Volume 1, Chapter 51: With Your Highness Here, I Am Not Afraid

The Second Prince's Mansion.

With a gloomy expression, Li Zhan crushed a white jade Go piece in his hand, jade powder falling in a flurry between his fingers.

"Damn the Crown Prince! Damn Li Xuan!" he gritted his teeth, his handsome face slightly distorted by rage. "I truly underestimated him! Using the grain corruption case, he not only reclaimed the authority of the Brocade Guard but also logically took over the water transport! And His Majesty has even granted him the power to execute first and report later! Right now, he is even more glorious than before!"

The crushing defeat in literary talent at the Lantern Festival and the failed instigation at the Serenity Pavilion had already stripped him of all dignity.

Now, taking advantage of his third brother's stupidity, Li Xuan had executed a brilliant counterattack. How could he not burn with jealousy?

Wei Yong, the chief strategist, stood nearby with a calm expression, as if he had long anticipated this outcome.

"Calm your anger, Your Highness," he bowed and said. "The Crown Prince's momentum is indeed at its peak right now. But the more it is so, the more perilous the path beneath his feet becomes."

"Oh?" Li Zhan raised an eyebrow. "Does Mister have any profound insights?"

"Think about it, Your Highness," Wei Yong analyzed unhurriedly. "The Crown Prince's journey to the northern frontier, ostensibly to escort grain, is actually to gather military support, adding another weighty political capital for himself and the Xiao family. Who would least want to see this happen?"

Li Zhan sneered. "Naturally, it's the eldest and the third. The eldest has always coveted military power, and seeing that the Beijing Garrison is hopeless, he naturally doesn't want the Crown Prince to deepen his ties with the Northern Frontier Army. As for the third, he tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait, and had his foundation uprooted by the Crown Prince. There's no way he can swallow this bitter pill."

"Your Highness is wise," Wei Yong stroked his beard and smiled. "Precisely so. This errand of the Crown Prince, seemingly infinitely glorious, has actually made him the target of public criticism. He is like a piece of fat meat, luring countless starving wolves to lurk in the shadows. The eldest is brave but lacks strategy and has a fiery temper. Having suffered such a massive blow, he will inevitably find ways to retaliate along the road. The third is insidious, cunning, and heavily battered; he will not let the matter rest either. Even... there are those civil official factions who do not wish to see the Crown Prince completely bound to the military. They might also make a move."

Li Zhan's eyes lit up, the anger in his heart gradually subsiding, replaced by a trace of excited chills. "Mister means... we don't need to do anything, just sit back and watch the tigers fight?"

"Precisely," wisdom flashed in Wei Yong's eyes. "Your Highness, our previous losses were due to acting too hastily, which instead gave the Crown Prince flaws to seize upon. Now that the Crown Prince is showing his sharpness, it is precisely the time when he invites the most jealousy. Why should we act as the mantis trying to stop the cart? It is better to retreat behind the scenes and become the praying mantis patiently waiting as the oriole."

He walked over to Li Zhan, lowering his voice, "Let the eldest and the third charge into battle and consume the Crown Prince's strength and patience. If they succeed, we can reap the fisherman's profits and smoothly take over the aftermath. If they fail, they will inevitably further infuriate the Crown Prince, making his actions even more ruthless, thereby leaving an impression of 'cruelty and lack of benevolence' in the hearts of His Majesty and the court officials. Regardless of the outcome, it is advantageous to us."

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind..." Li Zhan chewed on these eight words repeatedly, the gloom on his face instantly swept away, revealing a triumphant smile.

"Splendid! Truly splendid!" He slapped his thigh, his mood clearing up instantly. "Let them tear each other apart! I want to see just how much capability my Crown Prince brother has to handle these open spears and hidden arrows from all directions!"

Wei Yong smiled slightly, bowing. "Your Highness only needs to await the good news. Along this road, it will surely be very 'lively'."

Li Zhan laughed triumphantly, his laughter echoing in the empty study, filled with calculation and malice.

...

Outside the capital, on the imperial highway.

A massive procession was moving forward slowly.

At the very front of the procession were five hundred Eastern Palace guards clad in black armor with fierce imposing manners. They were Li Xuan's direct subordinates, each one capable of taking on ten.

In the center of the procession were over a hundred fully loaded grain carts, their wheels rolling and leaving deep ruts on the imperial highway.

On every cart fluttered a bright yellow flag bearing the characters "Crown Prince Escorting Supplies," snapping loudly in the wind.

At the rear of the procession were three thousand newly incorporated soldiers of the Left Camp of the Golden Guard, who had undergone hellish training and were thoroughly reborn.

