Wei and Jin did not submit to Zhou

Chapter 67 Unwilling to Submit to Zhou

In a quiet courtyard within Fenggao County, Taishan Prefecture, Yang Huiyu was writing at his desk with the study door open. Outside the study, a clear spring flowed down from the artificial hill in the courtyard, its water flowing out of the courtyard.

What a magnificent scene of towering mountains and flowing water!

"This is a visiting card for Madam Liang. She is the wife of the prefect, so we must not miss it."

When you visit, have their servants invite the lady out so you can personally present the visiting card.

Only women will be attending this banquet; please don't overlook anything and be sure to inform Madam Liang.

With her hair already styled in a bun, Yang Huiyu earnestly admonished her personal maid, Xu Ying.

"Don't worry, Madam Yu, I will definitely take care of these matters."

Xu Ying bowed gracefully to Yang Huiyu with a smile on her face, as if she had something to say.

"Come here and talk, honestly!"

Yang Huiyu cursed in an annoyed tone.

"Lady Yu, since you know that Yang Xiu intends to harm our benefactor, why didn't you stop him?"

Xu Ying asked with some confusion.

Yang Huiyu sighed and shook her head helplessly, saying, "I have things I care about, and Yang Xiu has things he cares about. To me, Shi Langjun is priceless, but to Yang Xiu, he's just an eyesore. Talking to him is like talking to a brick wall."

Xu Ying nodded slightly, somewhat understanding Yang Huiyu's thoughts.

"Then... why don't you send someone to inform our benefactor, Madam Yu? Since you've already contacted Madam Li, why not tell our benefactor?"

Xu Ying increasingly couldn't understand what Yang Huiyu was thinking.

"Hanzhong is far from here. Even if I send someone to warn Shi Langjun, he won't know how to defend himself. In fact, I don't know what Yang Xiu will do, but I'm sure it won't be an assassination attempt."

I suspect they used the chaos to kill Shi Langjun amidst the fighting. I can't fathom the implications, and intervening rashly might do more harm than good.

So all we can do is hope that Shi Langjun can escape danger and come out on his own. All I can do is bring his wife and children to my side, so that Sima Yan can't succeed.”

Yang Huiyu sighed.

Xu Ying remained silent for a long time. She thought Yang Huiyu was a kind-hearted woman who was somewhat naive. Fortunately, she was quick-witted, otherwise she would have been dead long ago.

She couldn't help but ask softly, "With Lady Li gone, your benefactor must be very sad, but there's no one left to compete with you."

“If he abandons Lady Li, I won’t believe him. We women are naturally weak and cannot do without men. If he betrays me, then I’ll just say I was blind.”

As Yang Huiyu spoke, she spread out a large sheet of paper, preparing to write a very long letter.

Seeing this, Xu Ying asked curiously, "Miss Yu, who are you planning to write a letter to?"

Yang Huiyu uttered three words: Sima Zhao!

"Your relationship with Sima Zhao..."

Xu Ying didn't know what to say, because she had also experienced the nightmare of being almost drugged and raped by her ex-husband's brother. Fortunately, Shi Shouxin rescued her and saved her from the wolf's den.

Considering that Yang Huiyu and Sima Zhao both exploited each other and conspired to set a trap, yet she managed to escape unscathed, she was truly a heroine among women.

Since we've already fallen out with Sima Zhao, why bother contacting him again?
"Sima Zhao has already been enfeoffed as the Duke of Jin, so I want him to posthumously honor his elder brother's ex-wife, Xiahou Hui!"

Then he bestowed a title upon his wife, Wang Yuanji!
Both of these women should be granted the title of Lady of Jin!
"If the Duke of Jin becomes the King of Jin and re-establishes the Jin state, I will force Sima Zhao or Sima Yan to posthumously honor Xiahou Hui as Empress, making her and Wang Yuanji both Empresses! This is what the Sima family owes them!"

A shadow of gloom crossed Yang Huiyu's face as she slammed her pen down heavily on the white paper.

"What about you?"

Xu Ying asked, puzzled.

"In the future, even Sima Shi's first wife, Xiahou Hui, will be the empress. What am I then? I am Yang Huiyu! I am nothing!"

"I'm just a widow who doesn't want to get involved in the Sima family's troubles. What use are those useless titles to me?"

