Chapter 525: Pa.s.s
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Nu looked old. Gu Shenwei was surprised to find that time had been so cruel to him.
Shangguan Nu was around the age of thirty, but he looked even older than the Supreme King with sunken eyes surrounded by dark circles and a forehead engraved with deep lines. He often looked around in paranoia, as if living in fear.
He had a reason to be scared.
After betraying his father and killing Bighead Kingpin, Shangguan Nu had escaped to the Central Plain. However, the politics of the Central Plain were more complex than those of Golden Roc Fort. He felt trapped and helpless, and lived every day in fear .
At first, he did receive some benefits from killing Bighead Kingpin, his father-in-law. At that time the Supreme King still needed him to maintain a good relations.h.i.+p with the Central Plain. Both the Supreme King and the Amba.s.sador Officer of the Central Plain treated him well and made some attractive promises. However, the Supreme King’s ambition soon swelled, and he wanted to annex the whole Western Region. From that point on, Shangguan Nu lost his value to the Supreme King.
Although the Central Plain did not need him anymore, they did not kill him or desert him right away. Instead, they started to attach less importance to him.
At first, Shangguan Nu followed the troops to the easternmost Loulan Kingdom since there was only a desert between it and the border of the Central Plain. Shangguan Nu was appointed as an advisor to the Commanding Officer of the Western Region. He accepted the appointment happily, a.s.suming he would soon be admitted into the Central Plain and ignoring any ominous sign about it at all.
The Commanding Officer was transferred back to the Central Plain without taking Shangguan Nu with him. He told Shangguan Nu, “You need to be patient. If you go to the Central Plain now, you won’t get anything.”
Shangguan Nu could not believe that he would get nothing after paying such a big price. “I have done so much for the Central Plain…” he said.
The Commanding Officer said, “I know that, but the court does not. Put yourself in the Court’s shoes — the ministers are thousands of miles away. They learn everything through official doc.u.ments. You said you’ve done a lot, but the fact is that the Supreme King still sides with Norland.”
He comforted Shangguan Nu saying, “But don’t worry. The Central Plain values its position as the master of the world. You have made your contribution, and you will be rewarded. After I return, I’ll report your merits to my superiors and try my best to get you transferred to the Central Plain at the right time.”
“When is the right time? Maybe it will be when I have been a.s.sa.s.sinated by the Golden Roc killer,” Shangguan Nu thought to himself.
Since then, Shangguan Nu had been living in fear of the Golden Roc killer. Any news of the progress of the Golden Roc Army only increased his panic and regrets.
Within a year, Shangguan Nu looked ten years older than his actual age.
Although he was the advisor of Wei Song, the new Commanding Officer of the Western Region, Shangguan Nu seldom had a chance to talk to him. He could not come up with anything of value to please his boss,and finally realized that he had made a terrible mistake by giving away all of his value all at once.
No word had ever come from the last Commanding Officer, either. Shangguan Nu had sent many letters to him, but received nothing in response.
Then all of a sudden, the Commanding Officer took the initiative to contact him, but he did not know he was going to die because of it.
He was a.s.signed a simple task. He was asked to deliver a letter to the General in Jade City in the west. The letter was to protest against their troops’ hara.s.sment of a group of the Central Plain’s messengers.
The Officer contacted him to explain the real task, saying, “Your true mission is to inspect the details of their garrison troops. You are the best candidate for this task because you are familiar with the area.” In actuality, this task was nothing short of turning him over to Golden Roc Fort.
However, it was not Golden Roc Fort that the Commanding Officer had intended to turn him over to — it was actually the Dragon King. Shangguan Nu did not realize this until he had reached the Tongtian Pa.s.s.
The Tongtian Pa.s.s had been completed in less than a year. It was one of the two portals of Jade City, and also the main way to Norland. It was named Tongtian Pa.s.s, meaning “way to heaven”.
