CHAPTER 26

Because they were ambushed while heading to Shaoding, Prince Yi Feng didn't want to head there anymore. If there were dissenters, he wasn't sure how deep it ran. He made up his mind to head to a smaller city to the West of Shaoding while he thought over his next step. The attack yesterday had been entirely unexpected. He'd left General Hao Guowei in charge of the troops, so he knew that at least that regiment was safe. He needed to go back to Qinhuafeng and gather the rest of those troops. There were several different regiments on the borders between Jin Guo and Xingan, but if he pulled too many, it would leave the country unprotected.

He'd stationed fifty-five-thousand soldiers at Qinhuafeng for training but pulled back twenty-five thousand when he left. If he pulled them now, it would leave the mountain pass completely unguarded. It was unlikely that Jin Guo would attack using the pass, but it was risky to move the troops. There was another twenty-three-thousand troops farther West, a three days journey from the Qinhuafeng pass, but there was no guarantee that they could make it there in time if there was an attack.

They stopped at an inn between Shaoding and Xundouding, South of Qinhuafeng, while he thought over what to do next. Because there was no time frame of when things would begin to change in the capital, he didn't know how long he had left to prepare. His mother had told him that it was getting close before he left Qinhaufeng two weeks ago, but when he reached Runyang, she told him it wasn't time yet.

He slammed his fist against the table. His guards were kneeling in front of him, Lia Jiao was standing near the corner, afraid to draw attention to herself.

"What did you learn about the troops in Shaoding?" He asked Mao Guanglie.

"Reporting to his Highness, according to the spy we sent this morning, the entire regimen is lost."

Prince Yi Feng's jaw clenched; his eyes were filled with murder. He kicked Mao Guanglie, sending him across the room. Mao Guanglie crawled back to his spot, kneeling in front of him.

"Any news from the palace?" He asked Zhao Gui.

"Still waiting," he said, keeping his head bowed.

"If we pull the troops too quickly, it's going to cause trouble. If Tan Peizhi keeps playing around, I'll storm the city and commit patricide!"

"You can't do that!" Qun Weimin said, reaching for Prince Yi Feng's shoes. He kicked his hands away and turned towards Lia Jiao; he was getting irritated with her cowering in the corner. She scooted even farther into the wall wanting to disappear completely.

"If we pull the troops to fast, we lose; if we don't pull them fast enough, we lose. If the Crown Prince keeps gaining traction, we lose." He wasn't asking anyone and didn't expect an answer.

"Then you can only pull them at the right time," Liang Lia Jiao said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at her. Mao Guianglie was the most expressive showing a flicker of hostility; it was enough that the Prince was struggling; he didn't need sarcasm. Zhao Gui had was disappointed with her comment. He wasn't sure why she spoke at all. Only Qin Weimin felt she was serious.

Prince Yi Feng wanted to hit her. He stepped forwards and raised his hand.

She looked up at him nervously, her eyes calculating. "If you can only depend on the news you get from the palace, then there is no way to know when the right time is. Because you can't be sure you can only make the time you choose the right time." She saw that he was listening and continued speaking. Even though she hadn't really cared about the things they had been talking about over the last two weeks, that didn't mean she didn't hear it. She was smart, with a nearly photographic memory. She remembered things with ease and clarity. It was a curse and a blessing. Even if she didn't want to pay attention, she knew what was happening.

She understood that right now, the Emperor was sick. The Crown Prince would take the throne unless Prince Yi Feng could make a successful coupe. Even then, there were too many officials on the Left, so an oppressive military force was integral to taking the city and making sure that his power could be maintained.

She promised that she would never hurt Prince Tan Peizhi, so she was hesitant about talking any further, but his dark eyes made her change her mind. She had been thinking about the issue since the first time she heard him talk about it. She just did it in the back of her mind, not really giving it any importance. One of the books she had bartered for was 'Thirty-six stratagems'. She only read it because the quantity of books was limited, and she read whatever she could. She also read the history of the past dynasties and several other books about political factions and laws. Most of what she read was outdated. It was just a little town, and the officials there were nothing significant. But she didn't care; she read whatever was available.

"The first step should be 'Disturb the water and catch a fish' create confusion and use it to further the goal. Because there is an unknown amount of time, the present is the right time to attack, but not with the troops yet, since that would only cause trouble." She moved around the room, forgetting how uncomfortable she felt as she wracked her brain with the different scenarios she could think of. She could only relate her own experiences with this problem.

When she had a stalemate with a Black bear and her cubs, she had used this method. The bear had picked a spot too close to her cabin. There was constant conflict between it and the wolves, she consistently had to keep away from it. She wasn't willing to kill it because it was a new mom, and she didn't want to strip the cubs of their mother. To lure it away without harming it, she decided to spook it out of the cave. The cave was narrow, and above it was crevices covered in shrubbery.

She hollowed out a slender branch turning it into a four-foot tube. When the bear left to find food, she forced the tube into the crevice and left for the day. For several days she didn't touch the tube. She wanted the bear to ignore it as if it had always been there. Because it had some of her scent on it, she was cautious.

After a few days, she returned to the cave covered in mud to mask her smell. She howled and snarled into the tube, making the sound echo throughout the cave spooking the bear. It took over a week until her efforts paid off. Aside from the aggressive howling and snarling into the tube, the wolves did a constant patrol howling and growling from outside. Because she only did this at night, the bear became wary of the cave when it started to get dark. After a while, it didn't want to come back.

If they could use a similar tactic to scare the enemy and make him paranoid enough to move first, half the battle would already be won. The problem was how to make him move.

Prince Yi Feng watched her walk back and forth a mixture of hostility and curiosity surging through him. He was frustrated that he kept wanting to look at her. More and more, his eyes would randomly flicker towards her; it made him want to strangle her. He was having trouble figuring out his own mind. There was no softness or tenderness when he looked at her, and his body didn't have any significant reactions towards her. There was just a primal urge to dominate her. He could only equate it to her lack of interest in him. It annoyed him. She was biting her bottom lip, chewing on it as she mumbled to herself. In the end, even if she didn't have anything to say, he could at least credit her for seriously trying.