Yang Huiyu's words were filled with endless melancholy and disgust. She was now determined to extricate herself from the inevitable fierce battle that would take place in the Sima family!

……

Inside the signing room on the city tower at the head of Yinping Bridge, Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu sat facing each other, discussing military affairs.

Deng Ai thought Zhuge Xu was an idiot, while Zhuge Xu thought Deng Ai was arrogant and conceited. "At his age, he's still courting death!"

In any case, neither of them liked the other!
The reason for holding a meeting to discuss military affairs now is that Zhuge Xu wants to advance eastward to join forces with Zhong Hui's troops and no longer wants to stay in Yinping.

Of course, this was not only because they disliked Deng Ai, but also because his 30,000 men required a considerable amount of food and supplies every day, which Yinping could not supply in the long term.

"General Zhuge, I have a plan that can resolve our current predicament. Would you like to hear it?"

Deng Ai stroked his beard and looked at Zhuge Xu, asking a question.

Having said all that, how could Zhuge Xu say he didn't want to listen? He said helplessly, "General Deng, you might as well say something."

Deng Ai laughed heartily:
"No problem, no problem. Our army will set off from Yinping, clearing roads through mountains and building bridges over rivers. Once we cross the mountains, we will reach Fucheng. Almost all of Jiang Wei's elite Shu troops are concentrated along the Jiange line."

After we captured Fucheng, we headed west, with no famous mountains or rivers to obstruct our path, and our destination was Chengdu.

This is an unparalleled achievement. What does General Zhuge think?

What? What unparalleled achievement?
Zhuge Xu was stunned.

He stood up, walked out of the signing room without a word, and went to the west side of the city wall. Deng Ai followed him out.

Zhuge Xu pointed to the endless mountains to the southwest and asked, "General Deng, tell me, how do we sneak across Yinping?"

"As I said, we will build roads through mountains and bridges over rivers."

Deng Ai said without changing his expression.

"Whatever mountain you encounter, build the corresponding road. Whatever river you cross, construct the corresponding bridge."
You'd better explain yourself."

Zhuge Xu continued to press for answers.

Deng Ai raised his head and said, "We'll see how things go when the time comes! What difficulty can a true man not overcome!"

Are you fucking insane?!
Zhuge Xu no longer knew how to evaluate Deng Ai; he was simply a madman!
"General Deng may go on his own; I will not keep you company."

Zhuge Xu chuckled coldly, turned around, and went down the city wall.

"Zhuge Xu! If you go to Hanshou, Zhong Hui will surely kill you as a sacrifice to his flag! Since you're going to die anyway, why don't you fight alongside me! Ever since you let Jiang Wei escape last time, you've had no way out!"

Deng Ai called out to Zhuge Xu, who was coming downstairs, his tone carrying a hint of sincerity.

"If Zhong Hui wants to kill someone, he'll only kill me."

If I go with you to illegally cross the border into Yinping, tens of thousands of people will die!
I would rather Zhong Hui execute me than have my soldiers die in vain!

Deng Ai, you consider yourself a hero, but in reality, you are only using the blood of your soldiers to pave your unparalleled achievements.

You despicable and shameless Ai Ai! I wouldn't stoop to associating with you!

Zhuge Xu turned around, pointed at Deng Ai, and cursed him for a while before leaving without looking back.

Because of his stutter, Deng Ai was privately nicknamed "Ai Ai." Zhuge Xu's public insult of Deng Ai as "Ai Ai" in front of many soldiers on duty was a clear sign that he had no intention of wasting any more words with him!
Deng Ai, standing on the city tower, was rendered speechless by Zhuge Xu's scolding. His old face turned red and white in turns, a truly fascinating sight.

In fact, what Deng Ai wanted to say was: Being born into a humble background is not a disgrace; a true man is one who can bend and stretch!
Now is the time to "stretch out"! How can you be a coward?
However, Zhuge Xu didn't give him any face at all; he just backed down!

After descending from the city wall, Zhuge Xu immediately ordered the entire army to march east to Baishui Pass. After stationing his troops at Baishui Pass, he went alone to Hanshou to apologize.

Zhuge Xu knew very well that Zhong Hui was a proud man, and if he kept a low profile, he would have a better chance of survival.

The situation is not as serious as Deng Ai described.

……

Zhuge Xu packed his bags and left, but Deng Ai found himself in a dilemma.

