After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 121: Chapter 122: The Ploy Succeeds

”Me?” The question successfully piqued Lui Yao’s interest. He set down his wine bowl, frowning in thought for a long moment.

”Dongg Haoming’s military record in his youth was terrifying, but he’s gotten muddled in his old age. He didn’t even bother to confirm whether the Emperor was in the palace before making his move. If he wasn’t going to get his ass handed to him, who would?”

He took a drink of wine, then ate two peanuts handed to him by one of the bandits. ”Besides, none of his sons have any real ability. I fought his second son, Dongg Haoye, by Xiangrong Lake. That kid read a couple of strategy books somewhere and thought he could lead an army. His old man probably just wanted him to earn some military honors on the battlefield so he could rise through the ranks back home. Little did he know, he’d run into me in that battle!”

Just then, the cook brought the fish soup to the table. A few tender greens, two young mushrooms, and a small handful of thin, chewy hand-pulled noodles floated in the creamy white broth. Hee Chunhua took the opportunity to add a few drops of wine to the hot soup, and the resulting aroma was so fragrant that every carnivore for two hundred meters around began to drool uncontrollably.

He watched Lui Yao slurp down more than half the bowl of soup before asking, ”How did that battle go? Why don’t you tell me about it, General Lui?”

Lui Yao was delighted that someone wanted to hear about his glory days. Wiping his mouth, he said, ”At the time, Dongg Haoye had calculated that our lakeside camp was vulnerable and brought over a thousand men to launch a surprise attack. He almost succeeded, too! Luckily, I was out on patrol with three hundred men and rushed back when I saw the signal flare calling for aid.”

Hee Chunhua gave him a thumbs-up. ”Three hundred against over a thousand. Impressive.”

”Haha, that kid was stupid enough to ride a white horse! On a dark and windy night, that horse was practically glowing. I took him down with a single arrow. Once the general’s banner falls, morale crumbles. Those thousand men were just a motley crew. We scattered them in just a couple of clashes...”

* * *

Wu Shaoyi was lost in thought for a moment. His troops from the mountain base hadn’t arrived yet, but the Sable was already back.

”There’s an army hidden at the base of Whistle Rock, at least five hundred strong. They’re all sitting around in the dark, with no fires lit. I saw a couple of guys whispering to each other and grinning sleazily, and they got a whipping for it. Oh, and I saw some familiar faces among them. They’re definitely Lui Yao’s men.”

It actually spoke, but no one was surprised, having grown accustomed to it.

Wu Shaoyi asked it, ”How far is Whistle Rock from Xianling Village?”

”It only takes me a few dozen breaths to leap over there. For you humans, it would probably take the time to drink a cup of tea,” the Sable added. ”The area at the base of Whistle Rock is spacious enough to hold several hundred men at once.”

Wu Shaoyi’s expression immediately turned ugly.

’So close, yet these men aren’t going to Xianling Village to warm themselves by the fire and eat fish. They’d rather brave the cold night dew, hiding at the base of Whistle Rock without even lighting a campfire, terrified of being discovered... Are they having a collective crap session?’

From the moment Lui Yao sent the invitation to rendezvous, the three parties had agreed to each bring two hundred men to Double Moon Lake, for the sake of both balance and precaution.

’Now Lui Yao has secretly stationed extra men at Whistle Rock. This is a unilateral violation of our agreement!’

’I knew it! That man, Lui Yao, can’t be trusted!’

Wu Shaoyi took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down, then asked the Sable, ”What about Xianling Village? What else did you see there?”

”Lui Yao was sitting by the large lake at the village entrance with another man. In front of them was a huge king of a fish. The two of them were grilling fish, drinking wine, and chatting and laughing. I heard Lui Yao boasting about his past military achievements, and he called the other man ’Mr. Hee’! Oh, and he was offering the guy advice on how to conquer Wuzhou and defeat the Grand Commandant!”

Wu Shaoyi’s expression changed.

