Chapter 220 - Strange Happenings (2/2)
Hao Xuan reached Yangdi's courtyard within a couple of mins. He went through a number of other mansions before arriving in his.
Yangdi's old butler was waiting for Hao Xuan by the door. Without saying a single word he took Hao Xuan down to the basement where Hao Xuan 'Severed' Yangdi originally. He opened the door to the room and left silently.
Hao Xuan walked in and the door closed behind him on its own. Yangdi was sitting on the other side behind a desk, writing something on a piece of parchment. There were piles of plates and bottles beside him. It looked like he had been living in this place for weeks.
Hao Xuan was thinking of something to say when Yangdi's voice came.
”What do you know about the general situation of the country at the moment?”
Hao Xuan didn't reply immediately and sat down on one of the sofas before responding.
”Only that we are at war. Why? What else is there?”
Yangdi still didn't look up and continued writing.
”Five weeks ago, Prince Jia Heng 'appeared' at the royal palace in Fortuna.”
Hao Xuan raised an eyebrow, ”The Jia's crown prince? And just five weeks ago? Before I even went into the rift?”
”Yes.”
”And? What happened?”
”He gave Prince Mei Shu two options.” (Mei Shu is the young crown prince of Mei)
”One, surrender. In which case Mei would continue to operate normally with the Mei clan being in charge of everything and everyone in their territory. They would only answer to the Jia clan and no one else. The only catch was that Mei would have to hand over half of its treasury right now and then send regular resources and soldiers to fight for Jia's war.”
”Or option two, go to war, in which case the Jia will not stop until Mei was destroyed and crippled to the core.”
*Sigh*
Hao Xuan took a deep breath and looked at Yangdi silently. He knew which option Mei Shu chose since the war had already started.
”Is that it?” he asked. If this was it then there shouldn't have been a reason for all this secrecy.
”Yes and No.” Yangdi finally put down the pen and looked up. His eyes were red from exhaustion.
”Mei Shu is very young. He will be turning 13 this year. Even though he is the crown prince, he doesn't have the authority to choose for the entire kingdom, at least not yet. But he did exactly that, and without even consulting any of the advisors.”
”And the worse part is that a beast clan has formed a partnership with Jia. The Wu clan. Together with their beast armies and Jia's army of giants they attacked the first stronghold near the border. The stronghold was lost within two days and one of the Six Great Generals, General Ren Zhong, who was stationed there attained serious injuries. There has been no contact with him ever since.”
”Princess Mei Yin took this opportunity to discredit Mei Shu, saying that he had started a war Mei could not possibly hope to win and is gathering support to overthrow him. The situation is...not good.”
”Also, there's something else...”