Half a Spoiler Chapter 75

Cui Xinjing finished writing the document and presented it on the spot to the Sovereign. Wen Yanran skimmed through it and ordered it to be sealed, transmitted to Jianping, and then publicly announced by the central authorities.

The Emperor’s approach was resolute and unyielding, leaving no room for opposition. Many of the old officials who had served under Emperor Li couldn’t help but think that if the late emperor had wielded imperial authority wisely and acted with greater insight, he might have borne some resemblance to the new ruler.

Wen Yanran indicated that the court session was adjourned, retaining only a few ministers for a smaller, closed-door meeting in the rear court.

Since the matter involved the front lines, Tao Jing and Song Nanlou were naturally among those who stayed behind.

Tao Jing reported, “Of the 160,000 troops from the Western Tribes, more than half have already been destroyed. The maximum number of cavalry they can mobilize is no more than ten thousand.”

He conveyed Tao Jia’s perspective, though there were differing views within the military. Many officers believed that, given the Western Tribes’ current performance, their usable cavalry amounted to no more than five thousand, and they could be decisively defeated in a single battle.

Wen Yanran pondered for a moment and smiled. “Ten thousand cavalry… that must include the forces of the Fuhe Clan, right?”

Tao Jing cupped his hands in acknowledgment. “Your Majesty is sagacious.” He continued, “Li Huaidao of the Li Clan died in battle at Menqu Slope, while Lao Baijie, the direct descendant of the Lao Clan, was captured. She is currently detained with the vanguard forces, awaiting Your Majesty’s judgment.”

Wen Yanran nodded. “Although the Western Tribes’ combat strength has suffered significant losses, those major clans still hold sway over a region. Moreover, the Fuhe Clan has fortified their territory and cannot be underestimated.”

Tao Jing was somewhat surprised. This was not the first time he had heard such words. Even before coming to Wu’an, Tao Jia had repeatedly cautioned him. Following a series of defeats, a sudden major victory might not unsettle someone of the Emperor’s temperament, but the ministers around her might not all remain humble in triumph. Tao Jia had carefully instructed Tao Jing that if anyone began to meddle recklessly in military affairs due to this, he must firmly speak up to counter them.

He had originally felt somewhat uneasy, but upon meeting the Emperor, he realized there was no need to worry at all. Though the Emperor remained far away in Wu’an, her grasp of affairs at the front lines remained precise and thorough. Not the slightest negligence had crept in to this day.

Wen Yanran said, “Fuhe Fang is an ambitious man. He himself has little interest in personal enjoyment, but he is willing to use wealth and goods to win over talent. Now that the other three houses have all suffered heavy blows to their strength, this is precisely his chance to rise by riding the momentum.” As she spoke, she pulled several documents from the stack at her side and handed them to Tao Jing.

Long before the war broke out, Jianping had already sent people to Tai Province, trying every possible means to gather information. By this point, Wen Yanran found herself somewhat nostalgic for PC-game interfaces – she remembered that someone in the comment section had once attached screenshots. Under normal circumstances, the system would include a dedicated [Gather Intelligence] function: players could assign a group of secret agents to infiltrate the enemy camp to collect information, and the interface would even display the agents’ aptitude and the probability of success. Now that Wen Yanran had to operate in person, she could only place her hopes in whether Chi Yi and the others had a sufficiently sharp eye for choosing scouts.

Wen Yanran had not spent enough time browsing the comment section. Otherwise, she would have known that under normal circumstances, Chi Yi’s loyalty to her liege would not exceed (20/100). Some players refused to submit to fate; after a flurry of ferocious micromanagement, they succeeded in dragging Chi Yi’s loyalty all the way down to (-100/100). However, her talent-selection stat was as high as (91/100), marking her as a character who, if she truly set her mind to assisting the emperor, could produce near-miraculous results.

The Fuhe clan was outwardly lenient but inwardly strict, and did a commendable job when it came to managing personnel. Unfortunately, in the lands of the Western Tribes, secrets always traveled quickly. Even though Fuhe Fang deliberately tried to keep things concealed, many locals had already heard rumors that the head of the Fuhe family had formally invited numerous advisers with Central Plains backgrounds into his residence, where they helped him devise strategies and plans.

