Prince Huangshan personally welcomed the imperial envoy sent by Murong Li. When the envoy informed Prince Huangshan that Murong Li had decided to surrender to the Great Zhou, and conveyed the Great Zhou Emperor’s demand to abolish feudal princes, commanding Prince Huangshan to prepare himself and bring his entire household to Yan’s capital while transferring military authority to the person Murong Li had dispatched.

Prince Huangshan’s response was remarkably consistent with Prince Ji’an’s—his words were that he was willing to obey the Emperor’s sacred will, but military affairs required some time to transfer, and he requested His Majesty’s patience for a few more days.

However, Prince Huangshan didn’t send his elderly wife to accompany the imperial envoy to Yan’s capital, only saying that once he had arranged all affairs, he would bring his entire household to Yan together.

Prince Huangshan had been anxious and agitated these past few days, deliberating back and forth with his household strategists without reaching any conclusion, only feeling that the young Emperor’s move was too ruthless.

If he refused to comply with the young Emperor’s edict to abolish feudal princes, then he’d have to fight the Great Zhou while the young Emperor hid behind them, watching. If the feudal princes had a chance of winning, he’d send troops; if they had no chance of winning, it would all be because these feudal princes were unwilling to have their status abolished. When the time came, his death wouldn’t matter, but the key was that it would implicate his wife and daughters, and the comrades-in-arms who fought alongside Prince Huangshan.

If he complied with the young Emperor’s edict and surrendered military authority to go to Yan’s capital now, it would be equivalent to giving up his weapons and allowing himself to be slaughtered. When future history books said the young Emperor was a ruler who lost his country, they would also be slaves of the kingdom who helped push things along without the backbone to fight the Great Zhou.

Not to mention, Prince Huangshan, already sixty years old, was unwilling to see the Murong family’s foundation disappear like this.

Rather than surrender without resistance, it was better to take a risk and gamble—perhaps there was still a chance of victory…

Therefore, when he received Prince Ji’an’s letter, the usually timid and cautious Prince Huangshan seemed to have found an ally and immediately decided to agree, ordering preparations and selecting personnel… to assassinate Great Zhou’s Emperor.

“Assassinating Great Zhou’s Emperor is one aspect, but don’t forget… The Great Zhou’s Emperor also has Prince Gaoyi, who is skilled in warfare, plus several capable generals! So to avoid massive retaliation after killing the Great Zhou’s Emperor, I believe… Your Highness should prepare in advance. Once Great Zhou’s Emperor is killed and the enraged Great Zhou army is drawn into an encirclement, at minimum, we must kill enough of the forces Great Zhou’s Emperor brought to render them unable to contend with you!” Prince Huangshan’s strategist advised him.

“Yes, you’re right!” The naturally cautious Prince Huangshan nodded. “Once we choose to act against the Great Zhou’s Emperor, regardless of success or failure, we’ll probably face the Great Zhou’s retaliation! Just like Prince Xiping…”

Prince Huangshan certainly didn’t want to end up like Prince Xiping.

The other strategists in the study nodded along, recalling Prince Xiping’s fate with inevitable sighs.

Originally, Prince Xiping’s Crown Prince had had the opportunity to kill Great Zhou’s Emperor, but because he couldn’t bear to sacrifice his son, he let Great Zhou’s Emperor escape.

This not only alerted the enemy but ultimately resulted in the Great Zhou’s Emperor capturing their entire family.

Although he didn’t currently know whether Prince Xiping Crown Prince’s family was still alive, he imagined that Great Zhou’s Emperor, having suffered such humiliation, would certainly not spare their lives.

After much deliberation, Prince Huangshan decided to kill the Great Zhou’s Emperor. That very day, he had Prince Huangshan’s Crown Prince take the Princess Consort, Crown Prince Consort, brothers and sisters, and the children of the household to depart together for Yaodu, where Prince Huangshan’s Princess Consort’s elder sister resided, to avoid having Great Zhou hold his family members hostage.

