Chapter 27
Book 3 Chap 4 – The war between a male and female
The next day when the envoy was getting ready to leave, Lady Pingyuan remained unmoved and refused to leave with the team. Xiang Shaolong laughed secretly to himself and bring with him Zhao Da and the other tree as well as 10 odd specially trained elite soldiers, went to pay a visit to Lady Pingyuan personally. When they reached the tent, Xiang Shaolong told his men to stand guard outside while he went to see Lady Pingyuan alone.
Lady Pingyuan was still furious and she said with a frosty look, "Xiang Shaolong you’re good, you’ve injured my son so badly." Xiang Shaolong knows that she was talking about the hard kick he gave to the groin. He secretly laughed to himself but when he spoke, he sighed instead, "I didn’t know he is Prince Shaoyuan at all in the darkness. Luckily I realized in time or I would have killed him." Lady Pingyuan was at a loss for words, but her anger was still unappeased so she stared at him and said, "My son is still weak and is not suited for long travels, you can go to Daliang on your own! I will only leave when he has recovered." Xiang Shaolong looked at her fiery eyes filled with hatred and sighed, "I am in a difficult position and have no choice but to put on an act in front of Zhao Qian. Actually I’ve considered what Lady told me the other day and have come to a decision long ago."
Lady Pingyuan was stunned for a moment, and this ignited Xiang Shaolong’s hope. She eyed him for a moment before she nodded and said, "If you really have such a thought…" Xiang Shaolong interrupted her, "But what Prince Shaoyuan did last night was obviously done with your approval, and this has aroused my doubts about Lady’s sincerity." Lady Pingyuan immediately lost the upper hand. In actual fact ever since Xiang Shaolong seemed to foretell her plan, which she was so confident of and spoil it, she has started fearing him and has no idea how she should deal with this man.
Her instinctive reaction was to lower her eyes. Xiang Shaolong saw that she did not try to deny and knows that she is now confused by his forcefulness. He moved boldly forward, looking closely at her tired yet pretty face and said with a smile, "Shall we talk about this after we reach Daliang? At least you should let me see Prince Xinling first!" Lady Pingyuan saw her standing so close to her and she lifted her head, her face frosty as she said, "Are you trying to be rude to me? How dare you insult your superior?" Xiang Shaolong said calmly, "I just have a secret to tell Lady, but I do not know if Lady is interested in hearing it." Lady Pingyuan was thrown off guard and she asked, "What is it?" Xiang Shaolong moved his lips closer, so close that it was only inches away from her, and deliberately pretended to be mysterious as he said, "I don’t know if it was Zhao Mu who leaked out news, but a few groups of horse thieves including Hui Hu are waiting within Wei’s border for us, and I heard that Lady is one of their targets."
Lady Pingyuan’s face turned pale and she exclaimed hoa.r.s.ely, "What?" Xiang Shaolong said with a straight face, "I, Xiang Shaolong, can swear to heaven, if I speak a word of falsehood, then let me die a horrible death." He secretly thought that people of this era is not like those in the 21st century, they will not give their vows so easily and now he is witnessing the miraculous use of this method. Lady Pingyuan did not suspect his words as expected. She rolled her eyes for a while before she asked weakly, "Is Hui Hu really part of it?" By now Xiang Shaolong is absolutely sure that Hui Hu is the King of Wei’s man, and because Lady Pingyuan knows this secret, all the more she believes his words. He boldly sat down to her right, his mouth moved close to her ear, almost touching it and said, "The news was relayed to me by the spies the Wu family planted in Wei. They even said the mastermind could very well be the King of Wei himself."
Lady Pingyuan furrowed her brows and said, "Can you sit a little further away to talk?" Xiang Shaolong saw that although she looked irritated, her pretty face was blus.h.i.+ng and her breathing was faster and knows she’s feeling confused whether to reject or welcome him. He can’t help but secretly laugh and was even more determined to seek his revenge. He thought to himself, since you can be unscrupulous towards me, why can’t I have a little payback, and he gently kissed her rounded ear lobes. Lady Pingyuan’s dainty body shook, and was about to reprimand him when Xiang Shaolong retreated to his original position, his mesmerizing eyes looking at her deeply. Her heart immediately started pounding, and the reprimand she was about to utter stuck in her throat.
What is happening? This person injured her son and outraged her modesty, but why didn’t she react? Once she thought of this, her face burned and she lowered her face and said quietly, "Fine! We will leave with you."
