Within the command tent of the Mongolian army…
Fan Lingyue was in the midst of reading the letter which had just arrived via the emissary from Grand Xia. As she sat quietly behind her desk, an abnormal look crossed her eyes.
They ended up facing each other after all.
It had to be said that ever since the name Ning Chen first arrived on her desk, she always harbored a desire to kill him.
In her entire life, the one thing she hated the most were unpredictable factors. Ning Chen was just such a variable. A variable who would most likely mess up her plans.
As the facts had shown, her initial worry had come true.
In just the short span of a few months, he had already foiled one too many plans of hers. Thanks to that, her grand operation to conquer Grand Xia had undergone numerous changes already.
She truly wanted him gone. Unfortunately, she still hadn"t managed to kill him.
Now that things had come down to this, the stage was set and all she could do was adopt a reactive stance.
With that in mind, she turned towards the emissary and said in a calm voice, "Return and tell him this, tomorrow, in front of the armies, I"ll be waiting."
The emissary cupped his fists in salute before promptly leaving.
Now that the emissary was gone, Fan Lingyue turned to the letter once more and gently closed her eyes. Brows furrowing, she started contemplating the various scenarios and their advantages.
Behind her, Qing Wuyou had a concerned look on his face but he didn"t dare to interrupt her.
Throughout her contemplations, an oppressive silence pervaded throughout the tent. Finally, a long while later, Fan Lingyue opened her eyes and came to a decision.
At the end of the day, she couldn"t simply ignore Ming Yue"s safety. Moreover, it was highly likely that Ning Chen already knew that Ming Yue was a girl so the moment he revealed that fact, the Mongolian Empire would receive a severe blow.
A Female Emperor wasn"t something the people of this world could accept, the Mongols weren"t an exception to this either.
Ming Yue had to be saved but withdrawing the troops was not possible either.
Thankfully, Ning Chen had his own weaknesses as well so she still had a hand to play in this matter.
"Men."
"Here." An officer stepped in and saluted her.
"Deliver this letter to Sword City." Fan Lingyue retrieved a letter she had prepared beforehand and handed it over to the officer.
"Understood." The officer accepted the letter and promptly left.
"How are things in the southwest? That monk has stayed in the Mongolian Steppes for a while now, has he reached a decision yet?"
"According to our spies, the head abbot of Western Doya has already began recalling all buddhist monks back to their country. I"m sure it won"t take much longer." Qing Wuyou answered.
"Seems like those self-righteous buddhists couldn"t resist the temptation after all. In this world, there"s just no such thing as absolute righteousness." She coldly smiled while deriding them.
"You may leave now."
"Lady Strategist, what about His Majesty?" As he said that, a look of unease flitted across his eyes. Even now, he still didn"t know what the Lady Strategist was planning but there was no doubt that Grand Xia would try to start something with His Majesty"s life on the line. He was worried that the Lady Strategist would give in but even more so, he was worried that she didn"t care at all.
As of right now, His Majesty"s safety and the status of their grand army was all at the mercy of her whims. As for how she would choose, both options led to a dead end.
"I have my own considerations. Leave." She flatly stated.
"Understood." Sighing, he quietly turned around to leave.
He could only hope that the Lady Strategist would be able to create another miracle and lead the Mongolian grand army out of this predicament.
……
Beichui City…
Standing before the windows of his room, Ning Chen was in a similarly contemplative mood. The person he was about to face was Fan Lingyue, the most intelligent woman in this world. Even the slightest slipup could result in irreparable damages.
From the very beginning he knew not to underestimate this woman and yet he suffered time and again at her hands. In fact, if it wasn"t for the fact that his life was so st.u.r.dy, he would be having tea with King Yama right now.
(TL: )
Being a reincarnator didn"t make one omnipotent but that Fan Lingyue certainly was; the amount of grievances he suffered at her hands was no better proof.
Right now, the only advantage he held over her was that little Ming Yue was still in his hands so she had to act cautiously. Adding the fact that Ming Yue was a girl, he should at least be able to wrangle something out of her using that secret.