As for the list of those advisers, the spies had copied that down as well. To most people, however, it was of little use – after drifting to the Western Tribes for one reason or another, many scholars from the Central Plains became adept at giving themselves assumed names.

Wen Yanran glanced casually over the list, when she suddenly noticed a pseudonym that felt strikingly familiar:

Ren Feihong.

As a player who had once browsed the comment section before transmigrating, Wen Yanran understood this person’s true identity even better than Fuhe Fang himself did – Ren Feihong was actually named Yun Wei, the daughter of the Yun clan of Jianzhou. The Yun family had originally been loyal subjects of the Great Zhou, but from the middle years of the former emperor’s reign onward, court politics had fallen into the hands of palace eunuchs. One inner attendant who enjoyed great imperial favor openly demanded a bribe from Yun Wei’s paternal aunt – the head of the Yun clan. When she rejected him with stern words, he went so far as to slander the Yun family before Emperor Li, falsely accusing them of harboring rebellious intentions.

The sum of silver the eunuch leader demanded was considerable, but given his wealth at the time, he was not in urgent need of the money. His blatant solicitation of a bribe was merely a test of the Yun clan’s stance; had they been willing to hand over the money, it would, in a sense, have amounted to a declaration of submission or cooperation.

Since the head of the Yun clan refused to yield, the eunuch leader naturally sought to make an example of them. Without any concrete evidence, he had the head of a great aristocratic house falsely imprisoned. Even though old allies at court later tried to intervene on their behalf, the Yun clan could not escape the fate of confiscation and exile. The eunuch leader even forbade them from redeeming themselves with money, insisting that the entire clan be banished to the frontier. Yun Wei was thus forced into exile and spent a period of time in the Western Tribes. After suffering repeated bereavements, her temperament grew markedly unconventional. In some of the storyline branches where Wen Jinming supported the emperor from the outset, Yun Wei had once served as an advisor to Wen Hong, trading victories and defeats with the Jianping faction.

Quite a few players suspected that Yun Wei also appeared in other storyline branches, only under a name different from Ren Feihong.

Because Monarch’s Conquest is a game with a high degree of narrative freedom and a profusion of branching routes, the various theories surrounding Yun Wei have, to this day, never reached a definitive conclusion. Wen Yanran – the only one among countless players who happened to draw the transmigration bonus pack – couldn’t help thinking that, considering Monarch’s Conquest corresponded to a world that actually existed, the fact that players had managed to collate and analyze so much information at all was already quite impressive…

After briefly laying out the subsequent strategic arrangements, Wen Yanran followed established practice and placed the letter into an embroidered pouch for Tao Jing to carry. She then smiled at Song Nanlou and said, “Minister Song, before you head to the front, detour via Chongsui and take care of a small matter for me.”

Chongsui lay to the east of Wu’an.

She did not realize that Song Nanlou’s current quietness was a situational, exceptional response. Somewhat worried that her manner of acting might have unsettled him, she deliberately softened her tone.

Song Nanlou bowed his head respectfully and answered in assent.

Moments ago, amid light laughter and casual conversation, Her Majesty had sent numerous great clans tumbling down from the heights. Some of the court officials could scarcely keep their footing as they withdrew. Yet now, when speaking to him, the Emperor was gentle, as though chatting idly over family matters. Such depth of calculation. As this thought crossed his mind, the reverence and awe Song Nanlou felt toward the Sovereign only deepened.

Because their objectives differed, Song Nanlou, in his capacity as General of the Central Army, entrusted Tao Jing with leading the bulk of his forces ahead to the front line, creating the appearance that the main army had already set out. He himself, meanwhile, led two thousand light cavalry straight toward Chongsui.

Earlier, in the back office, the Emperor had judged that the hinterland of Wu’an might already have fallen into someone else’s hands.

Reports of defeat had been arriving one after another. Even though Wen Yanran stated that she would not leave, there was no guarantee that morale would not waver. Added to this, Li Zengyu and others were moving about, lobbying to purge the eunuchs and urging the Emperor to return to the capital. Sensing that the political winds were turning unfavorable, certain local powerholders quietly moved eastward in advance.

Because Dan Province’s local ethos had been influenced by Tai Province, its great households possessed a strong martial bent, with many armed retainers and private troops kept within their estates. Since these powerful families believed that Dan Province would sooner or later fall into someone’s hands, they naturally took all of their men with them when they departed. By rough estimate, this amounted to nearly ten thousand troops.

