Chapter 75 Collusion
Why do they always manage to find me?
Liancheng hid again, furious.
He had already hidden himself very well, and he never stayed in one place for long, so why was he still being constantly chased?
Surely those people wouldn't be openly carrying his portrait around asking people, would they?
The servants beside him were speechless, slumped to the side, panting heavily.
"Perhaps the King of Qin's mouth was truly blessed? It's too effective..."
Liancheng gritted his teeth, tore open his clothes, and hastily wrapped a wound on his arm. He then had a servant help him tie it up. After calming his breathing slightly, he said, "Just bear with it a little longer. It will be fine once we cross the river ahead."
The servants also stood up and rode with him on horseback to continue their escape until they finally crossed the border of the Southern Yan Kingdom and entered Daliang, at which point they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have someone investigate what exactly happened in the palace, and why my brothers suddenly went mad and wanted to get rid of me."
The servant obeyed and left, while Liancheng settled in a very secluded house of hers. The first thing she did upon entering was to have water boiled so she could take a proper bath.
After he finished washing up, he looked in the mirror, then smelled himself. After confirming that there was no unpleasant odor, he nodded: "I almost stank like the King of Qin."
After saying that, he turned around, walked to the bedside, and collapsed onto the bed with a thud, sleeping for a whole day before waking up.
When he woke up, someone rushed in to report that the matter in the palace had not yet been investigated, but there was another matter that urgently needed to be known to him.
"What's wrong? It can't be that our Southern Yan has gone to war with the Great Liang, can it?"
The servant's eyes widened: "How did you know, young master?"
Liancheng spat out a mouthful of tea, soiling his clothes that he had just changed after taking a bath, his face filled with disbelief.
"Are they really crazy?"
The servant realized that he had just made a wild guess. He wiped the water off his face and said, "I don't know if he's crazy or not, but I heard that they attacked Daliang from the east of Hengshui. The Daliang garrison was no match for them and had to ask the King of Qin for help, so that the King of Qin could lead 5,000 Jingyuan troops to their aid."
Upon hearing this, Liancheng, who was already filled with shock, was completely stunned.
The Southern Yan launched a war against the Great Liang without any warning. The Great Liang army was no match for them and eventually sent the Prince of Qin to fight. All of this seemed too coincidental...
His face was ashen, and he nearly crushed the teacup in his hand.
"Some people in the Southern Yan court are colluding with the Great Liang..."
When the servants heard the news, they had also made some guesses, but they were not sure. So they told him as soon as he woke up. Now that they saw his certainty, they also became sure.
"So what does the young master plan to do now? Should he have someone contact the King of Qin and inform him of this matter? Otherwise, he might misunderstand that you are the one secretly manipulating everything."
The reason they were able to immediately determine that Southern Yan was colluding with Great Liang was because the incident was too coincidental, and it wasn't something they had done.
Even if the King of Qin knew it was a coincidence, he couldn't be sure if they were behind it. He might even become suspicious of them because of their disappearance.
Liancheng's usually nonchalant face was unusually gloomy. He put the teacup back on the table and lowered his eyes to think for a long time.
"The prince still trusts me to some extent, so he shouldn't suspect me immediately. You should first find out what's going on in the court, and I'll contact him after I've confirmed it. Otherwise, things are still unclear now."
The servant nodded in agreement, bowed, and withdrew. Liancheng stood up and walked to a map hanging on the wall. He stood in front of it for a while, seemingly lost in thought.
…………
Half a month later, before the war between Southern Yan and Great Liang had ended, Great Jin suddenly amassed tens of thousands of troops and launched a fierce attack from the border of Shangchuan.
Although there were frequent battles between Daliang and Jin in previous years, the Jin people suffered repeated setbacks because Wei Hong was stationed at the border. As a result, they had not dared to launch a major war for a long time. They would only send out light cavalry to quickly plunder when they were really in dire straits. Even so, they could not succeed every time. Often, when they failed to plunder, the Jingyuan Army stationed at the border would steal their warhorses and hang their corpses on the city wall as a warning to others.