Naturally, that promise he made to little Ming Yue was still valid, the one where he swore never to reveal the fact that she was a girl so as to protect her from harm. However, Fan Lingyue didn"t know of that oath. With such a handy card to play, it would be remiss of him not to exploit it.
Even so, he knew for a fact that she would never pull back her troops. Figuring out how to maximise his gains with that restriction in mind was what he needed to do right now.
There weren"t that many troops in Beichui City, 70 000 at best. Adding on the 5000 forbidden guards he brought with him, they weren"t even a third of the Mongols" army.
70 000 versus 250 000 of which there were 100 000 iron cavalrymen and heavy cavalrymen. No matter how one looked at it, it was clearly a fool"s endeavor.
While those iron cavalrymen were adept hors.e.m.e.n, that didn"t mean they were helpless without their horses either. Furthermore, there was still the matter of those heavy cavalrymen; they were the true threat Ning Chen had to consider. Those 10 000 soldiers were impervious to normal blades and spears and were basically unstoppable killing machines on the battlefield.
The invincibility of a heavy cavalry unit wasn"t just for show, it was precisely such a unit that devastated the eastern front of Grand Xia. Thanks to the 30 000 heavy cavalrymen of the Eternal Night Cult, the eastern front was in a dire state which verged on collapse. Had it not been for Marquis Kaixuan and his 100 000 strong Blackwater army, Grand Xia would have lost already.
While the Mongols didn"t have 30 000 of such troops, 10 000 wasn"t a number to scoff at either. After all, Grand Xia only had one Marquis Kaixuan and only 100 000 Blackwater troops. Handling the Cult took up the bulk of their forces already and there were naturally none left for the Mongolian front.
There was no hope for reinforcements any time soon either. As of right now, Zhang Sun already had a hard time controlling the situation in the Imperial City. As time pa.s.sed, the effects of the Emperor"s sudden demise became more and more p.r.o.nounced.
Unrest brewed within the various factions of Grand Xia and it took all the forces they could spare in the Imperial City to suppress any further internal conflicts. By the time a coup took place, it would be too late to regret not having done enough.
No matter what world you were in, man"s desire was always a terrifying monster to contend with. Just because there was an external foe knocking on their doorstep, that didn"t mean they would simply give up on the throne. That was precisely why Zhang Sun and the three grand dukes didn"t dare to elect a successor even up till now.
Of the three candidates, the Eldest Prince was the least problematic. He didn"t express much interest towards the throne and had always adopted a non-confrontational att.i.tude without avoiding the matter either.
However, the other two princes were an entirely different matter. Ever since that episode where the Xia Emperor went missing, they started to aggressively reach out to the other factions in the court. Furthermore, because the other court officials immediately rushed to pick a prince after the death of the Emperor, both of the their wings had hardened already. Trying to snip them off now would be difficult.
No matter which dynasty it was, the war of succession was always a b.l.o.o.d.y one. Ever since Grand Xia was founded a thousand years ago, each generation always had its fill of talented princes. If the various Xia Emperors hadn"t stepped in to control their heirs, the internal conflicts would have been even bloodier.
In life, Xia Rui was a huge problem for the empire and even in death, he left behind a ma.s.sive threat. For an empire to produce a talented prince, that was undoubtedly a blessing. However, for there to be more than one was a disaster.
Ning Chen knew that Zhang Sun had a tough job ahead of her and that was why he accepted her request so easily. With Grand Xia besieged from the inside and out, Zhang Sun only had a handful of people she could rely on now. If she wanted him to do something, he had to do it.
Without a doubt, this was the hardest period in Grand Xia"s history. As long as they were able to ride it out, victory was possible. Otherwise, the thousand year history of Grand Xia would end just like that.
The Sage once said that Grand Xia would collapse. While he didn"t know if he was referring to this war but he had to do his best.
