395. Going According to the Plan

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Emperor Zhou’s orders finally arrived.

There was an official order and a secret one.

Everyone knew about the official order which told them how to act in the future.

To their surprise, Emperor Zhou mentioned briefly Fang Shuoyang’s a.n.a.lysis in the order.

In short, it depended on if Tianlong Dynasty got hit by the poison. If they didn’t get hit, they would pretend nothing had happened to Huhe Huangcheng

And the Eastern Darkness had not ever allied with Northern Barbarians.

If Tianlong Dynasty got hit, they would seize this opportunity and even start a war with Tianlong Dynasty in the name of saving Huhe Huangcheng!

Of course, the premise was that Tianlong Dynasty was indeed hit by the poison!

The official order mentioned other things.

Emperor Zhou gave instructions on things related to the border without involving Fang Shuoyang.

They didn’t know that there was a secret letter, which was sent to General Song alone.

This secret letter put General Song in a difficult position.

Emperor Zhou estimated that they might have a war with Tianlong Dynasty.

He asked General Song to choose from the two princes a commander, who would independently lead an army of 30,000 soldiers.

This was a blatant attempt to help the chosen prince make military achievements.

But why didn’t the emperor just tell him which prince to choose? Why did he have to put him in such a difficult position?

The emperor told him to make a decision as he saw fit and chose as he liked.

Could this kind of thing be solved just as he saw fit?

Could this kind of thing be decided as he liked?

There would be a big problem if he screwed up.

General Song was in a dilemma.

Although Fang Shuoyang did not know that General Song had received a secret letter, it was not difficult to guess it if they declared war with Tianlong Dynasty.

The two princes were here, so it was impossible for both of them to stay here and watch, right?

If they were at war, one of them would definitely lead the army and go in the battle. The other had to stay behind.

If the one stayed behind did a good job, there would be no problem.

If he made some mistakes, he would be criticized.

People would simply say he did nothing at all.

The one who go in the battle was naturally the center of attention.

A great victory would be a solid military glory, which significantly benefited the prince.

Both princes wanted to be the commander going in the battle.

Now, the emperor left this decision to General Song, which put him in a difficult position to offend one of the princes!

One day, the Eastern Darkness confirmed that something was wrong with Tianlong Dynasty.

In a small battle, some soldiers of Tianlong Dynasty suddenly lost their strength. If it were not for the timely arrival of the reinforcements from Tianlong Dynasty, they would have been heavily defeated in the battle.

With luck, their reinforcements came to the rescue and took those sick soldiers back. However, those soldiers were frightened, which was a delightful scene.

Later on, words like mysterious illness and contagious diseases were not a secret in the military camp.

Even though the higher-ups had forbidden them to talk about the illness, the rumors couldn’t be stifled.

Of course, the spies from Northern Barbarians and the remaining spies from the Eastern Darkness spread the news.

A war would break out at any moment!

One night, General Song called all the generals for a meeting.

Fang Shuoyang and Zhou Suye were not present.

General Song vaguely implied that there would be a prince leading the army of considerable number of soldiers, and he asked for everyone’s opinion.

A straightforward general said right away, “Let’s choose the Fourth Prince. I think he’s capable of leading the army.”

The other generals did not say anything, but if they had to choose one, most of them would go for Fang Shuoyang.

Even though he had never befriended them.

Two generals exchanged a look with each other, and one of them said. “The Fifth Prince has been here before, and he is more familiar with the terrain.”

The other general chimed in, “That’s right, and the Fifth Prince performed quite well last time. If it were not for the accident of the late Crown Prince…”

“Was that an accident?” The straightforward general immediately shouted. “They tried to kill each other. Do you call that an accident?”

General Song turned grim. “General Geng!”

The straightforward general immediately shut his mouth. The only person he feared here was General Song, his superior.

His friend said, “You have to mind your words. They are two princes, not two soldiers. You could be killed for criticizing the royal family.”

The straightforward general immediately pouted, but he was not a reckless person, so he did not say anything else.

