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26: Rescue

Nightfall. An ordinary looking carriage quietly traveled out of Wutian county towards Yue city. Inside, a clothed in white Ye Yin was frowning, his brows tightly knit, his expression weary.

"Young master, why are we rushing so much. Was it necessary to travel at night?"

"Time is pressing. His highness plans to ascend the throne in to become the emperor of East Zhi in two days."

"Really?" Qiu Xing was delighted. "That's so quick. His highness sure is capable, able to control East Zhi within a few months."

Dong Chen was displeased. "That's nothing. His highness already said he had half of it under his control then. With so many soldiers and resources, controlling the rest of East Zhi was only a matter of time. But without a single soldier, our young master has already obtained a city and two counties!"

"Enough, stop trying to flatter me. We are traveling at night because time is pressing. The West Zhi emperor has already sensed the movements in East Zhi, so he has already reinforced the defense near An city. During the day, road patrol checks are relatively severe. In two days, his highness will ascend the throne, which means that the guards in West Zhi will double perhaps in order to make sure this news does not come in. But in order to travel to Yue city, we need to pass through Xihua county, which is under An city's jurisdiction, so unless we travel day and night, we won't be able to arrive there on the sixth day of the sixth month. Today is the twenty sixth day of the fifth month, so we only have ten days. If we gain ground now, if we are stopped and delayed at Xihua county, we can still make it in time."  

"Young master, what are you going to Yue city for?" Qiu Xing asked curiously.

"You'll know once we arrive." Discerning that Ye Yin was weary from the tone of his voice, Qiu Xing said hastily, "Young master, you should sleep for a bit. When we arrive at an inn, I will call you."

"Mm," Ye Yin murmured, closing his eyes, but how could he sleep?

Hua Jianli had already taken control of Yue city and was currently combining multiple volunteer armies. Once the time was ripe, they could take over West Zhi in one move. But volunteer armies were not as strong as regular troops. If the volunteer army was to be victorious, the regular army must lose their leadership so that they would become disorderly. What he needed to do was turn the Lequan county lord and Jiangyou county lord to turn against and kill each other, then take advantage of the internal strife to take control, a power vacuum. But... Massaging his temples, Ye Yin felt this problem he had to face was quite a headache.

Jiangyou county lord Chu Feiye, the elder brother of the West Zhi emperor's pampered concubine, Chu Linxiang, was forty or so years old. He was naturally cynical and mistrustful, but talented at commanding troops with outstanding military achievements and accomplished much to help the emperor ascend the throne. Because this person was rather ambitious, the emperor intentionally did not grant him a high position, assigning Chu Feiye the office of Jiangyou county lord. In total, Chu Feiye had fifty thousand soldiers. In order to prevent possible mutiny, the emperor purposefully assigned the Lequan country lord fifty thousand soldiers also. The Lequan county lord was the emperor's nephew, Qi Chengfeng. 

Qi Chengfeng, twenty five years old, domineering. Although not skilled in strategizing, he was spirited and bold enough to charge and break through enemy lines, admired by his subordinates.

Inside the carriage, Ye Yin turned to rest against a soft cushion, eyes yet to open. He thought back to the report she had read during the day and a cold smile surfaced. Ye Yin humphed in his heart. According to the report, both Chu Feiye and Qi Chengfeng were both not the virtuous type. The emperor had assigned their positions not just to curb each other, but most likely to also see if they had talent as officials.