Chapter 743: Consort Yu

"A great victory!"

After receiving the news, Niu Youdao let out a long breath.

From the result alone, he could see that offense and defense had reversed and the war was beginning to turn in their favor. He also knew Shang Chaozong had taken a great risk to win, but he did not know just how brutal the actual fighting had been.

More precisely, after reading no small number of histories, he could imagine how cruel war was. He simply had no desire to witness that brutality with his own eyes and preferred to avoid it.

To him, how gruesome the process had been was not important. What mattered more was the result.

And the result was that Shang Chaozong and the others, whom he had poured so much effort into supporting, had not turned out to be mud that could not be plastered onto a wall. They had shown some mettle of their own and had not disappointed him.

To a certain extent, he was no different from other cultivators.

As Meng Shanming and the others advanced, Niu Youdao had already returned to Nanzhou, though he had not gone back to Maolu Villa.

"Master Dao, Yucang wants to see you." Yuan Gang came over and handed him a secret letter.

"See me?" Niu Youdao looked suspicious. He took the letter and read it. Mr. Yucang truly was asking to meet him, saying there was an important matter they needed to discuss face-to-face.

It had to be face-to-face?

Niu Youdao pondered for a while, unable to guess what Yucang wanted with him at a time like this. Right now, he had no desire to show himself lightly in front of anyone capable of threatening him, and Yucang unquestionably counted as one of those people.

Ever since that false Su Zhao appeared, Niu Youdao had become more wary of Xiaoyue Pavilion.

The reason was simple. Apart from Niu Youdao himself, the only people who knew about the relationship between Yuan Gang and Su Zhao were those from Xiaoyue Pavilion. Then Yuan Gang suddenly happened to run into a false Su Zhao. Niu Youdao would have found it difficult not to be suspicious.

"We asked them to carry out sabotage against Zhao and still haven't seen them do anything. Since they aren't willing to help with that, what is there to meet about? Tell him the war is urgent and I have no time. I won't see him!"

Niu Youdao refused without the slightest politeness.

...

"Sir, are you confident about this trip?"

Jia Wuqun was leaving. Inside the Chancellor's residence, Zi Pingxiu held Jia Wuqun's hand as he saw him off, concern and expectation filling his eyes.

Song's situation was dire. One misstep could mean the destruction of the state.

Luo Zhao had certainly suffered defeat in the previous campaign, but his defeat against Meng Shanming had been on the level of grand strategy. One still had to admit that Luo Zhao's battlefield ability was formidable. In the end, however, the question was whom he was facing.

Luo Zhao could indeed fight.

Unfortunately, his opponent this time was no ordinary man. It was Han's Grand Marshal, Jin Jue.

For Luo Zhao to overturn Song's disadvantage on the battlefield would be extremely difficult.

Steady, methodical warfare was precisely Jin Jue's style. Now that Jin Jue held the advantage in strength, that style was displaying its benefits to the fullest. No matter how many clever schemes Luo Zhao produced, facing Jin Jue's deployments left him filled with helplessness, stifled until he could barely breathe.

That was exactly the feeling Jin Jue had always given his opponents.

No matter how many methods Luo Zhao tried, he could only slow the speed at which Song's army approached defeat. The visible end drew closer with each passing day.

Outsiders could not imagine Luo Zhao's state of mind.

It was despair from the depths of his heart, despair he did not even dare vent for fear of affecting military morale. The pressure inside him was immense.

In the war Song had started, Luo Zhao had first suffered a crushing defeat at Meng Shanming's hands. Now he faced Jin Jue and was gradually being forced into another desperate situation.

Thinking back to his high spirits before the war—successful while still young, rising all the way to the clouds, full of ambition grand enough to swallow Heaven and earth—only to suffer defeat after defeat in sudden succession, each one leaving him so powerless, outsiders could hardly imagine how great the blow had been.

Some of the dissatisfaction others once held toward him, some of the mocking claims that he thought too highly of himself, now seemed to be coming true.

His confidence had begun to waver.

After facing Meng Shanming and Jin Jue one after another, it was nearly shattered.

