Chapter 276: Worst Plan

The Great King panicked for a moment, but seeing that Wei Shen was even more panicked, the Great King immediately calmed down.

He couldn't panic; this was no time to panic!

He reread the letter from his third maternal uncle word by word; Bai Li Jin actually used the excuse that he was a rebel king to demand the Wei clan hand over the Southwest Army and march to the capital to apologize?

Then… the maternal uncle hasn't returned; what about the garrison of Yumen Pass?

He knew Bai Li Jin was also trying to recall the Shanggu Pass garrison, but the Marquis of the Eastern Capital ignored him. If the remaining troops at Yumen Pass withdrew, wouldn't the uncle's situation be rather unusual?

Liangzhou has been ceded to the Xiongnu; the Western Regions probably won't keep attacking Yumen Pass, right?

They should have withdrawn long ago; isn't this all just a coordinated performance?

"Cousin, could it be that the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions are besieging Yumen Pass just to put on a show for Chang'an?" How could he still not have returned to Changzhou? By my reckoning, the timing is about right.

I believe Marquis Wei Ting also went because of Bai Ze's prophecy, otherwise he wouldn't have rushed straight there.

Wei Shen didn't know Bai Ze's prophecy; after a while he calmed down and said, "It's not to pressure Chang'an, so do they really intend to seize Liangzhou from the Xiongnu or invade the Central Plains? They couldn't possibly have set up a trap just to fool our Southwest Army, could they?"

The speaker means nothing, but the listener takes it to heart.

The Great King couldn't help but overthink.

As night fell, the Great King told Wei Shen they'd study this more tomorrow; returning to Suiyu Hall, he rushed straight to his residence and sought Bai Yang's help to analyze the matter.

"Brother Bai, you've studied two or three thousand years of history, haven't you? Come analyze this—could the uncle's affair be related to the other things I've never been able to figure out?"

Bai Yang spread out the maps and compared them with the Great King's, saying, "You've always lumped the Western Regions together with the Xiongnu—could it just be a coincidence that they happened to meet? In fact, they never really agreed on anything."

"Today I also thought that the Western Regions appearing at Yumen Pass at that time was a coincidence. Earlier, on my father emperor's birthday, the Western Regions had been unusually active. Before, the Western Regions and Great Jin weren't exactly hostile, nor were they close allies, yet they traveled thousands of miles to attend the celebration just to marry a princess and extort some gifts? It would have been strange for my father emperor to agree to that."

"The Xiongnu and the Western Regions states aren't necessarily allies this time, just like you have more than one brother. The empress's sons have been suspiciously quiet lately; they might just pop up to deny the crown prince and be done with it. Once the emperor dies and is buried, the eldest will ascend the throne." He also wanted to have others beaten into dog‑brained fools while the Great King reaped the leftovers.

So, is it all right if nobody fights and they just watch and wait?

Not a single one of the five rebel kings raised an army to march north.

Haven't they saved up any resources over these years? Bai Yang doesn't believe it. After all, they could mobilize five hundred death‑warriors for a mere Great King who was holed up in a border prefecture and hadn't even amounted to anything.

The Great King actually thought it made sense: "The second and fourth sons are, after all, my father's children; my father's corpse isn't even cold yet, so it's normal they aren't rushing north in a panic. As legitimate heirs, shouldn't they still be staking their claim? Maybe they're waiting for the eldest to make a move—there are still a few days before he takes the throne. The Cui and Jin clans aren't any weaker than the Wang clan in any respect. As for the Prince of Jiangxia, I have no idea—I might not even recognize him if I saw him now, just a brief glimpse."

"Perhaps they're also waiting for one less opponent—say, you. To outsiders, if the Wei clan falls, you're considered out of the game."

The Great King's eyebrows were almost knotted in worry; he showed Bai Yang a laugh.

"It's fine; we don't need to untangle every tiny detail of their plans—we just need to find a solution. One side has the Wang clan behind them, the other the Cui clan; who could out‑scheme them? We're martial‑arts players. Compared to them, we're at most… the level of two or three petty tinkers."

The Great King was about to become depressed from his provocation; "If only I'd called Qiao Ge too—we wouldn't even have three people, how could we play against them?"

Bai Yang: ……

"So what do you want to do? You're at the far east, while Yumen Pass is at the far west; making the trip isn't convenient, and you'd have to cross the two provinces that have already been ceded to the Xiongnu."

The Great King also found it difficult; letting him guard Youcheng, nobody would fear him, but he has only a handful of men—now is not the time for him to make a big move.

Bai Yang obviously understood as well: "…It's still not fully developed; you still need some time. If those 200,000 Xiongnu haven't withdrawn from Liangzhou and Bingzhou back to the steppes, you're in trouble. You only have 40,000 troops in the homeland, and you still need to garrison the cities and guard against the three Xianbei tribes; you can't rely entirely on Shanggu Pass. The Marquis of the Eastern Capital's men have to manage Yizhou, and you've just cleared out the Xianbei with a big move—tens of thousands have completely lost contact; they can't have done nothing, so showing up now would be problematic. Can Shanggu Pass defeat the Xianbei? It feels like a combo move."

Shanggu Pass certainly couldn't handle the two Xianbei tribes together; the eastern Xianbei can be ignored, and Bu Hong doesn't have the guts to go south.

"I suggest you wait a bit longer for news from Changzhou; anyway, your little bird makes travel easy, so if it's a misunderstanding, you'd just be delaying things."

The Great King couldn't possibly wait right now!

He also hoped it was just a delay.

"You've forgotten—our threats aren't just the Xiongnu and Xianbei. If Bai Li Jin knew our main force had left the fief, wouldn't the Chang'an garrison march north immediately?"

Youzhou has been given to the Xianbei, so the eldest son dare not come—but now it's in his younger brother's hands; isn't this a great chance to take it back?

Even Bai Yang began to sympathize with the Great King; being the Heaven‑chosen One is no easy task.

"I have confidence in the Youzhou cavalry; I fear neither the Xiongnu nor any Xianbei enemy." When he said this, the Great King was proud.

"Youzhou has cannons; even if the cavalry isn't there, Bai Li Jin's army attacking the city might not gain an advantage. But I don't want to point the cannons at Great Jin's own people—they're all Great Jin's subjects, and whatever the reason, that's not my original intention. If that day ever comes, it would truly be the worst possible choice."

Born into the imperial family, yet the Great King has a childlike heart; Bai Yang thinks this is the rarest quality.

"Marquis Wei Ting has just set out as well; I think you can wait a few more days, just in case something gets delayed. During this time you should also settle the affairs of Youzhou, and if there's still no word after a few days, you can go to the northwest—I won't stop you."

The Great King thought that by then he'd be rushing along the road and could catch up, so he simply nodded.

That's all he could do for now.

He also had no better option—whether it was his maternal grandfather or his maternal uncle, it was impossible.