While he wasn"t a big fan of the phrase "men were the masters of their own destiny", Ning Chen fully intended to use the knowledge of his previous world to fight against this horsesh*t destiny anyway.
"Bad man, I can"t sleep." It was then that Ming Yue rose from the bed and interrupted his long ruminations, eyes filled with worry.
She was afraid. She knew that tomorrow at dawn, the bad man and Big Sister Lingyue were going to start their negotiations. With regards to that, her heart couldn"t be any more conflicted about who she wished to win.
She knew that Big Sister Lingyue would never withdraw the troops so the war was going to continue. As the Great Khan, she didn"t wish for her troops to die in a foreign land but if the bad man were to win, that would undoubtedly be a disaster for the Mongolian army. However, if Big Sister Lingyue were to get her way, those 300 000 troops would most likely never get to return home alive.
Walking up to her bed, he gently ruffled the little girl"s hair and sighed. From the very beginning, this was a zero-sum war which neither side could turn away from.
What Fan Lingyue wanted was a prosperous grand empire. However, that road was paved with the countless bones of Grand Xia soldiers and civilians, even her 300 000 grand army would end up as a sacrifice for her dreams.
Even now, he couldn"t say for sure if what she did was right or wrong. War itself was a great evil and no side was ever in the absolute right. Moreover, whether or not the prosperity she dreamt of would arrive was an uncertainty in of itself. That was something even Fan Lingyue herself didn"t know for sure.
Just like how he wasn"t able to convince Fan Lingyue, Fan Lingyue wasn"t able to convince him either. No matter what, he wasn"t able to accept Fan Lingyue and the way she was willing to sacrifice millions for a dream that might not even come true. This wasn"t a matter of right or wrong but a difference in principles.
In the long history of China, even the strongest dynasties weren"t able to conquer the world. Everlasting prosperity was merely a pipe dream of every emperor that no one was ever truly able to achieve.
Thus, amidst his unending contemplations, the night slowly pa.s.sed. At dawn, Ning Chen walked out of his room and found Marquis Xueyi already waiting for him in front of the army. There wasn"t a single doubt in both of their minds that today was going to be a critical junction in the war.
The future of both dynasties would soon be decided by the confrontation between these two.
While Marquis Xueyi wasn"t sure if the teen was able to shoulder such a responsibility, he trusted in Her Majesty"s decision.
Neither of them spoke a word to each other as they marched north with the 5000 forbidden guards in toward.
Two hours later, the main camp of the Mongols came into sight and there was now merely 30 li separating the two armies.
Qing Wuyou already had the heavy cavalrymen set up in formation outside of the camp. Black armor glistening in the sunlight, one couldn"t help but shiver in cold sweat from the daunting sight.
Between the two armies stood a lone pavilion. In the past, it provided shelter for wandering travellers but today, it was the battleground for the two dynasties.
Seated within the pavilion, Fan Lingyue had on a light blue dress with her long flowing hair tied up loosely behind her back. As of right now, she had a serene calmness on her delicate features that seemed completely at odds with what was about to discussed.
Outside of the pavilion stood three officers who respectfully guarded the faith of the Mongolian Empire.
Accompanying the teen, Marquis Xueyi walked up to the pavilion as well but stopped right outside of it without taking a single step further. The main characters today didn"t include him after all but rather they were the girl inside the pavilion and the teen known as Marquis Zhiming standing beside him.
Stepping into the pavilion, he found her in the midst of brewing tea and chose not to interrupt her.
"Please."
She filled a cup of tea and presented it to Ning Chen as she said that.
"Many thanks."
Ning Chen picked up the diminutive cup and took a light sip. It had a slight bitterness to it that quickly made way for a lingering fragrance. It was a good cup of tea; the one who brewed it had excellent skills.
Their initial meeting was an unimaginably serene one with no hint of tension or hostility. Ever since the two became acquainted with each other, their relationship went from one of mutual interests and amiability to one of outright hostility. Both sides were just as guilty of duplicity, hesitation and being sentimental. The one thing they weren"t guilty of however was being merciful.