Volu to Force Suicide (1/2)

Volu to Force Suicide

With difficultly, I resisted the dread indread This Li Zhi was the so-called merchant that I had met on my way to Jianye in order to take the i Heavens! I had actually explained to the Prince of Yong how to conquer the world! In addition, I even explained the internal threats facing Great Yong Is it possible that the Prince of Yong has really listened to et Southern Chu? It’s si was extremely talented, a fine soldier and stateso

At thishad co the Prince of De, Li Zhi spoke in a genial voice, “The Prince of De has battled all the way here The journey h Ba Prefecture, conquering Luocheng Just frohness’s reputation as a fahtly red, as he replied, “For the Prince of Yong to praise me so, you flatter me too much¹ Today, our arle city of Chengdu I wonder what the Prince of Yong intends?”

Li Zhi proclaidu can be easily captured, but this city is the capital of the Kingdom of Shu There are tens of thousands of citizens within this bustling city If our two armies were to attack, the people of the city would be har for its surrender What does Your Highness think?”

Zhao Jue indifferently responded, “I have no objection to calling for their surrender, but are we having the King of Shu surrender to Great Yong or to Southern Chu?”

Confident that he was speaking supported by reason,² Li Zhi declared, “As Southern Chu is a vassal of Great Yong, the Kingdo”

Prepared for this answer, Zhao Jue nonchalantly stated, “If that is the case, then I request the Prince of Yong dispatch an envoy to convince Shu to surrender If Shu refuses to do so, our two arin to assault the city toht to be the case Gou Lian, Sir Gou, is an envoy under my banner I have already requested that he undertake this ree?”

Zhao Jue could not help but look atthat I did not object, he replied, “Sir Gou Lian has served the Prince of De for e, he has acted as an envoy to nu Shu to surrender I await the good news Alas, I have many military matters to deal with and will return to reed with his decision, Li Zhi then asked that Zhao Jue leave behind a trusted commander or retainer to serve as a liaison to consult over reed that there was such a need He turned to look at those ere accoh all of us were trusted, the vastinfor Zhe ere able to actually to discuss ht for Southern Chu’s interests with the Prince of Yong Zhao Jue could not do without Rong Yuan, so he calmly replied, “Whether there will be war or peace has yet to be deter Zhe is my assistant I will have him stay behind Any deviations can be discussed with hilance atme for the first time I felt a chill envelopso easily tricked him I did not believe for a second that Li Zhi intended to discuss military matters It was very likely that the real motive was to haveinvitedfor the envoy to return Restless, I followed the Prince of Yong inside the tent My personal guard, Chen Zhen, was halted at the entrance and prevented fro in the marshal’s seat, Li Zhi saw that I was reserved and uneasy With a s daren so uncomfortable? We can be considered old friends There is no need to be overly polite”

I cursed hi, “That day, this lowly official greatly offended you I did not know that it was the Prince of Yong traveling incognito May Your Iive me”

Li Zhi watchedabout? At the tiuise to Shu, to observe the military conditions and populare is superior to studying books for ten years Ifwill have perforreat ry that I al, didn’t that ainst Southern Chu? If these words were to spread, wouldn’t it result in my death? I quickly tried to explainis a veritable storehouse of ideas This lowly subject’s plan rasp For Your Ihness to push these meritorious deeds upon this lowly subject, Suiyun dares not accept”

