Chapter 534 - Inexorable Momentum

“Your Lordship, the commander of the Yuexi garrison has been swayed. Given a little more time, I’ll be able to rope him in. If you give up at this point in time, all our efforts will come to nought.” Lian Hai tried to dissuade Dugu Shan.

Dugu Shan paced up and down anxiously. Naturally he also wanted to buy himself more time, but the courtiers had already begun to put pressure on him, and the young prince had been casting uncharacteristic glances at him in the past few days too. On top of that, the army of the Great Wen had been advancing so quick – they were about to take the second prefecture!

“Your Lordship, you’re within an inch of taking the throne. If you let this opportunity slip away, it wouldn’t be easy to have the Seventh Prince abdicate in favor of you. Please think twice,” added Lian Hai.

“I see. I need some more time to think it through. You may leave.” Dugu Shan came to a halt.

Lian Hai, knowing that Dugu Shan would become suspicious if pushed too hard, took his leave.

When Lian Hai had left the Dugu family, the look in his eyes changed.

Dugu Shan was hesitating again and would very likely choose to give up eventually. In fact, considering the current circumstances, even if the Seventh Prince acceded to the throne, it wouldn’t make much difference, but if by any chance Nian Feng was released at the request of some courtiers, the Great Wen would be faced with a formidable opponent.

Lian Hai hastened back to the chamber of commerce and immediately made arrangements for some men to perform a secret task.

That very night, Nian Feng died of poisoning in the prison.

Because Nian Feng had been a traitor, most people did not give much thought to his sudden death, speculating whether or not it had been Dugu Shan who had poisoned Nian Feng.

But there were also a small number of people who felt that Nian Feng had died in very suspicious circumstances, that something was not quite right.

Dugu Shan, after being informed of Nian Feng’s death, immediately summoned Dugu Miao and, believing that it had been Dugu Miao who had done it, asked him the reason.

“Father, it wasn’t me who did that. I didn’t have the time for that,” explained Dugu Miao.

Dugu Shan frowned. “Then who did it?”

Dugu Miao gave it some thought and then said, “There were a lot of courtiers holding grudges against Nian Feng. Mu Rongfeng’s supporters, for instance, hated his guts. It’s possible that one of them went to the Court Prison and killed him when no one was watching.”

Dugu Shan did not rule out that possibility. By killing Mu Rongfeng, Nian Feng had destroyed the inexhaustible wealth and lifelong glory of his supporters, who did have a reason to kill Nian Feng out of hatred, but Dugu Shan still had a vague hunch that there was something fishy behind this matter.

“Father, I don’t see why we should be bothered by Nian Feng’s death. I mean, it won’t affect us in any way. Actually the murderer did us a favor by killing him. Right now our first priority is to convince the Yuexi garrison to help you accede to the throne! Didn’t Lian Hai say that the commander has been swayed? I think our next step is for you to pay a personal visit to the commander to show your sincerity,” said Dugu Miao.

Dugu Shan, however, made no immediate remarks, still wavering.

If he paid a personal visit to the Yuexi garrison, his intentions would be exposed thoroughly, and he would be past the point of no return. The current situation was urgent, and if by any chance the Yuexi garrison suddenly decided to support the Seventh Prince, then his plan to take the throne would undoubtedly be used against him and might even lead to his death.

“How far has Yuwen Tong’s army got?” inquired Dugu Shan.

Dugu Miao was surprised by the question. For the past few days he had been busy helping make preparations for his father’s plan to take the throne, and had not paid any attention to the movements of Yuwen Tong’s army.

At the sight of his son’s facial expression, Dugu Shan came to know that Dugu Miao had not bothered keeping abreast of enemy troop movements at all, knitting his brows.

Dugu Shan was now a de facto regent, and military reports were delivered to his desk on a daily basis, so he better than anybody knew how far the army of the Great Wen had got. He asked Dugu Miao that question only to calm him down, but it turned out that Dugu Miao knew nothing about it.

“Yuwen Tong has taken both of the border prefectures and reached Zizhu City. His army is pushing towards this city as we speak.”

Dugu Miao jerked out of his trance, looking shocked. “How did he take all those cities in such a short time?!”

…

The military reports were not up-to-date. The army of the Great Wen had some time ago past Zizhu City and had already taken Zhongjiang City, which was the nearest to Zizhu City.

Zhongjiang City was at the center of Zhongzhou, and Wanzhou was the only prefecture between it and the Luohai capital.

“Dugu Shan is on the verge of giving up. At this rate, the Yuexi garrison and the troops left by Nian Feng will soon join forces,” said Ling Zhang after reading an urgent letter from Lian Hai.

Yuwen Tong composedly inclined his head and, looking at the map on the desk, said, “Delaying them for this long constitutes an achievement, I would say. Considering the Youzhou garrison has rendezvoused with us, even if we encounter the Luohai army, we’ll have a very good chance of winning.”

Many of their troops had been garrisoned in the many cities of the Wan Kingdom which they had just taken. Also, there had been some casualties during the previous battles, so the army Yuwen Tong had led into the Luohai Kingdom was considerably smaller, with less than 100,000 troops.

They would never have taken the two border cities that easily if the Luohai Kingdom had tried to hold the cities with all its strength. However, at that time, the commanders of the Luohai troops stationed in the border cities had not been able to spare a thought for deploying defenses, which was why Yuwen Tong’s army had taken the cities quickly.

The Youzhou garrison, after defeating a Luohai army stationed outside Youzhou Pass which had had only one fourth of its original strength, had quickly marched north and taken three cities in a row before joining forces with the army led by Yuwen Tong eventually. The army, its strength quadrupled, was now so strong that the main force of the Luohai Kingdom didn’t stand a chance of winning.