It was under precisely these circumstances, with Song's fate becoming increasingly visible, that some people sought a way to reverse its decline. Jia Wuqun had decided to make a trip in person.

He wanted to go to Misty Pavilion.

It was a method born of having no other method. Once the momentum of events had reached this point, Jia Wuqun's personal cleverness was no longer enough to reverse anything. Shao Pingbo was the same. Niu Youdao was the same. Faced with the momentum of the greater situation, all of them had found themselves somewhat powerless.

Expecting help from the other states was no longer realistic.

Their only remaining hope was that a higher level might step in and resolve the crisis. Jia Wuqun hoped he could persuade Misty Pavilion to intervene and defuse Song's peril.

Was he confident?

Faced with Zi Pingxiu's concern, Jia Wuqun smiled bitterly. "Do we still have a choice? We can only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive and try whatever we can. Chancellor, don't place much hope in me. In Misty Pavilion's eyes, people like us are only ants. Our status is low and our words carry little weight. They truly may not take me seriously at all."

"I must trouble you, sir." Zi Pingxiu cupped his hands and gave him a deep bow.

Jia Wuqun did not offer any polite refusal. He turned and left.

...

"A tiger father has no dog son. The Young Prince fought that battle beautifully!"

Standing on a rock beside the river and looking toward the Han encampment on the opposite bank, Shao Dengyun received the battle report from Nanzhou and let out a long breath, sighing with emotion.

He too had been deeply worried about the war in Nanzhou. Shang Chaozong's victory had reversed the situation in a single battle and finally allowed him to relax. Thinking of his former lord, Shao Dengyun also felt deeply gratified.

...

Behind the desk in the Imperial Study, Shang Jianxiong also saw the battle report from Nanzhou.

Shang Chaozong had struck a larger force with a smaller one and reversed the course of the war in one blow. Yan had gone from defense to offense.

As Emperor of Yan, Shang Jianxiong should have been happy.

Yet he truly could not make himself feel pleased.

Meng Shanming had shattered the threat from Song. Shao Dengyun had blocked the threat from Han. Now Shang Chaozong had checked the threat from Zhao.

In the end, every one of them was one of Prince Ning's men, and all this glory would only be added to Prince Ning's son, Shang Chaozong.

When Yan was in danger, the man who turned the tide was Shang Chaozong.

And what of him, the Emperor of Yan?

It seemed he had done nothing at all.

He seemed to have become someone eating idle rice.

Especially now, with all three of Yan's major sects strongly supporting Shang Chaozong's side, it left Shang Jianxiong feeling as though a fishbone were lodged in his throat.

Tong Mo, standing below, was in a poor mood as well.

The more capable and powerful Shang Chaozong appeared, the more uneasy Tong Mo became. Back then, it had been Tong Mo who presided over the purge of Prince Ning's faction. If Shang Chaozong ever truly gained supreme power, the thought of what fate might await Tong Mo sent a chill through him.

Yet now he could do nothing to Shang Chaozong.

The man was surrounded by large numbers of cultivators and held military power in his hands. Neither open measures nor covert schemes would work. Shang Chaozong now possessed overwhelming momentum. Ordinary intrigues could no longer harm a hair on his head.

Shang Yongzhong, standing below as well, was equally unhappy.

As Grand Marshal, he had now truly become an ornament. The more capable Shang Chaozong appeared, the more incompetent Shang Yongzhong looked by comparison. The situation was painfully awkward.

Gao Jiancheng, also standing below, remained expressionless.

He had placed his bet on Shang Chaozong long ago. Here, he stood among the Three Excellencies. If this side collapsed and Shang Chaozong rose instead, Gao Jiancheng would remain perfectly safe.

Even he had never imagined that the helpless choice he made back then would leave him standing in an unbeatable position.

Life truly felt like a play.

Naturally, the news of victory still stirred complicated emotions in him.

At the very least, he now understood even more clearly the abilities of Shang Chaozong and his people.

Compared with them, the court on this side could only make Gao Jiancheng shake his head inwardly.

From the height of his present position, the internal situation in Yan was obvious.