Their military bearing was stern and disciplined, their strides resounding, carrying an aura of stern slaughter between their brows.

This procession was not merely a grain transport team; it was more like a moving army, proclaiming the imperial majesty and the Crown Prince's authority.

Unlike other princes on inspection tours who sat comfortably in luxurious carriages, Li Xuan wore martial attire, riding a single horse together with Xiao Ningshuang at the very front of the procession.

In the sunlight, the man was heroic and upright, while the woman was heroic and dashing, resembling a pair of celestial companions that drew sidelong glances from passersby.

After two months of getting along, the relationship between the two had long undergone a qualitative change.

Although they still maintained a certain distance in public, the intimacy and tacit understanding inadvertently revealed at the corners of their brows and eyes could no longer be concealed.

"Thirty li further ahead is 'Yixiantian' (A Ray of Sky)," Xiao Ningshuang looked at the terrain ahead and reminded him softly.

"Yixiantian" was the obligatory path to the north, flanked by towering cliffs reaching the clouds, with only a narrow passage in the middle, just wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side. Such terrain was a natural ambush spot.

"Mm, I have already sent Jingyun and his men ahead to scout," Li Xuan nodded, his expression calm.

He certainly knew the perils of this trip. From the moment he left the capital, he felt countless pairs of eyes staring at him in the dark.

However, he did not care.

The chessboard was already set; he was not only a chess player, but also the most crucial piece.

He intended to use himself as bait to lure out every single mouse hiding in the dark corners.

"Are you afraid?" He suddenly turned his head and asked Xiao Ningshuang with a smile.

Meeting his gaze, Xiao Ningshuang shook her head, a shallow smile curling at the corners of her lips. "With Your Highness here, I am not afraid."

In her eyes was utter trust.

Li Xuan felt a warmth in his heart, reaching out to take her hand resting on the saddle and squeezing it tightly.

At that moment, his trusted aide, Tieniu, galloped up from the rear and reported in a deep voice, "Your Highness, there is a merchant caravan behind claiming to be your old acquaintances, wishing to travel with us, saying it's safer with more people."

"Oh? Old acquaintances?" Li Xuan raised an eyebrow.

He had no such "old acquaintance" merchant caravans in this Great Zhou Dynasty.

"Have them come over."

Soon, a middle-aged man resembling a steward was brought to the front. The moment he saw Li Xuan, he bowed with a face full of smiles, "This humble commoner, Zhang De, pays respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince and Her Highness the Crown Prince's Consort. My master's surname is Song, and he is an old acquaintance of Your Highness. Hearing that Your Highness is here, he specifically ordered this humble commoner to pay respects and hopes to travel alongside Your Highness for a stretch to ensure absolute safety."

Surname Song?

Li Xuan and Xiao Ningshuang exchanged glances, both thinking of the same person—Song Qingwan.

Xiao Ningshuang's gaze instantly turned several degrees cooler.

Li Xuan cursed "bad luck" inwardly, but his face remained unperturbed as he said indifferently, "Since they are old acquaintances, let them follow. However, they must obey the rules, stay at the very rear of the procession, and must not approach the central army's grain carts without authorization."

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace!" Steward Zhang backed away, offering endless expressions of gratitude.

Xiao Ningshuang remained silent, merely riding her horse quietly and pulling away a slight distance from Li Xuan.

Li Xuan gave a bitter smile, leaned closer, and whispered, "What, are you drinking vinegar again?"

"No," Xiao Ningshuang looked straight ahead, her tone flat.

"And you say no. The smell of this vinegar can be smelled from three li away," Li Xuan teasingly provoked her. "They merely happened to cross paths; it's not like I invited them. Besides, I only have you in my heart now. Even if someone else were a fairy descending to earth, I wouldn't bother sparing them a glance."

These words were spoken so bluntly and somewhat shamelessly, yet they made the tight corners of Xiao Ningshuang's lips loosen slightly in secret.

She gave a light hum. "Smooth-talking."

Seeing her duplicitous demeanor, Li Xuan's heart settled completely. He knew that this iceberg had truly been thawed by him.

However, neither of them noticed that at the tail end of that "merchant caravan," inside an inconspicuous carriage, a pair of malevolent eyes peered through the gap of the curtain, staring fixedly at Li Xuan's back, flashing with vengeful malice.

That was not Song Qingwan, but Zhou Ming, the Minister of Revenue whom Li Xuan had personally sent into the Heavenly Prison, subsequently rescued in secret by the Third Prince, Li Yi, and left with a disfigured face!

A meticulously planned death trap was about to unfold at Yixiantian.