After nodding, the strategist continued: “I estimate that Prince Huangshan will receive the young Emperor’s edict to abolish feudal princes a step behind us in Ji’an. Your Highness should quickly send someone to communicate with Prince Huangshan so we can coordinate our responses. Right now, Prince Huangshan is closest to the Great Zhou’s Emperor, making it convenient to strike.”

Prince Ji’an had already made his calculations and nodded, picking up his brush to personally write to Prince Huangshan: “I’ll personally write to Prince Huangshan. You go have the Crown Prince send people to scout Great Zhou’s military situation.”

“Yes!” The strategist rose, bowed, and departed to find Prince Ji’an’s Crown Prince.

That very day, Princess Consort Ji’an, accompanied by the pregnant Crown Prince Consort of Ji’an, departed for Yan’s capital together with the imperial envoy from the capital.

The Crown Prince of Ji’an watched as the luxurious carriage carrying his mother and wife gradually disappeared into the twilight, then immediately turned to see his father. Before entering the study, he instructed his subordinates to guard the entrance and allow no one to approach, only then lifting the curtain to enter the study.

Seeing his father holding a flickering candle and standing before a map, apparently studying something, he stepped forward and bowed: “Father, your son has something to discuss with you.”

“Speak, I’m listening.” Prince Ji’an’s gaze didn’t leave the map, his voice heavy…

Although Prince Ji’an had already resolved to contend with Great Zhou to the end, he still felt uncertain inside.

Prince Ji’an had once heard that although the Great Zhou’s Emperor was a woman, her ambition to unify the world was extremely firm. Since Prince Xiping’s ambush had failed to kill Great Zhou’s Emperor, it would certainly make her more vigilant—this was a significant concern.

But Prince Ji’an had pondered the timing of Great Zhou’s military deployment and discovered some other things.

Although everyone outside was saying… that the Great Zhou Emperor’s brothers and sisters were united, and upon learning of the Emperor’s attack, they had mobilized en masse.

But Prince Ji’an and his strategists had calculated carefully over the past few days. Based on the timing of the Great Zhou’s attack on Yan, the Great Zhou should have already been deploying troops day and night toward Yan at the time of the Great Zhou Emperor’s attack.

Otherwise, if it had been after the Great Zhou Emperor’s attack, then sending messengers back to Great Zhou, then Great Zhou deploying troops, even if Great Zhou’s soldiers had wings, they couldn’t have arrived so quickly!

Two things could explain this: either there was a traitor among the imperial relatives who had allied with them, who had sent news to Great Zhou in advance.

Or, the Great Zhou Emperor’s visit to Yan for the epidemic matter and the Great Zhou’s cities was merely a pretext—they had planned to militarily unify and destroy Yan from the beginning. They had simply coincidentally collided with the timing when Yan’s imperial relatives and feudal princes were joining forces. Prince Xiping’s ambush had instead given the Great Zhou Emperor a legitimate excuse to deploy troops.

Prince Ji’an didn’t believe there was a traitor among the imperial relatives, since the imperial relatives and feudal princes shared the same interests and goals.

Therefore, Prince Ji’an felt it should be the latter. He even suspected that even if Prince Xiping hadn’t struck at the Great Zhou Emperor, the Great Zhou Emperor would have found other excuses to attack Yan.

From this, Prince Ji’an could also deduce that Great Zhou’s various princes mobilizing to attack Yan was not because of their deep affection for the Great Zhou Emperor, unable to restrain themselves from deploying troops upon learning of the Emperor’s attack!

Rather, the Great Zhou Emperor’s troop deployment orders had been sent back to Great Zhou’s capital, the Capital City, before Prince Xiping’s ambush on Great Zhou Emperor, which led to Great Zhou’s multiple armies attacking Yan.

“Father, your son believes… if we want our Yan to have peace, the Great Zhou Emperor must die! Your son wishes to request that Father send a letter to Prince Huangshan, having Prince Huangshan find a way to kill the Great Zhou Emperor!” Crown Prince Ji’an spoke slowly. “Our Ji’an army can engage the Great Zhou first, tying down the forces led by Prince Zhenguo and Prince Fuguo, giving Prince Huangshan time to kill the Great Zhou Emperor. As long as Prince Huangshan has a clear objective—only killing the Great Zhou Emperor rather than repelling the Great Zhou’s army—it should be easily accomplished!”

Hearing his son’s words, Prince Ji’an turned around, placed the candle on the table, and looked seriously at his son: “Why must we kill the Great Zhou Emperor?”

“Father, please consider: your son calculated the timing of Great Zhou’s troop deployment back and forth, and something doesn’t add up! The Great Zhou Emperor should have long intended to attack Yan, having earlier issued orders for Great Zhou’s various princes to bring troops to Yan. Prince Xiping’s ambush on the Great Zhou Emperor was merely an unfortunate coincidence where we handed the Great Zhou an excuse to attack Yan!” Crown Prince Ji’an looked up at his father. “Your son still believes that once the Great Zhou Emperor dies, Great Zhou’s cohesion certainly won’t be as strong as it is now. The various princes will probably try to compete for power as we previously envisioned!”

Hearing his son’s words, Prince Ji’an curled his fingers and tapped the table once, then picked up his teacup: “You and I think alike!”

Hearing this, Crown Prince Ji’an felt more confident, though his face showed no joy. He said: “Your son believes that Prince Huangshan will probably receive the Emperor’s order to abolish feudal princes in the next few days. He certainly won’t be willing to have his feudal status abolished and surrender without resistance, just like us. Then he’ll surely understand that killing the Great Zhou Emperor is our only path to survival!”

“What you say makes sense, but if we act first, Prince Huangshan has always been timid…”

Seeing Prince Ji’an’s hesitation, Crown Prince Ji’an continued: “Father, Prince Huangshan is timid and doesn’t participate in any of our feudal princes’ schemes, but this time it’s the young Emperor wanting to abolish feudal princes and submit to Great Zhou—for Prince Huangshan, this is different. Moreover, for our Ji’an… this is our last gamble. The worst possible outcome would be… we retreat to defend our cities and don’t come out!”

After brief consideration, Prince Ji’an nodded decisively: “We’ll do as you say!”

“Since Father has decided, your son ventures to request Father’s permission to lead troops and depart. Your son wants to circle to the east side of Great Zhou’s army to cut off Great Zhou’s supply lines. Without provisions, the Great Zhou’s army will need time for new supplies to arrive, and we can seize the initiative during this time.” Crown Prince Ji’an clasped his hands in request for orders, his features so similar to Prince Ji’an’s appearing golden in the flickering firelight throughout the room.

At this time, Bai Jinzhi had also reached the military camp of the army led by Bai Qingyu and Bai Jinxiu.

After hearing the message Bai Qingyan had sent through Bai Jinzhi, Bai Jinxiu turned to look at Bai Qingyu: “No wonder people reported today that Ji’an City has been sending out scouts in several batches.”

Since Bai Qingyu understood his elder sister’s intention to clean up Yan’s feudal princes completely, he had little patience to wait for Prince Ji’an to cause trouble on his own, nor did he want this matter to exceed his control.

He walked to the map, studied it for a moment, his gaze falling on two optimal ambush locations. After frowning in thought for a while, he spoke slowly: “Counting the days, our next batch of provisions should arrive in three to five days. Let’s leak this information to Prince Ji’an’s people.”

Bai Jinxiu nodded: “I’ll arrange for someone to handle this!”