荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“Heh, this is why you were willing to come here and meet me? At this stage, you think I would agree?” Hou Junji coldly said. “If you came with these hopes, I’m afraid you’ll leave disappointed.”

“Senior, whether you agree or not, there are some things that I must do.”

Wang Chong shook his head. He had expected this response from Hou Junji, but even if there was only a sliver of hope, he still needed to try his best to stop him before the decisive confrontation.

“This empire is not as strong as you think it looks. Arabia, Ü-Tsang, the Eastern and Western Turks, Goguryeo—these are all ambitious countries. While they have temporarily stepped back for now, they still hungrily eye the Great Tang. Everything you do and everything we do has not escaped their notice. As long as they have a chance, they’ll attack us together and break the Great Tang in a single blow, bringing calamity and disaster on the people. Is this what you want to see?

“Not only that, the Great Tang is facing many more dangers than we can see. Senior should understand more than anyone else what awaits the Central Plains if the Great Tang weakens!

“Senior is also a Tang. Do you really wish to see the country collapse?” Wang Chong sternly said.

Since ancient times, the strong eating the weak had always been the law of the land. The Youzhou Rebellion, the attack by the surrounding countries, the Great Ice Age, and that dreadful calamity... there were simply too many disasters waiting for this country. Even Hou Junji was probably unaware of all these hidden threats.

Alas, the Stone of Destiny’s restrictions prevented Wang Chong from directly mentioning them, and he could only make subtle implications.

The restaurant was quiet. While Hou Junji’s face had been cold and unmoved at first, there was a slight ripple of emotion on his face as he heard Wang Chong’s last words.

“It’s too late! Kid, if you had said these words to me several decades ago, I might have listened, but it’s a pity. Anything you say is useless now. It doesn’t matter if all the people of the empire are in peril and the earth is rendered barren. This old man already offered the first half of his life for this empire. Let fate deal with the rest.

“Since we cannot come to an agreement, this old man has no reason to stay!”

Hou Junji turned around and began to make for the stairs.

“In addition!”

Hou Junji stopped at the stairs, his back to Wang Chong.

“Since you said that our conflict is connected to the fate of the Great Tang, then let’s add that to our bet as well! If you’re really trying to change things, then do your best to try and stop me!

“...But I will show no mercy!”

His voice continued to echo through the restaurant, but the man himself was gone.

“The same for me!” Wang Chong softly muttered under his breath, though Hou Junji was no longer there to listen.

Wang Chong quickly left Blue Phoenix Pavilion.

Rumble!

Outside the restaurant, an ornate carriage slowly drew up next to Wang Chong.

Wang Chong boarded the carriage, where Xu Keyi was waiting.

“Your Highness, how was it?” Xu Keyi respectfully asked.

“Let’s go! The First Prince has finished his preparations and will make his move soon!” Wang Chong calmly said.

Xu Keyi trembled in shock.

The carriage began to move, and a few moments later, a messenger bird descended from the skies. Wang Chong glanced at the letter it had delivered and instantly paled.

“Return to the residence!”

With this terse order, the carriage hastened toward the King of Foreign Lands Residence.

Several hours later, the capital was struck by earthshaking news.

The First Prince had ordered that ten thousand soldiers from the Beiting Protectorate were to move south, to Gold Bull Mountain, four hundred li to the northwest of the capital, under the excuse of a rotation of garrisons.

Garrison rotations were no minor matter. If the common folk had not sensed anything after all the previous incidents, including the Imperial Army competition and the seizing of the outer gates, then after this order, even the slowest of them began to notice something strange.

Garrison rotations at the capital were not unprecedented, but in the current prosperous state of the Great Tang, the last one had taken place several decades ago. Particularly in a time of peace, this order was extremely strange.

“The winds herald a coming storm!”

In a tea house of the capital, a white-robed scholar sat by a window, his brows tightly creased as he looked out at the city.

“I hope that the Great Tang can survive all of this!”

The scholar drained his cup and vanished into the city.

......

In the evening, Wang Chong’s residence was brightly lit. Wang Chong, Xu Keyi, Zhang Que, Cheng Sanyuan... everyone had gathered together, all of them nervous.