When Xiang Shaolong returned to his troops who were all packed and ready to leave, he added Wu Zhuo’s 100 men into his group, thus increasing his control. These 100 family warriors were well built and alert, and with one look anyone can tell that they’re elite fighters. Cheng Xu who has been nervous and apprehensive all this while seems to have been finally rea.s.sured, and his smile is a lot more radiant now. Xiang Shaolong set the trap last night as if he could predict Prince Shaoyuan’s evil plot, and this has raised him to almost a G.o.d-like status amongst the soldiers. While waiting for Lady Pingyuan’s men to dismantle camp, Xiang Shaolong, Wu Zhuo, Cheng Xu and Zha Yuanyu went to a nearby hill to look at the map and discuss the route to take to Daliang.
Wu Zhuo is very familiar with the geography of Wei and he said, "From here to Tangyin, we have official roads which we can travel on. In the past the Weis set up gantries and camps along the roads, and there are watchtowers on higher grounds as well. But according to our scout, not only are the gantries missing along the road now, but we can’t even find a single Wei to ask around." Xiang Shaolong thought to himself that if the King of Wei really intends to send someone to attack him, he will not want to do it too far away from the Zhao border so that he will be able to push all the blame and say that the thieves went after them from the Zhao border. Especially when Hui Hu has a personal feud with Xiang Shaolong, so this excuse can be used to shut the Zhaos up and at the same time deal a great blow to Prince Xinling. Hai! All those in power in this era are all conniving people. But he thought about the politicians in the 21st century and felt that maybe it’s not so strange after all. Cheng Xu pointed at the river, which forked from the Yellow River, flowing across Tangyin and said, "After we past the river, there’s another official road that goes from the east straight towards another large city, Huangcheng, next to the Yellow River. If we were to travel there instead, won’t the horse thieves be least expecting that?"
Xiang Shaolong said somberly, "If I’m the horse thief, I will certainly launch an attack while you are crossing the river. They came well prepared and outnumber us, so the outcome of the fight is predictable." The other 3 were dumbfounded. Everyone knows that when crossing rivers, there’s no way to defend oneself on the river as the boats are totally exposed to the enemy’s catapults, and it’ll be a perfect opportunity for the horse thieves to attack. Xiang Shaolong is a soldier who went through vigorous training and after thinking for a while, he said decidedly, "No matter which official road we choose, we will still fall into the enemy’s expectations. The other party’s energy is conserved while waiting for us but we will be tired from the travels. The only way is to change this obvious advantage and make the enemy tired instead. That’s the only way we can win with our fewer numbers." He paused for a moment before continuing with confidence, "Now we’ll still travel south on the official roads but we will not cross the river when we come to it. Instead we will travel east along the water until we reach the inlets. This is certainly not within the enemy’s expectations and they will have to come after us via the river crossing while we set up camp next to the river and wait for the enemy. This will greatly increase our chances of winning."
Zha Yuanyu commented, "But that is not an easy route to travel on…" Wu Zhuo interrupted him, "As long as we can keep our lives, we will be able to overcome any difficult routes." Cheng Xu agreed, "That’s decided then! We’ll increase the number of scouts who will keep a lookout on the front, back, left and right of the group. I’d rather travel slowly than to fall into a trap."
After the decision was made, the large group continued on their journey. Xiang Shaolong personally chose a team of fit soldiers to be the scouts and they were separated into 5 in each team, with 2 teams each in front, at the back, the left and right, a total of 8 teams. They will use flags to signal to the main group once it’s safe. By dusk, they’re only a day’s journey away from the river. They chose a high ground that is easy to defend but difficult to be attacked against to set up camp. Xiang Shaolong did not sleep at all last night so he took the opportunity to hide in the tent and have a good sleep. When he woke up the surroundings were in total darkness. Beneath the blanket he sniffed a fragrance and felt a soft body. He lit his lamp and saw that it was Lady Ya who was leaning against him fully clothed and sleeping. Lady Ya was awaken by the glare from the lamp and she complained, "You! Sleeping like a dead pig. It’ll be terrible if there’s an enemy attack." Xiang Shaolong laughed, "Are you the enemy?" He felt refreshed but extremely famished, before he remembered that he had not eaten. Lady Ya heard his tummy rumbling and laughed as she got up, "I came especially to send you your dinner, hai! It’s all cold now."
Xiang Shaolong’s mood was greatly improved and allowed this beauty who has always been served by others to serve him as he dine. By the time his stomach was full, it’s already morning. They continued on the journey, following the official road down south towards the river, with lolling hills and woods surrounding them, the scenery