Gu Shenwei was very familiar with this place—he had been sold as a slave on this road. To the west, which was less than a day’s journey, was the Gu family’s former manor and the Great Snowmountain encampment.
Escorted by an army of 3,000 soldiers, Gu Shenwei arrived at the Tongtian Pa.s.s in early May. It had been almost 2 months since he had accepted the negotiation invitation from Norland.
A lot of things had to be taken care of before he started. The first important thing was his safety. A detailed plan had to be made. Zhong Heng and Dugu Xian had been busy meeting Norland messengers of all ranks to discuss the details related to the negotiation.
A Norland prince, whose ident.i.ty had been verified by Dugu Xian, had been sent as a hostage to the Dragon Army encampment in Shu-lik. A truce order was issued by Golden Roc Fort in the name of the Supreme King, promising that the Dragon King would not be harmed by the Golden Roc Fort during his entire visit. The Golden Roc Fort even promised that it would not carry out any a.s.sa.s.sinations on anyone.
The a.s.sa.s.sination business of Golden Roc Fort was temporarily put on hold.
Gu Shenwei started from Xiaoyao Lake, pa.s.sed through the Northwest Pa.s.sage and arrived in Shu-lik, where he inspected the barracks of Right General Shang Liao. Then, he personally picked 3,000 soldiers to escort himself to the Tongtian Pa.s.s.
Shang Liao had established a solid military base in the desert area southeast of Shu-lik.
The army had been transferred from Xiaoyao Lake step-by-step. The scale of each transfer had depended on the water supply along the way, the reserves of provisions and fodder in Shu-lik, and the att.i.tude of Norland.
Shu-lik had been conquered. However, the influence of the Royal Family still existed. The Crown Prince of Shu-lik had kept in touch with local forces in his country, and these people all supported him to restore the country. They were willing to offer everything but troops, because they were afraid of standing against the Norland Cavalry.
The Crown Prince had set up several bases in the south, where the enemy’s forces were comparatively weak. Enough provisions and fodder to feed tens of thousands of people for a year had been secretly h.o.a.rded in these bases.
To enter Shu-lik, the biggest obstacle for the Dragon Army was not the Gobi Desert, but Norland.
Norland considered Shu-lik as its own and would not share it with others. Dugu Xian had to personally negotiate with Norland many times before they finally agreed to allow 8,000 of the Dragon Army into Shu-lik.
Norland thought that 8,000 soldiers would not cause a threat to them. Even if something went wrong, 8,000 Dragon Army soldiers could be suppressed easily by the Norland troops.
Shang Liao, Commander of Shu-lik’s Restoration Army, advised the Dragon King, “We need at least 30,000 soldiers in Shu-lik to defeat the Norland Cavalry here. To put 8,000 soldiers in a war against the Norland Cavalry is suicide. And it will take too long to send a rescue army with over 20,000 soldiers through the narrow path in Xiaoyao Lake.”
Gu Shenwei was well aware of the risks of all of this. He promised to solve the problem before he returned from Norland, “Build a secure camp. I hope you can hold it for at least a month once the enemy attacks,” he said.
Among the 8,000-soldier army, 6,000 were Golden Roc soldiers who had surrendered, and most of them Shu-lik folks. The remaining 2,000 were trustworthy soldiers, including the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, the soldiers from the Land of Fragrance, and the Dragon King’s most trusted 1,000 guard troops.
The 1,000 guard soldiers were at Wu Zongheng’s command. After a short stay in the capital of the Kang Kingdom, this army marched directly on Shu-lik. When Shang Liao and the other soldiers saw them coming, they were much more relieved, believing that the Dragon King had not abandoned them.
Gu Shenwei stayed for a few days in the military barracks of the Restoration Army. He had met with all of the high-ranking officers, ranging from those of the top ranks to the commanders of only dozens. He had also met with the Norland Prince being held hostage.