Originally, Deng Ai's plan was to first persuade the "mediocre" Zhuge Xu, thus gaining tens of thousands of troops. Then, he would convene a meeting of his generals, using Zhuge Xu as leverage to persuade them.

It was mainly compiled by the master.

This way, we can safely and boldly smuggle ourselves into Yinping.

But now that Zhuge Xu is gone, the task of persuading his subordinates can only be done by him alone.

How to be good?

Deng Ai was at a loss and couldn't come up with a solution for a while.

He is already over sixty years old and doesn't have much time left. But most of the generals in the army are only in their thirties or forties.

Deng Ai was not afraid of death; he wanted to be remembered in history, so much so that he couldn't wait.

But his generals aren't in their sixties and nearing the end of their lives. If they don't court death, they can live for a long time, and their stage will be on for a long time to come to an end.

Why should anyone else risk their life with him?
Late at night, Deng Ai summoned his eldest son, Deng Zhong, to his command tent. His face was serious, and he did not smile. Deng Zhong was unaware of Deng Ai's plan to secretly cross Yinping and assumed that Deng Ai was worried about being punished by Sima Zhao.

Before Deng Ai could speak, Deng Zhong comforted his father, saying, "Father, looking at the current situation, the campaign against Shu has already been won. Since that's the case, even if we return empty-handed, we've still put in the effort. Without us holding Jiang Wei back, the Shu army might have already reinforced Yang'an Pass. I think the General has gotten what he wanted and won't blame us."

It must be said that Deng Zhong's words were very pertinent, and it was clear that he had thought about them carefully.

This situation is similar to a fortune teller on the street who always likes to say that the person being told about will have a lot of bad luck soon.

It's not because they can predict the future, but because they have a thorough understanding of human nature.

If the person whose fortune is being told goes downhill, they will almost always come back to him, and the fortune teller will definitely try to rip them off.

But what if that person didn't have bad luck?
Actually, it's okay if you're not unlucky.

Imagine someone who is having a lucky streak. They'd be too happy to even think about the fortune teller, and at most they'd mutter "a charlatan" in their heart. Who would go out of their way to find bad luck with a fortune teller?

The same principle applies to Sima Zhao.

Now that Hanzhong has been captured, the battle is won. Sima Zhao will only share in the joy with Deng Ai; he would never intentionally slash Deng Ai's neck after the victory.

At most, they'll raise the paddle high and then lower it gently, turning a big problem into a small one and a small one into nothing.

"Those are not what I care about. After we take Hanzhong, the General can't do anything to me. I guess I'll just go back to Luoyang to retire."

Deng Ai sighed deeply.

"What is Father worried about?"

Deng Zhong asked with a puzzled look.

"I'm not willing to give in, I'm not willing to give in!"

Deng Ai slammed his fist on the table, his face contorted with rage and resentment.

"I want to take the Yinping Trail, head south straight to Fucheng, and establish an unparalleled career."

After a long while, Deng Ai spoke in a deep voice, his eyes bloodshot.

"Father, do you know exactly where the Yinping Trail is?"

Deng Zhong looked bewildered and asked in return.

The Yinping Trail, also known as the Yinping Ancient Trail, is the kind of path that farmers would use to gather firewood in the mountains. It stretches for over 700 li (approximately 350 kilometers)!
Which way do I get there?
"When you encounter mountains, you open roads; when you encounter rivers, you build bridges. What else can you do? The road is under your feet!"

Deng Ai snorted coldly, frowning as his mood turned extremely bad.

Judging from this, even his own son doesn't support smuggling himself into Yinping!
"So, find a few trusted confidants, and then..."

Deng Ai beckoned to Deng Zhong and whispered a few words to him, which made Deng Zhong wave his hands repeatedly, wanting to refuse.

"Father, if you do this, there's a risk of a mutiny in the army."

Deng Zhong, his face pale, refused.

"I'll kill anyone who disagrees! I'm going to die anyway, so I don't care about them!"

Deng Ai said fiercely.

He had already made up his mind to sneak into Yinping. Anyone who stood up to oppose him at this time should be killed, as many as possible.

If they win, who will blame the victors? Those people died in vain.

If they lost, Deng Ai's entire family would likely be dead, and he wouldn't care about the cries and commotion of the victims' families, nor would he fear Sima Zhao's repercussions.

Deng Ai was not worried about what would happen after his death.

(End of this chapter)