Year Three of Yuanhe, Third Month, Twenty-Third Day, at the Hour of the Ox, Crown Prince Ji’an and Prince Ji’an personally led troops in the deep night, departing successively from the west city gate, attempting to avoid the Great Zhou army’s scouts by mobilizing in full force. Making a great detour, Crown Prince Ji’an positioned his ambush in the mountains thirty li from Great Zhou’s military camp, while Prince Ji’an led heavy forces to ambush at the location agreed upon with Crown Prince Ji’an… twenty li from Great Zhou’s army.

Prince Ji’an had received news that Great Zhou’s provisions were about to arrive, but he also suspected whether this might be because their people had alerted the enemy while gathering intelligence, causing Great Zhou to release this information intentionally to lure them into a trap.

After all, the Great Zhou army was led by the Great Zhou Emperor’s blood brother.

After much consideration and consultation with his strategists, Prince Ji’an settled on the method of ambushing at two locations.

Crown Prince Ji’an would ambush Great Zhou’s supply route. If the provisions were merely the Great Zhou’s bait, Prince Zhenguo would certainly bring troops to suppress the Ji’an army. At that time… if Crown Prince Ji’an could lead his army to retreat toward Prince Ji’an’s encirclement, he would draw Great Zhou’s army there.

If he was surrounded by Great Zhou’s heavy forces and couldn’t get through, Prince Ji’an with his heavy forces wasn’t far from Crown Prince Ji’an’s ambush location and could kill his way over to surround Great Zhou’s army in turn, attacking them from inside and outside with Crown Prince Ji’an.

If this wasn’t Great Zhou’s trick, Crown Prince Ji’an’s ambush on the supply route would deliberately let Great Zhou’s people go to the Great Zhou military camp to report. When Prince Zhenguo Bai Qingyu, the commander of this Great Zhou army, heard about it, he would certainly lead troops to rescue the provisions. Thirty li distance… fast horses to report, then mustering troops to rush to aid, at most two hours!

Great Zhou, urgent to rescue provisions, would certainly race all the way.

Moreover, at this time Great Zhou would think the Ji’an army was ambushing the supply route, and being emergency reinforcements, they certainly wouldn’t check if there were more ambushes in the mountain paths. When they passed through Prince Ji’an’s ambush location, Prince Ji’an would lead his soldiers to annihilate all of Great Zhou’s army.

Prince Ji’an repeatedly rehearsed the plan until all strategists agreed this strategy was quite sound, only then taking advantage of the night to have his soldiers carry dry provisions and depart.

The one responsible for escorting provisions this time was Sima Ping.

Sima Ping, in full military attire, sat on horseback looking at the mountain terrain ahead, raising his hand to signal the provision escort convoy to halt. He drew out a sheepskin map from his chest, glanced at it, then ordered: “Two teams, go scout both sides!”

Sima Ping had been very cautious throughout his provision escort journey. Whenever encountering terrain suitable for ambushes, he would always send scouts to investigate thoroughly before proceeding. Fortunately, this journey had been peaceful without incident.

This location was most suitable for ambushes. Even though they were less than thirty li from Prince Zhenguo’s military camp, Sima Ping still dared not slacken in the slightest.

Crown Prince Ji’an, ambushing in the heights, saw the provision convoy halt and felt his scalp tighten. Seeing the general leading the provision escort, dispatched two small teams toward the high slopes on both sides; he knew they couldn’t remain hidden.

Crown Prince Ji’an gritted his teeth and spoke: “We can’t hide anymore… have the soldiers attack!”

He hadn’t brought the main Ji’an army forces. Their main purpose in ambushing here was to draw Prince Zhenguo to lead troops in rapid reinforcement—his father’s ambush location was the key.

Thinking of this, Crown Prince Ji’an suddenly rose, drew his blade, and shouted: “Kill!”

Hearing the echoing battle cries, Sima Ping looked up to see startled birds fleeing the forest as successive battle cries arose, creating chaos and uproar.

The Ji’an army, originally guarding the entrance, prepared to block Great Zhou’s provision convoy’s retreat, and also charged out, intending to drive Great Zhou’s provision team into the mountains.