Chapter 1002: A Massive Trap

“Hyah!”

Wu Qin rolled onto his side, panting heavily.

Beside him, Su Su, formerly the courtesan queen of Flower Appreciation Tower, quietly sat up. She picked up the washbasin beside the bed, soaked a towel, then leaned over to wipe him down.

Wu Qin frowned.

He shoved her away.

There was nothing left in his eyes but irritation. Not a trace remained of the tenderness he had shown moments earlier.

“Get away. It’s hot.”

Perhaps she had seen this sort of thing too many times to care.

Su Su did not become angry.

She rose, dressed, walked to the door, and knocked.

“Bring some ice.”

Very soon, a servant brought in a large block.

Su Su picked it up and placed it beside the bed without worrying whether the melting water would soak the sheets.

They were already far too wet for that to matter.

Wu Qin turned his head and watched her work.

A block of ice that size... and she could lift it over alone with ease.

How could that possibly be the strength of some delicate woman unable to truss a chicken?

More irritating still... he was exhausted like a dead dog, yet she could rise as lightly as though everything he had just done had been some one-sided, useless performance.

Damn it.

No wonder his father’s favorite concubine had once been a wandering heroine.

And no wonder the concubine his father disliked most... was also that same woman.

Before someone who practiced martial arts, every bit of masculine capital you thought you possessed could suddenly look short and powerless.

Where was the damned pleasure in that?

“Hungry?” the courtesan asked.

Wu Qin shook his head.

He was not hungry.

Yet while shaking his head, he said:

“I want food.”

“It will be brought shortly.”

Wu Qin pushed himself upright beside the bed.

The courtesan sat at her dressing table and began arranging her appearance.

“Do I have one fewer meal left every time I eat now?”

“We just received word. A group of Brocade-Clad personal guards has been sent out of the city toward the fleet.”

“When did you receive that news?”

“Before you came in and started taking off my clothes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

The courtesan pressed a strip of red rouge paper lightly between her lips.

Then she picked up a bottle of perfume produced in eastern Jin and dabbed some over herself.

“Telling you now makes no difference. It didn’t delay anything for long.”

“You... is this how you usually receive guests?”

The courtesan turned around.

Looking at Wu Qin sitting on the bed, mockery appeared on her face.

“If I were serving the Regent Prince, I would be far more tender and seductive than you can imagine.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Never mind that the Prince himself is a Fourth Grade Martial Artist. Just thinking about the storms that man has lived through and personally stirred up is enough to make the body and mind go numb. This sort of thing... you’re still too young. You wouldn’t understand.”

Wu Qin stood angrily.

He reached out and drew the sword he had placed beside the bed earlier.

The courtesan did not look frightened at all.

Instead, she stared at him provocatively.

In truth, although she had said *the Regent Prince* aloud... the person she had actually been thinking of was the young silver-armored general who had led armored soldiers into Flower Appreciation Tower that day.

In the end...

Wu Qin did not strike.

He knew perfectly well that he was no match for the woman in front of him.

He let the sword fall.

Then sat down on the floor.

Covered his face.

And began crying.

The courtesan did not comfort him.

She continued fixing her hair.

Once she finished and saw that Wu Qin was still sobbing, she could not help laughing and cursing him.

“You may still be young, but in this lifetime you’ve already enjoyed luxuries and pleasures ordinary people could never touch in one life—or even ten. What exactly is there to be unable to let go of?”

Wu Qin raised his head.

He murmured:

“My father... won’t abandon me.”

“To your father, what do you even count as?”

A savage expression appeared on Wu Qin’s face.

Then faded again.

His head drooped.

“Enough, enough.”

The courtesan opened the window and looked down.

“It won’t be long before someone comes to take you away.”

“I... can I run?”

“You think you can escape?”

“You... you...”

“Even if I weren’t watching you, there have been Brocade-Clad guards outside keeping an eye on you this entire time.”

Wu Qin pressed his lips together.

He stood from the floor, walked behind the courtesan, and reached for her clothing.

“Then one more—”

Slap!

The courtesan struck him across the face.

Blood appeared at the corner of Wu Qin’s mouth.

He collapsed onto the floor.

“Pathetic.”

The courtesan leaned back against the windowsill.

Only when she turned did Wu Qin see that blood had begun leaking from the corner of her own mouth.

“Your mother here finally managed to put on a proper face before dying. I’m not letting you ruin it. If you truly want to... wait until I’m dead, then do whatever you like. If... that’s what you’re into.”

