Li Pu felt as if he’d been struck hard in the chest by a heavy hammer. He collapsed into the grand master’s chair, his mouth trembling as he pointed at Li Zhigao and demanded: “Did you know something all along?”

Li Pu was mediocre and incompetent, but he wasn’t a complete fool.

Yang En’s unclear intentions in crossing the river at this time, Li Zhigao deceiving him into coming to Liyang City to meet Yang En, and Wen Ruilin fleeing in alarm at this very moment—how could this possibly be a coincidence?

Even rushing to supervise the battle below Chaozhou City at noon had been Li Zhigao finding an excuse to separate him from Wen Ruilin.

At Deng Tai’s signal, several attendants in the hall walked out of the small reception room and stood in the corridor, closing the door behind them.

Oil lamps crackled and burned. The light in the hall was dim.

Seeing that besides himself, only Yang En, Deng Tai, and Li Zhigao remained in the small hall, Li Pu’s mouth trembled as he demanded: “What are you going to do?”

“The Empress Dowager has a secret edict here. Please receive the edict, Duke Changguo!” Yao Xishui walked out from the back room, her beautiful eyes staring at Li Pu as she spoke.

“The Empress Dowager is merely…” Li Pu said sternly. How could he not know that Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er was merely a puppet controlled by Lu Qingxia? How could he be willing to be constrained by the Empress Dowager’s edict?

“Father.”

Li Zhigao suddenly shouted loudly, cutting off Li Pu’s words. His hand with bulging veins pressed on his sword hilt as he strode forward several steps, staring sternly at Li Pu and speaking in a deep, oppressive voice:

“Wen Ruilin is an enemy spy who lured Father into offering strategies that led to the navy’s disastrous annihilation. This matter is already clear, proving my previous suspicions about him were correct. The Liang army and Shouzhou forces most likely have an even greater conspiracy waiting for us. With matters so urgent, I couldn’t consult with Father before persuading His Majesty to reconsider. I could only take emergency measures to request the Empress Dowager grant an edict to act at my discretion. If Father feels I’ve done wrong, please use your blade to strike me down!”

Li Zhigao then removed the sword from his waist and placed it on the desk before kneeling at the desk. Yet his eyes still stared at Li Pu with fierce intensity.

Seeing the surging killing intent in Li Zhigao’s eyes, Li Pu was startled with fear, staring at Li Zhigao in a daze.

Li Pu slumped back into the grand master’s chair. At this moment, he completely understood—Li Zhigao had long been won over by Lu Qingxia.

Not only him—how ridiculous that Yang Yuanpu had always trusted him as a confidant general and even placed the military authority of the Huaixi Forbidden Army in his hands.

“The Empress Dowager decrees: His Majesty, young and impetuous, was deceived by treacherous sycophants and rashly mobilized troops, causing the Left and Right Five-Tooth Armies to suffer great calamity with grievous deaths and complete loss of vehicles and ships. The capital has no shield, and the hundred thousand Forbidden Army forces are isolated north of the river—a great error has been committed. Yet at this time, disregarding the safety of Great Chu’s state and altars, not deeply considering the Liang army and rebel forces’ schemes, but forcibly ordering the Huaixi Forbidden Army to attack Chaozhou City—this is not far-sighted planning. Upon seeing this edict, Li Zhigao…”

As a female official of Changchun Palace, Yao Xishui’s clear voice revealed several points of sharp, exposed intensity as she read the Empress Dowager’s handwritten edict.

No matter how stupid Li Pu was, he understood what kind of premeditated plot he was facing.

As for whether Wen Ruilin had truly fled, or perhaps had been quietly killed and silenced by Deng Tai, it was already irrelevant at this point.

In any case, he, as the treacherous sycophant who deceived His Majesty, would bear full responsibility for the previous heavy losses of Great Chu’s navy.

“With Great Chu’s navy annihilated, even if we capture Chaozhou City, when the Liang army and Shouzhou forces brazenly advance southward, we will fall into enemy encirclement on the north bank because the Yangtze waterway will be cut off by the remnants of the Loushuai Navy,” Li Zhigao leaned forward, his eyes staring at Li Pu as he said. “Besides transmitting an edict ordering me to act at my discretion, the Empress Dowager also transmitted an edict ordering Marquis Qianyang to mobilize Xuzhou’s water forces eastward. Can Father still not see through the enemy’s schemes at this time?”

“You’re willing to seek skin from tigers. Whether I see through it or not, what difference does it make?” Li Pu said dejectedly.

He still didn’t believe Wen Ruilin was an enemy spy. He was more inclined to think that everything before his eyes was more likely Lu Qingxia, Li Zhigao, Yao Xishui and others conspiring with Han Qian to use the navy’s collapse as an opportunity to stage a military remonstration and palace coup.

Since Yang Yuanpu had taken personal control of government, besides being extremely suspicious of Han Qian, he had also vigorously restricted Lu Qingxia and others from interfering in government through Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er’s hand.

Li Pu wasn’t particularly surprised that Lu Qingxia and Yao Xishui had ultimately colluded with Han Qian. He just never imagined that Li Zhigao had been won over by Lu Qingxia early on.

