Since the Dragon Army showed great strength in the second battle, Meng Mingshu changed his attitude immediately. Therefore, Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun had a chance to escape.
They turned their residence into a larger one with two rooms. As a result, Long Fanyun did not have to listen to Shangguan Fei’s chatter and the food obviously became more exquisite with fewer guards outside.
Shangguan Fei pursed his lips. “The Dragon Army must be winning. Otherwise, Meng Er won’t be this generous.”
Long Fanyun thought the same but was not sure how accurate it was. He did not feel relief until Meng Mingshu personally showed up. He was even more determined to flee and join the army.
Since the two messengers were under house arrest, it was the first time for Meng Mingshu to visit his nephew Shangguan Fei. He brought his nephew to the inner room and whispered for a while. Then, he left calmly as if he was just chatting.
Long Fanyun did not want to eavesdrop on their conversation, so he sat somewhere far from the wall. Meng Mingshu glanced at him as he walked. “You’re a swordsman from the Great Snowmountain? Dragon King sure is lucky.”
“No. We’re the lucky ones.” Long Fanyun seriously corrected his mistake. Outsiders seemed to know the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain very well, but few people knew the truth of killing among the five peaks so that they could not realize the changes that Dragon King brought.
After Meng Mingshu left, Shangguan Fei came out of the room with a strange smile on his face as if he had learned a big secret. “One has infinite ambition…”
Long Fanyun stopped him immediately, knowing that Shangguan Fei was likely to chatter on for a long time. “We must run away this evening.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“No.”
“How will we run away? Go out directly?”
“Yes.”
Shangguan Fei was just joking so this unexpected answer stunned him. He shook his head and said, “It’s impossible. Even though there are few guards outside, there are more hiding in the dark.”
“As long as I get a weapon, I will run to the depths of the palace to attract attention and then came back secretly. I still remember the way to come, so I won’t get lost.”
Shangguan Fei was still shaking his head. “It’s too risky. Others also live in the palace except for Meng Er. If we run into other guards, they will kill us immediately. I won’t do that.”
“You’re like the others, aren’t you? You want to decide who you’ll be loyal to after for the war is concluded.” Long Fanyun glanced at him. He was indeed a little reckless but not stupid. He knew that Meng Mingshu respected Lady Meng and wouldn’t send his nephew to the enemy no matter if Dragon King would win or fail, so it was a very safe place for Shangguan Fei. “I will go alone and won’t trouble you. Besides, you’re also a burden for me.”
In the past year, Shangguan Fei was most comfortable under house arrest in these past few days. He really did not want to leave at once. However, Long Fanyun was a swordsman of the Great Snowmountain and nobody could change his mind, so he ground his teeth and said, “Well, I’ll go with you as your burden. But you should know that I would do this for you…”
Long Fanyun clenched his fist, frightening Shangguan Fei.
In fact, Shangguan Fei had a much more detailed plan. In recent days, he had been secretly observing the situation and had almost learned the shift time of the guards outside, so he planned to carry out his plan at that moment.
As a result, they did not meet the guards. They ran into Chu Nanping instead.
After Shangguan Fei said that Dragon King was tricked, Chu Nanping and Long Fanyun were all confused. “Who tricked the Dragon King? What do you know? Is it Meng Mingshu’s doing?”
Shangguan Fei glanced at Long Fanyun unhappily, envying his concern for Dragon King. He deliberately coughed and said, “Maybe it has nothing to do with Meng Er, but he indeed told me that my third brother Shangguan Yun has secretly entered into the mountain before the war started. Dragon King happened to just arrive at the mountain at this time, so…”
“This is just a coincidence?” Long Fanyun did not believe that Dragon King would be easily tricked.
“Who knows? However, my third brother and Shangguan Jianyi have been secretly competing for the best performance. Now Shangguan Jianyi is taking charge of the army, he’ll naturally take credit for defeating the Dragon Army. My third brother can only claim credit for getting Dragon King’s head. I suppose he was eager to enter Wushan to set traps and wait for the Dragon King when he has nowhere to go.”
Shangguan Fei was speculating, but he had previously contacted Shangguan Yun and got a lot of information from Meng Mingshu. This assumption seemed reasonable.
Long Fanyun and Chu Nanping glanced at each other. They believed in Shangguan Fei’s words.
“Head to Wushan immediately.” Long Fanyun was so anxious that he wanted to fly there with the wings. “Little Chu, how long has it been since Dragon King entered the mountain?”
“I don’t know. Maybe three or four days.” Chu Nanping was also a little worried as he did not want the Dragon King to be killed by someone. “If we go after him now, maybe we can catch up with him.”
But Shangguan Fei was very calm. “Don’t worry. Even if Shangguan Yun sets a trap, the Dragon King isn’t an ordinary man who will be easily tricked. Little Chu, you’re looking for someone, right? Why are you here in the palace?”
“Right General Shang Liao might also be in the palace. Have you seen him before?”
Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun had been under house arrest these days, so they had no chance to meet outsiders. After a while, Shangguan Fei realized that Shang Liao must be trying to persuade the royal family of the Kang Kingdom to give up. “You needn’t worry about this. As long as the Dragon Army wins, Shang Liao won’t be killed. You’re looking for him everywhere, but maybe he’s enjoying delicacies and beauties.”