With that... the courtesan pulled over a chair and sat down.

“How I wish the men of Great Qian, young and old, could stiffen their backs just once. Always making us women stand in front... what a damned disgrace. Heh.”

A long time passed.

A very long time.

When Wu Qin finally walked toward her again... she was already dead.

Wu Qin lifted her into his arms.

He placed her on the bed.

Then pulled the quilt over her.

Afterward... he went to the dressing table and picked up the strip of red rouge paper that still bore her lip print.

He opened his mouth.

He wanted to lick it once.

But in the end... he could not summon the courage.

A body fell outside the door.

Then the door burst open.

A group of Brocade-Clad personal guards rushed inside.

Wu Qin dropped the rouge paper.

His shoulders sagged.

“I want to see the Prince.”

Bang!

A Brocade-Clad officer smashed the hilt of his saber directly into Wu Qin’s face, knocking him flat.

“Take him!”

...

Xie Yu’an and the Blind Man sat to the left and right.

The person seated at the head was not the Prince.

It was the Heir Prince.

Below them stood Wu Qin, blood still running from his nose.

Before Wu Qin had been arrested, another piece of news arrived first.

Wu Xiang had claimed he had suddenly caught a severe chill and refused to follow the Brocade-Clad personal guards who had summoned him to Jinghai City.

He had not gone so far as to kill the messengers and send their heads back.

But the attitude was already unmistakable.

When someone above summoned you, it did not matter whether you had caught a chill or were on the verge of death.

You came.

The excuse was far too perfunctory.

The worst possibility had finally shown its first corner above the water.

Inside the Signing Office, the Blind Man rubbed the bronze thumb ring on his finger.

For once, there was no orange in his hand.

Xie Yu’an repeatedly opened and closed his eyes, thinking through something of his own.

The Prince had not participated in Wu Qin’s interrogation.

Because the Prince had already anticipated that this son, left behind inside the city, had been abandoned by Wu Xiang long ago.

What meaning was there in interrogating a discarded child who knew nothing?

For the Blind Man and Xie Yu’an, however, the situation had suddenly begun sliding downhill so rapidly that for a time they had nothing else useful to do.

So they dragged the boy in and asked him questions first.

Naturally... they learned nothing.

This young master of the Wu Clan had only realized he had become a discarded piece because the Silver-Armored Guard courtesan had told him.

Before that... he had genuinely believed his father valued him deeply and had therefore entrusted such an important liaison mission to him.

He had even been delighted.

The Blind Man waved one hand.

Guards entered and dragged Wu Qin away.

“Lin’er,” the Blind Man asked, “where is Master? He truly... isn’t coming?”

Zheng Lin pressed his lips together.

“He said he has no face to come out and see any of you.”

The Blind Man and Xie Yu’an exchanged looks.

What sort of act was this?

The answer left both men strangely unable to react.

Whether it was the Blind Man, who had always belonged to the household, or Xie Yu’an, who had only recently joined the Prince’s side, neither believed their “Master”—their Prince—was the kind of person who would collapse into self-pity.

Besides... he had survived battle after battle.

It was not as though he had never faced danger.

The present situation might be sliding toward something unpredictable and potentially disastrous.

But Jinghai City remained in their hands.

And no Qian army had even appeared outside yet.

“Does His Highness already have the winning move in hand?”

Xie Yu’an asked the Heir Prince.

As he spoke, he slowly closed one hand into a fist.

Zheng Lin grew slightly impatient.

“I don’t know.”

He genuinely did not know.

He was only one step short of telling them outright that his father had earlier asked whether the two of them ought to run away together.

One thing was certain.

If Zheng Lin had answered yes... then the next discussion between father and son would probably have been whether to bring his mother.

After all:

*Your mother abuses you all the time. Are we taking her or not?*

It was outrageous.

Absurd.

And somehow... strange.

Was his father actually holding every pearl of wisdom in his palm, everything completely under control?

It did not feel like it.

Had he truly suffered some major shock, decided the situation was beyond rescue, and wanted to flee?

That did not feel right either.

Was he deliberately playing mysterious?

Even though Zheng Lin had looked down on his biological father for years... deep down he also knew that no matter how useless that man might sometimes appear, he could never be stupid enough to play coy and hide things merely for effect at a moment like this.

The Blind Man said:

“Since Master wants us to decide first, then let us discuss it ourselves. What can be said from the military side?”

The question was obviously directed at Xie Yu’an.

Both men liked peeling oranges.

But every profession had its specialty.

The Blind Man was better at logistics and governance.