’Lui Yao, eating and drinking with a commissioned official of the Royal Court? Just thinking about the scene feels completely wrong.’

’As for dealing with the Grand Commandant, that’s a problem for the Royal Court. No one else would ask for Lui Yao’s opinion on it.’

’That man, Hee... he has to be an official. No doubt about it.’

”The two of them were also gossiping about several generals, including General Pei. Mr. Hee praised him for being resourceful and steady, but Lui Yao said being steady has its pros and cons, claiming that General Pei’s concubine slept with another man and General Pei didn’t even confront the lover.” The Sable scratched its belly. ”The two of them chuckled about it for a while. Mr. Hee asked who the lover was, and Lui Yao said it was General Xiaoyao.”

”Oh, right, that ’Mr. Hee’ was backed by government soldiers in Light Armor. I went around the village, and there were at least two hundred of them, all looking tense.”

Wu Shaoyi slapped a hand on his sword hilt, his face ashen. ”Good, good. That bastard Lui really plans to offer up our lives as his ticket to surrender!”

New and old hatreds alike surged within him.

The guide beside him stared wide-eyed in shock. ”General Wu, don’t fall into the enemy’s trap! Those government soldiers are the ones we’re supposed to kill! General Lui is just keeping him occupied, waiting for you and General Pei to make the ceremonial first kill!”

”You drink wine and eat fish with the person you’re supposed to kill?” Wu Shaoyi laughed instead of growing angry. ”Didn’t you say before that there was nothing unusual in the village?”

”I...”

”There aren’t many government soldiers. Lui Yao could have handled them himself. Why did he have to wait for us to go with him?”

The guide couldn’t answer. He couldn’t very well say that Boss Lui didn’t want to suffer any losses himself, could he? He could only force himself to say, ”Think about that message delivered by arrow! Someone must be secretly trying to sow discord!”

The guide was about to argue further, but Wu Shaoyi couldn’t be bothered to listen anymore and lopped off his head with a backhanded swing.

His blade was still dripping blood when he sent a man to deliver a message to Pei Xinyong. ’Lui Yao hadn’t just broken their agreement by bringing all his men; he was also colluding with the soldiers to plot against me. Did he think I, Wu Shaoyi, was such an easy target?’

Pei Xinyong had been the one to push for this rendezvous, and he had a relatively calm temperament. To win over his fighting force, Wu Shaoyi instructed the messenger Scout to heavily embellish Lui Yao’s outrageous remarks. Pei Xinyong’s most favored concubine was as beautiful as a flower, and crucially, thirty years younger than him. No matter how vigorous Old Pei was, he was still in his fifties and perpetually busy with military affairs. How could he satisfy her every need? That one time he led his troops out, he was gone fighting for over four months. His young concubine not only got together with someone else, she even became pregnant.

No matter how steady Pei Xinyong was, he couldn’t tolerate that. In a fit of rage, he slammed the concubine to death, without even finding out who her lover was. Afterward, he drank sullenly for half a month.

For any man, such a thing would be a thorn in his heart.

What made it even better was that the lover, General Xiaoyao, had already died in battle. Even if Pei Xinyong learned the news now, he couldn’t very well wake the man up to kill him a second time.

Wu Shaoyi’s Heart Fire burned fiercely, but instead of rushing things, he had his entire army wait where they were for Pei Xinyong’s reply.

During this time, Lui Yao sent another Scout.

Wu Shaoyi’s men replied politely, saying only that the general was having a hard time sobering up, which had delayed his advance into the mountains. They were resting for a bit and would continue on soon.

After more than half a double-hour, Pei Xinyong’s reply finally arrived. It was very simple:

”Reinforcements gathered. Willing to go to Whistle Rock and tie down the seven hundred elite soldiers.”

With his agreement, Wu Shaoyi felt his confidence bolstered. He waved his hand and said, ”Let’s go! Target: Xianling Village!”

Pei Xinyong also brought up his remaining forces from the mountain’s base, commanding a total of sixteen hundred men.