The Eternal Supreme

Yunshang nodded lightly, but her heart could not calm down whatsoever at the thought that Gu Feiyang was still alive.

Suddenly, someone shouted from outside the tent, "My lord, we are approaching the city of Shuichang. Shall we enter the city or march around it?"

Chen Dasheng frowned as he folded his arms over his chest and considered for a moment. "The City Lord of Shuichang, Zhuo Hongguang, is Prince Qin Yang"s man. He will not show us any courtesy if we enter the city. We will march around it. There"s a town called Mingkou some one hundred miles ahead. We will stop and strike camp there."

"Yes, my lord!" the man answered and was about to leave.

"Hold on!" A voice rang out suddenly. Meanwhile, Ji Meng walked into the tent as he cupped his fist and said, "My lord, Young Master Yun said since the City Lord of Shuichang is Prince Qin Yang"s man, he would like the army to stop for a while so I can ask for some provisions and fodder together with the student army."

"Ask for provisions and fodder?" Chen Dasheng did not understand. "Do we not have enough?" He had not been informed about Yunxiao"s plunder of Yangpu"s City Lord Mansion.

Ji Meng gave him a rare smile. "It means borrowing some money from Prince Qin Yang"s man to aid our cause."

By now everyone understood what Yunxiao wanted, and Chen Lin said angrily, "We are a regular army of the state, not some robbers! How can we..."

Chen Dasheng suddenly stopped him with a gesture. After pondering for a brief moment, he said, "The princes are fighting each other now, so it is good to weaken the enemy and strengthen ourselves. I"ll give you enough time for an incense stick to burn. Be quick about it!"

Then, he gave out an order, "The army will rest for the time for an incense stick to burn outside the city!"

Ji Meng laughed. "We don"t need that long. We"ll be back within fifteen minutes!" When he had finished, he lightly kicked at the floor and leaped into the air.

Both Chen Lin and Han Qianfang were speechless. They thought their commander-in-chief had pampered Yunxiao too much, allowing him to carry out such an illegal deed. It would have been unthinkable in the past.

Soon, the great army of eight hundred thousand troops halted outside the city while Ji Meng rushed into the city with the two thousand student troops. At the sight of such a mighty force, the soldiers guarding the gate did not dare to stop them.

The two thousand students were well-disciplined. After entering the city, they ran straight toward the City Lord Mansion without causing any trouble. What surprised them was that the City Lord, Zhuo Hongguang, was marrying his twenty-seventh concubine today. The mansion was packed with people who came to offer their congratulations with handsome gifts while the bridegroom, clad in a bright red gown, was going through the ceremony with his fourteen-year-old bride.

…

A servant, sweating all over, trotted into the hall and whispered into Zhuo Hongguang"s ear, "Something is not right, my lord! There is an army outside the mansion!"

Zhuo Hongguang was taken aback. "An army? Could it be some general comes here to offer me his congratulations? But, I don"t remember any army being stationed nearby."

Even as his mind was filled with questions, Ji Meng"s voice came into the hall. "We are the Eastern Expedition Army, and we come here to borrow some provisions and fodder. Please carry on and pay us no mind, my lord. We will leave as soon as we have taken whatever we need."

Before very long, all two thousand students barged into the mansion, and about a dozen of them came to the hall where the ceremony was being held, taking away all the gifts in the face of the people who came to offer congratulations.

By the time Zhuo Hongguang finally realized what was going on, the student troops were already prepared to leave with happy faces. He instantly flew into a rage, but when he was about to order an attack, Ji Meng swung his sword, causing the tallest building in the City Lord Mansion, a moon-gazing tower, to collapse with a boom.

A tower was destroyed with just a sword strike!

That frightened everyone and froze them to the spot. The strongest commander in the city was just a nine-stars Great Martial Master, who had hidden somewhere as soon as he saw what happened to the tower. And none among the rest of the people dared to make a sound as they watched the two thousand student troops leave with all the loot.

As he had said, Ji Meng was back with everyone in less than the time for an incense stick to burn. With a big smile on his face, he came alone to the commander"s tent and said, "We can continue our march now, my lord!"

"By that look on your face, you should have gotten quite a handsome gift, right? How many gold coins did you find?" Chen Dasheng asked.

"Although Shuichang is not as prosperous as Yangpu, it is still one of the main cities of Tianshui," said Han Qianfang with a faint smile. "I guess you have at least found hundreds of thousands of gold coins, even millions."

Chen Lin was shocked. "Millions? So much!" He looked regretful as he said, "I should have gone with you!"

Ji Meng smiled happily and said, "Not much, less than a tenth of what we got from Yangpu."

"Fu*k! You robbed Yangpu as well!" Chen Dasheng"s eyes grew wide. "No wonder you seem so experienced in this. How much exactly did you get from here?"

Ji Meng counted on his fingers and thought for a moment, then said, "We haven"t counted them carefully. There are only about thirty million gold coins, and the other treasures are probably worth about one to two hundred million gold coins."

"What? Thirty million gold coins? Treasures worth about one to two hundred million gold coins!" Han Qianfang bit his tongue as he said that, and then he cried out in pain.