The Khan had dozens of sons. The Prince being held hostage was one of them. He was an arrogant man in his thirties who acted as if he was not a hostage, but a guest in the Army. Further, he disdained the strength of the Restoration Army.
Gu Shenwei was almost sure that the Prince was one of the Khan’s favorite sons, which made him an even better hostage.
Gu Shenwei made a smart decision. Instead of using his guard troops, he appointed 3,000 Shu-lik soldiers as his escort army to the Tongtian Pa.s.s. After spending a few days with the Dragon King, the Shu-lik soldiers considered themselves as part of the Dragon Army — not fighting for Shang Liao, not fighting for the Crown Prince, but fighting for the Dragon King.
All of this was owing to an incident on the way to the Tongtian Pa.s.s. When they were less than 30 miles from the Tongtian Pa.s.s, a coalition force of Norland and Golden Roc Fort soldiers stopped them, saying only the Dragon King and his attendants could pa.s.s.
It was unknown who had initiated the interception. Maybe it was Norland, who wanted to test the Dragon King, or maybe it was Golden Roc Fort, who wanted to take revenge after the seaside slope fiasco. Maybe it was both of them, working together to play tough.
The Dragon King’s soldiers were indignant. Dugu Xian argued with the other side. He told them, according to the agreement, the Dragon King could take 3,000 soldiers to the Tongtian Pa.s.s, and then the Norland Cavalry would escort him further.
The chief of the coalition force was a blademaster from Golden Roc Fort. He replied with a straight face, pointing in the direction of the Tongtian Pa.s.s and saying, “Now that you’ve seen it, you can go back.”
Dugu Xian’s face turned pale with anger. He waved his only arm, demanding to speak to the Norland General. A group of Golden Roc killers in soldiers’ costumes blocked his way.
Gu Shenwei rode over. When he saw the way the blademaster stood and held his knife, as well as the other killers at his back, he immediately realized that this was a very experienced killer with high martial art skills.
So, he drew his sword immediately after he dismounted.
It was just a basic sword move, but it was quite unexpected. The blademaster did not expect the Dragon King would resort to force without a word during a truce, especially since the coalition forces outnumbered the Dragon King’s men.
The blademaster flopped down to the ground, with his hand still holding the hilt. Although he had high martial art skills, it was too late for him to strike back once he had lost the opportunity to strike first.
More than 20 killers pulled out their knives all at once.
Dugu Xian was too shocked to say anything.
Only one person present immediately understood the Dragon King’s intentions. He urged his horse to stay between the Dragon King and the killers, shouting, “The Supreme King promised not to harm the Dragon King. Who dares to disobey his orders?”
Many people recognized this man as Shangguan Fei, the son of the Supreme King. Glancing at the dead blademaster, Shangguan Fei continued, “But the Dragon King never promised he would not kill. The Dragon King is an honored guest in Norland. Whoever dares to get in his way deserves to die.”
The focus of the negotiation had been on ensuring the safety of the Dragon King. Both Norland and Golden Roc Fort had neglected to have the Dragon King make corresponding commitments.
Gu Shenwei got back on his horse and ordered his army to move forward.
The Norland troops retreated first, and then the Golden Roc Army stepped aside to let the Dragon Army pa.s.s.
As soon as Gu Shenwei arrived at the Tongtian Pa.s.s, an envoy from Norland came to apologize for the road blocking incident, and then asked for a supplementary agreement. From that point on, the Dragon King was bound to the same commitment, too.
3,000 of the Dragon Army stayed overnight outside the Tongtian Pa.s.s and returned the same way they had come early the next morning. Excited, they greatly exaggerated the scene of the Dragon King killing when they reached the southern camp.
Rumors always spread fast. Before Gu Shenwei entered the Norland border, the story of the Dragon King singlehandedly killing dozens of killers had spread across the gra.s.slands.
When Shangguan Nu heard the news, he realized that he was a gift from Wei Song to the Dragon King.