Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 830 Everything is ready
The King of Qin ultimately did not lift the curtain to go in, but carefully avoided the crowd and returned to his own tent. Inside the military tent, officials were also engaged in a heated discussion of tactics, with two men arguing so fiercely that they were red in the face and even bringing up each other's ancestors.

"Alright," the King of Qin said, sitting in his chair with a stern face.

Upon seeing this, the two officials immediately separated, avoiding each other's gazes and refusing to utter another word.

"Once you've reached an agreement, you can proceed according to your plan?" King Qin spoke, immediately silencing the large tent.

Several officials standing not far away put down what they were holding and solemnly gathered around the King of Qin.

One official said, "We can go to the Duke of Wei."

"And then?" the King of Qin continued.

Usually, once this point is reached, everyone knows the truth and won't continue.

Sometimes the Duke of Wei would adopt their suggestions, but that was only because their thoughts happened to align with his. More often than not... they couldn't see the Duke of Wei, and he probably wouldn't even glance at their letters.

Let's not say anything outright, we'll just get by day by day.

Now that the King of Qin has suddenly brought it up... the officials looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.

"What?" the King of Qin asked, "You dare not even speak the truth?"

Finally, an official said, "The Duke of Wei will not listen. Since the war with the court began, we have not been summoned to discuss military affairs. The only task assigned to us is to write proclamations to punish the Empress Dowager and Prime Minister Wang."

“We wrote it more than ten times, but the Duke of Wei was never satisfied,” the official paused, “and then we simply submitted it without making any changes, and then… the Duke of Wei not only didn’t notice, but would also come up with a different excuse and make us continue to revise it.”

"It's clear they didn't even look at it. In the end, they just wanted to give us something to do."

“We dared not say it before, for fear that… His Highness would be displeased. Now is the time when we need capable people, so we certainly will not lead the troops.”

Another sneered, "It's not that we can't lead troops, it's that those troops won't listen to us."

That's quite a blunt statement.

It's not that they don't listen to them; they clearly don't even listen to the King of Qin.

Those soldiers only recognized the Duke of Wei.

“There’s one more person we can use.” A voice rang out, and the officials looked in the direction of the voice. This person was a magistrate from Daming Prefecture. Years ago, when Wang Yan and He Tan handled the case in Daming Prefecture, he was also implicated and dismissed. After returning home, the magistrate told everyone he met that he had been wronged. Unlike Cao Rui, another magistrate from Daming Prefecture, he didn’t know how to flatter the sons of powerful families…

When the King of Qin was forced to leave the capital, the county magistrate came to seek refuge. He was the lowest-ranking official, but he always acted aloof in public, and no one wanted to pay attention to him. However, when he suddenly said something like this, it attracted everyone's attention.

“Your Highness, you still have Marquis Changyuan to rely on,” the magistrate said in a low voice. “Marquis Changyuan and Duke Weiguo are at odds. If Your Highness could trust Marquis Changyuan more and give him some of the power in your hands, perhaps… you could be able to check and balance Duke Weiguo.”

As the King of Qin walked back, these were the thoughts on his mind, but he could not say them aloud. He could only seek advice from his ministers. Otherwise, if everyone knew that the Queen had died because of him, wouldn't he be seen as lacking in kindness and loyalty in front of others?
The King of Qin frowned.

The magistrate then advised, "I know that Your Highness trusts the Jiang family because of the Princess Consort, but the Princess Consort's greatest wish is for Your Highness and the Heir Apparent to be well. Sometimes, giving the Duke of Wei too much power is also harming the Jiang family. The Duke of Wei is getting old, and if he does something inappropriate, he will inevitably lose his reputation, and the Jiang family will be implicated."

At this point, the other officials also came to their senses and nodded in agreement.

"Your Highness is right. We have few troops at our disposal, so we must use them wisely."

"We might as well let a few generals act according to the orders of Marquis Changyuan."

The King of Qin suddenly sat up straight and looked at the crowd: "Is that what you all think too?"

……

The next day, they started cooking before dawn, preparing to break camp.

As soon as Marquis Changyuan finished putting on his armor and stepped out of his military tent, two military officers approached him.

"Marquis Changyuan".

Seeing that no one was around, the two generals saluted Marquis Changyuan.

"In these battles, the Prince was worried because he saw that the Zeng family army had suffered heavy casualties. He specially ordered us to assist the Marquis in private."

These two generals were wholeheartedly loyal to the King of Qin, so the Duke of Wei treated them differently from the others. The two had long been dissatisfied with this, and now that the King of Qin had asked them to help Marquis Changyuan, they immediately came to join him happily.

Marquis Changyuan grabbed one of the men by the hand and said, "Then thank you both very much."

