Chapter 639: Once It Reaches My Hands, Not a Bit Will Be Lost!

Meng Shanming understood. He said slowly, “The regional lords retreat defeat after defeat, the rebels run rampant, and the imperial court is forced to hand authority to Nanzhou. Master Dao truly has formidable methods. It’s only... with the rebels expanding so quickly, once the flames of war spread, who knows how many common people will see their homes destroyed and families broken.”

Niu Youdao understood the principle just as well. Encouraging the rebels to expand the theater of war meant that, in the end, ordinary people would be the ones who suffered.

“Marshal Meng, this is the world we live in. Some things cannot be avoided. If we do not fight for the initiative, and the initiative remains in those people’s hands, nothing will ever change. The common people can endure one long night after another and still never live to see dawn. If our intentions are sound, then everything we are doing is worth the price.”

Niu Youdao’s tone was heavy. He knew this decision of his would cause the deaths of an unknown number of people. Slowly, he rose and paced the room.

“I may not understand how to command armies, but I still know some basic principles. If we encourage the rebels to widen the war, prolonged fighting will exhaust them, while the enlarged theater will force their strength to spread out until head and tail can no longer support each other. If we make the regional lords unable to unite and force them into repeated defeats, that will accelerate the rebels’ expansion and drive them to the end of their strength, like a powerful crossbow spent at the end of its flight. Add one more force then, and the bowstring will snap.”

“By that point, although the regional lords will have lost battle after battle, their armies will already be in position and able to counterattack at any moment. All they will need is one order from Marshal Meng.”

“The worse the situation becomes then, the better it is for us. The imperial court proves incompetent, and the officials and people of Great Yan lose faith in it. The regional lords prove incompetent, and the officials and people of Great Yan lose faith in them too. Then who beneath Heaven can save Great Yan?”

“At that moment, Prince Ning’s son raises his arm and calls out, commands the regional lords, and Nanzhou’s army surges forth like tigers and wolves. Within, it sweeps away rebellion. Without, it deters powerful enemies. It turns back the raging tide and saves Great Yan from fire and flood. Tell me, where will the people’s hearts turn?”

He stopped before Meng Shanming, bent forward, and asked the final question directly.

Guan Fangyi, listening nearby, was shaken. Only now did she truly understand Niu Youdao’s real intention.

Meng Shanming remained silent for a long time. Only his grave eyes shifted between light and shadow. At last he sighed softly. “Master Dao sees far ahead. The letters... I’ll write them.”

Niu Youdao straightened and gestured toward Guan Fangyi. She immediately hurried away, returning with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, then personally ground the ink for Meng Shanming.

After that night, Niu Youdao did not let Meng Shanming leave. He kept him at Maolu Villa for the time being so the old marshal could analyze the changing war situation for him whenever necessary.

...

At a place of lush vegetation beside mountains and water, a great army had made camp. Xu Jingyue, Provincial Inspector of Gongzhou, was walking beside a lake with several subordinate generals as they discussed military affairs.

A soldier ran over and reported, “My lord, someone outside requests an audience. He says he is an old friend of yours.”

“An old friend?” Xu Jingyue turned. “Who?”

“I don’t know. He refuses to give his name. He says my lord will naturally know once you see him.”

Before long, the so-called old friend was brought over. A cultivator accompanying him leaned close to Xu Jingyue and whispered, “He’s a cultivator. We’ve already restrained and searched him. He has nothing unusual on him except one letter.”

He briefly showed the letter in his hand.

Xu Jingyue studied the supposed old friend and found the man completely unfamiliar. “Who are you, and why did you falsely claim to be an old friend of this official?”

The visitor lifted his chin toward the letter. “My reason is in there. My lord will understand after reading it.”

A letter for me?

Xu Jingyue’s gaze returned to the envelope.

The cultivator beside him immediately tore it open, shook out the sheet inside, inspected it, and only after confirming there was no danger handed it to Xu Jingyue.

Xu Jingyue accepted the letter and gave it a casual glance. The instant he saw the familiar handwriting, his expression changed. Then he focused and began reading carefully.

The more he read, the more complicated his expression became. Finally, he lifted his face to Heaven with a long sigh, closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head, looking deeply ashamed.

The letter had been written by Meng Shanming.

In it, Meng Shanming bitterly rebuked him, demanding to know why, with Great Yan facing destruction, Xu Jingyue would not kill the enemy and repay the state.