How was the Luohai army, which on the surface had been reserving its strength all along but in fact had been slack in training, supposed to defeat the army of the Great Wen which enjoyed victorious and inexorable momentum, and which even the Wan cavalry had failed to hold back?

“I’ve told Lian Hai to figure out a way to get out of the Luohai capital. There’s a high chance Dugu Shan will become suspicious of him if he stays there,” said Ling Zhang.

But Lian Hai and Han Shu, both of whom harbored hatred towards the Luohai Kingdom, probably would not easily give up their chance to watch the Luohai capital fall with their own eyes.

Yuwen Tong, who had a general idea of the reasons why the two men had chosen to join the chamber of commerce, said, “You may let them do what they want, as long as they don’t rat you out.”

Ling Zhang had faith in Lian Hai and Han Shu, but in fact, considering how things stood, it wouldn’t make much difference if his relations with Jiahe Chamber of Commerce were brought to light.

“Should our next step be staying here for a couple of days or resuming going north tomorrow?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.

“The latter. It’d be best if we took this city before the Luohai army arrives,” said Yuwen Tong, running a finger around a spot on the map.

Ling Zhang looked at it. “Lishan City?”

After thinking back to the two occasions when he had passed Lishan City, he generally caught on to what Yuwen Tong meant.

Lishan City, like Jifang City of the Wan Kingdom, was easy to hold but hard to take. Though it was not as difficult to take as Jifang City was, the terrain of Lishan City was less complicated than that of Jifang City, which meant he would not be able to deploy any Formations to help the army gain a strategic advantage over the enemy. If the Luohai army reached Lishan City before them, there would be a tough fight between the two sides.

“I see. Let’s set off tomorrow.”

…

Dugu Shan eventually decided not to risk his life. After the courtiers made another attempt to pressure him into relenting and he received a military report saying that the army of the Great Wen had taken Zhongjiang City, he chose to let the Seventh Prince accede to the throne, and then a royal edict was quickly issued, ordering the Yuexi garrison and the surviving troops of Nian Feng to muster and immediately move south to intercept the Great-Wen army.

Lian Hai, shortly after being informed that Dugu Shan did not visit the encampment of the Yuexi garrison, had secretly had important account books and staff members of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce transferred out of the city, telling them to go east to the seacoast where they were to get on a ship and return to the Great Wen.

When news of the fall of the Wan capital spread to the Luohai Kingdom, Lian Hai had given the order for all hard-core staff members of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, except for those who had unfinished tasks, to covertly evacuate the Luohai Kingdom and return to the Great Wen. The reason why he had waited so long to tell those in the capital to leave was because he didn’t want to arouse the Dugu family’s suspicions, who had eyes everywhere in the city.

Those who stayed were basically natives of the Luohai Kingdom, who did not know any inside information and believed that Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was under the control of the Dugu family. All stores of the chamber of commerce would be traded or liquidated after the Luohai Kingdom was subjugated.

But Lian Hai and Han Shu had now chosen to stay in the capital.

Lian Hai tried to persuade Han Shu to leave, but the latter refused.

“I have an old score to settle with Luohai. Seeking revenge was the very reason why I agreed to serve the chamber of commerce. Boss promised me he would let me choose whether to stay or leave when the time came. I’m staying. You may leave without me,” said Han Shu.

Lian Hai shook his head. “I can’t.”

He was the liaison with Dugu Shan, who would find out if he fled the city.

On top of that, Dugu Shan had now allowed the Seventh Prince to succeed to the throne, and Lian Hai knew about Dugu Shan’s previous plan to usurp the throne and had even helped Dugu Shan lobby the commander of the Yuexi garrison, so under no circumstances would Dugu Shan let him live. If he exited the city, Dugu Shan would immediately be informed and send men to hunt him down.

“I’ll impersonate you and pay Dugu Shan a visit. If I succeed in assassinating him, the court will be in chaos for some time, which I think will do some good,” said Han Shu.

Lian Hai smiled, “You and I do not look alike. Dugu Shan will see you through immediately. Don’t worry – Dugu Shan will not kill me so long as he still needs Jiahe Chamber of Commerce to be at his service. I have a way to survive another few days. Let’s just pray our master’s army will get here in time.”

…

There were two smaller cities between Zhongjiang City and Lishan City. Though small, they were indeed cities and thus had defenses, so taking them took some time.

The army pushed north at a very fast speed, intending to take Lishan City before the Luohai army reached it.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang had not slept for two days, and neither had the officers.

The soldiers slept at night, but the officers, in order to save time, stayed up all night making battle plans for the next day’s operations.

Just like this, the army, after taking both of the two smaller cities in succession, reached Lishan City.

At this time, the Luohai army was two or three days’ march away from Lishan City.

Yuwen Tong ordered that the army take Lishan City within two days.

In Lishan City were some stores affiliated to Jiahe Chamber of Commerce as well, but the situation in the Luohai Kingdom was rather special – unlike staff members of the branches in the Wan Kingdom most of whom answered to Ling Zhang, those in Lishan City did not know much about the management layer of the organization, and only two or three of them could be of help, and there was not much they could do.

“We’ll attack directly. Putting out feelers would be a waste of time,” said Yuwen Tong.

Soon he made some arrangements and the army mounted an assault on Lishan City early the next morning.

There were not many troops stationed in Lishan City. The Luohai army had not arrived yet, and the garrison had no other source of reinforcements, so the city, under the savage attacks from Yuwen Tong’s army, was soon on the verge of falling.