On his throne, with his eyes half-closed, Wang Chong solemnly said, “Zhang Que, tell everyone about the information you’ve gathered!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Zhang Que bowed and quickly turned to face the others.

“The situation right now is extremely bad. The First Prince has already used his power as regent to call back the Beiting army to the capital. While the Imperial Court claims that it’s only ten thousand, from what we’ve observed, Zhang Zheng is leading a force of at least thirty thousand, perhaps even in the range of forty thousand!

“In addition, there are signs of movement from the Anxi Protectorate, Big Dipper City, and various border forts as well. All of these soldiers are marching toward the capital!”

Everyone paled at these words.

“How could they dare!? Everyone in the realm will know once all these soldiers begin moving!”

Cheng Sanyuan’s face was pale and his fists were balled up as he agitatedly spoke.

“An arrow loosed cannot be retrieved. Given how much things have progressed, they no longer fear anything. This garrison rotation is only the beginning. They only dare to mobilize this current amount of soldiers, but when the time is ripe, all their other forces on the border will mobilize without hesitation. And don’t forget, the First Prince even dared to kill Jade Consort Xiao! There’s no such thing as too low when it comes to him!” Zhang Que sternly said. As the leader of the spy team, he had a much greater understanding of the information that was being gathered. It was just that there was no need to speak in too much detail.

“Garrison rotations can only happen if there are soldiers outside the capital to rotate with. But are there even soldiers at Gold Bull Mountain? Moreover, doesn’t moving soldiers require the approval of the Bureau of Military Personnel? His Highness still has his half of the Commander Tally, so how was the First Prince able to recall those soldiers?” Xu Keyi solemnly said.

This garrison rotation had come very abruptly. More importantly, the First Prince had revealed his intense fighting intent through this decree. The entire capital would soon be choking in the flames of war.

“This incident is extremely complicated. While it’s called a garrison rotation, there are no actual armies being rotated. After examining past cases, I discovered that Emperor Taizong frequently issued these decrees, with the primary goal being to have the border armies drill together with the Imperial Army. In this way, he could hone the Imperial Army while also inspecting the border armies.

“In this way, he could avoid the sovereign in his palace being unaware of the situation on the border and also promote diligence in his armies.”

Zhang Que frowned as he paused for a moment.

“In Taizong’s era, this situation was extremely common, but now that the Great Tang is far stronger than its neighboring countries, it has become increasingly rare to rotate the garrisons. In the current reign, it was done once or twice before being completely abandoned.

“As for what you said about the Bureau of Military Personnel, this would be true if all the soldiers were being mobilized, but as the decree only ordered ten thousand, the First Prince can do it on his own.”

Though time had been short, Zhang Que had still done his best to gather as much information as possible.

The hall quickly fell silent, everyone’s brows creasing in thought.

“Where is Zhang Zheng’s army now?” Wang Chong suddenly asked.

“From what we’ve gathered, even before the court’s decree arrived, Zhang Zheng had already led his forces out of the Beiting Protectorate headquarters,” Zhang Que replied automatically. “With his speed, he should be in the Yu Forest area. They will need five days at most to reach the capital.”

Swoosh!

Wang Chong opened his eyes and bolted up from his throne, striding over to the southeast corner of the hall.

Whoosh! Wang Chong tore away a large sheet of cloth, and what was revealed beneath caused everyone to gasp.

“This is a model of the Great Tang...”

A few days ago, this object covered in a black sheet of cloth had appeared, but as Wang Chong had not brought it up, no one had asked him about it. Nor would anyone rashly remove the cloth.

But no one had expected it to be a model of the Great Tang. More importantly, this model was already studded with red flags, and the positions of Anxi, Beiting, and Big Dipper had all been marked down.

Even more little flags marked out the route between the Beiting Protectorate headquarters and the capital.

All the important passes and checkpoints had been indicated by four-cornered flags.

“His Highness predicted the First Prince’s plans and already prepared for them.”

In their shock, they began to stand up like they were possessed and gather around Wang Chong.