Every line carried Meng Shanming’s longing to return to campaign. Yet the imperial court constrained him, leaving all his strength with nowhere to be used and all his grief and fury with nowhere to be vented. He could only write this letter and curse Xu Jingyue instead.

...

Inside a courtyard at a heavily garrisoned strategic pass, An Xianzhao, Provincial Inspector of Tuzhou, sat behind a desk with both hands trembling around a letter. Tears already filled his eyes.

In the letter, Meng Shanming had cried out in grief and rage, saying he wished to take his aged, crippled body back onto the battlefield himself.

How was An Xianzhao supposed to endure reading that?

At last, he slapped the letter onto the table with a bang. Tears ran down his face as he shook his head and choked out, “Marshal Meng...”

...

Along an official road, an army wound onward as far as the eye could see. War was urgent, yet the march remained deliberately slow and dragging.

Under a tree beside the road, Zhang Hu, Provincial Inspector of Changzhou, held a letter in his hands. Suddenly he turned and hammered the trunk several times with his fists, his eyes already red. Leaves shook loose and fell around him.

A deputy general beside him asked in surprise, “My lord, why are you this upset?”

Zhang Hu flung the letter at him.

After reading it, the deputy general sighed. “Why must Marshal Meng torment himself like this? Things are no longer as they were when Prince Ning held military authority. Even if the brothers fight with their lives, what will it change? We may sacrifice ourselves for the state and die on the battlefield, only to become rebels in the imperial court’s eyes afterward. Who could willingly accept that?”

With both fists braced against the tree trunk, Zhang Hu lowered his head. “Back then, I was nothing more than a groom. Without Marshal Meng lifting me up, how could I have what I have today? Now Marshal Meng, aged and crippled, writes to me as though crying blood. I truly...”

He abruptly pushed away from the tree and turned, raging, “What kind of thing is Wu Gongling? He dares boast that he’ll sweep across Great Yan? When I was already making my name on the battlefield, his elder brother was still leading the Prince’s horse and holding his stirrup! Pass the order. The whole army advances at speed immediately!”

The deputy general was startled. “My lord! Even if you don’t think of yourself, think of the brothers. If you spend every last bit of our strength, who will care for their wives and children? Are you expecting the imperial court to do it?”

Zhang Hu roared, “You dare disobey an order?”

“I...” The deputy general had nothing to say. In the end, he could only obey.

Soon, the army’s pace quickened into a steady jog.

Zhang Hu and a group of personal guards whipped their horses forward, racing toward the head of the column.

Almost at the same time, several cultivators came galloping after them and caught up with Zhang Hu.

“Provincial Inspector, why did you suddenly increase the army’s marching speed?”

Faced with the cultivators’ questioning, Zhang Hu gradually calmed down. Looking at face after face among the soldiers passing before him, he was forced to confront reality.

The army’s pace slowed once more.

...

At the Yan imperial palace, Xiaoyao Palace Elder Shi Sheng stood beneath the eaves, stroking his beard with one hand while holding a sheet of paper in the other.

It was the letter Meng Shanming had written to Su Qitong, Provincial Inspector of Haozhou.

Shi Sheng himself was the man standing behind Haozhou.

After he finished reading, a junior disciple beside him said, “Senior Brother, Su Qitong believes Marshal Meng is right. When the nest is overturned, no egg remains whole. He hopes we’ll let him fight the rebels without restraint.”

Shi Sheng rebuked him, “Fight what? That’s merely a brave fool’s impulse! Is Su Qitong such a great fighter? Should we drag him off to fight Han and Song too?”

“Is this a time for one man to show off? If Haozhou’s forces are completely spent, do you think Shang Jianxiong will suddenly become merciful? You stabilize the situation with the front foot, and with the back foot he’ll fill the gap with his own people.”

“Which of the reinforcing armies isn’t waiting for someone else to go die first? What makes it Su Qitong’s turn to stick his head out?”

The junior disciple said, “Senior Brother, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was only passing along what he said.”

Just then, a disciple hurried over. “Master, the Sect Leader urgently summons you.”

Shi Sheng asked, “What happened?”

“The Cangzhou rebels suddenly intensified their offensive. Their attacks are fierce, and the imperial court’s forces are being driven back again and again.”

The two senior disciples exchanged a glance and immediately hurried away.

By the time they reached one of the palace halls, almost all the senior Xiaoyao Palace figures who had accompanied Long Xiu were already present. Long Xiu paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, his face dark.

Once everyone had arrived, Long Xiu had Yi Shu report the battlefield developments.