What could he say at this point?

At this moment, he didn’t even have the slightest room to struggle.

When hastily leaving Zhuyuwan in Yangzhou, he had handed over his escort guards to Li Xiu and Li Qi to lead to Zhongli for support, while he brought only a dozen guards to rush back to Jinling with Zheng Chang.

This time crossing the river to transmit the edict, he still had only a dozen guards and Wen Ruilin and others accompanying him.

At this time in Liyang City, besides the two thousand elite Forbidden Army troops obeying Li Zhigao’s orders, Li Zhigao also had over two hundred elite cavalry protecting him at all times.

Not to mention that in this hall, Deng Tai was a rare brave general in the army, and Yao Xishui was skilled in assassination techniques—what could he struggle against or resist?

Yao Xishui’s beautiful eyes looked toward Li Zhigao.

If possible, she still hoped to persuade Li Pu to obey the Empress Dowager’s secret edict.

It wasn’t that she cherished old feelings. The main reason was that having Li Pu’s cooperation could reduce some unnecessary yet potentially fatal chaos.

She hoped to reveal right now, in front of Li Pu and Yang En, the true inside story of why Han Qian had yielded credit back in Wuling City.

However, Li Zhigao ignored Yao Xishui and said to Li Pu in a heavy voice:

“In Father’s heart, you may still suspect I sent someone to kill Wen Ruilin to silence him and then framed him as an enemy spy. But Wen Ruilin fled north. Once he joins with the twenty thousand elite cavalry that Xu Mingzhen has assembled at Longji Mountain southwest of Haozhou, he will inevitably be the first to insert forces into the Yandun Mountain and Biezi Peak area, cutting off the Right Shenwu Army’s southern retreat route. Moreover, since Wen Ruilin is an enemy spy, Gao Long, Miao Yong and other Tanzhou generals who surrendered at Tanzhou after Wen Ruilin’s persuasion may also have problems. If Father still stubbornly clings to his views, then Marquis Yang and I will first return to Chaozhou military camp. By tomorrow afternoon, Father may be able to verify whether what Zhigao said today is true or false!”

Li Pu looked up in alarm.

Besides the troops led by Chai Jian in Shaozhou, the Right Shenwu Army currently remaining in Zhongli County territory could be said to be the foundation combining the Zhedong Prince’s faction after Duke Changguo’s household and Wanhong House parted ways.

Setting aside Chen Mingsheng, Xu Jing and others, Li Chong and Li Qi were his legitimate sons, Li Xiu was his legitimate nephew, and there were three to four hundred Li clan descendants—almost all of them were currently in Zhongli.

If Li Zhigao and the others weren’t lying about Wen Ruilin, once the Right Shenwu Army truly had its retreat route cut off by Shouzhou cavalry, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Duke Guo was merely deceived by an enemy spy, but his loyalty to Great Chu and His Majesty is known throughout the court and countryside…” Yang En also knew the importance of persuading Li Pu and urged him.

Li Pu wasn’t stupid either. If he followed Li Zhigao in obeying the Empress Dowager’s secret edict at this time, Yang Yuanpu wouldn’t forgive him, Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang and others would resent him, and he would also have to bear responsibility for the navy’s annihilation. What good outcome would there be afterward?

Of course, he also clearly understood that if he didn’t obey the edict and Li Zhigao, Yang En and Han Qian’s palace coup conspiracy succeeded, he wouldn’t have a good end either.

If obeying or not obeying the edict made no difference to him, whether Wen Ruilin was an enemy spy concerned the life and death of over a hundred Li clan descendants including Li Chong, Li Qi, and Li Xiu—this was something Li Pu couldn’t help but consider.

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Wen Ruilin wasn’t an enemy spy, he needed to consider that if he didn’t submit, with Lu Qingxia’s ruthless cruelty, would she directly withdraw the Huaixi Forbidden Army’s main forces from outside Chaozhou City and then use the rebel army’s hand to eliminate the Right Shenwu Army…

Thinking of this, Li Pu sighed softly and said: “It was indeed Wen Ruilin who offered the strategy and suggestion for the navy’s main forces to raid the Loushuai Navy remnants to seize Haozhou. I failed to distinguish between loyalty and treachery. Perhaps this truly was the cause of the navy’s disastrous collapse at Hongze Lake…”

Seeing Li Pu’s tone soften, Li Zhigao said: “If Father co-signs an order with Zhigao now and sends swift horses to rush to Zhongli to report, there may still be a slim possibility of detaining Gao Long and having the Right Shenwu Army withdraw south in time.”

Not to mention Li Xiu, Li Chong, Li Qi and other Li clan descendants—even Right Shenwu Army Commander Chen Mingsheng followed Li Pu’s orders alone. Li Zhigao needed an order jointly signed by him and Li Pu to make Chen Mingsheng and the others disregard the previous imperial edict, follow orders to detain Gao Long, and then directly lead the Right Shenwu Army to withdraw south.