After saying this, Marquis Changyuan sighed and said, "However, you two should not show that you are too close to me in front of others."

The two generals looked puzzled.

Marquis Changyuan said, "I have received some information that the Duke of Wei may make a move against me."

"How...how dare he?"

Marquis Changyuan continued, "I don't know when it will be, but Duke Wei has made up his mind not to let me follow him to the walls of Bianjing."

"I heard that Wang Yan has arrived in Weicheng. We must seize Kaide Prefecture. It will be a fierce battle. As long as we can help Prince Qin ascend the throne... I am not afraid of anything... But if we are betrayed..." Marquis Changyuan sneered, "You are truly unwilling."

Without much thought, the generals saw the same meaning in each other's eyes. One of them whispered, "Don't worry, my lord. We two will lead the troops to protect you. If there is any unusual activity, just send someone to inform us."

"In short, we must not allow the Marquis to be assassinated."

Marquis Changyuan bowed and thanked the two generals.

“Go back and tell the Prince to be extra careful,” Marquis Changyuan paused and said, “Do you know that quite a few people have arrived from the sea these past few days?”

The two men nodded.

Marquis Changyuan frowned: "I always feel something is strange. The people at sea also follow the orders of Duke Wei. I went to watch them train. They are very familiar with the Jiang family's training system and quickly integrated into the Jiang family army."

The two of them, who usually ignored these things, widened their eyes upon hearing this.

Training troops is not something that can be accomplished in a day or two.

"Could it be the Chiang family... at sea...?"

Before the general could finish speaking, Marquis Changyuan glanced outside warily, then lowered his voice: "I'm afraid the relationship between the Jiang family and those people at sea isn't so simple. If this doesn't work out, the Jiang family can retreat to the sea... What will Your Highness do then?"

The generals all had the same thought: if this were true, then when the time came, the King of Qin would only be able to rely on them and Marquis Changyuan.

"Alright, that's enough," said Marquis Changyuan. "There are people in the army watching me. If we stay together for too long, they'll become suspicious."

The two generals nodded: "We'll wait for your orders, Lord Marquis."

After seeing the two generals off, Marquis Changyuan's tense expression immediately relaxed.

Wang Yan finally arrived, and he no longer needed to think about the rest.

To be honest, he's been thinking too much these days, and his head is starting to hurt. He still prefers fighting and killing.

……

Duke Wei's face darkened as he looked at the news brought back by the scouts.

In the end, Wang Yan beat them to it and set up camp outside Kaide Prefecture.

"If we want to continue south to attack Bianjing, we must cross this pontoon bridge."

"They should cross the bridge tonight before Wang Yan arrives, otherwise we'll have to walk on the ice if the pontoon bridge is destroyed."

The ice surface is already difficult to traverse. If the enemy shoots arrows, they won't be able to move quickly or hide, and they'll become sitting ducks.
Duke Wei did not expect that Wang Yan was quite capable. In order to cover up his true whereabouts, he sent out troops to create a false impression, making Wang Yan think that he was going to Weizhou.

The news that came back also indicated that the imperial court seemed to be deploying a large number of troops in Weizhou.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Kaide Prefecture, he found that Wang Yan's main army was right across from him.

Changing the route now means that the troops will have to travel longer distances.

In winter, let alone traveling for an extra day, even a few hours could result in manpower losses. The Duke of Wei could not needlessly deplete the soldiers' strength. After careful consideration, he decided to confront Wang Yan head-on.

A mere child who had only followed the He family army to the Northwest before, but the He family army was wiped out, what else could Wang Yan do?

If Wang Yan is truly capable, he would have seized the pontoon bridge first, leaving Wang Yan helpless and forced to take a detour.

“Wang Yan has sent scouts to gather information everywhere. Perhaps he will think of sabotaging the pontoon bridge tomorrow, so we cannot wait,” said Duke Wei. “Give the order to begin crossing the river before dawn.”

The generals responded.

Someone else asked, "How should Marquis Changyuan's troops be arranged?"

“And by putting them in the middle,” said Wei Guogong, “that way he can’t have any other ideas.”

……

As darkness fell, smoke rose from the campfires.

The smoke drifted in the wind, and even from a great distance, one could almost smell it.

A group of people stood on horseback in the woods, and the leader wrinkled his nose.

"They've started cooking; it's time to break camp," He Tan said, his breath steaming in the air. "The Duke of Wei knows we brothers haven't seen each other in a long time and is eager for us to reunite."

The other generals all smiled.

He Tan said, "Get the troops ready and charge over there in a bit. When we see He Chun tonight, we must drink all the wine he brought."

(End of this chapter)