The princess initially did not plan to get involved and only wanted to hold onto something valuable. She knew that once she handed over those 20 pages, she would become the princess of a small, unimportant country once again. Her fate was now in the ever-changing hands of ambitious men.
As for who she wanted to negotiate with for the true version, no one — perhaps not even the princess herself– had any idea.
In short, she chose Dragon King before he discovered the conspiracy on his own.
This was reason enough.
Loyalty was a rare commodity, and much more valuable than diamonds or gold. It was something that one couldn’t afford to squander away. . After experiencing many betrayals, Gu Shenwei understood that loyalty must be used with caution and without expectations. Even so, the power that loyalty was able to generate was still far beyond his imagination.
To others, the princess did not seem loyal. Her allegiance was merely the means to an end, to remove herself from her current predicament. No one believed otherwise. But despite this, Gu Shenwei decided to trust her. He knew her loyalty was solely to save herself, and that was enough for him.
“Do you know how to tamper with the manual?” Gu Shenwei made sure to stress this question because it was so important to the operation. Believably altering a set of top Internal Strength instructions was no easy task. On top of that, the princess had no Kung Fu skills, so what she thought was a good ruse was likely to raise suspicion immediately.
“I don’t know if my edits are correct,” the princess said, gaining confidence from the Dragon King’s tone, “Let me read it to you…”
Gu Shenwei raised his hand to stop her:”No, keep this a secret, and hide it along with the correct version. It doesn’t matter if you forget it, but never mention it to anyone ever again — not even to me.”
The princess was a little confused. So far, everything had gone as she had expected, up until now. The Dragon King seemed to have no interest in the real manual… or perhaps he had too much interest. She thought this over and then said, “I will never mention it again, unless you order it. But I really may forget all of this in the future.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Gu Shenwei said, trying to end the conversation.”Pack up your things and be ready to go at dawn.”
“Where will we go?” the princess asked.
“”A safe place, and you will act as a queen,” Gu Shenwei replied.
“Okay,” the princess replied respectfully. She felt more secure about her allegiance now.
When Gu Shenwei finally left the princess’s room, it was already daylight outside. He stood in the courtyard, pressing on his hilt and thinking about the current situation he was facing.
Xu Yanwei poked her head out of the adjoining room and silently stared at the Dragon King.
When Gu Shenwei noticed her, he thought that she, indeed, did not look like an enemy of the princess. But Xu Yanwei was still the only choice until a better candidate could be found. “You will accompany the princess later,”he said to her.
“Where to?” she asked.
“A safe place,”Gu Shenwei answered simply, and walked away.
“Does he always have to be so vague?”Xu Yanwei whispered to herself.
Gu Shenwei rushed to the bedchamber of the King of the Stone Nation with Long Fanyun following behind with dozens of guards.
At the doorway to the bedchamber, Maid Lotus nodded at the Dragon King to signal that it was safe to go inside, and that the guards were not needed.
The King of the Stone Nation had been up all night. After checking on his pregnant court maid, he mindlessly sat in a chair, his eyes bloodshot. He nodded off and almost fell to the ground several times from sheer exhaustion.
By the time he saw the Dragon King, his energy was depleted. He just stared blankly at Gu Shenwei, having forgotten what he had intended to say.
“Congratulations! The Royal Family will soon welcome Hai Tang’s son as a new addition,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Certainly,” The King of the Stone Nation replied. He felt very strongly that Hai Tang would have a boy. “So, all hope is lost for you. The Royal Family of the Stone Nation will carry on the name Ju — not Long… or Yang,”he continued.
The King of the Stone Nation was so used to calling him “Dragon King” that he had almost forgotten his real name was”Yang Huan”.
“You are an idiot,” Gu Shenwei said calmly, as if stating a simple fact.
The King’s face suddenly flushed. Although he knew he was just a puppet, he had never received such a blatant insult to his face. “It’s still uncertain who the real idiot is,” he countered.
“The princess told me everything,” Gu Shenwei said.
The King’s face reddened even more. “You’re lying…” he said, wanting to resist, but he just didn’t have the energy and gave up immediately. “She’s a little bitch, and I knew I couldn’t trust her. You can’t trust any woman. But you wouldn’t dare kill me,” he said confidently.
The King of the Stone Nation really believed this. He had been thinking about it all night, successfully convincing himself that it was true, and that he would convince the Dragon King of the same.
In truth, the King never possessed any real power. When the former Prime Minister Yang Dou was dismissed at the peak of his life, he issued many commands in a panic — for he was living in his own fantasy world and would not accept the truth. He really believed he would regain his power, and he held onto that delusion until the day he died.
“It’s a pity that you are redundant now, so you must die,” stated Gu Shenwei simply.
“No, no, you’re just trying to scare me. Do you really think I’m that stupid? Haha, if you wanted me dead, you would have accused me in the Council Chamber and called me out publicly for interrogation. But you didn’t do that. I know that you still need me, so you can stop trying to scare me. I can do things for you, for the small price of the safety of me and my unborn child. Additionally, I want–”
The King’s confidence soared as he suddenly began to remember all the reasons he had come up with for why the Dragon King could not kill him.
“I only need a King,”Gu Shenwei interrupted, intending to end the conversation as soon as possible. “I think that your unborn son is more suitable than you.”