Xie Yu’an had, at the very least, commanded armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Xie Yu’an rubbed between his brows.

“That is probably why His Highness did not come out. Because right now there is almost nothing we can meaningfully deploy. Let us begin from the worst plausible assumption and deduce what comes next. At the fastest, by sunset we may receive our first military report—something like a Qian army being discovered somewhere. The time is too short. So short that Wu Xiang already dares refuse to disembark. That means we cannot even make arrangements yet. Redeploy troops? First, there is no time. Second, even if there were, how should they be moved? Withdraw from Jinghai City, avoid the Wu fleet, cross the river, and seek out the three garrisons? Or send urgent mounted orders telling Chen Xianba, Heir Prince Jingnan, and Lieutenant Zheng to abandon the three garrisons immediately and rush to reinforce the main force at Jinghai? Looking north and south, do we order Nian Yao to abandon Mingsu City and move toward Jinghai in support? Or order my father to pull the Xie Clan Army out of Tongyan City and serve as our flank? The bad situation is that we know Qian forces are very likely coming. In all probability, they are already here. The worse situation is that we know they are here, but do not know their actual dispositions. Is their main strength west of the Qian River or east of it? Where have they chosen the main battlefield? Where have they set the lines meant to cut us apart? If we start crossing east and west over the river repeatedly, the Qian can very easily close the net on us directly. At that point, it becomes another Battle of Wangjiang. As for north and south, those two cities themselves are the barriers protecting Jinghai. Which one do we abandon? South? North? If the Qian spent this much effort setting the board, and if Mingsu and Tongyan were truly vacated deliberately, there is no reason they would not have anticipated the movements we might make in response.”

Zheng Lin asked:

“So your meaning is that we do nothing now? We know the Qian are about to make their move, yet we simply sit here and wait?”

“Replying to Your Highness the Heir Prince, sometimes doing more genuinely means making more mistakes. At least for now, our forces may be dispersed, but every detachment is holding a city. Supplies can also be drawn locally for the moment. To a certain extent, that sacrifices the Yan army’s greatest strengths in field warfare and mobility. But His Highness brought only fifty thousand eastern Jin cavalry in his main force this time. Fifty thousand cavalry, one hundred thousand cavalry, and two hundred thousand cavalry are completely different concepts. Under the present circumstances... I believe waiting quietly for developments is the best choice.”

Zheng Lin’s gaze darkened slightly.

The Blind Man nodded.

“We can only do that. First, wait for information.”

Xie Yu’an added:

“I suspect His Highness is thinking the same way.”

Then Xie Yu’an stood.

He saluted Zheng Lin first.

Then turned toward the Blind Man.

“Mr. Bei, please recount all grain, provisions, and military supplies inside the city.”

“Good.”

Xie Yu’an continued:

“I will inspect the defenses.”

Then he faced Zheng Lin again.

“Your Highness the Heir Prince, please request that His Highness dispatch the Brocade-Clad personal guards to purge the city once more. There must be Qian agents inside. Jinghai is where the princely standard stands. Unless the incoming reports force some greater change, so long as the princely standard remains here in Jinghai, every force around us facing Qian attacks and movements will still possess a center to anchor itself upon. The battle may not be easy. But at the very least, it can be fought with more structure.”

After saying this, Xie Yu’an took his leave.

The Signing Office was left to the Heir Prince and Mr. Bei.

“Godfather. Can Xie Yu’an be trusted?” Zheng Lin asked.

The Blind Man did not answer directly.

Instead, he said:

“I would rather the words you just heard had come from your father.”

Then... the Blind Man laughed himself.

“Aiya. I don’t even know when this started, but I’ve somehow grown accustomed to sitting in the commander’s tent listening to your father speak. After he finishes giving orders, instead of feeling uneasy, I feel grounded.”

“Godfather, right now I genuinely want to drag him out of the rear courtyard and beat him.”

“Your mother is with him in the rear courtyard.”

“...” Zheng Lin.

“Don’t say childish things out of anger. What happened to the work I taught you on cultivating composure? In that respect, you are far behind your father.”

“He’s pretending,” Zheng Lin said with complete certainty.

“Who is born capable of watching Mount Tai collapse in front of him without changing expression? Doesn’t every person begin everything through imitation and putting on an appearance? If you can pretend long enough—if you can keep pretending forever—then whether it was pretense at the beginning stops mattering.”

There was a thread of severity in the Blind Man’s tone.

Among the Seven Demon Kings, apart from his own mother, who most enjoyed disciplining him, the one Zheng Lin feared most was the Blind Man.