The Prince of Yong smiled faintly He did not continue to beat around the bush, instead directly saying, “Upon hearing young master’s plan and your intentions to serve Southern Chu, this Prince originally thought about playing the role of a bandit and kidnapping youngAlas, my whereabouts were discovered by others These individuals desired to assassinate uards, I feared that I could not ensure the young master’s safety and was forced to let the opportunity slip by That young master is an official of Southern Chu leavesto his words, I quickly understood as going on Even if his identity was discovered by Shu or Southern Chu, there was no one who dared to harm him There was only one person ished to have hireatly talented, and yet was unfortunately the second son, and as a result could not inherit the throne In addition, he had to face his older brother’s jealousy and assassination plots It left him to la For hi able to attain my services was a completely different matter If he had taken me away, I would have likely suffered a disaster, a violent death Although I was thinking this, I could not directly say it Instead, I chose to reply, “This must mean that this lowly subject does not have the fortune of serving Your Ihness It hted He said, “That day, wehad already become the trusted military adviser to the Prince of De You must have presented many ideas for the Prince of De The Prince of De and his subordinate retainers and generals are all orthodox soldiers or strategists And yet, both the battles for Ba Prefecture and Luocheng practically coe’s brilliant scheid I could only wryly smile and reply, “This lowly subject does not understand anything about military matters I only spoke of principles It was all due to the Prince of De’s wisdoies, that ere able to be victorious”

Solemnly, Li Zhi conveyed, “Sun Tzu’s eneral ins a battle s in his eneral who loses a battle considers few things beforehand More calculations lead to victory, fewer calculations lead to defeat, let alone those whoattention to this simple point, we can foresee who is likely to win or lose’³ For young master to be adept at these calculations alreadythe fortune ofZiya⁴ and E⁵ Southern Chu has no a calh the Prince of De is both a fine soldier and states master is no more than a mere , you can beco too unbridled by openly recruiting another country’s officials? I took the opportunity to ask a question “I have heard that shi+ Yu, shi+ Ziyou is the leading strategist in service to the Prince of Yong Whenever the Prince of Yong leaves the capital, he handles all of the government affairs under your jurisdiction In your mind, he h he did not understand what I was getting at, he still replied, “Ziyou is adept at handling govern my rear echelon allows Li Zhi to deploy ly, I continued, “What if shi+ Zhiyou was a subject of another country and was treated indifferently by his monarch, and was easily persuaded to surrender? Would Your Ihness still place him in such an important position?

Li Zhi beca wryly, he could only respond, “If that were the case, Li Zhi dare not trust Ziyou”

Shness understand this lowly subject’s difficulties now?”

Sighing, Li Zhi stated, “Southern Chu is not a worthy perch, let alone the perch of a phoenix⁸ Southern Chu treats you like an ordinary person I treat you as befitting a high ?”

I stared stupidly at Li Zhi I really was a bit regretful If at the time, Li Zhi had kidnapped me, I would undoubtedly have been quite unhappy and perhaps even harbor a grudge against him But it would have likely allowed me to not have to worry about Southern Chu But that was not the case hout the years, ressed s at Hanlin Academy Southern Chu has treatedand then watch Southern Chu be destroyed</eh Southern Chu treatsas Suiyun is a subject of Southern Chu, I will continue to serve Southern Chu”

Heaving a soft sigh, Li Zhi asked, “If Southern Chu were to be destroyed by Great Yong, what then?”

Thinking it over, I replied, “I believe that I a fate If Southern Chu is destroyed, as long as Great Yong does not charge me with a cri in the wilds”

Unenthusiastically, Li Zhi voiced, “During this invasion of Shu by Southern Chu, you took part in the handling of military affairs Your abilities have captured the attention of others Although Zhao Jue cannot use your abilities to the fullest, he will most assuredly continue to use you to advise hi will not leave such a talent alone”

I looked at Li Zhi with adent From just a feords, he could deduce sofroy for the Prince of De that will give Southern Chu several years of peace”

Suddenly a brilliant light flashed by in Li Zhi’s eyes He declared, “If I guess correctly, this plan is related to the King of Shu If the King of Shu is willing to surrender to Great Yong, this will beco no attempt toof Shu were to surrender, I have a plan to have hi advantage”

Deeply conte, Li Zhi pondered, “If Shu refuses to surrender, our two ar of Shu dies by our hands or by his own But if he surrenders, you really have a way for hi?”

I knew that he did not believe me, but I still resolutely⁹ replied, “Precisely so”

Li Zhi stood and paced in his tent before pronouncing, “Okay If you are truly able to do so and cease to strategize for Southern Chu upon your return, and are not present in Jianye when Great Yong destroys Southern Chu, this Prince pro days in peace”