The King did not understand what he meant. In his mind, his unborn son was in more danger than he was. “What do you want to do? Are you planning to take the throne? My people will not allow that, and neither will the people of Xiaoyao Lake,”he said, his confidence shaken.
It was pointless to talk to the stupid King. Gu Shenwei clapped his hands, and four guards surrounded the King.
The King began to panic at the sudden seriousness of the situation he found himself in. “You… I… maybe Hai Tang will not have a boy…” he said in desperation.
“She will have a boy a month from now. I promise,” Gu Shenwei said matter-of-factly.
“I… I still have information you need! Don’t you want to know who’s conspiring against you? Don’t you want to know who my contact at Golden Roc Fort is?” the King cried out.
Gu Shenwei walked out of the bedchamber, leaving the King who was already dazed and confused.
Long Fanyun approached the Dragon King and said, “Five court maids and ten eunuchs were under our control and will continue to serve the King, while collecting information for us.”
The bedchamber was silent. A short while later, the four guards came out and stood guarding the door. No one was getting in to see the King.
Over half of the information that the King had provided was already known by Gu Shenwei, and the rest was of no importance. All he wanted was an army that would fight without any loyalties to anyone.
Gu Shenwei walked to the gate of the Royal Palace just as Zhong Heng was arriving on horseback.
As soon as Zhong Heng heard that the Dragon King was investigating the murder at the Royal Palace, he rushed there by horse from the camp. Panting with fatigue he said, “Dragon King, I… let’s take a walk.”
The Council Chamber was empty, making it ideal for a private talk.
Zhong Heng regained his composure, bowed to Gu Shenwei and asked, “Dragon King, do you really think the victim was at Golden Roc Fort?”
“That’s the truth of the matter,”replied Gu Shenwei.
“Yes. Will we start a war? We are not fully prepared for that yet. The new recruits need more training, and we’re short on provisions and fodder…” Zhong Heng said worriedly.
Zhong Heng was a wise and focused man, but he lacked determination. Gu Shenwei reminded him, “Prime Minister, the war has already begun. Shangguan Yun’s proposal for a strike is only a temporary break from the battlefield. Within three days, a riot will take place inside the Stone Nation, and within five days, the Golden Roc Fort army will cross the desert. Even with the rioting causing a setback, the overall plan will not change.”
Zhong Heng’s mouth dropped in surprise. Collecting intelligence was one of his duties, but he had not heard any of this before. Although he had an alliance with Xu Xiaoyi for receiving information, he had never believed he would ever omit something as important as this. “How is this possible? The snow has not melted yet, and the enemy has made no signs of moving…”he asked in shock.
“This is going to be a surprise attack. Golden Roc Fort is not going to wait for us to be completely prepared. The snow has not melted yet, but that isn’t going to delay the march. As for the enemy moving, the Golden Roc Fort army has prepared for winter and can attack at any time,” answered Gu Shewei.
Zhong Heng could not completely believe it, since the Dragon King had no proof of any of his claims. Everything he had said was based on speculation. Still, it did not hurt to seriously think over these possibilities. “What shall we do next? Do you want us to fight to the death?”he asked.
“General Dugu has made a feasible plan.”
Zhong Heng’s mouth dropped again. He was the Prime Minister. Although he was officially assisting the King of the Stone Nation, everyone knew that his real master was the Dragon King. But now he had been excluded from making war plans with the Dragon King — that was unacceptable to him given his position.
Gu Shenwei could tell that Zhong Heng was upset, so he said, “You came at the right time. There are a few things I need you to deal with here, but you should return to the military camp before dark. We need to start making a more detailed plan.”
The Dragon King was making him feel more important. Zhong Heng recognized this, and did not ask for more. The Dragon King was in a unique position, and he had his reasons for trusting different people in different positions. “Yes, I will await your orders, Dragon King,”Zhong Heng replied respectfully.
“You will send the princess and the pregnant court maid to the An Kingdom. Please get started as soon as possible,”Gu Shenwei began.
“Yes,” replied Zhong Heng.
“You will draw up invitations asking the royal families of Kang, Sha and Hui Kingdoms to go to the An Kingdom, and you will sign them with the seal of the King of the Stone Nation,” continued Gu Shewei.
“But… they will not go,” Zhong Heng could not help but saying. The Royal Families in several countries were still uncertain about their loyalties, and would never give up their positions so easily to the Dragon King.
“It doesn’t matter. They can decide whether to go or not, but I can also make the contents of the letter public,” replied Gu Shenwei.
“Yes,” Zhong Heng answered, although he still had many questions. He would save them for after he had gotten back to the barracks.
“The King of the Stone Nation is going to the barracks for inspection, so you should arrange that for him,” Gu Shenwei continued his commands.
“Okay,” Zhong Heng replied, having no suspicions about this instruction, as he was still unaware that the King had lost any power he had once had.
“We need to begin mobilizing all the ships at Xiaoyao Lake, but this is to be done quietly.”
Zhong Heng’s mouth remained agape at this last surprise order. “Dragon King, are we going to… give up the Stone Nation?”
Since the autumn and throughout the winter, Zhong Heng had made every effort to transport military supplies to the Stone Nation. He thought that the final battle would surely take place there, and the Dragon King had given no indication otherwise.
Gu Shenwei remained silent. He had already said that he would not make any detailed plans until that evening.