The Blind Man had always restrained the more obsessive side of himself around Tian Tian.

And when Tian Tian had been young, the Residence was not even a Residence yet.

Its territory and foundation were nowhere near this vast.

The Blind Man’s obsession had not yet grown so deep.

Zheng Lin was different.

Mm.

More importantly, the Blind Man knew this little bastard could take a beating in both body and mind.

So there was no need for restraint or concealment.

“Godfather. Wu Xiang has turned against us...”

“The Wu Clan never completely submitted in the first place. So calling it betrayal is not entirely accurate.”

“Then what about Nian Yao in the south? What about Xie Zhuyang in the north? Weren’t they tearing at us on the battlefield not long ago? Do they count as having submitted?”

“You suspect the Wu Clan may not be the only one capable of turning?”

“Yes.”

The Blind Man nodded.

Then asked:

“Between those two, if one were to turn, which do you think it would be?”

Zheng Lin thought for a while.

Then answered:

“Nian... Yao.”

“But the first person you asked about was Xie Yu’an. Whether he could be trusted.”

“Because he was still worth asking about.”

“Heh.”

The Blind Man laughed.

“Why Nian Yao?”

Zheng Lin found it difficult to answer.

Because he remembered that when his father had been staring at the military map earlier, one finger had lingered over Mingsu City, where Nian Yao was stationed, for a very long time.

But he could hardly use *that* as his reason when answering the Blind Man.

That would be too embarrassing.

The Blind Man continued:

“Remember, Nian Yao’s wife, children, even grandchildren are all in Yanjing.”

Zheng Lin answered:

“Not every family beneath Heaven has a loving father and filial son.”

The Blind Man nodded slightly.

“True.”

Then... a warm expression appeared on his face.

He looked deeply pleased.

“You’ve progressed even faster than I expected.”

Zheng Lin’s expression remained calm, as though praise or humiliation could not disturb him.

“Nian Yao’s family is in Yanjing. Xie Yu’an was in the command tent before and remains directly in front of us now. His father is stationed in Tongyan City. Nian Yao is ruthless. Sometimes his actions truly are difficult to predict. But Xie Zhuyang’s side should be much more stable. His son, the Xie Clan’s Thousand-Li Colt, is the clan’s hope and future. More importantly... Xie Zhuyang and Xie Yu’an have a certain resemblance to you and your father.”

...

“Master, this concubine saw the Blind Man and the others today. Every one of them looked terribly grave.”

“Mm.”

Zheng Fan sat in a chair, enjoying Siniang’s massage around his head.

“Master, will the situation truly collapse that badly?”

“Perhaps by tonight the first military report will arrive. Over the next few days, battlefield reports from every direction may become enough to bury this table.”

“The situation outside sounds as though it may become extremely dangerous.”

“However dangerous the situation outside becomes, it is still only soldiers blocking soldiers and earth blocking water. What worries me now... is the south.”

“Mingsu City?”

“Yes.”

“Master does not trust Nian Yao? If Nian Yao can still reverse himself even after everything that has happened... then this concubine would genuinely have to admit he is quite a man.”

“There’s no need to lower one person too far. By the same principle, there’s no need to raise someone too high either. Compared with Nian Yao... I’m more worried about that restless heart belonging to my elder brother-in-law.”

As he spoke, Zheng Fan unconsciously glanced toward the red stone lying on the tea table before him.

“A... possibly schizophrenic Emperor.”

Siniang gently wrapped her arms around Zheng Fan’s neck.

She rubbed her cheek softly against his.

Then asked in a quiet voice:

“All of this... was probably within Master’s expectations, wasn’t it?”

Zheng Fan laughed.

After laughing... he released a long sigh.

“That’s exactly why I sent that stinking brat of ours to attend the meeting in my place. Aiya. I’m worried too. Didn’t I just say it? Don’t raise a person too high. I’m not some immortal. How could I possibly calculate everything without omission? How could I get every calculation right every single time? Before this, I simply had good luck and kept winning battles. But if you walk beside the river often enough, how can your shoes never get wet? So what I’m afraid of is that if I sit there, everyone will assume I predicted all of this from the beginning and have every pearl of wisdom already in my grasp. Then every last one of them will become supremely confident and wait for me to launch some miraculous reversal. But I’d have to actually *have* one.”

“Then Master, this time you...”

“This time?”

Zheng Fan smiled.

“I really did fall into their trap. Heh.”

[End of Chapter 1002]