A short time afterwards, General Song dismissed the meeting, but he had not made up his mind to choose which prince to lead the army.

The meeting was not a secret.

Therefore, Fang Shuoyang and Zhou Suye soon knew about it.

Zhou Suye knew that the opportunity was right in front of him. This time, if he could not grasp it again, he would land himself in a very pa.s.sive position and live under the shadow created by Fang Shuoyang!

At the thought of this, Zhou Suye was glad that he had befriended the two generals.

If the two generals hadn’t put in a good word for him at the meeting, Fang Shuoyang would have been chosen to lead the army.

Fang Shuoyang would steal the show, and no one would pay attention to Zhou Suye.

Zhou Suye immediately took action.

Two days later, it was said that Zhou Suye went to General Song in person.

No one knew what he said to General Song.

In short, General Song’s confidant said that he looked gloomy after Zhou Suye left.

Even so, the prince to lead the army was confirmed to be Zhou Suye.

Fang Shuoyang had been unruffled and self-possessed from the beginning to the end.

His exceptional composure won more favor of the people who liked him.

The Fourth Prince’s male concubine was said to be unhappy.

But that was normal, wasn’t it?

General Song preferred Fang Shuoyang. He even dropped him a hint. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taught Fang Shuoyang some battling experience.

However, Zhou Suye suddenly pulled the plug.

Why did Zhou Suye succeed?

There were no more than two methods, coercion and bribe.

General Song was not moved by the bribe.

However, the coercion from a prince, who was already in action, was not to be ignored.

Besides, this was just a matter of choice, not something had to be done by someone.

His own opinion should not be taken into consideration because this matter had involved too many forces behind.

When a prince was shameless enough to threaten him, he, as a general, could only give in.

After all, the Eastern Darkness belonged to the Zhou family. Although he was a general, he worked for the royal family.

General Song felt terribly sorry for Fang Shuoyang.

Thankfully, different from Zhou Suye, Fang Shuoyang was broad-minded. Although General Song gave him the wrong hint, Fang Shuoyang consoled General Song, saying that it didn’t matter which prince would lead the army, as long as they could defeat Tianlong Dynasty.

It was good that he stayed behind and learnt more.

His breadth of mind won the favor of General Song, who decided to support him if they had to make a choice.

Just like that, Fang Shuoyang displayed his refined demeanor and showed his patriotism.

Besides, he never showed any dissatisfaction with Zhou Suye.

This resulted in a strange phenomenon.

Although Zhou Suye was “in charge”, most of the soldiers that he led were questioning why the Fourth Prince didn’t lead them.

Zhou Suye was furious about this, and his expression became colder by the day.

He even had several gossiping soldiers clubbed.

However, that only ruined his reputation instead of redeeming it! It was a pleasant surprise for Fang Shuoyang!

In fact, Fang Shuoyang didn’t do much to the ordinary soldiers. He just smiled at them occasionally. To his surprise, it had an obvious effect.

However, Fang Shuoyang thought that was more because those generals favored him.

After all, soldiers always followed the opinions of the generals.

One night, s.h.i.+ Qingzhou went to Fang Shuoyang.

“The plan is going smoothly now. The Eastern Darkness will declare war soon, and it will depend on our performance.”

“Don’t worry,” Fang Shuoyang smiled and said, “I’m ready here.”

s.h.i.+ Qingzhou nodded and added, “Don’t be careless. Besides, we need to make other preparations.”

Fang Shuoyang didn’t take his enemy lightly. Although things were going according to the plan now, he knew that the risk would be greater as it progressed.

Fang Shuoyang nodded quickly. “Brother s.h.i.+, please tell me.”

The two of them started to discuss carefully.

While the two of them were discussing, Tianlong Dynasty on the other side seemed very chaotic internally, but it was time to take the next step.

That night, Long Xiaoyuan made a series of orders. He had been busy from yesterday afternoon till now!

Thankfully, it was about to come to an end.

Long Xiaoyuan had not had dinner yet, and he planned to finish the work at his hand and…