Chen Dasheng"s eyes grew so wide that the eyeb.a.l.l.s seemed about to almost pop out of the sockets. "The state"s annual military expenditure is only one billion gold coins! How could a city have so much money?"

Chen Lin almost went crazy as he asked fiercely, "Did you just say that this is less than a tenth of what you got from Yangpu?"

As Xiao Qingw.a.n.g and Luo Yunshang did not attach great importance to money, they just smiled and remained silent after a moment of shock.

"Let"s turn the army around, my lord! Let"s visit Yangpu again!" cried Han Qianfang.

Chen Dasheng stood transfixed. A moment later, he lifted the tent flap and looked out at the two thousand students; each of them beaming with joy and excitement, and their faces covered with happy smiles.

Ji Meng smiled. "I need to leave now and report back to Young Master Yun." He leaped into the air and fell onto Yunxiao"s chariot in the distance, then walked into the tent.

"Dad!" Chen Lin wailed. "I"ve never seen so many gold coins in my life! We are going to fight the same war and this is his first time, yet when we return, he is likely to become the richest man in the whole state! Why are we still so poor after warring for so many years?"

"He"s right, my lord!" Han Qianfang"s face was sad as he complained, "I"ve been a general for many years, but apart from the soldiers" wages, I"ve never seen so much money either. When can I retire as a rich man?"

Frustrated, Chen Dasheng slapped his hand on the table and shouted, "Bring me the map!"

A sergeant immediately took out a map and unfolded it over the table. Chen Lin did not understand the meaning of this. "Dad, why are we looking at the map?"

Chen Dasheng waved and began to study the map carefully. "I wonder how many cities ahead of us are under Prince Qin Yang"s faction...one, two, three, four..."

Looking at him counting the cities, Chen Lin and Han Qianfang felt their heads reel. But very soon, they got excited too and seemed to see gold coins flying in their eyes.

"Only five?" Chen Dasheng was not happy. "That"s not enough!" He paced back and forth in the tent, then slapped on the table again and said, "If we make a detour and arrive two days late, we can pa.s.s by three more cities. I"m sure Li Changfeng can wait two more days!"

"Great! We agree!" Han Qianfang and Chen Lin stood up and said excitedly.

Soon, the army of eight hundred thousand soldiers immediately changed its planned course and began to make a detour, visiting one city after another. Whenever they left a city, everyone was smiling happily, with the City Lord alone crying and weeping miserably inside the emptied mansion.

There were thirteen main cities and over thirty smaller cities in Tianshui, and the City Lords were the highest-ranking officials in them. They were almost like local despots, and they could hold their offices for lives and even pa.s.s it to their heirs. As a result, in some of the cities with a long history, the City Lords were extremely rich.

Soon, one report after another was sent back to the capital and submitted to the court. The same reports were also being pa.s.sed into Qin Yang"s mansion, because those who were robbed were all his men.

Bam!

Another messenger was killed by Qin Yang with a kick. In a fit of rage, he roared in his mansion, "Xiao Qingw.a.n.g, Chen Dasheng, we will remain at daggers-drawn to the end of our lives!"

"They robbed another city?" Gao Feng asked calmly behind him.

"It is only with the financial resources provided by these City Lords over the years that I was able to develop my forces to what they are today!" Qin Yang bellowed. "Now, not only are my income sources cut off, but I"ve also lost the Central Army and the Golden Lion Army! I"ve lost all my edges almost overnight! How can there be such a ridiculous thing!"

Gao Feng had the same feeling that things had changed too quickly in recent days. With a cold, gloomy face, he said, "It seems that Li Yi is right about that Li Yunxiao. He"s truly a monster! Since he suddenly showed his power and joined Qin Yue, Your Highness"s forces have begun to break apart, and those men have begun to submit to Qin Yue."

Qin Yang"s eyes burned with rage as he said, "That Li Yunxiao really deserves to be killed! Now, even Li Yi is missing, and we"ve no idea whether he"s still alive or not! And a few days ago, I was told that sly old fox Lan Hong has chosen a side—he sent the b.i.t.c.h Lady Xiang a birthday gift worth tens of millions of gold coins! One by one, they have all left me! Did everyone lose hope in me?"

There was a look of determination in Gao Feng"s eyes as he said in a deep voice, "Don"t panic, Your Highness! We still have the strongest trump card, and when we reveal it, there is nothing Qin Yue can do to change the situation, even if the whole world is on his side!"

Only then did Qin Yang calm down slightly. His eyes flashed fiercely as he said to Gao Feng, "Yes! That is my strongest trump card and the only trump card! Commander Gao, you are my most trusted confidant, so you must do it well for me! When I ascend the throne, you will be placed in a lofty position, second only to me!"

Gao Feng bowed and said, "Rest a.s.sured, Your Highness, it is almost done. I will speed up and make sure nothing goes wrong!"

"Excellent!"

Qin Yang finally collected back the lofty air of a prince. With a strong killing intent in his eyes, he said coldly, "Just you wait, all of you! One day, I will torture you to death!"

...

After all the detours and marching, the Eastern Expedition Army finally arrived in the city of Anyong eight days later. Kunjin was just a few dozen miles further on.

Anyong was a small city that served only as a buffering hub strategically.