei will guard against them. The eastern gate leads to the Central Plains and is heavily guarded. Only the northern gate is sheltered by the natural barrier of Qingluan Ridge. The Rouran and Gaoju who aid the Xianbei are on our side—they won’t pay much attention to the northern gate.”

Xiao Rong looked at Qu Yunmie and said word by word, “The northern gate is too far. Our main army will be at the southern gate to distract the Xianbei. If something goes wrong at the northern gate, we won’t reach you in time.”

Qu Yunmie paused, then let out a light laugh. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Everyone: “…”

As the two spoke, everyone’s heads bobbed back and forth like rattles, turning from one speaker to the other. The most confused was Jian Qiao. How was it, as he kept listening, it felt like the matter was already settled?!

Xiao Rong fell into thought again. Meanwhile, Yu Shaoxie, still standing, suddenly felt his sleeve being tugged. He looked down and saw it was Yu Shaocheng pulling him. When he didn’t respond, Yu Shaocheng coughed lightly again.

Only then did Yu Shaoxie come to his senses and sit down, quietly watching Xiao Rong, confused about what he was thinking.

Moments later, Xiao Rong also stood up. He walked to the side, took the map, and placed it in the center. “If we are to feint east and attack west, we must give the Xianbei no time to react. Once Your Majesty fakes illness and returns to camp, you should set out with troops immediately. The main issue is bypassing the Xianbei’s surveillance—there’s no cover on the steppe, and the movement of tens of thousands will surely be spotted.”

Qu Yunmie said, “No need for tens of thousands. Give me three thousand and that’s enough.”

Xiao Rong had been bending over, but immediately straightened at those words.

Qu Yunmie: “…”

He said no more.

This was indeed a very thorny issue. Qu Yunmie hadn’t chosen to ambush from the start because of the steppe’s terrain. Now that he wanted to do it, he couldn’t afford to fail again.

Yu Shaoxie still didn’t agree with the plan, but seeing Xiao Rong so serious, he joined in the thinking. While everyone was more or less deep in thought, the silent monk suddenly asked, “To go to the north gate—should we circle around from the east or from the west?”

Xiao Rong replied, “Either works. The east is guarded by Xianbei and their allies. The west is guarded by other Xianbei tribes.”

If he had to choose, Xiao Rong preferred the west. Murong’s elite troops were all under his control, and the other tribes were weaker. Besides, last time Qu Yunmie had been shot by a Rouran arrow from one of the Xianbei’s allies—Xiao Rong had trauma from that.

Suddenly, Mijing said, “Let’s go east.”

Everyone looked at him in confusion. Mijing smiled and said, “The Kumo Xi want to withdraw.”

Everyone: “…”

The Kumo Xi were one of Xianbei’s allies—a small country, similar to Rouran, and also a Xianbei vassal. Rouran and Xianbei shared an ancestor. In fact, so did the Kumo Xi. One could even say the Kumo Xi were the most orthodox of Xianbei descendants—

They were the remnants of the Yuwen tribe who refused to accept Murong rule.

The territory was small, and the people were few. Yuwen’s glory had faded so much that many didn’t even know this country still existed, but they had survived between Xianbei and Khitan for years without being conquered. They were clearly not useless.

Among their allies, Xianbei trusted Rouran first, Kumo Xi second. Of course, this “trust” was relative—Xianbei trusted no one, but as long as allies didn’t enter Shengle, they were willing to place them along the defensive lines.

Yu Shaoxie was stunned. “How does the monk know they want to withdraw?”

Mijing lowered his gaze. “The Gaoche Prime Minister told me.”

Yu Shaoxie asked,  “Why would he tell you that?”

Mijing replied, “Because he wants the Princess of Kucha to marry the new leader of the Gaoche Fuluo tribe.”

Yu Shaocheng frowned. “Is the Gaoche ruled by the Fuluo tribe now?”

Mijing shook his head. “No.”

Everyone: “…”

So much information.

Xiao Rong didn’t dare ask further. He had no mind for foreign gossip.

He gave Qu Yunmie a look. Qu Yunmie saw it and his face darkened.

Xiao Rong’s look clearly said: See? Now you know the monk’s value, don’t you?

…

Regardless, since the Kumo Xi were already rebellious, they had to stoke that fire—perhaps by secretly sending envoys to offer terms. If they surrendered to the Northern Army, after the defeat of the Xianbei, they’d be spared.

Qu Yunmie didn’t like this plan much. He wanted to destroy all involved nations and pillage them one by one, but priorities mattered. Compared to the Xianbei, the wandering Kumo Xi probably didn’t have much worth looting.

So, in the end, he reluctantly agreed.

Even after all that, the plan was still incomplete. Xiao Rong decided to stay up that night and go over every possible scenario. The meeting ended, and everyone dispersed. Xiao Rong wasn’t the only one who needed to think—everyone did.

The monk considered volunteering as the envoy. Yu Shaoxie considered trying to persuade Xiao Rong again—even if the plan was feasible, the King didn’t have to carry it out himself.

As for Yuan Baifu, he had finally seen how Qu Yunmie and Xiao Rong interacted—and it was worse than he imagined.

Xiao Rong didn’t even need to persuade Qu Yunmie. The King simply observed his expression and then decided what to say next.

That was truly…

Infuriating.

 

 

Edited by: Antiope

 

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