876 Lies (1/2)

Five days after Nie Zeng delivered that letter, reliable news came that the Second Consort hadn't actually joined the main force of the Central Plains yet. However, she had sent an envoy to negotiate with the Central Plains army regarding her surrender. It was said that she had set a lot of conditions.

The Second Consort had chosen to surrender to the Central Plains at an extremely sensitive period of time. Prince Xiao and the General-in-chief, Pang Ning, who were political enemies, were fiercely disputing the issues concerning the Norland and the Western Regions. The former hoped to stabilize the overall situation in the Western Regions by adopting the strategy of forming extensive alliances, so as to force Norlanders to stay far away. However, the latter insisted on a final showdown against the Norland; after winning it, they could take advantage of their victorious momentum to subjugate the Western Regions under the Central Plains' direct rule.

Military exploits were of great help to both sides. Prince Xiao and the Dragon King of the Western Regions had ”collectively defeated” the massive army forces of the Norland, which fully proved the effectiveness of their strategy of forging alliances. However, the Second Consort could easily ruin all of their plans.

She had been in the battlefield herself, and she knew that the truth of their so-called ”alliance between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.” As the largest political enemy of Prince Xiao, Pang Ning would surely be happy to hear the truth.

Prince Xiao discovered that he had taken too big of a risk. Although he was the Emperor's uncle, he would still be convicted of an unforgivable felony if his fraudulent claim of military exploits was exposed. He had left in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to ask the Dragon King a very important question: why had the Second Consort chosen to surrender to the General-in-chief, Pang Ning, who was in the far east instead of the Central Plains army stationed in the Western Regions?

It was not until the next day that Gu Shenwei himself thought of this point, and by then, it was already too late to send a messenger since nearly all of the roads leading from Jade City to the east were under the control of the Central Plains. This meant that no letter could ever be safely delivered to Prince Xiao. He could only hope that Prince Xiao was smart enough to think of this himself.

News of the Second Consort's surrender caused a sensation even greater than that of the battle of the Thousand Horsemen Pass.

No matter who the winner was – Shulitu or Luoluo, the strength of the Norland would be proved. Although this was a civil war incited by Prince Xiao and the Dragon King ”together,” most of the troops on the battleground were grasslands cavalrymen.

The Second Consort was well known in both the Norland and the Western Regions. Currently, she was like a symbol of the old Khan as well as a witness of the grasslands' prime. Her surrender distinctly showed her prediction of the Norland's decline. The Central Plains instantly became formidable in the eyes of the residents of the Western Regions.

Fang Wenshi's letters arrived consecutively, each offering a detailed explanation for the process of how the Second Consort's surrender came about.

Shulitu had been leading his army towards the Naihang Tribe. They progressed slowly on their way over and everything was going smoothly. All of the tribes along the way were willing to acknowledge the new Khan. Even the general of the Naihang Tribe, who had previously chosen to flee, also felt somewhat regretful and frequently sent messengers to speak to the new Khan.

Right at this time, the Second Consort suggested that she wanted to take another path and go to ruins of the Royal Court. Her reasoning was very simple: she had killed General Zhesu and Prince Duoercha. Although she had done that in self-defense, her deed must have aroused the indignation of the Naihang Tribe, which would be very detrimental to the Khan's overall plan of winning the grasslands people's support.

Shulitu and Fang Wenshi agreed, so the Second Consort took her army and left in the name of guarding old Khan's mausoleum.

But the Second Consort didn't go to the Royal Court. Seven days after leaving the Khan's army, she gathered all of the generals as well as many officers of her army and declared that she would surrender to the Central Plains.

She gave a long speech, and the most important part was that, ”The new Khan has succeeded the throne. I hate to disillusion you, but soon I'll lose my title of ”Second Consort” and my status. I'll be forgotten and even be hunted down by the Naihang Tribe. You're my cavalrymen. No matter where you go, my fate is your fate. I want to surrender to the Central Plains, and I'll do whatever I can to guarantee the interests of every one of you – livestock, pastures, wealth, and large numbers of them at that. Through historical precedent, the Central Plains will surely accept all of my conditions. So just talk and tell me what you want.”

Most of the generals had served the Second Consort for many years and had witnessed the ups and downs that she had been through. They had also sensed the Naihang Tribe's hostility towards them, so they were willing to continue following their master.

A small number of officers quit the meeting halfway and immediately went to deliver the message to the new Khan.

Fang Wenshi asked Nie Zeng to deliver a letter to the Dragon King at once. Meanwhile, he sent a large number of envoys to pursue the Second Consort. But the Second Consort had already made up her mind to leave. She even refused to meet those envoys.

This aroused indignation among the troops. They wanted to chase the Second Consort and take her back whatever the cost. They even suggested dispatching the 50,000 Court Attendants troops stationed in the Royal Court ruins. Shulitu consulted with the leading generals for a long time and eventually decided to give up on chasing the Second Consort.

That was because they were facing two sources of pressure. The grasslands had recently experienced two periods of heavy snowfall, making the terrain very unfavorable for troop movements. Besides that, Luoluo had also regrouped his remaining forces and rebuilt an army of a considerable scale. It was not worth the effort to chase down the Second Consort's 10,000 men under these circumstances.

Fang Wenshi felt deeply ashamed. He had to admit his negligence in every letter, since he had failed to see through the Second Consort's ploy. As stated, he could have noticed some of the signs when she had chosen to leave as well as in her reasons.

Gu Shenwei couldn't blame the military counselor. The Second Consort had just killed the two leaders of the Naihang Tribe, and there was barely any conflicts of interests between her and the new Khan. Nobody could have anticipated that she would choose to betray him so soon.

It was not until this moment that Gu Shenwei realized that the Second Consort's killing people had nothing to do with Shulitu at all, and neither did it have anything to do with retaliating against the former humiliation. She had done it purely to avenge Duodun's death.

The Naihang Tribe's making way for their enemies during the war had been the direct reason for Duodun's plan completely failing.

The reason why the Second Consort had chosen to surrender to the General-in-chief, Pang Ning, who was further away, was that she wanted to clearly retaliate against the Dragon King who was in the Western Regions.

The Dragon King was another reason why Duodun had lost his reputation as well as his life.

The Dragon King and Prince Xiao's strategy of cooperation could fail at any moment. After two months' worth of interruption, Gu Shenwei had no choice but to prepare for another war.

All of the preparations were made secretly. Prime Minister Zhong Heng recruited soldiers from Xiaoyao Lake and increased his troops' number to 40,000, and then stationed them in the northern part of the Stone Kingdom. They could cross the narrow desert and enter the territory of Jade City through Shuangquan Village at any time. Then, in half a month's time, they would be able to take back Thousand Horsemen Pass and block the exits and entrances in the east.

On the same day that Gu Shenwei heard the news that the Second Consort had surrendered, he made a detour around Jade City from the south with five hundred guards, went straight to the encampment of Shule Kingdom thirty miles away in the west, took command of the army there and had the prince of Shule stay. Meanwhile, Shang Liao went to the Shule Kingdom to continue the draft in the name of the prince.