Inside Heiya Pass, everyone was busily preparing for battle, a scene of bustling activity. Outside Heiya Pass, Dawei’s Crown Prince Yuan Zhao was also not idle, leading his people in drawing up a battle strategy.
Crown Prince Yuan Zhao had been groomed with the love and trust of Dawei’s Emperor from a young age. His actions were unrestrained, he gathered the talented, and thus, he had plenty of capable men at his disposal.
Because he was never restricted by anyone, the Dawei Emperor was not afraid of the Crown Prince’s competence or his successor threatening his imperial power. Therefore, over the years, the number of talents he had gathered actually exceeded that of Daliang’s Crown Prince Yan Huisheng.
Not only were there brilliant scholars as his brain trust, but he also accepted knights and masters from the Jianghu. Yuan Zhao was highly inclusive.
Furious about the failed conspiracies to incite Zhang Ping, the Pingxi General of Daliang in Jibei, to rebel, Yuan Zhao withdrew his troops. So this time, when attacking Nanchu, Yuan Zhao brought all the brains and competent forces around him.
There was Dawei’s number one warrior, Helan Jue, Dawei’s number one strategist Lun Jin, Dawei’s number one knight Ren Yue, and Dawei’s number one poison doctor Luo Yan, and so on.
It is worth mentioning that Luo Yan is a girl in her teens. Rumored to have learned to wield poison at the age of three, she is ruthless and fierce at such a young age. A year ago, from the Poison Doctor Sect, on her graduation day, she poisoned her own master to death and inherited the Sect, taking the entire Poison Doctor Sect as her dowry to marry Yuan Zhao. This shocked Dawei’s court and country. Everyone thought that Yuan Zhao wouldn’t agree, as a lady of the Jianghu couldn’t possibly be the wife of Dawei’s Crown Prince or the future queen. Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhao posed a problem for Luo Yan, claiming that if she could successfully poison him within ten days, he would agree to marry her.
Yuan Zhao, although favored and trusted by Dawei’s Emperor since childhood, was not spoiled. Instead, he was very promising, intelligent, talented, and shrewd. Conspiracies, schemes, assassinations and underhanded tactics could not harm him. Those who wanted to kill him since childhood did exist, but nobody was successful.
So, when Yuan Zhao posed this challenge, everyone thought Luo Yan stood no chance.
But to everyone’s surprise, with the Crown Prince and everyone around him on their guard, it only took Luo Yan three days to poison Yuan Zhao unknowingly.
When Luo Yan showed up with the antidote, all smiles, it was said that Yuan Zhao fell silent for a long time before finally promising to marry. He then asked the Emperor to issue an imperial decree, announcing to Dawei that Luo Yan of Poison Doctor Sect would be his Crown Princess.
Although the Dawei Emperor was not particularly satisfied with his daughter-in-law, but acknowledged her capabilities and agreed she was deserving of the Crown Princess’s title. But he was somewhat worried, fearing that future concubines, noble wives, and consorts would be poisoned by Luo Yan once they set foot in the Palace.
Yuan Zhao didn’t see this as a big problem. He simply stated that a promise made is worth its weight in gold, even if she harmed his harem in the future, he would have to tolerate it. At worst, he would not marry any secondary wives or concubines.
It is said that the Dawei Emperor was left speechless and silently issued the imperial wedding decree.
At the time, the decree was the subject of much discussion. The news also traveled to Daliang and Nanchu. However, Luo Yan didn’t cause any trouble after being bestowed the title of Crown Princess. Instead, she returned to the Poison Doctor Sect and shut herself in to research poison and medical arts. This caused the storm to subside, and people almost forgot that Dawei’s Crown Prince had such a future Crown Princess.
Now that Yuan Zhao wanted to take over Nanchu, he sent someone to Poison Doctor Sect to ask for help, and Luo Yan followed him without a word, bringing the entire Poison Doctor Sect’s people with her.
Before she left, she naturally brought numerous poison masters, poisonous drugs, and venomous bugs.
Luo Yan was born confident. She remained silent while listening to Crown Prince Yuan Zhao discuss war strategies with everyone. Only when everyone had finished discussing and Yuan Zhao turned to her asking for her opinion, did she say: "I can sneak into Heiya Pass tonight and kill Su Rong for you."
Yuan Zhao chuckled, "If she were that easy to kill, I wouldn’t need to go to the trouble leading the troops to Nanchu in person. Su Rong herself is talented in medical arts and pharmacology. I do not allow you to act rashly. Follow me and only act when I give the order."
Luo Yan frowned, somewhat displeased, "I’ve been listening for half a day, and there’s no role for me in the strategy you guys have formulated. What did you call me here to help with?"
"No, you are very useful and can greatly assist me, but you mustn’t be hasty, you have to obey me," Yuan Zhao patted her shoulder, "I never make futile efforts."
"Alright then." Luo Yan nodded, apparently pacified by Yuan Zhao’s words.
Yuan Zhao commanded eight hundred thousand soldiers. After one day of rest, early the next day, they launched an attack on Heiya Pass.
Zhang Mao, Jiang Zhu, and Ning Ze had been guarding the city in turns all night. There was no attack from Dawei’s soldiers during the night. However, as they were enjoying their meat buns at ten in the morning, they heard a shout from the watchtower, "Dawei is attacking the city!"
The three of them quickly swallowed the buns in their hands and hurried up to the city wall. As expected, Dawei was attacking the city with a ferocious assault. Jiang Zhu immediately ordered, "Report to the princess, Dawei is attacking the city."
They immediately fetched their weapons and joined the soldiers in resisting Dawei’s assault.
Within the city, Su Rong and the others had been working hard all night, then catching up on sleep in the second half of the night. After only two hours of sleep, Su Rong got up before dawn and relieved Fen Ling, allowing him to rest. She personally led the people in a city inspection and defense arrangements.
Upon hearing the attack, Su Rong immediately rode her horse to the city gate.
Arriving at the city wall, she saw that Dawei’s assault was indeed fierce. Dawei had set siege ladders, which the Nanchu soldiers had set alight with oil. Unfazed, Dawei, with their superior numbers, built human ladders, while archers fired specially made crossbow bolts in rows towards the Nanchu soldiers on the city wall. The defending soldiers of Nanchu also had archers, but their range fell short of Dawei’s. Whilst using their shields to defend, they counter-fired. They were at a disadvantage as a large number of Dawei soldiers had already made it up the city wall using human ladders. Simultaneously the battering ram incessantly hit the city gate, making loud thunderous sounds.
Zhang Mao, Jiang Zhu and Ning Ze were dispatching their troops, fighting with the enemy. The situation was chaotic and the losses heavy. The fierce assaults of Dawei shocked all three of them, and they began to doubt, with Dawei’s intense assault and formidable arrows, could they really hold out for half a month?
Not until Su Rong came to the city wall, the sight of the situation making her eyes grow cold. She flicked a golden needle from her sleeve, sparkling like snowflakes. Wherever it touched, Dawei soldiers fell in droves. The three of them immediately restrained their morale-dampening thoughts, their minds becoming tenser and focused on the fight.
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