As soon as Wei Hong left this year, they quickly regrouped, as if they had discussed it with Nan Yan, to divide up Daliang together.
Upon learning this, the servants immediately informed Liancheng and stood with him in front of the map.
"Young master, I'm completely confused. What exactly is going on here?"
The timing of the Southern Yan's attack was too clever, and the timing of the Jin's attack was even more clever, as if they were deliberately luring Wei Hong away while taking advantage of the situation to attack and capture Shangchuan.
But even though Wei Hong left, his Jingyuan Army was still in Shangchuan. How could these troops be compared to ordinary troops?
Even if Wei Hong hadn't personally overseen the operation, the Jin dynasty wouldn't have been able to truly conquer Shangchuan.
If that's the case, what are they after?
"I'm a little confused too."
Liancheng looked at the map and said.
"I initially thought that our Southern Yan was colluding with the Great Liang court to assassinate the Prince of Qin, but now it seems that our Southern Yan is colluding with the Great Jin to take over Great Liang."
The servant frowned: "Could it be that someone in our court is too greedy, playing both sides and cooperating with both, trying to fish in troubled waters?"
Liancheng shook his head: "Our Southern Yan and Great Jin are sworn enemies. They have been irreconcilable for decades, and now it's even worse."
"Moreover, the Great Jin just suffered such a huge loss from us not long ago, so how could they be so willing to cooperate with us so easily and actually send tens of thousands of troops to fight against the Jingyuan Army?"
As he spoke, he circled the location of Shuozhou on the map in the distance: "Besides, the Great Jin must know that they can't possibly gain any advantage from this place. Even if they wanted to cooperate, they wouldn't agree to such conditions, facing the Jingyuan Army head-on while letting our Southern Yan benefit."
Cooperation must be mutually beneficial. If Da Jin doesn't benefit from cooperating with Nan Yan, then there's no need for cooperation. Therefore...
"It seems more like someone in the Liang Dynasty is cooperating with both us and the Jin Dynasty at the same time, and we don't know what benefits they have promised them that have made them willing to send troops."
The servant was stunned for a moment, then realized what he meant and said in disbelief, "Young master, you mean... the Emperor of Liang? This... no way? The Prince of Qin is, after all, one of Liang's own people. Even if they are wary of each other, they wouldn't unite with the other two countries to get rid of him, would they?"
You have to understand that today's partners could turn into enemies in the next day, especially since the Jurchens have never been trustworthy. It's easy to cooperate with them now, but it will be difficult to drive them away in the future.
Lian Cheng chuckled: "You're wrong. It's precisely because the King of Qin is one of the Liang people that His Majesty is more likely to do this."
How many emperors throughout history have been overthrown by foreign enemies? And how many have been overthrown by their own people?
"Often...the threat from our own people is greater, just like how my brothers are eager to get rid of me."
Chapter 76 Reassurance
When news of the Jin dynasty's attack on Shangchuan reached Liancheng, Wei Hong also learned of it in Hengshui.
Cui Hao and Guo Sheng were discussing matters in his tent at the time, and both were taken aback upon hearing this news.
"Why would the Jurchens suddenly attack Shangchuan? Have they gone mad?"
Guo Sheng looked puzzled.
Cui Hao also frowned deeply, his face looking extremely grim.
"Our Emperor... is truly even better than the late Emperor."
His words directly accused Wei Chi of being behind the scenes, and Guo Sheng's face stiffened upon hearing this.
"You mean... His Majesty secretly joined forces with both Southern Yan and Great Jin?"
The Great Jin is different from the Southern Yan; it is a country with comparable strength to the Great Liang and is exceptionally fierce.
Even though they suffered some losses in the previous battles, allowing Southern Yan and Daliang to gain some advantages, it does not mean that they are weaker than Southern Yan and Daliang, and that they can let their guard down.
