Chapter 724 – In Front of Jiamen Pass (4)
Jiang Pengji chuckled teasingly, “You sound rather reluctant.”
Yan Lin remained silent, only staring at her with his inky-black eyes for a long moment.
Being entirely represented by an unrelated person while losing out on some readily available benefits would make anyone unhappy.
Jiang Pengji understood his grievances, her starry eyes glimmering with a mischievous smile as she shamelessly joked.
“I know you’re feeling upset, but on second thought, you should thank me. If it weren’t for me, Xu Pei wouldn’t have let you go so easily. He just needed to drag things out for another three to five days, and it would have all been too late. Although Yang Jian caused a ruckus before, raising fears among the other lords, that fear fades with time. After all, the longer Jiamen Pass is under siege, the more someone has to take the blame. Looking through all the lords, who else could fit that bill better than your esteemed leader? It’s already a challenge to stay away from this mess.”
Yan Lin’s expression darkened instantly, turning his head away from her annoyingly smug smile.
Although it was Jiang Pengji who had put them in a tight spot, it was as if she turned it around to make Yang Jian and Yan Lin owe her a debt of gratitude.
Her ability to twist right and wrong was truly top-notch.
“This one’s no simple character…”
After parting ways, both sides went back to regroup their troops. It was the first time Yan Lin spoke after a long silence.
Yang Jian chimed in, “Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes to phoenixes; the offspring of rats will dig holes. What good do you think Liu Zhi’s son will be? I just didn’t expect Liu Xi to be not only capable in battle but also so slick with his tongue. And think about Zheng Ze; it’s truly worrying.”
To Yang Jian, Jiang Pengji was the quintessential “other people’s child,” while he constantly fretted over his own son, Yang Tao.
Hearing Yang Jian disparage his son, Yan Lin couldn’t help but feel sympathy for his best friend.
“Zheng Ze’s temperament is nice, warmhearted and righteous; that’s far better than the scheming kind.”
Even if his friend was a bit slow-witted, Yan Lin still preferred to think his troublesome buddy was better than anyone else.
With a wry smile, Yang Jian said, “Well, it’s easy to call it warmhearted and righteous, but in harsher terms, it’s just being impulsive and thoughtless. Fortunately, that kid was blessed in his previous life to have you as a friend… With you watching over him, I won’t have to worry about him being bullied after a hundred years.”
Yang Jian had quite a few kids, but this son was the only one born from his legal wife, so he cherished him more than anything.
Unfortunately, this child had always been a bit off, causing trouble left and right, which made Yang Jian increasingly worried, his once-smooth beard no longer shiny.
It was only when Yan Lin came along that Yang Jian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With a smile, Yan Lin said, “Our leader is in the prime of life; he won’t show his age even after another thirty or fifty years.”
Yang Jian stroked his magnificent beard, and as they returned to the camp surrounded by their personal guards, he issued orders to regroup and pack up.
There was still some time before they set off, and Yan Lin visited Jiang Pengji’s camp again to discuss matters.
Liu Xi and Liu Zhi were father and son, and their camps were very close to each other. When Yan Lin arrived, he found Liu Xi’s camp bustling with activity, while Liu Zhi’s side was as still as ever, showing no signs of movement. He frowned, suppressing his doubts.
“My father doesn’t like fighting; he only came for the alliance out of necessity,” Jiang Pengji noticed his thoughts and explained with a smile, “Using surprise troops to intercept Changshou Wang’s elite is too thrilling for him, so I didn’t disturb him.”
“If we don’t borrow Liu Xi’s troops, can your thousand men really manage?” Yan Lin queried.
Jiang Pengji replied, “It’s enough; combined, our two households have about twenty-five thousand. If we add my father’s forces, then it becomes a massive target.”
They planned to execute a surprise attack, and the key was in the “surprise.”
If they became too noticeable, the enemy would catch on, and it could severely compromise their effectiveness, potentially costing them dearly.
Yan Lin’s expression softened slightly, “That makes sense as well.”
Jiamen Pass is at a strategic mountain pass, steep and rugged; navigating around it to Chenzhou is quite difficult.
However, difficulty does not mean impossibility.
“If we want to bypass Jiamen Pass, there are two routes we can take.” As the full representative of Yang Jian’s army, this man was no slouch; he proposed this strategy with utmost confidence. “One is the waterway, but with the swift and treacherous currents, it’ll be tough wading upstream. If it’s not for the excellent swimmers among us, it’s likely they couldn’t cross.”
Yang Jian’s soldiers were mostly born and raised by the waters near Zhangzhou; they were all natural swimmers.
For them, the water route was only of moderate difficulty.
However, most of Jiang Pengji’s soldiers were not good at swimming, which made the situation awkward.
Feng Zhen chuckled, pointing to a mountain range on the terrain map.
“The other route should refer to here, right?”
Yan Lin confirmed, “Exactly. But the mountain path is steep and rugged, filled with wild beasts and poisonous insects; common folks wouldn’t dare enter, lest they lose their way.”
In other words, if Jiang Pengji wanted to ambush Changshou Wang, she had to choose between these two paths. If she thought this route was too dangerous and didn’t want to take the risk, she could opt for a longer detour, but that would significantly increase the time required, and they might encounter scouts sent by Changshou Wang along the way.
The two routes Yan Lin suggested were the closest ones.
At a normal walking pace, they could probably bypass Jiamen Pass in about a night.
With a smile, Jiang Pengji decisively stated, “Alright, let’s set a time and place, and we’ll wait for you at the destination.”
As soon as she said this, Yan Lin’s gaze turned to shock.
The live chat was flooded with comments praising her bold words with countless “666”.
【Liuli Huoyu】: Awoo—my streamer is still so impressively fierce!
【Koala Who Doesn’t Climb Trees】: Eh? What did the streamer do again? Why are you giving her so many 666s?
【Chamifeng】: Wow, can’t you tell? I remember the streamer saying that all of Yang Jian’s soldiers can swim; they’re very confident about choosing the first waterway. But Jiang Pengji’s soldiers are mostly landlubbers, which means they have to pick the mountain route. The mountain route is rugged and requires more stamina, plus the distance on the map is also longer than the waterway. And yet, she said they’d wait for Yang Jian’s troops; isn’t that just fierce?
【Saipu】: I mean, I can call it fierce; but isn’t it a bit asking for trouble too?
Didn’t you see how Yan Lin was set ablaze with fury after her shocking statement?
Confronted with a streamer who speaks boldly without a care, hardly anyone could maintain complete composure.
Not just Jiang Pengji’s enemies, but even those around her couldn’t always hold back from being astounded by their leader’s playful insults.
“Alright, since County Assistant is that confident, we’ll meet at this location.”
Yan Lin pointed to a spot on the map, his smile returning to normal.
Jiang Pengji lazily lifted her eyelids, “Fine.”