Of course, more critically, doing this would be equivalent to Li Pu standing together with Li Zhigao and the others, directly disregarding Yang Yuanpu’s imperial edict, abandoning the plan to forcibly attack Chaozhou City, and instead following the Empress Dowager’s secret edict.

“Perhaps this is the only use I have left?” Li Pu couldn’t help feeling somewhat like the sun setting in the west. He removed the seal from his waist and said to Li Zhigao: “You draft the military order. I’ll sign and seal it.”

Li Zhigao immediately drafted the order. To prevent enemy forces from having already infiltrated with small units, he specifically drafted two copies. After signing and sealing them together with Li Pu, he sent two groups of people with swift horses to rush overnight to Zhongli, two hundred thirty to forty li away, to deliver the message at the fastest speed.

With this matter concluded, Li Zhigao also rushed without stopping to Chaozhou military camp with Li Pu, Yang En, Yao Xishui and others, surrounded by many guards, worried that after tonight passed, the situation would completely change.

……

……

Although from Liyang, passing through Chuzhou City and rushing to Zhongli along the southeast side of the Wujian Mountain range, official roads connected the entire route, the overcast weather and dark night made it extremely risky for seven or eight messenger soldiers holding torches high and galloping on horseback.

With the slightest carelessness, if a horse’s hoof stepped into a depression, the hoof could break directly. If a person fell from horseback, at the very least they’d be bruised and battered—worse yet, bones could break and limbs be mangled.

However, military orders were like mountains. Li Zhigao had ordered both groups to deliver the secret letter into Right Shenwu Army Commander Chen Mingsheng’s hands before dawn. None dared slack off in the slightest.

Even though their mounts feared the dark night, they still frequently applied the whip, urging their warhorses onward.

“Swish, swish, swish!”

Dense arrows like sharp wind sounds suddenly shot from surrounding directions.

Caught off guard, three men were immediately shot down. The remaining four saw over ten figures on swift horses charging from the pitch-black wilderness on both sides toward the official road and, knowing the forward path must also have ambushers, could only turn around in haste and flee back the way they came.

But they hadn’t galloped thirty or forty steps when over ten more dark shadows charged out from the forest behind and to the side, blocking their retreat route. Arrows like locusts shot from all around…

Wen Ruilin and Lei Jiuyuan walked out of the forest. The suddenly initiated battle was already nearing its end—less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had passed.

Not one of the seven messenger cavalry who had ridden out from Liyang City escaped. All were mercilessly killed.

“Just as Master Wen predicted, these people are precisely the messengers Li Zhigao sent to Zhongli,” a cavalryman wearing a black cloak handed over a secret letter he’d searched from the dead to Lei Jiuyuan and Wen Ruilin.

“How could I possibly have revealed a flaw?”

Although when Su Hongyu crossed the river yesterday to Chaozhou military camp to visit Li Zhigao, Wen Ruilin, who had always arranged for someone to watch Li Zhigao’s movements from beginning to end, became suspicious. And today, after Li Zhigao found an excuse to separate him from Li Pu, Deng Tai, who had more martial prowess than finesse, came to trick him into going to Liyang. He decisively fled Chaozhou military camp. But he still hadn’t figured out exactly when he’d exposed his tracks even now.

If Li Pu, Li Zhigao and others had already guessed his true identity long ago, why would the Chu navy unhesitatingly step into the death trap they had carefully designed?

If previously there had been no detection whatsoever, and even Li Pu had rushed back to Jinling City at his urging to strongly advise Yang Yuanpu to forcibly attack Chaozhou City, he could also be certain he hadn’t revealed any flaws before Li Pu at that time. Why, after he crossed the river with Li Pu, did someone see through his tracks in just three short days?

However, no matter how confused he felt, he still anticipated that Li Zhigao and Duke Changguo Li Pu, regardless of what reason they had for seeing through him, or whether someone else had warned them, after seeing him “flee from punishment,” should have immediately sent people from Liyang to notify the Right Shenwu Army stationed at Zhongli to be carefully on guard.

So after he met with Lei Jiuyuan, who personally led a small elite scout force lurking in the wilderness mountains north of Chaozhou City, besides sending someone to rush to meet Xu Mingzhen to report, they divided forces into two routes and rushed to the two necessary routes from Liyang to Zhongli to wait and ambush.

Although heading north from Liyang, even if there were hills and mountains they were all quite low, riding swift horses to transmit messages at night could only follow post roads and official roads.

If swift horses traveled through pitted, long-abandoned fields and wilderness, first the speed wouldn’t be fast, and second, even at slightly faster speeds, anyone would inevitably end up bruised and battered or with broken bones and mangled limbs, completely failing to achieve the purpose of urgent message transmission.

At this time, he searched out Li Zhigao and Li Pu’s jointly signed secret letter from the messenger’s chest. Looking at it, it only said that he and Gao Long might be enemy spies who had already fled from punishment, requiring Chen Mingsheng to secretly discuss with Li Xiu and Li Chong, detain Gao Long, and then immediately lead the Right Shenwu Army and navy remnants to withdraw south, being careful that Shouzhou forces might advance eastward to intercept.

The question that puzzled Wen Ruilin still wasn’t resolved by this secret letter.