Chapter 985 – Battle of the North Border (Twenty-Two)
“Hey, Halencha, do you think Liu Xi is up to some trick again? Why has there been no movement for half a month?”
The Dai Wang’s eye bags were dark and his lips trembled, with a look of shocking madness and agitation in his eyes.
For some reason, during this time, the Dai Wang felt increasingly restless, plagued by nightmares at night, constantly dreaming of Liu Xi’s army storming the Mayinu tribe. He jumped awake at the slightest rustle outside, then spent sleepless nights, leading to a poor mental state after several days.
Halencha bit his lip, looking at the Dai Wang with worry.
Halencha thought he was spooked by that earlier battle and tried to console him by sending beautiful women for his enjoyment.
This tactic worked pretty well, successfully diverting the Dai Wang’s attention, allowing Halencha some peace.
Little did they know, a disaster was brewing silently.
After taking a breather, Jiang Pengji moved her camp to a higher ground, giving the Dai Wang quite a shock.
From that day on, the Dai Wang’s night terrors intensified.
Due to his irritability and anxiety, he often vented his frustrations on the concubines attending to him, occasionally resulting in casualties.
Not only that, the Dai Wang also took advantage of his position to bully the Third Prince, regularly summoning him for humiliation and venting his anger.
“The Dai Wang is about to kick the bucket,” Wu Libai remarked coldly, “Once he completely ‘strokes out,’ you’ll have your chance to reclaim your honor.”
The Third Prince’s gloomy expression settled into calmness.
Just as Wu Libai said, he needed to respond calmly.
Revenge for a gentleman is best served cold.
Once the Dai Wang “strokes out,” the North Border would be leaderless, and for the sake of military stability, they would surely nominate him as the new Dai Wang.
At that time, he had plenty of ways to ensure Old Ninth’s demise.
However—
“Teacher, there’s still been no movement from Liu Xi’s camp, and I can’t shake this feeling of unease,” the Third Prince probed Wu Libai, hoping to glean some news, “Logically, after their previous victory, they should be pressing the attack—”
Wu Libai sighed deeply, his slightly graying brows furrowing intensely. He replied, “This is what I am worried about too; I don’t know what tricks Liu Thief has up her sleeve. She’s too cunning, only letting us see what she wants us to see. Recently, Liu Thief sent tens of thousands of soldiers to return captured prisoners back to Chongzhou in batches… I initially thought it was a ploy to obscure her movements, but after careful investigation, it turned out to be genuine…”
Previously, Wu Libai had thought they were using the pretense of transporting prisoners to secretly move troops and attack other tribes.
But it turned out he had overthought it; she really had no such intentions.
Regardless, Jiang Pengji not continuing to attack provided Wu Libai some room to breathe and plan.
The Dai Wang’s living standards now relied entirely on the Mayinu tribe.
The Mayinu tribe was the Third Prince’s territory, making it easy to tamper with provisions for the Dai Wang.
A few days later, while the Dai Wang was nestled with a bunch of beauties, just as things were heating up, a sudden pang gripped his chest—
“Dai… Dai Wang?”
The beauty beneath him, sensing he hadn’t moved for a while, finally opened her eyes, only to see him with a pale face, bulging eyes, and veins popping on his forehead. If not for the heaving of his chest, others would have thought he was dead.
“Ah—!!!”
The high-pitched scream drew attention from the guards outside the tent.
A group rushed in, and chaos ensued.
Halencha knew the Ninth Prince shouldn’t be experiencing a stroke at his age, but Wu Libai and the Third Prince’s men controlled the situation.
He guessed what was happening, and after several changes in expression, ultimately chose to side with the new power, aiding Wu Libai in pushing the Third Prince onto the Dai Wang’s throne.
As for the previous Dai Wang who had suddenly suffered a stroke?
Once the storm passed, who would care whether he lived or died?
After ascending, the Third Prince swiftly enacted reforms, stabilizing the North Border camp with Wu Libai’s assistance.
He gathered the remaining soldiers, recruited new ones, and restored morale.
To test Jiang Pengji’s camp for vulnerabilities, he called for challenges every few days, hoping to regain some confidence through small victories.
“This is already the tenth day… We’ve issued challenges ten times but only gotten a response twice; other times they display a peace banner. What does Liu Xi mean by this?” The Third Prince had just taken office, yet he was already faced with the previous Dai Wang’s mess.
The most pressing issue before him was the watchful Jiang Pengji.
Resolving external threats was vital for the Third Prince to find breathing room.
Wu Libai said, “No matter what schemes Liu Thief has, the Dai Wang mustn’t let his guard down.”
Several encounters had revealed Liu Pengji was far more cunning than he had imagined, and even had a hint of rogue flair.
Dealing with someone who doesn’t play by the rules requires an unconventional approach.
“I will remember that.”
A month later.
The temperature in the North Border gradually warmed; recent days had been filled with continuous rain, saturating the air with moisture.
The grass grew wildly under the rain’s nurturing, laying a green carpet across the landscape, creating a scene of verdant beauty.
Due to the increasing rainwater, the flowing Chui River became turbulent, and the riverbanks rose significantly.
While the river had indeed risen, the nomads along the banks weren’t worried; in fact, they looked forward to this year’s bountiful grass.
The Chui River rarely experienced flooding in the North Border, and spring floods were even more rare; the current river level rise was expected.
On the other side, Jiang Pengji’s camp was secretly busy constructing bamboo rafts.
Tens of thousands of prisoners were being sent to Chongzhou, Wanzhou, and Hujun as labor—
“These people are still not enough…” Jiang Pengji murmured, sitting inside the tent, unsure about her next move.
“What’s not enough?”
Qi Guanrang entered the main tent, catching sight of his leader dressed in black and white, facing away from him, looking like a lump of Iron-Eating Beast.
Jiang Pengji continued, “Two or three years ago, Zixiao suggested building a reservoir near the capital to solve the drinking and irrigation issues for the surrounding counties. If successful, at least four hundred thousand common people would benefit, but constructing a reservoir requires a massive workforce. It took the capital two to three years to complete construction, and incorporating an even larger reservoir may take forever.”
Qi Guanrang glanced at his leader, his eyes questioning—so what now?
“So, I’m counting on getting some manpower from the North Border. If not for this, I’d want to…”
Jiang Pengji gestured around her neck, indicating that taking prisoners only adds to the burden of food. With the ongoing war, keeping these prisoners was just a waste of resources; had it not been for the lack of manpower, she would have wanted to eliminate the “unqualified” prisoners.
Qi Guanrang cast a doubtful glance at his leader.
“What kind of look is that, Wen Zheng?”
He bore a resemblance to the leader of the FFF Legion—burning down heterosexuals!
“A look that advises you to take it easy,” Qi Guanrang replied. “Let’s avoid having Zixiao handle this; we could pin it on Shao Guang instead.”
After all, the suggestion to build the reservoir had also come from Shao Guang, who relied on Wei Ci to make that point to the leader.