After Zhong Zhiwei departed, responsibility for Wu’an’s defenses fell to Song Nanlou. He was aware that some people were quietly slipping away. Yet in keeping with Great Zhou custom – since such movement helped stabilize population distribution – the authorities generally did not impose overly strict controls on spontaneous inward migration from war zones. Song Nanlou had originally shared this view himself. Only after the Emperor’s brief remark did he suddenly grasp the risks hidden within it.

Wen Yanran herself was not particularly concerned about whether those powerful local families fled en masse. Though they counted as local tyrants, their social standing was still insufficient to attract imperial attention. However, if someone were to seize upon the matter of “the Emperor harshly punishing ministers who urged her to leave,” and use it as leverage to persuade and incite those magnates, it was entirely possible that they might mistakenly believe the Emperor intended to act against them as well – and thus make rash, irrational moves.

As Song Nanlou approached Chongsui, he discovered that the summer grain in the surrounding area had already been harvested and taken in advance. The sense of foreboding in his heart deepened. He slowed the army’s advance, ordering the cavalry to halt fifteen miles away, while he personally led a small group forward to reconnoiter. Sure enough, he found large numbers of troops encamped there.

Inside Chongsui City.

The county magistrate here had already been seized by the retainers and private troops brought in by the powerful local families. The Chongsui county magistrate had never expected that such a force would materialize out of nowhere in the rear of Wu’an; he was defeated with almost no ability to resist. The person who played a decisive role in this seizure of the city was a scholar known as Lord Ren. At this moment, she stood outside the window, gazing silently into the distance, lost in thought.

In truth, the quality of those private troops varied greatly. Most of them were little more than militia, with limited fighting capability. Moreover, each great family had its own calculations and was not necessarily fully obedient to her command. Ren Feihong had never expected that relying on these men alone would completely sever Wu’an’s rear lines; her aim had merely been to apply a measure of restraint.

Yet at this very moment, Ren Feihong felt that their movements had likely already been exposed to Wu’an’s watchful eye.

There was an expert on the opposing side.

A trusted scout stood at Ren Feihong’s side and reported in detail the intelligence he had gathered.

Ren Feihong gave a slight nod. “Stationing the army fifteen miles away is meant to keep us from seeing their cooking fires, so as not to put us on alert.”

She let out a soft sigh and said, “At this point, there is nothing more I can do.”

Her trusted scout ventured cautiously, “Then should we withdraw ahead of time?”

Ren Feihong shook her head. “If those people were to realize that we have suddenly vanished, they would surely panic and lose control, even turning on one another.” She smiled faintly. “In truth, if they end up fighting among themselves, it would not really hinder us. But if the people of the city were to suffer because of it, would that not be my fault?” She then added, “Go prepare a banquet. Also pass word to the heads of those families that there is a message from the Western Tribes to be delivered to them. Whether they choose to listen or not is entirely up to them.”

Among the powerful clans currently encamped in the city, some were genuinely afraid that the Emperor would move against them, while others were themselves wavering in their loyalties.

Compared with true aristocratic houses, these powerful families possessed far less prestige, and their paths to official office were severely constrained. Unless they were to encounter an opportunity like Wang You’s, it was exceedingly difficult for them to rise to high rank. Once they sensed a possible line of connection to the Western Tribes, they could not help but feel a gambler’s ambition stirring – to stake everything on a single throw.

Fifteen miles outside Chongsui City.

The deputy general said, “Most of the forces here are actually private troops belonging to powerful local families. Though they outnumber us, they can be broken with ease. The only real concern is that they may rely on the city’s defenses and refuse to surrender.”

Song Nanlou shook his head. “Their hearts are not united. Once they have seen the strength of our army, a combination of rewards and intimidation should keep them from resisting to the bitter end.”

Though he spoke lightly, inwardly he felt the situation to be fraught with danger. Their ability to crush the forces at Chongsui so readily rested on the fact that he had brought elite troops to sweep the area. If Wu’an, upon receiving reports of victory from the front, were to mistakenly believe the overall situation settled and send most of its fighting strength to the front lines, then this motley force concealed here might well become capable of overturning the entire balance of the war.