Cooperating with them is tantamount to asking a tiger for its skin. Once they actually enter the territory of Daliang, they will never spit out the meat that is already in their mouths.
Moreover, the Jurchens have always been brutal, and they harbor resentment towards the Liang dynasty for previously occupying Hengshui. If they were to capture a border town, the people within would inevitably suffer.
As the emperor of Liang, couldn't Wei Chi have thought of these problems?
"Who else could it be but him?"
Cui Hao said.
"The Jin dynasty calculated the timing perfectly, waiting for the prince to leave before launching their attack. But apart from our Emperor, who knows when the prince will leave Shangchuan?"
Although the Southern Yan launched a war against Hengshui West, they could not predict that the Liang court would definitely send Wei Hong across the border to fight. Only Wei Chi, who personally issued the order, knew about it, so the person who was behind it must have been Wei Chi.
"But I don't quite understand why he did that."
Cui Hao frowned in thought, his face showing confusion.
"Although His Majesty has been on the throne for less than two years, he should not be so naive as to think that Shangchuan cannot be defended as long as the Prince leaves."
"And even if he didn't know, the Jurchens had dealt with us for so long, they couldn't possibly be unaware of this."
"Even if the Prince is not in Shangchuan, as long as the Jingyuan Army is still there, Shangchuan will not fall, so they will not be able to gain any benefit from it. If that's the case, why did they agree to cooperate with His Majesty?"
Guo Sheng was only good at fighting battles, not at these intricate schemes and power struggles. After listening to his story, he felt like he was going to go bald, and he frowned and remained silent.
Both of them looked at Wei Hong, their eyes asking if he knew Wei Chi's intentions in doing so.
Wei Hong rested his hand on his forehead, looked at the military report on the table, and shook his head.
"I don't quite understand either."
At first glance, this incident seems to be Wei Chi joining forces with the Jin Dynasty to weaken its power, allowing the Jin Dynasty or his own troops to take advantage of the situation and occupy Shangchuan.
But if he really wanted to do that, he should have brought the main force of the Jingyuan Army to Hengshui in the first place. That way, Shangchuan would be poorly defended and easier to break through.
However, without a completely convincing reason, Wei Chi would not send troops to attack Shangchuan on his own. Otherwise, even if he wanted to send troops, the ministers in the court would not agree, and the generals leading the troops might not agree either. In the end, he might turn against himself and push these people to Wei Hong's side.
The Liang court did not send troops, and Wei Hong only took 5,000 Jingyuan soldiers with him this time. The remaining troops in Shangchuan only needed to guard the border with the Jin Dynasty, which was not a difficult task for them.
Therefore, judging from the current situation, Wei Chi's move seems to be just to trap him in Hengshui, but he does not really want the Jin people to occupy Shangchuan.
But what's the point of trapping him here? He dares neither kill him nor raise an army against Kamikawa, so isn't this all pointless?
"It's really hard to guess what my royal nephew is thinking..."
Wei Hong murmured.
"What are Your Highness's plans now? Will you remain inactive or finish things here as soon as possible and return?"
In fact, the troops of Southern Yan were no threat to Wei Hong at all. If his soldiers were to truly obey his command, he could quickly stabilize the situation here and then return to Shangchuan.
The problem was that apart from the 5,000 Jingyuan troops he brought with him, the other troops, while seemingly obeying his orders, were actually always passive in their fighting, maintaining a stalemate with the Southern Yan, which caused the war to drag on.
However, if the war does not end, he cannot return to Shangchuan on his own, otherwise it would be considered disobeying orders and deserting the battlefield.
"Shangchuan should be fine for now. Let Ziyi go back and lead the troops to oversee things. I'll handle things here..."
Before he could finish speaking, someone hurriedly entered the tent, holding a letter from Shangchuan. However, it was not a military report, but a family letter sent by Yao Youqing.
"It's probably because the princess has also heard about the war at the border and is worried about the prince, so she wrote to ask about it."