Gan Tang now hated not only Gan Sheng but also the father emperor who had caused the deaths of her elder brother and mother. She hated the Gan family clan, for they all knew what the former emperor had done. Not one of them had stepped forward to help the former crown prince, nor even spoken a single word in his defense.
What was worse, later her mother, the empress, also died, as did her elder brother’s only heir, her nephew—still so young—who perished as well.
Yue Fuguang’s heart stirred. Good, let her hate the Gan dynasty. As long as Gan Tang stopped trying to defend the imperial rule of her own family, with the forces she had at her command, she could do anything.
Little did Yue Fuguang know that her guess would soon come true. Just as she resumed her journey, Wei Shouyi, who had ridden posthaste to the border military camp, encountered a strange incident at the very outset.
Swish!
“Protect the General!”
When Wei Shouyi and his party were less than a hundred meters from the camp, a stray arrow suddenly shot out from an oblique direction.
Whoever had launched the sneak attack—whether too skilled or too careless—the arrow was aimed at Wei Shouyi, but the arrowhead ultimately struck the ground three meters in front of his horse.
“General, are you all right?” The guards quickly surrounded Wei Shouyi.
One of them shouted toward the camp ahead: “Brothers inside, we’re on the same side. This is General Wei Shouyi, newly appointed by His Majesty as General of the Southern Expedition. Please do not shoot again!”
“General Wei? Please wait a moment. We’ll report this to General Xu immediately.”
While the negotiations began, the guards on this side were not idle either.
One man dismounted and pulled the arrow out of the ground. It had been too dark to see clearly earlier, but now holding the shaft in his hand, he noticed something tied to the tail feathers.
“Bring it here for me to see.” Wei Shouyi sat upright on his horse, reaching out to take the arrow.
Seven days ago, after successfully escorting the Junior Preceptor back to the capital, he had been appointed General of the Southern Expedition by the emperor that very day. After seven days of hard riding, he had finally arrived tonight.
He had not expected to be greeted by a sneak arrow attack the moment he arrived. Wei Shouyi’s temper flared. Why would the people inside fire a sneak arrow at him, a general appointed by the emperor?
Had something gone wrong inside? Or had the gate guards been infiltrated by the enemy? No, that couldn’t be. With the identity of the person inside, betraying Dayan was impossible!
Could it be… All sorts of conspiracies raced through Wei Shouyi’s mind. Before he could erupt in anger, he noticed the suspicious look of the arrow.
Undoing the cloth strip wrapped around the note, Wei Shouyi took one look and realized he had wronged his comrades in the Southern Expedition camp.
Before he could examine it more closely, he saw the side gate of the camp swing open, and a procession of over a hundred men came out. Leading them was someone Wei Shouyi recognized: Xu Shu, the Supreme Commander of the Southwestern Route Army, the empress’s own brother, and the crown prince’s maternal uncle.
“Brother Wei, I failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive me!” Xu Shu, around forty years old, wore full armor, a sturdy build, a guo-shaped face with a short beard, healthy bronze skin, and small but spirited eyes. His laugh was hearty and unrestrained. As a fellow Dayan military commander, he was an old acquaintance of Wei Shouyi.
“Your subordinate Wei Shouyi pays respects to General Xu.”
Wei Shouyi dismounted to greet him. Whether due to rank or Xu Shu’s status as the crown prince’s maternal uncle, Wei Shouyi had no choice but to treat the man with careful respect.
“We’re like brothers. No need for such formality.” Xu Shu warmly took Wei Shouyi’s arm. “Brother Wei, you’ve had a long journey. Please, come inside!”
“You first, General!” The two exchanged courtesies and entered the camp together.
“Brother Wei, are you saying this thing was deliberately shot to you just now?”
Once inside Xu Shu’s operations tent, Wei Shouyi gestured for Xu Shu to dismiss the attendants. Without even pausing for tea, he urgently pulled out the note he had just obtained.
He might not trust others, but Xu Shu had been certified by the Junior Preceptor as a loyal minister of Dayan, so Wei Shouyi felt completely at ease showing him the note.
“General, you’re right. Just as I was about a hundred zhang from the camp, a shot came from an oblique direction. I initially thought it was a warning arrow from the camp guards, but then I saw this.”
He pointed at the note. “I only glanced at it briefly and don’t yet know if the information is true. I ask General to enlighten me.”
Over the past month, Xu Shu had clashed several times with the Southern Yue army. Thanks to sharp weapons and advanced equipment—especially the unstoppable gunpowder—the Dayan forces had won every battle. Morale was now at its peak. Since Xu Shu commanded the front lines and the secret intelligence agency gathered information from behind Southern Yue lines for his reference, Wei Shouyi felt Xu Shu should know some insider details he didn’t.
Xu Shu stared at the information listed on the note and frowned. After hearing Wei Shouyi’s words, he thought for a moment. “To be honest with you, Brother Wei, there is some information on this note that I can confirm as truth with ninety percent certainty, but there are a few items I cannot be sure of.”
Wei Shouyi clasped his hands. “Please, General, speak plainly. Your humble subordinate may be unworthy, but perhaps I can think this through with you.”
“The Southern Yue army’s deployment and their defenses on the eastern and western flanks are largely consistent with what our scouts have uncovered.
As for the central army, their defenses are tight, and we haven’t been able to probe the true situation inside yet.
Xu Shu first acknowledged the two points before continuing, “As for the issue of the Southern Yue emperor’s failing health, the information my men brought back says that the Southern Yue court has canceled court sessions twice recently. As for the reason, some say the emperor is gravely ill, while others claim he’s too busy indulging in women to get out of bed.”
Xu Shu shook his head. “The Southern Yue Imperial Medical Institute is completely calm. The few skilled physicians who attend to the emperor’s pulse have been coming and going at their usual hours these past few days. To outsiders, it seems there’s nothing seriously wrong with the emperor’s health.”
He looked up and saw that Wei Shouyi was more inclined to believe the information in the note. He couldn’t help but ask, “General Wei, do you know who sent you that message?”
In truth, Wei Shouyi had been pondering this question ever since he received the note.
The first possibility he ruled out was officials from Da Yan. Whether it was the emperor’s spies or agents from the Secret Intelligence Department, their reports would either go directly to the throne or to the highest commander of the Southwestern Army, Xu Shu.
They wouldn’t resort to an anonymous arrow to deliver the message into his hands personally.
After all, he had only just arrived here and hadn’t even entered the military camp. How many people even recognized him?
“To be honest with you, General, I’ve been wondering the same thing, but…” Wei Shouyi shook his head helplessly. “I truly can’t imagine who would be so kind as to send me such earthshaking news.”
After all, if Gan Sheng’s cancellation of court sessions truly stemmed from health problems, it would be a golden opportunity for them to exploit.
At a time like this, with the Southern Yue court unstable and infighting over the throne inevitable, the Da Yan army might be able to seize the moment and take Southern Yue with minimal losses.
Seeing that Wei Shouyi’s expression didn’t seem feigned, Xu Shu pressed on, still unwilling to give up, “Brother Wei, don’t you have even one or two suspects in mind?”
If the source of this intelligence couldn’t be confirmed, Xu Shu wouldn’t be able to judge the truthfulness of some of its contents, and that would certainly affect his decisions going forward. With the source unknown, who would dare trust it easily?
Who could say for sure that this information wasn’t deliberately released by the enemy to mislead them?