“I’m the captain of Dragon King’s guards. Anyway, I will enter into Wushan immediately. What about you, Little Chu?” Long Fanyun asked Chu Nanping at first.
“I’ll go with you,” Chu Nanping said without hesitation.
“You two sure are brave but lack strategies. You’ll bring me trouble sooner or later.”
Long Fanyun was responsible for escorting Shangguan Fei to the north shore. Now he had completed his task, he said, “You don’t have to go with us. You either return to the Dragon Army or go to your uncle, which is safer.”
“The swordsman from the Great Snowmountain also knows how to abandon his benefactor after achieving his goal. We’re still in hostile territory but you’re already trying to abandon me?”
“You’re the one who said you didn’t want to go into Wushan.” Long Fanyun frowned, finding this task to be more trouble than it was worth. It seemed that he would have a hard time ditching Shangguan Yun in the future.
“I didn’t say that.” Shangguan Fei stared at them. “I’m just a little cautious. Think twice before you act. But now only I am thinking, but you…”
While Shangguan Fei was still complaining, they found a secluded place to hide and left the city after dawn.
Unexpectedly, there was truth to Shangguan Fei’s words earlier. Shang Liao was not holding beauties, but he was not in danger either.
Meanwhile, Shang Liao’s cousin was shouting at the leader of the imperial guard. “You fools! You’re dozens of men strong but you couldn’t even catch a child? You haven’t found him yet after more than half a day?”
The leader of the imperial guard blushed and replied in a low voice, “This is the capital of the Hui Kingdom. We’re not familiar with…”
Shang Liao’s cousin, the prime minister of the Kang Kingdom, scolded the leader of the imperial guard out of the room before turning to Shang Liao who was watching silently. He smiled and said, “I apologize for the embarrassing scene. I can’t even do such a little thing well.”
“Please don’t be a stranger. We’re a family.”
“Haha, but now you’re the King of the Kang Nation.”
The Prime Minister especially emphasized the word “the King of the Kang Nation” and waited for his reaction.
Shang Liao became serious.”Prime Minister, please don’t say that. It’s just a title. Once the war on the southern bank ends, I will announce the cancellation of the title immediately. I hope you can tell His Majesty that I’ll be forever loyal to him.”
The Prime Minister nodded with satisfaction. He did not acclaim the position of Shang Liao but praised his cautious attitude. “If the war ends and Dragon King wins, it’s difficult for you to give up the title, isn’t it?”
Shang Liao shook his head and said with great certainty, “Dragon King won’t win. The Dragon Army is tenacious, but it’s useless. They have given up their front, making their territories become smaller and smaller. As long as the Golden Roc Army keep moving forward, they’ll still be the victors. That much is certain.”
“There are always accidents. Dragon King has met a lot of unexpected situations before, so we should be more cautious.”
Shang Liao shook his head. “There are some things we can’t imagine as officials of the Kang Kingdom.”
They were like martial artists of similar strength testing each other but not daring to be the first to show their unique skill.
“The Kang Kingdom needs to organize its own army, so does the entire Xiaoyao Lake. If the five countries are divided into several parts, they’ll be occupied by the enemy one after another,” Shang Liao said. He did not intend to compete for the throne. He was sober and knew what the most important power was.
“We have to consider the unexpected situation again. If the Golden Roc Army fails, the Kang Kingdom would have a chance to recruit soldiers and buy horses.”
After the Prime Minister shared his original plan, he continued to induce Shang Liao to state his true position.
But Shang Liao avoided this topic and said instead, “The Kang Kingdom has other opportunities. As long as he put in more effort, he won’t have to rely on other countries’ forces.”
“Oh?”
“We can depend on the bridge.”
“The bridge?”
“I have most ships of Xiaoyao Lake, and the only bridge is managed by Hui Kingdom. Therefore, no matter who wins or loses on the southern bank, we just need to…”
“As long as we destroy the bridge and remove ships, all troops can only be trapped on the southern bank and can’t cross the Lake at once!” the Prime Minister continued with excitement. “Then the Kang Kingdom can…”
“Right. But we need to prepare ahead of time. We should have troops in our hands and persuade the Hui Kingdom or abandon them to directly occupy the bridge.”
“Good idea.” The Prime Minister finally agreed with him. The former King of the Kang nation would not be able to carry out the bold plan because he would be frightened to death just by hearing about it. “Your Majesty, the task of reviving Xiaoyao Lake rests on your shoulders.”
The Prime Minister knelt to his cousin, wanting to be the first minister to show loyalty to the new King.
Shangguan Fei had a good idea about Dragon King’s plan but lacked the details of it.
When night fell, Gu Shenwei silently crossed the Gulping Wind Gorge. Instead of directly going to Tuo Nengya’s military camp to rescue the soldiers that might have been caught by spies, he chose to take another route.
Dragon King’s soldiers were from different countries and had their own interests, so Gu Shenwei did not think that they would be absolutely loyal to him. Before Dragon King possessed the real strength, those soldiers would inevitably be on the fence. Therefore, Gu Shenwei calmly accepted the truth and was not angry with them. He was only making preparations for the first possibility, as well as the second and the third.
That way, he knew that there was always a way he could choose when the crisis came.