Afterward, he stopped and faced the group. “The Cangzhou rebels have suddenly intensified their attacks. Something may have changed. Our disciples inside the armies confronting Han and Song must be warned immediately. Guard against a surprise offensive from the other side.”

Everyone nodded.

Shi Sheng then said, “Palace Master, we also can’t ignore the internal rebellion. Should we have Nanzhou’s army enter the war?”

The moment he said it, Yi Shu suddenly interjected, “Martial Uncle, that Niu thief even dares steal the imperial court’s grain. You still expect him to contribute?”

Long Xiu swept her with a cold glance, as though asking when this had become her place to speak.

Yi Shu lowered her head. She knew she had overstepped and did not dare say another word.

Long Xiu could see it now. This disciple of his did not merely dislike Niu Youdao. She hated him bitterly.

Had she perhaps realized that Long Xiu intended to marry her to him?

The thought flashed through his mind, but he set it aside for now.

He turned back to the others. “At present, this is precisely when the strength of both east and west is being consumed. We can delay a little longer. There’s no need to let Nanzhou break the deadlock yet.”

“Besides, Niu Youdao really is somewhat difficult to control. Whether he would obediently send troops is another question.”

“As for the Cangzhou rebels, they’re nothing to fear. I refuse to believe that if all our sides work together and force the regional lords to fight properly, we still won’t be able to destroy them.”

Shi Sheng, hands folded before his abdomen, felt the letter hidden inside his sleeve.

Meng Shanming had made himself perfectly clear. So long as the imperial court issued the order, Nanzhou would definitely send troops.

But in the end, Shi Sheng did not take the letter out.

If he did, and later refused to exert full effort himself, others might see through his intentions.

Long Xiu then asked, “What movement is there on the grain in Nanzhou?”

An Elder sighed. “They are handing it over. We received word from Xue Xiao in Dingzhou that another twenty cartloads came out today.”

“But at this rate, even after a hundred days they’ll only have handed over two thousand carts. I’m afraid the war will be over and they still won’t have released more than a fraction.”

“And yet we can’t do anything to him. If we press too hard, we’re afraid of driving him into rebellion. The bastard knows perfectly well we can’t touch him!”

Yi Shu secretly ground her teeth and cursed the dog-thief inwardly.

“Heh!” Long Xiu laughed coldly. “Just wait until I settle accounts with him later. Keep urging him. Make him speed up.”

“Didn’t he say the carts were the problem? Have Xue Xiao requisition carts from Dingzhou and send them over to collect the grain. I’d like to see what excuse he finds then!”

An excuse?

No excuse was needed.

Before the carts requisitioned in Dingzhou even crossed into Nanzhou, they encountered a band of masked brigands.

The brigands defeated the Dingzhou escort force. The commoners driving the carts were frightened into scattering in every direction.

The brigands failed to rob anything.

Apparently enraged by their empty haul, they gathered all the carts together and burned every last one...

...

At Maolu Villa, Guan Fangyi hurried into Niu Youdao’s courtyard and found him speaking with Meng Shanming.

She reported, “News from Dachan Mountain. The three major sects didn’t come to us demanding an explanation over the destroyed grain carts. They went after Dachan Mountain instead and gave them three days to find the brigands. Huang Lie has a headache over it.”

Even she could not help laughing after she finished.

The three major sects knew there was no use trying to squeeze an explanation out of this side, so they had begun making trouble for Dachan Mountain instead.

Niu Youdao said, “That’s easy. Tell Huang Lie the brigands have already fled across the border into Zhao.”

Guan Fangyi struggled not to laugh. “You really are determined not to let this grain go.”

Niu Youdao shook his head and sighed. “Think about how many cultivators from the five states on the eastern and western sides have already died fighting over this grain as it traveled here.”

“Why did the grain become safe the moment it entered Nanzhou?”

“Do you truly think I’m doing all this merely for that little bit of money from Han and Song?”

“It will be the same with the supplies from Jin and Qi later. Only by passing through Nanzhou will they be safest. Send them by any other route and someone will inevitably attack and destroy them.”

“They’ll understand later. I am the one truly preserving these supplies for Great Yan.”

“Once it reaches my hands, not a bit of it will be lost!”

Only then did Guan Fangyi suddenly understand. The look she gave Niu Youdao became complicated.

For the first time, she truly grasped what it meant to exhaust one’s heart and blood over a matter.

Meng Shanming, seated in his wheelchair and listening nearby, looked at Niu Youdao with solemn respect.

Only now did he understand just how much painstaking thought the man had put into all of this.

[End of Chapter 639]