This time, Shang Chaozong truly had grown into a force in his own right. His prestige was now at its zenith.

In the Yan of today, if anyone could replace the present court, there was no longer any candidate besides Shang Chaozong.

"Gentlemen, keep a close watch on every prefecture and province below. Everything must be arranged properly. There can be no relaxation. Strengthen our control!" Shang Jianxiong suddenly said, his words carrying a deeper meaning.

"Yes!" The three men cupped their hands and accepted the order together.

All three understood what he meant.

Shang Chaozong's momentum was now too strong. Their control over the various prefectures and provinces had become their only remaining capital.

If they lost that control, they would lose their usefulness to Yan's three major sects.

Shang Jianxiong himself understood the same thing.

After this round of war and disorder, the three major sects should be able to see clearly whom they ought to support if they wanted the greatest benefit for themselves.

If Shang Jianxiong could not maintain control over the territories below, the three major sects could discard his faction at any time and establish a new court that served their interests better.

Put plainly, they had to retain the ability to throw Yan into internal chaos at any moment.

Only then would the three major sects hesitate to discard them lightly.

For Shang Jianxiong to say such a thing was, in a certain sense, already an admission of the incompetence of the court under his rule.

"Where is Consort Yu?" Shang Jianxiong suddenly turned and asked Tian Yu.

Consort Yu was the consort Emperor Mu Zhuozhen of Song had sent over.

Tong Mo, Shang Yongzhong, and Gao Jiancheng instinctively exchanged glances.

Many people had been dissatisfied when Shang Jianxiong bestowed the title "Consort Yu" on that woman.

What did "Yu" mean?

Jade, naturally—pure and flawless.

Yet this was a secondhand woman, another man's consort who had been sent over here. In terms of chastity and reputation, she truly did not deserve a title invoking jade.

Tian Yu quietly glanced at the reactions of the three ministers and replied softly, "She is in the Imperial Garden."

The dispirited air around Shang Jianxiong vanished at once.

His spirits rose, and he stood to leave.

"Your Majesty!" Tong Mo called to stop him and advised, "The dragon body is precious. Your Majesty should not overtax yourself. Restraint!"

Looking at the dark circles beneath Shang Jianxiong's eyes, Tong Mo truly could not hold back from offering the warning again.

According to information leaking from the palace, the emperor had been far too "diligent" with that woman.

He favored her again and again, creating a severe imbalance in what was supposed to be the even distribution of imperial grace. The entire harem was seething with dissatisfaction.

One could not underestimate the women of the harem.

Many came from powerful and influential families. When all of them became unhappy, problems would follow.

Even the Empress was displeased.

The Empress was Tong Mo's own daughter, and even she had been unable to resist complaining to her father.

"Complaining" was the polite way to describe it.

It had almost amounted to cursing him, asking whether she was supposed to surrender her position as Empress.

Shang Jianxiong grew furious.

His eyes widened, and he advanced on Tong Mo step by step. "Restrain what?"

Tong Mo's old face turned awkward.

Forced backward one step at a time, he eventually reached a pillar and had nowhere else to retreat.

Shang Jianxiong stared at him and demanded, "I am in a poor mood. I merely go to Consort Yu to chat and relieve my boredom. Even that is forbidden?"

"Excellent!" Tong Mo forced the two stiff words out through a bitter expression.

Shang Jianxiong turned and swept his gaze across the others. "Previously, the food sent to Consort Yu was not entirely clean. There are some matters on which I have closed one eye and chosen not to investigate too deeply. But do not take me for blind. None of you should go too far. Keep your hands from reaching farther than they should."

"If anyone dares stretch a hand into my home again... do not mistake my mercy for weakness. If there is a next time, I will not forgive it lightly!"

Someone had tried poisoning her?

Gao Jiancheng and Shang Yongzhong exchanged a look.

They did not know who had done it, but the possibility was hardly surprising.

A woman with no power or background had entered the palace and received excessive favor. Jealousy came naturally to women, much less an entire harem full of them. It was entirely normal for her to draw hatred and for someone to make a covert attempt on her life.

How many people in the palace did not die mysteriously every year?

[End of Chapter 743]